God is Real

"God is real!" is the mantra. What is real? It's the belief that God actually exists and is not imaginary.   Not only is God real, but he is also supernatural!

Supernatural is something beyond scientific explanation and is not subject to the laws of nature. By definition God can't be proved. Hence, God is accepted by faith!

Hebrews 11:1 (ESV) "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."

Hence, "faith is the conviction of things not seen", faith is by definition belief in the supernatural.  The supernatural is real because what we can't see is not imaginary!

But God is a person, so how can he be supernatural?  Wrong, God is not a "person". A person is a human individual. We refer to the "Godhead" as the three persons who encompass one God. Actually, the Godhead consists of one person, Jesus, who is God appearing naturally, so that he can increase our faith (among other things). Since God is real, that's easier to understand because God appeared to mankind as Jesus who was material and a person. God exists as one Glory (God), one person (Jesus), and one comforter (Holy Spirit) "Glory" is merely our futile attempt to name God's magnificence!

Genesis 1:26 "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness..."

Firstly, we must question "To whom does 'our' refer to?" There a few entities in existence before man: God, angels and The Word (Jesus).  "Our' refers to at least two of the three. Perhaps all three were our pattern!

We are like God in that we have a soul which is a container for the Holy Spirit, which is one aspect of God. Hence, our spirit is patterned after God.

How about the angels?

Luke 20:36 "Neither can they (the resurrected) die any more: for they are equal unto the angels..."

Mankind was created immortal because we know that after the resurrection they will return to their origins. Hence, man was made in the image of angels in that they are immortal. Angels were made by God before man. God and The Word are immortal, always have been and always will be. Thus, as the angels were made in the image of God, and so were we. God is immortal, but angels can be destroyed. Satan will be the first to die! Therefore, like "bad" angels, God with his foreknowledge, knew that man would fail him, and that some will die as well (the second death)!

Angels had freedom of choice. Some chose Lucifer. Man is like the angels in that we too have a free will. We were created just like the angels with the same free will, because free will was used by Adam and Eve before they sinned to actually chose sin.

Now for the abstract. We were created in the image of "The Word", who we know form John Chapter 1 is Jesus!  We were create with flesh just like Jesus was to be. We in our pride like to believe that Jesus was made in our image, but we were made like Jesus because Jesus' personhood was already known by God. Jesus was our pattern. We got our mind, flesh, emotions, and feelings from Jesus. Jesus is a person. Jesus is real. Jesus is God.

John 1:1 (ESV) "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:14 (ESV)  "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us."

"Created in our image" was  God's design giving persons a spirit (God), natural attributes (Jesus) and free will and life or death (angels). Also, like the angels we are servants and companions of God. Man's vocation is to "tend the garden"  (Genesis 2:15), which is dressing primarily "The Tree of Life" (Jesus). In other words men's vocations is to serve Jesus!

Us "natural beings" have natural features, but have things supernatural as well. If you are born-again a new creation, then your soul contains the Holy Spirit. Not that we are God, but we have a little of God residing in us because we are his.

Acts 2:38  "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

How do natural beings know that God is real since God is supernatural?

Man, created in the image of God, had the Holy Ghost (Spirit). With the advent of sin, mankind lost the Holy Ghost. However, there was still hope! Man could regain that Spirit again simply by being born again. We become new creatures because our corruption filled soul is emptied and the Holy Ghost comes home. We become his living quarters, his temple!

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is how Christians know that God is real! We know that because he's inside us! By having God's spirit within us, we commune with God. That's how we know he's real because he's right there with us!

How do we know that God lives" Because he lives within us!

"He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.
He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives?
    He lives within my heart."

(I Serve a Risen Savior;  Alfred Henry Ackley; 1887-1960)