What is God Like?
Part 5
One God
John could hardly wait for grandpa to put in his appearance. He was beginning to look forward to these meetings to talk about things in the Bible. So when grandpa arrived, he rushed to greet him with his question, “Grandpa, how many Gods are there?”
“If you are talking about the God Who is both ageless and limitless and Who is all-powerful and all-knowing, then there is only one.” replied grandpa. “The Bible says, in chapter four and verse six of Ephesians, ‘One God and Father of all, Who is above all.’ “
“Then,” asked John, “who is Jesus Christ?”
“He is the Son of God,” grandpa replied smiling.
“Is He really God,” inquired John, “and if He is, how can you say there is only one God?”
“Because there are three Persons in One,” answered grandpa, “but let us consider your questions, for you asked two. Let us have only one at a time. We will consider the first one, ‘Is He really God?’ Where should we look for the answer?”
“In the Bible,” suggested John. “Does the Bible say He is God?”
“Yes it does,” declared grandpa. “I will ask you to read some passages for me. The first is found in the prophecy of Isaiah. That is in the Old Testament after Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon.”
“Thank you grandpa,” answered John. “I have memorized the books of the Bible.” After finding the passage he read, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulders and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
“Who do you think this child was?” asked grandpa.
“I think it must be Jesus,” came the instant reply.
“Notice then, that the prophet Isaiah who was told what to write by God called Him the Mighty God, The Everlasting Father. Now turn to the first chapter of John’s Gospel and read it and then the first ten words of verse fourteen.”
John read, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God…and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
“Who do you think the Word was?” was grandpa’s next question.
“It was Jesus Christ,” was the emphatic reply.
“Note here that John called Jesus the Word God. We know this to be true from verse fourteen,” emphasized grandpa. “Now one more verse in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Read verse eight of chapter one.”
Again John read, “But unto the Son He said, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom.”
“Who called the Son, God in this passage?” grandpa demanded.
“God, Himself,” exclaimed John, “and that settles it for God cannot lie.”
“Yes, you would think that would settle it,” continued grandpa, “God cannot lie but man can. There are some who have gone so far as to change the reading of these passages in Scripture to prove their contention that Jesus Christ is not God. About three hundred years after Christ died, a man called Arius, tried to convince people that Jesus Christ was not God, and many believed him. Now after all those years most people reject the teaching of Arius, but there are still some even today who deny the deity of Christ. We could turn you to other passages in Colossians and Corinthians where it says Jesus Christ is ‘the image of God’ and in Him ‘dwells the fulness of the Godhead bodily.’ You will also find in the Bible that acts attributed to God in the Old Testament are attributed to Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Moreover Jesus did things that only God could do. He forgave sins and He raised people from the dead. All of these things prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ is very God.”
“People who say Jesus is not God don’t believe the Bible,” said John sadly.
“That is true,” agreed grandpa. “Now for your second question, ‘How can we say there is only one God?’ Have you ever seen a shamrock or a clover leaf?”
“I have seen a clover leaf,” volunteered John, “and it has three leaves.”
“How can you say it is a clover leaf and yet it has three leaves?” questioned grandpa.
John saw that he had answered his own question. Indeed there was only one leaf but it was in three parts, each of which was leaf and not something else.
“The Patron Saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick, used the shamrock to explain to the natives of Ireland that there are three Persons in One,” said grandpa. Bible students call this the Triune God or more commonly The Trinity.”
Passages to read: Matthew 9:2, 6, 18-25; 28:19; Mark 2:5-11; Luke 5:20-24; John 5:21-24; 6:64; 8:58; 10:17, 18, 30-33; 11:14-44; Colossians 1:13-19; Revelation 1:8, 11-18; 21:5, 6; 22:12, 13.