Recap: In an effort to ensure that we are worshiping the true God, we have been exploring the three denominative expressions of God in Scripture: God is love, God is light and God is spirit. In the last post we looked at the statement that "God is light" (1 John 1:5). I expressed my belief that what is meant by "God is light" is that He is the source of all truth, all life, and all goodness.
Today, we'll examine God's own declaration that He is spirit.
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:24 ESV)
The Invisible Made Visible
About 50 years ago, the Russian cosmonaut, Yury Gagarin—the first human launched into space—reportedly returned to Earth with a simple message (likely just Soviet propaganda) aimed at mocking the Judeo/Christian foundations of the United States: “I looked and looked and looked, but I didn’t see God.”
Shortly thereafter, John Glenn became the first American astronaut to orbit the earth. After his final trip into space in 1998, Glenn told reporters, “To look out at this kind of creation and not believe in God is to me impossible. It just strengthens my faith.”
One person can't see God anywhere. Another sees God everywhere. How can this be? Perhaps the most obvious thing about being spirit is that God is not visible to those of us in the temporal world . . . or is he?
For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Romans 1:20 NIV)
Note the oxymoron in the verse above. "His invisible qualities . . . have been clearly seen." Clearly (pun intended), that which is invisible can be perceived. Although he is spirit, God powerfully manifests himself through his creation so that no one has an excuse to deny his existence. All we have to do is look around. God is there.
In addition to unveiling himself to the world through his creation, God, the invisible spirit, has given us a beautiful revelation of himself in Jesus.
[Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. (Colossians 1:15 ESV)
In Jesus, God became/becomes visible. In the verse above, it is important to note that Paul uses the present tense of the verb, "Jesus is the image of the invisible God." The apostle Paul understood that there is a very present and eternal aspect to God who, although he was "made flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14) so many years ago, he is still available to be experienced through faith and fellowship with his Son and with other believers. Amazingly, the more we contemplate Jesus - God, the spirit-made-visible - the more we become like him (2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV).
Spirit to Spirit
In his first letter to the saints in Corinth, the apostle Paul confirms the generally accepted notion that, as humans created in God's image, we have all been given a spirit by the God who is spirit. He writes, . . . If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15:44 ESV). The Bible seems to teach that this spirit in each of us serves as a conduit through which God "speaks" to us, Spirit to spirit.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God (1 Cor 2:12 KJV). And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. (1 Corinthians 2:13 ESV)
Because God, the spirit, desires to "speak" to us, he has embedded in each of us a device - the human spirit - that allows us to "hear", understand, and respond to Him (1 Cor 2:14). It is through this amazing enablement of Spirit-to-spirit communication that God the Father graciously conveys to us important spiritual messages, such as our status as his beloved children and fellow heirs with his Son.
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:16-17 ESV)
This is one reason why it is so important that we find quiet time each day to meet with God and to hear the still, quiet whisper of his voice.
Final Thought
When Rene Descartes proclaimed, "I think, therefore I am", he had come to the conclusion that the simple reality of his contemplation was proof of his very existence. "We cannot doubt our existence while we doubt", he noted in the margin.
When the writer of the book of Hebrews says that "faith is . . . the evidence of things not seen" (Heb 11:1 KJV), he is telling us that the simple reality that we all have faith is proof that God exists. "We have faith, therefore God is."
Finally, if, like Yury Gagarin, we still can't see the God who is spirit with the eyes in our heads, we need to ask him to open the eyes of our hearts (Eph 1:18).
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, (Ephesians 1:18 NIV)
Afterword
In a previous post, I mentioned that there is a sense in which God is the ultimate example of "irreducible complexity." All of God's attributes function unitedly together, and if any are diminished, distorted or eliminated, the deity in question is not God.
If a deity is not love - that is, if he/she/it does not desire goodness and well-being for all - such a deity is not the God of the Bible.
If a deity is not light - that is, if he/she/it does not give life, spiritual understanding and comfort - such a deity is not the God of the Bible.
If a deity is not spirit - that is, if he/she/it does not supernaturally communicate his majesty, goodness and fellowship to our spirit - such a deity is not the God of the Bible.
Amen and amen.
Next Post: "Papering the House"
Here is a link: https://www.bibleinsights.net/post/post-48-papering-the-house
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