Who is like unto our God?

Satan has masterfully orchestrated the concept that God is in the business of self-pleasing and is a ruthless dictator. In our last lesson we saw that "God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?" (Numbers 23:19, NIV) God's ways are different from our but how much different?

To answer this question let us first define the characteristics that must be possesed to be called God.

1. Omnipotence (be all powerful) "Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: "Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns." (Revelation 19:6, NIV
2. Omniscient (all knowing) "Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit." (Psalm 147:5, NIV)
3. Must possess eternal (beginningless and endless) life "Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God." (Psalm 90:2, NIV)  God applies Wisdim and Righteousness to Power by Love (Agape) to produce life. God sustains all the creation by His sustaining power and grace.
4. Changeless "I the Lord do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed." (Malachi 3:6, NIV)
5. Absolutely Righteous "The Lord is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made." (Psalm 145:17, NIV)

God ways cannot be compared with mans in the slightest sense because God is infinitely above and beyond us. How then do we know God and How do we find out more about Him? In the bible itself can be found principles of interpretation, that is, the bible explains itself. One of the great reformers of the 1800's put it this way "if the Bible is a revelation from God, it must be consistent with itself; and that as it was given for man's instruction, it must be adapted to his understanding." The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan; Great Controversy. Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1888; 2002, S. 319

In our next lesson we will look at the principles of biblical interpretation.