Character of God

The Character of God

Man is created in the image of God; Man has a character, so one could expect God also to have a character. That character is not so hidden as some might think. The Elohim provided a way for people to come to know Him better. Jehovah God gave His Word to the world in a Book of books, the Bible. The world should come to know that the El-Elyon or Highest Source and God

is a Personality, with a character of His own. He has eternal moral principles, which He has made known to mankind through His commandments and precepts.

But this one God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, worthy of all reverent worship, is not just an impersonal Power. He is a Personality, with a character of His own. He has eternal moral principles, which He has made known to mankind through His commandments and precepts.

The first explicit description of the character of God occurs in a revelation to Moses about 1400 B.C. Moses had received many communications from God during the events of the Exodus, but he evidently felt that he did not yet know God as a Personality, so he makes a request:

"if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee ..."

When God agreed to his request, Moses enlarges on it:

"Show me thy glory".

Now Moses had on more than one occasion already witnessed the "physical" glory of God in the form of great light and demonstrations of power. Here he wants something more. God is aware of this:

"I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee ..." (Exodus 33:13-19).

The way, the glory, the goodness of the Lord will all be expressed in His Name and will enable Moses to "know" Him. This Name is now proclaimed:

"The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty . . . " (Exodus 34:6,7).

So emerges the great portrait of the God of the Bible given by Himself. He has a definite moral character, in which mercy, longsuffering (slow to anger, R.V.), goodness and forgiveness play a great part, but always consistent with His "truth". Echoes of this description are frequently found in the subsequent books of the Old Testament, especially the Psalms (see Psalm 103, for example) and the prophets.

This portrait of God expresses His "goodness" and also His "glory" of character. It is this aspect Jesus has in mind when he declares to the woman of Samaria, "God is Spirit" (not "a Spirit" which misleads) (John 4:24). The character of God is described as "Spirit". It forms a great contrast with the natural character of human flesh expressed in its thinking and desires, and described by John as "the spirit of the flesh ... of the world ... of error".

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