Who Does God Think He Is?: A Study into the True Nature of God

©2015 by Stephen Hickman

©2015 Dust Jacket Press / SHICK Books

Who Does God Think He Is?: A Study into the True Nature of God

ISBN: 978-1-943140-69-5

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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from New International Version.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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D E D I C A T I O N

To my late parents Lanham and Charlotte Hickman for their exemplary faith. To my siblings John, Edward, Grace, Dean, and Molly and families for their endearing friendship. To my first Free Methodist congregation in Greenacres, Florida and my present FM congregation in New Castle, Indiana for their encouraging fellowship. Last but not least, to my wife Joann, my sons Derek and Scott and families for their endless favor.

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

COVER

TITLE

COPYRIGHTS

DEDICATION

INTRODUCTION

PART ONE: Exploring God’s Fundamental Essence

CHAPTER ONE: God’s Opposite

CHAPTER TWO: God’s Formal Introduction

CHAPTER THREE: A Fascinating Expression

CHAPTER FOUR: God’s Full Exposure

CHAPTER FIVE: Holiness: God’s Fundamental Essence

PART TWO: Extracting God’s Fundamental Essence

CHAPTER SIX: Goodness: The Expression of Holiness

CHAPTER SEVEN: Righteousness and Justice: The Extension of Holiness/Goodness

CHAPTER EIGHT: Goodness Questioned

CHAPTER NINE: Goodness and Suffering

CHAPTER TEN: Meaningful Choice

PART THREE: Exclaiming God’s Fundamental Essence

CHAPTER ELEVEN: God’s Foremost Desire

CHAPTER TWELVE: Love: The Evidence That God is Holy/Good

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: God’s Ultimate Demand for the End of Our Age

PART FOUR: Experiencing God’s Fundamental Essence

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Principles of Grace

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: A Portrait of Grace

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: A Pattern for Grace

ENDNOTES

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I N T R O D U C T I O N

FACING AN IDENTITY CRISIS

Years ago, a television program called To Tell the Truth created for its viewers the following premise:

A panel of three guests was given a short biography of a successful person whom they had never seen or met. This mystery person would then enter the room with two others and, when asked to identify themselves, all three would respond that they were this individual. From the short biography the panel of guests would then question each mystery person in order to determine who was telling the truth and who was not. Then each guest would guess which of the three he or she believed the real mystery person was. The host of the show would then say, Will the real Mr. or Mrs. _______ please stand up?

Today, with all the tragedies that have hit our world, including 9/11, the Asian tsunamis, hurricane Katrina, and hurricane Sandy, the Church, as well as society, is asking for the real God to identify himself and explain, Who does God think he is in allowing such tragedies to occur? Yet, God continues to veil himself, either because the wrong questions are being asked of him, or the so-called expert’s biography of him is distorted. I believe both cases to be partly true. Let me illustrate.

When dealing with these tragedies, many hurting people have questioned the nature of God by asking, What God would allow such awful tragedies to take place? If we answer this question by identifying God as a loving God who cares for humankind, then they respond mockingly by saying, What a joke! If that is love, then I want no part of it. If we answer by identifying God as a sovereign God who controls the affairs of mankind, then they respond skeptically by saying, If he is sovereign, then why didn’t he stop these tragedies from happening, especially when the majorities were natural disasters? He should at least be blamed for allowing Mother Nature to overstep her boundaries.

Now, the two answers given concerning the love and sovereignty of God were factual but were the wrong answers to the above question. You see, if God’s nature is primarily love and/or sovereignty, then he should have saved those that perished or should have stopped those tragedies from occurring. But the underlying answer goes much deeper than God’s love or sovereignty. It centers on the true nature or identity of God, which when known and truly understood, sets him apart from the question itself and also apart from those who asked it.

Who does God think he is? Well, he knows who he is, but apparently we do not, for if we did we would not give such answers to a suffering, hurting people. Instead, if God really needs to be defended, we could answer the above question with a question, as Abraham did when faced with the imminent destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham looked the angel of the Lord in the face and asked, Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?¹ The Lord’s reply to Abraham clearly implies the answer to be: Of course he will.

In the following chapters, I pray that you and I will get such a glimpse of the true nature of God that once we experience his glorious presence, we will so fully love and trust him that never again will any person, problem or peril shake our confidence in God or require us to defend him. Instead, may we join with the choir in heaven as they sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb:

Great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty.

Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations.

Who will not fear you, Lord, and glorify your name?

For you alone are holy.

All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous deeds have been revealed.²

P A R T O N E

EXPLORING GOD’S FUNDAMENTAL ESSENCE

C H A P T E R O N E

GOD’S OPPOSITE

During my years of teaching in the classroom, I met many students with questions concerning the nature or character of God. To stimulate them in their search for answers, I would ask them to finish the following statement: Black is to white as Satan is to ______. The answer they gave would reveal how much they truly understood about God’s character.

Before we explore the correct answer, let’s go back to another classroom where God, who goes by the name Lord, is the teacher and the Old Testament saints are the students. The class I will call, Introduction to God 101 and to begin the class I will have God give the students a pre-test to evaluate their knowledge of who he is. The pre-test contains the six questions below. (Although I have created this setting in my mind, yet the questions are direct quotes from Scripture, as well as the dialogue between God and one of his students.) Why don’t you and I take the test as well?

1. ‘To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?’ says the Holy One.¹

2. Who has understood the mind of the Lord, or instructed him as his counselor?²

3. Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way?³

4. Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding?⁴

5. In comparing humankind to the Lord, how would he regard all the nations of the earth?⁵

6. To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare him to?⁶ Before the teacher can collect the papers and go over the answers, a student by the name of Job, one who has recently suffered some great tragedies, raises his hand to interrupt the

Lord, desiring to put him to the test by asking him questions. When the Teacher seemingly ignores Job, then Job mutters under his breath, Oh, that I had someone to hear me! . . . let the Almighty answer me.⁷ I would give him an account of all my steps; like a prince I would approach him.⁸ God, realizing that Job really doesn’t know to whom he is talking, nor what he is talking about, finally stops the class long enough to answer Job.

He says to Job: "Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words? Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? . . . Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east? Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth, to bring an end to the night’s wickedness? . . . Can you direct the movement of the stars – binding the clusters of the Pleiades or loosening the cords of Orion? Can you direct sequence of the seasons or guide the Bear with her cubs across the heavens? Do you know the laws of the universe? Can you use them to regulate the earth?⁹ Now, these are only a few of the barrage of questions God asks Job. As a matter of fact, God asks him fifty straight questions before he says to Job, Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? You are God’s critic, but do you have the answers?¹⁰ When Job realizes he cannot answer one of the fifty questions, he replies to the Lord, I am nothing – how could I ever find the answers? I will cover my mouth with my hand. I have said too much already. I have nothing more to say.¹¹

Job seems to realize at this stage that he is nobody but he still hasn’t realized totally who God is, so God gives him more questions to answer. The Lord says to Job, Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them. Will you discredit my justice and condemn me just to prove you are right? Are you as strong as God? Can you thunder with a voice like his? All right, put on your glory and splendor, your honor and majesty. Give vent to your anger. Let it overflow against the proud. Humiliate the proud with a glance; walk on the wicked where they stand. Bury them in the dust. Imprison them in the world of the dead.¹²

Finally, Job realizes not only who he is, (I am nothing), but who God is, and so he replies to God, I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you. You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’ It is I – and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me. You said, ‘Listen and I will speak! I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.’ I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.¹³

Job returns to his seat, sits down and, finishes the pretest.

The purpose of the above scene is not for us to focus on the teacher or the students but the questions God asks and the answers given. Going over the answers to the questions completes the teacher’s objective for his first class. Let’s go back and listen, as God asks each student to answer each question with a statement:

1. No one can be compared to you, oh Holy One, nor considered your equal!

2. No one has understood the mind of the Lord, or instructed him as his counselor!

3. No one has enlightened the Lord, or taught him the right way!

4. No one taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding!

5. Before the Lord all the nations are as nothing; they all regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing!

6. No one or image can be compared to the Lord! In light of the above answers, what is God trying to teach them and us about his nature and character? These answers tell us the Lord is as follows:

1. The Lord is incomparable: He