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"'For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord , thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.'" Jeremiah 29:11 The verse above is often quoted, especially to comfort and assure people of God’s faithfulness in the midst of difficulties. Truly, this verse serves this purpose since God Himself said it to comfort and confirm His care and faithfulness to Israel, His people. However, the truth is that sometimes we do not receive the fullness of the comfort found in this verse because we do not understand the historical context in which it was written, nor the biblical context in which the verse is inserted. The verse above, as comforting as it is, was spoken when Israel was in Babylonian captivity. Jeremiah 29:1-2 says, "'Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remainder of the elders who were carried away captive—to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon. (This happened after Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.).'" God had prophesied long before through the mouth of prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 39), and then through the mouth of Jeremiah himself (Jeremiah 1:13-19) that Israel would be taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar as a result of their disobedience, and so it happened. Most of the people were taken away, but Jeremiah and a minority remained in Jerusalem. However, the prophet Jeremiah still maintained contact with those who were taken captive. As we have seen in the verses above, this chapter 29 of the book records one of the letters that Jeremiah sent to his fellow Israelites in exile. It is written, "'The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying,'" Jeremiah 29:3 Despite being in exile, the people lived in anticipation of returning to Jerusalem; they were ready to see the end of their captivity. This expectation was fueled on one hand because they knew that God is merciful, compassionate, and that his anger does not last forever. As it is written, "'And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord , the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”' Exodus 34:6-7 On the other hand, this expectation was also fueled by them listening to false prophets who prophesied what they wanted to hear, instead of listening to the true prophets that God sent. Yes, God would judge them for a time, but that time belonged to God and not to them, because, “God knew the thoughts that He had for them.” However, the people, once again, would not listen; they wanted to hurry things up and get out of captivity. Yes, the situation they found themselves in seemed contrary to the thoughts that God said He had for them, yet He was in control. Jeremiah begins the letter by saying, “'Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace. '" Jeremiah 29:4-7. Imagine how the people felt when they read the opening words of this letter! How would you feel? They longed to get out of captivity, but God told them, "Build houses and dwell in them." They longed to return to the land flowing with milk and honey, referring to how fertile the soil was, but God said, "Plant gardens and eat their fruit" in the land of captivity. Since many of them were no longer able to marry in Jerusalem, they at least dreamed that their sons and daughters would marry and be given in marriage in Jerusalem, but God said, "Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished." Because they had been taken captive, they certainly wished Babylon harm, wanting another empire to come, take over Babylon, and let them return to Jerusalem, but God says that they should not think that way, on the contrary, "And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace.'" Imagine receiving a letter like that, contrary to all your dreams, and even apparently contrary to all the promises of God Himself had made. God had said long before that He would take them to the promised land, fulfilling the words He had spoken to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yet they were in exile. Imagine! In similar circumstances, many of us would say that Jeremiah is a false prophet, that he was prophesying wrongly, that he was against them, and in fact many of them thought so; therefore, they mistreated Jeremiah and ignored his words, preferring to listen to others who at least "comforted" them, but with false comforts. Thus, God himself warned them through Jeremiah saying, "'For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the Lord .'" Jeremiah 29:8-9 Like the people of Israel, sometimes when we are in the midst of difficulties, we become anxious and ready to see the difficulties pass; We refuse to listen to those who speak sincere words just because their words go against what we want, and instead we listen to those who always speak and dream according to what we want. But God says, "I have not sent them, they prophesy falsely," be careful, do not be deceived! This does not mean that in the midst of difficulties God's message will always be that we must endure them, certainly not! Sometimes God himself sends deliverance, just as he had done countless times for the people. We need to have Discernment. Have Discernment Psalm 50:15 says, "'Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.'" God is saying that in times of difficulty, trouble or distress we can call upon Him in prayer and He will deliver us, and we will exalt or glorify Him with thanksgiving. Again, God's will is not always for us to endure or go through tribulation, sometimes it is for us to be free from it. God is the one who knows the thoughts He has for us, good plans and not evil, so in the midst of any and every situation we must always seek to understand His will, to access His thoughts. Remember Jesus in Gethesemane, He said, "[...], “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.”' Matthew 26:42 If God's will is for deliverance, let us trust Him for deliverance; if it is for the ability to endure, we must likewise trust God for that. In any and every situation our attitude should always be like Mary's, "'Then [...] “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” [...]'" Luke 1:38. This does not mean that we remain passive in the face of the situation, but rather that once we are sure of His will, we submit to God's will and act based on it to obtain the end that God desires. Submission to God is generally not easy, our flesh fights, and the enemy tries to stop us, but it will always be the best for us. Jeremiah continued the letter by saying, “'For thus says the Lord : After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place.'" Jeremiah 29:10. God had a set time limit of 70 years before He would visit the people and bring them out of captivity. This is certainly not what the people wanted to hear, but 70 years was the time God had set for His purpose. So God commanded them to build houses, marry, give in marriage, and seek the peace of the city they were in, for they still had many years ahead of them. Certainty, they didn't take it with easy, but it was the will of God. Although good, perfect and acceptable (Romans 12:2), His will often challenges us. Although unexpected, Jeremiah’s message was still filled with hope. God reaffirmed His love and faithfulness to them by saying, "'For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord , thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord , and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord , and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.'" Jeremiah 29:11-14 God seldom does things overnight, and often this is a problem for us. Of course, He can do it overnight, and in fact, He has given us several proofs of this in His word. For instance, If God created the heavens and the earth overnight, even though the concept of night and day did not even exist, what is it that He created? can't do it?! This doesn't mean that whenever we notice a delay in certain things we should just fold our arms and simply conclude that God doesn't want to do it quickly, certainly not! Sometimes we should check our level of faith and obedience, or if we are fighting hard enough to achieve the promise. For example, it is written in 1 Timothy 1:18, “'This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare,'". Paul was exhorting Timothy to fight or battle based on the promises, and not simply rejoice because he received promises. Which leads us to see that just because God spoke does not mean that things will happen immediately; we are at war, we need to fight the good fight to see God's will done. Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, “'And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.'" Matthew 11:12. It is not merit, it is effort. For example, this prophecy of 70 years that God gave through Jeremiah had expired in the days of the prophet Daniel, but they still did not return to Jerusalem automatically. When Daniel realized that the prophecy had already expired, he did not say that God is a liar; he only began to lament. Instead, he began to humble himself before God and pray, asking God for understanding. As a result of Daniel’s actions, today we have one of the greatest revelations of what happens in the heavenly realms when we pray and fast. The Bible says, "'Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia. Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come.”' Daniel 10:12-14 In short, you see that each situation is different and it is up to us to obtain the necessary discernment to know what situation we are going through! That is why God commonly makes us go through processes to mature us before fulfilling certain promises. Perhaps you have heard that between the promise and the purpose there is always a purpose, let me tell you that it is true. God can make promises to us, but there will always be a level of maturity, faith, submission, discernment and knowledge necessary to enter into the purpose depending upon it. That is why God Himself most often establishes a process to ensure that in practice we will mature, submit, etc., if we have not already done so. Unfortunately, we are sometimes tempted to pray for deliverance while we are going through the process; we are tempted to create shortcuts, to shorten phases within the process due to the difficulties they present or because the processes do not seem to fit within the promise that God made. Israel certainly felt this way until they heard the words of Jeremiah. The truth is that some phases within the process can make us question whether we are really still in God's will or not. Several brothers in the Bible went through situations that led them to question whether they were still in God's will too, or perhaps situations that compelled them to give up. Imagine Joseph being sold, after two great dreams, indicating that he would occupy a prominent position; David being pursued for many years by Saul to be killed before assuming the position of king for which he had already being anointed; Zechariah and Elizabeth being barren for a many many years before finally conceiving John the Baptist, who came to be the one who prepared the way for Christ; or imagine our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who worked as a carpenter for 30 years before presenting Himself as Christ, the son of the Living God, although He knew who He was. If you look at all these stories and many other biblical stories, you will notice that some parts of the process they went through sometimes seemed far from the purpose, but God was still in control, and they were exactly where God wanted them to be. Despite everything, we must always rest assured that God is intentional in what He does and that nothing gets out of His control, even if it doesn't seem like it. "Only He knows the plans He has for us, plans of good and not evil." We need to understand that each phase and stage of God's processes are crucial. Even though it may not make sense to us at times, there is a purpose in all of God's processes. The problem is that we are limited beings, and most of the time we only contemplate a fraction of the purpose, and not the whole of it, but God sees the whole. Acting on the strength of our flesh, dropping from the process, or creating shortcuts during the process can give rise to Ishmaels and other unwanted fruits. Remember, trying to get rid of parts of the process also leads us to abort parts of the purpose. Trust in God; He is sovereign and cares about you (Luke 1:37; 1 Peter 5:7). May the Lord give you grace to endure and flow in His processes, and to know how to wait on Him for the fulfillment of each promise. If you are in a process, God is transforming you to fulfill His plans. As clay in the hands of the potter, so are you in the hands of the Lord (Jeremiah 18:6). Be patient and trust in Him because for each process that God allows us to go through, there is a purpose. Remember, God is on your side, His plans are always good, even if we do not understand them. Whether it is a relationship, marriage, work, health, sanctification, ministry, studies, children, or even seeing Our Lord and Savior Jesus face to face on that day, and etc., do not lose heart, do not be discourage, endure the process. God knows what is best for us, that is why He said, "'For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord , thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.'" Jeremiah 29:11 May God bless you.

We have seen in Part 2: Knowing God Through His Word - Specific Revelation that while Natural revelation gives us some details of who God is based on the things created, Specific Revelation, The Bible gives us the specifics about Him, it defines God to the extent He revealed Himself on it. The bible contains the various characteristics and descriptions of God: His attributes, His names, His actions, His will, and etc., and the sum of all them leads us to know Him, to have the correct view of God based on what He revealed about Himself, and not based on what we want or think He is. Thus, The bible is a vehicle designed to conduct us to the knowledge of God, and not just have a mental knowledge of the bible itself. In this article, we will expand on what the bible has to reveal to us about God, and specifically learn about His acts and His attributes. The Acts of God Our God acts, He is constantly involved in the world, and the bible is full of the acts of God. By studying them, we can know God. we have already learned in Part 1: Knowing about God Through Creation that the very first act of God was to created the world, the heavens and the earth in the beginning as recorded in Genesis 1:1-2, it says, " 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.'" Then, He continued acting by giving form or beautifying the earth. Afterwards, He created a garden where He placed the first man and woman, and continued acting by visiting them, instructing them, and etc. Adam and Even then sinned against God, and He acted by punishing them and letting them face the consequences of their actions, since God had warned them of it. It’s written, " 'Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”' Genesis 2:15-17 The first man and woman sinned, and God acted by sending them away from the garden of Eden, and the purpose was actually to protect them. The bible says, "'Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.'" Genesis 3:22-24. As you can see from the passage above, the goal of taking them out of the garden was so that they would not eat also of the tree of life and live forever, but with a fallen nature, meaning man would be irredeemable, unable to be saved or reconciled to God. This would be the total ruin of the human race, However, God acted to protect them by sending them away. Prior from doing so, God had already revealed His plan of redeeming them in Christ when in Genesis 3:15 He said, "'And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”'" Genesis 3:15. Jesus is the seed of the women that bruised the head of satan, the serpent, on the cross when He died but rose again on the third day for our justification. By sending Christ, God acted providing the perfect sacrifice for the salvation of every and any person who believes. It's written, "'For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.'" John 3:16-17. God is love, and love does not seek His own interests but the good of others, hence, He gave us Jesus when we were dead in our sins and trespasses, meaning when we were at our worst, when we most needed. However, it didn't finish there because God Himself in the person of Jesus Christ continued to act on earth. God did so many might works through the hands of Jesus: Raised the dead, fed thousands of people, delivered the oppressed, healed the sick, preached the gospel to the poor and etc., God's included the greatest miracle of all which is raising Christ from the dead, He did it (Romans 10:9). Peter resumed it all by saying, "'“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— '" Acts 2:22 The bible is full of the mighty acts of God and all was written so we can know God and take comfort on them because our God reigns supreme and is present in our lives as seen through His acts. The bible is a record of the works of God, whether done directly or through agents like human beings. Our God is almighty, there is none like Him. In several occasions the bible even shows the mighty works God did to show His superiority against other gods. For instance, when Moses was sent to deliver the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt, he performed the initial sign of turning the rod of Aaron into a serpent, "But Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers; so the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments."  (Exodus 7:11). These worshippers of false gods were able to replicate that sign and the next two with their evil practices of enchantment, but when it came to the forth sign, they could not keep up and recognized that the God of Heaven and Earth (Joshua 2:11) was involved. It's written, "Now the magicians so worked with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not. So there were lice on man and beast. Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had said."  (Exodus 8:18-19). Through what God did by the hand of Moses in the forth sign, the magicians came to know that the Hand of the One and True God was on the situation. Another episode when God was distinguished from other gods happened when Elijah called fire down from heaven. It's written, "And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word. Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of the Lord ; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. [...] Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord ; and the God who answers by fire, He is God.” So all the people answered and said, “It is well spoken.”  I Kings 18:21-22,24. The story ends with the prophets of Baal ashamed and killed because Baal did not bring fire down only the One and True God, possessor of Heaven and Earth (Genesis 14:19). These acts of God and many more are recorded in the bible, so we can know Him. ​​The acts of God are not limited to the old testament, in the new testament God is closer to His people and acts through them by His Spirit because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. God acts by comforting His people, delivering them, answering their prayers, doing miracles, healing the sick, delivering the oppressed and etc. For instance, Acts 12:5-11 describes an episode in which God acted to delivered Peter from prison in response to the prayers of His people. It says, "'Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison. Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise quickly!” And his chains fell off his hands. [...] And when Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people.”'   These are just few of the many mighty acts of God recorded in the bible, both in the old as well the new testament, and by knowing them we get to know more about God. Our God acts, He rules the world, in spite of the fall of man, He is sovereign. God did not abandon the world, He rules over everything, including satan by limiting his influence in the world. God rules in the affairs of man, He acts mightily. It's written, "'But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases. Why should the Gentiles say, “So where is their God?”' Psalms 115:2-3. Moreover, It's also written in Daniel 4:17, "'‘This decision is by the decree of the watchers, And the sentence by the word of the holy ones, In order that the living may know That the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, Gives it to whomever He will, And sets over it the lowest of men.’'" . God acts and through His mighty acts we can know Him, the bible is archive containing them. "God shows Himself in what He does. In creating the world, God showed His power, wisdom, beauty, goodness, and creativity. After creating the first men and women, God spoke and walked with them and even searched for them right after they sinned against Him, which shows that God is relational, personal, trustworthy and attentive. God demonstrated His holiness, wrath, and justice when He cursed the human rebellion in the garden and when he judged the sinners through a flood in the days of Noah. God also shows His grace and mercy when established a covenant with Noah and Abraham. In sending His Son to live and die for humanity, God showed incredible love and compassion. Whenever God acts we always see a demonstration of His character." (1) . The attributes of God (2) According to dictionary.com, the word attribute means "quality or characteristic of the person, thing, group, etc.," Thus, when we refer to the attributes of God we mean the qualities or characteristics of Him, and by knowing them, we get to know more about God. The bible mentions many attributes of God and the sum of them is who God is, not just one or two. Many of these attributes are exclusive to God, and others are shared with humans since they have been made in God's image. Knowing the attributes of God is regarded as one of the fundamental ways of knowing God, since through them we understand His actions of God, His will, names, and etc. Let's examine these two groups of attributes more specifically: Exclusive Attributes of God God is Omnipresent:  He is present in all places at the same time. God sees all that we do and all that happens (Psalms 139:7-12, Jeremiah 23:23-24, Act 17:27-28). God is Omniscient:  He knows all things. He knows not only our actions but also our very thoughts (Psalms 139:1-4, 1 Samuel 16:7, 1 Kings 8:39, Psalm 44:21, Jeremiah 17:9-10). God is Omnipotent:  He is all powerful and has all authority over all things and creatures (Jeremiah 32:17, Psalm 147:13-18, Matthew 19:26, Luke 1:37) God is Transcendent:  He is different and independent of His creation (Exodus 24:9, 1 Kings 8:27, Isaiah 6:1-3, 40:12-26, Acts 17:24-25) God is Eternal: He is from eternity to eternity (Psalm 90:1-2, 102:12, Isaiah 57:12) God is Immutable:  He is constant, His being, attributes, perfection, and eternal plans do not change (Numbers 23:19, Psalm 102:26-28, Isaiah 41:4, Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 1:11-12); although His temporary plans for human race might change depending upon their behavior (Numbers 14:1-20, 2 Kings 20:2-6, Luke 18:1-8) God is Perfect and Holy:  He is absolutely separated, hollowed, in a class all by Himself, exempt from sin and perfectly just (Leviticus 11:44-45, Psalm 85:13, Matthew 5:48, 1 Peter 1:15-16). God is Triune or Trinity:  He is one God (Deuteronomy 6:4, Isaiah 45:21, 1 Cor 8:5-6, Ephesians 4:6, 1 Timothy 2:5) manifested in three persons, : Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:16-17, 28:19, 2 Cor 13:14, 1 Peter 1:2). Shared or Moral Attributes of God When God created men in His image He communicated these attributes to them. They exist in them in a degree much lower than God's, although they can grow as one sanctifies himself after the new birth. However, these attributes are the very essence of God hence exist in Him in a far superior degree compared to men. God is Good:  He takes care of His creation, specially those who seek Him (Psalm 25:8, 106:1, Mark 10:18). God is Love:  He cares for the whole world, made of sinners and believers, unconditionally (1 John 4:8, John 3:16, Roman 5:8, Matthew 5:43-48) God is Merciful : He does not treat us as we deserve due to our sins, but He is ready to forgive us in Christ if we repent (Exodus 34:6, Deuteronomy 4:31, 2 Chronicles 30:9, Psalm 103:8) God is Compassionate:  He feels and understands our suffering and is ever ready to help us (2 Kings 13:23, Psalm 86:15, 111:4). God is Patient and Slow to anger:  He gives us time to repent and relents before He expresses His wrath or judgment (Exodus 34:6, Numbers 14:18, Romans 2:4, 1 Timothy 1:16, Genesis 2:16-17, 2 Peter 3:9). God is The Truth:  He is absolutely authentic, trustworthy, reliable and truthful in all He says and does, hence His worthy is calledthe truth also (Deuteronomy 32:4, Psalm 31:5, Isaiah 65:16, John 3:33, John 14:17, 1 John 5:6, John 14:6, John 17:17). God is Faithful:  He will always carry out what He says or promises, including His judgments (Exodus 34:6, Deuteronomy 7:9, Isaiah 49:7, Lamentations 3:23, Hebrews 6:4-8, 10:23). God is Just:  He is the moral standard of the universe, is righteous, without sin in all His doings (Nehemiah 9:33, Deuteronomy 9:14, Romans 3:5-6, 21-22, Ezra 9:15, Psalm 145:17). These are just some of the attributes of God, and as we read the bible we have the chance to encounter them all. God is all of them. These attributes are not simply qualities God displays neither things He does, though His acts are always consistent with His attributes, God is these attributes. However, to define God solely based on one of these attributes or to overemphasize one of them is to hold a wrong view of God. He is equally all of them, and they do not conflict with each other. God is just and love. He is merciful and Holy, and etc. Though God may act in a way that one of these attributes will be in more evidence for a time, yet His action will not negate the others. For instance, The act of Christ dying on the cross was both a demonstration of God's judgement on sin, love and mercy on us, so we could be reconciled to Him, and etc. God is all of these attributes. The correct view of God is achieved when we equally hold each one of them and see God as such. He said to Moses, "[...], “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’'"' Exodus 3:14. Praise God. He IS WHO HE IS. The Implications of Knowing Having learned about the Acts and the Attributes of God, you should know Him better, but it does not end there. By knowing God better, you should likewise be able to relate to Him better. Again, Knowing God is far beyond simply mental awareness but it is intimately knowing, passionately relating, spiritually and truthfully worshipping, and loving Him with all your heart, soul, and strength (Mt 22:37-40). It's learning to interact with Him on the basis of the knowledge we acquire of Him. The end goal of the knowledge of God is relationship and love, and by knowing His acts and attributes you can relate with Him better. For instance, let's examine one implication of knowing the acts of God and how it better our relationship with Him. Knowing that God acts in our affairs, gives us great confidence in God, in prayer, in life and leads us to worship Him for His mighty works. If we read something God did in the bible we can trust Him for similar thing, or even for things we never seen in the bible but as long it is consistent with His attributes. You see? The more you learn and meditate on the acts of God, the more you know and trust Him, the more confidently you pray and live. And seeing the interventions of God in your life naturally brings praise out of your lips. David said, "'Praise the Lord ! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty firmament! Praise Him for His mighty acts; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!'" Psalms 150:1-2 Concerning the attributes of God same thing. The more you learn about them, the more you know God, the more confident you can be in Him, and the more you begin to worship Him for Who He is. For instance, you know that God is love and that love cares, hence, when it comes to your needs He will always provide because He cares for you, and not only you but even those who do not live for Him. On the other hand, since love is a shared attribute of God, the more we learn about it, the more we are compelled to act as God thus. Jesus said, "'“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.'" Matthew 5:43-45. Can you see it. Moreover, if we take the fact that God is perfect, we can have confidence that if God does something is always perfect, lacking imperfection even if we don't understand it. In addition, if we take His faithfulness into account, we can rest assured that if God promises something, He will always do it, He is can be trusted, He is faithful. it's written, "'Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”' Hebrews 13:5-6. God will never leave, forsaken, or abandon us. We can only rest in this promise if we know He is faithful. Of course His faithfulness is not seen only in the "good" promises He makes to us, but also when the promises to judge evil and evil doers, we know He will do it. Ultimately evil does not win because God has promised to eliminate all evil and all evil doers if they don't repent. It's written, "'Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.'" Revelation 20:11-15 Lastly, let us consider the implications of knowing that God is Holy. As we have seen earlier, it means that God is separated, exclusive, exempted from sin and perfectly just. Hence, we cannot approach or walk before God anyhow, but on His terms. For instance, The book of Leviticus was written to to instruct the Israelites and their priestly mediators about their access to God through atoning blood and the divine patterns of holy living that they had to have as God's chosen people. However, in Leviticus 10 the bible shows that one day the sons of Aaron the High priest did not follow the patterns of God and the Lord judged them. It's written, "'Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord , which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord . And Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke, saying: ‘By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; And before all the people I must be glorified.’ ” So Aaron held his peace.'" Leviticus 10:1-3. God is Holy and we need to regard Him as such, and therefore, approach Him on His terms, not ours, otherwise we will face the consequences. This leads us to fear God, and indeed He must be feared. This is a healthy fear, It's the beginning of wisdom, compels us to worship God, and leads us life eternal. "'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.'" Proverbs 1:7. David said, "'Give unto the Lord , O you mighty ones, Give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.'" Psalms 29:1-2 God is to be feared. With all you know now about God, you can see that the last thing you want is upset Him! Psalm 2:11-12 says, "'Serve the Lord with fear, And rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, And you perish in the way, When His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.'". The holiness of God has many practical implications on how we approach God and how we conduct ourselves. 1 Peter 1:15-19 says, "'but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.'" I Peter 1:15-19 In short, these are just few of the implications of knowing the acts and attributes of God, and the list is almost endless. Hope you got the message! This is our God. While natural revelation does it job by pointing us to Him, specific revelation helps us to know Him for who He is. Through HIs Word, The Bible, we can learn about God's mighty acts and attributes and consequently relate to Him. May you search the scriptures diligently and obtain the knowledge of God, "'And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.'" Philippians 1:9-11 God bless you. Grace and peace. References: (1) SBB (Ed.). (2018). The Character of God. In NAA Study Bible  (3rd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 2407–2408). Brazilian Bible Society. (2) CPAD (Ed.). (1195). The Attributes of God. In Pentecostal Study Bible, aka Fire Bible, Brazilian Edition (1st ed., Vol. 1, pp. 915-917). Donald C. Stamps, J. Wesley Adams.

"because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, " Romans 1:19-20 In the section about the Knowledge of GOD , we saw that God desires all men know Him and that such knowledge becomes the motive of boasting of all men. Again, through Prophet Jeremiah, God said, "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord , exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight," says the Lord ." Jeremiah 9:23-24. This is the will of God, and it flows out of His love for each one of us, His creatures made in His image and likeness. However, whether we know Him or not, it does not add or remove anything from God, but it certainly robs us from the privilege of knowing Him and from having life, eternal life. God desires to be known and thanks be to Him because He has made a way for us to know Him. The base scripture taken from Romans 1 says that "what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them." The writer of Romans is saying that if there is anything to be known about God it is only possible, available, or manifested to us because God has shown it, He disclosed to us. In another terms, we can only know God to the extent He reveals Himself to us. This is true because if God is God no one can pressure Him to make Himself known, neither someone can go up and visit Him in His dwelling place because God lives in a place of "unapproachable light," (1 Timothy 6:16). The truth is that what we can know about God is only possible to the degree God chooses to reveals to us. Fortunately, God has not only manifested the desire to be known, He has also provided human beings with means to know Him or means of revelation. These means are Creation and His inspired Word, The Bible. Theologically these means are also called "General or Natural Revelation" and "Specific Revelation"; However, in the last days, God granted us a Special Revelation, a more excellent way of knowing Him. Creation - Natural Revelation All creation bears witness of their creator. The bible says "The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork." Psalms 19:1. The word translated Glory is the Hebrew word kabowd , and its meaning in relation to God according to Strong's concordance is, "honour, reverence, glory, as due to one or ascribed to Him." Thus, the Psalmist was saying, the heavens announce the honour due to God while the expanse or the heavens' surroundings proclaims the work God did by His hand. The Psalmist elsewhere said, "When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?" Psalms 8:3-4. The Psalmist contemplated the heavens, the work of God's hand and was left in owe of Him to the point that he wondered, who is man that you think of him; in other words, God you being so Majestic and Powerful, having created this marvelous things in the universe, why you bother thinking about man, or why you desire for him to know you! Again, it's because God loves us, we are the work of His hand, the chief of all His creation, He put His image and likeness on us, He cares for us! The point is that the Psalmist arrived to this contrast and reverenced God by beholding God's creation. Through observation of the things created, including human beings themselves, men is always left with owe and closer to His creator. Since the recorded history of our civilization we have never seen things come into existence without someone actively and intentional bring that into being. The things that we so enjoy all have been planned, fashioned, built or manufactured by someone. Therefore, it is even inconceivable in our minds to entertain the idea that natural things that surround us just came into existence through unguided, mindless, evolutionary processes - such possibility defies the laws of logic and the simplest observations we can make on everyday life on how things come into existence. The device you so hold on your had that allows you to receive communication without being connected to any cable, aka wireless, was projected by someone even if by the time it gets to your hand you don't even have to know anything about the engineer who did so, and frankly we don't, yet you know someone envisioned, design, engineered and manufactured it. So did the heavens, the earth, and everything that exist - even if we don't know anything about the Creator, we know He exists. Nature makes a declaration about God's existence. Although things are not perfect anymore due to the fall of men and creation itself is subject to the consequences of sin, yet it's still intriguing how everything on earth is so delicately cured to sustain life when compared to others planets. For instance, the distance of our planet to the sun and the moon is just perfect to grant us the kind of climate, seasons, and atmosphere we so enjoy on earth. Even looking to the universe as whole we can see that everything follow certain order and everything serves a purpose. By simply observation, we know that order and purpose do not appear until deliberate steps are taken; meaning, someone or something with a specific purpose in mind had to do it. The law of inertia, the first law of physics states, "every object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless compelled to change its state by the action of an external force," (NASA.gov). Change of state requires the action of an external force. In the beginning, God specifically designed the universe and everything in it with order and purpose and placed them under laws. That the universe is controlled by laws is so telling that even scientists were able to describe and postulate them. Jeremiah 5:22, "Do you not fear Me?’ says the Lord . ‘Will you not tremble at My presence, Who have placed the sand as the bound of the sea, By a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass beyond it? And though its waves toss to and fro, Yet they cannot prevail; Though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it." Had there not been laws governing the universe, randomness and chaos would be the norm, and our planet would be unpredictable and uninhabitable. The tools of scientific discovery as we know today would be ineffective. No wonder many who pioneered the scientific endeavor, the study and formulation of the laws of the universe were devoted believers. People such as Johannes Kepler, Robert Boyle, Blaise Pascal and others believed that the order in our universe were evidence of God's existence. God exist and creation bears witness of it. Through creation we can know about God, His attributes can be seen on it. He who created the heavens and the earth and established such laws has to be powerful, transcendent, wise, creative, sovereign, and much more. By simply observing the things created we get closer to the knowledge of God. One day, Jesus Himself called His disciples to observe creation in order to teach them about God's care so they could know God more and better. He said, '“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?'" Matthew 6:25-30 Notice Jesus told them, "Look at the birds of the air [...]" and "consider the lilies of the field [...]." The point was since God took care of the birds, the lilies and every other creatures, would He not likewise take care of men since they God's special creation, the crown of them all? (Psalm 8:3-9). Yes, He would and He does. Therefore, we should not be anxious about our needs rather trust our creator with them. Do you see it friend? We can learn a great deal about God by examining His creation. It bears witness about Him. "because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse." Romans 1, 19-20. Moreover, Psalm 19:1 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge." Again, the Psalmist said, "When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, All sheep and oxen— Even the beasts of the field, The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea That pass through the paths of the seas. O Lord , our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth!" Psalms 8:3-9. Natural revelation helps us to know about God or acknowledge His existence; however, by itself, natural revelation is not enough for us to know Him. While one can have an idea of who The God who created the universe and everything in it ought to be, i.e., powerful, transcendent, omnipresent, loving, and etc., he will not ultimately know who He is. There are so many claims about who God is and so many gods out there, even gods made by human imagination and hands. At least, one can see that the God who is able to create the heavens, the earth, and everything in it cannot be made of wood, silver or gold and produced in a shop by man (Acts 17:29). He cannot; otherwise, the man who made him would be his god. This is a contradiction, and Isaiah calls it the foolishness of idolatry. It's written, "The blacksmith with the tongs works one in the coals, Fashions it with hammers, And works it with the strength of his arms. Even so, he is hungry, and his strength fails; He drinks no water and is faint. The craftsman stretches out his rule, He marks one out with chalk; He fashions it with a plane, He marks it out with the compass, And makes it like the figure of a man, According to the beauty of a man, that it may remain in the house. He cuts down cedars for himself, And takes the cypress and the oak; He secures it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a pine, and the rain nourishes it. Then it shall be for a man to burn, For he will take some of it and warm himself; Yes, he kindles it and bakes bread; Indeed he makes a god and worships it; He makes it a carved image, and falls down to it. He burns half of it in the fire; With this half he eats meat; He roasts a roast, and is satisfied. He even warms himself and says, “Ah! I am warm, I have seen the fire.” And the rest of it he makes into a god, His carved image. He falls down before it and worships it, Prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!” They do not know nor understand; For He has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, And their hearts, so that they cannot understand. And no one considers in his heart, Nor is there knowledge nor understanding to say, “I have burned half of it in the fire, Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals; I have roasted meat and eaten it; And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?" Isaiah 44:12-19 Natural revelation does its job by revealing the glory of God, making a statement about God to all men, and getting anyone who sees closer to the knowledge of God irrespective of who they are or where they had been born. Only a fool can says there is no God. The bible says, "'The fool has said in his heart, “ There is no God.” They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good.'" Psalms 14:1. Although what may be known about God is manifested to all men because creation bears witness some people can still choose to deny or suppress the truth about God, but it's not due to lack of evidence rather it's because their unrighteous deeds will come to light, yet God will hold no guilt man innocent, even if they live in denial of the truth. Romans 1:18-23 "'For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Professing to be wise, they became fools,'" In short, natural or general revelation is the first mean God chose to reveal Himself. It's available to all men, it's God's ways of getting the knowledge of Him out for all. As "a painting alludes to a painter, a building to a builder, and a writing to a writer" (Ray Comfort), so creation bears witness of God in conjunction with the law God wrote in the hearts of every men - the universal sense of right and wrong or our conscience. Natural revelation, along with the heart-written law causes all man to be without excuse on the day of judgment. it's written, "'For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them ) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.'" Romans 2:12-16. Although not complete for one to truly know who God is, natural revelation does it job by providing every men with evidence of their Creator and hindering us from idolatry in our pursuit of God, so that all men will be without excuse on the day of judgment. Natural revelation does it job but calls for special revelation, The Word of God. Though the attributes of God can be clearly seen and understood through the things created, it's when coupled with special revelation that the whole picture is seen and His identity known. Even from all that is written above, you can see that most of the claims about nature or God are followed by bible verses to make it complete. Natural revelation needs to be placed along side the specific revelation for the full picture to be seen, for us to begin to truly know who is. While natural revelation tells you there is God, specific revelation tells you who He is. When Paul was talking to a group of people who has accustomed to see the natural manifestations of God, though they attributed to their Roman gods, he initially made use of natural revelation, yet did not leave them only with it. Paul then specifically revealed God. It's written, "[...]“Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” Acts 14:15-17. It's When natural revelation is combined with special revelation that one can truly know and understand The One and True God. Praises be to God, "The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, And rejoices like a strong man to run its race. Its rising is from one end of heaven, And its circuit to the other end; And there is nothing hidden from its heat.'" Psalms 19:1-6 May God bless you, and may you know Him more and more.

We have seen on Part 1: Knowing about God Through Creation that God has not only manifested the desire to be known but that He has provided us with means to know Him or means of revelation. These means are Creation, His inspired Word - The Bible, and Jesus Christ - The Way. Theologically these means are also referred to as "General or Natural Revelation", "Specific Revelation" and "Special Revelation." By General or Natural Revelation we mean that God reveals Himself through His creation. Romans 1, 19-20, Paul said "because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse."  Moreover, Psalm 19:1 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge." By observing creation, which includes human beings themselves, we are left with proof of God's existence. The heavens declares or announces the glory of God; in another words, the heavens speaks aloud that it is God's wonderful work, that it did not came into being by change or from nothing. Since the recorded history of our civilization we have never seen things come into existence without someone actively and intentional bring that into being. The things that we so enjoy all have been planned, fashioned and manufactured by someone. Therefore, it is even inconceivable in our minds to entertain the idea that natural things that surround us just came into existence through unguided, mindless, evolutionary processes - such possibility defies the laws of logic and the simplest observations we can make on everyday life on how things come into existence. The device you so hold on your had that allows you to receive communication without being connected to any cable, aka wireless, was projected by someone even if by the time it gets to your hand you don't even have to know anything about the engineer who did so, and frankly we don't, yet you know someone envisioned, design, engineered and manufactured it. So did the heavens, the earth, and everything that exist - even if we don't know anything about the Creator, The Creator does exists and the things around us bear witness of Him. Specific Revelation - The Bible N atural revelation provides every men with evidence of their Creator and hindering us from idolatry in our pursuit of Him, so that all men will be without excuse on the day of judgment. While one cannot ultimately know Who The Creator is, yet he will have conscience of His attributes by observing the things created. Natural revelation does it job but calls for special revelation, The Word of God. While one can know who God ought to be based on the things He created, he will only know Him His Specific Revelation the Word of God. It's when natural revelation is coupled with specific revelation that we can know who God is. The bible is God's specific revelation to humanity, and its very first verse writes: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." Genesis 1:1-2 The bible picks up exactly where natural revelation leaves everyone off. While natural revelation says "The creator exists," specific revelation begins by endorsing such statement and presenting God as The Creator of everything. It says in the very opening verse, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. [...]" Before time, space or matter were as we know on earth, God is, and the beginning came into being when He first created. "In the beginning God...," nothing else, only God. Psalm 90:2 says, " Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God." God is before everything. This is how the bible begins, by presenting God as The Creator of everything in testimony of the witness of natural Revelation. Believing in the God of the bible is not a mere blind believe but it's a conclusion that one attains by personal experience through salvation and full persuasion based on the truth of God's Word. God claims that He created everything around us from nothing in the beginning, and He describes these things one by one, from a macroscopic level to a microscopic level. Before we came to know so many things about the universe and nature, the bible described them; hence, it compels us to believe in Him once we see that the claims much our daily observations. For instance, God said, "Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day." Genesis 1:3-5. Still today do you see the division between day and night? Do you see that the day is preferable by all, meaning light is good? This simply distinction we see everyday, God claims to have intentionally created. Additionally in Genesis 1:14-19, God said, "Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day." God is saying that He created the greater light, the sun, to rule the day and the lesser light, the moon, to rule the night, and He created the starts also and set them in the firmament of the heavens to light on the earth. Question: Is there a sun, moon, and stars in the skies? Yes, we see them everyday. Does the sun appears during the day, meaning ruling it? Yes. Does the moon appears during the night, meaning ruling it? Yes. Do we see starts in the skies? Yes. Do they give light on earth? Absolutely. If you have said yes to all of the questions above, what does it tell you? It should at the very minimum tell you that God claims are true, He told us the truth. But the verses don't stay there, there is a lot more that the verses above reveal to us. It also says, "Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;" Genesis 1:14. We see indeed the sun dividing the day from the night. When the sun begins to rise, the transition between night to day happens. But not only that, God also said, "let them [sun and moon] be for signs and seasons, and for days and years." This is remarkable because since ancient times people used the position of the sun and moon to determine the hours of the day, and from modern science we know that the rotation that the earth makes about it axis and its orientation in relation to the sun and moon is what determines what regions will experience day or night. Moreover, the rotation of the earth around the sun is what causes the seasons we experience, and what we call a year is simply the earth completing a full rotation around the sun. Thus, when God says that those lights will be in the firmament "for signs, seasons, and for days and years," the claims are all true. Again, God told us the truth. The Psalmist exclaimed saying, "'Forever, O Lord , Your word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness endures to all generations; You established the earth, and it abides. They continue this day according to Your ordinances, For all are Your servants.'" Psalms 119:89-91. God's Word can be trusted, the things God created continue and will continue functioning the way God created them for. In spite of the fall of men and the alteration that the universe as a whole had, the sun will continue to be sun and rule the day, the moon will continue to be moon and rule the night, the starts will brighten the skies and shine on earth, and etc. God is Faithful. The claims above are just a fraction of all the things God reveals in His Word that we can confirm with simple observation of the things around or examination of our own lives. There is a lot more that God revealed in His Word. The Veracity and The Nature of the Bible What is the point of all of these? The point is that if the claims God made in His Word are true, and we have already seen that they are, then God is Truthful and is telling the truth. Therefore, we ought to take the bible very seriously. When The bible presents God as the creator of everything, it is true. God created everything in the world, including us, and He Himself claims it. There are not many gods claiming to have created everything and giving us detailed explanation creation, but the One and True God does. If you search for creation account from other major religions or even secularists and atheists, you will be very surprised at their claims. Many religions don't even have explanations for the origin of the universe, and secularists and atheist are yet to come up with an explanation to explain how everything came into being, how everything works, and why we are here! We can wait until they invent an explanation, but what should we do with our lives until then? Should we put life on pause until secularist and atheists catch up? No! In His word, God explained all this things for us. God created everything including us. General revelation helps us to believe God exist and formulate an idea of who He might or ought to be; whereas, The Specific Revelation that God gave of Himself in His Word helps us to know for sure His identity through the various things He disclosed in it about Him. The bible is supernatural in origin and divine in inspiration. God breathed the Words and men wrote them. Though written by human agents they were led and inspired by the Holy Spirit, The Spirit of God, The Spirit of Truth. It's written, "knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." (II Peter 1:20-21). In another words, the prophecies or the things recorded in the bible never came from the prophet's own understanding, desire, or effort, rather the things contained in Scripture came about as holy men, meaning men chosen and separated by God to do so, spoke or wrote on behalf of God as inspired by the Holy Spirit. Inspiration is not a novelty for us. We often hear composers, musicians, actors, writers, engineers, architects, and anyone else involved in creative roles talking about it, on how they had been inspired to do what they did. Inspiration itself is not a foreign concept we know what it is; however, who or what inspired them is the big question. Judging by the fruits of some of the things people say they had be inspired to do, we can tell that many are not inspired by God. But it is not the case with the bible. The was was written by men for men using their experiences and background yet they did not speak out their own volition they spoke what God wanted them to speak, " holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." This is not an extraordinary thing for God to do. He who created the heavens and the earth can do anything consistent with His will. Human beings are His creation and He knows how to move them to write something without their human flows. For instance, in Numbers 22, a king called Balak called Balaam, a man who practiced divination and loved money, to curse Israel the people of God. For three times Balaam could not curse them in spite of all the silver and gold that Balak promised him. In the last trial Balak gets mad at him and says, "Then Balak’s anger was aroused against Balaam, and he struck his hands together; and Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, and look, you have bountifully blessed them these three times! Now therefore, flee to your place. I said I would greatly honor you, but in fact, the Lord has kept you back from honor.” So Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not also speak to your messengers whom you sent to me, saying, ‘If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord , to do good or bad of my own will. What the Lord says, that I must speak’?" Numbers 24:10-13. If God were capable of restraining a greedy man like Balaam from cursing His people and instead bless them, He is indeed able from restraining the biblical authors from writing their own ideas and instead lead them to write His. However, the biblical authors were led and not restrained like Balaam had to because they loved God. God meticulously chose specific vessels, trained them in righteousness for many years to walk with Him, learn about Him, to love Him, be devoted to Him, and then and only then, God used them to accomplish His supernatural work. God did not rush to write the bible. "The books of the Bible were written at different times by different authors over a period of approximately 1,500 years. But that is not to say that it took 1,500 years to write the Bible, only that it took that long for the complete canon of Scripture to be penned as God progressively revealed His Word. [...] The books of the Bible were not being written continuously. For example, 400 years elapsed between the completion of the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, and the beginning of the New Testament with the gospel of Matthew. The “400 years of silence” occurred because the Spirit of God did not inspire any Scripture during that time. [...] We do know that each of the Bible’s authors wrote only as much and as long as they were led to do so. Each author wrote at the direction of the Holy Spirit who “breathed out” Scripture to him." (1) God took His time in leading people to write the bible so we can know Him through it, but not only know Him, but know His creation, know ourselves, instruct us, help us understand life, know why things are the way they are in our world, and know where things are heading. It's written, "'All Scripture is God-breathed [given by divine inspiration] and is profitable for instruction, for conviction [of sin], for correction [of error and restoration to obedience], for training in righteousness [learning to live in conformity to God’s will, both publicly and privately—behaving honorably with personal integrity and moral courage]; so that the man of God may be complete and proficient, outfitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.'"  2 Timothy 3:16-17 AMP. However, the apex of the biblical revelation is for us to know God. In short, while Natural revelation gives us some hints of who God is, The Bible gives us the specifics about Him. The bible contains the various descriptions of God: His attributes, His names, His actions, His will, and etc., and the sum of all these things leads us to know Him, to have the correct view of God based on what He revealed about Himself, and not based on what we want or think He is. The bible is a vehicle that is supposed to lead us to the knowledge of God. Through everything written, as we meditate, as we seek God, and etc., at the end we should know God Himself more and more, and obtain the knowledge of Him. It is written , "My son, if you receive my words, And treasure my commands within you, So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding; Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding, If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will understand the fear of the Lord , And find the knowledge of God.'"  Proverbs 2:1-5. God can be known, and He wrote us a personal letter: The Bible. '“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord . “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.'" Isaiah 55:8-11. "'Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! “For who has known the mind of the Lord ? Or who has become His counselor?” “Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?” For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.'" Romans 11:33-36 May God bless you and may you know Him more and more. References: (1) "How long did it take to write the Bible?", Article, GotQuestions.org

"God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." Hebrews 1,:1-4 Jesus is the final revelator of God. He is not just a spokesman for Him like prophets were but is the very express image of God. Everything Jesus did and taught had one goal: Make God known. Reconciling men to God had the goal of removing the limits of sin so people could know God now until eternity. All of Jesus doing on earth aimed at getting people to know God. John 1, 18 says "No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him," So, it's Jesus who has made God known to us. God is Holy (1 Peter 1, 15-16) and lives in a place of unapproachable light, no man has seen or can see Him in His full splendor or glory (1 Timothy 6, 16) and live (Exodus 33, 20). However, just as God in the past made a way for Moses to see something about Him and not die, He still does for each one of us today. In the case of Moses, God said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.” Exodus 33:21-23. In our case, John 1, 18 says that "The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." It is through Jesus that we can know God in a special manner: whoever sees the Son, sees and the Father and whoever has the Son, has the Father, and whoever does not have the Son cannot have or know the Father. Jesus, the word (John 1, 1) became man and dwelt among us so we could see the glory of the Father and know Him without dying like God told Moses would happen if anyone saw Him. Everything Jesus did - the teachings, the miracles, the healings, the deliverance, and etc. -  was with this goal in mind. For instance, The multiplication of the breads and fishes in Mark 6 is a good example that portrays this reality. The bible says, "And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things. When the day was now far spent, His disciples came to Him and said, “This is a deserted place, and already the hour is late. Send them away, that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves bread; for they have nothing to eat.” But He answered and said to them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to Him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat?” But He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they found out they said, “Five, and two fish.” Then He commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in ranks, in hundreds and in fifties. And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fish He divided among them all. So they all ate and were filled. Now those who had eaten the loaves were about five thousand men." Mark 6:34-42,44. ​One can go through this story and simply see that Jesus feed people by multiplying the breads and fishes and miss the heart or the essence of what He did as described on verse 34. it says, "And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things." Mark 6:34. Compassion was at the center of what Jesus did, and He began by teaching them, giving them understanding not by giving them bread and fish first, all because He saw they were like a sheep without shepherd. This is an answer to God's cry mentioned several times in the old testament. In Jeremiah 23, 1-5, God said "Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the Lord . Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: “You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,” says the Lord . “But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,” says the Lord . “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord , “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth." God's cry is for His people to have pastors that care for them, and to answer His own cry, He sent Jesus Christ. Jesus, The Good Shepherd Jesus is the descendent of David described in this passages of Jeremiah above. Luke 1, 31-33 says "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” Jesus is the good shepherd that feeds the sheep, no one can know God except through Him. John 10, 7-18 "Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.” Jesus is the good shepherd sent by God to feed His own sheep, therefore, the miracle of the multiplication of breads and fishes in Mark 6 points to the main point: Jesus actions were revealing the compassionate heart of the Father, meaning revealing God. It was more than just filling people's stomach, Jesus was telling them, "Know that the Father is caring, He knows your needs and He will supply them." Jesus is the only one sent to make the Father known to man. Therefore, He said, "At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." Matthew 11, 25-27. No one can know the God or the Father, except Jesus reveal Him to him. In another words, only those to whom Jesus reveals the Father can truly know Him. However, the good news is that Jesus desires that all men know His Father, therefore He says, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30. If you are tired, heavy laden, go to Jesus call upon His name and He can reveal the Father to you and grant you rest. Jesus is the special revelation of the Father to mankind. As simple as this truth about Jesus may seem is the difference between life and death, eternal life and eternal damnation, and needs to be well understood. Again, "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." John 17, 3. No one can know or go to the Father except through Jesus Christ. One day, while teaching His disciples, Jesus noticed that Thomas who had been walking with Him for years still did not understand the way to the Father. Thomas said, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” John 14:5. Jesus replied to Him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” John 14:6-7. Again, It is Jesus and Jesus alone who can make the Father known to people. Thomas was a disciple yet He did not understand this truth well. Besides Thomas, Philip also showed that he didn't know who Jesus truly was and what it meant to know the Father. Philip said, “... Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” John 14:8. How many people today try to know God without observing Jesus and His ways? In another words, Philip was saying - Jesus we don't have to go through all this teachings and situation with you to know God, just show Him to us, don't talk about Him, show us. So, Jesus replied Philip saying, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." John 14:9-14. My friend the way to know God is to first know Jesus and continue in knowing Him through intimacy.. Jesus is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15).