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.
233
GOD OF HEAVEN
2 Chronicles 36:23 Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the LORD his God be with him. Let him go up.
There are numerous passages in the Word that provide us our name of God this morning, but I chose this verse out of 2 Chronicles due to my recent studying of Cyrus as a type of Christ. (Jesus in the Old Testament – Cyrus – 01).
Beyond that reason, I find this verse to be comforting for our day, in that it contains a truth that hopefully will settle the heart of the faithful.
As I said, it is difficult times we live in as we see this old world crumble away, with cultural and societal degradation surrounding us, with national leadership being exposed for deeper and deeper corruption, and an ever-growing open hatred of the Christian faith.
The church seems to have entered a type of captivity, accepting the cultures social norms, (shifting as they are), as acceptable norms to conform to. As the ancient Jewish nation experienced their captivity in Babylon, the church – at least in the western world – has also lost touch.
But as we see in this verse, and understanding the background of King Cyrus, we see that the God of heaven is not limited by His location, or that He is only in charge in heaven. King Cyrus, a non-Jew, and an unexpected Savior for the people of Israel, readily admits to the authority and actions of the God of heaven on earth. This pagan king not only admits that the God of heaven provided him his success, giving him “all the kingdoms of the earth”, but that God has given him a charge.
King Cyrus – build the God of heaven a house in Jerusalem.
A charge was given to the King, and an allowance was provided to the people of God. They were granted freedom by this king, and supplied to those who had a heart for God, the very highest gift of the faithful saint, The king would build the temple of the God of heaven, and the people of God could see him do it!
Also, take note that the people of God, though given freedom to return, are a secondary item. By that I mean, they are allowed to get involved if they want, but the King will build the house for the God of heaven whether they choose to get involved or not.
The God of heaven rules over the kingdoms of the earth, and to rescue His people, (or better stated, to provide a salvation to those who seek it), He may rise up a man or woman that is totally unexpected, in order to fulfill His desires. And the people of God can watch the wonder of this saviors work, taking part if they want.
The Greater King, our Living Savior is building a temple for the God of heaven in our day also. Have you been granted freedom? Are you wanting to get involved? The opportunity, the blessing, maybe better yet – the obligation is in front of the saint to get involved in the work.
Galatians 5:13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
He is the God of heaven, and He is working on this earth to build His Temple.
Wanna help?
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!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
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.
232
GOD OF GLORY
Psalm 29:3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD, over many waters.
Glory. It is the winning of the Boston marathon, or the receiving of an Oscar. It is often thought of as an ultimate victory, a great display of honor. For those who seek it, it is the attainment of fame and splendor. of an honor amongst their peers.
When it comes to how it is associated with God, we often think of a radiant light, a manifestation of God’s presence, or a recognition of His worth and beauty. He as God is the Only One worthy of glory in the most absolute sense.
For the verse we are considering, David associates the God of Glory with His message, specifically His voice in the world of nature, even a thunderstorm.
David, I would suggest, is watching a great thunderstorm, where the heavens are opening up and unleashing a power that cannot be resisted. Vast areas of the land, and in this case the waters of Israel, may be experiencing high winds, torrents of rain, fire from heaven and thunderous noise shaking the earth.
David is trying to express the might and power of the Lord in relation to the world about him. Throughout this psalm, David speaks of the “voice of the Lord”, and this is the first instance.
Yet I must consider the term glory before I finish this post. /I recall discussing a somewhat surprising association with the term glory with heaviness. (See Names of God – BEAUTIFUL AND GLORIOUS – 49).
I found also, that though the term “glory” not only had a sense of honor and esteem, and a sense of heaviness, (even fatness), associated with it, this term is also linked with suffering.
This particular word we see in this passage comes from the root word כָּבַד kâbad. We find this root word in the following passages, where I have italicized it’s use.
Genesis 18:20 Then the LORD said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave,
Note that the root word we read as glory in the Psalm is translated “grave” in Genesis 18. Some translations use grievous or serious.
Nehemiah 5:18 Now what was prepared at my expense for each day was one ox and six choice sheep and birds, and every ten days all kinds of wine in abundance. Yet for all this I did not demand the food allowance of the governor, because the service was too heavy on this people.
Nehemiah rejected the opportunity to enjoy great abundance due to the heavy burden placed on the people that required it.
2 Samuel 13:25 But the king said to Absalom, “No, my son, let us not all go, lest we be burdensome to you.” He pressed him, but he would not go but gave him his blessing.
David did not want to be burdensome to his son.
1 Samuel 5:11 They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, that it may not kill us and our people.” For there was a deathly panic throughout the whole city. The hand of God was very heavy there.
The term associates directly with suffering in 1 Samuel, where the hand of God was causing an uproar amongst the Philistines.
Psalm 32:4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
But lest we think this suffering is only for those who know not God, we find it used by David when he is under the judging eye of His Master.
All of this is to simply admit that my concept of glory is too weak, too shallow. Bright lights, beauty and honor are the thoughts that typically rise to the mind when we think of glory, but let us not forget that it is a complex thought, a complex idea that has much greater meaning than first considered.
The God of Glory has Himself provided the greatest display of His glory in the man Christ Jesus, as He displayed His patient, kind, meek and loving interaction with those who had ears to hear. His character was a blinding glorious light in a very dark land.
He also displayed His authority, His heaviness amongst some lightweight religious authorities, literally tearing their arguments to pieces without breaking a sweat!
But if you ask me, the greatest display of the God of Glory for all to see was the Man Christ Jesus, bloody and broken, nailed to a cross, exposed to the public as if he were equal to a mere thief, suffering the indignities and insults of sinful man, all to rescue a thankless and hateful people.
He is the God of Glory and though many may look to the cross as simply an instrument of justice, for the believer, that cross provided the greatest display of who the God of Glory truly is!
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!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
Jesus in the Old Testament is a series of posts that will offer my readers a chance to consider pictures or shadows of Jesus in the Old Testament. As mentioned in the introduction to this series, some may be obvious, some may be not so obvious, and some may simply be a facet of the Lord those reading may not have considered previously.
I hope as we venture through this series, we will see the Lord in many wonderful pictures throughout the Old Testament.
SEEING JESUS IN
Cyrus
Anointed One
Isaiah 45:1a Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped..
Acts 4:27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,
I will admit it, I started looking at Cyrus, thinking that if I found one or two likenesses to the Lord, I will have plunged the depths of the similarities this gentile king had with our Lord. After all, my next subject is Daniel, and I can hardly wait. My attitude, (sad as it was), was to get the gentile king out of the way so I can dig into the life of Daniel and see the Lord in that great saint of old.
Was I wrong! Cyrus is quite surprising as a great Gentile King, but even more so as a typology of Jesus. Although I am reluctant to define the number of similarities I have found so far, suffice to say it is not just one or two. (A hint to my readers – It is less than 100!)
For this post, lets consider the fact that Cyrus was called the anointed of God. Yes, it is true that there were many anointed in the Old Testament, including the kings of Israel and Judah, prophets of Israel, priests of Israel, and many leaders, such as the judges, or different leaders that were within the theocracy of Israel.
But Cyrus stands out amongst these anointed in that he was a dirty Gentile, a foreigner to the covenant and a man that was outside of the regular domain God worked within.
Not only that, but Cyrus was called God’s anointed prior to performing any good deed, or before even sucking breath. Isaiah’s prophecy was given a century prior to the Gentile king arriving on the scene! Not many of the “rank and file” of the anointed in Israel can claim that status.
And yet, even as Cyrus stands out from amongst all those who were of the anointed class in the old theocracy, the True Anointed One is head and shoulders above Cyrus. Though Cyrus was a great and victorious king over all the known world in his day, His anointing may be considered his greatest privilege, a privilege granted by God.
For Jesus, to put it bluntly, to be the Anointed was simply a matter of fact. He is the Anointed, the Only One Who was and is the Anointed One, not due to a privilege granted by God, but because of His Person, of Who He truly is.
There is a difference! He is the Christ, the Anointed One!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
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.
231
GOD OF FAITHFULNESS AND WITHOUT INIQUITY
Deuteronomy 32:4 “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.
Our God is a God of faithfulness and without iniquity.
It is a common truth that believer’s rely on throughout our walk with Him, and yet when trials come or trouble rise up, our first inclination is to question his faithfulness.
Of course that is simply our rebellion rising up, blaming God for that which might be occurring due to our poor decisions, or maybe simply misunderstanding God’s way in our lives.
As I was reviewing this term for faithfulness, I found it to have a somewhat special meaning. It refers to being steady or firm. A very good example of how this term pictures the steadfastness of God is found in Exodus, when Moses was overseeing Joshua fight the Amalekites.
Exodus 17:12 But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
Moses hands were “faithful” until the going down of the sun. They didn’t move, and were not subject to any weakness that Moses was experiencing.
God is steady, firm and unmoving, and unlike Moses, did not require assistance from others in being so. He is faithful, and His nature of being so is a great comfort to every believer.
But this name of God we are considering this morning is not simply the God of faithfulness , but the God of faithfulness and without iniquity!
Faithful, unmoving, firm, resolute. God is the God of faithfulness. He is the ultimate expression of firmness, of unmoving adherence to His Word and Will. Then Moses adds the “without iniquity” description, as further emphasis on who God is.
May I suggest this double description of God works to bolster the image Moses was trying to get across to the Israelites by describing a positive attribute, and then further describing that attribute by negating any idea of unfaithfulness.
Let me try to explain my thoughts.
If God at any time and for any reason, was not faithful, and because He is known and described as faithful, this act of unfaithfulness would introduce iniquity into our thoughts. At any time, if God was not steady, firm in His nature and promises, iniquity could be claimed to be found in Him.
How preposterous, for it is His nature that defines righteousness, and there is no iniquity to be found in Him. And that is the point!
Moses is doubling up on his description of the faithfulness (firmness, steadiness) of God. No iniquity of unsteadiness, or unfaithfulness may be considered.
Don’t even think it!
Unless of course, you turn your eyes to see the Man on the cross, where a spotless God, firm in His will and in the keeping of His word, accepted iniquity into His own body. The mystery of One who, due to His faithfulness, became sin (iniquity), accepting the just punishment of sin within His own body.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Out God is a God of Faithfulness and Without Iniquity, even as He exercised His faithfulness to His own saving promises. To His own great hurt, that is His own death, He was faithful. No iniquity of His own may be found in Him, even as we see Him hanging on that cross, receiving the just punishment of our iniquity being placed on His sinless Body.
How can we understand such a faithful God, One who is without iniquity, and yet taking on our sin to maintain His faithfulness? It is not for us to understand, but only to bow before Him.
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!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Before we begin this psalm that refers of the true king, pictures the Messiah, and describes the ultimate kingdom, it may be good to mention there is some discussion on the author. Per the ESV, verse 1 seems to speak of this psalm as originating (humanly) from Solomon, David’s son. There is an argument that the psalm was written by David himself (see the last verse) and he wrote it “of Solomon” in his reign, as David looked into the future potential of his son.
Although I am of the opinion David wrote this psalm, no matter how you see this topic, let us delve into this psalm that speaks over and over again of the greater Son of David, the true King of all.
Psalm 72:15 Long may he live; may gold of Sheba be given to him! May prayer be made for him continually, and blessings invoked for him all the day! Psalm 72:16 May there be abundance of grain in the land; on the tops of the mountains may it wave; may its fruit be like Lebanon; and may people blossom in the cities like the grass of the field! Psalm 72:17 May his name endure forever, his fame continue as long as the sun! May people be blessed in him, all nations call him blessed!
This portion of the psalm speaks of the abundance of the Kingdom, prosperity flowing throughout the Kingdom with the focus rightly so on the King Himself. The poor and needy that was previously spoken of in the previous post is under King Jesus, offering up gifts of gold to the King.
I take the subject of these verses to be the King, and specifically King Jesus prophetically. As throughout this psalm, so much is provided to correspond with the Son in His reign that it over shadows the possible immediate intent of David’s desire for His own son Solomon’s earthy reign.
Gold is given to the King, not silver or some inferior metal, but only the finest of materials.
The fields are so heavy with grain, when the wind blows, the grain acts as the cedars of Lebanon, the cedars of Lebanon that were so famous. The agricultural prosperity spoken of here describes the waving action of the grains to not be unlike the wind whipping through the massive cedars of Lebanon. A picture in my mind of oversized grain stalks so large that as they move in the wind, a cracking occurs as with the cedars in their movements.
This picture of prosperity is incredible, but the psalmist goes further. He speak of the waving action of this grain to be on the tops of the mountains. Not the valleys, where all the lush rich earth is, but on the top on mountain tops, where the rain and wind typically erode the good soil and create a barren area. No successful farmer sought out the top of mountains or hills for farming, yet under the King, even the top of hills or mountains brought forth abundance.
And yet when I sat down this morning, my focus was not on the prosperity of the land, great as it is under the King, but on the King Himself, as David describes Him, for he speaks of the King living, or as he starts this portion out as – Long may he live. Let’s take a moment to consider.
Live
Live is the translation of the Hebrew word חָיָהchâyâh, to live or preserve, even quicken recover or retore to life. This term may simply refer to life, to the standard meaning we all accept, but it also was used of the restoration of life. Consider the following passages where we find it being used.
2 Kings 13:21 And as a man was being buried, behold, a marauding band was seen and the man was thrown into the grave of Elisha, and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.
Job 14:14 If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till my renewal should come.
Isa 26:14 They are dead, they will not live; they are shades, they will not arise; to that end you have visited them with destruction and wiped out all remembrance of them.
1Kings 17:22 And the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived.
Ezekiel, as he is questioning the Lord in the famous chapter on dead bones, uses this term multiple times to describe life coming back onto the carcasses he sees.
Even the apostate king of Israel, most likely Jehoram, knew of God’s ability to raise up from the dead.
2 Kings 5:7 And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.”
Again and again in the Old Testament, this term is used revivification, of quickening, of restoration.
Is David speaking of the resurrection of the King, of the eternal life that He accomplished for mankind at His resurrection? How could a believer not see David’s claim here describing the greatest feat of Jesus, and of his continual “long living of the King”, describing the Kingdom ruled by Him who lives forever!
But there is more. (Man this passage is great!) He not only speaks of the length of the Kings life, but of the Kings continuance. To describe the Kings continuance is not specifically speaking of the length of His reign but more so the manner of the Kingdom’s increase!
Increase
Increase is the translation of the Hebrew word נוּןnûwn, to propagate, or increase. The term is only used once in the Old Testament, and it has the meaning of to propagate by shoots, to multiply, as many plants do by shoots!
The increase of the King’s fame, and of His Kingdom is described as the propagation of His life in the same manner that a plant does through shoots.
Can anyone hear the Lord speaking of this increase in John 15, where we are the branches and He is the Vine. Without Him, we can do nothing. Consider the message the Lord is sharing with His disciples in this. In Him, we propagate out the Kingdom.
John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
David may be describing in one word a concept the Lord expanded on with His disciples! Though a grain of wheat was buried, the life that exploded out of that burial produced the greatest fruit imaginable. All increase through each believers connection with the King, the natural propagation of life through the shoots finding their life in the root!
John 12:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
All of the previous actions, the life from the dead and the propagation, or increase of His fame has the fallout of blessing on the people, and that all nations are blessed.
Again, as I have been studying in the Old Testament, I have come to see the many times the nations are included into the plan of God, that from the very beginning, all of creation was to experience the blessing of God.
Here again, the promise of God to Abraham echoes, speaking of the nations being blessed through Abraham.
Genesis 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
In Abraham, all the families of the earth will be blessed, and we know that the complete fulfillment of this blessing is found in and only through Abrahams Greatest Son, King Jesus who truly lives forever, escaping the grave and reigning as His Kingdom continually expands, increasing His fame throughout the world.
What a great piece of Scripture! May the Lord increase His fame in each of our lives, so that we reflect it to those we rub shoulders with each and every day.
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.
230
GOD OF YOUR FATHERS
Exodus 3:15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
It was decades ago when my wife and I were in training for missionary work, hoping to reach unreached people groups to a far off land the Lord wanted us to go to.
Those were exciting days, and as Canadians in a US school, we lived by faith, and saw the Lord provide in many mighty and awesome ways.
He is truly a good God.
During those times, I listened to stories of missionaries that had ventured into perilous areas, breaking barriers with people groups who had never heard of the Master, living amongst them, learning their language and culture, waiting for the day to communicate the gospel to a people who had never met the God of Resurrection.
One particular missionary team, after spending years in tribe, eventually were able to share the gospel, finding much fruit in the tribe. Many came to know the Lord, and a vibrant small body of believers began growing weekly.
Exciting stuff.
During church services, these missionaries would introduce hymns, (translated into the tribes mother tongue), giving the young believers a chance to praise God with the classic hymns such as Amazing Grace, It is Well with My Soul and such.
One such hymn that could not be introduced immediately was the classic “God of our Fathers”, a hymn written in 1876 by Daniel C. Roberts. The hymn speaks of the blessing of a people that have history with the God of Creation, and since this particular people group had just come to faith, it just didn’t make sense to add it to their hymnology.
This story is provided to my reader to simply remind us of the rich blessing we have as a people group, of a history with the Living God. God has led our fathers, whether we speak of those directly related to us in our immediate family, to those who have been instrumental in shaping our Christian culture, or the very Patriarchs of the Old Testament, that led the way in understanding the Lord’s ways.
You know, in a way, these new converts could have sung this song in truth, for in following Jesus, we all, as the Body of Christ know the God of our Fathers, those who came before us in the faith.
It is such a blessing to live in a historically Christian culture, but I fear we are slipping away from a full and living faith in the God of our Fathers. May we live our days in a thankful and expressive way, sharing the truth of the gospel in any way possible, seeking to allow those who follow us to sing this song also.
May the God of our Fathers be praised!
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!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
Jesus in the Old Testament is a series of posts that will offer my readers a chance to consider pictures or shadows of Jesus in the Old Testament. As mentioned in the introduction to this series, some may be obvious, some may be not so obvious, and some may simply be a facet of the Lord those reading may not have considered previously.
I hope as we venture through this series, we will see the Lord in many wonderful pictures throughout the Old Testament.
SEEING JESUS IN
Caleb
Lived in Obscurity
Joshua 14:10 And now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the LORD spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old.
Luke 2:51, 52 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
Hear what Caleb says in this verse. The Lord has kept him alive. What does this imply?
I think it is difficult to peg the age of an old man in the Old Testament. Looking at the ages given to us from before the flood, we have men lasting almost a millennium. Incredible.
Immediately after the flood, it appears life spans began to decrease, and by the time we get to Moses and Caleb, it appears a 120 year old man, as Moses was, may have been an anomaly.
For Caleb, at the time of this passage, he was 85 years old, an old man in his autumn years, hoping his 401(k) will get him through his remaining years. – Just kidding – I think he was way too savvy of an investor to only depend on the markets. I think he had real estate in mind! And at 85, he was going to claim it.
Now don’t get me wrong in describing Caleb here as one who was focused on monetary security. That is not the image I have of this man. He was a man who had been given a promise decades earlier, and was convinced it was time to chase the promise.
But in between the promise and the potential realization, he lived in obscurity, a “regular” saint, patiently waiting on the Lord as his youthful stamina slowly seeped out of his body. From a stout man, willing to take on the people of the land, he had now become a man of wisdom, realizing his life was in the hand of the Lord, his very existence dependent on the One who promised him a patch of ground.
But let us take a moment to consider forty-five years of waiting. More than half his life, burdened down by the decisions of those he lived with, those who made faithless decisions, impacting a faithful man who was ready decades ago.
And for forty-five years we hear nothing of Caleb. He lived in obscurity, possibly even ostracized by some of his neighbors, for he was that one that was so confident, that made them all look so bad.
Forty-five years of toiling amongst those who dragged him back from victory. Forty-five years of living amongst those who constantly rebelled against his God. Forty-five years of having a nation of negative influence constantly rub up against his spirit.
Jesus also was in obscurity, living amongst a people He had come to serve and to save.
Yes – there were flashes of fame with his birth, but only amongst some shepherds and a few foreigners. Yes, it is true that He shook up the religious leaders when he was 12 years old. But let us remember who we are dealing with. This is God in the flesh, and He is content to live in obscurity, content to be amongst those whose actions and attitudes will drive Him onto the cross.
Obscurity.
It is a way of describing a life of being unknown, a life not recognized for the value found in the man. Caleb lived in obscurity, and his faithfulness to God certainly was honed into focus during that time. God was his focus, for no one else seemed too concerned.
For the Lord, His obscurity must have provided an enormous influence in His later years, as He had much time with His Father, much time contemplating the Word and much time understanding His mission.
His obscurity provided Him opportunity to focus on the Only True God, to know His Father while walking amongst His subjects.
Obscurity, in this world that chases fame and fortune, is a true blessing many consider a curse. If you are in a place where you have faded into relative obscurity, take a page from the life of Caleb, and remember who your God is. Better yet, look to the Messiah, for in His obscurity He deepened His relationship with the Father, and that obscurity, though highly undeserved was of great use to the Son.
In His obscurity, He followed after the True God! He recognized the value of God and honed in on His relationship with His Father during this time. For though many thought nothing of Him, letting Him live in obscurity, He recognized the ultimate value of His God, and truly is the Only One worth knowing!
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.
229
GOD OF THE HEBREWS
Exodus 3:18 And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’
Funny how things work out sometimes. In my original compilation of the Names of God, I ordered them out alphabetically, not thinking of the how ordering the names may impact how I write about them.
Such is the case with our topic today. Our previous passage spoke of the “God of the whole earth” and I sought to make much of the fact that our God is not some local deity, restricted to a region or people.
And now we have a Name of God that seems to do that very thing, describing God as the God of the Hebrews. Is this a contradiction? A conflict? Mixed messaging?
I think not. Let’s consider the context.
Moses is before the Pharoah, the King of Egypt, king of a land with many gods, gods who would very soon fall victim to the True God. Each of the plagues addressed the specific influence of a false god Egypt worshipped. To define God as the One that would dominate over these false gods, Moses couldn’t simply say God. To do so would allow the Pharoah to mentally place the True God as simply one of the many in the pantheon of god’s they worshipped. And that would not do!
Moses was not restricting the God of whole earth when he called God the God of the Hebrews. He was not limiting God, but simply identifying Him as being other than those who would fall in submission to the false gods.
One true God. All other gods will soon be identified as false.
As for the term “Hebrew” we can all agree it was an early designation of the Israeli people. Some associate it as a name of those who had descended from Eber, harkening back to the tenth chapter for Genesis, where Moses calls out Eber as a descendant of Shem, in direct lineage of Abraham.
A tradition of the Jewish people was that Eber refused to take part in the building of the Tower of Babel, and by refusing to take part in this act of rebellion, retained the original language of Adam. Possible? You decide, but Eber was a consequential figure in the Old Testament and his name is associated with God in our verse today.
One other interesting tidbit about Eber (or Hebrew) is that the term עִבְרִי ʻIbrîy may be translated as “one from beyond” or “one that crosses over”
It is fitting that this name is associated with the One who “came from beyond” to rescue us, that He “crossed over” into our world to take on our sin, to take on our helplessness and to rescue us, even in like manner as He rescued the Israelites from a dominant, powerful and abusive enemy.
He is the God of the Hebrews, for He is the God who has crossed over to mankind, becoming the God-man. A truly amazing truth that He has completed!
May we honor the God of the Hebrews, knowing He is so much more than the gods we come into contact with in our daily lives!
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!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Before we begin this psalm that refers of the true king, pictures the Messiah, and describes the ultimate kingdom, it may be good to mention there is some discussion on the author. Per the ESV, verse 1 seems to speak of this psalm as originating (humanly) from Solomon, David’s son. There is an argument that the psalm was written by David himself (see the last verse) and he wrote it “of Solomon” in his reign, as David looked into the future potential of his son.
Although I am of the opinion David wrote this psalm, no matter how you see this topic, let us delve into this psalm that speaks over and over again of the greater Son of David, the true King of all.
Psalm 72:12 For he delivers the needy when he calls, the poor and him who has no helper. Psalm 72:13 He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy. Psalm 72:14 From oppression and violence he redeems their life, and precious is their blood in his sight.
How different the True King is from those who lead nations in this age.
Of course the True King is all powerful, always present, ever faithful and continually offering deliverance and salvation, both in the absolute sense, and in the daily general sense. He is the Savior of our souls, the provider of life and the One who delivers us from ourselves, the world and the accuser!
Yet in this passage, is David speaking of the day to day needs those in the kingdom have, that the King Himself will be the One who is available when they need help? Notice David goes so far as describing the King as responding when the needy calls.
You know, I have sons, and I think they are awesome and powerful, and capable and greater than any other “average” man, but for David to say this about Solomon is more than simple fatherly bias, more than mere hyperbole about the capabilities of Solomon.
As I have postulated throughout this psalm, David is speaking of the True King, the One who has unlimited resources, that has His ear bent to those who call on Him. This King that David describes is not like those who lead in this world, taking our resources only to distribute a pittance back, consuming the resources taken by law and then incapable (or unwilling) to properly respond to the truly needy. The leaders of this world are severely limited in their abilities (and desires) to actually perform the tasks David speak of in this passage.
I speak only of the physical in this regard, and surely David speaks of the needy in a much broader and deeper way. His focus, as believers will agree, is most assuredly not simply the feeding of our bellies, or the defense of a nation.
This King is described as One who takes care of the needy. David uses this term multiple times in this short passage. As a a matter of fact, this term has come up before in verse 4. It seems to be a common refrain, that this King looks to the needy, the poor, the weak, and to them that have no helper.
This begs a question.
Is my relation to the king directly linked to my understanding of my need? If I am constantly telling myself that I can handle a problem, that I have the strength to get through a problem, that I am self sufficient, is that the same as saying the King is not needed, that I am rejecting His authority over my life?
Ok – so that is not just a question, but the topic got away on me! I would humbly suggest that if we seek to know the King better, we would reject any assumption that we are capable on our own to solve our problems.
For heavens sake, we are the problem!
Needy
Let’s spend a moment considering the term “needy”.
To be needy is to be destitute. The Hebrew word is אֶבְיוֹןʼebyôwn, and it describes a beggar, a poor man, one who is destitute. Now where have I heard teaching about being destitute before?
Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus used the Greek word πτωχόςptōchós, translated as poor, in this verse. It also means destitute, helpless, powerless, to be a pauper, even acting as a cringing beggar. He did not mince words here and sought to make a point of those who would be blessed in His Kingdom.
Thoroughly beggarly, poor, needy souls, who know their condition before the Lord, willing to accept the condition of their souls will be ministered to by the King Himself!
How diametrically opposed to the kingdoms of this world!
Admit your poverty before the True King, and look to the Him, for He is the One who has His ear bent to hear the needy!
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.
228
GOD OF THE WHOLE EARTH
Isaiah 54:5 For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called.
I will never forget the day I discovered the Hebrew word for earth. That word alone ignited a change in my thinking that I completely was unprepared for.
You see, when the Old Testament prophets used the Hebrew term אֶרֶץʼerets, I did not know that it is sometimes translated as land, as in “the promised land”, and sometimes translated as ground or soil, as in the material that makes up the earth, and sometimes translated as earth, referring to the planet we reside on, as it is here in our verse.
To make matters worse, (at least for me), the same nebulousness occurs in the New Testament. But that will be for another day, for I want to focus simply on how this impacts the name of our God in this passage.
Isaiah is declaring to all who will listen of the restoration of Israel in this passage. He is looking down the corridors of time to a time when barrenness would no longer be associated with Israel. Let’s read the introductory verse to this amazing prophecy of Isaiah.
Isaiah 54:1 “Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married,” says the LORD.
He speaks of the barren one having more children (meaning greater honor in ancient Israel) than the married one.
What in tarnation is Isaiah talking about? Who is the baren one? Who is the desolate one? Who is the married one? I am so confused!
Thankfully the apostle Paul provides apostolic teaching in Galatians 4:27, referring to this verse in his discussion of the church in relation to Old Covenant Israel.
Galatians 4:27 For it is written, “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.”
Paul continues with his discussion in Galatians, defining those in the New Testament Church, as being the subject of this prophecy.
Galatians 4:28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.
Thank you Paul, for I was so unsure of where Isaiah was going with this verse, but in New Testament understanding, when Isaiah speaks of “enlarging the place of your tent”, he is speaking of the expansion of the church.
If I follow you Paul, when Isaiah speaks of expanding to the right and to the left, he is referring to the impact of the gospel beyond the restricted borders of the nation of Israel. When Isaiah writes of the barren one inheriting the nations, he is describing the influence of God on all nations, the complete unleashing of the truth of God throughout the earth.
All of this future honor, replacing the shame of captivity will occur due to the Lord Himself. The gospel of the resurrected Jesus is the message, and the power of the Spirit of God has multiplied the people of God, fulfilling the expansion Isaiah spoke of when he wrote that the “place of your tent” will cover the whole earth.
Now I get it! Isaiah saw it, knew it and taught it. Paul saw it, knew it and taught it!
He is the God of the whole erets! There is no opportunity for any confusion in the term erets in this verse. Isaiah may have used erets in this verse, but the intended message is that the whole erets will be impacted, the totality of the erets will be reached with the message of God.
Yes – He is the God of the whole erets, the God of all of creation, having exploded out of the land (erets) of Israel with the message of His resurrected Son, impacting all and every part of the created erets!
Let there not be any mistaken assumption on the readers part that God is some local deity restricted to a small patch of land far, far away from most of us.
He is the God of the whole earth!
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!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
For the past few years, my wife and I have prayed over and asked for guidance from the Lord on major decisions as we developed a plan of actions for our remaining years. This “plan” we developed required, at least in my mind, two actions to occur within a couple weeks of each other. We had some control of the timing, but in the end, the specific timing would rely completely on the hand of God.
Yes, I am sure we had (most likely) prayed that we wanted His will and not ours. Yes, we surely (most likely) were willing to accept His will. Yet when I got the call, having the first action completed, and the second still in progress, I was not ready for the disappointment.
Our timeline would not go as we had planned. Many situations played into this, including one of the actors in this plan loosing her employment, and another the inability to get a prompt answer from a government type committee, but all of that needs to be brought into focus. The Lord has His hand in the mix, and that night as my wife lovingly cooked me some cheesy eggs, I finally found a peace about the situation. It is the Lord’s will at this time!
Is it fixed? Not at all! Is there a way out? Maybe, and we are pursuing alternate plans, but in the midst of it all, it is good to know the Lord and His caring guidance in all of this.
This willingness to allow the Lord’s will to actively be accepted is a lesson I have not been especially good at learning.
It was a few years ago, when one of my five children had been picked up by customs officials, and sent to immigration detention within our city, that we prayed for His power to save. We spent countless hours begging the Lord to provide His deliverance from this prison time for my daughter. Yes, my daughter was dropped into a federal prison, waiting for determination of deportation.
Hours of begging, negotiating and pleading with God in prayer for her release. Buckets of tears flowed again over the injustice we were experiencing in our lives, for this is the third child who has experienced this crisis in our lives.
It was a testing that I would wish on no one.
What is my point in telling this second story? I remember well the couch I was kneeling at in prayer, when I finally gave my daughter up to Him, releasing her to His will. If the Lord wanted her to be away from us, may the Lord’s will be accomplished.
My friends, I would like to tell you my daughter showed up on my doorstep that morning, but that was not the outcome. After two court appearances, my daughter was asked to stay behind. The judge was like a machine with all the other subjects, spitting out decisions rapid fire, sealing the fate of many. When it came to her, the judge cleared the room, leaving only my wife and I with her. He proceeded to upbraid the injustice that had occurred in this incarceration, and declared her to be freed immediately.
She was coming home!
By sharing both of these stories, I would like to encourage all who are in the midst of disappointment and disillusionment to give up your self imposed expectations, to lay down the struggle and submit to the obvious, immediate will of God in your life. Disappointments, I have found, are often an indicator of a wrong focus in my life, of setting up expectations that I depended on instead of on the Lord.
Regarding the plans above, I realize I was depending on my timeline. In my heart, our plans were set in stone, and God was to act as our magic genie, providing His power to supply our wants. How could a believer think this way?
Regarding my daughter, I realize I had elevated family above Him, and He graciously taught this ol’ fool, providing her back to us.
In all of life, even in the disappointments, we are called to give thanks. Let me tell you, I have found it impossible to truly give thanks as I struggled with missed expectations from God. The key is to submit to the will of God. It is our calling.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion
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.
227
GOD OF THE SPIRITS OF ALL FLESH
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?”
Let’s get some background to this name of God.
Numbers 16 is the chapter describing Korah’s rebellion against Moses in the wilderness. It was a sizable rebellion, where Korah had assembled 250 chiefs of the congregation (vs2), and brought a complaint against God’s man!
Now remember, at this time, Moses has been established as the prophet of God to lead the twelve tribes out of Egypt and into the promised land. We all know of the miracles in front of Pharoah, and that the tribes had experienced, not only in Egypt, but as they fled their captors.
And what was Korah’s complaint? His complaint is as follows
Numbers 16:3 …“You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?”
A common attempt to divide by a false prophet.
Korah’s argument? Since the entire nation was holy, (in theory, but not necessarily in practice), it is obviously unnecessary for one man to lead. Do not all the people know God, making your leadership unnecessary Moses? You only seek leadership because you want to exalt yourself!
So many contradictions and falsehoods in this claim, but the groundswell of opinion was growing on Korah’s side. A few verses later, (vs 13) Dathan and Abiram refused to respond to Moses, claiming Moses was exalting himself.
Something had to be done, or Korah would cause much damage, even the destruction of the mission of Moses!
It is interesting to note that Korah stood in the place of honor prior to his rebellion. Not only was Korah a close relative of Moses, but he was the head of the Kohathites, of the order of the Levites, charged with the solemn duty of transporting the things of the tent of meeting. (Numbers 4:15).
He had honor and prestige, yet it wasn’t enough. He led one of the most effective rebellions against Moses in the wilderness, and is famous for the eventual judgement that fell on him and his family.
And this is where Moses and Aaron fell on their face and called on the God of the spirits of all flesh? The prayer centered on personal responsibility, of how one man’s sin would not consume the relatively innocent caught up in the frenzied message of a man gone mad.
The prayer identified God as the God who knew each individual, who would account for each one’s actions, and that would separate those of rebellion from those of simple foolishness. Those of the congregation, who had blindly followed Korah in the rebellion, got away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, prior to the coming destruction.
The Lord showed up that day, directing His prophet to separate the fools from the rebels, and after the separation, proved AGAIN that Moses was His representative.
Moses spoke of the fate of these rebels, and the Lord opened the earth immediately after Moses informed the congregation of their fate. A direct and immediate demonstration of Moses as the undisputed leader of the nation!
God is the God of the spirits of all flesh, and He knows each of us. If this passage speaks of any truth, it speaks of how the Lord knows of the rebellion in His people, and of those who are simply foolish enough to listen to them. It also speaks of the Lord able to “clean house” when He deems necessary. He is not One who shies away from protecting those who are on His side!
As the God of the spirits of all flesh, we are to stand in awe of the One who knows each of us, but not only that incredible truth. He knows of my rebellion, of my turning from Him at times of weakness, of my listening to the wrong message and wandering off.
He is the God of the spirit of my flesh, and as that, I need to be committed to His Man, His Prophet, His Chosen Leader. I need to be committed to the Son, who has led the way, all the way to the cross and through the grave.
May we all seek to renew our commitment to our Greater Moses, rejecting the message of all the Korah’s in the church!
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!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Before we begin this psalm that refers of the true king, pictures the Messiah, and describes the ultimate kingdom, it may be good to mention there is some discussion on the author. Per the ESV, verse 1 seems to speak of this psalm as originating (humanly) from Solomon, David’s son. There is an argument that the psalm was written by David himself (see the last verse) and he wrote it “of Solomon” in his reign, as David looked into the future potential of his son.
Although I am of the opinion David wrote this psalm, no matter how you see this topic, let us delve into this psalm that speaks over and over again of the greater Son of David, the true King of all.
Psalm 72:8 May he have dominion from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth! Psalm 72:9 May desert tribes bow down before him, and his enemies lick the dust! Psalm 72:10 May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts! Psalm 72:11 May all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him!
As mentioned previously, this psalm may have been intended to describe Solomon’s kingdom as David was in the Spirit, but for goodness sake, even David knew the seeds of destruction were resident in the kingdom he had built under God.
Speaking of sea to sea, David may have meant from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. But David had already bequeathed that region to his son Solomon. What pray tell may he have truly anticipated? What else may be implied by this phrase?
I assume this is the very implication we discussed in the previous post on Mark 12. David meant all the seas throughout creation, and that seems obvious with the next phrase he interjects into his plea to God. From the River to the ends of the earth.
It is no coincidence (is it?) that the True King of Israel, the Greater David, used this same terminology when He commissioned His subjects to spread His Kingdom to the ends of the earth.
Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
His enemies would lick dust, reminiscent of the words of the curse, and the beginning of the end for the accuser of the brethren. As an enemy would approach a victorious king, they would typically kiss the earth in a show of humility before thier conqueror. Those who approached the True King would not only kiss the earth, they would lick the dust. A true sign of complete domination.
David speaks of His Son as the One whom all would fall before, even those distant from the promised land, no matter their standing, even kings of other nations. To mention Sheba and Seba, Tarshish and the isles, represented some of the farthest countries from Israel, and this implied total dominion over the known world.
All nations shall serve Him. This is the truth, for the Resurrected One is reigning even now, and though not all have bowed the knee, it is only the patience and loving kindness of God that is providing time for repentance to erupt, for each one to realize the truth of the Person of Jesus.
He is the King. It is best we acknowledge this truth, love the King and serve Him with our heart mind and soul.
May He be praised in all our lives, and throughout His everlasting reign!
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.
226
GOD OF THE LIVING
Mark 12:27 He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”
What a coincidence.
I hadn’t looked ahead on the topic for this mornings post, and as I was travelling to work this morning, I just so happened to be in the Gospel of Mark.
Now as the heretic that I am, I was listening to what many consider a paraphrase of the Word, as it often brings up shades of meaning that I pursue in studies later on. Yes – I was listening to the Message, and have found it to be a refreshing take on truths I think I am familiar with.
This time, my familiarity of the passage was way, way off base!
Let’s read the short response of the Lord in the Message.
Mark 12:24-27 (MSG) Jesus said, “You’re way off base, and here’s why: One, you don’t know what God said; two, you don’t know how God works. After the dead are raised up, we’re past the marriage business. As it is with angels now, all our ecstasies and intimacies then will be with God. And regarding the dead, whether or not they are raised, don’t you ever read the Bible? How God at the bush said to Moses, ‘I am—not was—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? The living God is God of the living, not the dead. You’re way, way off base.”
Can you imagine any respected Bible teacher in a debate, using this type of language? Even more so, to think the Lord Jesus may have used this type of non-formal response to the “highly respected” Sadducees only makes Him to be more of a hero to me.
He is awesome in His response, and spoke the truth.
They were way, way off.
1. They Just Don’t Know Gods Word
He told them they don’t know God’s Word.
These religious practitioners boasted about their understanding of the Word, and though they disbelieved much of it, they certainly had knowledge of the words in the Book.
So how can Jesus make such a claim?
It is because of their approach to the Book, looking for “outs”, trying to find a way to fit the Word into their lives and culture, instead of fitting their lives and culture to the Written Word.
2. They Just Don’t Know God’s Works
They knew the facts, but they didn’t know the facts. I know it seems confusing and I have tried to explain this difference in a previous blog (Inherit the Kingdom? Who Knew?)
It is the difference between experiencing God’s works and simply knowing facts about His works. There is a massive difference, and I am speaking to those who experientially know the work of God in their lives, even on a daily basis as He proves Himself over and over again, for He is the God of the Living.
The Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection), coming to the Scriptures with that bias, completely miss the fantastic implication of the burning bush Moses faced. For God spoke of being the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Not that He was their God, but that He is their God, even at the time Moses was before the burning bush, hundreds of years after the Patriarchs passed.
Don’t they ever read the Bible?
Someone with a bias against resurrection truth would be blind to this implication. They would be way way off.
So sad. So blind. So unnecessary!
Imagine being way, way off base!
Thankfully, for those of us who have experienced the work of God in our lives, and seek to follow after Him in a daily walk, we are privileged to find these implications everywhere!
It is wonderful to travel the Word and trip over these implications as we seek Him.
I would love to hear from some of my readers of their experiences in the Word and how their eyes lit up when they discovered an implication they had not experienced before.
For He is the God of the Living, even on this very day, and all who worship Him, either living or having passed from our view, have experienced the wonder of His Word and Works.
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!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
Jesus in the Old Testament is a series of posts that will offer my readers a chance to consider pictures or shadows of Jesus in the Old Testament. As mentioned in the introduction to this series, some may be obvious, some may be not so obvious, and some may simply be a facet of the Lord those reading may not have considered previously.
I hope as we venture through this series, we will see the Lord in many wonderful pictures throughout the Old Testament.
SEEING JESUS IN
Caleb
Leader
Numbers 13:30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.”
Luke 5:8, 10 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”
Caleb took charge of the situation. Even in the midst of Moses. And remember Joshua was most likely standing beside him!
Quiet
As a leader, he first controlled the situation, quieting the people. He hushed them. Quit running about with your heads falling off, taking in all the fears that have been imagined! Be quiet, and realize the truth of the matter.
He too experienced the fear mongering we are so often the victim of in our modern society, a fear mongering that is easy to fan into flames for those who have little to do with the True God!
Nothing has changed, for one of the enemies greatest weapons against the people of God is to whip us up with rumors of destruction, fear of the future and the dread of death. It is a common tactic, and if we understand the designs of the enemy, we are better positioned to battle our thought lives properly!
2 Corinthians 2:11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
Judge
He was a man who could judge a situation quickly and respond naturally for the purpose of directing the people toward God. He didn’t have to get volumes of data and analyze the situation though multiple processes to come to a decision. He knew in his soul of the dangers of this fear mongering report, of the doubt that was raging through the camp.
He surmised the situation, diverted the crowd from their natural, initial reaction to the findings and spoke of their resources, the ability of the tribes of Israel to “overcome it”
Provide a Plan
Although Caleb provided a skeletal plan in this verse, I would like to emphasize the aspect of timing. He was ready to go NOW.
Let us go up at once!
In our analytical world, with studies and reports needed for decision making, it is refreshing to see a man of confidence make a decision, control a situation, and expect the best of the people. Caleb was a leader, in the midst of leaders.
Jesus also was a take charge type of man, a leader who exerted tremendous influence on those who had ears to hear.
When he was dealing with Peter and the catch of fish, He also quieted His subject – Peter fell down at His knees – and provided a plan for Peter. Peter, you are going to catch men! He had a plan for Peter’s life and He provided it to peter without hesitation. Jesus was well prepared to lead His men with decisive decisions as at this calling, and with decisions that turned fatal later in His ministry.
His depth of leadership has no competitor, for He is the only One who is the Ultimate Leader, the Lord.
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.
225
GOD OF THE ARMIES OF ISRAEL
1 Samuel 17:45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
David didn’t differentiate did he?
He wasn’t unable to see how heaven and earth coexisted together, even on a battle field. After all, David was the one who worshipped God in the field, as he was tending his sheep, or who expected direct communication with God, even apart from the Tabernacle.
The Word speaks of his dependance on God through his defense of the lambs he was responsible for. He had a connection with the Almighty that is more like the modern believer than the Old Testament Jewish adherent in many ways.
The concept of heaven and earth coexisting in the same area, at the same time, and for the same purpose speaks of the faith and insight of this young man who would become Israel’s second greatest king, coexisting as he uses two names for our God.
When he speaks of the Lord of Hosts, he is referring to the many mighty angels swirling about the throne of heaven, spread out over the earth and crowding around the tiny nation of Israel, especially on standby as this plucky teenager makes such claims to this formidable opponent.
But when he refers to the Lord as the God of the Armies of Israel, he speaks of the army that was cowering in the corner, turning their eyes from that giant, whispering about what to do. He speaks of the earthly army, supposedly at God’s disposal to enter into God’s plan for the nation.
Given this understanding, David didn’t look at the situation he knew of, for he had just came from the camp, where all the knees were knocking. He knew the reality of the situation, yet he also knew the God of the Armies of Israel was the One who led, the One who was able to work in the midst of weakness and doubt.
Of course that army of Israel needed to be brought to understand the absolute truth of heaven and earth being one and the same when it comes to knowing God, and when it comes to facing the enemies in our lives.
What was the missing component, the information that was lacking for this army, in that they were not “in the know”, according to David? He spoke to his nation’s army prior to approaching that giant of his shock at their reluctance to approach and dominate this soon headless foe!
Now he was on the field, expressing to the enemy the truth of Israel’s armies calling, if not exactly the condition of their experience. And in moments, he was about to act to provide the missing motivation to enliven an army that was standing still.
Once he stepped toward the lumbering enemy, the die was cast and soon the armies of Israel would be reminded of their calling and abilities as they look on God, the maker of heaven and earth. One stone, and the lifting of the enemies sword over that giants neck provided a reminder of the amazing privilege the army of Israel resided in, and the motivation to pursue the enemy to dominate.
It all hinged on David describing God for not only the enemy to understand, but also to remind his people of their tremendous calling. Notice just a verse later, David speaks of the importance of the army of Israel experiencing his victory.
1 Samuel 17:47 and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hand.”
David stepped forth, describing the coexistence of heaven and earth, and spoke many parables to enhance this truth. Oh – did I make a mistake in calling Jesus David? How could I slip likfe that? After all, they both were men who understood the coexistence of heaven and earth in the same place, same time and for the same purpose.
For Jesus, He also stepped forward amongst the people of God and pronounced the same truth, and was to provide to the people of God, who sometimes (often?) forgot this seeming contradiction of heaven and earth being one. God and man inhabiting the same space and time. The intended plan of both God and man enjoying the same purpose!
David defeated the enemy, that giant opposed to the nation. That enemy fell, and he fell hard, for all the world has heard this story. He lost his head and his reputation, becoming the giant who was taken down by a teenager. How embarrassing!
Jesus also defeated the enemy, the giant opposed to all of creation! The enemy fell, and he fell hard. Paul describes the shame of those Jesus defeated.
Colossians 2:15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
This victory of Jesus didn’t look like a victory though. Battered and bleeding, He suffered shame, and died the death of a lowly criminal. He very life was lost in an apparent defeat. How disappointing.
Until heaven and earth could not accept the death, could not maintain the process of death and decay upon the most Righteous One. He arose to show us all of who He actually was, and who He did battle with. And heads rolled!
How utterly shocking! How dumbfounded those disciples were to be met with the Risen Savior after such a seeming decisive defeat.
Yes, heaven and earth do coexist. As the current physical army of the Lord on earth, commonly thought of as the Body of Christ, we also have seen our David approach the enemy, take out the enemy and become the King of all, both in heaven and on earth.
Let us remember our calling, remember who is leading us, and take our motivation for holy living from our Master, living a contagious joy as we spread the knowledge of the Lord to all the world.
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!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Before we begin this psalm that refers of the true king, pictures the Messiah, and describes the ultimate kingdom, it may be good to mention there is some discussion on the author. Per the ESV, verse 1 seems to speak of this psalm as originating (humanly) from Solomon, David’s son. There is an argument that the psalm was written by David himself (see the last verse) and he wrote it “of Solomon” in his reign, as David looked into the future potential of his son.
Although I am of the opinion David wrote this psalm, no matter how you see this topic, let us delve into this psalm that speaks over and over again of the greater Son of David, the true King of all.
Psalm 72:5 May they fear you while the sun endures, and as long as the moon, throughout all generations! Psalm 72:6 May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth! Psalm 72:7 In his days may the righteous flourish, and peace abound, till the moon be no more!
In our last post on Psalm 72, we found that David was speaking of righteousness as the basis of the Kingdom.
Even as I remind my reader that, I can hear a “little voice” arguing with me. But Carl, is not the Kingdom to be based on love. Does Paul not mention love as the overarching guiding principle of the kingdom?
1 Corinthians 13:13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Yes he does, and the question is valid, little voice. So how does righteousness and love relate in the believers life.
As mentioned previously, righteousness is the acting out of all of God’s characteristics without the diminishing of any. It is unlike that of the worlds righteousness, such that it favors no person. Righteousness in my little world often favors my interests, my desires, my wants and delegates the needs, or even rights of others to a lower standard of consideration in the outcome of righteous judgements. This is the worlds righteousness.
To practice righteousness is to know all the facts of a situation, understand the actions taken by all, discern motivations, and execute judgement, all without departing or diminishing the character of God. To practice righteousness is to not favor one characteristic over another, like favoring mercy over holiness in the decisions made.
For our verses this morning, we shall consider the eternal fear of God’s righteousness, the universality of God’s righteousness, and the peace and prosperity of God’s righteousness.
Eternal Fear
Note in verse 5, as David hopes for the fear of the king to endure while the sun endures and as long as the moon is in the sky, he is looking for a kingdom to provide a continuous “fear of the King” for it’s people.
In God’s Kingdom, there is rightly to be described the element of fear, whether you are experiencing deep respect for the King due to His greatness, or a dreaded fearful expectation due to foolish actions. Fear is a valid and correct response to God’s righteousness being exercised in the Kingdom.
Consider though that David’s description of this Kingdom is ultimately referring to the reign of the Son. His reign is forever and ever through the resurrection from the dead, and the Father’s setting of Him on His holy hill.
Note the direct link between the raising of Jesus in Acts with the passage in Psalm 2. To be begotten refers to the resurrection in verse 2 per the apostles teaching!
Acts 13:32 And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, Acts 13:33 this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, “‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’
Psalm 2:6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” Psalm 2:7 I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.
From that day forward the Kingdom exhibited the righteousness of God to all, and the King was set on His throne for all eternity. May all fear the True King of all creation, for godly fear is a natural outgrowth of knowing the King, and following after Him.
Universality
Since the King has be enthroned, the truth of God’s universality in the Kingdom has been exhibited. Now be careful for I have not said the universality of the kingdom began with the appearance of the Son, for we see evidence of God’s working outside of His people often prior to the gospels. But it seemed rare, indicating glimpses of favor to those “outside” for those who were in the chosen people.
Not so as the Messiah appeared. God’s universality, His desire for all to know Him, was one of the most offensive aspects of the Son’s ministry, for He often spoke of those outside as being accepted!
David expresses the universality of God’s righteous kingdom through the picture of rain falling on the earth. Consider the inescapable nature of a rain shower. Every inch of the fields are impacted by the falling rain, and for the one who is caught in the rain, shelter is the only escape. Rain is often considered a universal blessing to those who receive it, and the withholding to be the sign of God’s displeasure.
Yet it is more than simply indicating the pleasure/displeasure of the Lord, for did not the Lord speak of rain as being sent to the just and the unjust?
Matthew 5:45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
For the kingdom to be described as rain falling speaks of the blessing of God on the Kingdom, and of the universality of the gospel invite. Those outside of the Kingdom may and do experience the blessing of God, providing a motivation to enter the Kingdom, and to know the King the One who blesses!
To think of the King favoring those outside of the Kingdom in order to expand His Kingdom is just the type of King we worship. He sees no distinction between any people groups, for we are all needy, broken, blind and crippled up.
Romans 3:22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
Romans 10:12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
His love is universal for a lost people!
peace and prosperity
In David’s Kingdom being described, he is speaking of a kingdom that does not principally consider the ones in power, those who by association with the powerful may have gained power or authority to be experiencing peace and prosperity. It is the righteous, those determined by their actions and not associations are those who experience the benefits of the Kingdom, namely peace and prosperity in this passage.
Notice that David speaks of flourishing as being associated with righteousness, and not necessarily as we often see is this worlds kingdom. This worlds kingdom provides flourishing depending on personal association with those in power. This is absent in God’s Kingdom, at least in relation to varying degrees of flourishing.
It is obvious that to be in the Kingdom requires the righteous ones to be related to the Ultimate authority, that is King Jesus. This is the assumption within this discussion! Beyond that, earthly associations pay no dividends, and may hurt the righteous in that our dedication to the King may be weakened.
Nevertheless, it is instructive to note that this world’s authority structure is rejected in the Kingdom of God.
Luke 22:25 And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. Luke 22:26 But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.
Let’s remember Jesus spoke this truth to the disciples due to the turmoil their ego’s were creating within themselves and the group! No prosperity, no peace! Simply self promotion was being exercised in the group, and for peace and prosperity to be realized, self promotion was to be rejected in the Kingdom .
One caveat in relation to the the peace and prosperity I am seeking to describe. Let us not think the teaching of prosperity in the Word refers strictly to worldly wealth, to riches and dollars, bricks of silver or vaults of possessions. This is a beggarly way of understanding prosperity as found in the Word.
Prosperity speaks of abundance, of greatness, of a life blessed. There is much more to life than the acquisition of possessions. Paul provides corrective teaching to the modern outbreak of greed being glorified in the church, by speaking of the uncertainty of seeking riches, and directs us to seeking God, who provides us “with everything to enjoy”.
1 Timothy 6:17 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.
David links this prosperity, this abundance with peace in this verse. Might he be speaking of a prosperity that is linked, or that is associated with inner and outer peace that can be found in the Messiah’s Kingdom?
Return to my question
In all of this discussion it is important to understand that there has to be another element brought into any circumstance, that will allow God’s righteousness to be exercised. I referred to love at the beginning of this post as the guiding overarching principle of the Kingdom, and then proceeded to describe righteousness as the foundational character of the Kingdom.
It is the expression of love, of a self sacrificing love that is the act that provides for the experience of righteousness, God’s righteousness in the believers life.
His self sacrifice opened the doors to the Kingdom for each of us. Without His sacrifice, the holiness of God could not allow His mercy and grace to be provided to such a group of sinners as we.
Even on a daily basis, to be of the self sacrificial mindset, to think of others more highly than ourselves, is to be of the correct mindset.
Philippians 2:3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
David’s kingdom described in these three verses provided me an opportunity to translate my thoughts to the reader in a very open way. I look forward to comments, and would appreciate your input.
In all of our studies, and in day to day our lives, may we see Jesus just a bit clearer, and understand that which we are granted to comprehend.
Ephesians 3:18 – 19 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
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.
224
GOD OF OUR SALVATION
1 Chronicles 16:35 Say also: “Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather and deliver us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise.
We live in a very individualistic, self focused world. It is me and the Savior. My Savior. My personal Savior. Me and God.
Even the last three posts in this series on the Names of God have emphasized the personal, singular relationship a saint has with the Lord.
Now this post does not intend to ignore the very truth of God being the God of My Praise, or the God of My Righteousness, of the God of My Life. The fact that we have a God that is so personal, so intimate, so close to us in our pain, our misunderstandings, or trials and our joys is an incredible blessing.
Yet this verse speaks of God as the God of OUR Salvation. I would encourage us to consider this truth for a moment. Christianity is a group movement, and is a body of believers that work together in the ministry of the Christ for this sin sick world.
God is the God of our Salvation, and as such, we should expect, even look for times of giving thanks and praise, that is only appropriate in a group setting.
David’s psalm is recounted here in Chronicles. It is hundreds of years since he wrote this portion of Scripture, and as the exiles were returning from Babylon, this passage must have meant much to them. A ragtag group of Jewish exiles, returning after 70 years of immersion in the Babylonian culture, returning to an abandoned, and desolate promised land.
And yet in the midst of all the trials, and troubles, it was obvious that God was bringing them out of captivity, saving the nation from their captives, providing them a second chance even though the judgment of captivity was fully deserved.
Note the psalm refers to the saints being delivered from the nations. As believers in the Risen Christ, we have been delivered out of this world and provided great freedoms, freedoms that include escaping from the grasp of those who want to pull us back to the old life.
But in each of these individual deliverances we experience, we have a responsibility to give thanks and praise in a group setting, as a Body of believers that understands God is in the business of making a kingdom of saints, not individual islands of proud lonely saints.
Without experiencing the group environment, it can sometimes appear we have little to be thankful for. Doubts, fears and crazy exaggerations can erupt in our mind – it is as if we are lone targets getting picked off by a spiritual sniper. The fact of the matter is that many of these errant thoughts are so untrue, and that is where the Body of Christ is most relevant, for the saints feed each other in encouragement, exhortation, correction, comfort and when necessary, some good old rebuking! But it only happens in the group environment, where God is the God of OUR Salvation.
Community, group dynamic, fellowship, congregational spirit. However you may want to describe it, let us not abandon the times we can be together in giving thanks and praising the God of OUR Salvation.
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!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
Colossians 2:23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
If you have followed my blog for any time now, you will understand that I am a Civil Engineer, an engineer that designs and manages transportation projects.
I am very thankful for the second law of thermodynamics, for this law describes the world we live in, a world that is going from order to disorder. Simply put, this second law of thermodynamics speaks of the world progressing into greater disorder and randomness.
Things fall apart, and engineers get to rebuild them, or provide maintenance processes that extend their life by slowing the process of decay, or in some circumstances, covering over the decay – but that is not preferred, and you didn’t hear it from me!
Nevertheless, the process of decay is unstoppable.. It does not only effect the world around us, it is a principal force that impacts our lives everyday. The creaking of my back, the weakening of my eyes, and the decreasing muscle mass makes entropy a minute by minute reality in my life.
For those who may be young and fit, enjoy these days of freedom. Entropy and the second law of thermodynamics is coming for you! But I digress.
In the world around us, I find the destruction of high strength concrete, the type that is often used on highways and byways by the lowly weed to be instructive.
As concrete ages, microcracking occurs due to the constant variation of temperatures it goes through, expanding and contracting. Microscopic cracks become tiny cracks, which become small cracks. At some point the temperature variations become less of the problem, and the mighty “weed” takes over. Oh, it is just a little dandelion, or some other weed seed that settles in a welcoming crack, but as the weed sends out it’s roots, it continues the decay process.
Given enough time, the concrete will have been defeated by the lowly weed.
Engineers have sought to fight against this decay system for centuries. There have been some amazing breakthroughs in concrete technology, but alas, concrete will break, and weeds will dominate. It is merely a matter of time!
But let’s cut to the chase. This entropy that I speak of, that all the fancy physicists describe, is simply the result of sin entering creation.
But as an engineer, I am trained to find solutions for problems, and I spend my days in “solution” mode. Before I was trained as an engineer, I also sought to solve problems. Problems that were not necessarily of the physical world, but of the spiritual world. Let me explain my failure.
As a very young believer in the Messiah, I became very religious. I fell into very good churches and had amazing folk teach me truth. I am very thankful for the patience of the saints when it came to dealing with me. I was (am) a piece of work!
But as I grew in the Lord, I also took on religious habits that, though beneficial for my knowledge of the Lord, also became a target for my faith. I walked a little bit away from the Lord and a little bit toward religion, thinking I could solve the sin problem with rules. A little more dedication at Bible study, and few more verses to memorize, attend one additional church service, teach one more Bible class. The list seemed endless.
Now don’t get me wrong – all of these practices are good and were meant to honor the Lord, but I began to trust them as opposed to the Savior.
I think I was falling into a trap somewhat like the Colossians. Yes, they were not touching, handling or tasting, thinking that the ascetic lifestyle would present themselves in a better light before the Savior.
Colossians 2:21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” Colossians 2:22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)–according to human precepts and teachings?
Their refusal to take part in certain activities, and my dedication to certain activities resulted in exposing our loss of focus.
Entropy / sin is in our very veins and both myself and our brothers in Colossae were trying to create a stronger concrete than that which had provided. We sought to build a concrete structure in our lives which would not crack, which would not allow any weeds to settle in.
I depended on habits that indeed appeared to have wisdom, but in all of my efforts, weeds continued to grow in my life. Eventually my whole family were sprouting weeds all over the place. The weeds were out of control, and my solution? More rules, more strictness. Heavier concrete!
Engineers build better concrete, and the result is cost savings, and less construction interruptions on the highway hopefully. Better concrete reduces the rate of decay, but we live in a world of decay. Stronger concrete simply stalls the decay slightly.
Personally, in my relationship with the Lord, I am thankful for the disciplines I was introduced to early in my faith. The disciplines became a focus of my faith, and became rules that lorded over my spirit. Yet the very rules I trusted in did not stop my flesh from indulging in it’s desires. Even as I applied stricter and stricter rules, my old flesh simply found other cracks in my concrete!
As I close, I want to be clear that the disciplines I spoke of were noble, right and provided my life great guidance and knowledge of the Lord and His ways, even as I was pursuing a sanctification that was leaving the Lord behind. I had chosen rules to control my life and the concrete got heavier and heavier. So heavy!
Consider which rules in your life are taking the place of faith in the Living God. Don’t put this self review off, for though I speak of entropy as the decay in our daily life, we all know the trendline of entropy is death!
1 Corinthians 15:56-57
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
He even saves us from entropy. Trust Him, and not your rules. He is the Savior, and not yourself! He is much better at dealing with entropy than we are.
Now I need to go put some ointment on my shoulder! Ooooo the pain!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion
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.
223
GOD OF MY LIFE
Psalm 42:8 By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.
Throughout my Christian life I have heard the call to obey the commands of God, to be a disciple, to seek Him with all my heart, soul mind and strength. This is the call of any who would seek to know the Living God, the Redeeming God, the God who provides, guides supplies and comforts.
It is the clarion call for the believer, for the saint who seeks to honor the One who loves him and gave himself for his life.
It is the expression of our acts that proves that God is the God of my life, and with the remaining portion of this post, please try to hang onto that truth.
Hang on now, for we are going to consider our verse above, and at first blush, I see no call to obedience in this verse. No sacrificial love demanded for the saint to practice. David focuses on the Lord’s actions, His commanding of steadfast love to be on the believer, and His song over the believer at night.
David is dwelling on the goodness of God when He speaks of the God of his life. He isn’t speaking of our response to this incredible love provided, but simply dwelling on the person of God, on the actions He supplies to the saint.
This concept, I believe is fleshed out clearer (for myself at least) when Paul writes the following.
2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Did you catch it?
We, as believers, are doing nothing in this verse except beholding the glory of the Lord. It is that beholding, that looking at, that staring at the glory of the Lord that has transformative impact on the believer.
The transformation is being done to us!
Our looking at each and every of the glories of the Lord will have two effects on the believer.
Effect #1
The first is that we are so undeserving, so far from the mark, so unworthy of any recognition by the Master that His kindness towards us becomes unfathomable. To become more familiar with all His beauty and grace, with His matchless character and humble kindness, is to find our place in this universe.
Effect #2
The second is like that, in that whoever we honor, whoever is our ideal, our model, our god, is who we actually aspire to be. It is a characteristic of the human psyche to aspire to be like our hero, and our consistent gazing at our Risen Savior, at His patience with sinners, at His kindness to those who persecuted Him, at His suffering even for His enemies, which places the challenge before each of us to be like Him.
For God to be the God of our Lives does not require perfection, does not require obedience to a set of rules, does not require faithfulness to specific doctrines or teachings that may be found in the Word.
It is to follow a Person, to know the Living God in all His perfections, in all His character, as described in the Written Word.
Take time to look to Him today, and in the looking you will be changed. If He is the God of our lives, and as we gaze upon Him, we will be transformed, for He is the God of our lives.
He is the One who saves, provides, guides, supplies and comforts and from this verse, we find He also transforms us little by little into more of His likeness!
Now that is good news!
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!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
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.
222
GOD OF MY RIGHTEOUSNESS
Psalm 4:1 To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of David. Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!
David is in distress in this psalm. As I have been dwelling in David and his writings for a time, it has become evident that David was in distress often, almost constantly it seems.
The distress he is in is often related to the struggle to rise to the throne promised to him by God, and the obstacles to attain the throne seem insurmountable. Obstacles not only physical, regarding his very existence, but the slander and lies that were spread by his enemies that would (humanly speaking) derail any chance of his gaining the throne.
This psalm speaks directly of David undergoing some serious slander. Consider the next two verses for some context.
Psalm 4:2-3
O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah
But know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself; the LORD hears when I call to him.
David’s honor was being turned to shame. The very things that David did in obedience to God were being upended and twisted by the enemy, with many lies being spread to diminish his character.
And David calls upon God. He refers to God as the God of his righteousness, for he is in the midst of a “righteousness reputation” battle, and he knows that it may end up badly for him. Some lies may stick in the population’s perception, some of the slander may remain in the peoples mind’s.
That is the condition we all live in! No matter how desperately we seek the Lord, and how dedicated we are in obeying His will, we should not expect our names to be lifted high amongst our enemies, those who attack the Risen One and His people. This is the fallout of being in a battle with a worldview that accepts the use of lies instead of truth.
But as each of us may go through unjust character assassination, let us remember that our God is the One to look to for our righteousness, that we need to pursue His character and His nature, His desire to be of the truth, and to live in a gracious, forgiving and loving manner to both our brothers and sisters, and our very enemies, those who may be actually tearing us down.
For our God is the God of our Righteousness, even as we may be defamed by the enemy. We need to recognize that the enemy will not advance any description of “rightness” of our lives in following God, for that would be an admission of their own error.
They will not willingly admit their position to be in error, so they must lie about the truth.
But our God is the God of our Righteousness, and He has prevailed in the resurrection, and shall prevail in our lives!
He is the God of our Righteousness!
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!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
Jesus in the Old Testament is a series of posts that will offer my readers a chance to consider pictures or shadows of Jesus in the Old Testament. As mentioned in the introduction to this series, some may be obvious, some may be not so obvious, and some may simply be a facet of the Lord those reading may not have considered previously.
I hope as we venture through this series, we will see the Lord in many wonderful pictures throughout the Old Testament.
SEEING JESUS IN
Caleb
Victorious
Numbers 14:24 But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.
Titus 3:7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
In our past post’s on Caleb we have considered him as a man with a different spirit, a devoted man, an overcomer of others doubts, one who depended on God’s promises, a man of conviction, and a man convinced of his purpose for God.
With our passage this morning, let us draw out a truth about Caleb that is not expressly stated, but is evident in his life throughout his journeys and trials.
He was victorious, and though the comparison with the Lord Jesus is accurate, it is accurate in description, but not in extent, for Caleb “simply” won his mountain, but Jesus won the world. His is victorious over the grave, and because of God’s deliverance, has been openly declared to be the Son of God, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
He is simply greater than all the pictures we consider in this series.
Caleb was victorious because he followed the Lord, and the Lord provided the success, the victory. This is the walk of faith, that is not to seek victory based on our desires, our will, our wants, but to put the will of God ahead of ours.
Caleb certainly was tested, tried in the fire of adversity, peer pressure, and mob opinion. Yet his decision to trust God’s will when all seemed to be going the wrong way is a testament to his faithfulness, and the reason God provided him the victory.
Now I wont go so far as to think the Lord ever had it easy as He rubbed shoulders with those who plotted his death. For even from the very beginning, the cross overshadowed Him. He spoke amazing truths, claimed an astonishing relationship with the God of the Jews, challenged the powers that be and spoke of the kingdom of God breaking forth even as He was on earth. He did not come asking permission from those in charge. He simply came to us, declared the time had come, and rebuffed every argument those threatened by his pronouncements brought to Him. If Caleb had challenges, (and he did), Jesus faced many more, deeper and stronger temptations to veer from His appointed path.
But Jesus never veered. He only performed the work assigned by the Father, and did not go beyond the will of God, or fail to complete the will of God.
John 5:19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.
Jesus never veered from the will of God and His victory was such that His closest friends were astonished. Even to this day, the Messiah’s resurrection is doubted by too many. Admittedly, it is an incredible story, but the Man Jesus was incredible in every way. His works and words have no competition, and His victory is completely without comparison.
And by the sheer grace of His compassion for lost souls, He grants us entry into this very victory. A victory over death and the grave.
1 Corinthians 15:54-57
When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Caleb was victorious in his life and God provided this victory due to his continuing faith in the midst of difficult times. His victory became his possession and that of his posterity.
For the Lord Jesus, His victory has also been passed to His posterity, and all who seek to find this victory should look no further than the Son of God.
Titus 3:7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
His victory was due to His faithfulness, but our victory is based on relationship with the One who has overcome all obstacles, even the death of the cross!
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.
221
GOD OF MY PRAISE
Psalm 109:1 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. Be not silent, O God of my praise!
I occasionally attend a church my daughter and her family attend, and it is a growing church, filled with young children, young adults and young families. With such a mix of folks making up the congregation, it is full of energy.
It is a church that I have found to be filled with the Spirit and upon every attendance, during the praise session, I almost invariably shed tears, trying to offer up praise with the congregation. I typically can’t express my emotions during the praise songs, but when they bring out the old hymns, I totally break down.
To hear the old hymns in this day and age of the church is so refreshing, so Christ centered, so historic for my own walk with Him.
It is a church that I have begun to learn to praise the Lord Jesus for all He has done in a outward, emotionally manner that has somewhat taken me aback. To actually try to sing, despite those around me being affected by my out of tune, out of time, out of tone type of singing. (I can hear my voice and trust me – it is awful!) has not been a typical expression of my faith in my four decades as a believer.
He has become more than ever the God of my praise, and yet as we read this passage, David doesn’t relate this name to the times of rejoicing amongst the faithful, of singing songs to the Lord to the point of tears, but is facing enemies that are overwhelming him.
David begins this psalm with an expression, a confession of his faith regarding who his God is and how he relates to Him. God is the God of his praise, the only one who receives the praise he offers up. But this psalm speaks of difficulties, of threatenings, of dire possible consequences on David’s life if God doesn’t show up. David is on the edge, but no matter, he is not about to forget that God is still in control, that God is worthy, no matter the circumstances he finds himself in.
Is he expressing the same emotion and heart felt praise I mentioned above? Possibly, but I think David may be praising God out of his will as opposed to the emotion I experience in church on Sundays.
And there is a difference I fear, for when a believer comes to a time of difficulty in his or her life, is God still worthy of praise? Note that I refrain from asking if it feels good to praise God in difficult times, for I think that a poor motivator. There are times when it hurts to praise God, when things are falling apart, and it seems many enemies are surrounding us, and there may seem to be no escape.
Is He the God of my praise then? When lies are spread about your character, do you look to Him and praise His name? When struggles come, and pile up in your life, is He still worthy of your expression of praise, your commitment to praise His name, even in a whisper to Him, a prayer asking for help?
Don’t get me wrong. I love to go to my daughters church, for it is a time with her and her family, and a time I can express my faith openly in the midst of the congregation. Good times and a good life, and I am so thankful for what the Lord has done in my family.
The challenge though, as hard times may be around the corner, is will I continue to praise His name, even though struggling with serious challenges, disappointments and discouragements?
This is the backdrop of David’s expression in our psalm today, and I pray for this type of will in our soul to conquer over difficult times with praise to the God of my praise.
May He gives us strength to be the men and women that praise Him at all times, and in all circumstances.
We truly need Him.
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!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
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.
220
GOD OF LOVE AND PEACE
2 Corinthians 13:11 Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you
I was born before the hippy movement, and I will admit it – I wore bell bottom blue jeans in my high school years. I listened to the music, took part in the rejection of a stiff conservative culture and experimented with mind altering drugs. Even to this day, the music catches me and takes me back to “good” intentions and a carefree attitude.
The cultural revolution was breaking forth on the western world and it’s impact on our society has been catastrophic.
One example will suffice, for I do not want to delve too deep in the problem and not consider our Lord in this post. Back in the day there was a popular song about the sharing of land.
Maybe I’ll be there to share the land That they’ll be givin’ away When we all live together, we’re talkin’ ’bout together, now
As a teenager, who could argue of the merits of such a culture, where all are sharing and there is togetherness, love and peace?
I listened to this song a while back, and realized it was normalizing a socialist / communist condition, describing it as full of togetherness, with peace and love. A culture that provides love and peace without God.
What I was experiencing was a relentless barrage of this message, along with a complete twisting of what true love and peace really is. Lust was called love, and forced pacifism (by the end of a gun) was named peace.
This is not the message of the Word, and it certainly does violence to the name of God we are considering if these twisted messages are considered when we read of the God of love and peace.
The God of love represents the very opposite of lust, of the unbridled release of the wants and desires of a sin sick heart, of a self satisfying seeking of all things no matter the damage causes. The God of love provides motivation and strength to live a life of constraint, of be self controlled, to consider others instead of being a slave to our needs and wants.
The God of peace provides the believer a calm in the midst of a storm, a freedom of the soul in the midst of trials, a release of concern over those circumstances that are beyond our control.
The world tried to convince me of the benefits of its definition of love and peace. It only took a few years of following after that elusive promise that I realized it was an empty, hollowed out promise that provided disappointment, despair and eventually death.
And then one day, a young lady asked if I would like to sit with her on a bus ride to Toronto. As we spoke, she testified of Jesus, and of His saving actions in her life. She had recently been in a car crash that should have taken her life, but the God of love and peace preserved her. The God of love and peace kept her so she could introduce me to this same God, the God of love and peace that shattered my understanding of love and peace.
No longer did the message of lust and pretend peace have control over my thoughts, and my outlook on life took a complete turnaround.
Do you understand God as a God who allows lust and provides a pretend peace? Consider who the God of love and peace is, for He is a self sacrificing God, a God who considers others first, who came to serve and to give His life for others.
To understand the gospel is to be shocked at the difference between the message of the world and the message of the Messiah, for He is the very embodiment of who the God of love and peace is.
And the world crucified Him as they sought their “love and peace”.
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!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
Considering the Bible 