Who is God (English & Chinese)

Exodus 3:10-14

“And now come, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?” And He said, “Assuredly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.” Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ””

‌出埃及记 3:10-14

“现在来，我要差你去见法老，将我的百姓以色列人从埃及领出来。”摩西对神说：“我是谁，竟到法老那里去，领以色列人出埃及呢？”祂说：“我必定与你同在，这就是我差你来的记号：你将百姓领出埃及后，就要在这山上敬拜神。”摩西对神说：“看哪，我要去以色列人那里，我要对他们说：‘你们祖宗的神差我到你们这里来。’现在他们可以问我说：‘他叫什么名字？ ？'我应该对他们说什么？上帝对摩西说：“我就是我”；他说：“你们要对以色列人如此说：‘自有永有者差遣我到你们这里来。’”

Introduction

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One of the biggest and most important questions in all of human history is the question of God’s existence.

And if He exists, can we get to know Him…does He want to know us? What is He like? In other words, who is God?

People have dedicated their entire lives to answering this question. Many books have been written on the subject, and there is no end to the lectures that have been given.

I will not be able to give you an exhaustive analysis on the subject- and that is not my purpose today.

My purpose is to equip you to think more clearly about this topic, and to perhaps give you the language needed to articulate your answer to anyone who poses the question to you.

1 Peter 3:15 says "but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, but with gentleness and respect.”

In 2023, it is already clear to me that the world will be asking us for an answer. What will you say?

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人类历史上最大和最重要的问题之一就是上帝是否存在的问题。

如果他存在，我们能认识他吗……他想认识我们吗？他是什么样的人？换句话说，上帝是谁？

人们毕生致力于回答这个问题。关于这个主题已经写了很多书，并且已经给出的讲座没有结束。

我无法就此主题为您提供详尽的分析——这不是我今天的目的。

我的目的是让您能够更清楚地思考这个话题，并可能为您提供所需的语言，以便向向您提出问题的任何人阐明您的答案。

彼得前书 3:15 说：“但要在心里尊基督为主，随时准备为每个要求你为你心中的希望交代的人辩护，但要保持温柔和尊重。”

到 2023 年，我已经很清楚，世界将向我们寻求答案。你会说些什么？

Discussing the many different view about God’s existence may seem like a huge task, but thankfully it is not. The views regarding God’s existence can be summed up in 3 categories:

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· Theism- the belief that a god or gods exist, and is the source of all that exists.

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· Atheism- the belief that there is no god, and all that exists was created by a natural, unguided process.

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· Agnosticism- the belief that we cannot know for certain if god exists, how life began or what happens after death.

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That’s it! Of course, this is a simplification of these views, but they are an accurate summary.

讨论关于上帝存在的许多不同观点似乎是一项艰巨的任务，但幸好不是。关于上帝存在的观点可以概括为三类：

• 有神论——相信一个或多个神存在，并且是所有存在的源头。

• 无神论——相信没有神，所有存在的东西都是由自然的、不受引导的过程创造的。

• 不可知论——我们无法确定上帝是否存在、生命如何开始或死后会发生什么的信念。

就是这样！当然，这是对这些观点的简化，但它们是一个准确的总结。

Perhaps you are thinking, “Ok Pastor, you may be able to summarize the various views concerning God, but how can we ever hope to research- let alone summarize- the many different beliefs that people have about God. It would take several lifetimes to study every religious belief!”

Thankfully, this is also not the case! The different ways in which we can view God in relation to the world around us (also known as a “worldview”) can also fit into the following categories:

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· Only the universe exists- examples of this worldview are Darwinian evolution and atheism. This is also called naturalism or materialism

· Only God exists- the view that everything is God; our lives are the journey to realizing that we are part of the God consciousness.

· God and the universe exist- the view that the universe was created be a Being who is all-powerful, all-knowing, eternal, and the universe was created purposefully.

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Once again, that’s it! If you carefully consider each religion and worldview, you will see that they fit into these categories.

I have just distilled about 30 years of research into ten minutes- so don’t worry if it doesn’t all make sense right away. Thanks to technology, you can replay this recording as many times as you like!

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也许你在想，“好吧，牧师，你也许能够总结关于上帝的各种观点，但我们怎么能希望研究——更不用说总结——人们对上帝的许多不同信仰了。研究每一种宗教信仰都需要几辈子的时间！”

值得庆幸的是，事实并非如此！我们看待上帝与我们周围世界的不同方式（也称为“世界观”）也可以分为以下几类：

• 只有宇宙存在——这种世界观的例子是达尔文进化论和无神论。这也被称为自然主义或唯物主义

• 只有上帝存在——一切都是上帝的观点；我们的生命是认识到我们是上帝意识的一部分的旅程。

• 上帝和宇宙存在——宇宙被创造为全能、全知、永恒的存在的观点，宇宙是有目的地创造的。

再一次，就是这样！如果你仔细考虑每一种宗教和世界观，你会发现它们都属于这些类别。

我刚刚将大约 30 年的研究提炼成10 分钟——所以如果它不能立即让您理解，请不要担心。多亏了技术，您可以随心所欲地重播这段录音！

Before we go into the question of WHO God is, let us first define what we mean when we say “God”.

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· God in concept- God must be the greatest Being, in every way; the most powerful, the most loving, the most intelligent Being in all of existence. If there is something greater that exists, then that “thing” or “person” must be God.

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· Does the God of the Bible fit this concept? Yes! The Bible not only describes God in every way that was mentioned conceptually, but His nature fits our description.

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· God’s nature- God must be moral, loving and just. This means that we expect Him to be devoid of evil, consistently acting in a moral fashion, and motivated by love.

He must also punish evil, and He demands perfection. But how can God be just and merciful? The answer that we only find in the Christian worldview is in Jesus Christ.

Because of Jesus, God’s justice is satisfied; and so is God’s desire for mercy, because He pays for our sins Himself.

And only in Christianity can we truthfully say that God is love. Because love requires an object, something to be loved.

The God the Father has always loved the Son Jesus and will love Him eternally. So He really is love!

在我们探讨上帝是谁的问题之前，让我们首先定义我们说“上帝”时的意思。

• 概念上的上帝——上帝在任何方面都必须是最伟大的存在；一切存在中最强大、最有爱心、最聪明的存在。如果存在更伟大的东西，那么那个“东西”或“人”一定是上帝。

• 圣经中的神符合这个概念吗？是的！圣经不仅以概念上提到的每一种方式描述了上帝，而且他的本性也符合我们的描述。

• 上帝的本性——上帝必须是道德的、慈爱的和公正的。这意味着我们期望他没有邪恶，始终以道德的方式行事，并被爱所激励。

他也必须惩罚邪恶，他要求完美。但神怎么可能是公义和怜悯的呢？我们只能在基督教世界观中找到的答案是在耶稣基督里。

因着耶稣，神的公义得到满足；上帝对怜悯的渴望也是如此，因为他自己为我们的罪付出了代价。

只有在基督教里，我们才能如实地说上帝就是爱。因为爱需要一个对象，需要被爱的东西。

父神一直爱子耶稣，并将永远爱他。所以他真的是爱！

So the final question that I hope to answer brings us to our scripture passage in Exodus.

· Does this description match the personhood of the God of the Bible?

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I believe the encounter between God and Moses provides us with a wealth of information- if we know where to look, if we dig down beyond the surface.

At this point in the story of Moses, he is being sent back to Egypt to rescue his people. God Himself has commissioned him to do the work, but Moses has reservations about the task. He asks God a series of questions, that we will briefly go through today. And we will examine how God Himself answered the question of His identity.

· Moses asked, God “Who am I?”

Before asking the bigger question, Moses began his search where most of us begin as well. We begin with the search for our identity.

In context, Moses was asking God, “Why was I chosen for this task? What is your purpose for me?”

Remember, Moses tried to save Israel by himself once before and failed.

God’s answer is, “Rest assured, this time I am with you. And I will demonstrate my answer to the question of your identity by showing you what I can do with you!”

· If you want to understand the purpose for a creation, ask it’s Creator. Moses directed his question to the right person. Moses is invited to follow God’s instructions to receive the answers that he seeks- by walking with his Creator! God gave us the ability to choose, what we call free will.

‌所以我希望回答的最后一个问题将我们带到出埃及记中的经文段落。

• 这个描述符合圣经中上帝的人格吗？

我相信上帝和摩西之间的相遇为我们提供了丰富的信息——如果我们知道去哪里寻找，如果我们深入挖掘表面之外。

在摩西故事的这一点上，他被派回埃及拯救他的人民。上帝亲自委托他做这项工作，但摩西对这项任务有所保留。他向上帝提出了一系列问题，我们今天将简要介绍这些问题。我们将查考上帝自己是如何回答他的身份问题的。

• 摩西问，上帝“我是谁？”

在问更大的问题之前，摩西开始了我们大多数人开始的搜索。我们从寻找我们的身份开始。

在上下文中，摩西在问上帝，“为什么我被拣选来执行这项任务？你找我的目的是什么？”

请记住，摩西曾试图独自拯救以色列，但失败了。

上帝的回答是：“放心，这次我和你在一起。我会通过向你展示我能对你做些什么来证明我对你身份问题的回答！”

• 如果你想了解创作的目的，请问它的创造者。摩西把他的问题转给了正确的人。摩西受邀遵循上帝的指示，通过与他的造物主同行来获得他寻求的答案！上帝给了我们选择的能力，我们称之为自由意志。

· Moses asked God, “What is Your Name (Who Are You)?

Throughout scripture, the name of a person is always associated with their purpose. It defines who they are, by telling us what they were called to do.

It may seem like Moses is asking God who He is indirectly but, in truth, he is asking God the big question in a meaningful way.

He was not satisfied to deliver a message without knowing the Messenger for Himself.

“God, I can tell your people that “the God of your fathers has sent me’, but what if they as me who you are? I need to know you personally. Tell me your Name!”

God’s answer is AMAZING! God says, “I AM WHO I AM”

It can be interpreted this way: “I will always be who I always was” referring to God’s eternal existence.

It can also be said this way: “I was always enough- I will always be enough” referring to the consistency of God’s character, His commitment to finish whatever He has started.

Jesus also identified Himself this way in John 8:58 “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.””

And in Mark 14:62 Jesus takes His claim of godhood even further when He says, “...“I AM; and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.””

Jesus referred to both Psalms 110:1 and Daniel 7:13 at the same time.

In essence, Jesus claimed to be God three times! His response infuriated the Pharisees so much that they ripped their clothes and demanded that Jesus be put to death for blasphemy.

‌ • 摩西问上帝，“你叫什么名字（你是谁）？

在整个圣经中，一个人的名字总是与他们的目的相关联。它通过告诉我们他们被召唤做什么来定义他们是谁。

摩西似乎是在间接地问上帝他是谁，但实际上，他是在以一种有意义的方式问上帝这个大问题。

在不认识信使本人的情况下，他不满足于传递信息。

“上帝啊，我可以告诉你的人民‘你们祖宗的上帝派遣了我’，但如果他们认为我就是你呢？我需要亲自认识你。告诉我你的名字！”

上帝的回答是惊人的！上帝说：“我就是我”

可以这样解释：“我将永远是我一直是的那个人”指的是上帝的永恒存在。

也可以这样说：“我总是够了——我将永远够了”指的是上帝品格的一致性，他承诺完成他已经开始的一切。

耶稣也在约翰福音 8 章 58 节中以这种方式表明了自己的身份：“耶稣对他们说：“我实实在在地告诉你们，还没有亚伯拉罕，我就是了。”

在马可福音 14 章 62 节中，耶稣进一步宣告了他的神性，他说：“……”我是；你们要看见人子坐在权能者的右边，驾着天上的云降临。”

耶稣同时提到诗篇 110:1 和但以理书 7:13。

实质上，耶稣三次自称是神！他的回应激怒了法利赛人，他们撕裂了他们的衣服，要求以亵渎罪将耶稣处死。

· Sincere questions will receive sincere answers. I believe that God knows when a person is seeking Him sincerely from their hearts. The skeptic can remain in his skepticism, if he so chooses. We can reject Jesus like the Pharisees, and attempt to “kill” God’s promise to the sincere seeker of Truth is found in Jeremiah 29:13 “And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” God wants us to seek Him, and our questions are an important part of our seeking.

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Conclusion

I learned a long time ago that not everybody is going to dig as deep as they should. I certainly did not!

Some are satisfied with the knowledge that Jesus loves them and died for their sins.

But when you truly come into a relationship with Jesus, there are 2 things that should happen:

First you will have a great desire to get to know Him. You will also feel a great desire to share Him

I think it’s wonderful to know that whether you taste what is on the surface, or go to the deepest depths, you will partake of the same ingredients!

**Matt 15:26-27 “…crumbs from the master’s table...”

My prayer is that I have given you some tools to help you think carefully about your faith- and hopefully this will help you to answer some questions you may be asked as well.

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• 真诚的问题会得到真诚的回答。我相信神知道一个人何时发自内心真诚地寻求他。怀疑论者可以保持怀疑态度，如果他愿意的话。我们可以像法利赛人一样拒绝耶稣，并试图“扼杀”上帝对真诚寻求真理者的应许，这在耶利米书29:13 中有记载：“你们全心寻求我，就必寻求我。”神要我们寻求祂，而我们的问题是我们寻求的重要部分。

结论

很久以前我就知道，并不是每个人都会像他们应该的那样深入挖掘。我当然没有！

有些人对耶稣爱他们并为他们的罪而死的认识感到满意。

但是当你真正与耶稣建立关系时，有两件事应该发生：

首先，你会非常渴望认识他。你也会很想分享他

我觉得很高兴知道无论您是品尝表面上的东西，还是深入到最深处，您都会分享相同的成分！

**马太福音 15:26-27 “……主人桌子上的碎屑……”

我祈祷我给了你一些工具来帮助你仔细思考你的信仰——希望这也能帮助你回答一些你可能会被问到的问题。

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