Introducing the God of the Bible: In the Beginning God Created the Heavens & the Earth...

By A. B. Brown

THE MOST IMPORTANT CONCEPT IN YOUR BRAIN IS YOUR CONCEPTION OF GOD BECAUSE YOUR CONCEPTION OF GOD WILL DETERMINE YOUR QUALITY OF LIFE ON PLANET EARTH AND WHERE YOU WILL SPEND ETERNITY.

THEREFORE, YOU DESPERATELY NEED TO GET THIS RIGHT.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Nov 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685567668

A. B. Brown

Dr. A. B. Brown was reared in a godly Christian home and saved at age nineteen. He has been married to his lovely wife, Barbara, for sixty-five years. They have two children, Greg and Susan, five grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. He served in the US Army from 1962 to 1964. Brother Brown earned his BA in 1969 (summa cum laude), his MDiv in 1973, and his DMin (4.0) in 2010 at the age of seventy-two. He is a published author and has taught theology and Greek on the college level for thirty years while remaining actively involved in the local church ministry.

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978-1-68556-765-1_Cover.jpg

Introducing

the

God

of The

Bible

In the Beginning God Created

the Heavens & the Earth...

by

Dr. A.B. Brown, B.A., M.Div., D.Min.

3509 Wild Berry Way

Valrico, Florida, 33594

Introducing the God of the Bible

Trilogy Christian Publishers A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Trinity Broadcasting Network

2442 Michelle Drive Tustin, CA 92780

Copyright © 2022 by Dr. A. B. Brown, B.A., M. Div. D. Min.

Unless otherwise noted, all scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. Public domain.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without written permission from the author. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.

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Cover design by: Kelly Stewart

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Manufactured in the United States of America

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN: 978-1-68556-765-1

E-ISBN: 978-1-68556-766-8

Table of Contents

Introduction

God Is Sovereign

God Is a Social God

God Is a Sacred God

God Is Love

God Is Just

God Is Merciful

God Is Gracious

God Is Eternal

God Is Immutable

God Is Omniscient

God Is Omnipotent

God Is Omnipresent

God Is Self-Existent

God Is Spirit

God Is a Trinity

God as Father

Conclusion

Introduction

Any attempt by finite man to introduce the infinite God of the Bible is like an ant trying to eat an elephant in one bite or a blind man trying to describe a beautiful sunset. Finite man trying to describe and introduce the infinite God who made him is like a kid watching a parade through a knothole. He can only describe the small portion of the parade he sees as it passes by the knothole. The finite mind of man can only grasp the infinite God revealed in the Bible in small bites. His mind is not capable of grasping or comprehending God all at once. God is comprehended and enjoyed one delicious bite at a time. The Psalmist extends the following invitation, Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him (Psalm 34:8).

The studies in this book only offer sweet bites of a glorious, majestic God who alone can satisfy the deep longings of the human soul. These studies were initially written as a syllabus for a college theology class. They were titled The Doctrine of God. In revising them, the Lord impressed me to change the title to Introducing the God of the Bible. I did this, but as I began my revisions, the Lord impressed on my mind, AB, if you are going to attempt to introduce Me, why don’t you allow Me to introduce Myself as I introduced Myself in My Word? It eventually dawned upon me that the infinitely wise God who created me and the world I live in could obviously do a much better job of introducing Himself than a pea brain like me could.

It was at that point that the early chapters of the Bible took on a whole new perspective. I then realized that the first ten words of the Bible are God’s initial introduction of Himself to humankind. The ten words, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, exploded with new meaning, importance, and impact (Genesis 1:1). Analyzing the first three chapters of Genesis from this perspective gives a better understanding of the last three chapters of Revelation. A proper understanding of these chapters lays the foundation for understanding the rest of the Bible and life itself.

One thing the people of God and a perishing world do not need is fallen men’s speculations about the sovereign creator God they will face in the judgment. The root cause of humanity’s problems lies with their distortions of the only true and living God revealed in the Bible. Therefore, the main task of the Church in a time of biblical illiteracy and spiritual darkness is to accurately present to a perishing world the only true and living God revealed in the Word of God.

God as Creator

(The Most Important Concept in the Human Mind)

The authority and worthiness of God are based upon Him being the sovereign creator, controller, sustainer, and judge of His creation and creatures. Because they are created in the image of God, humans naturally worship and pattern their lives after their mental image of their creator. A person’s view of his creator determines his worldview, which determines how he lives and where he will spend eternity. Therefore, a person’s concept of his God is the most important concept in his mind. An individual’s concept of God dominates him and defines him. Because humans are created in God’s image as religious worshiping beings, they naturally bow to the authority of their creator.

All men, bow! The atheist, the agnostic, the Humanist, and the pagan all bow. If their creator is one of the millions of imaginary debased gods created by the debased minds of fallen men, they will bow to their pagan deity and his authority. They will live debased lives that resemble the debased god they created in their debased imagination. If they are Humanists, agnostics, or atheists who created themselves via the process of progressive evolution, they worship at the shrine of Self. They bow to the authority of their debased moral code created by their deified and debased human reason. On the other hand, if their God is the holy and loving creator God of the Bible, they bow to Him and His authority. They also conform their lives to His holy and loving image, which is defined in His Word.

It is innate to the carnal nature of fallen men to create imaginary carnal deities to escape the moral authority of the holy and loving God who created them. They create false deities who conform to their debased nature and will tolerate their carnal lifestyle. The Devil knows this and has been in the counterfeit deity business since the fall. He dooms more people to hell with his false imaginary debased deities and their debased moral codes than he does by all the world’s sin dins combined.

The most popular counterfeit deity in modern America is the god of Self. He is the deity of the ancient pagan religion, introduced by the Devil to Eve in the Garden. (Humanism is the dominant religion of modern America.) The second most popular deity of modern America is the imaginary carnal Jesus of the pagan religion of Liberal Christianity. This imaginary Jesus resembles the deity of Humanism in that both deities have a debased moral code based on fallen man’s depraved human reason. Both religions base their origin, truth, reality, and morality on human reason and not on divine revelation. (Ultimately, Liberal Christianity is Humanism attired and deceitfully disguised in Christian terminology.)

As noted previously, because humans are created in the image of God, they are innately religious beings and naturally bow to and conform their lives to the image of their creator. This makes their mental perception of God the most important thing about them. This means that the truth revealed in Genesis 1:1 affirming that God created the heavens and the earth is the core truth of the ages. The fact that God created man and his world is the foundation of reality, truth, and morality. It is indeed the single most important concept in his mind. A person’s response to this one truth determines how he lives on planet earth and where he will spend eternity.

God’s Initial Introduction

of Himself to Mankind

There is a profound logic in the way God introduces Himself to man in the first three chapters of the Bible.

1. In Genesis 1:1, He introduces Himself as the sovereign God. His first ten words to man, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, constitute a bold declaration of His sovereign authority and rule over His creatures and creation. As men’s creator, controller, sustainer, and final authority or judge, they are dependent upon Him for their existence, subject to His sovereign authority, and accountable to Him as their final Judge.

God puts the critical doctrine of His sovereign authority at the very top of His list of the most important things He wants men to know about Him. It is the very first thing He tells men about Himself. God’s sovereign authority and rule as the creator of man and his world is the core truth of the ages. It is foundational to all truth. Any truth interpreted and applied apart from a sovereign creator God is skewed and misleading. This is the starting point of truth, reality, and morality.

2. In Genesis 1:26–30, God introduces Himself to man as a social God. The brief conversation recorded in these opening verses of the Bible reveals a plurality of personal rational beings socially interacting with each other in conversation involving their mind, emotions, and will:

Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in His own image; in the image of God, He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so.

Genesis 1:26–30

Subsequent revelation reveals that this conversation was between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, who constitutes the one true and living God. They are discussing a joint project concerning creating man in their image and after their likeness. They also decide to give man dominion over their creation. This interaction makes them personal, rational, relational social beings who refer to themselves in verse twenty-nine in the singular form using the singular personal pronoun I. This is an assertion that this plurality of personal social beings constitutes the one true and living God and not three gods (Deuteronomy 6:4).

As a social being, God created man in His image and after His likeness as a personal social being capable of socially interacting with his Creator. This critical fact distinguishes man from and elevates him above all God’s other created beings. Apart from this personal relationship and social interaction with his Creator, man can never find meaning and fulfillment in life (Psalm 16:11).

3. In Genesis 2:15–17, God introduces Himself to man as a sacred or a holy God of perfect purity who expects man to honor Him by obeying Him:

Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.

Genesis 2:15–17

The death penalty for violating His holy command demands that man reverence and respect God as a sacred holy Being who keeps His Word. God’s holy nature is further amplified in (3:14–19) when He curses man and creation for their sins. The ultimate death penalty for sin is seen in the slaying of an animal to provide a covering for Adam and Eve’s sin-cursed bodies (3:21). This illustrates the coming death of Jesus to provide the only acceptable covering for the sins of sinful men by His substitutionary atoning death on the cross.

4. In Genesis 2:15–17 and in 3:8–15; 21 which are given below, God introduces Himself as a loving, smiling, saving covenant God who relates to those who trust in Him in a personal faith covenant:

Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, Where are you?

Genesis 2:15–17; 3:8–9

God’s command in Genesis 2:16–17 for Adam not to eat the forbidden fruit is a covenant promise requiring Adam to trust Him and prove that trust by not eating the forbidden fruit. By trusting Him, he could remain in the Garden Paradise. God’s pursuit of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:8–9 down through the trees of the Garden immediately after the fall and crying out to them, Where are you? proves that He is a loving, smiling, saving God.

This trust demanded in Genesis 2:16–17 was not a mere mental assent to the facts of the covenant. Neither was it a mere emotional response that said a mere thank you, although genuine faith does involve both. This faith involved an act of the will. It demanded an active response that said to God, I believe Your warning and will act on it by not eating the forbidden fruit. The following paraphrase explains what God was telling Adam. He was saying:

Adam, as a holy, loving, rational, and social being, I created you in my image as a rational social being capable of socially interacting with Me. I placed you in My Garden Paradise to enjoy a personal social relationship with you based on faith. You can prove the reality of your respect and trust in Me as a God of integrity by not eating of the forbidden fruit. If you continue to prove the reality of your faith by your continued obedience, we will continue to enjoy our covenant relationship and you may remain in my Garden Paradise. However, if you do choose to exercise the limited freedom that I have granted you; and if you choose to disrespect Me as a holy and loving God of character and out of that unbelief eat of the forbidden fruit; you will surely die an immediate spiritual death, be cast out of My Garden Paradise, eventually die a physical death, and be cast into Hell when you die physically.

This was not a covenant based on works. Adam’s works or obedience grew out of His faith. Good works are not the roots of salvation; they are the fruits of salvation by grace through faith. Genuine faith always demands an active response. James verifies this when he writes, For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also (James 4:26). If Adam and Eve had believed that they would die if they ate the forbidden fruit, they would never have gone near the tree. They ate because they believed the Devil’s scurrilous attacks on the character of God and no longer believed that they would die if they ate the forbidden fruit. They ate out of unbelief. The sin of Adam and Eve was not in the act of eating the forbidden fruit. Their sin was the unbelief that had already taken place in their hearts that moved them to take and eat the forbidden fruit.

God as a smiling, loving, saving covenant God is seen in His immediate response to the fall of Adam and Eve. Legally, God could have immediately banished Adam and Eve from the Garden, killed them physically, and cast them into hell. Instead, He responded in justice, mercy, and grace. God acted justly by confronting and punishing their sin. He acted in mercy by not immediately killing them and casting them into hell. He acted in grace by slaying an animal to provide a covering for them.

The One True and Living God

The Bible reveals that there is only one true, living, sovereign God who is an immaterial spirit Being who exists as a Trinity of coequal and coeternal persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each member of this Trinity is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, immutable, eternal, holy (perfectly pure), loving, just, merciful, and gracious. God is a personal social being with mind, emotions, and will. He has an intense desire for fellowship with humanity, who He created in His image and after His likeness, with the capacity to enter a personal, intimate relationship with their Creator. As the creator, controller, sustainer, and judge of man and his world, God’s sovereign authority over His creation and creatures are absolute, and nothing lives or moves unless He approves.

The Attributes of God

The God of the Bible can be introduced, but He can never be fully introduced. He can be comprehended, but He can never be fully comprehended. Attempting to comprehend God is like standing at the foot of an extremely tall mountain that towers far above the cloud covering that surrounds its base. It is only possible to accurately see and discern that part of the mountain below the clouds, but even then, one can only see the part which is within the limited scope of his vision.

That part of the mountain that is below the clouds can only be viewed in small patches as one circles the mountain. However, those patches which God’s people see, they see accurately. Because God cannot be known comprehensively does not mean that He cannot be known accurately. Every truth about God revealed in His Word and His creation is accurate. In eternity, God will be gradually raising that cloud hovering around the foot of the mountain of His infinite being. His children will be learning glorious truths about their infinite Father and enjoying His kindness. God affirms this truth in the following declaration:

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:4–7

These patches of the mountain below the clouds that fall within the scope of human sight are truths that describe and define who God is and how He operates. These descriptive truths are called attributes. They describe God in language that brings Him within the comprehension of man’s finite mind. God’s attributes are outstanding truths inherent in His being and essence. They are not the subjective rationalizations of man. God’s attributes are real and objective truths about God revealed in His Word that define who He is in terms finite men can comprehend.

God’s attributes of holiness, love, justice, mercy, grace, immutability, eternality, omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence are