The Names of God- El Shaddai
Knowing God • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction:
Introduction:
What do we learn about the names of God?
We learn that He is El.....all powerful.
We learn that He is “Him...”, He is a Triune God.
We Learn that He is the El Elyon, The Most High God.
The Sovereign One, the One that it Preeminent.
He is above all and can conquer all.
He is the Adonai, the Master, the Owner, the Lord.
And we must submit to the Lordship; and without such submission, there is no true salvation.
He is the El Roi, the all-powerful God who sees.
We are never outside of the watchful care of God Himself.
As I thought about those things in light of the name that we will be studying this evening, I was reminded of the story of Job.
You remember Job, a righteous man that God sovereignly determined would be the example that He would use with Satan that there are those that actually do serve out of Love and devotion, not just because I have blessed them.
Job went through some massive suffering that began in the first two chapters of Job; and yet, never cursed God.
However, life began to get the best of Job and even the most godly people, who take their eyes off the Lord can get in moments of despair.
Because by the time we come to the third chapter of Job, we find Job in much despair.
After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.
And Job spake, and said,
Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.
Job was in such despair with what was going on in his life that he began to be in despair not only at the day of his birth, but even to the day of his conception.
Job continues:
Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.
Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.
Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.
Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.
Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:
Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.
Not only did Job despair at the moment of his birth and conception, but notice the depths of the despair.
Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?
Job even wishes that his mother had miscarried or that he was stillborn.
Or why didn’t my mother just not feed me so that I would die?
Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?
What despair!
Such despair is brought on when we forget who God is and what we know about God is reveled in His name.
And that is no less true in the name that we see this evening.
Our God is El Shaddai.
I. The Meaning of El Shaddai
I. The Meaning of El Shaddai
The meaning of this name for God is one of tremendous importance.
We find, in the Scriptures, two Hebrew root words that have bearing on our definition of God as the EL Shaddai.
The is the Hebrew root “shadah” speaking about God’s sufficiency to provide.
It can also refer to the root “שַׁדַּי” (shadday), referring to God’s power.
Therefore with respect to this name of God, Shaddai, has been traditionally translated as “Almighty”, referring to God’s Omnipotence.
And with the Hebrew prefix “EL” we say that El Shaddai means “The Almighty God”.
And because He is the Almighty God, there is nothing that is outside His ability to do.
A. God Provides
A. God Provides
Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:
B. God Protects
B. God Protects
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
C. God Punishes
C. God Punishes
Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:
For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.
His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
So, the name of God “El Shaddai” speaks of Him being the Almighty God who has the Omnipotence to Provide, Protect, and to Punish.
There are also places in the Hebrew language where we see a form of the word “shaddai” and that is the word “shad”.
Now, this word “shad” is seen 21 times in the Hebrew OT and it means “breasts”.
Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?
What I want you to see at this point is the fact that the word “breast” is the Hebrew word “שַׁד” (shad) and in the Scriptures it refers to the mothers breast that gives her child strength and nourishment.
But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts.
Again, we see that the word “breast” is Hebrew word “שַׁד” (shad) and speaks about a mother giving her child strength and nourishment.
So, when you take all of that information as a whole, when we speak of God being the EL Shaddai, we are saying that the Scriptures reveal God as the all-sufficient and all-powerful God.
El Shaddai means; therefore, the God who can do anything.
He can do anything and He can provide anything because He is the all-powerful, providing God, who is the El Elyon (Most High God), the Adonai (master/owner of it all) and therefore has everything at His disposal.
So, He is the All-Powerful and All-Sufficient God.
So, we see The Meaning of El Shaddai.
II. The Manifestation of El Shaddai
II. The Manifestation of El Shaddai
Through the name “Elohim” we were introduced to the God who created the universe and nature and Who sees that it continues by the natural laws that He also created.
But in the name “El Shaddai” we get to know the God Who can compel nature to do what goes against the laws of nature and thereby bring about things that are supernatural.
Again, to see how El Shaddai in manifest in the Scripture and to get the full range of meaning, we return to our old rule of Biblical Interpretation “the rule of first mention”.
The first time that we see this name in the Bible is in Genesis 17:1.
And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
Now, we remember what is going on here.
It has been 24 years since God promised Abraham He would his seed a great nation (Genesis 12:2) and 13 years since Abraham gave up on God and Ishmael was born (Gen. 16:16).
Now, Abraham is 99 years old and he and Sarah are well beyond child bearing age, so having a child is impossible.
So what God here is to remind Abraham that He is the El Shaddai, He is the God that can do anything.
El Shaddai has the ability to take a natural impossibility and make it a reality because He is the the El Shaddai, He is the Almighty God.
Remember in the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 19, when the rich man came to Jesus asking about eternal life?
And by the time we get to the end of the confrontation the young man went away grieved because Jesus asked him to give up everything and follow Him and we was not willing to do that.
Then Jesus said:
And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
Then the bewildered disciples asked this question:
When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?
Then Jesus said:
But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Jesus was referring to, without using the name, El Shaddai.
Because He was saying that God has the power to overcome the natural deadness and rebellion of men’s hearts to do what natural man cannot do for himself.
Just as the first time that El Shaddai is mentioned it is God reminding Abraham that He is the Almighty God that has the ability to overcome the natural process of things and do what naturally cannot be done.
God intentionally let Abraham and Sarah past child bearing age before fulfilling His promise for a very importance reason.
God wanted to reveal to Abraham and Sarah that Hew was not only the All-Powerful God Who created the universe but also the all-powerful God Who could give them a child.
They had to learn to quit trusting in themselves and learn to trust the God that can do anything.
Then we see the results.
Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
After revealing Himself to Abraham for the first time as “El Shaddai,” God promised to multiply Abraham’s descendents exceedingly (Gen. 17:2).
At that point Abraham fell on his face (17:3) as a sign of reverence and respect.
Through the name El Shaddai Gos was revealing to Abraham that His covenant with him was not canceled even though at times Abraham had a lapse in faith, such as getting out of God’s will and going in Egypt, where he lied about Sarah being his sister.
After that, Abraham gave up on God and had a son by Sarah’s servant Hagar, resulting in the birth of Ishmael.
Listen, from time to time all of us have lapses in faith.
But we must remember that our God is E; Shaddai.
The name reminds us that our all-powerful God can keep His promises even when we do not hold up our end.
When we get off track in our journey we should remember that El Shaddai makes no promise the He does not fulfill.
The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.
The name reminds us that the All-powerful God, being that He is the creator of the universe and the order of the universe, the El Shaddai has the power to alter the natural course of things to perform what He wants.
Though Abraham had failed God, the promise was not canceled.
Instead El Shaddai changed Abram’s name to Abraham (Genesis 17:4-5).
The name Abram means “exalted father,” but the name Abraham means “father of the multitude.”
III. The Material of El Shaddai
III. The Material of El Shaddai
When we come to the point in our lives that we get to know the El Shaddai, the all-powerful God, we come to realization of our own weaknesses and insufficiencies.
He alone can work through us and give us supernatural strength to do His will and to do this we must come to the fact that we are weak and insufficient.
We must know that God is the Almighty God Who can accomplish His will without relying on our help in any form or fashion.
He is the Almighty; He does not need our might.
The name “El Shaddai” is used six times in the book of Genesis.
It is first used when referring to the promise made to Abraham.
The second time we find it is when Abraham’s son Isaac sends his son Jacob to take a wife from the daughters of his mother’s brother (28:2).
Isaac did this to prevent Jacob from marrying a Canaanite.
As Jacob leaves to take a wife so that the promise might be fulfilled, notice.
And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people;
Isaac was depending on the power of El Shaddai to make Jacob’s trip successful.
The third time it is used in the book of Genesis is when God changed Jacob’s name to Israel in Genesis 35:10-11.
There are times when God allows to go through overwhelming experiences that look hopeless in order for us to experience His power and to come to know Him as El Shaddai.
How can we know Him as El Shaddai?
We must again return to the “rule of first mention”.
And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
The Lord reveals Himself to Abraham as “el Shaddai” and then gives him a command to “walk before me.”
And that means that we love in the knowledge that we are never out of God’s sight.
God also commanded him to walk perfect or blameless.
To walk without any outstanding fault.
It does not mean that we are sinless, but that we walk in such a way that could be used to injure our reputation or witness.
It means to live in such a way that there could be no private or public reproach.
We will never begin to know God as El Shaddai until we come to the end of ourselves.
We must stop trusting in our own power and begin trusting in the power of God.
Only when we come to know Him as “El Shaddai” will we, like Abraham, begin to experience the power of God in our lives.
The truly know God as the El Shaddai, the Almighty God that can do anything, we must acknowledge that fact that we are never out of His sight, that is trust; and walk blameless, that is righteousness.
When you face problems in life, face them with El Shaddai..the All-powerful, almighty God that is also the provider.
The one that can change the course of nature to have His will done, and remember that He does not need our help to do any of it.
Now, He may choose to use us, but that is part of His plan that He chose without our input.
Live in light of El Shaddai.