The Whole Message of the Bible in 16 Words

God

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CHAPTER 2

God

I probably have a modern Western bias, but I think one of the greatest characters in the history of literature is Bilbo Baggins. In The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien masterfully describes Bilbo’s character as it develops and strengthens in front of our eyes.

At the beginning of the book, we are told that Bilbo comes from a family that “never had any adventures or did anything unexpected: you could tell what a Baggins would say on any question without the bother of asking him.”

But we learn much more about Bilbo as the story unfolds, and by the end of the book, Bilbo does quite a few unexpected things—everything from saving his friends from giant spiders to matching wits with a fire-breathing dragon.

In a similar way, we don’t learn everything about God on the first page of the Bible. As the grand narrative of redemptive history unfolds, we see far more than we do in the opening pages of Genesis.

Unlike the story of Bilbo Baggins, however, what we see in the Bible is not the gradual transformation of a character into a hero. Instead, we see the gradual revelation of the standard for all other heroes. This is why God is the second word we must consider as we trace the message of the Bible.

God Is Our Creator and King

In the very first verses in the Bible, we see a clear picture of who God is: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1 ESV). At his command, light, stars, water, dry land, and everything else came into being. Even if you did not go to Sunday school, that verse probably sounds familiar to you.

It shows that God created all things simply by speaking them into existence. In fact, in Hebrews 11:3, we see even more clearly that God created all things by his word, “so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” If you ever hear theologians talking about creation ex nihilo (“out of nothing”), this is what they mean.

What we see in the Bible is not the gradual transformation of a character (God) into a hero. Instead, we see the gradual revelation of the standard for all other heroes.

Not only did God create all things, but he is also in charge of all things. As the Psalms say many times over, God is on his throne, ruling over all his creation. Back in Genesis, we can see he is in charge of his creation because he had authority to pronounce it good (Genesis 1:31).

Then he entrusted the care of his creation to Adam and Eve. He is the King, and he entrusted his kingdom to us. That one did not turn out too well—or so it seemed. But our sin does not undermine God’s right to reign or his majesty as King. He does not need us to rule the world. So we can also see that God’s self-sufficiency is an important implication of his rightful place as Creator and King.

God Is Self-Sufficient

Have you ever thought about God’s self-sufficiency? Theologians used to call it his aseity, which means, “from himself.” All God needs is from himself. But we are dependent beings. No plant created itself. The dry land did not appear before God commanded it to. And human beings would not exist apart from God speaking us into being.

Creation, then, teaches us that God is completely self-sufficient. If the universe thundered into being when he told it to, how could God lack for anything? The psalmist conveys the words of God: “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine” (Psalm 50:12 ESV).

Despite this lesson from creation, it is easy for us to think that God needs us. Well-meaning Christians sometimes think that God created the world, and especially people, because he needed companionship, kind of like an elderly woman who gets a cat to keep her company.

But in spite of what we might like to think, God does not need us.

In Acts 17, Paul told the philosophers in Athens, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (vv. 24–25 ESV). He does not need us. But we desperately need him. And he has decided to show us mercy.

The famous American pastor and theologian Jonathan Edwards wrote, “It is no argument of the emptiness or deficiency of a fountain that it is inclined to overflow.” What he means is that we never look at an overflowing fountain and think: “That fountain sure was missing something. It really needed dry ground to spill some water on.”

If anything, we think just the opposite—that the fountain had not a lack but an abundance! And this is how God is for us. He does not lack anything, but he overflows in mercy to us!

As we move through the story of the Bible, we see that dependency always remains a one-way street. God simply does not need us, but we desperately need him, because without his gracious intervention in history, we would be in serious trouble.

God Is Our Judge

After God entrusted his kingdom to Adam and Eve, they quickly disobeyed him and ate the fruit, as we saw in chapter 1. So he cursed the ground and sentenced them to death. Do you think this was rather harsh?

But consider what Adam and Eve did (Genesis 3). The God who had created them and provided for their every need also gave them a simple directive: do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But rather than trusting God’s kindness to them, they doubted him and assumed they knew better.

This was not an innocent mistake—it was a deliberate rejection of God’s authority over them. It was nothing short of treason against the God who had made them.

So he had every right to judge them. It would have been entirely just for God to wipe them out then and there. But he did not. While they still had to face the consequences of their sin, God showed them mercy even in the midst of his judgment, promising to crush the head of the Serpent one day (v. 15). So in judgment of sin, God also showed mercy to his people.

Many people have a picture of God as a vindictive judge, waiting to pounce on us as soon as we step out of line. But in reality, God’s judgment of sin should give us hope.

Think about it. There is so much evil and pain in the world. On the day I’m writing this, I’ve already heard about ongoing terrorism in the Middle East, including terrible persecution of Christians; the suicide of a well-known actor; and some nasty flooding in my hometown.

If we believe that this is just the way it is and that there is no hope for justice, for peace, for God setting things right again, then not only will we tend toward depression, but we also will deny some of the most important teachings of the Bible. Hebrews 12:23 tells us that God is the Judge of all. Even though this is a serious warning, it should also give us hope.

Content taken from The Whole Message of the Bible in 16 Words by Chris Bruno, ©2017. Used by permission of Crossway.
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