One day a small boy told his grandfather that he had discovered a way in which he was like God. Clearly happy with his grandson’s observation, Grandpa said, “Oh, and how am I like God?” To which the boy quickly replied, “You’re both old.” We can imagine this young lad picturing the Almighty God as being an older man with gray hair and we can be amused by that assumption. But this child’s statement serves to ask all of us the question of who do we think God is and what do we think He is like? For many people and even for many Christians, the reality of God’s nature may be somewhat unclear.
For this study of God’s nature, I will assume the existence of God. I do not doubt God’s existence and I do not doubt God’s presence. However, I think it would be helpful for us to know more about Him. Since God is infinite and we are finite, our understanding of Him must come from His self-revelation found in the divinely inspired truth of His Word. The nature of God is far too important to relegate to personal whims, guesses, theories, and speculations. We need to know what the Bible says about Him.
Also, since we believe in the divine Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; a Trinity in which each member is completely equal in every respect to the others, in this study we will focus primarily on God the Father, the First Person of the Trinity. Certainly, we will have to include God the Son and God the Holy Spirit also, however, we will concentrate mostly on the Father.
There are three kinds of authoritative descriptions of God that He reveals about Himself in the Scriptures and they are found in His names, His images, and His attributes. The names of God include Yahweh, Elohim, and Adonai. These are Hebrew words found in the Old Testament. The images of God include shepherd and king and His attributes include omniscience, grace, and love. We begin with the names of God and I will guide you through a list of Bible verses that show the importance of God’s names. Since the Bible is God’s self-disclosure of His nature and actions, His names are a unique and personal revelation of who He is. The name Yahweh itself comprehends all that God reveals about Himself. God allows us to discover a profound identity between Him and His name. Here is a list showing the power of God’s name. Psalm 9:2 reveals that we sing praise to His name: “I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.” Psalm 29:2 tells us to give glory to His name, “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name.” We exalt His name as Psalm 34:3 says, “O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.”
According to Psalm 61:5, we are to fear and respect God’s name, “You have given me the inheritance of those who fear Your name.” The name of God defends us, Psalm 20:1, “May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob set you securely on high!” We trust in His name for deliverance, Psalm 33:21, “Our heart rejoices in Him because we trust in His holy name.” Psalm 72:17, God’s name endures forever, “May His name endure forever; may His name increase as long as the sun shines.” God’s name reaches to the ends of the earth, Psalm 48:10, “As is Your name, O God, so is Your praise to the ends of the earth.” The Lord’s name is holy and awesome, according to Psalm 111:9. In the very familiar Psalm 23, verse three tells that God guides His people for His name’s sake, “He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” Finally, according to Isaiah 30:27, the name of the Lord comes to bring judgment on the nations, “Behold, the name of the Lord comes from a remote place; burning is His anger and dense is His smoke; His lips are filled with indignation and His tongue is like a consuming fire.”
This, of course, is not an exhaustive list. Clearly, God’s name is vitally important to every true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Today we will discover four of God’s names: Yahweh, Elohim, Adonai, and Ab. In future messages we will focus on biblical images of God and His attributes. We begin with God’s name, Yahweh
YAHWEH: ETERNAL AND SELF-EXISTENT.
The Burning Bush. Most of you remember the history of Moses’ early life. He was born in Egypt and raised by Pharaoh’s daughter in the royal palace; knowing all along that he was not an Egyptian but was a Hebrew. At the age of forty, he murdered an Egyptian and had to escape from Egypt. We encounter him at the age of eighty at the event recorded in the third chapter of Exodus known as the “Burning Bush.” This was the calling of God for Moses, setting Moses apart to lead Israel out of Egypt and to the land God had promised to them through their ancestors. Moses seemed to be satisfied with the conversation with the living God until the Lord called him to be the one who would lead Israel out of Egypt. Then Moses began a list of objections as to why someone else should be chosen. First, Moses questioned why God had selected him. “Who am I?” he asked. The Lord responded, that He would be with Moses and that would be a sign that God had sent him. Next, Moses asked what would happen when the people wanted to know God’s name. To this God answered that Moses should tell them that His name was Yahweh.
Yahweh is the most common name for God in the Old Testament and it appears more than six thousand-five hundred times. Yahweh is God’s personal name. It is made up of four Hebrew consonants and is therefore called the tetragrammaton or “the four letters.” As time passed, the name Yahweh was spoken aloud only by priests worshiping in the temple in Jerusalem. After the destruction of the temple in AD 70 it was not pronounced at all, instead, whenever Yahweh appeared in the Hebrew text, the name Adonai would be spoken.
The Glory of His Name. In the text of Exodus three, God told Moses, “I AM WHO I AM” and He told Moses to tell the people “I AM had sent me to you.” God used verbs that showed a constant state of being to form the name Yahweh. Yahweh means the eternal, self-existent One. That He always exists shows His eternality. He has always existed and He always will. His is not a static being but He always actively exists. He is always actively involved with humanity revealing His person and His presence. He is also self-existent. He has no beginning and no ending. He was not created but is the Creator of all things. He is the uncaused cause of all else that exists or has existed.
In Exodus 3:15, Scripture tells us, “God, furthermore, said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons 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 this is My memorial-name to all generations.”” Most English translations of the Old Testament translate Yahweh to the name Lord that is all in capital letters. In verse fifteen, the English reader should recognize that God said, “Yahweh, the God of your fathers…” Yahweh is God’s personal name, a name He chose for Himself to show His eternal and unchanging existence.
Yahweh is the Lord, the Head of all the covenants with Israel, the nations, and with all of creation. He is the Architect and Designer of all the dispensations and the One whose plans all creation is following to the consummation of His choosing. Yahweh is always in control and is always exerting His authority over all His creation. All that exists does so because of Yahweh’s own self-determination to be and to be what He is, so He is eternally who and what He is. He is always present as the Revealer of Himself and His will. He is the Eternal One who Redeems and who eternally reigns as the Supreme Judge over all creation.
Biblical Combinations. In the Bible, God’s name, Yahweh, is combined with other words to further define His nature. There are several, but we have time for only three. In Psalm 24:10, we read, “Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory.” The words “Lord of hosts” are translated from “Yahweh tsabaoth” meaning that Yahweh is the Supreme Commander of all of heaven’s armies. He created, governs, and leads the angels as the armies of heaven. Another combination is found in Genesis 22:14, “Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide.” In Hebrew, this phrase is “Yahweh yireh”. In this name, the Lord promised to always provide what is needed to fulfill His promises. In this case, the Lord will provide His One and Only Son as the Redeemer.
Another of these combinations is found in Jeremiah 23:6, “This is His name by which He will be called, “The Lord our righteousness.”” These words translate the Hebrew, “Yahweh tsidkenu” and the words mean that the Lord Himself will supply the righteousness for those who are redeemed. Since the Bible says that none are righteous, when a person comes to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, Yahweh imputes His own righteousness into him or her. From that moment the redeemed soul is clothed in the righteous robes of the Lamb of God. I should point out the name “Jesus” has the name Yahweh. Jesus translates the Hebrew, “yeshua” which means “Yahweh saves.” This is because, as the Second Person of the divine Trinity, Jesus is also the eternal, self-existent One.
ELOHIM: SUPREME SOVEREIGNTY.
God the Creator. The third word in the Hebrew Bible (the fourth in most English Bibles) is God’s name, Elohim. When we read about Elohim, we should remember that He is the one who began everything, creating the heavens and the earth, separating light from the darkness, water from dry land, and filling the earth with life. Elohim appears in the Old Testament nearly two thousand times and is, in English Bibles, typically translated by the word “God.” Elohim, which is the most general term for God tends to be prominent in biblical contexts in which God is dealing with His creation in general or with the Gentile nations of the world apart from His covenant with Israel.
In Ecclesiastes, Daniel, and Jonah, where God is dealing generally with mankind or with Gentile nations, the name Elohim is prominent. As early as Genesis 2:4, God reveals Himself as the Lord God: Yahweh Elohim, which indicates that the eternal, self-existent God is the One who created everything and formed mankind through His special design.
Supreme Majesty, Strength, and Power. In Hebrew, Elohim is a plural noun, but consistently used with singular verbs, adjectives and pronouns. This is unique to the Old Testament and is found in no other Semitic language. This multiplicity of majesty designates all of God’s infinite greatness and supremacy. In Mark 15:34, while on the cross, the Lord Jesus used this word to address His Father. “At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” “Eloi” is the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Elohim.
Biblical Combinations. As with Yahweh, Elohim is combined with other words to show special qualities or attributes of the Lord. Once more, while there are many of these to which I could point, in deference to time, I will only mention three. First is El Shaddai. This name appears in Genesis 17:1, and in many other places. “Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless.”” El Shaddai means the Almighty, Omnipotent One. As the All-Powerful, God appeared and revealed His infinite might to many in the Old Testament to provide comfort and the confirmation of His covenant.
El Elyon means “God most high and points to His supreme sovereignty over heaven and earth. It is found in many Old Testament verses. In Psalm 9:2 we read, “I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.” There is no power in the universe greater than El Elyon. El Olam means the Everlasting or Eternal God: the God of eternity. It emphasizes God’s unchanging nature and His inexhaustible strength. It is found throughout the Old Testament. It is used in Isaiah 40:28, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God [El Olam], the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.” From His infinite reservoir of strength, God “gives strength to the weary and to those who lack might, He increases their power.”
ADONAI: LORD AND MASTER.
Lord, Master, Owner. When Adonai is used of God’s relationship with men and women, it conveys the idea of His absolute authority. In Isaiah 6:8-11, we find this dialogue between God and Isaiah. I will insert the name Adonai in the proper places. “Then I heard the voice of Adonai, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” He said, "Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; keep on looking, but do not understand. Render the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull, and their eyes dim, otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and return and be healed.” Then I said, “Adonai, how long?”
The One with Authority Over All. God possesses supreme sovereignty and ultimate authority over all things external to Himself. Adonai implies the relationship that God is Lord and we are His servants. As a word referring to God it appears more than three hundred times in the Hebrew Scriptures. When we recognize the Lord as our Adonai, our Master, we surrender every aspect of our lives to Him. We seek the grace to become the kind of servant who is quick to do God’s will. He is the only One who can empower us to fulfill His purpose for our life.
AB: THE FATHER.
God’s Name Is Father. Since the New Testament applies the name “Father” to the first person of the Trinity, when the Old Testament depicts God as Father it should be considered a name of God. In the Hebrew language, Ab means “father” and was the name Hebrew children used to address their father. Addressing Israel in Deuteronomy 32:6 says, “Is not He your Father who has bought you? He has made you and established you.” In Psalm 89:26 we find God’s names Elohim and Father are found together in this verse, “He will cry to Me, 'You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.” In Isaiah 64:8, God’s names Yahweh and Father are placed together, “But now, O Lord, You are our Father, we are the clay, and You our potter; and all of us are the work of Your hand.” In the Old Testament Israel looked to God as their Father.
Father: An Eternal Name. “Father” is an eternal name which means that there never was a time when the First Person was not the Father of the Second Person, the One and Only Son. That relationship has always been part of the Trinity. A verse quoted often in the New Testament is Psalm 2:7, “I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son.’” This verse designates the Father-Son relationship that was a reality before the universe was created. God’s name as Father is brought out with greater clarity in the New Testament. When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He began, “Our Father…” (Matthew 6:9). As Jesus prayed before His crucifixion in the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You.” (Mark 15:36)
By receiving Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we enter into that eternal relationship with God as our Father. The Apostle Paul wrote, “Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!” (Galatians 4:6)
The Lord God who created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them has special and unique names that describe His excellence and majesty. He is YAHWEH, the eternal and self-existent One. He is ELOHIM the One with supreme sovereignty. He is ADONAI, the Lord and Master of all. And He is the FATHER of all those who are redeemed.
It was against Yahweh that mankind chose to rebel and willfully sin, plunging all people into the darkness of eternal judgment. Mankind has chosen to disobey the supreme sovereignty of Elohim rejecting Him and His commandments and instead falling into terrible transgression. Men and women have failed to follow the Master and deliberately chose to serve themselves rather than Adonai. And all of have rejected God as Father. But the Lord has done something wonderful and unexpected. The Father sent His One and Only Son to sacrifice His life on Calvary’s cross to pardon their horrible load of sin and guilt, and grant by grace His redemption to anyone who believes in Jesus Christ as Savior. As soon as any man or woman receives Christ, they enter into an eternal family relationship with God as their Father. Have you received Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. If you have not, God the Father is waiting with open arms to receive you right now.
