Additional Texts: 1 Kings 8:10-11; Matthew 17:2, Luke 2:8-9, 15:11-32; John 1:14, 18; 17:5; Romans 1:16-17, 3:21-26, 9:15-16; 2 Corinthians 1:3; Ephesians 2:3, 8-9; 1 Peter 1:15-16, 5:10.
As we study the Old Testament, and particularly the Psalms, we notice that the people of God knew and understood His attributes. They talked frequently about them and they even used them in their prayers. Listen carefully to the words of Psalm 99 and see how many of God’s attributes it contains:
“The Lord reigns, let the peoples tremble; He is enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth shake! The Lord is great in Zion, And He is exalted above all the peoples. Let them praise Your great and awesome name; Holy is He. The strength of the King loves justice; You have established equity; You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt the Lord our God And worship at His footstool; Holy is He.
Moses and Aaron were among His priests, And Samuel was among those who called on His name; They called upon the Lord and He answered them. He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; They kept His testimonies And the statute that He gave them. O Lord our God, You answered them; You were a forgiving God to them, And yet an avenger of their evil deeds. Exalt the Lord our God And worship at His holy hill, For holy is the Lord our God” (Psalm 99). It may be of great benefit to our prayers if we would pray like this, remembering God’s attributes. We might find great joy in praising the Lord for the great God He is.
We have strung together twelve gleaming gems in our string of jewels that are the attributes of the living God. We have discovered that the God who created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, has beautiful gleaming attributes that give us descriptions of who He is. So far, we have discovered these attributes of God: He is spirit, almighty, omnipresent, omniscient, sovereign, all-wise, love, immutable, holy, truth, faithful, and eternal. To these, we will add four more brilliant jewels: God is gracious, merciful, righteous, and glorious.
Of course, this is not a complete list of God’s attributes. You can enrich your spiritual life by studying the attributes of God, and I am sure you will discover several others that show further dimensions of God’s holy nature.
GOD IS GRACIOUS. (1 Peter 5:10)
Undeserved Favor. God is gracious because God is grace. He does not simply give grace, He is grace; His character and nature define grace. It was the preaching of the gospel of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ that defined what grace is. The Apostle Paul put it simply, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Grace describes God as perfectly and sovereignly bestowing favor on those who do not deserve or merit His favor because they have forsaken God and His Word and are under the sentence of divine condemnation. The Bible maintains that all men and women are in this condition and therefore desperately need God’s grace. The Scriptures teach that all are under sin. Earlier in Ephesians chapter two, God’s inspired Word teaches us that we “all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest” (Ephesians 2:3). All people are under the sentence of divine condemnation not just because they did sinful things but because they were also by nature, that is, in the very inner core of their being, sinful. Because of that condition, we all were under God’s wrath and we were and are helpless to change that. While were under God’s wrath and eternal condemnation, God extended His grace to those who believe by revealing the free gift of salvation in Christ while requiring nothing from us. It is only by His grace that our depraved minds and hearts could respond to His gracious offer of salvation. No person deserves God’s grace and no one can earn His grace or His gracious salvation.
Our Lord’s Portrait of Grace. (Luke 15:11-32) The Lord Jesus gives us a marvelous illustration of His grace in the fifteenth chapter of Luke’s gospel, in a parable we know as the Prodigal Son. I am sure you know the story well. A wealthy man had two sons, who would eventually receive their inheritance from him. But the younger of the two, in sinful arrogance, demanded his inheritance so that he could go as far away from his father as he could. The father met his son’s demands and gave him his inheritance.
The younger son removed himself, traveling to a distant country where he squandered his entire inheritance with loose living. Suddenly, a severe famine spread across that distant land and the young man had no means to support himself. In the midst of that famine, the only job he could find was feeding swine. In his miserable and sinful state, he was so hungry he would eat the food the swine were eating. Think of the wretched picture of the son eating the swine’s’ food and see the portrait of the sinner who needs saving grace! After a time, his heart turned and he chose to return to his father and confess his sin. Why would the father help this obstinate sinner who squandered the father’s own wealth? What would cause him to bring this rebel back into his family? When he saw his son return, he felt compassion for him. He ran, embraced the young man and kissed him. He put a robe and a ring on him restoring him. What provoked him to act in this way? Grace! And only grace. The son deserved none of the father’s affection, indeed, he really deserved wrath. Instead, grace delivered him. That is how every sinner is saved. By God’s wonderful grace.
Infinite Grace. The Bible characterizes God by His infinite grace, whereby He bestows the riches of mercy and blessing on the most unworthy creatures. Grace, simply stated, is God’s unmerited favor granted to those who deserve His wrath. Grace is also the basis for all the spiritual blessings believers enjoy in Christ. The Apostle Peter wrote, “The God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 5:10).
GOD IS MERCIFUL. (2 Corinthians 1:3)
The Mercy We Do Not Deserve. What is mercy? As an attribute of God it is His compassion, pity, kindness, tenderness, and gentleness He shows toward miserable sinners of which He declares all men and women are. It is the eternal principle of God’s nature to seek to bless the helpless sinner with eternal salvation even though they have opposed His will and even though it cost the immeasurable sacrifice of God’s One and Only Son.
God’s grace views all men and women as sinners who stand guilty for their rebellion and disobedience and relieves them of their guilt in Christ. God’s mercy recognize that their sin makes them helpless and hopeless and because of His tender compassion and through no merit on the part of the sinner, grants them mercy. The Apostle Paul reminded us that God said “to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy” (Romans 9:15-16). Since mercy is an attribute and an action of God, He sovereignly chooses to whom He shows His mercy.
The Seat for Mercy. God gives mercy by providing salvation in all its aspects including sanctification in this present life and glorification when Jesus returns. The Bible gives many beautiful illustrations of God’s mercy, but time limits us to looking at only two; one from the Old Testament and the other from the New Testament. I am sure you recall that God instructed Moses to build the Tabernacle to be the center of Israel’s worship. It was designed with three sections, with the inner section called the Holy of Holies. This small compartment held only one item. In Exodus 25, God commanded Moses to construct a rectangular wooden box and then overlay the box with gold. This box would be called the Ark of the Covenant. The cover of the Ark was a lid of pure gold that was called the Mercy Seat. On the Mercy Seat were the golden figures of two angels who were made to look down upon it. It was at this Mercy Seat that God would meet with Israel’s High Priest.
Only the High Priest was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies, and then only once a year on a day called the Day of Atonement. An animal was sacrificed, and blood was captured in a small bowl. The High Priest would then enter the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice on the Mercy Seat. The blood covered the Mercy Seat to symbolize the covering of sin and thus gaining God’s atonement for sin. This picture of atonement was fulfilled at the cross of Jesus when through His sacrifice, His blood covered or atoned for the sin of all those who would believe in Him. God, in His mercy, provided a way for sins to be forgiven.
Jesus’ Portrait of Mercy. (Luke 10:30-37) The second illustration is from the New Testament and is from Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. I am confident that you remember the story of the man who traveled along a road and was attacked by thieves who beat him and left him. Some walked by, but refused to help. Then a Samaritan walked by and he had compassion on the unfortunate man, and took care of him. The Lord Jesus brought the focus of the parable forward when he asked, “Who proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” And the answer? “The one who showed mercy toward him.” In precisely the same way, God shows mercy to sinners who come to Jesus by faith. The Bible teaches that God is “the Father of mercies” (2 Corinthians 1:3) and grants mercy when we receive Jesus as our Savior.
GOD IS RIGHTEOUS. (Romans 1:16-17)
The Righteousness of God. When the Apostle Paul introduced the theme of his epistle to the Romans, he wrote, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith” (Romans 1:16-17). What exactly is the righteousness of God?
Although related to His holiness, God’s righteousness is a distinct attribute. Holiness is related to God’s separateness, while righteousness is related to His justice. In fact, righteousness has to do with law, morality, and justice. In the Bible’s original languages, the words translated righteous are also translated rightness, justice, and lawfulness. The terms are from the legal realm of the courtroom, the forum where one advocates or defends behavior. God’s righteousness is His perfect and absolute justice in and toward Himself, His prevention of any violation of the justice of His character and His revelation of Himself in acts of justice.
Righteousness Through Faith in Jesus Christ. Since God is righteous, He demands righteousness of the people who would be rightly related to Him. One of the several places in the Scriptures where this is made clear is 1 Peter 1:15-16, “Like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” God stands in absolute opposition to sin, so He must judge and punish sin, and since all have sinned, all must be judged and punished. God’s righteousness demands it! What then are we to do? How can sinners, who are unrighteous, be accepted by a righteous God? The Bible tells us, “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26)
God, in His marvelous grace, knowing that no sinful human being could ever achieve His standard of righteousness, did something miraculous. He sent His one and only Son to die publicly on a cruel Roman cross to remove the guilt of our sin. But He did even more. He placed within everyone who believes in Him the full and complete righteousness of God. In that way God remains fully righteous and the One who justifies the sinner. That is why Paul said in Second Corinthians 5:21, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Christians are saved because God has imputed His righteousness into them by faith.
GOD IS GLORIOUS. (John 17:5)
The Splendor of God’s Glory. We have now come to the last of God’s attributes we will discover in our series. To God’s grace, mercy, and righteousness, we add glory. What do we mean by the glory of God? God’s glory refers to the consummate beauty of the totality of all of His perfections and attributes. It refers to His supreme significance and splendor. The radiant magnificence of His glory has its source in the essence of God. His glory is like none other and no one can rival His brilliant glory. God is invisible to human eyes in their current condition. The Apostle John has told us that “No one has seen God at any time” (John 1:18). Without divine help, our eyes cannot see God. Still, there are important ways He makes Himself visible. As a divine attribute, God’s glory is related to His visibility to human eyes. God’s display of His glory is under His sovereign control.
God Displayed His Glory. God displayed His glory in the days of Moses. After months of construction, the wonderful tabernacle, designed by God, had been completed. All of the parts had been assembled, and the worship of the living God could begin. In the fortieth chapter of the book of Exodus we find the beauty of God’s glory displayed, “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Throughout all their journeys whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day when it was. For throughout all their journeys, the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel” (Exodus 40:34-38). God’s glory was present at the beginning of Israel’s worship, and it continued to be a visible presence day and night for many years. How blessed were the people of Israel.
But God was not finished. Many years passed, and Israel’s third king, Solomon, chose to build a much larger center of worship called the temple. The priests moved the Ark of the Covenant into its new home in the much larger Holy of holies. As they did so, something unexpected took place; God’s glory once more appeared, “It happened that when the priests came from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord” (1 Kings 8:10-11). Sadly, because of their rebellion and worship of idols, God’s glory departed from Israel. What had been such a wonderful blessing disappeared from view. God’s presence was no longer seen. Was God’s glory gone forever? Would it ever be seen again?
The Majestic Glory of Jesus Christ. Centuries passed and still God’s beautiful glory remained unseen. Then there was a day in the tiny village of Bethlehem that there was a great miracle. Jesus Christ, the God of glory became incarnate and was born. “The Word became flesh and dwelled among us” (John 1:14). Not far away, another miracle took place, this one seen by shepherds. The Bible tells us, “In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened” (Luke 2:8-9). God’s glory, the same glory that appeared in Israel, returned when Christ was born. Why? The angel of the Lord told us, it is because He is the Savior, Christ the Lord.
But God’s glory returned once again in a visible presence to be seen by humans. With three of His disciples looking on, Jesus was transfigured and Matthew tells us that “His face shone like the sun and His garments became white as light” (Matthew 17:2). Later, in the hours just before His crucifixion, Jesus prayed, “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (John 17:5). When Jesus ascended into heaven, so did the visible presence of God’s glory. But it will soon return. When Jesus returns, the glory of God will again be seen. God’s blazing glory will again be witnessed as every eye sees Him. Are you ready for Jesus’ return? Have you trusted in Jesus as your Lord and Master?
Let’s review for a moment. The Lord out God is spirit, almighty, omnipresent, omniscient, sovereign, all-wise, love, immutable, holy, truth, faithful, eternal. gracious, merciful, righteous, and glorious. So, do you know Jesus Christ the Lord of glory? He longs to save you, forgive your sins, and fill you with His righteousness. And you can trust in Him right now, by faith. Will you believe in Jesus as we go to Him in prayer?
