Introduction - The Essence of God

Video/audio transcript

0:000:00 - all right guys so we are picking up here today in early July 2023 and we are
0:050:05 - kicking off a new study here in the Bible basic series on ichus and so we had previously gone through part 6A
0:130:13 - talking about the study of the Christian walk and we are now here picking up at the very beginning of the Bible basic
0:190:19 - Series going over theology so the study of God and in our first lesson here
0:250:25 - today we’re going to be picking up uh introducing the the concept of the essence of God and so here’s the things
0:310:31 - that we are going to be talking about here uh in this first one we’re going to be talking about how God is being he is
0:380:38 - The Great I Am we have this verse in Exodus chapter 3 where he tells Moses
0:430:43 - who he is his identity his Essence we’re going to be talking about the resplendence of God and what that means
0:500:50 - in terms of light and glory and then we’re also going to talk a little bit about the difference between Essence and
0:560:56 - nature you may have also heard the words form and substance character what are these things you know these
1:021:02 - Concepts that philosophers talk about so we’ll spend a little bit of time there as
1:081:08 - well all right so the first thing that we are going to be talking about is the
1:141:14 - essence of God specifically how God is being he is The Great I Am and so the
1:201:20 - essence of something is what it really is Essence and being are precise synonyms they come from this Greek
1:271:27 - participle UIA um there’s one in Latin is well very similar so Essence and being are essentially precise synonyms
1:341:34 - now this is the passage here in Exodus chapter 3 where God tells us who he is
1:401:40 - um so I’m just going to go ahead and read this uh God said to Moses I am who
1:461:46 - I am and he said thus you shall say to the sons of Israel I am has sent me to
1:511:51 - you God furthermore said to Moses thus you shall say to the sons of Israel the
1:571:57 - Lord the god of your fathers the god of Abraham the god of Isaac and the god of Jacob has sent me to you this is my name
2:042:04 - forever and this is my Memorial name to all generations and so in the Hebrew this
2:102:10 - word is actually it’s got this really jargony technical name called the tetr Graton it means four letters in Greek
2:162:16 - that’s what the Greek word taton means um but it’s this unpronouncable name of
2:232:23 - God that’s how the Hebrews viewed it the holy name of God’s real identity and uh
2:302:30 - the the translates sometimes you may see it in English as Yahweh um you know the
2:352:35 - the four letters here um but that gets to the idea of being in Hebrew as well
2:422:42 - and so that’s where this I am comes from and so this is who God says he is this
2:472:47 - is the fundamental essence of God is caught up in this idea of existence and
2:542:54 - so moving on down a bit here in the first thing we’re going to talk about if you’ve ever thought about the question
3:003:00 - of well if the universe exists because God made it that’s what the Bible says
3:053:05 - well then why does God exist did something or someone likewise make god well the answer to that is no God exists
3:123:12 - simply because God is being God is existence so unbelievers kind of scoff
3:173:17 - at this but it is more or less what the Bible actually says all right aie so you
3:233:23 - had something else you wanted to say about God being The Great I Am okay yeah um I think uh the thing I’m
3:333:33 - particularly interested in is what unbelievers say about that when you argue you know um that the there the
3:413:41 - question who created God or where did God come from or where was God and all of that is actually nonsense um
3:493:49 - the the reason that that question is nonsense is just like you said that God
3:553:55 - is being right he is the is that which just is the I am what I am I am what I
4:054:05 - will be or I will be what I am however you you you you skew it the idea is this
4:114:11 - that I I am that which just is so the main thing I want to raise about that
4:174:17 - because of my um apologetic bent whenever I engage in these matters is
4:234:23 - this that there is there is in the very existence of anything the demand for
4:294:29 - something that has always existed and never had a beginning or an end that is
4:354:35 - a fundamental requirement for anything to exist if something has not always
4:414:41 - existed then nothing should exist this is exactly why currently in
4:484:48 - physics um those who have been who who are still holding on to the theory of
4:534:53 - the Big Bang are are trying to make the word nothing mean something other than
5:005:00 - nothing they’re insisting that nothing is not nothing that nothing is a
5:055:05 - compressed very weird they they get very esoteric with the definition of nothing
5:115:11 - and they they’ve been banding it around in in the halls of physics for a few years now at least that I know of
5:195:19 - everybody knows that in order to have everything that is you have to begin with something you have to so this is
5:285:28 - another reason why for us Christians the burden of proof that God exists is never on us because everything demands that he
5:355:35 - should exist it is either you have God or you have the universe and the
5:415:41 - universe is manifestly not God because the universe experiences change it
5:485:48 - transforms and that requires that something is acting upon it that is how
5:555:55 - change happens change is is is things that are are stable in nature do not
6:016:01 - change and that is why God is the is the is that’s another aspect of God being
6:076:07 - the is it means he never changes nothing can act on him and transform him in any
6:136:13 - way and nothing can compromise the quality of his
6:196:19 - existence but God can act on everything he can Will things into existence that’s
6:246:24 - actually how he created you know everything that is and can I for a a um
6:316:31 - the point that we’re making here is great um one of the other reasons why it just makes sense for us to speak of
6:376:37 - existence qu existence for us as humans is because we exist only within you know
6:436:43 - four dimensions right space and matter and time we are bound by them and our
6:496:49 - conception of existence is fundamentally linked to these properties which God is not bound by and so this is one reason
6:576:57 - why it can be difficult for us to talk with atheists or even agnostic people about this is just we we aren’t starting
7:047:04 - from the same ideas of what existence even is because when they talk about something existing before time what does
7:117:11 - existing before time even mean like we as humans have a very bad understanding
7:177:17 - of this because we are limited by SpaceTime um another thing just bouncing off points you brought up um this comes
7:247:24 - up in philosophy some of the arguments for God’s existence I personally I’ve always been more like well God exists
7:307:30 - because the Bible says he does and we trust the Bible and we take it on faith it’s a presupposition but philosophers
7:357:35 - do argue about this um there’s one particular argument that goes something about the need for an uncaused cause
7:427:42 - right the prime mover believe that’s what Aristotle calls it um the uncaused cause it is logically necessary if
7:517:51 - everything in the universe is this chain of cause and effect something has to set it off to begin with and like Audi said
7:567:56 - it can’t be the big bang because right now I don’t want to be mean but my understanding of the physics is that
8:028:02 - right now they say that before there was time and space and matter there was like a point charge of energy and the
8:078:07 - fundamental problem with this is that the point charge of energy is still not nothing so um that’s just me riffing on
8:148:14 - all the things you brought up um very good points here yeah yeah so I I want to say finally
8:228:22 - just to wrap up that the reason I’ve actually gone into this is not because I know that a lot of Christians really
8:288:28 - generally don’t want to deal with philosophy and all of that because they feel like it it goes against faith in
8:348:34 - some way um but that’s not the point I’m not even interested in addressing that specifically the reason I’m raising it
8:408:40 - is this to show that there is a reason that the Bible says first the fool says
8:488:48 - in his heart that there is no God second that everything that exists is Testament
8:548:54 - it’s a testament of God’s existence that’s Psalm 19: 1-6 and Revelation um sorry Romans
9:019:01 - 1:20 the Bible States it as an incontrovertible fact that the bare
9:079:07 - existence of of the universe as we see it is absolute incontrovertible proof of
9:159:15 - God’s existence there is in other words you have to deny reality to deny God’s
9:219:21 - existence because however you skew It Whatever argument you make you either
9:289:28 - end up with something that always has been and therefore brought everything else that exists about or you end up
9:369:36 - where you assume that something that obviously cannot always have been is that which has always been so you can’t
9:439:43 - really get away from the core definition of what God is that which always is yeah
9:509:50 - you can’t get away from it so you either accept that that definition belongs to
9:559:55 - the god that we find in the Bible or you ascribe it to the universe that you exist in or even ascribe it to yourself
10:0110:01 - if you’re willing to go so far as to be a solipsist you will always ascribe that quality to something which means you
10:0810:08 - cannot get away from deity in any philosophy that any human being has ever come up with so I will say there a
10:1610:16 - branch of neoplatonic philosophers I wrote a paper on one of them in college there’s this guy named platinus um and
10:2210:22 - so some of the neoplatonic folks they called for all intents and purposes what they called God we believe as is the
10:2810:28 - Christian God and they they they had a similar concept again these are pagans not believing in judeo-christian God but
10:3510:35 - they had the same problems with existence and the uncaused cause and all of this they conceptualized something
10:4210:42 - and they didn’t Define it the same but it’s logically necessary is what we’re saying
10:4810:48 - um and to tie this up perhaps a little bit this is why us grasping that God is
10:5510:55 - existence God is being it is his nature is kind of a core fundamental part of us
11:0211:02 - understanding who God really is um so it’s not minor maybe it seems kind of hard to wrap our heads around and it
11:0711:07 - will be for us as finite human beings but it’s important in Understanding God’s kind of separateness from the
11:1411:14 - universe he transcends it in a way that we can’t perfectly understand but it’s really important for us to kind of get
11:2111:21 - that sense of how big God is and how separate he is from everything that has been created um he is the Creator and so
11:2911:29 - how can he possibly be bound by his own creation that’s the idea here yeah yeah okay that’s so I think
11:3811:38 - that’s where we’ll stop this point and we’ll about to pick up with the second
11:4611:46 - one okay all right so the next point that we’re going to be talking about is we
11:5211:52 - are going to be talking about the idea of the resplendence of God and this is a manifestation of his essence of his
11:5911:59 - nature um and so uh the study on ikus here I know I pulled things out into
12:0412:04 - slides but this is coming directly from the study talks about light and Glory so loosely speaking light captures the
12:1112:11 - sense that God is Sublime and unapproachable and so you might compare squinting at the Sun and being blinded
12:1712:17 - by it you can’t really see it while Glory represents this the side that shines forth visibly to mankind so we
12:2412:24 - see the glory the effects of God’s of God’s existence and his work working in the world glory is what we can see uh in
12:3212:32 - the metaphor here light is sort of what we can’t see the unapproachable of God um and so there’s this verse here in
12:3912:39 - Hebrews chapter 1 um the Bible is very clear that uh the way in which God has
12:4512:45 - manifested his glory most kind of visibly in the world is by speaking through his son so this is picking up
12:5112:51 - right at the beginning of Hebrews chapter 1 it says God after he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets
12:5712:57 - in many portions and in many many ways in these last days has spoken to us in his son whom he appointed heir of all
13:0413:04 - things through whom he also made the world so Jesus Christ is God’s primary
13:1013:10 - message to humankind the primary manifestation of his glory um now we’re
13:1613:16 - not going to get into verse three here uh interesting tangent perhaps but the idea is that Jesus Christ represents
13:2313:23 - God’s glory most directly revealed to mankind um so before I kick us off and
13:2813:28 - we start doing questions here um Lisa had brought up this quote here from 1
13:3413:34 - Timothy 6: 16 um and so I should probably actually go find that I think I
13:3913:39 - have it pulled up over here um so 1 Timothy 6:16 and this is a quote from or
13:4513:45 - one of the verses that Dr duil uses in the ikas study um talking about the unapproachable light it says uh God who
13:5313:53 - alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light whom no one has seen or can see to him be honor and
13:5913:59 - eternal Dominion amen so the question here was what does it mean for God Alone
14:0614:06 - to have immortality given that both Angel and human will have kind of
14:1214:12 - Eternal existence um so this is one of those places um where this is an English
14:1814:18 - problem it’s not a problem in Greek so the Greek word here um you can see the Greek is up here for 1 Timothy
14:2514:25 - 6:16 um is this one right here see the begin with an alpha and then a Theta right so athanasia is the word here and
14:3314:33 - it means more literally translated it means like not dying undying and so the
14:4114:41 - way in which God is different from us is human beings experience death God being
14:4614:46 - separate from SpaceTime God does not die God is unchanging as we’ve just talked about because God is being God is life
14:5414:54 - that’s one of the other things we’ll get to and so this word isn’t immortality in the sense of Eternal existence as it is
15:0215:02 - lack of dying if that makes sense that’s kind of a separate concept so um I don’t
15:1015:10 - know if that question and that answer makes sense but that is one place where we could start
15:1515:15 - here okay yeah um I want to see that quote again God
15:2215:22 - Alone possesses immortality okay so the first here in uh
15:2715:27 - 1 Timothy chapter 6 yeah yeah okay okay so
15:3415:34 - uh I think I think uh you you you captured it quite well we don’t possess
15:4215:42 - immortality we in the sense of owning it God owns it it’s
15:4815:48 - his and he shared it with us um when we read Ecclesiastes he says that he has
15:5415:54 - set eternity in our hearts and then in another place few verses after that he before that it actually said that um
16:0216:02 - everything that God does lasts forever which which kind of proves that he owns
16:0816:08 - immortality um there are those who might argue on the basis of this passage uh
16:1416:14 - First Timothy that this is why they believe that um unless God actually
16:2116:21 - gives you life you won’t live forever so those who will not be with God in
16:2716:27 - eternity will die and that’s it they’ll be gone from existence but that flies in the face of
16:3416:34 - what Ecclesiastes says which is that everything that God makes lasts forever and that thing that very statement from
16:4216:42 - Ecclesiastes actually explains what we are asking about how is he the only one
16:4816:48 - who possesses immortality it’s because it’s his he is that which is everything
16:5516:55 - else derives its aess from him MH so
17:0017:00 - when he makes things and imbus them by the quality of just making them that’s
17:0617:06 - just how God is the things he he he builds the things he makes are just like that they exist
17:1217:12 - Forever by D of the fact that he is the one who makes them they are Immortal in
17:2017:20 - that sense that’s one way to to appreciate the the question of who possesses immortality it’s that he
17:2617:26 - possess it’s his and uh he gives it to wh whomever he pleases now um can I cut
17:3217:32 - in with something here as well so I I kind of made the point that this word is getting at lack of death and so that
17:4017:40 - kind of begs the question of well which kind of death if you are familiar with some of ichus teachings you’ll know that
17:4617:46 - ichus generally speaks of three types of death so when the serpent tempts Eve in
17:5117:51 - Genesis chapter 3 um the serpent says if you eat of the tree you will surely die
17:5617:56 - and that verse if you don’t if you’re not careful in your hermeneutics when you interpret it well you know eve took
18:0318:03 - a bite and she didn’t immediately get struck by a bolt from heaven for example so that statement was true with regards
18:0818:08 - to physical death so there’s kind of physical death and then there’s spiritual death which we Define a
18:1418:14 - separation from God and then there’s what we call the second or Eternal death which is life in the Lake of Fire after
18:2118:21 - we die right and what a he was getting at is well when you die physically that is the destination for
18:2718:27 - those who do not believe it is an eternal state of of existence and so you
18:3218:32 - might also note that Jesus Christ died physically right but the death in view
18:3818:38 - here is more complicated than just physical death right that’s not the only thing in view when we say that God is um
18:4418:44 - you know described by this word athanasia right that God does not taste death well
18:5018:50 - God is life right Jesus Christ was never separated from the father in what we
18:5518:55 - would term a spiritual sense and of course any eternity he’s not going to the lake of fire and so it’s more than
19:0119:01 - just physical death that is in view here it’s the whole shebang the whole Spectrum all three classifications of
19:0719:07 - death because God is life fundamentally and he can’t like uh what’s the right
19:1319:13 - word like uh reject himself right how could God die of God his life right it’s
19:1819:18 - just a nonsensical concept yeah now the the reason that I
19:2319:23 - started from where I started is just to make sure that um we capture the the the
19:2919:29 - owning of immortality part the other side of things is what you’re talking about where the Death part comes in but
19:3619:36 - death was actually just like you said I think I want to put a fine point on it
19:4119:41 - in this way that death is the it is a
19:4719:47 - description of our relationship to God in a particular state so physical death
19:5419:54 - was not supposed to be a thing that was not how things were supposed to go
19:5919:59 - although of course in God’s plan he knew what would happen and had written it in
20:0520:05 - So Physical death the ending of experience in this physical
20:1320:13 - body was the consequence of going contrary to God
20:1920:19 - which of course is like well if you cease drinking from the Fountain of Life then obviously you start to die so
20:2920:29 - when Adam and Eve’s relationship with God was cut off the next thing that happened was we’re not going to allow
20:3520:35 - them access to the Tree of Life which they if they continue to eat they will exist forever right that was a very um
20:4520:45 - uh dramatic or graphic way of demonstrating what had happened spiritually which meant if they were no
20:5320:53 - longer taking their cue from God then they could no longer be
20:5920:59 - living so in that sense that that deathlessness comes into play which also
21:0721:07 - derives its meaning from the fact that God owns immortality nothing else
21:1221:12 - possesses it except that he gives it to that thing and that’s the point that because God created things they last
21:2021:20 - forever I I’ll try to demonstrate first of all we know from the scriptures that
21:2621:26 - even if you’re an unbeliever you are going to be resurrected your Resurrection is not
21:3221:32 - going to be the same as the res the resurrection of a Believer but you’re going to be resurrected in a body that
21:3821:38 - is suited for Eternal condemnation there is no going out of existence forever for anybody because
21:4521:45 - nobody was designed to go out of existence we have also in second Peter
21:5121:51 - chapter 3 that everything we see the entire universe we see is going to be
21:5621:56 - burned up and removed out of the way and yet we have cause to understand that
22:0422:04 - that is not necessarily meaning that these things will cease to exist they
22:0922:09 - simply will not exist for the purpose for which they had originally been made
22:1522:15 - this is a a a universe that is Tainted with sin and for that reason it’s going to be sort of rolled away removed from
22:2322:23 - its place and replaced with something better and that’s actually why we think
22:2822:28 - about the new universe as a resurrection of God’s creation rather than rather than like he
22:3722:37 - he deleted something entirely and put something else in its place in that sense so the what we’re getting at is
22:4422:44 - God owns immortality and by by D of the fact that
22:5022:50 - he does everything he creates is it it has it built into it in the sense that
22:5722:57 - things possess the ability to exist forever not necessarily in the way that they God
23:0423:04 - would have wanted them to but in the way that they have come to be used so um the
23:0923:09 - deathlessness side of things makes absolute sense too when we start to think of the relationship of things to
23:1523:15 - God that means he owns immortality if you turn against him then how can you
23:2223:22 - actually participate in his immortality in that sense you are cut off from his life in some way it does not mean that
23:2923:29 - you will cease to exist forever the unbeliever will still be in the Lake of Fire forever he still exists he has some
23:3623:36 - form of immortality but he is cut off from the life that is God the fullness of life that is God the beauty of life
23:4323:43 - that is God everything because all the there is nothing about goodness or or or
23:4923:49 - life or beauty that is external to God you don’t find those things outside of God it’s
23:5523:55 - like uh when people say that um it’s something that I believe Proverbs talks about that um stolen stolen bread is
24:0324:03 - sweet stolen waters are sweet and the Bible says they end up as gravel in the
24:0824:08 - mouth that’s true some people take pleasure in doing the wrong thing but
24:1424:14 - yes that’s a warping of our nature but in fact true pleasure is with God that’s
24:2224:22 - where it is so when God removes all that is actually him from a particular
24:2724:27 - situation you have a husk of an existence there’s immortality there but it isely immortality it’s like yeah so
24:3724:37 - that’s where the deathlessness side of things comes from but the reason I started from where I started is to make
24:4224:42 - sure that we understand that what what Paul is saying to Timothy here is
24:4824:48 - because God himself owns this thing that’s why we are close to him he owns
24:5624:56 - it none of us can get it from anywhere else immortality is what God is
25:0125:01 - about that’s his is to speak next thing probably I think we have covered this
25:0825:08 - one pretty well although of course if anyone wants to ask more questions to clarify things that AI not have said
25:1425:14 - feel free um the next one that we were going to talk about was the idea of the
25:1925:19 - unapproachable light and so we said light represents the unapproachable sort of in the metaphor here and glory is the
25:2625:26 - visible form of the presence of God that takes place in the world and so the question is well
25:3425:34 - what about people like Moses on Mount Si the Mount of transfiguration Paul on the
25:4025:40 - road to Damascus John in his Visions did these people see God right um there’s
25:4625:46 - another verse kind of appropo here um that talks about how no one can see God and live if you guys are recalling I
25:5425:54 - don’t remember exactly where that verse is I I know it’s somewhere in the old test Testament um but well when Moses
26:0026:00 - was receiving the tablets of the law and he came back and his face was shining
26:0526:05 - and I think that comes up in like second Corinthians somewhere Paul talks about us being MIRS reflecting Glory from
26:1226:12 - glory to glory uh it’s a Greek idiom I don’t want to get off topic but this idea of light and did these people
26:2026:20 - actually see God well if no one can see God and live well did they see God and uh if the light is truly unapproachable
26:2626:26 - did they approach the that sort of question um and I’ll see what AI thinks but to me I think this comes straight
26:3326:33 - down to the idea of christophanies um so this idea theophany uh you know it’s a
26:4126:41 - technical jargon way of saying you know the god coming uh to Earth theophany is
26:4626:46 - a seeing of of God and christophany is a seeing of Jesus Christ and so there is
26:5226:52 - the idea of the like definite article the angel of the Lord in the Old
26:5826:58 - Testament and that is actually a pre-incarnate Jesus Christ that is the second person of the Trinity the son the
27:0527:05 - agent the one who created the universe um so if the father’s the architect the son’s the agent and the spirit is the
27:1227:12 - empowerer so to speak and we’ll get to the Trinity and the roles they adopt a bit later in this study well these
27:1827:18 - instances of people seeing and interacting with God in the Old Testament were interactions with the son
27:2627:26 - christophanies um and the sort of veil of separation between the third heaven
27:3227:32 - and the universe which is presently tainted by sin uh is to keep the presence of the father distinctly
27:3927:39 - separate and there’s some symbolism in The Temple of the holy of holies also separated by a curtain that’s kind of
27:4527:45 - the idea of God’s holiness cannot be be in the presence of man without destroying the sin um so aie do you want
27:5327:53 - to Riff on anything I’ve said here about this question of what about these people who saw light or saw God but yet did not
28:0028:00 - die you’ve you’ve really captured it I’m just going to unravel it a little bit more um so uh like you said it was a
28:0828:08 - christophany and uh it’s important to remember I mean there are people who of course would argue that we we claim that
28:1428:14 - Jesus Christ is God so what does that have to do with anything because we’re still talking about seeing God and we do
28:2228:22 - know that where was that it was in John where where John said that they saw the
28:2928:29 - god of Israel and ate and drank with him you know so it’s like did they see did
28:3528:35 - they not see what which one is it and the Bible is this is where the the question of the Trinity begins to you
28:4228:42 - know creep up um exes holds and it is actually something I’m very persuaded is
28:4928:49 - actually true true as well that um uh the father presents as the face of the
28:5528:55 - trinity in other words words he plays the role of the godhead the role of God
29:0229:02 - in the Trinity so Creation in in in the way they and the
29:0929:09 - roles of course overlaps overlap with each other the way that the the Trinity self assigned roles to themselves is
29:1729:17 - that the father is actually the represent the representation of the deity of the Trinity to
29:2429:24 - Creation so the TR the the father stays aloof from sinful creation does not
29:3229:32 - interact with sinful creation and maintains a barrier of separation from
29:3829:38 - sinful creation that’s why we talk about God being in the third heaven and not being on Earth even though we know as we
29:4629:46 - will soon discuss that God is everywhere so if God is everywhere why do we say
29:5229:52 - he’s in the third heaven it’s because the the father himself who is the represent of the deity of the of the
30:0030:00 - Trinity is maintaining a perceptible separation from sinful
30:0730:07 - creation but the holy spirit is currently right here on Earth he’s living in believers who are sinful he is
30:1430:14 - working in a world that is sinful he is restraining evil in a wicked world is
30:2030:20 - that in any way violating anything the Bible says now I would I would make a
30:2630:26 - point in and say whenever we see these things we don’t think the way that a
30:3230:32 - Believer should should go about it is not to think what is wrong here and rather to think what am I not
30:3930:39 - understanding here so the holy spirit is in a sinful world the lord Jesus came
30:4730:47 - and he lived in the world died on the cross was raised from the dead and after
30:5530:55 - after he ascended into heaven heos is ended which meant his human nature and
31:0131:01 - his divine nature were perfectly United in each other so when you consider all
31:0831:08 - of that when you take all of that into consideration you we we come to understand that when the Bible says no
31:1431:14 - man may see my face and let that’s in Exodus 33:20 by the way no man may see my face and and live you cannot see my
31:2231:22 - face for no man may see me and live that’s how um the Lord said it what was
31:2831:28 - being said is you are not permitted to see the representation of the deity of
31:3431:34 - the Trinity that’s why the father is the face of the Trinity but then he told
31:3931:39 - Abraham he told Moses sorry um I will put you in a c and when I have passed by
31:4431:44 - and and place my hand on you so that you do not see my face but when I have passed by I will let I will let you see
31:5031:50 - my back right so that’s that that one was interesting because in fact
31:5731:57 - it would seem that the Lord Jesus would be this back so to speak because he is
32:0332:03 - the one who is facing creation remember that he was someone was walking in the Garden of Eden and the Bible said it was
32:1032:10 - the Lord God with Adam and Eve and just as we have what as we have said the
32:1632:16 - Bible records that they saw the god of Israel and ate and drank that’s what the Bible actually records that this was
32:2232:22 - referring to the 70 elders of Israel so all of these things tell that they saw somebody that was part of the
32:3032:30 - Trinity but there’s someone they were not permitted to get in any contact with and that was the father we will see this
32:3732:37 - playing out again when we talk about um the third heaven and uh Paradise when uh
32:4432:44 - Believers before the cross would die they couldn’t go into the third heaven but they were in some place that was
32:5032:50 - actually pleasurable that was delightful it was like a Garden of Eden of it Stone
32:5632:56 - it was Paradise Jesus called it paradise and he also called it Abraham’s bosom it’s the place from where Samuel
33:0333:03 - ascended when Saul um went to a a a uh a
33:1033:10 - medium and asked to have him raised up to speak with him that’s the same place
33:1533:15 - that um Abraham was found it’s the same place that uh Lazarus as the poor man
33:2133:21 - the poor believer was also found it’s the same place that Jesus went to after he he died on the cross and the reason
33:2933:29 - for this this separation was because sinful man may not enter the presence of
33:3533:35 - the father even though they had communion with the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit fell on many prophets even before Jesus
33:4233:42 - went to the cross and Jesus himself came and ate and drank and interacted with
33:4933:49 - his disciples even though he was also God but the father nobody ever saw him
33:5533:55 - that’s also the testimony of John no nobody ever saw him except the son that’s what he said so when when we
34:0234:02 - think about these things that God dwells in unapproachable light and all of that we are supposed to understand the
34:0834:08 - separation that exists between the father as a representation of the deity of the Trinity and sinful creation but
34:1734:17 - this is why we look forward to Resurrection that’s why we look forward to the putting off of this body because
34:2334:23 - when we put off this body of sin there is no especially because Jesus has now died on the cross for us there is no
34:2934:29 - longer any reason we cannot enter into the presence of the father so that’s yeah I will say the the powerfulness of
34:3734:37 - us not actually being able to commune with God in the third heaven is any believers who died until after the cross
34:4434:44 - it makes sense when you think of things in terms of justification um before the
34:4934:49 - cross people were saved essentially on credit looking forward towards Christ sacrifice so all human beings from Adam
34:5534:55 - to the last person who who ever lived will be saved on account of their sin being paid for by Christ but the cross
35:0235:02 - is you know thousands of years into human history so what about all the people before the cross well they were
35:0835:08 - in this place that AI described but they could actually be in the presence of the father after Christ’s Resurrection
35:1535:15 - because the resurrection represents God’s acceptance of Christ’s payment for our sins so after that point in a manner
35:2135:21 - of speaking God didn’t see those people anymore he saw them through the blood of Jesus Christ and that’s why they could
35:2735:27 - be in the presence of the father um because no longer was their sin tainting them because they’d been covered in the
35:3435:34 - blood of Christ now also of course uh in the new heavens and the new Earth the father will come and live among us so
35:4135:41 - it’s not just going to be um the son Among Us and the Holy Spirit indwelling us but we will be in the presence of the
35:4735:47 - father but that’s only in the new heavens and the new earth once sin has be been completely
35:5335:53 - eradicated right so yeah um one other uh comment we had here on light and Glory
35:5935:59 - um to go over was uh this one here about how the visible form of Christ’s Glory
36:0536:05 - was veiled in his first Advent to make the choice for him genuine um so the glory was revealed in his works and his
36:1236:12 - words some of the signs he did definitely manifesting the glory of the almighty um but by way of contrast when
36:2036:20 - Jesus Christ comes again I believe it’s in uh let me let me check myself on this whoops um I think it’s in Revelation
36:2736:27 - chapter 19 um Revelation 19 is talking about the second coming of Christ um and
36:3436:34 - when he comes the second time uh let me see if I’m
36:4136:41 - right am I right maybe I’m not yeah here he comes coming on a horse horse right
36:4736:47 - um so when Jesus Christ comes again you know defeating the armies of the Antichrist and Armageddon um and then
36:5336:53 - judgment commences you know the the day of judgment so uh that Paradigm in scripture the day of the Lord Paradigm
37:0037:00 - if you’re familiar with how Dr lugan Bill explains this in terms of Prophecy uh well on that day um then every knee
37:0737:07 - will bow and every tongue will confess that’s a quote I believe it’s from Timothy Thessalonians I can I can look
37:1437:14 - up the exact ver every KN every knee well that’s that’s in Philippians
37:1937:19 - chapter two Philippians yeah okay you’re right Philippians 21-1 but that happens on the day of the Lord Paradigm um in
37:2637:26 - ology this is the point in which yeah the veil comes off and we behold Christ’s Glory as it is and at that
37:3337:33 - point even unbelievers will not by their own will but because it is they can’t deny it
37:4137:41 - right you know God allows human Hardness of Heart to persist but they cannot deny the glory of God when he comes in this
37:4737:47 - manner um so they too will bow and their tongues will confess the glory of God because it will be manifest it will be
37:5537:55 - something that you can’t Harden your eyes to um and that will only happen at
38:0038:00 - that point in time um until now God lets Humanity persist in Hardness of Heart
38:0638:06 - but that will not be the case at that point in time yeah in in fact I I want to point
38:1538:15 - out that okay this is an an argument I used to make a few years ago I when
38:2138:21 - people would say why doesn’t God just show me himself why do a lot of atheists would argue
38:2738:27 - why does God need me why does God need you the Christian to argue for his existence so that I can believe why
38:3438:34 - doesn’t he just show me himself so one very strong reason for
38:3938:39 - this is actually that the same thing that we started with the isness of God the God is Ultimate Reality that is to
38:4938:49 - say when you think about math for example math is um
38:5738:57 - an a way to reason abstractly about the physical world
39:0339:03 - so you can talk all you want about x’s and y’s and calculus and
39:0939:09 - whatnot it doesn’t really mean it doesn’t it doesn’t it doesn’t do much
39:1439:14 - until you actually start to bring those things to bear on physical systems that you interact with and that’s the whole
39:2239:22 - point math gives you a way of seeing those things mentally so that you can
39:2839:28 - act on them physically a lot of the things about life as we see them is similar to math
39:3539:35 - in that sense but God is the Ultimate Reality if anyone of us were to see God
39:4239:42 - with his glory unveiled that is himself naked as as it can
39:4839:48 - get we would fail to be able to resist his will that’s just how that
39:5639:56 - it’s like when the Sun rises and the Darkness recedes and all Shadows flee
40:0440:04 - that’s exactly what happens when the glory of God is unveiled this is also
40:1040:10 - something I should have mentioned when I was talking about the unapproachable light issue that God veils himself in
40:1740:17 - his interactions with with um with creation such that even even though the
40:2240:22 - people of old were largely interacting with Jesus Christ himself he’s Glory as deity was still veiled which is again to
40:2940:29 - tell to remind us that it is the father who plays the role of the deity of the representation of the deity of the
40:3540:35 - Trinity the other two the the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit Veil their own Glory
40:4140:41 - tremendously we have to understand that it’s like with the father he is the one who does not Veil it in that sense so if
40:5040:50 - we were to walk into the presence of the father in sin we we would really die but
40:5640:56 - we can interact with the son we can interact with the holy spirit because they have given us it’s like the Holy
41:0241:02 - Spirit actually living in a human being in in a Believer sorry okay so um it’s like the
41:0941:09 - Holy Spirit actually living in a Believer and um in that same believer he
41:1441:14 - would be speaking and the believer can ignore what he is saying the miracle of that is sometimes beyond our ability to
41:2141:21 - even perceive it’s impossible to resist God
41:2741:27 - when God himself has decided that he will not be resisted can I can I read this verse from Isaiah 53 I just man
41:3441:34 - this hit me when you were talking here um this is talking now Isaiah 53 is the prophecy of the suffering servant which
41:4041:40 - we now know to be Jesus Christ but just listen to this for a second in terms of the veiled Majesty of God right so this
41:4741:47 - is speaking of Jesus Christ as the suffering servant it says verse two he grew up before him like a tender shoot
41:5341:53 - and like a root out of dry ground he had no stately form or Majesty to attract us
41:5841:58 - no beauty that we should desire him he was despised and rejected by Men A Man of Sorrows acquainted with grief like
42:0542:05 - one from whom men hide their faces he was despised and we esteemed him
42:1142:11 - not just just no stately former Majesty to attract this right this is why it’s
42:1642:16 - always been about faith for us because we G it’s not like Jesus Christ came and
42:2342:23 - you know he was like a a Standing Tall among men you know with beauty outshining the rest and abilities So
42:3242:32 - Glorious that people had to fall down before him right um you get some of this in fiction when people are talking about
42:3842:38 - the Majesty of Kings you know Emperors maybe I maybe it depends on culture a bit because you know in the Far East
42:4442:44 - some of them actually worship their Emperors as Gods but you know this idea of Regal Majesty that just people find
42:5242:52 - irresistible yeah Jesus when in during the Incarnation Jesus did not have that
42:5842:58 - and so when you think about those that followed him and were willing to die for him they belied who he was in his kosis
43:0643:06 - um his Veil deity not because Jesus was so exceptional as a human being um yeah
43:1443:14 - yeah so that’s that’s the thing the the the matter of of the glory of the Lord
43:2243:22 - and this is one thing that actually struck me in uh the way that EX presented that God is light so if we
43:2943:29 - were to actually speak of God in terms of substance that is what he is made of
43:3443:34 - of course that that we should remember that that’s nonsensical language to speak there is no God is made of
43:3943:39 - anything but he would be light that would be the definition of him and think
43:4543:45 - about this when Jesus returns the Bible speaks of him as rising like the sun and
43:5143:51 - when we go to Zechariah 14 and it talks about how the moment of his of his is returned to the Earth will be it says at
43:5843:58 - that time will be neither day nor night the reason for this is that it’s actually in the middle of the day when
44:0444:04 - it should be light out it would be dark like it’s midnight and then he rises and
44:1144:11 - when he rises the Brilliance of his Rising is far brighter than anything
44:1744:17 - anyone has ever seen of the sun now think about Jesus Christ being the Morning Star too right exactly the
44:2544:25 - Morning Star yes and this this is yeah this is the glory of his deity we’re talking about
44:3244:32 - the glory we’re talking about is visibly resplendant its light beaming through
44:4044:40 - and this is actually what God is actually promising to every believer and it is the angels are already
44:4644:46 - experiencing it at the moment and departed Believers are experiencing it too he shares That Glory with
44:5244:52 - us that we too will shine like Stars this is what Daniel says or the angel
44:5744:57 - told Daniel in Daniel chapter 12 that they will shine like stars in their father’s Kingdom so we are to understand
45:0545:05 - that if we were to speak of God in terms of substance what he is made of again remembering that he is not made of
45:1245:12 - anything but the substance of his deity is light and glory is the is The Shining
45:1845:18 - forth of that light yeah and so that that is also to tell us how incredibly
45:2445:24 - amazing and and Powerful f it is that that light could walk among men and not be seen as light I mean how about how
45:3145:31 - about John chapter one right and yeah the light walked among the darkness and the Darkness did not recognize it right
45:3845:38 - um yes exactly exactly yeah yeah so that’s that’s what I would say to to
45:4545:45 - that yeah I just wanted to bring up the um the first U day of creation when
45:5145:51 - there was no sun but there was light y yeah in that case I would always be care
45:5745:57 - I would try to remind people that God God does not need to be the light himself he can create light without
46:0246:02 - actually you know um having his son shining it through and there’s a
46:0846:08 - difference between created light and the light that is actually God that’s that’s something we see creation but Lisa’s
46:1546:15 - Point’s actually very interesting too uh not to get too far a few because we could get very off topic here but why was the universe dark right what we’re
46:2246:22 - talking about is one of the strongest inferential Arguments for or uh Genesis
46:2746:27 - being Recreation you know that teaching of the Gap theory on nius is because if God is a being of light as we’re saying
46:3446:34 - it’s a substance you know waving our hand at what that means precisely but if God is light then why was the universe
46:4246:42 - dark it doesn’t make sense unless the universe had been judged before um now I
46:4746:47 - want to close this out I we’ve been on this man we have hit this one hard I am glad though this has been good stuff I
46:5346:53 - want to read this passage here from or second second Corinthians chapter 3 so we are on this topic of light and glory
47:0047:00 - and specifically this idea of bailing and what it means for us as Believers too so this is talking about the New
47:0647:06 - Covenant picking up in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 7 so I’m just go ahead and read from verse 7 through Verse 18 I
47:1347:13 - think it’s all pretty relevant here as you guys will see and I think that’s where we’ll close this section so we can actually get through the third one in
47:1947:19 - this video um but all very appropo to our discussion of Glory here so 2
47:2647:26 - Corinthians chapter 3 picking up at verse 7 says now if the ministry that brought death which was engraved in
47:3247:32 - letters on Stone came with Glory so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its
47:3847:38 - Glory transitory though it was will not the ministry of the spirit be even more
47:4347:43 - glorious if the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious how much more glorious is the ministry that brings
47:4947:49 - righteousness for what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with The surpassing Glory and if what was
47:5647:56 - transitory came with Glory how much greater is the glory of that which lasts
48:0148:01 - therefore since we have such a hope we are very bold we are not like Moses who would put a veil over his face to
48:0848:08 - prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away but their minds were made dull for to this day the
48:1548:15 - same Veil remains when the old Covenant is read it has not been removed because only in Christ is it taken away even to
48:2248:22 - this day when Moses is read a veil covers their heart s but whenever anyone turns to the Lord the veil is taken away
48:3048:30 - now the Lord is the spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom and we all who with unveiled faces
48:3748:37 - contemplate the Lord’s Glory are being transformed into his image with ever increasing Glory which comes from the
48:4348:43 - Lord who is the spirit amen right um so we are being transformed to reflect
48:5048:50 - God’s glory we are reflectors of God’s glory right through the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit now I think
48:5748:57 - there is one more thing so we’re going to pause for a second and see if there’s one more thing to talk about and then we’ll finish off this section here all
49:0449:04 - right well I think we decided that actually we talked a good bit about this topic so with this we’re going to go
49:1149:11 - ahead and move on to the next thing here talking about the essence and nature of
49:1949:19 - God all right so when we talk about some of these terms like Essence and nature
49:2549:25 - and character and if you’ve ever read any philosophy you might have also come across form and
49:3049:30 - substance um well what are these things what’s the difference between them and do we need to care about the fact that
49:3749:37 - throughout history many philosophers and theologians who dabble in philosophy like Thomas aquinus is a famous one they
49:4449:44 - argue about these things also comes up a lot in uh Catholic and Orthodox theology
49:4949:49 - where they talk about uh the son being eternally begotten of the father in this
49:5549:55 - Spirit eternally proceeding from the father and all of these other things that they talk about in terms of ontology I don’t really want us to go
50:0250:02 - there because I feel like we get a bit off topic but um we’re just going to talk a little bit about what does it
50:0850:08 - mean for something to be essential you know what is an essential characteristic of something um and so when you ask the
50:1550:15 - question about well what’s the difference between nature and Essence right uh debate that people have had for
50:2050:20 - a long time or substance or form or these other things arguments usually seem to hinge on how quote unquote
50:2750:27 - inherent something is to an object so for example a triangle must have three sides otherwise it’s no longer a
50:3350:33 - triangle so things that are essential and here this kind of blew my mind when I saw it if you compare the word essence
50:4050:40 - to essential right essential things are things that you have to have that compose the essence of something right
50:4650:46 - they have the same root coming from that Greek word here and so essential things
50:5250:52 - are things without which an object is not whatever we are saying so if you want to use a fany jargony word that
50:5850:58 - would be ontologically speaking right in terms of Something’s existence if it does not have the essential properties
51:0451:04 - the essential characteristics it is not the thing that we are talking about so there’s this blink here um I certainly
51:1151:11 - don’t know very much about this website I was just coming up with an example and I thought this page did a decent job um
51:1651:16 - you know this guy saying he’s not a philosopher Etc um but he’s using the example of circles right so if you draw
51:2351:23 - a circle over here like this one if you draw one on the other side of a page still a circle right location is what
51:3051:30 - we’re going to call an accidental trait of a circle right it’s not something that where if you change the location
51:3651:36 - something ceases to become a circle now if you draw one that’s blue right color is also not an essential trait of a
51:4251:42 - circle because you can have circles that are different colors and they’re all still circles right um so circles can have a lot of different accidental
51:4851:48 - traits but if you take this object right here this is not a circle right a circle
51:5551:55 - with four Four Corners can you have a circle with Corners no now you don’t have a circle anymore you have a square
52:0052:00 - because round is an essential trait of a circle so I don’t want to overly belabor the point I don’t want to stick it off
52:0652:06 - in the weeds of philosophy but we’re just talking a little bit about well what does it mean for something to have essential characteristics what is
52:1352:13 - Essence that sort of thing now where this kind of comes more on topic for us is when people argue about is God’s
52:2152:21 - infinity and his perfect character are these essential characteristics of God that is God not be God if he didn’t have
52:2852:28 - these characteristics now I’m mostly introducing this because people argue about this my opinion is that wandering
52:3552:35 - too far in this direction rapidly leads one to something called theosophy which is usually kind of a pejorative way of
52:4152:41 - saying you’re off in the philosophical Weeds about something in theology when you should just accept what the Bible says and move on right so God is
52:4952:49 - infinite and god is perfect in character so why are we arguing about this stuff right does it matter what does it mean
52:5652:56 - if this is an essential characteristic of God or not right I think a lot of the times people get off in the Weeds about this and it doesn’t do much productive
53:0353:03 - that’s my n equals one opinion here now if someone in this were to wh that I’m kind of question dodging and I’m not
53:0853:08 - defining my terms I’m just using things I would say that God’s nature deals with
53:1353:13 - his infinite abilities and God’s character deals with his moral perfection and both are fundamental
53:1953:19 - parts of who he is as God um I don’t know if that would uh
53:2553:25 - you know if that would satisfy all potential critics and I’m quite frankly not all that interested in satisfying
53:3153:31 - potential critics here we are talking about who God really is not whether it conforms to a specific philosophical
53:3853:38 - framework or you know a definition of terms as this philosopher this
53:4353:43 - philosopher say Plato or Kant or whoever else uses these terms we’re interested about who God really is and that is kind
53:4953:49 - of what’s governing in our conversation here so um I’m sorry that’s maybe a little bit unsatisfying I’m more raising
53:5553:55 - this to say we’re not going to go too far into some of the philosophical weeds
54:0154:01 - here we’re going to keep it at the surface level about who God really is what his abilities are what that says
54:0654:06 - about his nature and his moral perfection in his character um so nature his infinite nature and his perfect
54:1254:12 - character those are the uh the next lessons that we’re actually going to do um but I’m just kind of opening up that
54:1854:18 - that’s what we care about when we talk about the essence of God we don’t have to twist ourselves into pretzels trying
54:2454:24 - to satisfy secular philosophers because what we’re interested in is who God is not necessarily the philosophical
54:3154:31 - specifics and the technical terms and well how does this interact with Plato’s conception of the forms or whatever
54:3654:36 - right we don’t need to go there because it’s not really useful for enhancing our understanding of God does that make
54:4254:42 - sense a do you have more to say here yeah I’ll just say that um one problem
54:4854:48 - with people like aquinus and all the others was was that they were doing philosophy they weren’t you know
54:5554:55 - particularly engaging in Bible study they were trying to
55:0055:00 - understand the scriptures they were trying to philosophize about God that’s a different thing Al
55:0655:06 - together there is very much because the human mind is naturally arrogant um
55:1255:12 - there’s always so much we think we can we can we can break God we can figure him out and all of that but what we do
55:1955:19 - here is Bible study we’re trying to to you know um understand what the Bible
55:2655:26 - says about God so we will be seeking to understand what the Bible says about
55:3255:32 - God’s Essence and as far as that goes we’re not talking about essential characteristics we’re talking about what
55:4155:41 - God is and that is this we’ve already talked about a big part of that that
55:4755:47 - what God is at his core what and here’s the thing I I often like to use the term
55:5355:53 - deity to to make sure that everyone understands that I’m not talking about the identity of the person that has that
56:0156:01 - quality of deity I’m talking about the quality itself so what makes deity deity is what
56:0956:09 - we’re talking about on the one hand which we have already talked about it’s the fact that deity is the is it it
56:1656:16 - never began to exist it will never cease to exist now that very word that very I
56:2456:24 - will be what I am I am what I am I I am what I will be all of these things they
56:3256:32 - refer to the to the both the independent existence that is the self-existence of
56:3856:38 - that which possesses deity and also speaks to a lot of there there are implications that is what I
56:4456:44 - mean there are there are implications of this self-existence if something self exists
56:5156:51 - it will necessarily possess certain qualities those qualities that it possesses are
56:5756:57 - what we are going to discuss and we’re not talking about it from a philos philosophical standpoint what we’re saying um is this what it is is must it
57:0657:06 - be so couldn’t it be no what we’re talking about is what the scriptures actually say about be that’s it I agree
57:1357:13 - and I will say that as an occupational hazard I have read a fair bit of philosophy I was a Classics major I
57:1957:19 - enjoyed it for my part kept in its proper place but I have bumped into problems time starting to question
57:2657:26 - things about the mechanics of something or trying to fit it in a framework where I’ve pestered Dr lugan with questions
57:3357:33 - and eventually he more or less tells me okay this thing that you’re trying to do you’re starting with this framework over
57:4157:41 - here rather than starting with the Bible I mean he says it way nicer than that but more or less our responsibility as
57:4757:47 - Christians as Believers is we need to start with the Bible we need to strive to understand and interpret the Bible we
57:5357:53 - don’t start with a phrase fror and then try to like fit the Bible into that right like that’s going about it backwards right um this Probably sounds
58:0158:01 - like well okay Stephen of course but it’s actually a lot easier than you think to kind of fall into a pattern of
58:0758:07 - thought where you get hung up on things that you would never get from the Bible
58:1358:13 - if you just read the Bible try to understand the Bible make sense of the Bible it’s because you’re starting
58:1858:18 - somewhere else right and that’s when you get off in the Weeds about things and so I just wanted to emphasize this point up
58:2458:24 - front that what we are talking about in all of this is who God is who the Bible
58:2958:29 - says God is right and what that means and his his characteristics his abilities um speaking as deity right
58:3658:36 - that’s as Audi said rather than getting caught up in all of these pointless debates where we’re not even really
58:4258:42 - arguing about what the Bible says anymore now we’re just I don’t even know what we’re talking about right um so
58:4758:47 - yeah we’re not going to do that and according to some people that will mean that we didn’t quote unquote do a thorough job or whatever but whatever
58:5458:54 - because we’re starting with the Bible we’re going to stick with the Bible and we’re going to talk about what the Bible has to say in terms of God’s
59:0059:00 - characteristics um both in his infinity and his moral perfection and that is all
59:0559:05 - we’re going to talk about because that’s all that should matter to us
59:1159:11 - um all right so that brings to a close this first uh lesson that we’ve done
59:1759:17 - here so we started out talking about how God is being he is The Great I Am uh the
59:2359:23 - one who is or sorry who was and is and is to come the almighty right God is separate God is existence and we talked
59:3159:31 - about some of the implications of that for what it means to be a self-existing being um right God is the uncaused cause
59:3859:38 - that comes up in these things that philosoph Phil philosophers argue about but from our perspective what we care
59:4459:44 - about is that this is who God tells us he is God exists independent from the universe has always existed and his
59:5159:51 - existence is not in any way conditional upon creation and then we talked some uh
59:5659:56 - a good bit actually about light and Glory light as the idea of God being
1:00:011:00:01 - unapproachable AI articulated uh that the father is the face the the
1:00:071:00:07 - representational deity if you will in the Trinity and we talked some about christophanies in the Old Testament and
1:00:131:00:13 - how these things interact with the veiled glory of God and how there will come a time on that uh that great day of
1:00:201:00:20 - days so the day of the Lord Paradigm in interpretation when that will be removed
1:00:251:00:25 - and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess so talking about light and Glory as manifestations of God’s uh
1:00:321:00:32 - Essence his identity his deity and then finally we closed here kind of talking a little bit about how we’re going to be
1:00:381:00:38 - focusing our approach on scripture what the Bible says and so there are some terms thrown about here in terms of
1:00:451:00:45 - ontology uh that kind of get off in the weeds of philosophy um and so we are going to try to concern ourselves with
1:00:521:00:52 - what the Bible says and how the Bible Des describes God in terms of his characteristics and his Essence and only
1:00:591:00:59 - concern oursel with that and so this was how we kind of introduced oursel uh easing into this study here in Bible
1:01:061:01:06 - basics part one uh the study of God and in coming lessons we will be talking about God’s infinite nature and also
1:01:141:01:14 - God’s moral perfection uh God’s perfect character so those are the things that we will pick up with next