God's Most Important Trait
Although there are lots of erroneous views of who and what God is, even among Christians, we tend to focus on different aspects of God. Over a hundred years ago, we may have overly fixated on God’s wrath and judgment and tried to scare people into heaven. Today it is more common for people to focus on God’s love and mercy and try to love people into heaven without ever telling them why they need a savior. Through much of history, we haven’t focused on God’s most important trait.
I’m going to go through what the Bible says about many of God’s characteristics and will explain what I think is His ultimate characteristic upon which all other traits are built. At the end I will try to defend that opinion using Scripture.
Love
Today the trait that most people tend to focus on is love. It is true that God is love and that all love comes from God.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. (John 3:16-17) {emphasis mine}
He demonstrated His love by sacrificing His Son, Jesus, to reconcile us to Himself.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:7-8) {emphasis mine}
God is love and He puts His love in His children when they believe in His Son.
No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. (1 John 4:12-13) {emphasis mine}
No one can question the love of God. It is all encompassing and is a big part of what draws us to Him, but He is not limited to love and love does not mean allowing us to continue in our sin. Love can mean dragging us, kicking and screaming, out of the mire of our sins as part of forgiving us.
Mercy & Grace
Probably people’s second favorite trait of God is mercy and grace. It isn’t quite as popular because to admit we need mercy and grace, we have to admit that we are sinners, that we are imperfect, and that we have failed our God and Creator. It is uncomfortable to admit our faults, but we love being forgiven for every wrong we’ve committed, so we don’t have to pay the penalty for our sins.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; (Ephesians 2:4-8) {emphasis mine}
God’s mercy, grace, and forgiveness are an outpouring of His love, but it goes so much farther than a feeling or a relationship. With love, “We loved Him because He first loved us,” but with mercy, we didn’t do anything. It was all God, and we were the recipients.
So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. (Romans 9:16) {emphasis mine}
We know that we can approach the throne of God because He mercifully forgave us our sins to reconcile us to Him.
Because of the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, (Luke 1:78) {emphasis mine}
Truth
Truth is definitely less popular with most people. Today most people want to have their own truth, but there is only one truth, the truth of God.
Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,
And Your law is truth. (Psalm 119:142)
God is truth and sets truth. You may ask, “why does God get to set what is true and right?” God gets to define truth and right because He created all things. He spoke the universe, time & space, matter & energy, and things seen & unseen into existence. As creator, He gets to define truth and righteousness.
The sum of Your word is truth,
And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting. (Psalm 119:160) {emphasis mine}
The truth of God is eternal.
For Your lovingkindness is great above the heavens,
And Your truth reaches to the skies. (Psalm 108:4)
The truth of God is omnipresent.
Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. (John 17:17) {emphasis mine}
Every word that precedes out of the mouth of God is truth and His word never changes.
This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. (1 John 5:6) {emphasis mine}
In addition to the truth being in the Father, it is also in the Spirit.
But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. (Ephesians 4:20-24) {emphasis mine}
The truth is in the the Son, Jesus, also. Being in the likeness of God is being in truth.
Wrath
Most people today feel a bit uncomfortable thinking of God as wrathful. How could a loving God be filled with wrath. The issue is that the wrath of God is not like the wrath of people. He doesn’t want sin corrupting His perfect creation.
When a person is filled with wrath, it is usually a loss of control. It is also usually related to feeling wronged and wanting to wrong that person in return. God’s wrath is not like that. God is righteous. He can’t be around sin. His nature requires Him to punish sin and evil.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18) {emphasis mine}
Unlike our wrath, which is usually motivated by selfishness, God’s wrath is motivated by righteousness.
He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. (John 3:36) {emphasis mine}
God created us to serve Him and worship Him forever. When we reject His purpose and the sacrifice of His Son for us, He is righteous to be wrathful towards us.
But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each person according to his deeds: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. (Romans 2:5-8) {emphasis mine}
Luckily for us, God is also merciful. In His mercy, we have not yet received the judgement we deserve, but He has given us time to repent and believe in Jesus, so we can be saved from the punishment that we all deserve.
If you are not a born-again Christian, then you need to repent and trust Jesus as Lord and Savior of your life. If you are a Christian, you need to make the most of the time we have remaining in God’s mercy to share the Good News about Jesus to as many people as possible while we still can.
Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay ,” says the Lord. (Romans 12:19) {emphasis mine}
We may be truly wronged, but we need to trust God, the ultimate judge, to punish those who have wronged us rather than trying to punish evil ourselves.
Righteous Judgment
Closely related to God’s wrath is His righteous judgment. God’s wrath is more a relational separation, but God’s judgment is when actions match the state of the relationship.
The Lord performs righteous deeds And judgments for all who are oppressed. (Psalm 103:6) {emphasis mine}
The part of God’s judgment that we like is when He judges those who have hurt those we care about or who have done evil publicly and gotten away with their crimes. We love to see them “get what they deserve.”
At night my soul longs for You,
Indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently;
For when the earth experiences Your judgments
The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. (Isaiah 26:9) {emphasis mine}
On the other hand, we don’t like it when God’s judgment falls on us. If it does, we can act wisely and “learn righteousness” or act unwisely and continue to fight God. Fighting God always leads to loss.
Let the rivers clap their hands,
Let the mountains sing together for joy
Before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth;
**He will judge the world with righteousness
And the peoples with equity. (Psalm 98:8-9) {emphasis mine}
Ultimately, God’s mercy will be overcome by His wrath as He is sorrowed by the suffering of His followers who are harmed by the sin in the world.
Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30) {emphasis mine}
Eventually all creation will worship their creator before believers are taken into His rest and unbelievers are sent away to Hell and torment for all eternity as the righteous judgment for their sin and rejection of their Creator, Savior, and God.
…and he said with a loud voice, “Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters.” (Revelation 14:7) {emphasis mine}
It is so hard, sometimes, for us to accept the goodness of God’s eternal judgment on unbelievers, but God’s judgments are always right.
And I heard the angel of the waters saying, “Righteous are You, who are and who were, O Holy One, because You judged these things; for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. They deserve it.” And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.” (Revelation 16:5-7) {emphasis mine}
God is righteous and can’t abide sin and evil. He rightly judges and punishes because “they deserve it.” “Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.”
Truly, Truly
In Hebrew (and I believe Greek as well), there are no more & most or -er & -est. When the writers want to explain something, they would say a word once if it was important, twice if it was more important, and three times if it was most important.
When Jesus really wanted people to listen carefully, because what He was about to say was really important, He would begin His statement with “Truly, truly, I say to you …” Originally I was going to include all of them here, but since I found at least 25, I decided to put most of them down as a footnote.1 They are likely the truths Jesus most wanted to communicate, so it is worthwhile reading through them. Maybe I’ll later do a post or a series on the Truly, Trulies later, but it is too much of a distraction from the point of this article.
I’ll include just a few for reference.
Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (John 3:5)
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. (John 5:24)
Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death.” (John 8:51)
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” (John 8:58)
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.” (John 13:20)
Repetition in Scripture means this is important.
Holy, Holy, Holy
There is only one thing in Scripture that is raised to the superlative, that is said three times: Holy, Holy, Holy. Who is Holy?
And one called out to another and said,
“Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts,
The whole earth is full of His glory.” (Isaiah 6:3) {emphasis mine}
God is called “Holy”, but He isn’t just called “Holy,” and He isn’t just called “Holy, Holy,” but He is called, “Holy, Holy, Holy. His holiness is so great that His glory fills the whole earth. When Moses asked to see God’s face, God told Him he could only see His back parts because if Moses, or any man, saw His holy face, they would instantly die.
Holiness is God’s greatest and most basic trait. He loves His creation because He is holy. He is merciful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness because He is holy. His wrath and judgment are righteous and just because He is holy. He is truth and speaks truth and live truth because He is holy. Everything God is and does is based on His holiness.
And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty,
who was and who is and who is to come.”And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
“Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.” (Revelation 4:8-11) {emphasis mine}
We don’t have to suspect His love because He is holy.
We don’t have to mistrust His mercy and grace because He is holy.
We don’t have to doubt His truth because He is holy.
We don’t have to fear His wrath because He is holy.
We don’t have to question His judgment because He is holy.
Some people may question how we can spend eternity praising and worshipping God for all eternity, but when we truly see His holiness, we will not be able to resist praising, worshipping, falling on our face, and casting our crowns at His feet. Until we see His full glory, we can’t fully understand this, but it will be as natural as breathing and we will live for all eternity in the joy and glory of His holiness.
May God help you to see His glory here on earth so we can live according to His holiness and for His glory.
Trust Jesus
Here is a list of verses that have “Truly, truly, I say to you …”
And He said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” (John 1:51)
Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (John 3:5)
Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:11-16)
Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. (John 5:19-23)
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. (John 5:24)
Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment. (John 5:25-29)
Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.” (John 6:26-27)
Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” (John 6:32-33)
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. (John 6:47)
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.” (John 6:53-58)
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. (John 8:34)
Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death.” (John 8:51)
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” (John 8:58)
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.” (John 10:1-5)
So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” (John 10:7-9)
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John 12:24)
Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. (John 13:16)
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.” (John 13:20)
When Jesus had said this, He became troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.” (John 13:21)
Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times. (John 13:38)
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. (John 14:12-14)
Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy. (John 16:20)
In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full. (John 16:23-24)
Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go.” (John 21:18)
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