God Attribute, 105

~ God Is Self-Existent ~

 

This Series  ~  This series of posts looks at some of the many attributes of God.  Generally, we move in alphabetical order.

 

Introduction  ~  God has life in Himself and depends on no one or anything.

 

Scripture  ~ “For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself” (John 5:26).

 

“Then Moses said to God, ‘Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they say to me, “What is His name?” what shall I say to them?’ And God 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 3:13-15).

 

Comments  ~  1.) Without getting too technical is sufficient to say that the meaning of the Great “I AM’ in the original language makes it clear that God is self-existing.

 

2. Jesus Christ clarifies how He, the Son of God, is the Great “I AM” in a number of explicit statements in the Gospel of John. 

 

Quote  ~  [Chapter] 14  True Perpetual Motion: Self-Existent

 

“Like many people, I enjoy good food. I especially like to go out to a fine restaurant with my wife or with friends and enjoy a time of fellowship around the table. Have you ever considered how different our lives would be if we did not have to eat? But eat we must! But why do we eat?

 

“Our bodies derive necessary energy for survival from the food that we eat. Horses eat their hay and their oats. We put gasoline into our cars to provide the energy to propel us down our highways. We live in an energy-conscious age and are becoming increasingly more sensitive to the amount of energy we use and the way in which we use it.

 

“The universe runs on energy. The great ocean liner the Queen Mary propelled itself thirteen feet forward for each gallon of fuel consumed; and maybe for a ship that weighed in excess of eighty thousand tons and pushed a depth of thirty-nine feet of water aside at a speed of 30 knots, that’s not too bad. But thirteen feet per gallon is over 400 gallons per mile.

 

“The first space shuttle, Columbia, consumed approximately eight tons of fuel per second during lift-off. This is approximately equivalent to the fuel consumed by 25 fully loaded 747 jumbo jets. We live in an age of energy consumption, and we have been told there is an energy crisis.

 

“We have seen previously that the sun is giving off vast quantities of energy. But we must be careful to note that because of the vast size of our star, it is for practical purposes remaining unchanged, that is, it does not require constant refueling. “We may say that each square inch of the sun’s surface is only losing about a twentieth of an ounce a century.”

 

“Compared to man’s frame of reference and time scales, the sun, our source of physical light, is self-existing. It has no need of external refueling.

 

“While we live in an energy-conscious age, we are also great consumers of energy. Provision of suitable sources of energy is becoming a worldwide concern. The sun, the ultimate supplier of all our energy, is giving off vast quantities of energy. Even so, by any human time standard, the sun is in no need of refueling.

 

“The amount of energy being given off by the sun is of little consequence because of its enormous size. The sun is perhaps changing slower than anything else that we can possibly observe. Even though the sun is giving off vast amounts of energy, it will take a period of about two billion years for it to lose one seven-thousandth of its total matter. “The lifetime of a human being is measured in decades; the lifetime of the sun is a hundred million times longer.”

 

“For all practical purposes the sun symbolizes true perpetual motion.

In a universe where everything is dependent upon something else in order to exist, the sun is the most self-existent object that could be used for analogy to a self-existent God. (The theological term is “aseity.”)

 

“When we contemplate the majesty and uniqueness of the self-existent God, it should humble us. He has given us a written record, the Holy Bible, so that we may learn of Him. John in three words, “God is light,” provides us a profound image of the self-existent God of the cosmos.

 

“Sunlight / Sonlight

 

“Sunlight exists without the need for care, maintenance, or refueling.

“Sonlight is self-existing without the need of any outside resources.

 

—From the book “GOD’S NATURE: Sonlight Sunlight” (eBook ISBN: 978-1393359371, ASIN: B083L97PZV ~ print book ISBN: 979-8223228738)

 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW blog.

 

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Bible Version: Quotations are from the NKJV unless otherwise noted.  Emphasis is added.

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