The other week, my dad asked me to "do a little research" for him: i.e. go through the gospels and write down (from the words of Jesus) what God is like. It was an interesting challenge. Here is the result.
Who and What
God is according to Jesus
In the book of
Matthew: Righteous, Our Sustainer and Provider, the Only One worthy of worship
and service, patient and gracious (allowing time for repentance), to be obeyed,
merciful, pure, generous, light, glorious, truthful, faithful, Holy, just,
loving, good, perfect!, forgiving, our leader, our deliverer, powerful and
glorious, our treasure, all-knowing, our Heavenly Father, hater of lawlessness,
willing to cleanse and heal, our guide and shepherd – we are to follow Him-, our
Healer, the Lord, the One to be feared, the hider, the revealer, the One who
gives us rest, gentle, our judge- to Whom we must give account, greater than
anyone or anything else, the Sower, the Farmer, compassionate, the builder of
His church, the King, miraculous provider, in the midst of His people, angry at
wickedness, the Creator, Designer of Marriage, blesser of children, One who
makes the impossible possible, generous, the One who paid our ransom, the
perfecter of praise, the One who hears and answers prayer, the God of the
living, our teacher, the One who sits on the throne, the only One who knows the
day and hour.
In the book of
Mark: The One who casts out demons, the One who calls sinners to repentance, the
One who delights in doing good, the One who gives more to those who have but
takes away from those who don’t have understanding, the One who is obeyed by the
wind and waves, the One who had great compassion for those possessed by demons,
the One who raises the dead, the One who judges righteously, the One who
multiplies, the One who gave the commandments, the One who gave us His Word, the
One who looks past the outer appearances and sees the inner (secret) things, the
One who rewards faith in Him, the One who opens ears and loosens tongues, the
One who is coming in glory, the One who gave us an example of how to live, the
one who sent Jesus to save us, the One who loves purity, the One who encourages
servanthood and humility, the One who hates false appearances, the One who
withholds forgiveness from those who withhold forgiveness, the Owner of the
vineyard who will destroy the wicked, the One who spoke to Moses from the
burning bush, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the One whom we should hear,
the One we should love with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, the One who
gives us warnings, the One who is with us speaking in and through us, the One
who tells us of things to come, the One who has holy angels, the One who has an
elect, the One whose word will never pass away.
In the book of
Luke: The One whose word gives us life, the One who anoints to preach the gospel
to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and
recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed and to
proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, the One who sent Elijah to the widow
of Zarephath, the One whose power healed Naaman, the One who sent Jesus to
preach the kingdom of God, the One who knows every thought/reasoning in our
hearts, The One who blesses the poor – He gives them the Kingdom of God, The One
who blesses the hungry -He fills them, The One who blesses those who weep- He
gives them laughter, He rewards those who are persecuted for His Name’s sake, He
pronounces woe to the rich, the full, those who laugh now and those of whom all
men speak well, He turns worldly wisdom upside down, He is merciful, He hates
hypocrisy, He blesses those who aren’t offended because of Him, the One who is
pleased when His children spend time with Him, the One who gives the Holy Spirit
to those who ask, the One who gives His disciples authority over every power of
the enemy, the One who blesses those who hear and obey His Word, the One who is
greater than Solomon and Jonah, the One who feeds the birds and clothes the
lilies, He is no respecter of persons, He humbles the exalted and exalts the
humble, He has joy over repentant sinners, the One who avenges His elect, the
One who gives a mouth and wisdom, the One whose name is hated, the One who
bestowed a kingdom upon Jesus, the One who promised the Holy Spirit, the One in
whose name repentance and remission of sins is to be
preached.
In the book of
John:
He loved the
world. He sent His Son to save the world, the One who gives living water, God is
spirit and must be worshipped in spirit and truth, God loves the Son and shows
Him all things that He Himself does, the One who raises the dead and gives them
life, the One who committed all judgment to the Son, the One who should be
honoured, the One who has life in Himself, the One who testified of Jesus, the
One who has set His seal on Jesus, the One who gives the true bread from Heaven,
the One who enables us to believe in Jesus, the One who gives people to Jesus,
the One who wills that everyone who sees and believes in Jesus should have
everlasting Life, the One who draws people to Jesus, the One who bears witness
of Jesus, the one who is pleased by Jesus, the One who is always with Jesus, the
One who honours Jesus, the One who is eternal, the One who knows and loves
Jesus, the One who holds us securely in His hand, the one who sanctifies, the
One who glorifies Himself in our circumstances, the one who honours those who
serve Jesus, the One who told Jesus what to say, the one whose command is
everlasting life, the One who dwells in Jesus, the One who loves those who love
Jesus, the vinedresser who takes away unfruitful branches and prunes fruitful
branches, the one who is glorified when we bear much fruit, the One who gives
what we ask when we ask in Jesus’ name, the One who gave Jesus authority over
all flesh, the One who keeps those He gave to Jesus, the One who gave Jesus a
cup to drink, the One who gave Pilate power.
