The Nature of God
God – Incomprehensible, Yet Knowable
Lesson 1
We think that we know the God who created us, yet
how can we be so confident? We do not seem to
see how feeble our understanding is. We are
oblivious to the fact that our character betrays our
ignorance. Could it be that we are so unaware of
His majesty and greatness, that we do not realize
our poverty? What would we discover if we were to
spend more time silent before His presence? How
can we be sure that He is even knowable?
We must seek to understand Him as He is, because
all truth is rooted in His character. Today, our
culture tends to think of God as far away,
uninvolved and mostly irrelevant. Christians too
have conformed to the modern spirit. We have
great thoughts of our own abilities. At least we are
wrapped up in thinking about ourselves, while for
many of us God often seems remote, impractical
and important mainly for a ticket to heaven or help
in a crisis. We want to be closer to Him, but the
awareness of the reality of God’s presence in our
everyday lives often seems to allude us. We barely
grasp how awesomely majestic He is, tending
rather to think of Him as a good buddy, a nice guy
who has some clout and might help us out when we
get trouble or perhaps someone with a little more
power than we have who is often unhappy with us.
Whatever our view of God, we do not begin to do
Him justice, thinking of Him as the Majesty that He
is. Our songs betray us. Our prayers, or lack of
them, reflect our spiritual shallowness. The way we
conduct our every day lives and relate to one
another shows how truly ignorant we are of God’s
character. Yet, I read a book recently written by a
popular pastor who said we are all so familiar with
God’s character that it is not necessary to teach
about it again. It is closer to the truth to say that
what we may know in our heads is foreign to our
hearts. And even what we know in our heads is
dangerously shallow.
We Need to Know God
Over the past three to four centuries, there has been
a major change in the way people think, and we are
hardly aware of it because we are so new to the
scene. We assume that the mindset of today is quite
normal. What we do not realize is that the
naturalistic outlook of the Renaissance has been
working like cancer in Western thought.
Philosophers of the 16th and 17th centuries denied
that God had direct and complete control over the
world. Before that it was unthinkable to deny the
existence of some kind of deity (and it still is in
some cultures). Ever since then science, philosophy
and theology have, for the most part, joined hands
to maintain that denial. Skeptics set themselves up
as the authority and sat in judgment on God, raising
doubts about the His very existence, about the
truthfulness of the Bible and the reliability of
biblical history. Since the Bible was suspect,
feeling and reason replaced its authority as the
guiding lights. The knowledge of God was no
longer seen as something that had been given to us
by God in the Bible; rather, people began to pride
themselves in being seekers after God. It became
common to speak of man’s discovering God. Self
grew bigger and bigger in the Western eye, while
God shrank in importance. However, we are not
and cannot be the starting point of our study of
God. If we are going to learn truth, we must begin
with God, since He is the source of all that exists.
There was a time when studying the character of
God was thought to be so important that every child
in church had to learn it and every adult was
expected to know it. Today, the subject is thought
to be boring. We are more interested in trying to
pressure our government into voting in moral laws
than we are in getting to know God intimately. We
are content to busy ourselves in the church and
study Biblical principles that will us in our pursuit
of a successful life, but until we get to know the
One who gives us life, our foundation will remain
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shaky, our spiritual lives weak, our Christianity
little more than a philosophy of life and our minds
easily influenced by our culture. What are we doing
to ourselves by trying to live in a world God
created and runs without making knowing Him the
major pursuit of our lives? It is impossible to live
and think rightly if our ideas about God are
erroneous and inadequate. In fact, look at any area
of your life where you are struggling with sin, and
it is almost certainly an area where you are not
thinking correctly about God.
comprehend and He is able to hide himself, so can
we really know Him as He is?
1) God is beyond our comprehension
According to the Psalmist, there is no object more
worthy of praise and more exhaustless than the
absolute King over all.
Psalm 145:3 Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised,
And His greatness is unsearchable.
It is impossible to search out God’s greatness. No
amount of research can plumb His depths.
How does what we say we believe about God
compare with what we really believe? Is our mental
picture of God accurate? To think of God as
different than He actually is to make up a god in
our own minds. Even Christians try to mold God
according to their thinking and wishes. Then, we
live our lives as if our wrong thoughts about God
are true. That is why we are so weak; why we
struggle so much.
Whenever God wanted to strongly impress upon
His people how important it was to obey Him or to
take Him at His Word, He would remind them of
just who He was. What He would stress was that
He was so great that He was beyond their
understanding. If knowing God is the key to
obedience, why would God press home the fact that
He is incomprehensible? Can we know the
unknowable? Let’s look at a few examples.
The most important thing about any person is his or
her concept of God. Our character always conforms
to that idea. Look at the government of any country
and you can tell what concept those people have of
God. Think about how you react when you do not
have enough money to pay your bills or life seems
out of control. What does that tell you about your
concept of God?
Through the prophet Isaiah, God warned the
Israelites that they would be punished if they did
not change their ways. Again and again He tried to
make them realize who He was, so they would
realize that He alone was God and that His Word
was so reliable it would stand forever. To drive
home His warnings and reassure His people of His
promises, He spoke about Himself.
Therefore, the most important question in our lives
is not how to live, but “who is God?” “What is He
like?” If we can answer that question, we will know
how to live. There can be no higher goal or more
important pursuit than getting to know God. But
what does that mean? Is knowing God an
intellectual study? An emotion? Is it excitement? A
floating feeling? An experience such as seeing a
vision or hearing a voice? Is it having something
jump off the page of the Bible and speak to your
heart? Is that what knowing God is all about?
Isaiah 40:12-25 Who has measured the waters in the
hollow of His hand, And marked off the heavens by the
span, And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure,
And weighed the mountains in a balance And the hills in a
pair of scales? 13 Who has directed the Spirit of the
LORD, Or as His counselor has informed Him? 14 With
whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding?
And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him
knowledge And informed Him of the way of
understanding? 15 Behold, the nations are like a drop
from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the
scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust. 16
Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, Nor its beasts
enough for a burnt offering. 17 All the nations are as
nothing before Him, They are regarded by Him as less
than nothing and meaningless. 18 To whom then will you
liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?
Is God Knowable?
Before we can answer those questions, we need to
ask another question. Is God knowable? We are
desperately in need of a greater knowledge of God.
Yet, the Almighty is beyond our ability to
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Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been
declared to you from the beginning? Have you not
understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is He
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2) God Is Infinite
who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants
are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like
a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. 23
He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the
judges of the earth meaningless. 24 Scarcely have they
been planted, Scarcely have they been sown, Scarcely has
their stock taken root in the earth, But He merely blows
on them, and they wither, And the storm carries them
away like stubble. 25 "To whom then will you liken Me
That I would be his equal?" says the Holy One.
God is beyond our understanding in every way. At
end of a discussion on the history of God’s plan of
redemption Paul burst into praise, quoting from
Isaiah 40:
Romans 11:33-36 33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the
wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his
judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! 34 "Who has
known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his
counselor?" 35 "Who has ever given to God, that God
should repay him?" 36 For from him and through him and
to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
The Lord was saying, “Don’t you realize who I
am?” “Don’t you realize how important it is to
listen to Me?”
Why is God so impossible to fully understand?
Why must He remain so mysterious? Is it because
we are sinners?
When Paul wanted to give a charge to Timothy (a
charge is given at those exceptionally important
moments in life such as when a pastor is ordained)
to live a life of obedience to God, he too appealed
to God’s unsearchable greatness.
Our sinfulness does cause our understanding of
Him to be riddled with error. However, angels are
not sinful and even they do not understand many
things for they long to gain more insight into God’s
glorious work (1 Peter 1:12). God is
incomprehensible because of His greatness, not
because of our sinfulness.
1 Timothy 6:13-16 In the sight of God, who gives life to
everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying
before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge
you 14 to keep this command without spot or blame until
the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which God will
bring about in his own time-- God, the blessed and only
Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone is
immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no
one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might
forever. Amen.
Only another person who was as great as God is
could understand Him completely. However, God
has no rivals. He is unique. There never has been
and there will never be another uncreated, selfexistent Being.
God is immortal, meaning he has life in Himself;
He is self-existent. We derive our life from Him,
for He is the source of life. The Greeks used the
title immortal for their gods, but Paul was saying
that our living God is the only immortal One. He
lives in unapproachable light. Jewish writings often
spoke of the glory of light around the throne of
God. And in the first century, everyone understood
that kings had such great authority that no common
man could dare to approach them. God is the King
of Kings. He is so brilliant that no one can even go
near Him. He is so great that we cannot study Him
like we would anything else. Yet, when our focus is
turned to God and we are challenged to realize that
He is so great that we could never figure Him out,
that very realization moves us to worship and to
obedience. When we realize just who God is and
what He is like, it dawns on us that we can take
Him at His Word.
Isaiah 44:6-8 "Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel
and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: 'I am the first and
I am the last, And there is no God besides Me. 7 'Who is
like Me?
Isaiah 43:10-13 "You are My witnesses," declares the
LORD, "And My servant whom I have chosen, So that
you may know and believe Me And understand that I am
He. Before Me there was no God formed, And there will
be none after Me.
a) We will never fully understand God.
We will never know God fully, perfectly,
completely, comprehensively or exhaustively. To
know Him exhaustively means to know Him as
well as He knows Himself, and He knows
everything perfectly.
Actually, we do not know every possible thing
there is to know about any one thing, no matter
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God Expects People to Know Him
how small or simple. To do so would require that
we understand fully every electron and neuron. So
how could we possibly think we could know much
about God? Everything about God is infinite, and
since we are finite, we will never completely
understand anything that is infinite. Never. Not
even when we are living with God in eternity. He
will always be far greater than we are. For all
eternity, we will never run out of things to learn
about God. He will be eternally fascinating.
The prophet Jeremiah began preaching shortly
before his nation was conquered and the capital city
of Jerusalem destroyed. When God revealed to
Jeremiah that everyone around him was making a
complete mess of their lives, he was torn between a
desire to weep and longing to escape.
Jeremiah 9:3 "They make ready their tongue like a bow,
to shoot lies; it is not by truth that they triumph {3 Or
they are not valiant for truth} in the land. They go from
one sin to another; they do not acknowledge me," declares
the LORD.
But what about 1 Corinthians 13:12 that says,
“Now I know in part, but then I shall know fully, even as
I am fully known.”
The word translated acknowledge is the verb to
know in Hebrew. God was declaring, “they do not
know Me.”
The phrase know fully is an attempt to translate a
Greek word which suggests deeper and more
accurate knowledge in contrast to present partial
knowledge. It is knowledge free from error, but that
is not the same as complete knowledge. Paul did
not say “then I will know all things,” which he
easily could have using the Greek language, if he
had wanted to.
Jeremiah was warned not to trust anybody.
Jeremiah 9:4-6 4 "Beware of your friends; do not trust
your brothers. For every brother is a deceiver, and every
friend a slanderer. 5 Friend deceives friend, and no one
speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie;
they weary themselves with sinning. 6 You {6 That is,
Jeremiah (the Hebrew is singular)} live in the midst of
deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge (or
know) me," declares the LORD.
b) We will never fully understand any single
aspect of God.
Because everything about God is infinite, we
cannot fully understand any single aspect of God’s
character. Everything about God remains a mystery
in its depths. In order to know any single thing
about God exhaustively, we would have to know it
as He knows it. That is impossible, because every
aspect of his character and being are infinite.
The people did not know the Lord. Because of that,
they were disobeying God. Their lack of knowledge
resulted in disobedience. Ignorance of God was the
root cause of their problems.
After explaining that He would have to punish the
nation for their disobedience, God offered a
solution in verse 23.
c) We can know something accurately to the
extent that we know it.
Jeremiah 9:23-24 23 This is what the LORD says: "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, 24 but
let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands
and knows me, that I am the LORD…
Does this mean that we cannot know truth, that
everything we think is full of error? Scripture
makes it clear that we can know truth and are
expected to know it to the extent that God wants us
to understand. We can know something truly
without knowing it completely. It is possible to
know the truth about something without knowing
everything about it. If it was not, why did the God
of truth make such an effort to communicate the
truth to us?
The only hope for any person, no matter how
simple, wise or powerful is found in gaining insight
into and learning to know or become acquainted
with Yahweh. Clearly, God wants and expects
people to know Him.
What do you praise? What motivates or impresses
you? What are you so confident and excited about
that you do not care what anyone thinks? Jeremiah
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was saying that there is no true glory in anything
other than knowing the Lord. All other pursuits are
a waste. Through Jeremiah’s preaching, God was
inviting His own people, not strangers, to come to
know Him.
The promise of the new covenant was the promise
of a heart to know God that would bring people into
a relationship with God and change their behavior.
Instead of forgetting God, they would return to
Him.
What Does It Mean to Know God?
Jeremiah 31:33-34 33 "This is the covenant I will make
with the house of Israel after that time," declares the
LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on
their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my
people.
But what does it mean to know the Lord? How does
the Word of God use the concept?
Look at the result.
Throughout scripture there is a close connection
between knowing God and obeying Him. The two
concepts are almost always mentioned together.
Those who do not know the Lord are portrayed as
disobedient and forgetful of Him. It seems that the
opposite of knowing God is to forget Him.
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No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his
brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all
know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares
the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will
remember their sins no more."
This passage is quoted in Hebrews 8:11. Under the
Old Covenant, a person could be a member of
God’s family and yet have no relationship with
Him. Under the terms of the New Covenant, the
family of God is a spiritual family, so only those
who have a relationship with Him can be family
members.
We can see the same message clearly in the book of
Hosea. God accused Israel of disobeying His Law.
He said there was no knowledge of God in the
nation. Then he invited the people to return to Him,
and challenged them to pursue getting to know
Him. (Hosea 2:20; 4:1, 6; 6:1-3).
The person who has God’s Law imprinted in His
inner being wants to obey God. When the Bible
speaks of knowing God, it is usually referring to
being in a relationship with Him; and the person
who is in a relationship with God is characterized
by obedience to Him.
Hosea 2:20 And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness.
Then you will know the LORD.
Hosea 4:1 Listen to the word of the LORD, O sons of
Israel, For the LORD has a case against the inhabitants of
the land, Because there is no faithfulness or kindness Or
knowledge of God in the land.;
Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject
you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the
law of your God, I also will forget your children.
Hosea 6:1-3 Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has
torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He
will bandage us… 3 "So let us know, let us press on to
know the LORD. His going forth is as certain as the dawn;
And He will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain
watering the earth."
We can see that those who know God are portrayed
as obeying Him and those who do not know Him
are disobedient and forgetful of Him. The contrast
is between those who have a relationship with God
and those who do not. Those who know the Lord
are those who have eternal life, and those who do
not know the Lord do not have eternal life.
When people do come to know the Lord, their lives
change. They come into a relationship with God, in
fact, into a covenant relationship. The new
covenant was promised through the prophet
Jeremiah.
So is it valid to talk about seeking to know God
more intimately, about growing in a relationship
with Him? Is that a scriptural concept?
By the time Moses arrived at Mount Sinai, he had
seen the burning bush; he had heard God speak; he
had seen God do miracle after miracle in Egypt; he
had held his staff out over the water and watched
God part the Red Sea. If anybody was a believer, he
Jeremiah 24:7 I will give them a heart to know me, that I
am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their
God, for they will return to me with all their heart.
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was. He had already experienced God in so many
ways, yet listen to what he prays.
the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit
in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God…
Exodus 33:12-13 You have said, 'I know you by name and
you have found favor with me.' 13 If you are pleased with
me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue
to find favor with you.
The word translated know is a broad term that can
refer to intellectual or experiential knowledge. It
often means to learn to know the object of study in
a way that results in understanding. The object,
which in this case is God, is focused upon and the
mind applied to study. It suggests an acquired
knowledge that comes from exposure and
experience. It is used to refer to relationships or
getting to know a person. Before you write this off
as too intellectual, remember what happens in your
mind when you fall in love with someone. It is hard
to tear your mind away from mauling over every
little thing you learn about or experience with your
beloved. You treasure each tidbit while at the same
time are eager to find out more.
Literally, that I may know You for the purpose of
attaining grace or favor. What does he mean? He
already had favor with God, yet he wants to know
God better, so that he can gain more favor. He
realized that the closer he got to God the better he
would understand Him, and the better he
understood, the more he would know how to please
God.
The apostle Paul had had great revelations, yet
when he expressed the deepest longings of His
heart he said he was pressing on to know Christ.
There is a secret law of the soul that we become
like the one we focus on. We are to fix our eyes on
Jesus, because in that way we become Christlike,
and if we are Christlike, we will be obedient to
God.
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Philippians 3:8-11 What is more, I consider everything a
loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing
Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all
things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9
and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my
own that comes from the law, but that which is through
faith in Christ-- the righteousness that comes from God
and is by faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of
his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his
sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so,
somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Conclusion
The scripture uses the idea of knowing God in two
ways. First, it is used to refer to being a believer,
which is evidenced by obedience. Secondly, it is
used to refer to a growing relationship with God in
the sense of a growing understanding of Him. He
wants us to know Him, even though He is infinite
and therefore beyond our comprehension. In fact,
we will never fully understand Him, not even in
eternity, nor will we ever exhaustively understand
any single thing about Him. Yet, we can understand
Him accurately to the extent that He has revealed
Himself to us. He wants to share Himself with us so
that we can grow in our knowledge of Him and to
keep growing for all eternity. As a believer you
have embarked upon an eternal journey of
discovery.
Paul is expressing a desire to come to know Christ
more intimately. He focuses on Christ, but the
Word clearly teaches that Christ is God and that if
we know Him we know God.
Righteousness, which we are given when we start a
relationship with God, was the basis upon which
Paul wanted to grow in his knowledge of God. In
other words, it is necessary to know God in order to
get to know Him better. We have to be introduced
before the relationship can grow.
Paul’s prayer for believers in Colossians 1 makes it
clear that a growing Christian is one who is
increasingly obedient and is maturing in his or her
understanding of God.
Questions:
1) What is the Biblical concept of knowing God?
Colossians 1:9-10 9 For this reason, since the day we
heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and
asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will
through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 [And
we pray this] in order that you may live a life worthy of
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2) To what extent can a human know God? What
should our response to this be?
3) What can we never hope to know? How should
that affect us?
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