Can I truly know God without gleaning insight from His Word? In the Old and New Testaments, we come to know who God is and how He works. We see what is important to Him and where He places His priorities.
The entire story of Scripture is a window into the character of God and how, out of His infinite love, He relentlessly pursues us.
God starts as the Creator (Gen. 1) and we quickly see what He thinks of sin (Gen. 3 and 6). And while we may not understand how it all fits together as we progress through the book of Genesis, we see God’s promises, like the ones to Abraham (Gen. 12), and can recognize when they are later fulfilled.
We also see how He remains in control even when others try and mess things up like Joseph’s brothers (Gen. 50:20).
And because we see the book of Genesis filled with a myriad of imperfect people through whom God worked, the book opened my eyes to more fully understand God’s grace, when I studied it several years ago.
In Exodus, we see God as the Redeemer of His people, a foreshadowing of Christ as Redeemer. God shares His commandments through His servant Moses in order that the people might have a better understanding of His holiness and be a holy people— set apart for a purpose in a world of pagan nations.
God guided them like the Good Shepherd through the wilderness and to the Promised Land, even when they didn’t deserve it.
Time and time again, through the prophets, we see God longing for His people to come to Him, call out to Him, repent and turn back to Him.
But this cyclical pattern of love, rejection, repentance, and redemption is not exclusive to the Israelites.
We fail Him time and time again, but His love never fails. God is love (1 John 4:8). And out of love, He sent His Son as the perfect sacrifice (John 3:16, Heb. 10:10). God became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14).
Christ died, was buried, and was raised on the third day so that we also might die, be buried with Him in baptism, and walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4).
God also loves us too much to leave us as we are. He is a transformer of lives and a redeemer of souls. He left us His church as a support for one another as we work together (Rom. 12 & 1 Cor. 12) and an instrument through which His Good News is proclaimed, even sending out those who preach (Acts 13:1, 15:3).
We come together in His name to eat the bread and drink the cup, proclaiming the Lord’s death until He comes (1 Cor. 11:26). Until that time, He waits in heaven to make a home with us there (John 14:1-4), but does not cease to be a living and active God, working through His Spirit and His Word to reveal truth, transform, remind us, and heal us.
What a blessing to come to know God more through Scripture!
Did you need a reminder of any of these things you already knew about God, but had forgotten? What characteristics did I miss? There are so many more awesome things about God to share, so please join in the conversation and highlight your favorite facet of God, as revealed through Scripture!