The attributes of God reveal His divine nature and character, encompassing His holiness, omniscience, omnipotence, love, and eternal existence. Christian preaching often uses vivid images like light, an intelligent architect, or the unseen watchful eye to illustrate God's purity, wisdom, and sovereign care (Psalm 147:5; 1 John 4:8). These attributes emphasize both His transcendence and intimate involvement with creation.
Contemplating creation reveals the hidden Spirit and harmony of God's power.
When I behold all the requisites in organs, where music is in perfection, I stay not on the iron, lead, wood, the pipes, nor on the bellows: my spirit flicth to that hidden spirit, which distributeth itself with so melodious proportionable divisions throughout the whole instrument. So, when I contemplate the world, I stick not on the body of the sun, the stars, the elements, the stones, the metals, the plants, nor the living creatures: I penetrate into that secret Spirit, which insinuateth itself thereunto with such admirable power, such ravishing sweetness, and incomparable harmony. N. Caussin.
God as the sun symbolizes the ultimate source of all power and energy in the world.
"The Lord God is a sun" conveys a striking and impressive truth when we think of the sun only in his obvious character as a source of light and heat. But what new energy is given to this magnificent emblem when we learn from astronomy that he is a grand centre of attraction, and when we, in addition, take in that sublime generalization that the sun is the ultimate source of every form of power existing in the world! The wind wafts the commerce of every nation over the mighty deep; but the heat of the sun has rarefied the air, and set that wind in motion. The descending stream yields a power which grinds your grain, turns your spindles, works your looms, drives your forges; but it is because the sun gathered up the vapor from the ocean, which fell upon the hills, and is finding its way back to the source whence it came. The expansive energy of steam propels your engines; but the force with which it operates is locked up in the coal (the remains of extinct forests stored among your hills), or is derived from the wood that abounds in your forests, which now crown and beautify their summits. Both these primeval and these existing forests drew their subsistence from the sun: it is the chemical force resident in his rays which disengaged their carbon from the atmosphere, and laid it up as a source of power for future use. The animal exerts a force by muscular contraction; he draws it from the vegetable on which he feeds; the vegetable derives it from the sun, whose rays determine its growth. Every time you lift your arm, every time you take a step, you are drawing on the power the sun has given you. When you step into the railway-carriage, it is the sun-power that hurries you along. When gentle breezes fan your languid cheek, and when the resistless tornado levels cities in its fury, they are the servants of the sun. What an emblem of Him in whom we live and move, and have our being!
— Prof. Green
Different nations have various names for God, but there is only one true God.
When Alexander, the son of Philip, was at Babylon, he sent for a priest from every country and nation which he had vanquished, and assembled them together in his palace. Then he sat down on his throne, and asked them, saying, "Tell me, do you acknowledge and worship a supreme invisible Being?" Then all the priests bowed their heads, and answered, "Yea, O king!" And the king asked again, "By what name do you call this Being?" Then the priest from India answered, "We call it Brahma, which signifieth the Great." The priest from Persia said, "We call it Ormus; that is, the Light." The priest from Judæa said, "We call it Jehovah Adonai, the Lord which is, which was, and is to come." Thus each priest had a peculiar word and particular name by which he designated the Supreme Being. Then the king was wroth in his heart, and said, "You have only one Lord and King, henceforth, you shall have only one God, Zeus is his name." Then the priests were grieved at the saying of the king, and spake, "Our people always called him by the name we have proclaimed, from their youth up: how, then, may we change it?" But the king was yet more wroth. Then an old sage stood forth, a Brahmin, who had accompanied him to Babylon, and said, "Will it please my lord the king, that I speak unto this assembly?" Then he turned to the priests, and said, "Doth not the celestial daystar, the source of earthly light, shine upon every one of you?" Then all the priests bowed their heads, and answered, "Yea!" Then the Brahmin asked them, one by one, "How do you call it?" And each priest told him a different word and a peculiar name, according to his own country and nation. Then the Brahmin said to the king, "Shall they not henceforth call the daystar by one name? Helios is his name." At these words, the king was ashamed, and said, "Let them each use their own word; for I perceive that the name and the image constitute not the being.
There is only one God who fills heaven and earth, as a child insightfully stated.
A little boy being asked, "How many gods are there?" replied, "One." — "How do you know that?" — "Because," said the boy, "there is only room for one; for he fills heaven and earth."
God, like the sun, cannot be fully searched or understood beyond His revealed light.
Though the sun is the source and fountain of light, there is little good in gazing at the sun, except to get blinded. No one ever saw the better for looking the sun directly in the face. It is a child's trick: grown-up people know better. We use the light which the sun gives, to see by, and to search into all things, — the sun excepted. Him we cannot explore beyond what he reveals of himself in the light and heat which he sheds upon us, and in the colors by which he is reflected from the earth. There is no searching of the sun: our eyes are too weak. How much less can we search the sun's Creator, before whom the myriads of suns are but as so many cloud-bodies! J. Pulsford.
God's invisible presence is too glorious for mortal eyes to behold.
It presented a difficulty to the mind of the Emperor Trajan, that God should be everywhere, and yet not to be seen by mortal eye. "You teach me," said the emperor, on one occasion, to Rabbi Joshua, "that your God is everywhere; and you boast that he resides among your nation. I should like to see him." — "God's presence is indeed everywhere," said the rabbi: "but he cannot be seen. No mortal eye can behold his glory."
The emperor insisted. "Well," said Joshua;
"but suppose we go first, and look at one of his ambassadors." The emperor assented.
The rabbi took him into the open air. It was noonday; and he bade him look on the sun, blazing in its meridian splendor. "I cannot see," said Trajan; "the light dazzles me."
Said the rabbi, "Thou art unable to bear the light of one of his creatures, — how, then, couldst thou look upon the Creator? Would not such a light annihilate thee?"
God always fulfills His promises, unlike unreliable human leaders.
Of Sertorius it is said that he performed his promises by words only; and of the Emperor Pertinax, that he was rather kind-spoken than beneficial to any.
Not so the Almighty. Trapp.
God's wisdom is shown in the precise timing and function of sunlight's principles.
There are in the sunbeam three different principles, — the chemical, the luminiferous, and caloric; and each of these has a special function to discharge in relation to the plants of the earth. The chemical principle has a powerful influence in germinating the plant: the luminous rays assist it in secreting from the atmosphere the carbon which it requires in order to its growth while the heat-rays are required to nurture the seed, and form the reproductive elements. Now it is a remarkable circumstance, that, according to Hunt, the first of these is most powerful, relatively to the others, in spring; that it decreases in summer, while the second becomes more powerful; and that in autumn both are lessened, while the third increases in force, — that is, each principle becomes potent at the very time when it is most required.
— McCosh
God's soul permeates creation yet He remains independent and above it.
The painter's soul is, no doubt, thrown into his painting, and the sculptor's and architect's into their statues and buildings; but their souls meanwhile exist apart, and are capable of other acts besides these. In a sense as true as it is grand, the soul of the Creator is streaming through the order and life of creation; but meanwhile he exists independent of and far above them.
— McCosh
A mother's unseen watchfulness over her son illustrates God's constant care for us.
A painter named Leech died recently in England. When a boy, he attended a large boarding-school, and would remain during the long terms away from his parents. When he first left his home, he was homesick; but after a while, in the company of his companions, this wore away. But his mother pined to see her boy. It was not customary for the parents to visit their children at school; but the loving mother felt such a strong desire to see her son, that she arranged this plan: All around the play-ground of the school were high blocks of buildings. Mrs. Leech hired an upper room in one of these houses, from the windows of which the whole play-ground could be seen. Into this room she went every time she came to the city, and there, from the window, looked down upon the happy little fellows playing below. One among them all her fond eye would seek out. He did not know that any one was looking down upon him; he did not think that his best friend on earth was so near, that, if he had spoken her name, she would have answered at once; but on he went with his play, while that tear-dimmed eye followed him wherever he moved. She was an emblem of our ever-watchful God.
God's single name encompasses all creation and reveals His incomprehensible nature.
What a thought it is, that ONE NAME should cover all names; that One Name should signify more than all names! As all things which are named came from one God, there must be a far greater fulness of meaning in his single name than in all the names put together of all the creatures and things in heaven and earth. The earth, and all that is in it; the firmament, with all the stars; the heavens, with all the angels,—are contained in God; but they do not contain God. Nothing is easier than to say the word "universe;" and yet it would take us millions and millions of years to bestow one hasty glance upon the surface of that small portion of it which lies within the range of our glasses. But what are all suns, comets, earths, moons, atmospheres, seas, rivers, mountains, valleys, plains, woods, cattle, with beasts, fish, fowl, grasses, plants, shrubs, trees, minerals, and metals, compared with the meaning of the one name GOD! We are learning here under these heavens, from the heavens and from the earth, what that Name is, from whom all things, named and unnamed, came. After death,—our emancipated souls, our new eyes, our new friends, and the new scenery, helping us,—we shall commence anew the study of that Name. And to all eternity, all that we shall ever see and hear will only help us to a more humbling, worshipful appreciation of the incomprehensibility of that Name. Pulsjord.
God continually sustains and upholds the universe by His active omnipotence.
A human mechanist may leave the machine he has constructed to work without his further personal superintendence, because, when he leaves it, God's laws take it up; and, by their aid, the materials of which the machine is made retain their solidity, the steel continues elastic, the vapor keeps its expansive power. But, when God has constructed his machine of the universe, he cannot so leave it, or any the minutest part of it, in its immensity and intricacy of movement, to itself; for, if he retire, there is no second God to take care of this machine. Not from a single atom of matter can He who made it for a moment withdraw his superintendence and support. Each successive moment, all over the world, the act of creation must be repeated. The existence of the world witnesses to a perpetuity of creating influence. Active omnipotence must flood the universe, or its machinery stops, and its very existence terminates. The signs of an all-pervading supernatural energy meet us wherever we turn. Every leaf waves in it, every plant in all its organic processes lives in it; it rolls round the clouds, else they would not move; it fires the sunbeam, else it would not shine; and there is not a wave that restlessly rises and sinks, nor a whisper of the wanton wind that "bloweth where it listeth," but bespeaks the immediate intervention of God. Caird.
Nature reveals God's thoughts—His power, love, care, and beauty.
The book of Nature is an expression of the thoughts of God. We have God's terrible thoughts in the thunder and lightning; God's loving thoughts in the sunshine and the breeze; God's bountoouns, prudent, careful thoughts in the waving harvest. We have God's brilliant thoughts, which are beheld from mountain-top and valley; and we have God's most sweet and pleasant thoughts of beauty in the little flowers that blossom at our feet. Spurgeon.
God perfectly sees and understands all our inner thoughts and actions.
Before men we stand as opaque bee-hives. They can see the thoughts go in and out of us; but what work they do inside of a man, they cannot tell. Before God we are as glass bee-hives, and all that our thoughts are doing within us he perfectly sees and understands. Beecher.
God's knowledge encompasses past, present, and future, unlike human limited knowledge.
In a sheet-almanac a man may at one view see all the months in the year, both past and to come; but in a book-almanac, as he turneth to one month, so he turneth from another, and can but look only at the present. This is the true difference betwixt the knowledge of God and man. He looketh in an instant of time things past, present, and future: but the knowledge of man reacheth only to a few things past and present, but knoweth nothing at all of things that are to come; that is God's prerogative, and a piece of learning too high for any mortal man to attain unto. Spencer.
God's constant watchfulness prevents sinning without remorse, unlike a portrait's eyes.
I remember hearing of a girl who went into her master's room, a room not much frequented, to steal. There was a portrait in the room; and the eyes of the portrait seemed to follow her wherever she went; and, in order that she might steal without this rebuke, she took down the portrait, and cut the eyes out. If she could have plucked out God's eye, she might have sinned without remorse. But, so long as God's eye was upon her, it was a vain thing that the eye of the portrait could follow her no more.
— Wilson
God's omniscience is like seeing distant actions clearly, unnoticed by those observed.
It is said of Gen. O. M. Mitchel, the Christian astronomer, that on one occasion, while a guest at the house of a friend, the host took him upon the house-top to show him the surrounding country. The general, placing a small telescope in position, asked his friend to look through it. At a distance of eight miles, through the woods and underbrush, he observed a man with his dog and gun; and he saw him distinctly elevate his piece, and shoot down a beautiful bird. The man was not aware that he was seen, yet he seemed to be but a few rods from the general and his friend.
Recognition of God's omniscience inspires living a guiltless and holy life.
The celebrated Linnaeus acknowledged the omniscience of God by placing over the door of the hall in which he gave his lectures, the inscription, "Innocui vicite! Numen adest." Live guiltless! God observes you.
God's constant watchfulness encourages diligence and sincerity in both actions and thoughts.
A certain farm-house is situated on the slope of a hill; and its windows are so disposed that it commands a complete view of every nook of the extensive farm of its master. No laborer knows but that at any given moment the master's eye may be upon him. So it is with us. Our great Master commands a view, not only of our outward actions, but of the very thoughts of our hearts. And not only so: we know that our Master is constantly watching us, not to blame merely, but to prompt, to help, to encourage us. What an incentive to diligence!
— J. H. Vincent
God's omnipresence and omniscience encompass the entire vast universe and every detail.
Is this universe an unsurveyed and solitary waste?
Do you fancy there is no presence to cheer it, nor eye to look upon it forever? There is an eye whose vision is spread all over this amazing scene. There is a mind present unto it in all its illimitable extent. The eternal One, at the same moment converses with its immeasurably remote extremes. There is a mind to whose intelligence all this amazing vast of worlds on worlds, and suns on suns, and systems on systems, is distinctly apparent. Every atom in this magnificent immensity, whether sinking in its depths or aspiring in its heights; whether resting on its axis, or whirling on its verge, is watched by the intense and eternal scrutiny of the omnipresent and omniscient God. Bishop Hamline.
Some reject God's omniscience to avoid feeling constantly observed and accountable.
The Indians of South America told the Catholic missionaries, "You say the God of the Christians knows every thing, that nothing is hidden from him, that he is everywhere, and sees all that is done. Now, we do not desire a God so sharp-sighted: we choose to live with freedom in our woods, without having a perpetual observer of our actions over our heads."
God records every thought and deed for impartial judgment at the final tribunal.
A young man started for a ball, saying, "We shall have a reporter there." Did he think that God would have his reporter there also; that his report would embrace something more than the dresses of the belles or the particulars of the most attraction? that every thought, word, and act of every one would be reported faithfully and impartially to the Great Judge? This report will be opened at the bar of God, where all must soon stand.
Artistic symbols like crowns of rays represent divine power and glory.
Power is expressed in art by the luminous nebula supposed to emanate from and surround the divine essence. It was derived from the heathen, who decorated the images of their gods with a crown of rays. The glory is sometimes cruciform, again triangular, and, at other times, circular.
God is aware of every instance of profanity and swearing.
A coachman, pointing to one of his horses, said to a traveller, "That horse, sir, knows when I swear at him."—"Yes," replied the traveller; "and so does your Maker."
God's Spirit and man's spirit differ fundamentally in nature and purity.
As a missionary in India was catechising the children of one of the schools, a Brahmin interrupted him, by saying that the spirit of man and the Spirit of God were one. In order to show him the absurdity of such a declaration, the missionary called upon the boys to refute it, by stating the difference between the spirit of man and God. They readily gave the following answers:—"The spirit of man is created—God is its Creator: the spirit of man is full of sin—God is a pure Spirit: the spirit of man is subject to grief—God is infinitely blessed, and incapable of suffering: these two spirits, therefore," replied the boys, "can never be one."
God's eternity means timeless existence without beginning or end.
One of the deaf and dumb pupils in the institution of Paris, being desired to express his idea of the eternity of the Deity, replied, "It is duration, without beginning or end; existence without bound or dimension; present, without past or future. His eternity is youth without infancy or old age; life without birth or death; to-day without yesterday or to-morrow."
A profound vision of God’s glory leads to humility and awe before His majesty.
The Rev. William Tennent had preached one Lord's day morning to his congregation, and in the intermission had walked into the woods for meditation, the weather being warm. He was reflecting on the infinite wisdom of God, as manifested in all his works, and particularly in the wonderful method of salvation through the death and sufferings of his beloved Son. This subject suddenly opened on his mind with such a flood of light, that his views of the glory and the infinite majesty of Jehovah were so inexpressibly great, as entirely to overwhelm him; and he fell almost lifeless to the ground. When he had revived a little, all he could do was to raise a fervent prayer, that God would withdraw himself from him, or that he must perish under a view of his ineffable glory. When able to reflect on his situation, he could not but abhor himself as a weak and despicable worm; and seemed to be overcome with astonishment, that a creature so unworthy and insufficient, had ever dared to attempt the instruction of his fellow men in the nature and attributes of so glorious a Being. Overstaying his usual time, some of his elders went in search of him, and found him prostrate on the ground, unable to rise, and incapable of informing them of the cause. They raised him up, and, after some time, brought him to the church, and supported him to the pulpit, which he ascended on his hands and knees, to the no small astonishment of the congregation. He remained silent a considerable time, earnestly supplicating Almighty God to hide himself from him, that he might be enabled to address his people, who were by this time lost in wonder to know what had produced this uncommon event. His prayers were heard, and he became able to stand up, by holding the desk: and in a most affecting and pathetic address, he gave an account of the views he had of the infinite wisdom of God, and deplored his own incapacity to speak to them concerning a Being so infinitely glorious beyond all his powers of description. He then broke out into so fervent and expressive a prayer, as greatly to surprise the congregation, and draw tears from every eye. A sermon followed which continued the solemn scene, and made very lasting impressions on the hearers.
Linnaeus lived with a strong awareness of God's omnipresence, inspiring holy living.
The celebrated Linnaeus always testified, in his conversation, writings, and actions, the greatest sense of God's omniscience; yea, he was so strongly impressed with the idea, that he wrote over the door of his library, Ianocui vivite, Numea adest;
—Live innocently, God is present.
A child shows God's omnipresence by asking where God is not present.
A child, six years of age, being introduced into company, was asked, by a clergyman, where God was, with the offer of an orange. "Tell me," replied the boy, "where he is not, and I will give you two."
God is less critical of imperfect prayers than men are, encouraging sincere prayer.
"My grandfather," says Mr. Orton, "once solicited a very excellent but modest minister to pray in his family when there were several others present; he desired to be excused, alleging that he had not thought of it, and there were so many other ministers present." My grandfather replied, "Sir, you are to speak to your master, and not to them, and my Bible tells me, he is not so critical and censorious as men are."
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