God, living and self-sustaining

I. God is

The first thing the Bible teaches us about God is that God is. “God is”—two short words. Tremendous significance! “God is.” If that simple truth gets hold of your mind and heart it will move and mould your entire life. It will determine your science, it will determine your philosophy, it will determine your daily life, it will determine your eternity. “God is.” The psalmist tells us in Psalm 14—“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” Please note where he says it—“in his heart.” That is, he says there is no God simply because he does not wish to believe that there is a God. Now, there is a God, and a man that denies a fact simply because he does not wish to believe it is a fool.

R. A. Torrey, Revival Addresses (Chicago; New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1903), 4–6.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers 2.8: St. Basil: Letters and Select Works Homily I. In the Beginning God Made the Heaven and the Earth

“In the beginning God created”—It is He, beneficent Nature, Goodness without measure, a worthy object of love for all beings endowed with reason, the beauty the most to be desired, the origin of all that exists, the source of life, intellectual light, impenetrable wisdom, it is He who “in the beginning created heaven and earth.”

Puritan Sermons, Volume 5 Sermon II: God Is (William Bates, D.D.)

But without faith it is impossible to please God: for he that Cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.—Hebrews 11:6.

The Principle of Existence.

That is, something exists.

If there ever was absolutely nothing, then there would always be nothing since nothing cannot produce something

God is alive

Jeremiah 10:10 NIV

But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath.

See also Ge 1:1; Dt 5:26; Jos 3:10; Je 23:36; Mt 26:63; 1 Ti 3:15; Heb 3:12; Heb 12:22

God lives for ever

Isaiah 57:15 NIV

For this is what the high and exalted One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.

See also Da 4:34; Da 12:7; Re 4:9–10; Re 10:6; Re 15:7

God is self-existent

John 5:26 NIV

For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.

See also Ex 3:14; Jn 8:58; Ac 17:25

The living God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit

Jn 6:57; 2 Co 3:3

See also Mt 16:16; 1 Co 8:6; Heb 7:24

The living God is to be worshipped

Daniel 6:26 NIV

“I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. “For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end.

See also Da 6:20; Ro 9:26; Ho 1:10; 2 Co 6:16; 1 Ti 4:10; Heb 9:14

Turning away from the living God is sin

Hebrews 3:12 NIV

See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.

See also 1 Sa 17:26; 1 Sa 17:36; 2 Ki 19:4; 2 Ki 19:16; Heb 10:31

The living God contrasts with dead idols

Acts 14:15 NIV

“Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them.

See also 1 Ki 18:26–29; Ps 115:2–7; Is 46:1–4; Je 10:3–6; 1 Th 1:9

God is the source of life

Deuteronomy 30:20 NIV

and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

See also Jn 1:4

God gives life to created beings

Genesis 2:7 NIV

Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

See also Ac 17:25; Job 27:3; Ps 104:30; Is 40:28; Ac 17:28

God sustains the life of all people

Psalm 54:4 NIV

Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.

See also 1 Ch 29:14; Ps 3:5; Ps 18:35; Ps 146:9; Ps 147:6; Is 46:4; Heb 1:3

God gives spiritual life

John 10:28 NIV

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.

See also Jn 5:21; Jn 11:25; Jn 14:6; 1 Pe 1:23

God is the source of new life

Psalm 42:2 NIV

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?

See also Ps 63:1; Ps 84:2; Jn 3:1–8