Tag: God

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Bible

The Finger of God

The phrase “the finger of God” occurs four times in the Bible.

The first is when the Egyptian magicians cannot duplicate the feats God is doing through Moses and they say, “This is the finger of God.”

The second and third times are when God gives Moses the Ten Commandments inscribed on stone tablets. What tool was used to etch the message in stone? None other than “the finger of God.”

The final use of the phrase is recorded by Luke. Jesus, when verbally sparring with his detractors, says his power to cast out demons is “the finger of God.”

So “the finger of God” is sufficient to perform wondrous acts that cannot be duplicated, etch messages in stone, and empower Jesus to cast out demons.

If the finger of God can do all that, imagine what the arm of God can do — image what all of God can do.

Now that’s powerful.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

Jesus Knew

In continuing with the story of Jesus driving the demon out of the mute man there’s an interesting phrase. It is “Jesus knew their thoughts.” (In another account about Jesus, the Bible says, “Jesus knew what they were thinking.”)

This suggests a divine power as being a part of Jesus’ human existence. Perhaps this is why it’s been said Jesus was fully man and fully God.

This is a difficult concept to grasp. It’s hard to conceive of divinity and humanity coexisting in one entity. Logic would suggest Jesus could be either fully man or fully God, but he couldn’t simultaneously be both. Yet he was.

While it may be frustrating to some over not being able to understand this, I am not so affected. This is one more mystery of God, which cannot be fully grasped. It reminds me I am finite and he is infinite, I am limited and he is not.

God’s awesomeness allowed Jesus to be man and God at the same time. And when I think about this, I am in awe — and perhaps that’s the intent.

[Luke 11:14-28]

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

God’s Promises to Father Abraham

One of the central characters in the book of Genesis is Father Abraham. God calls Abraham to move to a different place, a location that God would reveal to him as the journey progressed.

Because of Abraham’s obedience and faith. God promised to make him into a great nation. But the story doesn’t end there. As Abraham continues in obedience to God, God keeps promising him more and more.

Consider the following sequence:

“I will make you into a great nation” (Genesis 12:2).
“You will be the father of many nations” (Genesis 17:4).
“I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you” (Genesis 17:6).
“All nations on earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me” (Genesis 22:18).

With each step of obedience, the scope of the promise increases. God’s ultimate promise to Abraham is that all nations will be blessed through him.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

The Best of the Best

The God who is revealed in the Bible is number one.  Consider these explanations of who he is in comparison to all else:

Quite simply, God is over all and above all.  He is numero uno.  He is the Best of the best.

So what should be our response?

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

The Implications of Omniscience

The entry “Omni God” mentioned that God is “omniscient.”  This means that he has total knowledge, knowing everything.

This is a huge and all-encompassing thought that God knows everything about everything everywhere.  It is grand and a bit overwhelming.

Embedded in this idea that God knows all things, is the reality that he also knows me — and he knows you.  He knows all  there is to know about us, including the things we keep to ourselves and even the things about us that we are unaware of.  He knows us individually, in every detail, totally and completely.

It is true that God’s omniscience is huge and all-encompassing, but it also means that he knows us fully and intimately.

God may know all, but he also knows me — and you!

[Also see The Implications of Omnipresence and The Implications of Omnipotence.]

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

The Implications of Omnipresence

The entry “Omni God” mentioned that, among other things, God is “omnipresent.”  This means that God is present everywhere or that he exists in all places, at all times.

This is a grand and awesome concept, to realize that God simultaneously exists everywhere.  It is huge, immense, and at times a bit overwhelming.  Sometimes this reality makes me feel small and insignificant.

However, if God is everywhere, then he is also here, right now.  His omnipresent reality allows him to be here with me and to be with you — wherever you may be and wherever you may be there.

Yes, God’s omnipresence is big and grand and all-encompassing; it also means that he is intimate and personal, and readily accessible.

God may be big, but he’s also here, right now, for each of us.

[Also see “The Implications of Omniscience” and “The Implications of Omnipotence.”]

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

God Personifies Love

God is the personification of love — and he loves us.

Some people look at their life, the good things they do and the bad things they don’t do, thinking that they are good and therefore worthy of God’s love.

Others consider their life, the bad things that they do and the good things that they don’t do, concluding that they are bad and therefore unworthy of God’s love.

The truth is that there is nothing we can do that will make God live us any more and nothing that we can do that will cause him to love us any less.

God’s love for us is perfect and unconditional.  We can’t earn it and we can’t lose it.

God is love.

[See 1 John 4:8 and 16, Psalm 89:28, and Lamentations 3:22, and many others.]

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Was, and is, and is to Come

The apocalyptic account in the book of Revelation, talks about the “beast,” saying that from the point of the end times, he “once was and now is not.”

Compare that to the characterization of God, which states that he “was, and is, and is to come.”

That is a marked difference — and comforting one, too.

For God, that means his existence is in the past, the present, and the future.  Whereas the beast has no future.  The beast’s existence, therefore, is limited and finite, while God’s existence is unlimited and infinite.  God will prevail; the beast will be defeated.

[See Revelation 17:8, 11, Revelation 4:8, and Revelation 19:20.]

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

God as Your Copilot

A friend asked for prayer, that she would allow God to be her copilot.  This is a good step for her, but it misses the point of what God truly desires.

You see, a copilot is there to help the pilot should unforeseen circumstances occur or the pilot become incapacitated. The pilot is still in charge and is the one flying the plane; the copilot is there in a secondary support role.

God doesn’t want to be our copilot; he wants to be in charge and for us to depend on him to take us where he wants us to go. That is hard to do, especially in a world that tells us that we need to always be in control and remain independent.

Relegating God to copilot status maintains our control, doing things our own way, yet keeps God close enough to rescue us if we get in a jam.

Having God be our copilot is certainly better than us flying solo, but what he really wants is to pilot our plane, taking us where he wants us to go.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

Making God in Our Image

It is popular in today’s society for people to form their own religious beliefs and define their own personal spirituality.  On the surface this seems right, fair, and appropriately open-minded.  It is the epitome of tolerance and acceptance.  It is also dangerous.

If I decide that there is no hell, does that mean it doesn’t exist, thereby keeping me from it?  If I decide that doing good things can earn God’s attention and eternal favor, does that negate the punishment I deserve for the wrong things that I do and the need to be made right with the creator?

In a more down-to-earth example, what if I determine that there is a justifiable reason (that is, “extenuating circumstances”) to speed, does that protect me from a speeding ticket or remove the consequences for the accident that I may cause?  Of course not!

Too many people take a bit of this religion and that religion, stir in some popular opinion, and top it off with their logic and self-interest.  The result is not a bona fide religion or cohesive belief system, but false hope in a false belief, which produces only good feelings and nothing else.

In essence, this popular approach is an effort to make God in our image.  We forget that he created us in his image.

[See Psalms 100:3 in The Message.]

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.