Author: adonai4oo

Where is God? Is God in the Temple of Jerusalem? Is God in the Vatican? Is God in your local church or Temple? Is God on a particular mountain or hill? Is God in a particular river, stream or valley?

Whenever I ask people this particular question, I get two different answers; some point to the skies, while others point to the area of their heart. There is nothing wrong with both answers. However, the answer as stated by God the Son, Jesus Christ, is [Mathew 6:9], ‘Our Father in heaven’. So God is in Heaven. Furthermore, according to Acts 17:24; The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.

A relative of mine once said “I beg you in the name of God”, I responded by saying; “Never say that to me”. Leave God out of it, God is in Heaven, you and I are here on earth. How can I say that, you may ask. When we take a look at the Scriptures as taught to us by Jesus Christ, in Mathew 5:33-37; “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

Therefore, this leads us to the next and entirely different question: Where is Heaven? Is Heaven a physical place? The answer to the latter question is; Heaven is not a physical place. While the answer to the former can be found in the Scriptures, as answered by Jesus Christ in Luke 17:20-21; Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst [or is within you].” The Kingdom of God or the House of God or Heaven is not a physical place, however it is in our midst.

Transactional system or concepts are concepts, relating to the conducting of business, especially buying or selling. They are also concepts relating to exchange or interaction between people.

True relationships based on love are not transactional in nature, however relationships based on Employer/Employee, Master/Servant, and Service provider/Service user, are transactional in nature. A father/son relationship, or true friendship is not transactional in nature. Just as a true loving relationship is qualitative and not quantitative in nature. There is no such thing as 50/50 love, because that is an attempt to quantify love.

Any relationship that is based on reward and or recompense, is transactional in nature. Implying that the more effort you put in, the more reward you get. This is a contradiction of the parable of the prodigal son, and that of workers hired at different times of the day for a day’s job, with all receiving the same wages. These parables were told by Jesus Christ as metaphors for the Kingdom of God, meaning that being part of His Kingdom, is not by the effort or input of the individual, and is certainly not transactional, but by the King choosing those that He forms a loving relationship with.

The real servants or messengers of God are not human (Acts 17:24-28), therefore people who perceive themselves to be in a Master/servant transactional relationship with God are contradicting that text from the Bible, while those in a true relationship with God, have a feedback (religious expression for the ‘feedback’ is called faith) from the One with whom they have a relationship, which is not transactional, and neither is it quantifiable.

What is the truth, and who is The Truth? Lack of knowledge is described as being ignorant, and this is synonymous to being blind. There is a saying credited to Gandhi, which goes thus “I was searching for truth in God, but I found God in truth.” There is only One Truth, or knowledge of Truth worth knowing.

The answer to the question of ‘what is the truth’ is ‘the teachings’ of Christ. While the answer to the question of ‘who is The Truth’ is Christ. The Scriptures in the gospel of John recorded these answers.

John 8:31-32; Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 14:6; Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.

What is the context for the freedom being talked about here? This can be found in the book of prophet Isaiah, in Isaiah 61:1; The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners [or the blind].

The good news is, Jesus Christ is God. Upon this confession is the true Church of God built. This confession, or knowledge sets you free. This is Light in the world of darkness.

Several times in the Scriptures, Jesus Christ referred to Himself as the Son of Man. The Scriptures also renders the account that God created man is His image. Furthermore, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

Romans 5:17; For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

Genesis 1:26-27; Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So, God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Colossians 1:15; The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. We know from Scriptures that ‘The Son’ is God: Isaiah 9:6; For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Jesus Christ, the ‘Son of Man’, came to the world through Joseph and Mary. However, is He literally the son of Joseph and Mary?

Prophet Isaiah at his commissioning made the confession that Jesus Christ is God, in Isaiah 6:1-3; In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” This was retold to us in the Scriptures by Apostle John in John 12:41; Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.