Church of God, New World Ministries

Does God Really Exist?

Is there really a God? Does a great supreme super power exist? Is there a great power guiding the affairs of man? In these latter days education has put a premium on materialism. Spirituality and morality have been treated lightly. Mankind has become increasingly more skeptical about the existence of God, in fact, most have forgotten God.

Is God a myth? An invention of an ignorant, superstitious past? This question hovers in the minds of man. We must know the truth! Our salvation depends upon it!

“The fool hath said in his heart, ‘there is no God’” (Ps. 14:1) says God. In this upset, chaotic world many have come to realize they need proof that God exists. Is God unreasonable? Does He expect you to accept unproved and unreasonable things? NO!

God says, “Come now, let us reason together” (Isa. 1:18). He wants you to have basic proofs. He says: “Prove all things” (I Thes. 5:21). He knows you will not be really satisfied any other way. The fact that God commands you to prove these things implies that He has made ample provision to satisfy the sound and unprejudiced mind. God made available to you the means to know that He does exist! This fact should stand supreme above all other knowledge in everyone’s mind.

God must reveal Himself to man, for He is Spirit. God never created man in such a way that man could be aware of spirit beings through his five senses. This has led many to believe such spirit beings do not exist. What folly! God has been here always, as we are going to see. Actually spirit beings are more REAL than we, for they have existed longer, have far superior minds, and are incomparably more powerful!

Indeed man in his present form is as nothing. God says so. “All nations are before Him as nothing; and are counted to Him as less than nothing, and vanity” (Isa. 40:17). And they would remain so were it not that He has plans for them!

We are now at the virtual end of an age, the 6000-year period in which God has let man be his own master and the moulder of his own destiny. It is time we wake up to the realities that confront us!

Time and time again God visited His wrath on nations in Old Testament times and always it was so that they should “know that I am the Lord.” This is such an important matter that God has repeated it in His Bible over 50 times for emphasis.

Now we are at the very threshold of the “Day of the Lord,” the Day of God’s wrath upon the whole world. It is to be a time such as never was nor shall be again. Here now is your opportunity to know the Eternal God before His day of wrath comes! It is He and His created spirit beings that are going to intervene in world affairs by great physical signs and wonders that men can see with their own eyes. When men see the power of God they will finally be convinced that God really does exist.

Just who is God the Father? Where did He originate? Has He existed forever? Where is He? What does He look like? What are His surroundings like? Does He think as we do? What powers does He possess? What other attributes does He possess?

What is His relationship to the Holy Spirit about which we hear so much? And what is the relationship of Christ to Him? Did God create the heavens and earth and all we see therein? Did He formulate laws by which all His created things must be governed? And is He sustainer and ruler of all? Is the Bible actually God’s Word and can what it says be depended upon?

You may be surprised to find that God, the Almighty Father, looks like a man except that He has a glorified powerful body. You are going to find it satisfying to know that the Father, the Supreme Creator of all things, knows at all times the most intricate details of His creation, even to the number of hairs on your head. You will learn He has a time table for all things He has created, the sun, moon, the stars, and for you!

You are going to experience the thrill of learning that this Almighty God who looks like a man is responsible for your being here and for the possibility of you’re becoming like Him and existing forever.

You will find that He stands ready and waiting always to listen to you through the way He has ordained, through prayer. You are going to learn much about the spirit beings in the government of God through whom He works His purpose here on earth.

But what about the proof of all these things? Through this article, God will be revealed to you. And then, having revealed Himself, He is going to give you proof that all He says is true!

Jesus Christ tells us in Matt. 6:9 how to address our prayers “Our Father” and in Matt. 7:21 Christ tells that the Father is in heaven, but which heaven, because in Genesis 2:1 it states “heavens.” In which heaven does the Father reside?

Notice that Jesus Christ does reveal that He went to be with His Father in Rev. 3:21. He is still there today, and so is His Father. From John 3:13 we know that the Father is not in one of the heavens in close proximity to this earth.

There are three heavens. The first consists of the atmosphere immediately surrounding this earth at the upper portion of which our clouds are found. The second consists of the vast starry area beyond the earthly atmosphere. Today’s aircraft fly high into the air above the clouds, and even our space shuttles fly in the starry second heaven.

Then it would make sense that the Father’s heaven is located far away beyond the limits of the second heaven, in the 3rd heaven for no man has ascended to where He is.

Notice Heb. 4:14. In the KJV, the expression is “into the heavens.” The original inspired Greek should properly be translated: “Having therefore a great high priest, who passed through the heavens.” So Jesus Christ passed through the visible second heaven to reach the heaven of God’s throne, the 3rd heaven.

Notice that God abides on a mount there and in a city, the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb. 12:22 and Gal. 4:26). God also dwells in a building (Ps. 11:4), and in this building (His Holy Temple) God sits upon a throne (same verse). God therefore occupies a definite space even as you and I. God has always had a throne and always will have one (Ps. 45:6).

God’s plan duplicates itself. It is dual. There is a heavenly Jerusalem. There is also an earthly Jerusalem existing in Palestine today. There is a heavenly Mount Zion, the mount on which the temple of the heavenly city, the Jerusalem above is located. And there has been, and is to be, an earthly Mount Zion, the temple mount of the earthly city, Jerusalem in Palestine. The heavenly City and Mount cannot pass away. They are God’s reminder to us of these Eternal Heavenly things so necessary that we remember.

Right now our eyes are not adapted to see spiritual things, but when we are transformed at the resurrection into spirit beings we will be able to see spiritual things ( I Cor. 2:14; I John 3:2).

How many people know that Lucifer who has now become Satan because of his rebellion against God, long ago tried to ascend and seize the Father’s throne in the 3rd heaven? (Read Isa. 14:13-15). The Washington Observatory has discovered a vast expanse in the northern heavens which hardly contains a single star. It is God’s custom to destroy areas in which sin – rebellion against Him as occurred.

Most people have always believed it is impossible to know what God the Father looks like. They have thought of it as taboo information which would never be revealed to them in this life. But God has made it possible! You may have to revise your mental picture of Him! This we know, He will from now seem more personal and real to you.

The person who became Jesus Christ was with the Father before He appeared on this earth (John 1:1-2; 8:38; 6:46). Then would not Christ know what the Father looks like?

In John 1:18 Christ came to reveal the Father, and whom did Christ say He looked like? “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Now since Christ was in human flesh at the time He made this statement, doesn’t He therefore look in form like any other man we might see today? Then didn’t Christ thereby indicate the Father has the form and size of a man?

Genesis 1:26 states that He has the same form of a man. God also declares that the invisible things – including God -- can be clearly understood by the visible things, that are made (Rom. 1:20).

But there is more to the body than just the outward form which we see. Jesus asked the Father after He had finished His work here on earth to “glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (John 16:5). Christ was asking the Father to restore Him to the same glorified condition which both He and the Father had before, He, as Christ, became a mortal being.

While Jesus Christ was on this earth He was glorifying the Father (v. 4). How did He do that? By raising people from the dead, healing the sick, performing miracles, Christ glorified the Father by showing to man some of the Father’s great power! Jesus could do nothing of Himself. He was a man as you or I. But God had given Him of His own Holy Spirit which glorifies, by good works.

Soon Christ was going to be back with the Father again and He looked forward to having the great power He once had restored to Him by having His Spirit body glorified. To be glorified means to have power and glory! The power the Father has is so great that it makes His man-shaped Spirit Body shine brighter than the sun and makes His raiment as white as light and in other ways changes His human resemblance.

Sixty years after the death of Jesus Christ: He revealed Himself to the Apostle John “One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire. His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace and His voice as the sound of many waters” (Rev. 1:14-16).

What is known about the Father – the Father who looks so much like ourselves, except for His radiance? What makes Him so much greater than we?

In Daniel 7:13 He is referred to as the Ancient of Days, and it was this Ancient of Days that sent Jesus Christ to this earth (John 8:16). Isn’t the one who sends another greater than the one whom he sends? Jesus said “My Father is great than I” (John 14:28). Consider these two facts and the fact that He who was to become Jesus Christ, the Word or Logos, made all things for the Father (John 1:1).Then it is clear that the Father has been supreme in the Kingdom of God from the very beginning of all things?

It is amazing to know that there is much uncertainty in the world today as to the part that Christ – the Word-- has played in this world since its creation. The question arises, if Christ were the God of the Old Testament world, how can He be distinguished from the divinity who later became the “Father” by Christ’s begettal (Luke 1:35)?

The Old Testament was written in Hebrew. And the New Testament was written in Greek. From these two languages all other translations of the Bible have been made. In the original Hebrew, when the One who later became the Father and the One who later became the Son (the Logos) were referred to, each was given various Hebrew names which were descriptive of their outstanding characteristics. But when the Bible was translated into English the translators often just used the word “God” or “Lord” in the place of the various names.

This has been a cause of confusion, for these descriptive Hebrew titles which are not used in your KJV would often have made clear whether it was the Logos or the Father, who was referred to.

The inspired Hebrew word for the 4th word in your Bible (Gen. 1:1), God, is Elohim. It is known as a uniplural word. That is, it stands for a single class which is composed of two or more similar individuals. Our English word “family” which includes two or more individuals is used for a like meaning. Elohim, then, means the “God Kingdom” or “God Family.”

The Word, He who later was to become Jesus Christ, existed in the beginning (John 1:1) He was with God. Notice that the Word was called God; these two verses show that these two Supreme Beings existed together in the beginning and that the two together constitute one class “God,” God, the Father and God the Son. The presently make up The God Family.

As there is nothing like these two Supreme Beings in heaven or earth, wouldn’t these two constitute One Kingdom? The Kingdom of God, read Col. 3:17 and Rev. 1:6 to verify this.

Remember that the inspired Hebrew word Elohim, used in the Old Testament and usually translated “God” into English, literally means the “God Kingdom.” It usually does not refer to each individual Deity in the God Family or Kingdom. Often the singular Hebrew form El, meaning a “mighty one” – God – is used to refer to each individual member of the God Family or Kingdom.

The One who later became the Father was taking no direct part in the affairs of this world in Old Testament times. The Word who is taking an active part in this world today is referred to as the “Rock” in I Cor. 10:4. Now notice in II Samuel 22:1-2 that the “Rock” is called “Lord.” The “Rock” is Christ.

The word the Israelites used for “Lord” here is “YHVH.” It means “The Eternal” or “The Self-Existent One” In writing in Hebrew, the vowels are omitted. They are supplied only in speaking. Today the full word is commonly assumed to be “Yahveh” or “Yahweh.” This Hebrew word is the key that unlocks who the Lord God of the Old Testament usually was, the Christ of our day.

Where you see the word “Lord” in the scriptures, its Hebrew word is “Yahveh.” This word will apply directly to Jesus Christ almost everywhere in the Old Testament. Strong’s Concordance of the Bible shows this to be true.

“God” or Elohim is actually the “family” name for the God Kingdom. The words “Lord” or YHVH might properly be called a “given name” or “first name.” As both Father and Son are eternal, they both have the same first name YHVH or “Lord,” meaning “Eternal” but the “Lord” who spoke and was seen of men was Jesus Christ. The Father “no one has ever seen (John 1:18). How plain it is that the One who became the Christ was the active Lord in the Old Testament times representing the one who became the Father.

God knows the secret of eternal existence without ever becoming tired; He is tireless (Isa. 40:28). Is there any way by which we mortals may, of ourselves, find out the secret things He knows? Same verse. Read Ps. 145:3 and Rom. 11:33.

God has unlimited powers, He created our earth (Gen. 1:1). He created all the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon, and the stars which we see above (Ps. 8:3; 104:2). Can feeble mortal man even count the number of them (Jer. 33:22).

Our earth is small compared to vast numbers of these heavenly bodies. Consider the sun, it would take 1,300,000 worlds the size of our earth to make one the size of the sun! And as for the number of heavenly bodies, there are hundreds of billions of them.

With unlimited power, God sustains what He has created with ease, but how does God do this? “If My covenant is not with day and night and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth” (Jer. 33:25).

Do we have day and night? Then sun and moon obeys Him! “He appointed the moon for seasons. The sun knows it’s going down” Ps. 104:19. How is our earth suspended? “He stretches out the north over empty space. He hangs the earth on nothing” (Job 26:7). Could we human beings instruct lifeless things to consistently follow a regular course through the heavens as He does, and expect to have them obey?

God sustains all He has created, whether on earth or in the heavens, whether living or lifeless, by prescribing ordinances, physical laws which they must follow. The word “sustains” means “to hold suspended, to support, to keep alive, to keep from ruin.” If it were not for God giving definite laws for each of his created things to follow, and seeing to it that they follow them, nothing He created would be “kept from ruin,” everything would fall apart.

God can foretell future events (Dan. 2:28) and He has the power to make what He says come true (Matt. 19:26). God’s memory is beyond our understanding, He never forgets. Ps. 147:4; Ps. 102:12 also Amos 8:7 and Hosea 7:2. God has perfect memory, but He also can forget if He wills to do so (Jer. 31:34).

Does God have perfect communication? God knows all that is going on everywhere and nothing can be hid from Him (Amos 9:1-4). God even knows what you are thinking (Ps. 139:2).God knows the general attitude of everyone (I Kings 8:39) He knows even the number of steps anyone takes (Job 14:16). God hears the groaning of His people (Ps. 38:9). God knows the number of hairs on your head and even when a bird falls (Matt. 10:29-30).

You say these things are impossible, but what does God say? “All things are possible with God” (Matt. 19:26). God knows what is going on everywhere at all times (Jer. 23:23-24) Then He has solved the problem of perfect communication hasn’t He?

God can transfer His very thoughts, energy and power, life, even eternal life, if He wants to, to things He has created. And He can withhold these gifts at will. Can a man actually cause the non-living sun to stop apparent movement? (Josh. 10:12) Who furnished Joshua to do this? Same verse. Does God have power to stop the sun? (Job 9:7) Then was the power to do this transferred from the Lord to Joshua?

God was living before anything was created (Heb. 1:2 and John 1:1-3), then it was God who alone, who has life to give, to the plants, to animals and to man?

It is a proven and accepted fact among scientists that all life on this earth, whatever it may be, must come from something that has life. Only God had life originally. Only He had life to transmit to other things, things which were lifeless until He gave life it to them. Scientists have never discovered the secret of life although they have diligently searched for it!

God even knows a way to give Eternal Life to certain of His creatures which He has made! The Apostle Paul tells us which creatures God made eligible for this honor (Rom 2:6-7). This process is accomplished by a transfer of Himself into us (I Cor. 15:28). Note the words, “That God may be all in all.” If we are obedient, He will beget us as He did Christ.

From this short article we have seen why God has to reveal Himself. He has told us where He is, what He looks like, and how long He has existed. He has told us what part He, as the Supreme Ruler, has had to do with our world, and what part the Logos has taken. He has told us of His wonderful powers. Other articles explain why God created life on this planet in the first place. You have seen God as He really is, you need guess no longer! Also read our article: “How can you know that God exists?” Make no mistake, God exists and He is presently involved in the affairs of man, and yes, even in your very own life.

 
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