Unveiling the Divine Nature: Who Is God Really?

Vincent Van Gogh depicted spiritual light in every dwelling of his starry night painting except for the church, which remains dark. Wasn’t it Mark Twain who said God created man in his own image and man has been returning the favor ever since? 

Most of us carry in submerged memory a picture of God informed by our parents, childhood influences, faith communities, culture, ancestors, and history. Those images of what God is like are nearly always incomplete yet contain fragments of truth. None are complete distortions; all are deficient.

God as exquisite designer, creator, author of reality; God as provider; God as mighty deliverer from evil – all accurate but incomplete. There is an empathetic therapeutic side to God reaching out for the wounded. A God of justice who champions the causes of the weak and oppressed resonates all through scripture. God is all these things and more.

In extreme cases, God becomes a parody of Godself. Taken too far, YHWH-Yireh becomes a magical Santa Claus. The God, who is love, is imagined to delightfully torture people forever. The Creator becomes an unemotional, distant, engineer.

Additionally, there are false, or nearly false, depictions of God afoot. God as an impersonal force like gravity, or as a warmonger, nationalistic tribal warlord, harsh capricious judge, champion of racism, endorser of coercion, brutal law-enforcer, or distant, detached aloof watchmaker are all common but false concepts of God. Dismiss them out of hand. They are idols.

We are left with a cluster of partial descriptors. Landing on any one of them creates distortions and partial truths that lend themselves to misrepresentation. Honest seekers after truth are not drawn to what is false or fractional.

Is there anywhere where we can find a complete picture of who God really is?

One is tempted to answer, “Yes, in the Bible,” but that would be inadequate because God is depicted variously in the Bible. The Hebrew Scriptures contain descriptions of how ancient people envisioned God, not necessarily what God is truly like. What’s a believer to do?

The final, completely accurate, full and undistorted portrait of God is found only in Jesus. Jesus is the infallible Word of God.

Jesus is the perfect reflection of who God is. Jesus is the exact imprint of God.

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. (Hebrews 1:1-4)

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. …  From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son, himself God, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known. (John 1:14, 16-18)

The Father and I are one. (John 10:30)

I (Jesus) always do what is pleasing to him (God). (John 8:29b)

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, but if you do not, then believe because of the works themselves. (John 14:8-11)

If we desire to know what God is really like, we study Jesus. When we do, we discover that God is love – perfect, pure, unconditional, universal, indiscriminate, self-sacrificial, other-oriented, enemy-forgiving, death-defeating love. God’s love is cruciform. Sit with those descriptors.

God looks like a messiah fixing breakfast for his followers, soothing the brow of the feverish, healing the sick, raising the dead, breaking bread, celebrating a marriage with fine wine, turning the other cheek, forgiving his enemies, eschewing violence, forbidding retaliation, and identifying with rebels, sex workers, tax collectors, and prisoners.

God looks like Jesus embracing children, breaking social norms, and declaring a new upside-down kingdom that is diametrically opposite of empire – a kingdom in which the weak are strong, the last are first, the servants are great, hatred is conquered by love, and death is defeated by dying.

God looks like Jesus washing feet.

God looks like an itinerate, homeless backwoods rabbi.

God looks like Jesus hanging on a Roman gibbet.

God looks like a gardener outside an empty tomb.

Our false and incomplete images of God need to be deconstructed and replaced with the God who is exactly like Jesus, the God in whom there is nothing unchristlike.

Then we need to follow this God by being continually with Jesus, learning from Jesus, how to be like Jesus.

Belief involves action. If I really believe that the firefighter knows the way out of the burning building, I will physically follow her step-by-step. If I really believe Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, I will do what he says to do.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)

Apprentices of Jesus will not resort to violence, manipulation, or coercion. They will love their enemies, turn the other cheek, and willingly go the extra mile. They will forsake material wealth in favor of generosity to the poor. You’ll find them visiting the incarcerated and sick, housing the homeless, and feeding the hungry. You’ll find them living in solidarity with the marginalized, disenfranchised, and oppressed. At considerable cost and risk to themselves, they will confront tyranny and injustice with civil disobedience.

Above all:

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)

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Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.