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The Meaning of Life
Chapter 2: A Living, Breathing Creator
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Author’s Choice |
Article Perspective: |
Grow in Christ |
God: The Uniquely Preexistent and Uncreated Father
God is a living being. Yet He exists in spirit form without the dimensional constraints of a physical body.
| The Bible frequently acknowledges God to be a living Spirit in contrast to the man-made gods (i.e. idols) worshiped by people throughout time. |
As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So my soul pants for You, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God;
When shall I come and appear before God? |
Psalm 42:1-2 (NASB) |
| “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” |
John 4:24 (NASB) |
Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said,
“I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM;
AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.” |
2 Corinthians 6:16 (NASB) |
| Through the prophet Nathan, King David learned that God would charge one of David’s sons with building a house (a.k.a. a temple) for God. Solomon was the son who was selected. In his prayer of dedication for the temple, King Solomon acknowledged that the temple could only be a symbolic dwelling place for God. Neither the visible sky nor the invisible universe can contain the actual, physical presence of God. |
“When your days are fulfilled that you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up one of your descendants after you, who will be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom.
“He shall build for Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. |
1 Chronicles 17:11-12 (NASB) |
| “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built! |
1 Kings 8:27 (NASB) |
God is a moving, breathing being who willfully and purposefully acts under His own power.
| God is motional. |
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. |
Genesis 1:1-2 (NASB) |
| God’s breath brought the first man to life. |
| Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. |
Genesis 2:7 (NASB) |
| God’s words are intentional and productive. |
| Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. |
Genesis 1:3 (NASB) |
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there without watering the earth
And making it bear and sprout,
And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
It will not return to Me empty,
Without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. |
Isaiah 55:10-11 (NASB) |
All created things have a beginning. God does not have a beginning because He is not a created being. Rather, He has always existed. God’s eternal nature negates His need to participate in some form of reproduction or regeneration. God is, has been, and always will be the only one of His kind.
“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. |
Isaiah 43:10 (NASB) |
Before the mountains were born
Or You gave birth to the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. |
Psalm 90:2 (NASB) |
God’s sustenance does not require participation in metabolic processes. Rather, God is self-existent, which means His existence is solely in Himself. God acknowledges this about Himself when He calls Himself, “I Am.”
Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?”
God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” |
Exodus 3:13-14 (NASB) |
Despite the absence of sexual intercourse, God is Jesus’ biological Father.
| This following prophesy was given many centuries before the birth of Christ. |
“I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD:
He said to Me, ‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.’” |
Psalm 2:7 (NASB) |
| An angel told Mary that she would give birth to the Son of God. |
The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.
And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;
and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”
Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. |
Luke 1:30-35 (NASB) |
| On a trip home from Jerusalem, Jesus’ earthly parents realized that Jesus wasn’t with their caravan. Upon returning to Jerusalem and finding Him listening to and questioning teachers in the temple, His parents asked Him why He caused them so much worry. Jesus offered the following explanation: |
| And He said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?” |
Luke 2:49 (NASB) |
| In the following passages, Jesus acknowledges God to be His legitimate Father. “Abba” is an endearing term for Father, similar to the English word, “Daddy.” |
But Jesus kept silent And the high priest said to Him, “I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.”
Jesus said to him, “You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see THE SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, and COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN.” |
Matthew 26:63-64 (NASB) |
| For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. |
John 5:18 (NASB) |
| And He was saying, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.” |
Mark 14:36 (NASB) |
God is the Spiritual Father of His adopted children on earth.
See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. |
1 John 3:1-2 (NASB) |
For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, |
Romans 8:14-16 (NASB) |
Jesus the Christ: Like Father, Like Son
God is eternal and, therefore, does not need to participate in reproductive processes in order to perpetuate His kind. Yet, before the creation of the world, God made the decision to, at a time of His choosing, plant His seed within the womb of a human female. His seed, Jesus Christ, would be born with a human body, yet possesses God’s essence. This means Jesus would be both fully God and fully human. Details of this promise to mankind are found throughout the Old Testament. The New Testament, particularly the Gospels, detail the fulfillment of this promise.
| Through the profit Isaiah, the Lord God had the following conversation with King Ahaz, approximately 700 years before Jesus Christ was born. Note: “Immanuel” literally means “God with us.” |
| “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. |
Isaiah 7:14 (NASB) |
| Later, to Isaiah, the Lord God continued His prophetic speech: |
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this. |
Isaiah 9:6-7 (NASB) |
| The angel Gabriel was sent by God to deliver the following message to Mary, who would become the birth mother of Jesus: |
The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.
“And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.
…
Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. |
Luke 1:30-31, 34-35 (NASB) |
| On the day of Jesus’ birth, an angel of the Lord appeared to some shepherds and He delivered the following message to them: |
In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night.
And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened.
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;
for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. |
Luke 2:8-11 (NASB) |
In His willingness to be born, live, and die as a human on earth, Jesus Christ demonstrated His symphathy with the human condition. Because Jesus allowed Himself to be the propitiatory sacrifice on behalf of mankind, God elevated His name above all others. To both humans and angels, God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son appear as separate persons. Yet, they are One and the same at their essence.
| Jesus, while living on earth as a human, proclaimed that God and He are one and the same character. |
| “I and the Father are one.” |
John 10:30 (NASB) |
| While God and Jesus share the same essential nature, they do exist as separate persons. |
| yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him. |
1 Corinthians 8:6 (NASB) |
| The Apostle Paul acknowledges that Jesus existed in the very form of God before choosing to accept life within the confines of a human body. |
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. |
Philippians 2:5-7 (NASB) |
| While in this human body, Jesus experienced a death on a cross that God established to be an atoning sacrifice for all of the sins of mankind. After Jesus had accomplished all that God sent Him to the earth to do, God exhalted Him and made Him Lord of all mankind. |
Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. |
Philippians 2:8-11 (NASB) |
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
For to which of the angels did He ever say: “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You”? And again: “I will be to Him a Father, And He shall be to Me a Son”? |
Hebrews 1:1-5 (NKJV) |
In a way that is beyond human comprehension, Jesus Christ existed long before He was planted within Mary’s womb. More specifically, Jesus, possessing the very form and nature of God, always existed and will always exist.
| In a communication Jesus sent (with the assistance of an angel) to the Apostle John, Jesus revealed His eternal nature. |
| I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. |
Revelation 22:13 (NASB) |
| In this Old Testament Messianic prophesy, God announces that there will be a future ruler of Israel. Jesus would be this ruler who not only existed before being conceived within Mary’s womb, but “From the days of eternity.” |
“But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Too little to be among the clans of Judah,
From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.
His goings forth are from long ago,
From the days of eternity.” |
Micah 5:2 (NASB) |
| Christ was not created; rather, He was the Creator. |
| For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through Him and for Him. |
Colossians 1:16 (NASB) |
The Holy Spirit: Another Separate, Yet Intrinsic, Form of God
The Holy Spirit also shares God’s character and nature.
| The Holy Spirit possesses full knowledge and understanding of God’s thoughts. |
| For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. |
1 Corinthians 2:11 (NASB) |
| The Holy Spirit shares God’s omnipresence. |
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me. |
Psalm 139:7-10 (NASB) |
| God communicates with repentant, baptized believers in Christ in an especially personal way — through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. |
| Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” |
Acts 2:38 (NASB) |
| Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? |
1 Corinthians 3:16 (NASB) |
| The author of Hebrews acknowledges the Holy Spirit’s eternal nature. |
| how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? |
Hebrews 9:14 (NASB) |
| The Apostle Peter equates lying to the Holy Spirit with lying to God. |
But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land?
“While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” |
Acts 5:3-4 (NASB) |
The Universe: God’s Creative Power at Work
God created all that exists in the universe. Nothing that exists has come to exist apart from Him. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ, existing as part of the very character and nature of God, is given credit for all of the created matter in the universe.
| The Apostle John, in a revelation from Jesus Christ, sees a scene in heaven with twenty-four elders worshiping God on His throne saying... |
| “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.” |
Revelation 4:11 (NASB) |
| The Apostle John begins his gospel account by proclaiming that the “Word” and God are one at their essence. Then, the “Word” is given credit for all of the created matter in the universe. Shortly thereafter, John explains that the “Word” is the “only begotten” of God: Jesus. |
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. |
John 1:1-3, 14 (NASB) |
| The author of the book of Hebrews refers to the death Jesus experienced while in his human form on the earth. He then specifies that all that has been created has been created for and by Jesus. |
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.
For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. |
Hebrews 2:9-10 (NKJV) |
Conclusion: God Is the Creator, Sustainer, and Embodiment of Life
| A basic summary of this chapter is found in the following words of St. Hilary of Poitiers: |
“It is the Father to Whom all existence owes its origin. In Christ and through Christ He is the source of all. In contrast to all else He is self-existent. He does not draw His being from without, but possesses it from Himself and in Himself. He is infinite, for nothing contains Him and He contains all things; He is eternally unconditioned by space, for He is illimitable; eternally anterior to time, for time is His creation.”
Schaff, Philip, and Henry Wace. St. Hilary of Poitier: Select Works: On the Trinity: Book I. Trans. E. W. Watson, M.A. and L. Pullan, M.A. Ed. W. Sunday, D.D., LL.D. A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church. Vol. 9. Oxford: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1899. 52. Print. Second Ser. |
The Meaning of Life
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