Honoring the Worthiness of God
Authored by Smitha Basil George under the complete direction and guidance of God, the Holy Spirit, dated November 2, 2023.
Explains the incredible worthiness of the Almighty, yet unfathomably loving King of the universe, the Most Holy God, and the WAY He made for us to reach Him.
I AM WHO I AM
Scriptures for this section [1]:
- Genesis 1 – 8, 12 — 22
- Exodus 3 — 4: 17
- John 1: 1 — 5
- Ephesians 3: 14 — 21
Before the Word of God, who dwelt in and with God, took on the physical form of human matter, and born as a human being to earth as Jesus Christ to an earthly family of Joseph and Mary, to dwell among humans (John 1: 1 – 4), humans with sinfulness did not have easy access to the Most Holy God. Even though there are many encounters of human beings with God through the history of mankind before, there are only a few human beings who actually got, at least partially, to experience the glory of the Almighty, who brought forth the universe as we see and everything in it into existence (the creation accounts are detailed in the articles ‘Jesus the Christ, the Atonement for Human Sin’, and ‘God’s Pattern of Sevens’ for reference).
Moses was one among them. Before him, Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Enoch (who was raptured by God to heaven because he walked with God and developed a pure relationship with Him), Noah, Abraham (7 times), Isaac, Jacob and Joseph experienced encounters and communications with God multiple times. Moses’ first experience with God, as narrated in Exodus 3 –4: 17, enabled him to get a hint of God’s power and mighty nature. God appeared to Moses on the Mount of Horeb, while he was shepherding his father-in-law’s flock, in response to the cries of His people, the Israelites (descendants of Jacob), being extremely afflicted by harsh slavery in the land of Egypt. He appeared as fire in a bush, without consuming the bush. When Moses moved closer to the bush to check, He introduced Himself to Moses as the God of his father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. God did this to remind Moses about whom he belonged to, and that He is the one who made the covenant of promised blessing for the descendants of Abraham -> Isaac -> Jacob (Israel), and through them, His blessing to all other nations on the earth.
In Exodus 3:13, we see Moses further asking God for a specific name, in preparation for conveying the credibility of his mission of deliverance from Pharaoh’s hands under the leadership of God, to the Israelites. He was thinking in lines of other lands and people groups having their gods addressed by a specific name. He was imagining that when he would tell the Israelites that the God of their fathers sent him to them, they would ask in return for a specific name for Him.
God’s answer to this question in verse 14 is loaded with significance — “And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” When there are multiple beings of the same kind, there is a need to identify each being by a name / number to distinguish it from the others of the same kind. It applies to human beings, other living organisms, celestial bodies etc. This was and is applied to many gods of different people groups across the world. Here the God who created everything, from whom every living and non-living thing got their existence (Genesis 1, John 1: 1–5, Ephesians 3: 14–15), need not be identified by any other specific name because He is the One and Only God, and there is no other being equal or rival to Him. Hence He mentioned that He was “I AM WHO I AM” and did not need to be defined / identified / distinguished / qualified by a name. He also instructs Moses to tell the Israelites that “I AM” had sent him to them. The representation “I AM” being in present tense highlights His ongoing existence in the past, present and future, eternally backward and forward.
I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life
Scriptures for this section [1]:
- Leviticus 16
- Proverbs 9: 10
- Isaiah 6, 11: 1–3
- Ezekiel 1
- John 1, 14
- 1 Corinthians 2
- Acts 1: 8
- Hebrews 4: 15
- Revelation 1, 4–6
In Proverbs 9: 10, Solomon, the king of Israel during the time of its writing, mentioned that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Most High is understanding. Those who could know God by entering into a relationship with Him, and learning about Him with the help of God’s Holy Spirit, get their spiritual understanding and discernment opened up, to obtain the wisdom available in God (1 Corinthians 2). God’s Holy Spirit has seven facets (Isaiah 11: 1–3; John 14: 16–17, 25–26; Revelation 1: 4, 3: 1, 4: 5, 5: 6):
- The Spirit of the LORD — ensuring His Lordship and ownership over us, thus freeing us from every other bondage.
- The Spirit of Wisdom — instructing us with God’s deep thoughts and helping us to apply what we learnt to the right matter, in the right manner, at the right time.
- The Spirit of Understanding — opening up our inner eyes to connect dots between different principles & facts and getting new revelations.
- The Spirit of Counsel — making us have the discernment of the truth regarding everything / situation as it comes, thereby guiding us to next steps, and comforting us with hope.
- The Spirit of Power — giving us the confidence and ability to face and perform ventures which we otherwise wouldn’t be able to or not have the courage to do.
- The Spirit of the Knowledge of the LORD — giving us the knowledge about all the deep facets of God — His great love, holiness, glory, power, wisdom, goodness, faithfulness, kindness, grace, justice, mercy, forgiveness through Christ, omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscience and every other beneficial attributes at their highest degree, with which He sustains all of His creations.
- The Spirit of the Fear of the LORD — giving us utmost reverence and deep respect towards God based on our knowledge and understanding of who He really is — the Sovereign Master of the whole universe, and what He can do in His Almighty omnipotent nature.
Two notable prophets before the arrival of Jesus Christ, who could witness the glory of God are Isaiah and Ezekiel. Both, enabled by the Holy Spirit of God, could see visions of God’s throne. Isaiah, in his vision, saw the Almighty God (Isaiah 6), sitting on a throne high and lifted up and heard the Seraphim (six winged angelic creatures serving and worshiping God at His throne) crying out: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!”, while covering their own faces with two of their wings to be protected from God’s blazing glory, and while covering their own legs to show their humility and awe before the Most Holy God. Isaiah immediately felt his own unworthiness to stand before the throne of the Most Holy God, and cried it out aloud in holy fear.
Ezekiel’s vision of the throne room of God as narrated in Ezekiel 1 tries to describe what he saw in human words, as how he could comprehend. Describing an infinite God and His dwelling using the words in the finite human languages would be a very challenging endeavor. In Ezekiel 1: 4–25, Ezekiel described the appearance of another set of mighty angelic beings called the Cherubim encircling below the throne of God, and in verses 26–28 he tried to describe God sitting on a sapphire throne. God had the likeness of a human being, with a color of amber with an appearance of fire all around from waist up, and from waist down, an appearance of fire with a special brightness all around. Ezekiel also became overwhelmed and fell on his face at the sight. It is this awesome holiness of God, before whom sinfulness cannot survive, made all the requirements necessary, as mentioned in Leviticus 16 to be performed by a high priest on behalf of himself and the people to get their sins atoned for, on an yearly basis. Still the human sinfulness kept on preventing them from entering into a fulfilling relationship with their Creator.
However God, because of His unfathomable love and mercy towards human beings, decided to provide a way that human beings could get into a relationship with Him. His Word, who comes from within Him, assumed human DNA and matter, and came to the womb of a virgin human mother, went through the regular process of human development and reached adulthood as a man. He led a perfectly sinless life, even when He faced all normal trials and temptations that a regular human being would undergo (Hebrews 4: 15).
In John 14: 6, He explained to His disciples that “I AM the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
- When He died on the cross to undergo the punishment of the sin of the whole mankind, He erased the sins of those who believe and acknowledge this fact. When His life was attained back from death because of His own sinlessness, the same could then be applied by Him to the lives of those whose sins got erased through His death. This is an everlasting LIFE which doesn’t have to undergo death anymore.
- Thus Jesus made a WAY for believing human beings to enter into a relationship with the Most Holy God, because they are made holy by the death He died and by the blood He spilled. There is no other way a human can approach the Father — the Most Holy God, because their sinfulness will cause them to be destroyed / separated from the presence of God.
- Jesus, being the Word of the One and Only Living God, who brought forth everything that a human being can comprehend (John 1: 1–5) is the TRUTH, or the reality. His Words always held and proved to be truthful, and He never went against Himself. Anything other than Him and His creations are imaginations / fantasy / non — reality.
In John 14, He continued to explain that whoever was seeing Him, actually was seeing the Father (the Most Holy God) Himself, because He was the manifested expression of the Father on earth. He did not speak any word which was not of the Father. All the works that He did were authorized and from the Father. He then mentioned that He was going to the Father physically, alluding to His later crucifixion, resurrection & ascension, and that the Father would send the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit of God from heaven, who would abide with those who believe in Him. In this manner, even when the world doesn’t see Him, those who believe in Him can still see Him, and because He is living, they will live too. With the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in those who believe, they will have God’s constant presence with them, Who would enable them with all the capabilities of His seven faceted Spirit, to know and experience God to a great extent, even when they are on earth.
Later in the Revelations that Apostle John received with the help of the Holy Spirit, while he was serving his exile by the Roman Empire for preaching the Good News of Salvation through Jesus Christ, he saw the magnificent glory of Jesus appearing like the Son of Man with splendor and brightness in every feature (Revelation 1: 12–17). He later saw God and Jesus, the Lamb of God in the Throne Room of Heaven (Revelation 1, 4–6). He saw the Most Holy God with the appearance of jasper and carnelian sitting on a throne encircled by a rainbow having the appearance of an emerald, 4 mighty angelic beings encircling the throne, 24 elders with crowns on their heads, all worshiping God, praising His holiness, everlastingness, and worthiness to receive glory, honor and power. He also saw Jesus appearing as a Lamb who was slain being praised by the 4 living creatures, 24 elders and thousands upon thousands of angels, for the atoning work He performed by His blood, for redeeming people from every tribe, tongue, people group and nation, and for making them kings and priests to the Most Holy God who would reign on the earth. This was followed by John seeing every creation praising : “Blessing and honor and glory and power, Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!” — Revelation 5: 13b. These visions depicted by Apostle John again try to reveal in human possible words, the majesty of God’s glory as lavished in the heavenly places and His worthiness to receive every honor, praise, thankfulness and complete surrender from us.
How incredible it is that we have access to this Almighty, infinitely capable, yet unfathomably loving King of the universe, through the WAY that He made for us and with the help of His excellent Holy Spirit. As we are trying to enter into the rest in Him that He offers, let’s keep this promise of Him in mind:
“Most assuredly, 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 My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” — John 14: 12–14.
When we approach Father God through our belief in Jesus’ atonement for us, and when we request of Him in the name of Jesus for our needs, He will grant it for us. Jesus will do it for us, so that the Father would be glorified in Him. One thing we have to keep in mind is that what we ask for is worthy to bring glory to our Father God and the Son who died for us, and not something asked with wrong motives and intentions. How privileged we are to receive this assurance from someone who already gave His life for us! We can only praise Him with every other creation: “Blessing and honor and glory and power, Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!” — Revelation 5: 13b. Amen!
References
- The Holy Bible, https://www.biblegateway.com/, New King James Version.
