God — Hive

Who Is God?
Who Is God - Who Does He Claim to
Be?
Who is God? He's been described as
everything from an impersonal life-
force to a benevolent, personal,
almighty Creator. He has been
called by many names, including:
"Zeus," "Jupiter," "Brahma," "Allah,"
"Ra," "Odin," "Ashur," "Izanagi,"
"Viracocha," "Ahura Mazda," and
"the Great Spirit" to name just a
few. He's seen by some as "Mother
Nature" and by others as "Father
God." But who is He really? Who
does He claim to be?
Who Is God - Father God or Mother
Nature?
Who is God? What has He revealed
about Himself? To begin with,
whenever He refers to Himself in
parental terms, He always
addresses Himself as "Father,"
never "Mother." He calls Himself "a
Father to Israel," 1 and in one
instance, when His "children" were
particularly disrespectful to Him, He
said to them, "A son honors his
father, and a servant his master. If
then I am the Father, where is My
honor? And if I am a Master, where
is My reverence?" 2
His prophets acknowledged Him as
Father by saying, "You are our
Father, we are the clay, and You our
potter; And all of us are the work of
Your hand," 3 and "do we not all
have one Father? Has not one God
created us?" 4 Never once does God
refer to Himself as "Mother" and
never once is He called such by the
prophets to whom He spoke. Calling
God "Mother Nature" is comparable
to calling your earthly father "Mom."
Who Is God - What Does God Care
About?
Who is God in terms of moral
attributes? What does God have to
say about Himself in this regard? He
says that He delights in justice and
righteousness: "…Let not the wise
man boast of his wisdom or the
strong man boast of his strength or
the rich man boast of his riches, but
let him who boasts boast about
this: that he understands and
knows me, that I am the LORD, who
exercises kindness, justice and
righteousness on earth, for in these
I delight." 5 "For I, the LORD, love
justice; I hate robbery and
iniquity..." 6
Justice and equity are very
important to God. But so are grace
and mercy. And so, while God will
hold everyone accountable, each for
their own lives, He extends His
grace to the repentant sinner. He
promises that, "'If the wicked man
turns from all his sins which he has
committed and observes all My
statutes and practices justice and
righteousness, he shall surely live;
he shall not die. All his
transgressions which he has
committed will not be remembered
against him; because of his
righteousness which he has
practiced, he will live. Do I have any
pleasure in the death of the wicked,'
declares the Lord GOD, 'rather than
that he should turn from his ways
and live?...I have no pleasure in the
death of anyone who dies,' declares
the Lord GOD. 'Therefore, repent
and live.'" 7
By "death" God is not referring to
the physical death which we might
have in mind. Rather, God is
referring to something which will
happen in eternity, after our
physical deaths. The Scriptures
refer to this event as the "second
death."8 The first death separates
us from our bodies and takes us
from this world. The second death
is different. It also entails a
separation, but it's the separation
of one group of people from
another: the righteous and the
forgiven on one hand and the
wicked and the unrepentant on the
other. The two groups will be judged
separately.
The one group will be rewarded
according to the good that they've
done. Their evil deeds will be
overlooked, forgiven by God. The
other group will be judged according
to the evil that they have done, and
their good deeds will not keep them
from their punishment. God says,
"When a righteous man turns away
from his righteousness, commits
iniquity and dies because of it, for
his iniquity which he has committed
he will die." But "when a wicked man
turns away from his wickedness
which he has committed and
practices justice and righteousness,
he will save his life. Because he
considered and turned away from
all his transgressions which he had
committed, he shall surely live; he
shall not die. …Therefore, repent
and live." 9 In this way, God will see
that justice ultimately prevails, but
that mercy is given to the humble
and the repentant.
God has made a provision for those
who want to repent, a provision to
atone for the sins of those who
want to be made right with Him. He
sent a "Messiah," a Servant who
willingly suffered and died a
vicarious death in order to pay for
the sins of those who would repent
and trust in Him. The Scriptures
say, "Who has believed our
message and to whom has the arm
of the LORD been revealed?…Surely
He took up our infirmities and
carried our sorrows…He was pierced
for our transgressions, He was
crushed for our iniquities; the
punishment that brought us peace
was upon Him, and by His wounds
we are healed. We all, like sheep,
have gone astray, each of us has
turned to his own way; and the
LORD has laid on Him the iniquity
of us all.…it was the LORD's will to
crush Him and cause Him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes His life
a guilt offering, He will see His
offspring and prolong His days, and
the will of the LORD will prosper in
His hand. After the suffering of His
soul, He will see the light of life and
be satisfied; by his knowledge my
righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.…he
poured out his life unto death, and
was numbered with the
transgressors. For he bore the sin of
many, and made intercession for
the transgressors."