God is INVISIBLE
This term we will be looking at the questions: Who is God?
What is he like?
When I say the word “God” lots of people will have different thoughts come to mind. Some words that people might say that God is:
Creator
Invisible
Judge
Powerful
They are all right, plus there is so much more to him!
Some people think of God as being a super old man, a bit like Dumbledore from Harry Potter.
There is a famous painting by Michelangelo on the Sistine Chapel Ceiling in Rome showing God the father reaching out to Jesus, which is an image I had of God for quite some time.
It is hard to picture God because he is invisible.
Bible Passage: John 4:24
“God is Spirit, and those who worship God must be led by the Spirit to worship him according to the truth.”
Bible Passage: Colossians 1:15
“Christ is exactly like God, who cannot be seen.”
So many things to squeeze into a 10 week block of episodes all about 10 minutes long!
Luckily there are some episodes that already have addressed some of the things.
There is an episode on:
God the Creator
God in the trinity
God who loves us
God our Father (adopting us)
God is everywhere (we are never alone)
God is King (we are citizens of the Kingdom Heaven.
What do you think?
What Am I?
I’m measured on a special type of scale but I don’t weigh anything
I can’t be seen but I’m not the Invisible Man
I can whistle but I have no mouth
I can knock down trees but I’m not a lumberjack
I help you fly a kite but I’m not a piece of string
I blow but I’m not someone playing the trumpet
Answer: THE WIND - You can’t see the wind, but you know that it is there. The same is true of God - you can’t see God but we can tell He is there.
The stories from the Old Testament were a long time ago, but God is still the same God.
God never changes. He is still invisible, he is still holy, he still loves us and he is still active even though he doesn’t speak with people as much as he used to. (We have the bible now and God has already said a lot of what he needs to say for now.)
People mature over time as we learn and grow, but not God. He is always amazing and can’t improve because he’s at the top. He is always the same:
Bible Passage: Numbers 23:19
“God is no mere human! He doesn’t tell lies or change his mind.” God always keeps his promises.”
So what was written in the Old Testament that we can help us get to know God?
God spoke words to Moses and others, like I am speaking to you, and he could hear him clearly.
God asked his people to make a place for him to live, so they made a portable box called the Ark of the Covenant, and then later when they settled down they made God a temple, and inside the temple, they made a very special curtained off bit called the Holy of Holies, where God lived
To help humans understand how special God is, he commanded them to create the Ark of the Covenant and then the Temple and Holy of Holies, to be built in such a specific way. This was to help us understand how important it is to respect God.
To open the ark or to go into the Holy of Holies, one Levite high priest per year had to go through specific cleaning rituals to clean their bodies as well as their hearts from sin (that was symbolically done through sacrifices) and if the chosen priest didn’t show enough respect or they didn’t go through the specified rituals properly, then God would get upset, and the person would die.
Bible Passage: Exodus 33:19-23
God spoke to Moses: “All right. I am the Lord, and I show mercy and kindness to anyone I choose. I will let you see my glory and hear my holy name, but I won’t let you see my face, because anyone who sees my face will die. There is a rock not far from me. Stand beside it, and before I pass by in all of my shining glory, I will put you in a large crack in the rock. I will cover your eyes with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take my hand away, and you will see my back. You will not see my face.”
Story Time! Bible Passage: 1 Samuel 5:1-5
"The Philistines took the sacred chest from near Ebenezer to the town of Ashdod. They brought it into the temple of their god Dagon and put it next to the statue of Dagon, which they worshiped.
When the people of Ashdod got up early the next morning, they found the statue lying facedown on the floor in front of the sacred chest. They put the statue back where it belonged. But early the next morning, it had fallen over again and was lying facedown on the floor in front of the chest. The body of the statue was still in one piece, but its head and both hands had broken off and were lying on the stone floor in the doorway. This is the reason the priests and everyone else step over that part of the doorway when they enter the temple of Dagon in Ashdod."
1 Samuel 6:19
"Some of the men of Beth-Shemesh looked inside the sacred chest, and the Lord God killed seventy of them."
Respect God because he is worthy of it. Fear God.
Bible Verse - Revelation 22:3-5
“God’s curse will no longer be on the people of that city. He and the Lamb will be seated there on their thrones, and its people will worship God and will see him face to face. God’s name will be written on the foreheads of the people. Never again will night appear, and no one who lives there will ever need a lamp or the sun. The Lord God will be their light, and they will rule forever.”
Question Time!
What are the clues you might see that can show you that God is there?
Do you ever have trouble believing that God exists? Share your thoughts together.
