He Is Not Material

Today I am asking you to take God out of the mental box most of us keep Him in. Many will not see Him any different; but for some, you might see Him in a slightly different form … not that you have been wrong in your perception of who He is … I just want to explore and perhaps open up a new image for you to consider.

There is a God. He is the cause of all things; pervading all things, governing all things, and upholding all things by His power.

Jesus said in John 4:24 … "God is a Spirit" (a spiritual Being) … this is one of the first and greatest truths of the Bible.

Being a "Spirit" … God is therefore without a body. He is not material or composed of parts or dimensions. He is invisible, filling the heavens and the earth, and He is eternal … for He is an infinite "Spirit."

God … is an immaterial, invisible, incorruptible, intelligent, immortal, willing and active being, an immense and infinite Spirit; but differs from all other created spirits, in that He was not created, but is an eternal one, with no beginning or end.

I want to consider the thought that … God is without a body; that He is not material or composed of parts or dimensions. (In this discourse for clarity only, when I am speaking of "God," I will be speaking of God the Father in His spirit form only … not the Trinity.)

In the Old Testament when Moses and others heard a voice or witnessed the cloud and the fire which were the symbols of God's presence; it was without question the second person of the Godhead who appeared in a "physical manifestation" since God Himself is a "Spirit Being" without a physical body … therefore invisible to man in the natural realm. God Himself "never assumed" any visible form.

John 1:18 … "No man hath seen God at any time" … meaning God the Father.

The meaning of the phrase … "No man hath seen God at any time …" is this: God has never been seen in His fullness, in all His glory with the natural human eye. This verse is not saying that men have not seen or witnessed "manifestations" of God, or that His voice was never heard, or His shape never seen.

In Exodus 33:18-23, Moses is asking God to allow him to see His glory. But God says … "No man shall see Me and live. But there is a place beside Me, and you shall stand upon the rock, and while My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away My hand and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen."

Even this manifestation must be understood to have been the second person of the Godhead, sometimes called "the Angel of the Lord" who appeared many times to the Old Testament saints, being manifested in human form. God, as a Spirit, is invisible and cannot be seen with the natural eye. God the Father is said to be invisible, only because He did not appear to Old Testament saints.

I am of the opinion … whenever any voice was heard, or shape seen, it was always the second person of the Godhead that appeared … Jesus the Son of God … before He became flesh; of whom it is later said to be God's "image," the exact likeness, "the visible representation."

Colossians 1:15 … "He is the exact likeness of the unseen God, the visible representation of the invisible …"

The image that is seen is that of the Son of God. He is the perfect and complete eternal image of His Father; more than a shadow or a representation, more than just a visible likeness; this "image" includes the same nature and perfections as the Father, but in His own personality and distinction as the Son.

Hebrews 1:3 … "He is the sole expression of the glory of God [the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine], and He is the perfect imprint and the very image of [God's] nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power."

I want to put a stake down right here and key in on the word "sole" expression of God.

Sole means … "the only one … no others … singular … by Himself." It tells me, if you want to see or know … "Who God Is" … then "LOOK AT JESUS" who is the visible face of Jehovah God, the Father. He is the very image and nature of the invisible God, the express image of His person, and is such a likeness that it can be said that … "He who has seen the one has seen the other."

The Bible has established the fact that "God is a Spirit" … therefore God Himself as a Spirit, cannot be seen, handled, or touched. Because of this fact, God had to make a way for physical man, made of material stuff, to be able to fellowship with Him, to rub shoulders so to speak, with God. But how is that possible since God is a Spirit?

The first way God made to fulfill this need was for the "Second Person" of the Trinity, sometimes called "the Angel of the Lord" (that we previously spoke about) to manifest Himself to man. The first place we see this manifestation take place is in the Garden of Eden when God walked with Adam in the cool of the evening.

You may ask … "How did God, as a Spirit, become a material being that would allow Adam to see and talk with Him, or later when Jacob wrestled with Him?" I don't know. But I do know what Jesus said in Matthew 19:26 … "With men this is impossible; but all things are possible with God."

I also question things like, how did Jesus become "the rock" that followed them for 40 years and gave water in the wilderness? (1st Corinthians 10:4, Paul said that Rock was Christ.) Why does it say in the Book of Daniel that the forth man in the fiery furnace looked like the Son of God? I don't know … but I believe it … because Daniel and Moses were eye witnesses to these facts and wrote about them as a record for all time.

So, even though I do not fully understand what I know about God and His body, or the lack of one, (if God can lack anything) I must believe this to be true because it's in the Word of God.

I am also of the opinion that God the Father … always deals with man through His Son Jesus … and has from the beginning of creation and will to the end of time.

The facts as I see them are … God had no beginning, (He is eternal) the universe can not contain the Spirit of God, (it's not large enough) God is not material, (He is a Spirit) God Himself does not have a body, (but He can and did manifest Himself in one) that God did become flesh in the form of a man, (Jesus born of Mary) that God cannot die, (but Jesus did) and this man called Jesus, will be a Man forever, proven by the fact that He is resurrected (as a man) and is now seated at the right hand of God, His Father.

All scripture … Amplified Bible


Comments welcome.