Tracing the Amazing Wonders of the Personhood of God, Pt. 9
Study Guide, March 8, 2026
Pastor Clay Olsen
When you think about God, how do you imagine God to be? We would recommend that you imagine God to be exactly as Jesus Christ was and now is…the Perfect God and Perfect Man. Throughout history Jesus has been portrayed in various ways. No doubt you have seen some of these images through the years. The image of Jesus Knocking is a great one we use on our witness cards…you can pick some of those up from the foyer and hand them out to others as a way to share the Gospel.
It’s one of the favorite images of Jesus… standing at the door of a person’s life, knocking, and waiting to be invited in as Lord and Savior. And whereas the primary context of that passage in Revelation 3:20 is in context with the church and fellowship, still, it is a direct application of God coming to each person in conviction and with grace, waiting for that person to open their heart and life to Jesus in repentance of their sin and faith in Jesus’ forgiveness and His gift of eternal life. The door is always depicted with no handle on the outside. And since Jesus does not knock our door down, He waits for the repentant one to open the door of their life and ask Jesus to come into their life as they receive Him as their personal Lord and Savior. And as the Apostle John states: Jn. 1:12 – “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” Again, what a beautiful picture of God seeking a relationship with us. And note, in the Scriptures ‘believe’ and ‘receive’ are synonymous. Actually, to ‘believe in Jesus’ is to ‘receive Him into your life.’ It’s not a head acknowledgement…it’s a heart reception and commitment.
So then, although we don’t have a clear recorded image of what Jesus looked like exactly, apart from the Shroud, what we fully understand about our God is that He is both fully Divine and fully Human now and forever. The wonder of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ surpasses even the wonder of Creation itself, as the Creator Himself became part of what He had created…Humanity. And this has an immeasurable impact on the consideration of the Personhood of God, since the Person of our God is not only Spirit, but also, for now and eternity…God has a human body. Remember Jesus’ words after His resurrection? Luke 24:36-43- “While they were telling these things, He Himself stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be to you.” But they were startled and frightened and thought that they were seeing a spirit. And He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. While they still could not believe it because of their joy and amazement, He said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish; and He took it and ate it before them.” NASB
The Incarnation of God forever changed how we are to think about our God. For this same Jesus, whom the Disciples touched with their hands…this same Jesus who ate broiled fish after His resurrection…this same Jesus who was standing among His Disciples just before He ascended to Heaven…this same Jesus is now physically present in a Human body…a glorified resurrected human body…in a land beyond Planet Earth…a place we call ‘Heaven.’ Again, Is this Biblical image of our God the image that you have when you pray to God…when you think about God…when you are doing service for God…and that you have when you think about the day that you are going to see God? Soon we will see Jesus – face to face!
Remember, Philip was stumbling over the issue of the real Personhood of God even when Jesus was right in front of him! Even this chosen Disciple hadn’t grasped the all-encompassing change that had happened within the Trinity of the Godhead in the Incarnation of Christ. Look again at that encounter: Jn. 14:7-11- “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.” Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me…”
Not only Philip, but all the Disciples had to do a paradigm shift from their ancient image of the Shekinah glory depicted in the cloud by day and the pillar of fire at night to now understanding that they were looking at the Shekinah glory of God in the Human body of Jesus standing right in front of them! John even later wrote about that in Jn. 1:14 – “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” And the Apostle Paul further emphasized that all of both the spiritual and physical aspects of the Godhead are now and forever manifested and revealed in the human resurrected body of Jesus Christ. Col. 2:9 – “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form…”
Back to the Personhood of God…so then, when you are having your devotions, when you are praying, when you are offering personal or corporate worship, when you are giving of yourself in service, and so on…this is the God, the God who became one of us so that we could become one with Him…this same Jesus, who is everywhere present in Spirit, but physically present in Heaven…this is the Person who is Our God, our King, our Savior, and our Friend. The more that you think about God as He now is and forever will be…the Perfect God and Perfect Man, the more you will think of and relate to God in a more and more personal way based upon His amazing ‘Personhood.’
Which brings us to expand on what we began recently about the Personhood of God. We earlier pointed out how Hagar spoke of God as ‘the God who hears.’ We can add to that as we look further into the wonder that He is also ‘the God who feels.’ And since He is the God who feels, this is another paradigm shift then in how we can and should relate to our God. For this really brings out the human aspects of our Resurrected Lord and Savior.
For example: When we think about God, we often think of His power, His wisdom, His holiness, and such. But how often do we consider His feelings? Not only is God a God of love, He is also a God who feels love. He feels both the love He gives, and He feels the love He receives. How amazing is that? God is able to feel the love that you give to Him and that He receives from you.
Therefore, knowing that God hears and sees and even feels every aspect of our relationship with Him, it should change everything we think and do in every aspect of our relationship with Him. God is not distant or emotionally detached from us. Rather, God is near and is deeply and emotionally attached to us, each and every day. He is our God who feels! Consider:
God feels compassion. Ps. 116:5 – “The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.” NIV Compassion requires having a deep and personal concern. And the Scriptures are full of evidence of God’s deep and personal concern over His people. Ex.3:7 – “The Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings.” Ps. 103:13 – “ Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.” So God is not merely powerful; He is powerfully attentive to the cares and concerns and needs of His children.
And God’s compassion moves Him. It moves Him with affection and with mercy. The Scriptures say that He is ‘tenderhearted’ toward us. Again, is that how you think about God as being with you? And in being moved with a tender heart towards us moves God to be involved in the story of our lives. To think, rather, to realize that God is emotionally interested in our lives, our concerns, our joys, and even our sorrows. Really? Really! Just how involved you say?
Hopefully you know this passage and this truth, as it is a life-changing reality in your relationship with God. Notice what the Psalmist revealed about just how compassionate our God actually is toward us. Ps. 56:8 – “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” NLT This is a stunning revelation to be sure. And while modern archaeologists assume that collecting tears in bottles was a myth, many historical accounts write about this practice from not only ancient times, but up through the Middle Ages, and even into the era of the Civil War.
These bottles even have a name. They are called ‘Lachrymatories’ or a ‘Lachrymatory.’ They were placed on mantles or in tombs or sent to loved ones and even carried about by the one expressing sorrow over their loved ones for various reasons. But the stunning thing that the Psalmist reveals is that God Himself is so passionately involved in caring about our cares…caring about our sorrows, that He not only knows about each trouble we have had…He even knows about each tear we have shed. He even keeps a record of our tears, as though in a bottle.
Why? Because God not only cares about our cares more than we can imagine, but our God plans to make up to us for every tear we have had over any pain or problem or trial or injustice that this world, the flesh, and the devil have inflicted upon us. “I will make it up to you” is the promise of your Heavenly Father. That became a theme that encouraged and strengthened God’s people after troubled times. Joel 2:25 – “Then I will make up to you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten…” Later in Jesus’ teachings about His promises of compensation for His people, He said this at the end of the Beatitudes. Mt. 5:11,12 – “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Just think about that: Every bad thing that happens to you or that someone does to you for being a follower of Christ’s, or for just seeking to do what is right as a Christian, ensures that something good is going to be given to you to compensate for it…even up to a hundredfold, as Jesus later talks about. Or, as it has been stated: ‘Every rock someone throws at you becomes a diamond in your heavenly account.’
Also note that Jesus’ pronouncement of ‘Blessed’… ‘Happy’… is in the present tense. This reveals that we can live in present happiness with this understanding of future rewards. By the power of the Holy Spirit Christians are given the ability to gratefully live with delayed gratification.
We have a compensator…God is our ‘Great Compensator.’ Jesus revealed this family secret to us that, as a follower of His, every present hardship of ours is immediately recorded for personal compensation in the Kingdom of Heaven. Every earthly trouble we have had to experience on account of someone else or something else is immediately credited to our heavenly account for reward. In fact, mark it down: The worst things you’ve experienced in this life will become the most compensated things for you in the life to come. And one day soon when you experience those compensated things, they will become the best things that you get to enjoy in Heaven.
That doesn’t eliminate the present trials, like Job certainly knew about, but it does encourage us to know they will be amazingly compensated, just as Job found out. Plus, Jesus even magnified just how amazingly He plans to compensate His children as He told the Disciples this: Mt. 19:29 – “And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life.” That’s an overwhelming promise from Jesus! From every tear to every trial to every testing to every trouble to every tribulation, Jesus promises to compensate us for each and every one…even as much as a hundredfold in compensation…in our experience in our lives to come in Heaven! What an amazing God we serve!!!
This one reality right here of God as the Great Compensator can change your life, especially in how you personally think about and relate to your personal God and Savior. Again, this shows us how compassionately God has entered into our story, which is meant to inspire us to passionately enter into God’s story. For our story becomes so much more enriched and empowered and impactful for now and eternity as we blend our story with God’s story…not only His story for our world, but especially His story for our own lives.
As we have stated, our lives were never meant to be a self-guided tour. Rather, our lives were meant to be a Shepherd-guided tour. There is nothing you can find or experience on your self-guided tour of life that can compare with what you will find and experience and enjoy both now and forever by following Jesus’ instructions for your life as you follow Him as your Lord on His Shepherd-guided tour throughout life!
Remember that first question of the Westminster Catechism? The question is: ‘What is the chief end of man?” Answer: ‘The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’ What a great perspective for life and living! That would be a good question to ask others…a good bridge for the Gospel as well. But that’s just another reminder of just how ‘personal’ our Personal God really is. Our God deserves to have us seek to glorify Him in all that we say and do. And the amazing thing about this is that our God desires to love and enjoy us as we do so.
Seek to live a ‘reciprocated’ life with your personal Lord and Savior. To live a ‘reciprocated’ life is to live in such a way that you give back to God what God is first giving to you, like these amazing wonders that we have been exploring in our study of the Personhood of God. Remember: Great fellowship with God is the secret to great fulfillment in life.