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In this article I am going to address a subject which I have thought about for a number of years now. I already know in advance that some of my Christian brethren will probably find certain parts of it controversial. Others may even consider it blasphemous or heretical. But perhaps there will also be those of you who upon reading it, will think to yourselves, "Wow! I have also considered those very same things. I have wondered about them for a long time as well!". Regardless of how you the reader view what I am about to share with you, I want you to know that I am simply and very honestly revealing some of the thoughts which have passed through my head in recent years.

Basically, this article is about the nature of God. That is to say, who He is and what He is like. No, sorry, but I will not be tackling one of the biggest question -- that is to say, where did God come from? -- because I honestly do not know the answer to that question. The truth of the matter is that there are some things regarding God, His Kingdom, and the way He operates which we will never understand in this present life with our limited minds. I am reminded of the following Bible verses:

"LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep."


"Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it."


"Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable."


"As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all."


"Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding."


"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."


"Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number:"


"Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number."


"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!"


So if you personally believe that someday you are going to fully understand God, well, my friend, my advice is that you just stop entertaining such a foolish notion, because it is never going to happen. However, there are some things we can learn about God by reading the Bible. To begin with, the Scriptures inform us that He is eternal, meaning that He has always existed. He is the Ancient of Days and the Alpha and the Omega -- the beginning and the end -- whose years cannot be numbered. Consider the following group of verses which verify these points:

"I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the ANCIENT OF DAYS did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire . . . I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the ANCIENT OF DAYS, and they brought him near before him . . . Until the ANCIENT OF DAYS came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom."


"Behold, God is great, and we know him not, neither can the number of his years be searched out."


"But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."


"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty . . . Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea."


"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last."


In additional to teaching us that God is eternal in nature, the Holy Scriptures also inform us that He is a great God and the God of gods, and that there is absolutely none other like Him, for He alone is God. All others are merely false idols and the creations of misguided men. Again, consider the following group of verses which confirm this point:

"Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else."


"Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:"


"For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:"


"The LORD God of gods, the LORD God of gods, he knoweth, and Israel he shall know; if it be in rebellion, or if in transgression against the LORD, (save us not this day,)"


"[A Psalm of Asaph.] God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods."


"Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works."


"For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods."


"For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens."


"Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols: worship him, all ye gods . . . For thou, LORD, art high above all the earth: thou art exalted far above all gods."


"For I know that the LORD is great, and that our Lord is above all gods."


"O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever."


"The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret."


Furthermore, we also learn from the Bible that this great, eternal God of gods, whose years cannot be numbered, created all things through His very own son, Jesus Christ. Here are some verses which fully confirm this point as well:

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."


"The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil."


"All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made."


"And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:"


"God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands . . . For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring."


"For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:"


"For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen."


"But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him."


"And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:"


"For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist."


"God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by 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 on the right hand of the Majesty on high;"


"For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings."


"For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God."


"Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear."


"For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:"


"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."


So then, with all of the previous Bible verses, we have now acquired a basic concept of who our God is. Thus far, I have played it safe by simply sharing things with which I know all Christians can agree. That is, assuming that they accept the Bible as the inspired Word of God. But now I want to dig a little deeper and examine the actual nature of God. That is to say, what He is actually like.

One of the first things that comes to mind is the fact that God is NOT a flesh and blood human being as we are. In the Gospel of John, Jesus himself informs the woman of Samaria that God is a Spirit. Furthermore, the Apostle Paul writes that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God". Consider the following two verses as proof of this point:

"God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."


"Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption."


Concerning what Spirit actually consists of and what it may be like, I believe that this is a subject I discuss in the series called "Sex, a Bowl of Soup and the Nature of Angels". Please consider reading it. Now, while I stated that God is not a flesh and blood human being, this does NOT mean that He is not human in any regard. In fact, from all of my studies over the past fifty-two years, I have come to believe that God is very much human in some ways, as I will now begin to explain to you. It is precisely this aspect of the nature of God which has intrigued me in recent years, and why I chose to write this article.

As we just learned, one of the primary differences between us humans and God is that God is comprised of Spirit -- which is eternal -- and not of corruptible, or decaying, human flesh. That is exactly what the Apostle Paul is talking about in the previous verse. I encourage you to read the entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 15. It is quite inspiring. To continue, this natural decaying of the flesh is the very same thing that the Apostle Peter is referring to when he is preaching about the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the Book of Acts. Consider the following group of verses:

"Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses."


So to reiterate, this is what the Bible means when it talks about the corruption of the flesh. It is simply referring to the natural decay of the human body in the common grave. In contrast to this, as far as I know, those things which are made of Spirit cannot decay or be destroyed. Perhaps Spirit can be transformed into something else, but it cannot really be destroyed. As proof of this concept, consider the fact that the Bible indicates that Satan -- who is a fallen angel -- is cast into the Lake of Fire forever and forever. Why not just destroy him considering how wicked he became? Is it perhaps because he cannot be destroyed because he is also a spiritual being? Consider these two verses:

"Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:"


"And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."


Now, while God is a Spirit, as I mentioned earlier, I believe that He is very much human in some ways. To begin with, I am convinced by the Scriptures that God has a human form similar to our own. In other words, a head, neck, torso, arms, hands, legs and feet. Let us not forget that in the Book of Genesis, we are clearly told that God -- meaning God the Father and Jesus Christ -- made man in His image, as we can determine by the following two verses:

"And God said, Let us make man in OUR IMAGE, AFTER OUR LIKENESS: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man IN HIS OWN IMAGE, IN THE IMAGE OF GOD CREATED HE HIM; MALE AND FEMALE created he them."


Now, I have seen some close-minded Christians balk against the idea of God having human form. They just refuse to even consider the possibility that the holy God would have a form similar to our own. The way that some of them try to evade this idea is by suggesting that the previous verses simply mean that God gave man characteristics and emotions similar to His own. However, that is NOT what those verses say at all. When the Bible uses the words image and likeness, it is referring to the actual similitude, likeness, appearance and resemblance of something. If you doubt that this is so, then consider how the Book of Genesis describes the birth of Seth, who was the third son of Adam and Eve:

"And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:"


Now, dear friends, it does not take a rocket scientist to understand that the previous verse is simply saying that Seth looked very similar to his father -- Adam -- just as children continue to look like their parents thousands of years later today. In the following verse, we also see that it is a sin for a man to murder another man. Why? Because man is made in the image of God. He has the same physical form as God, who is a Spirit Being:

"Whoso sheddeth mans blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man."


Now, for those of you who may still not be convinced by the previous verses, let me briefly share with you a few more examples. Throughout the Holy Scriptures, whenever Angels appeared to human beings, what form did they always take? They looked just like us for the most part. In fact, as the Apostle Paul writes, sometimes they blend in so well with humanity, that we don't even know that they are amongst us. Consider the following verse:

"Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares."


Following His resurrection from the dead, what form did Jesus take? The form of a human being. As I discuss in "Sex, a Bowl of Soup and the Nature of Angels", Jesus could still be touched, He could eat food, etc. Yet because of the fact that His body had in some way been transformed, Jesus could also pass right through walls. Furthermore, regarding this very same incident, consider what Luke wrote about it:

"And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit."


In an indirect way, do you understand what those two verses are saying? They are saying that spirits have a human form. How else could the Apostles mistake Jesus for a spirit unless spirits have a human form? In the Book of Revelation, Jesus also has a human form. Not only that, but in various places in both the Old and the New Testaments, we are told that God the Father and Jesus sit on their thrones, which means that they have a human form. As we saw earlier, in describing the Ancient of Days who sits on His throne, the Prophet Daniel says "the hair of his head like the pure wool." He sounds quite human-looking to me.

Last of all, when the Apostle John attempts to bow down and worship the spiritual messenger who appeared to him in the Book of Revelation, that messenger refuses to allow him to do it. Why? Because even though he is now in spiritual form, he was at one time a human being and a prophet, as we easily see by the following two verses:

"And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God."


Thus, over and over again, we see that spiritual beings have a very human form, just like us. Reiterating an earlier point, God made man in His image. If you want to take this one step further, if you conduct a personal Bible study of your own, you will find multiple verses which contain such phrases as "the hand of the Lord", and which mention other parts of the Lord's body. For example, consider how God only allowed Moses to see His back side when He gave him the Ten Commandments:

"And he [Moses] said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen."


So in my opinion, this preponderance of Scriptural evidence convincingly proves to me that God also has a human form. Yes, He is a Spirit, but that Spirit has a human form. I rest my case. I hope you will agree with me. If not, that's okay, because this is not a Salvation issue. While we have now discussed God's eternal nature, greatness, creative power and human form, there is another way in which God is very much like us mere humans. I am referring to the fact that He has characteristics and emotions which are just like ours.

For example, in the Book of Genesis He becomes upset with Adam and Eve due to their disobedience. He curses the ground and condemns Satan. Likewise, God demonstrates regret when He realizes how wicked humanity has become. This results in more anger when He destroys all living things. Later on, His wrath is revealed yet again when He destroys the tower of Babel. Throughout the Old Testament, we also see the anger of the Lord repeatedly kindled against the Israelites due to their constant disobedience and rebellion. In the Book of Revelation, we likewise see God's wrath on full display.

But at the same time, we also see examples of God's great love, mercy, patience and forgiveness. Look at how He loved Abraham and gave him a son in his old age. Look at how God saved Lot and his daughters from Sodom. Look at God's great love, mercy and forgiveness towards King David who committed adultery and second degree murder. Look at how long the Lord waited each time for the Israelites to repent before He was finally forced to lower His rod of chastisement. Despite their many sins, He repeatedly called for them to repent and to return to Him.

Of course, the greatest example of God's love occurred when He sent Jesus to die on a Roman cross for our sins. Today He continues to call out to people to repent of their unbelief, and to accept His precious gift of Eternal Life. There is no greater love than this.

There are also things which the Bible informs us God hates. For example, the Book of Jeremiah states that God hated the fact that the Israelites went and served the false gods. In fact, this is directly tied to another one of God's traits; and that is that He is a very jealous God. The Prophet Amos writes that God grew to hate their feast days. In the Book of Zechariah we learn that God hates liars, and in the Book of Revelation we read that God hated the doctrine of the Nicolaitans.

All of these traits which are attributed to God in the Bible are so very human. Don't you agree? So as you can hopefully see by now, the God we worship is very much like ourselves. He is not some distant, alien-looking creature who has no connection to His creations. The Lord is just a prayer away, and we are much more alike that some people think. Thus, in conclusion, it is my hope that this article will help you to sense a closeness to God that perhaps you have not ever felt before. He knows you. He understands you. He wants to help you if you will simply call out to Him. He is not just your Creator and Father, He is also your friend.

With these thoughts, I will bring this article to a close. It is my hope that you have found it informative, enlightening, and I pray that it has been a blessing in your life as well. If you have an account with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or with any other social network, I would really appreciate if you'd take the time to click or tap on the corresponding link that is found on this page. Thanks so much, and may God bless you abundantly!

For additional information and further study, you may want to refer to the list of reading resources below which were either mentioned in this article, or which contain topics which are related to this article. All of these articles are likewise located on the Bill's Bible Basics web server. To read these articles, simply click or tap on any link you see below.

Beholding the Evil and the Good
Do You Want Love and Light, or Rod and Wrath?
God's Mercy, Judgment and Fallen Angels
Love, Mercy, Forgiveness and Chastisement
Sex, a Bowl of Soup and the Nature of Angels
The Fruits of Disobedience
The Judgment of Angels, Demons and Men

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