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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| GREAT SALVATION |
| Psalm 18:50 Great salvation he brings to his king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his offspring forever. |
| David, in the 18th Psalm, describes the saving power of God, having found safety and security in the Lord in the midst of being surrounded by enemies. Psalm 18:1 A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who addressed the words of this song to the LORD on the day when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. David speaks of the Lord using military terms throughout this Psalm, using terms such as fortress, refuge, shield and horn of salvation. Psalm 18:2 The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. He gushes over speaking of the might of the Lord in his deliverance, for at the time when there seemed no hope, no salvation available for David, God provided salvation. The enemies were too many, and had all the advantage, but when God was introduced into the situation, the tables where flipped over! He spends the Psalm describing his love for the Lord, his thankful heart and uses many metaphors in describing the Lord’s saving work in his life. He describes God’s frontal attack on the enemies, even from heaven, speaking of lightning as being an offensive weapon in the arsenal of God for David’s sake Psalm 18:14 And he sent out his arrows and scattered them; he flashed forth lightnings and routed them. He speaks of saving him from drowning Psalm 18:16 … he drew me out of many waters. David can’t hold back from describing his God in the victory. He goes so far as to call God his Great Salvation, and though David was speaking of an instant in time, where he was saved physically from enemies, when he calls God his Great Salvation, he is touching a topic that expands exponentially as the plan of God develops in history. For our verse this morning, let us consider our Great Salvation, and that this Name of God continues in the military imagery David uses through the Psalm. You see, in the repeated passage of Psalm 18 we find in 2 Samuel, we come across our Name of God again, but it has a translation note attached to it. 2 Samuel 22:51 Great salvation he brings to his king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his offspring forever.” The translators of the ESV note that the phrase “Great Salvation he brings” may be rendered as “He is a tower of salvation.” This imagery is pertinent to our lives, no matter where we are in our walk with the King, for we too are in a battle, even a war. Not only are we waging battle within our souls to submit to our Great Salvation, but also fighting a war for those around us, to represent the Living Savior as the Only Salvation for All. The Great Salvation truly is for, through and about the Lord, for in our battle for Him, we need to trust in Him, to bring honor through Him to all. Although from a somewhat different context, Paul said it much better when he wrote Romans 11:36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. Yes He is our Great Salvation. He is the only One who is our strong tower in our battles, for if we believers do not run to Him for our safety, for our Great Salvation, we will find we have no defense against the ravages of this life! Hebrews 2 speaks this truth much clearer when the author writes. Hebrews 2:3a how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? May we run to our Great Salvation daily! |
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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