WHO IS GOD?

[6]Before we can know God and understand his great plan it is first necessary for us to believe that he exists and that he rewards all who diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:6) But how can we believe?  We must first have some knowledge.  But how can we know that there is a great God?  Let us look at some of the simpler things about us and reason upon the matter.

[7]Look at the flowers in your garden.  Out from the same soil grow the many varieties of different hues and colors.  Likewise from the same soil spring the divers kinds of trees, bringing forth different fruits at different seasons of the year.  Some wisdom superior to man’s must have arranged these things.  Observe the broad fields, the lofty mountains, the mighty rivers, and then behold the ocean, exhibiting unlimited power, upon the waves of which majestically ride the great ships.  Are we not compelled to conclude that there was a wise One, who created these things, greater than anything we see?

[8]Now gaze into the silent heavens above you, and there number, if you can, the stars and planets which are noiselessly moving through space.  Many of these are far greater than the earth, and yet each one hangs in its place and moves noiselessly about in its orbit.  Surely they could not have come there by chance, but the reasonable mind must say that a Creator greater than the planets put them there.  When King David looked at these wonders of creation he was so impressed with the greatness of their Creator that he wrote:  “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork.  Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.  There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.  Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.”—­Psalm 19:1-4.

[9]Consider man.  What a wonderful piece of mechanism is his body!  The framework is there; the muscles that hold each part in place; the nerves, like a great electrical system by which messages are conveyed from the brain to all parts of the body.  He has power to reason and to plan and carry out these plans.  Truly no machine can be compared to man for intricacy of construction and harmony of action.  Who, then, is the Creator of this wonderful thing?  We must conclude that there was a great First Cause who made and put into action all things visible in the universe, as well as things to us invisible.  And who is he?  Jehovah is his name; the great God of the universe.—­Psalm 83:18; Genesis 17:1; Exodus 6:3; 20:2-5.

[10]The name Jehovah means self-existing one.  He was without beginning and without end, and of him Moses wrote:  “From everlasting to everlasting thou art God”. (Psalm 90:2; Isaiah 26:4) He is the great Almighty Jehovah God and there is none other besides him, and his honor and dignity none other possesses. (Isaiah 42:8) He is the great all-wise Creator of all things that are made. (Isaiah 40:28; Genesis 1:1) The four great and eternal attributes of Jehovah are justice, power, love, and wisdom. (Ezekiel 1:5,6) These attributes work together in exact harmony at all times; and in various times and ways he makes manifest these attributes.  At certain times he has specially manifested such attributes.