The very first four words of the Holy Bible says: “In the beginning God . . . .” (Genesis 1:1).
The Bible is God’s divine Word to man. No other book can compare. “The Bible begins with God, not with philosophical arguments for His existence” (C.I. Scofield, D.D.).
William MacDonald writes: “These first four words of the Bible form the foundation for faith. Believe these words, and you can believe all that follows in the Bible. The divine record assumes the existence of God rather than seeking to prove it. The Bible has a special name for those who choose to deny the fact of God. That name is fool (Ps. 14:1 and 53:1). Just as the Bible begins with God, so He should be first in our loves” (Believer’s Bible Commentary pg. 32 Thomas Nelson Publishers).”
The point is that God Almighty is not only Supreme Creator of the universe; He is God of heaven, God of the Holy Bible—His Word, and the Christian’s God and heavenly Father.
Here’s what God declares about Himself:
“Before me no God was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior. I have revealed and saved and proclaimed — I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses, declares the LORD, that I am God. Yes, and ancient days I am he” (Isaiah 43:10-13 NIV).
God has no rivals, neither any equals. He is absolutely unique in Himself and in all His ways. God is “Omnipotent,” meaning He is All-Powerful; “Omniscient,” that is, “All-Knowing” and “Omnipresent,” meaning He is Everywhere Present.
God has many great and unique attributes. Here are some:
God is Eternal. ”He is the Everlasting God” (Genesis 21:33). He is without beginning and without end. He is not subject to time and space as humans are. First Timothy 1:17 (NIV) says: “Tche King Eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God.”
God’s Word—the Bible—is Eternal. “Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens” (Psalm 119:89). The Lord declared: “Heaven and earth will pass away but my words will never pass away” (Matthew 24:35). The entire Psalm 119 enthusiastically praises the excellency of the Holy Bible.
God is Self-Existent, that is, He is entirely self-sufficient, having no needs. He “has life in Himself” (John 5:26). He is independent of any other being
God is Holy. “For you alone are holy” (Revelations 15:4). And “There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no one besides you” (1 Samuel 2:2). This means that God cannot tolerate sin in any way, shape or form. That’s why He says to Christians “Be holy, (separate) because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).
God’s name is Holy. “Holy is His name” (Luke 1:49). And “He who lives forever, whose Name is holy” (Isaiah 57:15). In the prayer Jesus taught His disciples, it begins: “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be your name” (Matthew 6:9).
God is Righteous. “The LORD is righteous in all His ways. And kind in all His deeds” (Psalm 145:17). “For God to be righteous principally means that God measures up to Himself and is always what He ought to be as God” (James Dolezal, Ligonier Ministries). In his prayer for guidance, King David asked God: “Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness” (Psalm 5:8).
God is completely limitless in all aspects of His being. He has never, and will never change. Neither is he not subject in any way to the limitations of the material universe.
The Bible reveals God’s greatness in many ways. And these include the fact of His unconditional love for mankind to the extent that He provided His Son, Jesus Christ to save man from his sins. The Bible says: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Adam, the first man God created, committed sin when he disobeyed God’s command. As a result, the Scripture says: “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19).
The one man’s disobedience refers to Adam. And the one man’s obedience refers to Jesus Christ who paid the penalty for sin by shedding His blood and dying on the cross so that man could be forgiven and be reconciled to God.
The Bible says: Jesus “Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24). This is the change that comes about when a person receives Jesus Christ as Savior and lives the Christian life to please God rather than pleasing self or the world.