Attributes of God

There is one statement that I am hearing often. It goes something like this: “My God is a loving God and He would not judge my sin.” Celebrities make the statement, politicians make it, and ordinary people on the street make it. Yes, God is a loving God. But that is only one of His attributes; let us take a moment to list His other attributes:

God is just.

Deuteronomy 32:4 The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.

Romans 3:26 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.

God is jealous.

Exodus 20:5 You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me.

Nahum 1:2 A jealous and avenging God is the LORD; The LORD is avenging and wrathful. The LORD takes vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies.

God is wise.

Proverbs 3:19 The LORD by wisdom founded the earth, By understanding He established the heavens.

1 John 3:20 in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.

God is holy.

Leviticus 11:45 For I am the LORD who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am holy.

Isaiah 6:3 And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.”

God is righteous.

Psalms 11:7 For the LORD is righteous, He loves righteousness; The upright will behold His face.

Romans 3:5a But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say?

God is gracious.

Exodus 34:6b The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth;

Psalms 116:5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; Yes, our God is compassionate.

God is wrathful.

Isaiah 13:13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the LORD of hosts in the day of his fierce anger.

Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

God is sovereign.

Psalms 24:1 A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD’S, and all it contains, The world, and those who dwell in it.

Acts 17:24-25 The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things.

God is merciful /compassionate.

Psalms 86:15 But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.

James 5:11 We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.

God is forgiving.

Psa 86:5 For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You.

Eph 4:32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

God is truth.

Isaiah 65:16a Because he who is blessed in the earth Will be blessed by the God of truth; And he who swears in the earth Will swear by the God of truth; God is all-powerful.

John 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.

There are many others and there are synonyms of the above words in the scriptures that further clarify the attributes of God.

Yes, God is love; but He is also just. If you went before a judge in a county court and were accused, let’s say of robbery, would you be able to say to the judge, “Your honor, you are a compassionate judge and I’m a good person; could you let me off this time?” Would a good judge let you off? No, a good judge would say, “No, I will not let you off; you must pay for your crime so that next time you won’t do the same thing again.” God is not only loving, but He is a good judge, rather, He is the perfect Judge. Therefore, even though He loves you, His justice would require punishment for your sins; just as a mother, who loves her children, yet punishes them when they disobey her.

Given each of these attributes, one can see that God, in His justice, can and has allowed evil to be perpetrated against His people and even against those who are not His people. As sovereign, God can and will do anything He pleases. But He will not do anything that would violate any of His attributes. In Old Testament times, He has allowed attacks against His people Israel and He has caused attacks against His people Israel. He has also brought destruction to those other than His people. For example, He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, Egypt, Babylon, Ninevah, Tyre, and many other nations. He did so because they sinned or attacked or forsook His people. The Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans were much more oppressive to His people than He allowed when He caused them to come against Israel. That is why He destroyed them. (He destroyed the old guard in Rome in 325 AD, when Constantine converted to Christianity).

He led the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans against his People Israel. The Assyrians and Babylonians took all Israelites captive and they were not returned for 70 years. He caused the Romans to completely destroy Jerusalem and Israel and disperse all of His people. They stayed dispersed for 1900 years. He did this to His people because they: worshipped other gods, burned their children to Molech, took advantage of the poor and needy, worshiped Him and other gods at the same time in the Most Holy Place, and rejected His law.

Let me quote a well-known verse: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” —Hebrews 13:8

And a corollary from the Old Testament: “For I, the LORD, do not change;.” —Malachi 3:6a

So, if God does not change and He is the same today as He was yesterday, then He will still have those same attributes and He will still act in the same ways for the same sins. And what are the sins of America?

Idolatry; killing unborn children; relegating the poor and needy to a subclass (the welfare state); combining the worship of God with the worship of pagan gods; rejecting His law; these are all sins against God. This includes the better-publicized sins such as promiscuity, adultery, and homosexuality, but it also includes every sinful act we do. We have come to the place where sin is no longer wrong; it is just another “lifestyle” that we must tolerate. No the sins have not changed and God has not changed, so why do we still insist that He would not ever allow or cause any destruction to come upon this country?

The sins of Americans (and much of the West), which include every sin possible, are the reason for the unrest in our country; for the divisions of Americans into groups that hate each other; for the devastating storms in our nation; for our enemies threatening us with nuclear war, and for the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. God has allowed this to happen, or perhaps He caused it to happen, because He is a just and righteous God as well as a loving God. Our sins have reached to heaven.

There is only one way for the United States of America to solve all these problems. There is only one cure for this. We should do just as the king of Ninevah did when Jonah called on them to repent:

When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes. He issued a proclamation and it said, “In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. “But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. “Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.” When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it. Jonah 3:6-10.

We must stop sinning and tolerating and accepting sinful behavior as an alternative lifestyle. What sins? The same ones mentioned above: abortion, homosexuality, pornography, adultery, idolatry, ignoring the poor, even using them, practicing sinfulness in the name of “business”, etc. We Americans must turn from our wicked ways; humble ourselves, earnestly seek God, and pray for His mercy on us. Short of that, our country is doomed to destruction.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE ®
Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.