My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
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| EQUAL WITH GOD |
| John 5:18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. |
| In John 5:17, Jesus claims for the first time, that God is His own Father. He simply states “My Father is working… No self respecting Israeli would be audacious enough to claim the eternal and all powerful Creator of all to be His own Father. This was clearly blasphemy in the minds of the learned religious class of Israel, for they had come to a conclusion very early on that Jesus could not be the Messiah. Of course, if they had no bias against this Rabbi, they may have considered all the prophecies He had fulfilled without His being able to control the circumstances. Prophecies of his birth, of His youth, of His family circumstances and lineage, His miracle working, His unassailable logic in teaching. God provided ample evidence of His person, and when Jesus simply stated what should have been obvious to unbiased ears, those who had closed their ears and eyes to facts, opened their hearts and mouths to the option of death. When the Jews stated that He made Himself equal to God, the term equal can be considered in both the quantitative or qualitative sense. Quantitative as in a math equation, or that two objects have the same number of components, or are equal in weight or number. Qualitative, as in the quality of two items. This meaning may be closer to the intent, for to be qualitatively equal to God the Father is to claim for Himself all the characteristics of the Most Blessed. This claim was completely beyond the Jews comprehension, for they were poisoned with a bias, and made assumptions that were completely unfounded. This dangerous attitude was based in a darkened heart that would not recognize the true God, for they imagined Him as a warrior, and not the servant, as One who would kill, and not save, as One who would separate and not join together. How far off they were from the Living One! Bias and assumptions about Jesus can kill you. Please – for your own sake – do not make uniformed decisions about who Jesus is, or listen to gossip about Him, or watch His followers make mistakes, or ignore the One who provided proofs. Read the record that provides the witness of His person. Read it with an open mind, and ask for insight. Might I suggest taking the gospel of John and as you read, ask hard questions about what the gospel is trying to communicate. Take your time reading it, looking for the message you need to hear. But don’t simply reject Him because of a bias, or an assumption. For He is equal with God. Read the Scriptures and believe! |
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
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