LESSON 1: GOD IS
The Foundation: God Exists
Before we learn what God is like, we need to begin with the most basic truth about God:
GOD IS.
God exists.
The Bible does not begin by trying to prove that God exists. Its very first words simply tell us:
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
— Genesis 1:1 (KJV)
Before there were people, animals, oceans, mountains, planets, or stars—God was already there.
1. God Is Eternal
Big Theology Word: Eternal
What it means:
God has no beginning and no end. He has always existed, and He will always exist.
Kid Translation
God never had a birthday, and He will never grow old.
You had a beginning.
Your parents had a beginning.
The earth had a beginning.
Even the stars had a beginning.
But God didn’t.
Before anything else existed, God was already God.
The Bible Says
“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.”
— Psalm 90:2 (KJV)
God existed before the mountains.
God existed before the earth.
God existed before time as we know it.
And God will still exist forever.
Think About It
Numbers can help us imagine this.
Start counting:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5…
When do numbers stop?
They don’t!
You can always add one more number.
Now try going backward:
5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, -1, -2, -3…
You can keep going backward too.
There is no last number in either direction.
That’s a little picture that can help us think about eternity.
But God isn’t simply someone who lives for a really, really, really long time.
God is eternal.
There was never a time when God did not exist.
2. God Is Self-Existent
Big Theology Word: Aseity
Aseity means that God exists from Himself. God does not depend upon anyone or anything else in order to exist.
Everything we know depends upon something else.
A flower needs soil, water, sunlight, and air.
A baby needs parents to give him life and people to care for him.
You need food, water, oxygen, sleep, and many other things to stay alive.
Even the sun needs the materials God created for it to exist.
But What Does God Need?
Nothing.
Nobody created God.
Nobody gave God life.
Nobody keeps God alive.
God simply IS.
3. God’s Special Name
One day Moses asked God what he should tell the Israelites when they asked who had sent him.
God answered:
“I AM THAT I AM.”
— Exodus 3:14 (KJV)
This is one of the most important statements about God in the Bible.
God didn’t say:
“I became.”
He didn’t say:
“Someone made Me.”
He said:
I AM.
God’s existence depends on nothing outside of Himself.
Everything else exists because God gave it existence.
4. God Is the Creator, Not the Created
This gives us an important dividing line for understanding everything in the world.
There are two categories:
CREATOR
God
and
CREATION
Everything else.
People are creation.
Angels are creation.
Animals are creation.
The earth is creation.
The stars are creation.
The entire universe is creation.
But God is the Creator.
“All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
— John 1:3 (KJV)
God isn’t simply the greatest thing inside the universe.
God made the universe.
5. So Who Made God?
Sooner or later, almost every child asks:
“But who made God?”
The answer is:
Nobody made God.
If someone had made God, then that someone would actually be greater than God.
God is different from everything He created because God has always existed.
That’s difficult for our minds to understand.
And that’s okay.
We are created people trying to understand an eternal God.
We can truly know God because He has revealed Himself to us—but we will never completely understand everything about Him.
WHAT SHOULD I REMEMBER?
Three Big Truths
1. GOD IS.
God really exists.
2. GOD IS ETERNAL.
God never began and will never end.
3. GOD IS SELF-EXISTENT.
Nobody created God, and God needs nothing in order to exist.
WHY DOES THIS MATTER TO ME?
Because God has always existed, He knows the whole story.
There has never been a moment when God wasn’t there.
Before you were born, God existed.
God is with you today.
And long after your lifetime on earth is finished, God will still be God.
Everything around us changes.
People grow.
Families change.
Nations change.
The world changes.
But the eternal God does not disappear.
Our lives are built upon Someone much bigger than ourselves.
MEMORY VERSE
“From everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.”
— Psalm 90:2
THEOLOGY TOOLBOX
Eternal — God has no beginning and no end.
Aseity — God exists from Himself and depends upon nothing else for His existence.
Creator — The One who made everything that exists.
Creation — Everything God made.
Self-existent — Existing without being created or depending upon something else for existence.
THINK & TALK
- Did God ever have a beginning?
- Will God ever stop existing?
- Who created God?
- What does aseity mean?
- Name three things you need in order to live. Does God need those things?
- What are the two great categories we learned about?
- Why do you think God called Himself “I AM”?
TRY THIS
Take a piece of paper and draw a line across it.
Put an arrow on both ends.
Write:
ETERNITY ←———————— GOD ————————→ ETERNITY
Now underneath it, draw a much shorter line representing your own life.
Think about the difference.
Your life has a beginning.
God’s doesn’t.
Write underneath your picture:
“Before anything existed, GOD IS.”
ONE-SENTENCE THEOLOGY
God has always existed, depends on nothing for His existence, and everything else exists because of Him.