You probably know from memory the first words in the Bible: “In the beginning God.” In Hebrew, the word for God here is Elohim. Although this word can be used when talking about false “gods,” when it refers to the one true God, it describes an almighty, all-powerful Creator in connection with the whole of creation; the transcendent God who is beyond our understanding but in control of everything. He is so powerful that when He speaks, something is created just from His voice.
Love is perhaps the most common word used by Christians to describe God’s character. This could be because of the identity statement about God in 1 John 4:8, which says, “God is love.” John doesn’t say, “God is loving,” but rather, “God is love.” Love is His character, the very essence of who He is.
For many people, their picture of God emerges from their human definition of love, which is always distorted and imperfect. Instead, our very definition of love should be shaped by who God is and what He reveals about Himself in His inspired Word.
Holiness is not a word that most people use very often in their everyday language, perhaps because there are so few holy things around us and about us. The Sabbath is a holy day in time, and God is, of course, holy. Apart from God, our everyday lives lack holiness.
If you do a study into the attributes most often associated with God’s character, you’ll discover that holiness is at the center of who God is. But what does that mean?
The Bible gives the truest, clearest, and most consistent picture of God. The entire Bible seeks to peel back the unseen veil between our visible world and the invisible; to show us where we’ve come from and where we’re going; and, ultimately, to show us who is in control and what God is like.
