Articles
Our Concept of God
Our Concept of God
Dave Chamberlin
What do you visualize in your mind when you think of God? I know that many people think of Him as an old man dressed in a long flowing robe, with white hair and beard sitting upon a throne like an aged Arthur of Camelot. Some visualize Him as an angry, vindictive God, One who is always ready to punish for the slightest infraction. Much of the visualization process is gained through an ignorance of the Scriptures.
God describes Himself to Moses after the people rebel against Him in the building of the golden calf. Exodus 34: 6, 7 notes:
“Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps loving-kindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children, and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.’”
It is probably best to note that the “visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children, and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations” is the result of those children and grandchildren hating God as indicated in Exodus 20: 5.
My view of God is that which is revealed in the life of Jesus. Jesus replies to Philip in John 14: 9 by saying, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’”
This is the reason why we should not only be good students of the Word but especially of those scriptures that reveal the life and activity of Jesus as He lived upon this earth. A study of the activity of Jesus is absolutely necessary if we are to follow the life of Jesus in our daily walk. How can we “walk in the light” of 1 John 1: 7 if we know little of THE Light?
A proper visualization of God, as some sort of embodied figure, is really not necessary in our maintaining a relationship with Him. A visualization of His basic character is necessary as we use Him as our example of righteous living. The very character of God is seen in Jesus as He walked among mankind for those short but active thirty- three years and then went to the cross for you and me.
