The Exalted Names of God
Notes
Transcript
Elohim first name for God mentioned in the bible. Reminding us that he is the creator.
Yahweh is the personal name of God. The name by which he is known, “I Am”.
1. El Shaddai—God Almighty
1. El Shaddai—God Almighty
-Shaddai comes from the Hebrew word for mountain.
-Remember in the past we’ve talked about God’s sovereignty, this is connected to that.
-None would come come close to challenging God for control of His universe.
-So how is it used in the Bible? How is God, God Almighty?
Genesis 17:1–8 (NIV)
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.” Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”
-God Almighty who does miracles.
-God Almighty who does miracles.
Abraham is 99 and God is promising “you will greatly increase in your number”
MIRACLE (δύναμις, dynamis). An event that defies common expectations of behavior and subsequently is attributed to a superhuman agent; an occurrence that demonstrates God’s involvement in the course of human affairs.
Miracles are not meant to be understood, they are meant to be believed.
David Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Miracles have several different manifestations; celestial events, instantaneous healings, control of nature and objects or animals acting in unexpected ways.
It is not to say that there are evil forces out there performing some unexplained phenomenon but here it is understood that God is the agent by which all this miracle did occur.
It is no different in the NT miracles occur in order to display God’s power but also to confirm the true nature of the gospel message.
Secondly we learn that God is...
-God Almighty who makes everlasting covenants.
-God Almighty who makes everlasting covenants.
Go back 2 chapters into chapter 15, God makes a blood covenant with Abraham. Before that, Noah and before that Adam.
If you ask, “well if the covenants are everlasting why does God keep having to make them with people?”
Well the problem isn’t him. He always keeps his side of the covenant. [revisit blood path in chapter 15]
Can we affirm that Abraham is the father of many nations? Yes he is.
-God Almighty who makes for himself a people.
-God Almighty who makes for himself a people.
Remember that when God said Israel was his chosen people it was a nation that he created from scratch.
The NT reminds that the people who belong to God are not just his due to a national identity.
Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham.
And then in Romans 11 Paul refers to Gentiles as “wild olive branches” that are grafted on to cultivated olive tree.
-God Almighty who gives good gifts.
-God Almighty who gives good gifts.
In this passage God promises to give Abrahams descendents “the whole land of Canaan” as possession and on that he promises to be there God.
How can they be a nation without have a place to call home.
Doesn’t seem kind of rude for God to give Israel someone else’s land?
In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
So generations later God explains to Moses that the full measure has been met
Deuteronomy 12:29–31 (NIV)
The Lord your God will cut off before you the nations you are about to invade and dispossess. But when you have driven them out and settled in their land, and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, “How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same.” You must not worship the Lord your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.
The 2nd Exalted Name I want to consider is this...
2. Yahweh Tseva’oth—Lord of Hosts
2. Yahweh Tseva’oth—Lord of Hosts
Lord of Hosts has a few implications.
-Lord of heavenly armies and cosmic forces.
-Lord of heavenly armies and cosmic forces.
We would do well to remember that the physical realm is not the only one that God rules over. And in the cosmic realm there are forces of good and evil.
The heavenly hosts (armies) are led by non other than Yahweh himself.
Psalm 24:7–10 (NIV)
Lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is he, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty— he is the King of glory.
When Jesus was arrested he told the the crowd that God could send 12 legions of angels
-Head of the divine council.
-Head of the divine council.
The divine council is share authority in the heavenly realm much like humans were given authority to share on earth. Psalm 82 describes it this way.
God presides in the great assembly; he renders judgment among the “gods”:
and 1 Kings 22 we have this really interesting account
Micaiah continued, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne with all the multitudes of heaven standing around him on his right and on his left. And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?’ “One suggested this, and another that. Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’ “ ‘By what means?’ the Lord asked. “ ‘I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,’ he said. “ ‘You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the Lord. ‘Go and do it.’ “So now the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours. The Lord has decreed disaster for you.”
This council of supernatural beings are subordinate to God and serve him as we do but in a different realm and in a different capacity.
Now interestingly enough just as there was a rebellion on earth there was a rebellion among those of the divine council as well. But God is not deterred.
-Leader of Israel’s army.
-Leader of Israel’s army.
When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you. When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. He shall say: “Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them. For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”
But in perhaps one of the most well know stories of the OT a shepherd boy named David who would go on to become King of Israel would say the the giant Philistine Goliath,
1 Samuel 17:45–47 (NIV)
David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord [of Hosts], the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
Now when we get to the book of Revelation we see that Jesus is participating in this roll as Lord of Hosts
I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings and lord of lords.
Finally
3. El Elyon—God Most High
3. El Elyon—God Most High
This last exalted name is used in unique and wonderful way.
It is first used in Genesis 14:17-20
Genesis 14:17–20 (NIV)
After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
Abram responds to the king of Sodom in this scene Gen 14:22
But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “With raised hand I have sworn an oath to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,
the 2nd time used by Balaam
Then he spoke his message: “The prophecy of Balaam son of Beor, the prophecy of one whose eye sees clearly, the prophecy of one who hears the words of God, who has knowledge from the Most High, who sees a vision from the Almighty, who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened:
So in these 3 instances a precedent (at least in Genesis) that when a believer in the one true God wanted to communicate to another about the one true God they would use the name El Elyon.
-He is incomparable in every way; he is subject to no one and no thing.
-He is incomparable in every way; he is subject to no one and no thing.
The Canaanites had a pantheon of gods so what was one more. So Elohim’s/Yahweh’s followers had to make sure and set him apart.
-The name “God Most High” is used to identify the supreme deity, in distinction from false gods and goddesses.
-The name “God Most High” is used to identify the supreme deity, in distinction from false gods and goddesses.
Every Name of God in the Bible God Most High
But the uniqueness of the name is best seen in the Book of Daniel. There Nebuchadnezzar comes to realize that the Lord is God Most High, and that His decree rules in the kingdom of humanity. After a time of being disciplined, Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged the sovereignty of Daniel’s God. Daniel 4:34 reports the great king’s submission:
I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever:
For His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
And His kingdom is from generation to generation.
It is good to know that in a world filled with corrupt leaders and governments, where often strange and evil spirits sway the decisions of man that there is a God Most High who rules over all. Even over those who refuse to believe the truth.
There is one more Exalted Name that I want to mention and it is the name of Jesus.
to Mary
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
to Joseph
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Peter
then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Jesus is “ ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
Paul
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
