Blog 7: 1.2.2 - 1.3.3

If my first question about God is "What is he?" then I am already mistaken.  The really important question is "Who is he?"

"What is God like?"     The biblical answer is that he is the fountain of all good and that he reveals himself as such in creation.  Yes he is a Judge. The naïve reader would expect Calvin to stress that! But grasp this: God is in himself so very good that "even if there were no Hell Christian believers would shudder to offend him."   Yes, he  is that good!
Of course, all men know there is a God. (And, paradoxically, idolatry is one of the clearest proofs of that.) For a certain knowledge of him (albeit not covenant fellowship, not saving knowledge) is inescapable.

 For one thing, we are his image. The sense of dependence on him and duty to him is engraved in us and can never be effaced, albeit we repress and stifle it. The echoes of our destiny and calling to live as God's image can never be silenced, never finally repressed, no matter how hard we try.

Moreover since the entire created cosmos is the theater of his revealed glory, there is no "where" we can go without being confronted by his handiwork. His autograph is everywhere. There is no "where" to hide. Take the wings of the morning, travel faster than the speed of light to the uttermost parts of the earth--and his revelation awaits us the moment we land!  It is not just in Brooklyn that there is No Last Exit!
But why would we ever want to escape from the God who is the fountain of all good? 
That is the question.