The Bible says many direct and powerful things about God. Here are but a few of them.

God is a Spirit. (John 4:24.) God is love. (1 John 4:8.) God is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish. (2 Peter 3:9.) God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:29.) Behold therefore the goodness and the severity of God. (Rom. 11:22.) Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. His greatness is unsearchable. (Psalm 145:3.) Great is our Lord, and of great power. His understanding is infinite. (Psalm 147:5.) The Lord is my shepherd. (Psalm 23.) O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out! (Romans 11:33.)

God has revealed Himself to mankind. His Spirit has revealed even the deep things of God. (1 Cor. 2:11.) We must accept this revealed God and not make one after our own liking and likeness. The "doctrine of God" is the most important doctrine in Scripture. From this flows all else. Theology means the study of God. Think about how many doctrines are connected directly to what men think about God. The life and work of Jesus (could God come down to earth?), the Jewish misunderstanding of the Sabbath commandment, Jesus eating with sinners, predestination and foreordination, providence, deism, legalism, liberalism, grace, the Sadducees’ denial of the resurrection, racism, etc. I am willing to say that most of the things that we teach reflect greatly upon our understanding of God, or lack thereof. Some have a feminine goddess; some have a white god; others have a black god; some have a liberal god; others have a legal god. Religious divisions align themselves according to the culture where the god is worshipped and according to the view one has of God. Is God all powerful, all benevolent, all knowing, omnipresent?? It matters what we believe about the nature of God.

Another gospel is preached because some preach another Jesus and another Spirit. (2 Cor. 11:4.) The foundation for unity rests upon the one God. "Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; there is one body, Spirit, hope, Lord, faith, baptism, and one God, the Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all." (Eph. 4:3-6.)

There is one God, one Gospel, one Redeemer, and one way to God.

A common misconception of God is that there are many ways to approach and enter into the presence of God. This has arisen in modern times by ousting creeds and inserting our own spirituality. Creeds (I mean by this, a clear statement of faith) are out and we have inserted our own feelings about religion. Modern man thinks that he can have religion his own way. One can be spiritual without beliefs, they think. When we need forgiveness, we simply grant it to ourselves. We do not seek it from God. Many do not feel that their sins have offended God. We just work it out for ourselves. Man takes the place of God. Thus, there can be many ways to God because man envisions God the way he wants.

This understanding that there is only one way to God is based upon the very nature of God, the nature of man, and the one Mediator. The holiness of God is at stake here. Our sins are against this holy and just God. We need One to mediate between God and us. This is the Gospel. This is what God has revealed about himself and about sinful man. No one should be careless about approaching God.

In the Old Testament, we learn that the High Priest entered into the Most Holy Place only once each year making atonement for the sins of Israel. This was serious business because he was entering into the presence of God. Sins were involved. Real sins. Real transgressions against a holy God. If those sins were not removed, then wrath would have been poured out upon the transgressors. Josephus wrote about a practice of the Jews after the death of Adab and Abihu. Before the high priest entered the Most Holy Place, a rope was tied around his ankle. If he failed to follow God’s will and God struck him dead, the high priest could be pulled out of the room without someone trying to get him out. Only the high priest was allowed to enter that room. We think that today we can approach God Almighty just anyway that we desire. Some irreverently call him, daddy. Contrast that with what Jesus taught, Say, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. (Matt. 6:9.)

Moses wanted to enter into the presence of God. He was told, "No man can see me and live." (Exodus 33:20.) Moses was hidden in a cleft of the rock and the glory of God passed over. Moses was not allowed to see God. Job kept insisting that he should be given the privilege to speak to God face to face. He was right though. What he needed was a mediator.

Modern man does not understand his own sinfulness, neither does he understand the holiness of God. God once wanted to wipe out the entire nation of Israel and start over. Moses interceded on the behalf of Israel. This was not because God was vengeful and did not want to save Israel. Rather, it pointed out the necessity for an appropriate Mediator. The problem in Scripture is not how God could punish sinful man eternally. The problem is how can a holy God, who loves man, allow sinful man into his presence. That is the problem. Condemnation and judgement would have been suitable. God’s righteousness was declared by justifying those who believe in Jesus. (Romans 3:26.) This is the crucial passage in Paul’s presentation of the problem of justification. All else hinges on "Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood." (3:25.) "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Rom. 5:1.)

The Hebrew writer tried to explain the role of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and what it accomplished. He plainly said, what most would readily accept, that the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin. (10:4.) When Jesus came, He took away the first covenant and established the second, by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (10:9, 10.) Jesus, our High Priest, is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. (7:25.) Jesus is the only acceptable Mediator between God and man. The Bible declares that there is only one. There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. (1 Tim. 2:4.) Perhaps, now we can see why there are not many ways into God’s presence. John wept when no one was found to open the sealed book in God’s hands. Then Jesus, the Lamb from the tribe of Judah, prevailed and overcame to open the book. Then Jesus is worshipped just as the Father was worshipped in Revelation 4. (Revelation 5.)

No one should think that they can go before God without the Mediator. Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no man comes to the Father, but by me." (John 14:6.) Some are claiming to have found something new and different. It is this personal spirituality and religious feelings within. Nothing or no one can take the place of Jesus our Lord. Christ Jesus is like man and also like God. A mediator is always like that. Someone wrote, "A savior not quite God would be like a bridge broken at the farthest end." Jesus is the one qualified mediator, the only qualified sacrifice, and the only qualified Savior.

In this need for such a sacrifice as Jesus, we learn something about the demands of holiness and the true nature of God. Man should not approach God light-heartedly, flippantly, or irreverently. God is in heaven and man is upon the earth, wrote the wise man Solomon. (Eccl. 5:2.) The sacrifice was furnished by God Himself. He paid the penalty for sin. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. We should not see Jesus in a more favorable light than God the Father. It is God the Father who so loved the world. Jesus is not kinder than God is. He is not more merciful. God the Father is not more severe than Jesus is. Jesus will be the Judge and He will say to many, Depart from me for I never knew you. There is only one way to God. Jesus is Immanuel, which means God with us. (Matt. 1:23.)

Two mountains tell us much about God. They are Mount Sinai and Mount Calvary. We must stand at both mountains to see the full picture of God and the Gospel. At Sinai, we see the holiness of God. There the mountain is covered in darkness. If anyone or any animal touched the mountain, they would be put to death. Even Moses said that the sight was so terrible that he did exceeding fear and quake. (Hebrews 12:21.) At Mount Calvary, we see the terrible price for sin being paid. At the same time, we see the bridge from earth to heaven being built. We see the love and grace of God. We see his goodwill being expressed. God came to earth. God so loved us. There is still a Most Holy Place, a Most Holy God. There is One who humbled Himself and became a servant. The Mediator did not build a bridge beginning down here on earth. He came down from above. It was built from heaven to earth. And it fully reached man on earth.

Because of what has transpired on Calvary, because the wrath of God has been satisfied when he saw the travail of His soul on Calvary, some have come to the false conclusion that God is more tolerant than He once was! Some even see two gods in Scripture: the God of the Old Testament who is wrathful and harsh, and the God of the New Testament who is loving and patient. Such is not accurate.

Paul wrote, "Behold, therefore, the goodness and the severity of God." (Romans 11:22.) God is still a consuming fire. (Heb. 12:29.) The punishment today is more severe not less for those who reject the grace of God expressed through His Son. A true principle to remember is: The greater the grace, the greater the punishment for rejecting that grace. Note this:

"But is we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment, suppose you, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace." (Heb. 10:26-29.)

This passage describes the result of those who have learned the Gospel and walked away from the Christian assembly. (10:25.) What remains is a fearful awaiting of judgment because there is nowhere else one can go to find an acceptable sacrifice for sin except through Jesus Christ. This passage shows that there is only one way to God, not many. Pluralism is blatantly false and blasphemies the Son of God. It rejects Jesus as God among us, the Word made flesh.