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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| GOD OF HEAVEN AND EARTH |
| Ezra 5:11 And this was their reply to us: ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished. |
| Ezra is a teaching scribe, provided by God to the nation after being in Babylon for 70 years. Those brave enough to leave the nation that took them captive, experienced challenges beyond our imagination, but with leaders like Ezra and Nehemiah, were able to surmount those challenges. The challenge the nation was confronting in this portion of Scripture is the neighboring governors of nearby provinces, impacting the Jews desire to rebuild the temple. These neighboring powers, (Tattenai and Shethar-bozenai) sent a letter to Darius, the king of Persian, the ultimate power of the region, questioning the legality of the Jews efforts. The situation smacks of sucking up to the powers that be, in order to find some advantage. (A bit like my little grandkids when they go tattle on their brother to mommy). Nevertheless, this was another challenge to the Jews that may cause a work stoppage. A letter was crafted by the Jews, describing their efforts and their authority to perform the work. In this letter, that Tattenai and Shethar-bozenai sent off to Darius, the Jews declare they are the servants of the God of heaven and earth. Interestingly, Darius, as king of Persia, and ruling over the largest empire the world had ever known at the time, was very tolerant of other religions. He, himself seemed to be monotheistic, that is, he only spoke of one God, speaking only of the religion of Zoroaster. For the Jews to refer to the God of heaven and earth, as apposed the the God of Israel, had two intents, if I understand the motivation for speaking to Darius in such a way. To refer to God as the God of Israel, may introduce an element of superiority of the Jews over the Persian king. This communication may have been chosen in order to maintain good relations with the Persian king while they have his favor. The second reason the Jews may have referred to God as the God of heaven and earth is that Darius spoke of one god, Ahura Mazda, the supreme god of the Persians. Though the identification of the supreme God differed between the Persians and the Jewish nation, both agreed there was a power over them that was supreme. The Jews reminded Darius, (along with Tattenai and Shethar-bozenai), of this truth. Even the king of Persia had to answer to someone, and the Jews communicated this truth to find common ground between them. Very diplomatic! He is the God of Heaven and Earth. He reigns over all inhabitants of this creation, making all responsible to Him, whether you were a recently released people or the reigning King of Persia. We are all under Him, the God of Heaven and Earth. Thankfully, we can know Him, as He has entered our existence, bled and died, was raised for our salvation and rules over us. There is no longer any need to speak in general terms to identify the God of Heaven and Earth. The God of Heaven and Earth is Jesus. |
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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