God is (Gen. 1:1). God is uncreated, and there is no one greater (Is. 44:6; Ps. 97:9). He is the greatest of all beings, the everlasting God (Ps. 90:2). He is unrivaled and uncontested. There is no one like him in all the earth (Ex. 9:14). He is the alpha point of everything that exists (Rev. 1:8; 22:13). He is the creator of all things, yet uncreated (Ps. 33:8-9; Jn. 1:3; 1 Cor. 8:6; Rev. 4:11). He is the sustainer of all things, yet self-sufficient (Acts 17:24-25; Heb. 1:3). He is the omega point of all of creation, things in heaven or things in earth. All things exist by him (source), are sustained through him (means), and are purposed for him (end-the glory of God) (Rom. 11:36)! There is no end to the riches of his glory. He is the infinite and incomprehensible God. His majesty is declared in all of creation and fills the heavenly temple. His throne is surrounded by the unending worship of the angels and saints in heaven (Ps. 8:1; Is. 6:1-3; Rev. 4:6-11). His power and knowledge have no end (Ps. 115:3; 147:5; Jn. 21:17). He is the standard of what is good, true, and beautiful (Ps. 145:17). He is the unchangeable Most High (Mal. 3:6; Dan 4:34-35). He is the one true and living God, who is Father, Son, and Spirit (Matt. 28:19).
True knowledge of this God is preeminently practical. God created us for communion with him. In other words, man was created for friendship with God. Our chief end is the worship and enjoyment of God.[1] God is our highest good. Our souls can only find rest in him. There is no greater longing in our souls than fellowship with God. Knowing God is vital for true life, and true life is knowing God (Ps. 73:24-28; 144:15; Jn. 17:21-23; 2 Cor. 13:14; 1 Jn. 1:3).
But the misery of sin has robbed us of this communion (Gen.3:8,10, 24; Col. 1:21).[2] No longer are we fitted for fellowship with God. No longer do we know God in the way Adam did before the fall. He was created in natural fellowship with God. No longer can we commune with God because of our loss of original righteousness (Ecc. 7:29; Rom. 5:12; Eph. 2:1-3). The glories of God’s purposes in creating us in his image are devastated by the fall of sin. Such a loss should move us to weep, to lament the loss of such a glorious relationship with the first and greatest being.
Though sinful men still know that God exists, man is now hostile towards God. He suppresses the knowledge of God (Rom. 1:18-23). He worships the gods of his imagination rather than the one true and living God. His soul longs for the eternal God but looks to the temporal creation. By nature as the image of God, He seeks for God, but in his fallen nature, he always arrives at idols (Ecc. 3:11; 8:17). The irony is that what he is trying to find in idols is meant to be found in God alone (Jer. 2:12-13; Acts 17:24-28).
But this God is the LORD, the covenant-making and keeping God (Ex. 34:6-7). The one who is the King and redeemer of Israel (Is. 44:6). He has given His Son as a covenant for the people in darkness (Is. 42:6-9). His Son is the Christ, the servant of the LORD who will come to atone for the sins of others (Is. 53:1-12; 1 Pt 2:21-25). The God we have sinned against has provided a way of reconciliation with him through the death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:6-11). In Jesus Christ are found the words of eternal life, a true knowledge of God (Jn. 5:24; 6:68-69; 17:3). In Jesus Christ original righteousness and fellowship with God is restored (Rom. 5:1, 18-19; Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10). The law of God convicts us of our sin and drives to the gospel to see our need for Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:19-26). By faith, we take hold of Christ as our Savior, and in union with him, our fellowship with God is restored.
The catechism begins with the truth that God is. It is from this practical truth that the rest of the catechism’s questions unfold. The God who is high and lifted up also is the God who dwells with those who are humble and contrite in heart (Is. 57:15). This God has revealed himself in nature, Scripture, and in the person of Jesus Christ. The incomprehensibility of God does not dissuade us from pursuing God in communion but rather it shapes our posture of how we pursue him. May we exhaust ourselves in pursuing communion with Him the knowable yet inexhaustible God.