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 THE SPIRITS OF THE PROPHETS |
| Revelation 22:6 And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.” |
| I was writing a proposal for a small engineering task this morning and as I was writing, I began to insert multiple nouns into the sentence, connecting them with words such as “associated” or “with” or “of the”. I find I am very susceptible to typing long winded sentences describing various conditions or situations, defining requirements of a project that is associated with the location of the site relating the parameters of the scope to the expectations of my client. Did you understand my gobbledygook? Did I ramble on and on about something that made no sense? Did I thoroughly confuse you, leaving behind my poor reader with no clear message, and a blurry feeling of “What was that?” We can be thankful that the Word is not susceptible to this weakness, that the words used by God in communicating to us a truth can be understood with a little patience, a little diligence and little effort. For me, this passage presents a small challenge. I got more than one noun in this passage. How do they relate to one another? Shall I understand this phrase to mean “God of the spirits (which are the spirits) of the prophets”, or God of the prophets, each prophet having the Holy Spirit? You see how I struggle with communicating a simple truth? Let me see if I can clear up my self inflicted confusion by comparing two phrases within this passage. God of the Spirits Two verses in the Old Testament use this English equivalent. Numbers 16:22 And they fell on their faces and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?” This verse is describing Moses and Aarons plea to God for reasonableness in judgement, that the whole nation not be consumed due to Korah’s rebellion. Numbers 27:16 “Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation This second verse speaks of the appointing of Joshua over the congregation of Israel, after the passing of Moses. What may we understand from the two uses of this phrase in the Old Testament? Is there a common situation that we might gain in these two verses? One truth is that Moses is the only one who referred to God in this manner, that the phrase is connected to “all flesh”, and most interesting to myself is that both are related to the separation of a man or group from the congregation. Granted, one is for destruction, and one is related to consecration of service. Nevertheless, when this phrase is used, it is in the context of separation Spirits of the Prophets Two verses in the New Testament use this English equivalent. One is the passage we are in now, and the second is 1 Corinthians 14:32 and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. Paul is addressing a church that is out of control on the “gift of the Spirit”, seeking the flamboyant and ignoring the humble gifts, such as service and giving. How like our own lives! Paul’s message to the church is that the spirits of the prophets are controlled (subject to) the prophets. Consider a typical church service, where a number of prophets may be in attendance, and one stands to give a message. This message is judged by the prophets. Note that the word “prophets” denotes more than one, implying the other prophets judge the the message, determine it’s validity, and join in declaring the truth to the congregation, or declare it to be false. Now, after I have initially claimed I was seeking to simplify this study, I find I have travelled two rabbit trails, so let me try to being this home. God is the God of the spirits, a God who separates, a God who classifies groups from other groups, a God who creates structure or order by separating one group or situation from another. We see this in our own lives, as we are all somewhat different in our talents, our ministries, our abilities and even in our weaknesses. God is a God of order and structure. God is also the God of the prophets, those whom He allows to seek Him, to pursue after Him. Prophets seeking truth by being together, by declaring a message to others, and by submitting to the judgement of the spirits of the (other) prophets. He separates and He gathers. God is a God of the spirits of the prophets, and in the Book of Revelation, we find He separates those who do not seek Him from those who do seek Him, and gathers together both in their respective groups, or destinies. I have to admit to my readers that I have never felt so inadequate in explaining my thoughts, and I pray that this short study might even irritate you to dig deeper into this name of God. He is truly a wonderful God seeking to fulfill His purpose in those who seek Him with a humble heart. Even with an ol’ fool who struggles to explain a simple concept! |
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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