What I Believe

i. Hayah

[04/23/19]

Moving into the names of God, from those terms by which He is described, I have to say that several of those terms covered in the previous section are not simply words for God, but also names by which He is known to us. As such, we will no doubt encounter many of them again in this part of my efforts. But, I want to start with this one: Hayah [OT:1961]. We encountered as I looked into the term Yahweh, of which it is a root. It is the term for existing, for coming into being, and it is the term God gave Moses as the name by which He was to be made known to the Israelites back in Egypt. “I AM WHO I AM. Tell them I AM has sent you” (Ex 3:14).

That is such a powerful declaration, but it really doesn’t seem like much of a name, does it? It sounds to our ears more like an incomplete sentence. You are what, Lord? You are who? But, He did answer. I AM I AM. It is the ultimate description of Him, in that He does exist, always has, and always will, and He does so simply because He Is Who He Is. But, there’s a fair amount more that comes into it. As observed previously, this enters into the name Yahweh, the covenant name of God, and by far and away the most prevalent name of God in the Old Testament. And every time that name arises, it is the certitude of eternal God that is in view, and how that certitude plays out in the case of that people with whom this eternal God has made covenant. That covenant is certain because He is certain. It is certain in spite of us because He is God in spite of us.

Moving into the New Testament, and particularly in John’s account, this name becomes highly significant in defining the Christ. Repeatedly we hear Jesus proclaim, “I AM” this, that, or the other. The light, the life, the way, the truth, the resurrection… in fairness, each of those is a name unto itself, but it is the initial I AM, the ego eimi formulation in these Greek texts that pronounces the fundamental point. God is speaking. In fairness, it is not the phrase alone which proclaims His godhead, for if that were the case, the text is full of many a blasphemer who has laid the same claim, including Gabriel, who spoke that very phrase in introducing himself to Mary (Lk 1:19). But, there is always something in the I AM proclamations of Jesus that makes clear that we have moved beyond the earthly, and even beyond the angelic. It is a claim of deity that pushes the matter beyond debate, and it’s quite clear that those listening to Him recognized it as such.

For my part, just now I am more focused on the Old Testament declarations of God’s name, and as often as not, in those declarations, particularly as they come from God rather than man’s recognition of Him, this I AM phraseology plays a strong part. We saw that in the instruction to Moses. You don’t need any other name for Me, Moses. Just tell them I AM sent you. That is My name, so far as they are concerned. And again, as I have now repeatedly observed, it is His name, although in more general usage it takes the form of Yahweh.

ii. The LORD

Let’s move on to that name, Yahweh as well as ‘Elohiym and Adonai, for they tend to come in varied combinations, as well as appearing alone. In singular usage, Yahweh is by far the most commonly found term. I think, for example, of the message through Isaiah. The passage I have in mind is the Messianic announcement given in Isaiah 42:1-9. That whole passage is a marvel, and worthy of much reflection, but just at this moment, I am concerned primarily with verse 8. “I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images.” This must play heavily into our understanding of the Trinitarian formulation of God, but I want to consider that first half, the part about which God says, “That is My name.”

First, for whatever it may be worth, the “I am” of this passage is not the hayah discussed previously. It’s ‘aniy, I, a simple pronoun, rather than the pronouncement of self-existence we had in the other term. But, that’s OK, because His name pronounces that self-existence for Him. I am Yahweh, that is My name. And I cannot but observe that in proclaiming this name, He also makes very clear that not only is He self-existent and eternal, but also exclusively so. There is no other, and all that claims such status is false. That is part and parcel of why the Jewish authorities were so deeply scandalized by Jesus laying claim to the title of God, and they clearly understood – as He clearly understood – that this is exactly what He was claiming.

[04/24/19]

Now, it behooves me to step back just a moment and discuss the significance of names, particularly as they were applied in the custom of the Old Testament age. To be the giver of the name was to have authority over the named. That is a significant matter, as we find God giving name to specific individuals over the course of events. But, the name given is significant as well, for names tended to have more meaning. They weren’t given because some popular individual bore the name, or because it would be unique and stand out. They were given because they described something about the individual, the individual’s family, or the circumstances surrounding that individual’s birth.

You see this over and over again, particularly in the context of Genesis, where names are very clearly given due to associations with the person named, and often that explanation is right there in the text. Sarah calls her son Isaac, laughter, because his birth seemed so laughably unlikely at her age, for example. This is also why so many names incorporate some reference to God in them. Think of Joshua, God my salvation.

But, at present, we consider the name of God Himself, or as I should say, the names, for there are many given Him, but at root, they all tend to come back to either ‘Elohiym or Yahweh. That makes sense, given what He has said here in the Isaiah passage. “I am the LORD. That is My name” (Isa 42:8). As often as not, we find the three names I mentioned at the start of this section variously combined. In our English translations, that means we will encounter the LORD God, the Lord God, the Lord GOD, and the LORD GOD.

We are, then, seeing God proclaimed as Eternal, Sovereign, and Mighty in varied ways, but almost always with reference to that primary name He gives Himself, Yahweh, or perhaps the short form Yah. In that last case, as exemplified in Exodus 12:2, we have the name repeated for emphasis, so it’s Yah Yahweh.

Coming forward into the New Testament, this formulation finds application to Jesus, such that we very often find reference to the Lord Jesus, as in Acts 1:21 for example, or to the Lord Jesus Christ. Accepting that Jesus is the English translation of the Greek translation of Joshua, we find we are back at a formulation of the Lord Yah Shua, or the Lord God my Salvation. And of course Christ is a reference to Messiah. It is not a surname. It is a title, an office. But, the short form of this is that once again, we find clear connection establishing that Jesus is in fact God. Again – well ahead of my place in this pursuit of laying out my beliefs, but the connective tissue of belief is too strong to fail to note these things as they arise.

iii. The Most High God

Now I would turn to one of the earlier names by which we find God addressed, that of the Most High God. This name arises some fifty three times in the Old Testament, spanning the period from Abram’s meeting with Melchizedek right on through Jeremiah’s lament over fallen Judea. The name combines two terms, ‘El and Elyon. The first ([OT:410]) gets to the might of God, we might find it elsewhere as the Almighty. But, now it is combined with ‘elyown [OT:5945] with a sense of elevation or loftiness. It adds the sense of supremacy to that of might. God is not merely mighty, but superlative in might. Again, we find the name expressive of His exclusive claim to the utmost pinnacle of power. It is this God whom king Melchizedek serves as priest, a hint of that title we will consider shortly, King of kings. It is this God who blesses Abram, and will later assign to him the name Abraham. Recall what I said about giving names. The Most High God, by renaming Abraham was both conveying His promise to Abraham, and declaring His right of reign over Abraham. Abram, in this scene prior to that renaming, declares that it is to this God that Abram swears his fealty and his oath.

“I have lifted my hand unto Yahweh, `El `elyon, the possessor of heaven and earth. I will not take so much as a shoelace of your spoils, lest you say that it was you that made Abram rich” (Ge 14:22-23). How the titles pile up and proclaim in the ears of the defeated king of Sodom, that while he may be a king, God is so infinitely above and beyond his meager powers as to render him less than insignificant. Battle had already proven that, I suppose. Here is Abram, a wanderer in the land for all intents and purposes, who has come out against not only the king of Sodom, but a number of other local kings besides, and he not even a king. Yet, he has defeated them. He is making it clear that while the men with him deserve their portion, and particularly such as will give them sustenance, it wasn’t their might that brought victory any more than it was this king’s spoils that brought Abram profit. It was God Most High, that King of all kings, possessor of heaven and earth, and as such, sir, possessor of your little fiefdom. He is the Most High, to Whom all must answer.

Given the implications of this name, it is not terribly surprising to find that it often arises in connection with a point of conflict for God’s people. David writes, “I will praise the LORD according to His righteousness and sing praise to the name of the LORD most high” (Ps 7:17), but it comes on the heels of a certainty of vengeance upon his enemies. “His mischief shall return upon his own head” (Ps 7:16). We see similar connection in Psalm 9, which begins with these sweet sentiments. “I will praise Thee, O LORD, with my whole heart. I will tell of all Thy wonders. I will be glad and exult in Thee. I will sing praise to Thy name, O Most High. When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before Thee” (Ps 9:1-3). The sentiment and connection continue with later Psalms such as those of Asaph, who concludes another psalm of vengeance upon the enemies of God’s people with this thought, “That they may know that You alone, whose name is the LORD, are the Most High over all the earth” (Ps 83:18).

In Isaiah 14 we find this name of the Lord, along with another which we will consider in due course, applied in discussion of some of Israel’s most dire enemies, Babylon and Assyria. In this application, we discover the great crime of those empires was not that they became empires, but rather the mindset that drove them. It is the mindset of sin, the mindset of original sin. It is the same mindset that led to Satan’s ouster from heaven, and Adam’s ouster from Eden in his turn. Here that mindset declared as Isaiah makes his case. “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High” (Isa 14:14). But, the Most High has a ready response for such arrogance. “Nevertheless you will be thrust down into the pit of Sheol” (Isa 14:15). It gets worse, but that’s enough to convey the point. As Asaph said, “You alone, Yahweh, are the Most High over ALL the earth.”

What do we learn, then? This God, the Almighty One, lays exclusive claim to final authority. He makes that claim in regard to the whole of existence. Whatever powers may arise among men, or even among the host of heaven, they all must ultimately answer to Him. He has the final word, and He has more than sufficient power to see to it that His word is indeed final.

Before I wrap up for this morning, let me just say that here is reason for the assurance of the believer. If indeed this God, this Most High over all the earth has declared you saved, don’t you see, then it must necessarily be so. He has the final word. While your obedience is required by Him, yet it is not your obedience that determines your salvation. It is God’s choice, His declared decision that saved, and if He has thus decided, then we can rest on His promise, knowing that He will indeed bring to pass all that His promise entails. We obey not so much because we must, but because we can. Love for this One Who spoke and our salvation was compels obedience, not as a coercive force, but as a thing most devoutly to be desired.

[04/25/19]

I also observe that once again we find this longstanding name of God applied so as to confirm the divinity of Jesus. This transpired very early on, before Jesus was even conceived by the Holy Spirit. Gabriel, an angel, is sent to Mary to inform her of what is to come. He tells this young girl that she will bear a son who is to be named Jesus (Lk 1:26-31). Now, this is already pretty shocking news to tell to one we would consider but a child herself. But, it’s not just the matter of a birth that has led to Gabriel being sent. After all, she is soon enough to be wed to Joseph, and it would be perfectly natural that they should have children. But, this is something else.

“He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will given Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end” (Lk 1:32-33). Now, one could attempt to write off that first title, since Gabriel doesn’t say He is this Son, only that He will be called the Son. But, then there is the matter of an eternal reign. The reference to David His father brings in clear Messianic indications. But to reign forever, not to have a posterity which would always occupy the throne, but to personally occupy that throne into eternity? This is beyond the realm of human existence. This is more than merely a baby born. Indeed, it is more than merely a birth. It is the announcement that the fulfillment of God’s promises is about to arrive on the scene, in the person of God Incarnate, born of a virgin.

Lest there be any doubt of all the implications here, note Mary’s reaction to this news. On the one hand, I find it marvelously innocent that her focus is on this matter of childbirth, not on the implications as to Who this child is which she will bear. “How can this be, since I am a virgin” (Lk 1:34)? Something in this news has conveyed to her that this doesn’t really involve Joseph. And she’s not asking for lessons in human reproduction. She recognizes the Messianic nature of these claims well enough. She’s just focused on this first little detail. I could suggest this reflects her innocence, and perhaps it does. But, her innocence really doesn’t enter into it. It’s God’s choice of her that makes the only difference. But, her response does lend a certain homely touch to the whole scene. Here is the power of God revealed both in the presence of this angel (who you might recall needs to tell folks not to be afraid whenever he is sent out with a message) and in the news of this eternal King, the Son of the Most High. Yet, her thoughts kind of veer away from that enormity and settle on the practical matter of how exactly this is going to happen.

Perhaps it is also a protestation of innocence on her part, though a gentle one. She announces her purity in observing that she remains a virgin. She has not been wayward. But, I think her primary focus is on the simple matter of human reproduction, about which she was apparently sufficiently informed as to recognize that there was nothing in her recent activities that would lead to pregnancy. But, the becomes entirely speculative, and also a distraction from my subject.

This Jesus, to be born to Mary though she remained a virgin, would not only be called Son of the Most High. He would be Son of the Most High. Indeed, He already was/is. I note as well that Gabriel returns to that other formulation of God’s name, the Lord God. Now, it’s New Testament text, so we are reading what was written in Greek, and in this case by a Greek. What may have been said in Hebrew or Aramaic we are not given to know other than in translation. But, one can readily surmise the underlying Yahweh ‘Elohiym or perhaps Adonai Yahweh in Gabriel’s reference. That being the case, we may very well accept that in the name Jesus we do indeed have the underlying name of Yeshua, or God my Salvation, which we would recognize as the English name Joshua.

If this Jesus, God my Salvation, is in fact Son of the Most High, and if in fact, the Most High, our God, is One, then we can reasonably posit that this Jesus is in fact the Most High period. He is marked out for His divinity even here, even before the Holy Spirit comes upon Mary, and this holy offspring is conceived or implanted or however He came to be a zygote in her virgin womb. And this holy offspring, Son of the Most High, is once again identified before Gabriel is done. “He shall be called the Son of God” (Lk 1:35). That rather removes all possibility of doubt that may have remained as to the point of Gabriel’s message. The Son of God Most High, the Incarnate Deity Himself, is to be born. Here is your Messiah. He is not a man chosen by God to rescue Israel. He is a Man who IS God, come to rescue all humanity.

iv. Our God

That, I think, provides us a rather lovely segue into another significant name or title belonging to this God Most High. He is, variously depending on the application, your God, my God, or our God. This is so frequent a formulation of His name as to defy isolating any specific instance. But, observe that whichever pronoun is supplied, this formulation indicates a personal connection. What it does not imply, just to be clear, is that there are bounds or limits upon God’s domain. No, He remains God Most High, Lord of all Creation, Maker of heaven and earth and all that is in them. How shall such a one be bound? Over whom shall we suggest He is not God by right? He is God even over such gods as men posit for themselves or of themselves. Such fabrications are ultimately meaningless so far as the reality of the situation is concerned. God is God. Period, full stop.

But, He is our God. He is our God in that He has made it personal. It is not that we have chosen to make Him our God. As Jesus informs His disciples, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you” (Jn 15:16). “I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (Jn 15:19). That’s not something new to the Apostles, or limited to the Apostles. It is, to Disneyfy the whole thing, a tale as old as time. It has ever been thus. For Israel, this was the story. He is our God because He has chosen to be our God. He has chosen us.

Why was He God to Adam and Eve? Because He chose to make them in the first place. Why was He God to Abraham and the patriarchs? Because He chose Abraham out of all those then living in Ur to come out of that world and follow Him – his God. Why was Moses set out as a prophet unparalleled until the day of Jesus? Because God chose him, having preserved him against all odds at his birth. God did not choose him because he had privileged position in the house of Pharaoh. Those days were gone. He was on the lam, herding sheep in the wilds to avoid being brought to justice for slaying one of the Egyptian soldiers in defense of mere slaves.

Why was Israel chosen to be God’s people, uniquely privileged to declare this Most High God, our God? It wasn’t because they were such a marvelously good people, nor because they were numerous or powerful. They were slaves fully under submission to the Egyptians at the time. They were subjected to cruel labor, and their rights to reproduce severely restricted. They were quite possibly the most abject of people groups then extent. Yet, God chose to grant them this most marvelous boon: To call upon Him as their God.

v. Lord of Hosts

[04/26/19]

Today, I take under consideration another of the more regularly seen names given to God. He is spoken of as Lord of hosts repeatedly, and I would say primarily in the period of Israel as kingdom. The first place I come across it is at the beginning of Samuel’s history, although it would appear that the title was in use amongst the people already, for we see Hannah referring to God by this title in her prayer (1Sa 1:11). The term is Yahweh tseba’ah, the added term indicating a mass of men, an army. It is a matter of warfare, and God’s primacy as commander of the armies of heaven. By their position as the nation called by God, this brings with it the implication that He is also commander of the armies of Israel, as is stated plainly in 1Samuel 17:45.

This formulation, as I say, is a frequent name of God, appearing some 239 times between Samuel’s use, and continuing throughout the writings of the prophets. It is somewhat of interest that the term sees almost no use in the historical books covering the kings of Israel. The few cases we do see, I observe, continue to lay the term on the tongues of prophets. This is somewhat interesting to me, that the prophets would be primarily the ones to recognize God as the chief warrior, whereas the kings, apart from David (who uses this name in Psalm 24:10) do not appear to give God such recognition. This, one might suppose, gives a sense of the godliness of most of the kings of Israel. Perhaps it is the case that they were too busy trying to be commanders of their armies personally to recognize the truth of their position as subordinates to the true Commander. But, it is not always so.

Before I take that further though, let’s go back to Hannah’s use of this name, for it speaks, I think, to her state of mind as she prays. This passage addresses a vow made as she prayed in what was then the holy place for Israel, Shiloh. “O LORD of hosts, if Thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of Thy maidservant and remember me, and not forget Thy maidservant, but wilt give Thy maidservant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head.” First off, this being the birth narrative of Samuel, we might accept that Hannah had been granted something of the spirit of the prophet herself, at least in praying this prayer.

But, more, it points to a bit of a personal war she was in. To be barren was a horrifying prospect for a married woman in Israel. It was in many ways seen as a mark of God’s disfavor. In her case, as one of her husband’s two wives, it brought her the contempt and derision of her peer, Peninnah, for Peninnah had children and she didn’t. Elkanah, her husband was not of a mind to abuse her for her lack of children, and indeed showed her greater favor, perhaps because of the situation. We are told that when it was time to offer sacrifices, he would give Peninnah and her children their portions, but would give Hannah a double portion, ‘for he loved Hannah, but the LORD had closed her womb’ (1Sa 1:6). Meanwhile, as they made their way to the house of the LORD, Peninnah would apparently go out of her way to provoke Hannah, making her so miserable she could not eat for her weeping. This is the personal battle that has brought her to make her vow to God, the LORD of hosts. She needs victory in this battle. It is not overstating the case, I think, to say it was a matter of life and death for her. To be so constantly in the place of such harassment and depression cannot end well. She needed vindication, and the LORD of hosts was just the One to provide for her. He had closed her womb, He alone could open it.

I choose to stress this aspect of the title because I would not have it supposed that this was something unique to Israel and Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land. To be sure, it plays a significant role in that regard, and rightly so. Who would not desire that the God of hosts join them as they rode to war? Indeed, given the nature of that war as an earthly outworking of God’s own military campaign against His enemies, it would be folly to ride to war without Him. Recall that in this age, kings did not remain safely behind the lines in some well-protected headquarters. They led. They rode in the vanguard. They pointed the way and called their men to follow. So, then, to know the LORD of hosts as your God was and is to recognize that He is not backing you up in your endeavors on His behalf. He leads the way. Indeed, as the better kings of Israel recognized, He not only leads the way, He accomplishes the victory.

Take, for example, the declaration of Jahaziel, son of Zecharaiah to Jehoshaphat and his troops. “Listen, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the LORD to you, ‘Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them. […] You need not fight in this battle. Station yourselves. Stand and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the LORD is with you” (2Chr 20:14-17). Isn’t that marvelous? This battle, we learn, was fought by an army that stood by, singing and praising the LORD, led by the Levites of all things! Those who sang to the LORD and those who praised Him in holy attire went out before the army (2Chr 20:21). This is at once an absolutely stunning display of trust in the prophetic word, and what must have been a terrible insult to the Ammonites and Moabites who had come out to attack Israel. It’s like David, that little dog, standing before Goliath all over again. This? This is what you send out against me?

Now, let me swing forward into the New Testament, for we do in fact encounter this name there as well. You may have seen hints of it in the Hebrew words which compose the name, Yahweh tseba’ah. In Romans 9:29, Paul quotes Isaiah, and in so doing speaks of God, the Lord of Sabaoth. Now, I think our tendency is to see the similarity of that term to Sabbath and suppose that is our reference, but it is not. Sabaoth [4519] is actually a transliteration of tseba’ah into the Greek, and retains the significance of God’s military title as Lord Commander. This comes in the midst of Paul’s discussion of the Jews’ place in the plan of salvation, which was quite reasonably a matter of great concern to him. He may be Apostle to the Gentiles, but he remains a Jew, and his concern for his kinsman remains strong. “Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation” (Ro 10:1). But that prayer comes from a place of recognition. “Just as Isaiah foretold, ‘Except the Lord Sabaoth had left to us a posterity, we would have become as Sodom, and would have resembled Gomorrah” (Ro 9:29). This points back to Isaiah 1:9, where indeed the Israelites are spoken to as rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrah. The point is to observe that their rituals had become less than empty. They had become a stench and an offense to God because they meant nothing in the hearts of the people.

Here is a repeated theme of Scripture, one that came up even this morning in Table Talk as well as arising in context of the worship songs planned for this coming Sunday. “Trust and Obey” is on our list, and indeed, there is no better way. That’s the message to Israel here. Obedience doesn’t come in the form of observing sacrifices and feasts and so on. That’s all well and good, I suppose, but obedience is found elsewhere. “Learn to do good. Seek justice, correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherless and plead the widow’s cause” (Isa 1:17). God is pleading with his people to act like His people. “If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken” (Isa 1:19-20).

Observe: God Eternal, God of Covenant has declared what will be. Rest assured, it will be. This is, however, a declaration of intent that comes with two possible outcomes, and it is up to the people of God to decide which is to come about. God need not change His mind based on their results. He has laid out the course for either option, albeit knowing full well who will choose which. He has stated the result even before declaring the choice. “If the LORD of hosts had not left us a few survivors…” This is, after all, a very militaristic proclamation. Obey your King, your Commander, or His army will be turned not upon your enemies but upon you. You, Israel, are not in charge. God is. You, Christian, are not in charge. God is.

Joshua 5:13 has always struck me as the prime reminder of this truth; a lesson to be taken to heart and kept there. Here was Joshua, God’s anointed, by his very name a forerunner of Christ Jesus, set at the head of the host of Israel with commission to bring them into the Promised Land and conquer, nay destroy the Canaanites dwelling therein. He’s on the way to Jericho in pursuit of his commission, when he encounters a man a lone man, standing opposite him, sword drawn. This is rather a stunning display no matter how it is viewed. If it is but a man, then we have a scene straight out of Braveheart, don’t we? You may have an army, Joshua, but I have me, and I will oppose you.

But, if there is challenge here, it is sufficiently veiled, or Joshua sufficiently confident, that he goes forward to meet this one. “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” It’s a pretty reasonable question. They are, after all, in hostile territory. Who’s side are you on, is a point to resolve early in any such random encounter. But, this man’s answer had to rattle from the first word. “No.” Hear the power of that word all by itself. Are you on our side or theirs? No. I’m not here to take sides, and I’m not here to answer to any commander. But, hear the rest. “I come as captain of the host of the LORD” (Josh 5:14). Observe as well that Joshua immediately falls prostrate before this captain, a position that could be interpreted either as abject submission to a conquering enemy, or as an act of worship. If it is the latter, it is significant that this captain does not reject the act. Rather, he instructs Joshua to remove his sandals, ‘for the place where you are standing is holy’ (Josh 5:15). That seems rather to amplify the worshipful aspect of the encounter, which leads me to posit that this is not merely a captain of the host of the LORD, but in fact, the LORD of hosts. He has come not to back Joshua in battle, but to pursue His own battle. Joshua’s part in it, for all that he has the whole of Israel behind him, will be negligible. Just march around the city seven times, and then shout. Let them know that the army of the LORD has encamped against them, but you will not so much as lob a stone at their walls. Just worship God and obey. And thus was battle joined, and thus was battle won.

[04/27/19]

Now, while the particular formulation of this name may have waited for Samuel or Hannah to proclaim it, it is not in fact conveying a new thought. As I already observed, Joshua recognized this God Commander. So also did Moses before him. We see this in many forms throughout the book of Exodus, but I will present just a few. Consider Exodus 15, wherein we are given to hear the words of Moses’ song of victory, having brought Israel through the Red Sea, and having seen Pharaoh and his army destroyed by its waters, or more properly, by his God. He begins with praise to God, and recognition of his dependence upon God, who is his strength, his song, his salvation. Honestly, there is so much said of God in these first few verses of his song that perhaps it would best just to repeat it here.

“I will sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted. The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea. The LORD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise Him; my father’s God, and I will extol Him. The LORD is a warrior. The LORD is His name” (Ex 15:1b-3). That is marvelous. We see Yahweh, God self-existent and eternal. We see that He is highly exalted, or as older translations put it, He has triumphed mightily. This is an interesting phrase, repeating the term ga’ah with different pointing. While the term can address rising or being exalted and lifted up, it has as its primary sense of matchless power. God, Yahweh, is highly exalted because of His matchless power, which had just been displayed in the defeat of the might of Egypt by what? By water – water He had shown Himself able to hold parted as Israel passed, and shown Himself fully in control of as they closed once more over the armies of Egypt.

But, see where we go from here. He is my strength, my song, my salvation. Granted, these sentiments are flowing primarily from what must have been utmost relief at the end put to their enemy and oppressor. The slaves had been granted victory over their masters, and their masters were not merely vanquished or set in their place. They were utterly destroyed, put beyond all possibility of retribution. Yes, God was their salvation. He saved them from slavery and from extinction at the hands of Pharaoh. Still, it is not enough said, and the song continues. He is my God. This is personal. He is also my father’s God. This hints once more at the eternal nature of God. Picking up on an argument Jesus presented to the Sadducees (Lk 20:37), I should think this would once more argue for the resurrection, He is my father’s God, not He was. Then we come to that reiteration of might. God is Yahweh Ga’ah Milchamah, God exalted or victorious in battle. More simply, He is a Warrior, but I don’t think that really says enough. He is an Exalted Warrior. He is a Victorious Warrior. In fairness, He knows of no other outcome in His battles. He is Eternally Victorious. But, may I also stress, He is so in HIS battles. Return once again to that Commander sent to Joshua. He’s not here for your program or mine. He’s here for His. So are you and I.

Later, as Israel makes their way through the wilderness according to the leading of God’s presence in the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, they encounter the Amalekites. With God, that same Victorious Warrior as their commander, the Israelites defeated the Amalekites, and ‘overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword’ (Ex 17:13). To mark this victory, Moses built an altar, giving it a name: Yahweh Nissi, the Lord my Banner. This is not suggesting that the Lord be viewed as some pretty flag to be waved, although there may be occasion for such things. We are still in a military setting. The banner, much like the banners of the medieval military, or Roman legions, or even armies of more recent vintage, represents the command. One thinks of all those cinematic scenes of the brave young lad doing his utmost to prevent the capture of his flag. To capture the flag, or tear it down was to indicate defeat of that one represented by the flag, be it a troop, a legion, or an entire nation.

Now, look at this Yahweh Nissi. He is the self-existent, eternal One. He is the Victorious Warrior. The battle is joined under His banner because it is His battle. The battle is won because it is His battle, and He is ever and always, the highly exalted Victorious Warrior. And, lest we forget, this eternally victorious Warrior is our God. He is our God because He has said so. This was not a matter of choice for us. It was a matter of chosen. He is in command, and we, as His people, can but obey and join battle under His banner, under His command.

That command extends far beyond the battlefield, though. It extends, if you please, to the construction of this Commander’s palace, the temple or tabernacle. Throughout the description of the design of the tabernacle, we encounter this reality, for over and over again as the pieces that will make the tabernacle are fashioned, put together, and set in place, we hear that it was done, ‘just as the LORD had commanded’ (Ex 40:19). Everything done in the construction and use of this tabernacle, including its setting up, its tearing down and transporting, and including the conduct of worship that would be performed therein is done according to this same prescription: Just as the LORD had commanded. There is no room for deviation or improvisation.

To get very far afield for a moment, this needs to inform our approach to worship to this day. The warning of Scripture is brutally clear. We see it in the record of Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu, who offered ‘strange fire before the Lord’ (Lev 10:1). This, it is observed was doing that ‘which He had not commanded them’. As such, they were consumed by the fire which came out from the presence of the LORD. Aaron was no doubt shocked by this, and yet he really shouldn’t have been, he being the foremost priest of the Lord. Moses had to explain. “It is what the LORD spoke, saying, ‘By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, and before all the people I will be honored’” (Lev 10:3). Where God is honored, the priest of God will not be mournful, and in this instance, Aaron and his remaining sons were warned to that effect. The death of the unrighteous servant is not an occasion for mourning. It is an occasion for praising God that His honor and righteousness have been upheld.

In later history, with the enemies of the Promised Land largely subdued, and some few of the tribes settled in their places, those of Rueben, Gad, and Manasseh had settled on the west bank of the Jordan. There, they had set up an altar of their own, and the other tribes took notice. They were concerned, and reasonably so, that these two tribes had decided to start their own religion or some such, and the remaining tribes came out in force to correct this great sin. But, the tribes of the west bank gave answer to those charges of rebellion against the LORD. For this is what their construction of an altar was seen to be. God had commanded one place of worship, and here they were establishing another. What other explanation could there be, but open rebellion against God? And only too well did they remember the result of Achan’s rebellion there at the beginning when Israel sought to capture Ai (Josh 22:19-20).

But, as I say, these tribes had a defense for their actions, and they begin to present it with these words. “The Mighty One, God, the LORD, the Mighty One, God, the LORD!” (Josh 22:22). Here we have the combining of ‘El ‘Elohiym and Yahweh, and this repeated for emphasis. Yahweh, God of gods, the eternal, self-existent Almighty, utterly Supreme God is witness to their words. To Him they appeal. “If this was done in rebellion, or if it is an unfaithful act against Yahweh do not save us this day, O God.” They proceed to explain that the altar is not for offering or sacrifice, but as a witness, a testimony of their oneness with the main body of Israel across the Jordan. It is here to testify to following generations that they are not a people separate from those of Judah, et al. It is also to testify to those eastern tribes, that they have no grounds to claim that these three tribes have no portion in the LORD (Josh 22:27). The Mighty One, the eternally Victorious Warrior, unopposable in Power, is witness to their words, and if He finds them untrue, He may extract just punishment for their crimes.

[04/29/19]

Another name which fits suitably under this idea of military command is that of God Almighty, ‘El Shaddai. While less frequently observed, it is a name that would seem to precede that of Yahweh in terms of its revelation to man. It is observed, for example, that by far and away the main user of this title for God is Job, whose text is considered the oldest of the Biblical record. We also find that this is the name by which God reveals Himself to the patriarchs. When He comes to establish covenant with Abram, it is, somewhat surprisingly, not the covenant name Yahweh by which He makes Himself known, but rather, “I am El Shaddai” (Ge 17:1). If we chase this word back just a bit, we find it derives from shadad ([OT:7703]), indicating burliness, power, impregnability. On the one hand, this addresses the power of destruction and devastation. It is thus a term that bespeaks God’s judgment played out against the nations, but as the One who imposes judgment, God is Himself impervious to such actions. He is ALL mighty. His is the final say, the power than cannot be successfully opposed, the judgment which cannot be evaded.

In the New Testament, this name is not common, but it does occur, primarily in The Revelation. This, if our lexical references are to be accepted is fitting, as the name tends to find its place in the more poetic sections of Scripture, and in its way, one could account the apocalyptic text that completes the Scriptures as rather poetic. It certainly has the resort to imagery that one might expect in poetry. But, we find it connected repeatedly with other names of God here, most often that formulation, the Lord God. He is the Lord God, the Almighty (Rev 4:8). He is the Almighty; Righteous and True (Rev 15:3). Here is eternal, epitomic, unopposable, but utterly righteous power.

And what have we learned? This God of irresistible power, of unanswerable authority and might, is our God. He is not on our side, but has set us on His. He is God Who goes to war and reigns victorious. He cannot fail to be victorious. To the degree that His war involves us, because He is our God, we can be assured of participation in His victory. This is not, clearly, a declaration that any such war as we choose to involve ourselves in becomes righteous by our involvement. That would be to put us in the seat of God and make Him but another idol that bends to our superior will. But, that is not the God of Scripture. Rather, God Almighty, ‘El Shaddai, is He to whom we must bow down. He is the God to whom even those enemies who do not account Him their God must eventually bend the knee and confess that while He may not be their God, yet He is in fact God, and there is no other.

vi. Lord of lords

That brings us to a title that certainly continues to relate to this idea of primacy in war, but then turns our attention, perhaps, more to the nature of that war. He is God of gods, Lord of lords (Dt 10:17). Whatever earthly powers may reign, God reigns over them. Whatever idols may arise to try and claim His mantel, He is God over them. Consider the actions He takes against Egypt in delivering Israel. As Pastor Dana explained a few years back, this was a battle of gods. Every action taken by God against Egypt was an action taken against one or more of their idolatrous gods. God was declaring for all to see that He alone is God, and there is not nor can there be any other. The same plays out, in its own way, with Paul addressing the crowds in Athens. Like Pharaoh before them, it seems they did not choose to listen, at least so far as any immediate evidence is to be found. But, that does not alter the case. God was, in the establishing of the Church, casting down the gods of Greece and Rome alike, and for Rome, that pantheon included Caesar himself – again, not so far removed from the idolatries of Egypt.

To this day, those who refuse God complain of His claims to exclusivity. It’s funny, in a perverse sort of way, that fallen man is perfectly fine with exclusivity contracts in the petty affairs of life, and yet finds it so offensive that God, a being infinitely greater and infinitely holier than man, should make claims of exclusivity. But, I maintain that by very definition, by the very concept of what it means to be God, His claim must necessarily be exclusive. This does not, obviously, prevent others from making their claims.

We have plenty to choose from in our own day, and not all of them admit to what they are claiming. Some are obvious. Allah of the Muslims, Brahma et al of the Hindi, Buddha of the Buddhists; all of these lay clear claims of deity. Others are not far removed, for example the various animistic or ancestrally based religions of those we deem rather more primitive. But, the ever so advanced modern man of science is really no different, except that he would prefer you not suppose him religious. Yet, his god is clearly found in science, reason, and, if probed a bit further, self, or at least humanity. It may require a supposition of humanity in some supposedly more ideal form, if the devout believer in humanism allows himself an honest assessment of humankind as he finds them. But, he will not be shaken of his idol. It can be more abstract still, as we make our particular pursuits, or our particular sins idols. We may even make our chosen forms of worship idols, which may be the single most dangerous form of idolatry we could find to practice.

Even so, for all the false gods that have been sown into our collective consciousness, for all the many and sundry cheap imitations that Satan has brought into being over the eons, the facts of the matter remain unaltered, inexorably True: The LORD God, the Almighty is King of kings, Lord of lords, He who is the blessed and only Sovereign (1Ti 6:15). Let me continue with Paul’s thoughts from that place. He alone possesses immortality (1Ti 6:16a). There’s a thought that bears consideration for those inclined to be overly impressed with angelic spirits. Per this declaration, they do not possess immortality, only God. He alone dwells in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen or can see (1Ti 6:16b). This is not to say that God is the sole occupant of heaven. That is quite clearly not the case, as we have several texts with visions of heaven, and these invariably include a host of angelic beings around His throne, worshiping Him, including those saints who have departed this life. So, that is not the point. It is not that heaven is itself a place of unapproachable light, although I would suggest that as He dwells there, it is in fact unapproachable to sinful man. But, the image speaks not of His location, but of His holiness. His holiness is so pure it burns. His holiness is so pure that it cannot tolerate the presence of sin. It must burn the sin away, which would be the utter destruction of the sinner, unless God intervened to bring purification by other means.

God is Lord of lords. He is King of kings. This is assurance that God will overcome His enemies, every one (Rev 17:14). They continue to wage war against the Lamb. That has to have been evident to all with eyes to see these last few weeks, as the enemies of God assaulted churches as they celebrated the resurrection of the Lamb. But, while they may cause a few deaths here and there, burn down a church or two here and there, they cannot be victorious. God will in fact overcome His enemies, every one. As to those Christians who have died, it has been to them ultimate gain. That is the confession of Paul, and of every believer. To cling too hard to this life in hopes of some immortality in this present flesh is to have utterly, embarrassingly missed the point. These are those for whom flesh and blood has become their idol. Perfect health and life in the present, fallen world have become their idols. “For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Php 1:21). That is the confession of Paul, and it is the confession of every believer. It is not a death wish, or an urge to suicide. It is recognition that we are in this life so long as the Lord of lords finds it expedient for us to remain. If we remain, it is because we have work to do in His purpose, works that He has created for us, and for which He has created us. If we die, we die. But, that is not the end. It is, if anything, the beginning. It is entrance into the real presence of this God who dwells in inapproachable light. It is our completion. It is to begin existence in a sin-free state, in which we shall abide with Him forevermore. It is, therefore, a thing devoutly to be wished, that we might complete our earthly task to the glory of God, and then enter into our rest in the glory of God.

[04/30/19]

While this name addresses the stature of our God and His exalted position and power, other names speak to the extent of His supremacy, the bounds, were there any, of His kingdom. We see hints of that already in the names Lord of lords and God of gods. Wherever there is a lord, a king to be found, there God reigns over that king and his kingdom. Wherever a god is found being worshiped, there God is True God, and must be acknowledged as God even by that one being worshiped. I do not suggest that this acknowledgement comes willingly or immediately, but it will come. That is the sum of that most wonderful declaration that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Christ as Lord (Isa 45:23, Ro 14:11). Yes, I am inserting Jesus Christ into that declaration in this case, but only because Scripture has done so already.

But, consider as well, that even so far back as Genesis 24:7 we are informed that this God, this Yahweh, is God of heaven. Pagan cultures looked at heaven as the realm of the gods. Think about Greek mythology with its Mount Olympus reaching into the heavens, where dwelt the gods. Or, think of Egypt with its sun god, and so on. But, God, the True God, reigns over the heavens, as well as the earth. We find reference to this fact in many places, but one will suffice. Joshua, assigned the task of leading Israel into the Promised Land after the death of Moses, has been given the instructions for how the people will enter into that land. It has a rather marvelous resemblance to the manner in which they left Egypt in the first place. There, they had crossed the waters of the Red Sea on dry land because of God in their midst. Here, they shall cross the Jordan on dry land with the visible token of God’s presence in their midst. Joshua gives instruction to the people with these words. “Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over ahead of you into the Jordan” (Josh 3:11). Here it is Adonai kol ‘erets. That’s not one, I think, that you will commonly find assessed as a name of God, but I think it fits. He is about to demonstrate His rule of the earth by once more commanding the waters of the Jordan to ‘stand in one heap’ (Josh 3:13). It’s not enough for them to dry up. That might be written off as a convenient natural occurrence. No, God will command the waters to become their own dam as His people and His presence process through the river.

So, then, He has command of the elements, whether of what we deem the natural, or the supernatural. And of course it is so, for He made them. The maker of a thing assuredly has the right of determining the use of that thing, as the right of command over that thing. There is a marvelous relaying of this fact in Psalm 115. I will quote the last bit. “May you be blessed of Yahweh, Maker of heaven and earth. The heavens are the heavens of Yahweh, but the earth He has given to the sons of men. The dead do not praise Yahweh, nor do those who go down into silence. But as for us, we will bless Yahweh from this time forth and forever. Praise Yahweh!” (Ps 115:15-18). I am inserting the covenant name of the Lord because that is what’s there, and it is well to be reminded that it is He Who is declared maker and possessor, He to whom the praises of His people rise up. I also appreciate the somewhat backhanded assertion that God is no god of the dead, but of the living, even as Jesus will later remind the Jewish leaders (Mt 22:32). With that, the assertion that His people will praise Him forever informs us of another significant fact: The grave is not the end. We see here a declaration of the resurrection, if in very shadowed form.

So, if God is the maker of the heaven and the earth, He is also the maker of those creatures which abide therein. Thus, in Jeremiah God declares Himself to be the God of all flesh, ‘Elohiym kol basar. What a marvelous proclamation! Look, Jeremiah, “I am the LORD”. “I am Yahweh ‘Elohiym kol basar. Is ANYTHING too difficult for Me?” (Jer 32:26). God made it all. He rules it all. His power is beyond sufficient to drive it all as He pleases. Jeremiah may not have been enjoying his role. I would be concerned if he did, for his role was to announce the inescapable punishment coming upon his own kinsmen, upon the nation which God had declared His own. This was not a happy task. But, God assures him that even with the severity of the punishment to come, Israel will not be destroyed utterly. “For thus says the LORD, ‘Just as I brought all this great disaster on this people, so I am going to bring on them all the good that I am promising them’” (Jer 32:42). His control extends to both pieces of the matter. He is able to bring the punishment required of His justice. He is able to bring about the salvation desired of His love.

I will add one more title to those describing the reign of God and its extent. His reign extends over the spirits of those who speak for Him. I should have to add it extends over the spirits of those who only claim to do so, but that is to their sorrow. Here, I am more interested in God’s reign over His spokesmen. “These words are faithful and true” He says through the words of His angel (Rev 22:6). “And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must shortly take place.” This is something the one who would speak for God must recognize. He is not his own man. He is not granted permit to speak as he pleases. He cannot blithely claim to authority of God backing his words except those words truly be spoken by God’s command. God reigns. The prophet does well to recall that, and take care.

If we cast our eyes across the prophets of the Old Testament, I think we see that this was very well understood. It was a rather fearsome thing to be entrusted with the command to go and speak for God. Oh, there were plenty of false prophets out there, claiming authority that they did not in fact possess. There were plenty who practiced dark arts and could pronounce some potentially accurate information to those foolish enough to consult them. But, they were not prophets. They did not speak for God, because God very clearly did NOT authorize them in their speaking. This is not to say He was not in control of things, for He remains God of all flesh, Maker of heaven and earth. But, as Paul observes, some He makes for honorable use, and some for destruction (Ro 9:21-22). What of it? God is not ashamed to admit this is the case. It’s not clear to me why so many who claim to know and love Him are, other than that they have tried to fashion Him into their preferred image. But, that won’t work. He is God of the spirits of the prophets. If we fancy ourselves possessed of that gift, then we, too, ought to desire most sincerely that our words be His words only, and nothing of our own imagining. That way lies death everlasting. Far be it from us, then, to speak so cavalierly and claim our every whim as His information on events of no consequence.

If, in fact, we serve the God who reigns over heaven and earth, over all flesh and all spirit, over every claimant to authority or power in any form, how dare we suppose ourselves in position to dictate terms? How dare we to approach this Lord of lords, God Most High with anything other than fear and trembling, with a gut-deep, heartfelt concern that we address Him as befits His great worth, that we declare nothing about Him but what He says of Himself? How dare we so blithely to spout off our light opinions and imaginings and think to claim any authoritative value to them at all, apart from what they can demonstrate as a God-spoken basis? “THESE words are faithful and true,” because the God of the spirits of the prophets has ensured it is so. It is not because those prophets had such careful control of their tongues and their pens. It is because God had control of them. He saw to it that their writings were faithful and true. He did so in order that we might have a certain, assured record of what is faithful and true. He did so in order that we might have a foundation upon which to arrive at a declaration, “This I believe.”

vii. Everlasting God

[05/01/19]

With the last name, or set of names, I considered the extent of God’s reign as to its physical dimensions, and super-physical as well, for lack of a better term. Now, I look to those names that speak to the temporal, and extra-temporal extent of His reign. Here, we have primarily the name Everlasting God, `El `Owlam (Ge 21:33). I love that this term derives from the idea of a vanishing point. Look so far as you may into the past. God is there. Look so far as you may into the future. God is there. Just as there is no place where He is not God, and no creature over whom He does not reign, so too His reign has no beginning, no end.

This is the idea that so captivates our attention when we encounter Melchizedek. Unlike any other in the book of Genesis, he comes with no genealogy. We learn nothing of his years or his progeny. He just arrives on the scene, delivers the blessing upon Abram, and then is never heard of again. He has, we might say, no beginning, no end. Now, whether he is in fact an appearance of Everlasting God, I cannot say, but that he bears this stamp of eternality is clear. David makes it clear in the Psalms. “The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind, ‘Thou art a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek’” (Ps 110:4). There is much to be said in that statement, not least that early on there was a sense of there being a priesthood superior to that of Aaron. To my mind, there is one priest who fulfills that order, and that is our High Priest, Jesus Christ, who is declared of that order. He could not be of the Aaronic order. His lineage, so far as His humanity is concerned, traces to Judah, not Aaron. So the author of Hebrews makes it clear. “… another priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become such not on the basis of a law of physical requirements, but according to the power of an indestructible life” (Heb 7:15-16). An indestructible life… eternality defined. And so, said author concludes, “So much the more also Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant” (Heb 7:22). He continues forever, as God continues forever. Of course He does. He is God!

Here is your Everlasting God, your Everlasting King, as Jeremiah addresses Him. It is often the case, when we find God’s people speaking of Him, the names pile up, and it is certainly so for Jeremiah. “The LORD is the true God. He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure His indignation. Thus you shall say to them, ‘The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens’” (Jer 10:10-11). There is so much power in that declaration! He is Yahweh, the Self-Existent Supreme God of All. He is the True God, ‘Emeth ‘Elohiym, as utterly trustworthy as He is eternally exalted. He is Chay ‘Elohiym, God alive, living, and indeed the source of Life. Think Jesus and His amazing claims, which we shall address in due time, but for the moment, “I AM the Life!” He is alive then. He is alive now. He is alive wherever one thinks to examine along the timeline of existence. Indeed, before the world was, He is alive. When this world has ceased to be, still He is alive. And through it all, this utterly trustworthy, self-existent, God remains King, melek `owlam.

David saw this as well. “The LORD sat as King at the flood. The LORD sits as King forever” (Ps 29:10). That doesn’t quite take us to the ‘before creation’ point, but considering the extent of the destruction that came of the Flood, it may as well have taken us back before Eden. The point is the same. He is King, ever has been King, and ever shall be King. He is, as Jesus proclaims to John in the Revelation, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end (Rev 1:8). He is the Ancient of Days (Dan 7:9). He is my Rock, cela`, a fortress that stands forever (Ps 18:2). Elsewhere, in 2Samuel 22:2, the term is tsuwr, but the meaning is the same: A cliff, a refuge.

The thing about a rock, particularly one such as a cliff, we see it as something that will remain forever. It has that idea of permanence to it. Wood may rot and dirt erode, but a rock remains. Of course we discover that this is not so true as we like to believe. On the local scene, the Old Man of the Mountain, up in New Hampshire, is no more. He was a rock, a fixture in the minds of generations, but even that granite cliff, so permanent in our thoughts, is no more. But, God Is. The mountain chains, for all that they impress, will eventually be worn down or tossed down. Everything that seems so fixed and final to us in this created order will likewise come to an end in due time, in God’s time. He created it. He determined the number of its days, and all the busy machinations of man will not alter that schedule one whit. Our Maker, the Eternal, Living King, the Rock, has the only say in the matter.

I would have us consider that, as I wrap up this group of names. He is our Maker, `Asah. Look around you. For all that, look at yourself. In this ultimate sense, at least, President Obama was correct. “You didn’t make that.” No, indeed, Mr. President. Neither did the powers of human governance. No, God made that. God made you. God made me. This eternal, living King of all creation throughout all time; He reigns. He alone reigns. Who is the King of glory? Yahweh `iszzuwz gibbowr, God, the Eternal Victorious Warrior, Lord of Hosts. Yahweh gibbowr milchamah, Victorious in battle (Ps 24:8). But, Oh! He is Melek Chabod. His reign is weighty, majestic. His glory, as His reign continues forever, as it ever has done. He is my Rock because He is the True God, who reigns forever over all of heaven and earth, unopposable in His Power, unquestionable in His judgments, and perfectly, utterly Holy in His Righteousness.

viii. Holy One

[05/02/19]

Another name we find given to God is ‘the Holy One’, qadowsh. This speaks to the purity, the holiness of God, Who is exalted in holiness, supreme in holiness as He is in power and in authority. There is none more holy. There is in His person a perfection of holiness in which nothing is lacking nor could anything be found to add. Elsewhere, as in Isaiah 24:16, we find a variation on this idea, where He is spoken of as the Righteous One, the tsaddiyq. He is perfectly just More than that, He is Justice.

I see, then, that several threads of implication run through this name, qadowsh. The Holy One is Righteous because His perfect holiness would admit of nothing else. He is Yahweh Tsidqenuw, The LORD our Righteousness. This is a name we find assigned to Him in Jeremiah 23:6. “In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, ‘the LORD our righteousness.’” This name is assigned to that one who is identified as the righteous Branch raised up for David to be king forever (Jer 23:5), and I must observe it is not Jeremiah making this identification, but God. The Holy One comes as the LORD our Righteousness, the righteous Branch, tsaddiyq tsemach.

Remaining focused on this idea of righteousness, we see also that He is addressed as the Judge, and this is well for us to remain mindful of. We read, for example, of Jephthah addressing the Ammonites who had come out to war against Israel. These had come with claims of taking back lands stolen from them by Israel long years past. Jephthah is having none of it. Israel, he points out, has been living in those lands now some three hundred years. He asks a reasonable question. Why did you not come previously to reclaim these lands you say are yours? And why, is the implication, do you suppose I owe them to you, who did not take them from you? “I therefore have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong by making war against me. May Yahweh, the Judge, judge today between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon” (Judg 11:26-27).

Observe. God, being the Supreme Authority, is also Shaphat, the judge who pronounces sentence, who vindicates or punishes as His judgment determines. Whatever the earthly outworking of these things, it is well to remember that the Judge is He Who has declared both the result and the reason. Here is at least a passing basis for the concept of holy war. It is hardly the only basis, but there are those occasions where military might serves in the pursuit of God’s own Justice. One wants to be careful of lightly claiming that authorization, but there are times when it is entirely and rather obviously true. The entire conquest of the Promised Land is quite clearly such a case. This battle against the Ammonites, as it turns out is another. But, it’s not just Israel the nation or Israel the place. It’s not even just Israel the people of God, for God is a Righteous and True Judge. He does not play favorites, even for those He calls His own. If they do what is evil, as the history of God’s people shows, they will know His perfect judgment as well. It’s right there in the covenant He establishes with them. Do right, these blessings accrue to you. Do evil, these curses just as certainly accrue to you.

The holy war is that which God has not merely sanctioned as approving the plans of man, but has actually ordained and in so doing, enlisted man in His service. Again, I come back to that image of the Commander of the hosts of heaven in Joshua. Are you for us or for our enemies? No. That is the thing that defines the nature of the war. God is not pursuing one side’s purposes or the others. God is pursuing His purpose, and it happens to play out in the actions of these two sides. The outcome will be seen to have served His purpose perfectly. This applies as readily to such armies as served Babylon, Assyria, and Rome as to the armies of Israel in her prime. It applies as readily today to the military might of nations, be those nations of evil intent or ostensibly good. Do not presume upon God’s sanction of your battles. Rather, be determined to join only in His.

I observe as well a rather clear comment on the sorts of reparations movements that have suddenly become all the rage in political discourse. Given our past race relations, it is suggested, those of Caucasian descent ought to pay reparations to those of African descent. Why? Because once upon a time some ancestor of yours may or may not have enslaved one of mine. Never mind the improbability of being able to demonstrate conclusively whether this was indeed the case. Never mind that attempting to make such assessments on the basis of nothing other than race is itself an exceedingly racist action, given that many a Caucasian underwent slavery at some point in their lineage, and many an African enslaved others or sold his own people into slavery. But, look at the point made to the Ammonites: It’s been hundreds of years. Neither I, nor any man you see standing here in this army has done any personal injustice to you nor to any man standing in your army. Our personal actions, for which we are personally responsible, have done you no personal harm for which we ought rightly to make amends. Those for whom such claims might have held have long since passed from the scene. To pursue the course of demanding reparations now is itself as sin as great as the crime for which you seek to be repaid. But, enough.

Let me tease out another thread from this name, the Holy One. For, He is indeed Holy, the very epitome and definition of Holy. He is also One. That points us quite directly at the great proclamation of Moses to the Israelites, and to all who follow in the faith of Abraham. “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is One!” (Dt 6:4). Yahweh ‘Elohiym; Yahweh `Echad. How are we to hear this? It’s interesting. For, we recognize that `Elohiym while heard as a singular term is in fact plural, and then we discover that `echad has at root the sense of being united. Our God, the self-Existent God, is united. He is one. Or, we might take the One in an ordinal sense and suppose Him first, but that suggests there are in fact other beings that could reasonably claim to be gods. This I reject. They may claim, but not reasonably. There is One Holy, utterly Supreme, Self-Existent God. He is, as the sole Creator, alone and unique in His Godhead. He is One. At bare minimum, He is united in His Persons – a topic to be addressed in due course, but it’s going to be awhile, given the rate of progress thus far. Historically, it has been maintained that this One is actually to be taken as numerical unity, or we might say singularity. There is only the One.

It is for this cause, I suppose, that we discover that this God, the Holy One, is a Jealous God. This is not just a character trait, it’s a name, and one He gives for Himself. “You shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Ex 34:14). Yahweh whose name is Qanna’. He is Jealous. He is not embarrassed to admit this. He proclaims it as a defining name, a name that declares His nature. He will not share His worship, for there is none to be found who is worthy of Him sharing. There cannot be, for He is Supreme, perfect in Holiness. Who shall be found to compete with His great worth?

This is a point that must impact not only our understanding of Scripture, but our assessment of individuals and their claims. As concerns the Scriptures, we must recognize that where a being accepts worship, and is not decried as a blasphemer or an antichrist for having done so, that one is in fact God – The God, the Holy One whose name is Jealous. This, I should observe, is the reality that resulted in Satan’s ouster from heaven. He provoked Jealous, seeking to claim for himself a portion, or even all of that worship rightly due to God alone. He still does so. Here was the fall of Adam, that he listened to this provoker, and became a provoker of God’s jealousy himself, taking that which was forbidden him in a bid to become a god in his own right.

This is the measure of the man to this day, particularly but not exclusively that man who would claim to serve God. To serve God while seeking acclaim for oneself is no service to God. It is a provocation. To claim to serve God but constantly turn the conversation back on me, me, me; I did this, see how He loves ME, how he blesses ME, how it’s really all about ME, however much I may manage to drag God’s name into it: There is provocation. There is a blatant attempt to take for oneself that worship that is only rightly given to God alone. It matters not if you attempt to drape it in decorative advertisements of your humility. Humility doesn’t require advertising, and in all fairness, cannot exist where it is advertised. Humility pointed out is pride disguised. It’s ME promoting my godhood, not God’s servant proclaiming His. “Thou shalt worship no other god, for the LORD is Jealous.” The first, and probably the last idol that needs to go in pursuit of obedience to God is the idol of self. Could we but destroy that once for all, no other idol, I think, could ever again entice us.

This Holy One, because of His Holiness, because He is the Righteous One, is also our Savior, yasha`, He who frees us, our kinsman Redeemer, ga’al, regaining us as a relative’s property purchased. Now, the prophets saw this as connected to His might, and to be sure, it is. “I will feed your oppressors with their own flesh, and they will become drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine; and all flesh will know that I, Yahweh, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob” (Isa 49:26). That might is required for the battle, and it is assurance of His victory as He fights. But, the battle is joined for the sake of His holiness.

Here I find a thread of thought which needs correcting. There is a tendency, when learning of God as our Redeemer, who purchased us out of slavery to sin, to suppose that He somehow paid Satan in that purchase. The seeming logic of that is easy enough to see. We were slaves to sin, laboring under Satan as our taskmaster. If we were his slaves, then it seems reasonable enough that the one who would make those slaves his own must pay their present owner. But, this supposes a legitimacy to that one’s position in relation to us that simply does not pertain. Even with all that man’s sin has done to grant him power over their lives, still that power is illegitimate, for we had not the legal authority to assign that power to him.

Add to this the reality that we always were God’s legal property, being His creations. He has always had right of us. The same can be said of that cruel taskmaster under whom we found ourselves enslaved. That is not to say that our slavery was a matter in which we passively discovered ourselves entrapped. No, like Pharaoh, like Saul, our hearts may have been hardened by God, but then our hearts were hard already, and dead set on pursuing this dead course. But, in this case, even that slavery which we had pursued for ourselves and in which we had found ourselves utterly entrapped under the great opposer of God’s glory turns out to have been allowed by God in order to demonstrate His glory. His Holiness would show in the pursuit of His plan of Salvation. His Righteousness would be demonstrated in that no law, of which law He is necessarily the progenitor, was broken in the redemption of His fallen creatures.

It is His perfect righteousness, demonstrated in human form in Christ Jesus, which rendered the death of Christ the sufficient atonement for sinful man. It is His perfect Righteousness which made Jesus Yehowshu’a, God saved. This One, the Chosen One, the ekletos ho tou theou, knew no sin, yet took upon Himself the penalty of the sins of all the called, the eklektous, and that penalty was death, for the penalty of sin is always death. Traditionally, that penalty is seen as necessitating an eternal death, insomuch as sin is against the Eternally Self-Existent Holy One, and thus Jesus was necessarily God Eternal Himself. I do not disagree. At the same time, though, I consider that it was not just one death that He had to give in payment, for one death would redeem one sinner, but rather, He died the death of every sinner whom God elected to save. Now I am not at this juncture anywhere near ready to address matters of election. That will have to wait its place. But, see the glory of our Redeemer, who by His infinite death purchased life for so many! Honestly, whether you choose to see His death as paid out for all mankind in all ages, or for the elect in all ages, the phenomenal glory of this act is undiminished, the power of His willing sacrifice is no less awesome either way.

Is it any wonder that we discover in Christ our Master? We were purchased in this act of Righteous, God and Law-honoring redemption. We were saved from ourselves, not by paying off evil but by satisfying the demands of Holy God. It is from His own Justice, that He has redeemed us. It is His own court’s demands that have been paid for our salvation. We were, as it were, dead kinsman, but He repurchased us lest the tribe of the elect be diminished by our loss. There is so much of types and shadows fulfilled in this that it would require another complete study to unfold the matter in proper detail, but suffice it to say that all of Scripture points us to this central moment. All that we learn of Who God Is points us to this central moment. Here is the full picture of God, of man, of God’s purposes in Creation, and His relationship to man in one singular action.

And so, yes, He is our Master, our epistata, for He has paid heavily for the restoration of us, who were already His by right. He is our commander, as was known of Him from of old, but I love this nuance to the Greek term. He is our Teacher. The two thoughts combine in that term, epistata. Ergo, we also know him as Rhabbi, my Master, as teachers of the Jewish school were honored.

We do well to recognize that any teacher is inclined towards the abuse of that honor, and to suppose themselves rightly granted an authority that demands obedience of the student, and in some degree the student, by enrolling under a particular teacher, does grant them that authority, to the degree that it is in the student’s power to grant authority at all. In that society, and in Greek society of the time as well, perhaps others, one was doing so in a very real sense. To enroll under a rabbi, should he accept you as a student, was to submit oneself pretty entirely to his direction. You were effectively a willing servant or slave to the rabbi, as you learned from his word and example alike. But, as I say, a human being, granted such power over another, inclines toward abusing that power. It is no different now. Teachers abuse their power to become indoctrinators, seeking to shape the minds of their students after their own inclinations, for better or for worse. But, I think it would be hard to see the results around us and not recognize that by and large the result is most definitely for the worse.

Not so with Master Jesus, our only Rabbi. He calls to His students and says, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My load is light” (Mt 11:29-30). That is the call of a Master Teacher to his enrollees. It pokes, I think, at the tendency of the rabbinical schools of the time, particularly as the Pharisees tended to populate the rabbinical order. Their yoke was heavy upon the neck, requiring the carrying of loads beyond bearing, loads even the teachers could not carry. Where was the teaching by example in this? It was absent, as it must be. Jesus, on the other hand, promises something wonderful, restful learning under a truly Holy Master.

This Master, this Rabbi, is our King, the One promised us long ago. “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government will rest on His shoulders. And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Pele’ Ya`ats – literally, miraculous resolver, the Mighty God, `El gibbowr – the Almighty Warrior, the everlasting Father, ‘Ab `ad, Prince of Peace, Sar Shalom” (Isa 9:6). What a marvelous Name! What a Name above all names is given to our God! Behold the pronouncement of the coming Christ. He is a Child born, yet He is everlasting Father. He is singularly, clearly identified with God Most High, the Almighty, and yet He is to be born, a son given us to govern us, and that government of which He is king shall be a government of peace, for He is the Prince of Peace.

ix. Prince of Peace

[05/04/19]

If the Lord of Hosts is a name we wish to know well when the battle rages, the Lord of Peace is that name in which we rejoice when the battle is won. The whole of this holds together, as I observed yesterday, in the perfect holiness of the Holy One. Because He is holy, the battles in which we are engaged under His command are holy. That is not to suggest, by any stretch, that any conflict we cause or choose to pursue is by definition holy, for we are by definition quite unholy. This is not – a point I feel it needful to stress repeatedly – God backing our actions. It is our actions in accordance with God’s direction.

Perhaps I need to supply another clarification to my thought, for it is important to recognize that God’s direction no more guarantees the holiness of our actions than does our own. To that end, I point to His use of men like Balaam, or like Nebuchadnezzar to pursue His purposes. Or, we could look with clear eyes at the role played by the Assyrians. These were not good men. Their actions were not good actions. Their goal and intent were not for the good of God any more than they were for the good of God’s people. To be sure, God was directing their actions every bit as much as He directs the whole of creation. He is not an absent landlord over His creation, but is intimately involved in its daily operation, down to the most minute of details. And because He is Holy, because He is Good, even the worst plans of the worst people are turned to His good purpose. That does not excuse their actions, for their plans were for evil. It does however significantly alter the outcome.

But, when we have managed to remain close enough to God that we are indeed serving in His purpose as our purpose, when the battles in which we find ourselves engaged are because we are serving Him faithfully, as opposed to coming because we are rebelliously pursuing our own agenda, then we have this assurance of victory in battle, and the realization of peace in the victory. Perhaps, for many of us, we need to have a more complete realization of this Prince of Peace in order for us to become engaged in His battles.

Gideon is one example of this. As paragons of virtue go, Gideon is not really so very high on the list. As valorous men of action go, again, Gideon is not particularly advanced on that list. But, he is the one God chose for a particular time and place, when the Midianites and Amalekites were harassing the people of God, and the people of God began to call out to Him for aid. The call came to Gideon, but Gideon was busy hiding in the wine press as he threshed his wheat, lest he be seen by these enemies (Jdg 6:11). To this one, cowering in hiding, comes the angel of the LORD with what must have struck Gideon as utterly ironic greeting. “The LORD is with you, O valiant warrior” (Jdg 6:12). You can almost imagine Gideon looking over his shoulder to see who this angel is addressing. Was somebody up there on the rim of the press? Besides that, the evidence is all around him, as Gideon sees it, to indicate that the LORD has quite abandoned His people, else why would these things be happening (Jdg 6:13).

And isn’t that a familiar perspective? This is the propositional logic of unbelief. If God was real, and He was really Good, things like this wouldn’t happen. We hear it with pretty much every natural disaster that strikes. How could a good God let this happen? Well, perhaps because He is Just as well as Good, perhaps because He sees the good that will come of this act, even though you don’t, perhaps because your idea of good is ill-founded in the first place. Man, it seems, is everywhere and always convinced that his wisdom exceeds that of God. Man is everywhere and always proven incorrect in that belief.

At any rate, in this case God does not reject Gideon for his unbelief, but rather accedes to Gideon’s efforts to verify his call, as superstitious as those efforts prove to be. Now, it must be observed that the speaking voice moves from the prophet of the Lord to the angel of the Lord to being the LORD Himself. The LORD looked at him and said, “Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” (Jdg 6:14). Again with the irony, Gideon thinks. What, shall I throw wheat chaff in their faces and take them down? But, that’s the wrong ‘this’ in which to find his strength. The right ‘this’ is stated in what follows, which repeats what was said before. “Have I not sent you?” The strength is in this, “The LORD is with you.” The reality of this may better be viewed in reverse. You will be going with the LORD, at His command on His mission. On that basis – and on that basis alone – victory is assured.

It takes him awhile, but eventually Gideon gets it. And when he does, he offers sacrifices to this angel of the LORD which is the LORD Himself. How do we know? Because the ‘angel of the LORD’ consumes the sacrifice Gideon offers (Jdg 6:21). Gideon saw the implications and despaired. “I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!” Clearly, he understood that the angel of the LORD was in fact a visible, tangible manifestation of the LORD Himself. So, as the LORD speaks to him saying, “Peace to you, do not fear; you shall not die” (Jdg 6:23), he builds an altar to the LORD and named that altar, “The LORD is Peace” (Jdg 6:24) Yahweh Shalom.

Stop now and consider the significance of shalom. It begins with a sense of safety, and no doubt that is primarily where Gideon’s thoughts are at that moment. I will not die for having seen this One. I will not die for doubting Him and delaying for these tests of His veracity. He had reason to fear, I think, having challenged the veracity of God the Truth. I have to think that in that moment he saw his own sinfulness more clearly than ever, and saw as well the holiness of the Holy One more clearly than ever. This was indeed cause for great fear. Surely death was come for him. But instead, God speaks life. Yes, here is the Lord is Peace even on the eve of what must have seemed to Gideon a wholly hopeless battle. And as the record shows, it was more than enough to steel him for that battle, seeing as the battle belonged to the Lord, as it ever has.

That name of Peace, though, identifies much more than merely being safe, as significant as that is. It has as well the sense of completeness, soundness, and health to it. Peace connects with ideas of prosperity insomuch as prosperity cannot be realized or enjoyed in times of conflict. If one is engaged in battle, he cannot tend to the vines. If one is away on the fields of battle, he cannot be gathering the harvest from the fields of home. But, in these times of conflict, we serve the Lord of Peace, the one upon whom rests the governance of the nations, of the world and all that is in it, of the universe and all it contains. If it be found that modern ideas of a multiverse are in fact correct, it will also be found that He is Lord of all those universes every bit as much as He is of this one. It changes nothing. There is one God. There can be only One.

And this God, this Prince of Peace is our Wonderful Counselor, as we saw. He is our Shepherd, an image that I think we fail to understand as we ought to understand it. All will be familiar with the beginnings of Psalm 23. “The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not want” (Ps 23:1). That is not to say we don’t want our Shepherd, although I would happily argue that up to the point that He called us, this was assuredly true. But, rather, it is the assurance that He is ever with us, ever watching over us, ever watching out for us. He leads us by still waters, lest we find ourselves trapped in currents we can’t fight. He leads us to green pastures, to ensure our provision.

Thus, I would include Yahweh Jireh, the LORD provides, under this concept of ruling us in peace. Our welfare, our prosperity is seen to by our Shepherd. He brings us to the fold. He camps in the gate, lest we wander. He sees off (think of the example we have in David coming to fight Goliath) those who would come to tear and destroy. His rod and His staff, they comfort me. I recall the reading I did on that text not so very long ago. In that image we have both weapons to fend off those who would come to tear us, and tools for our own discipline when we become foolish and act towards our own destruction.

It ought to amaze us no end that this Prince of Peace who is our Shepherd and our Provide is the very Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (Jn 1:29). There is your Holy One once again. That image is one clearly linked to the observation of the Passover feast, and we discover the connection that much more clearly as we observe the hour of His sacrifice. Our Shepherd laid down His perfect, sinless life to save His sheep and ensure their Peace.

This was the ultimate provision, meeting our most fundamental need. After all, all the provision in the world would be to no good purpose if we were left in our sins. Death would still be the penalty and it would still be eternally permanent. With that, I would turn our attention to another of the names I include under this aspect of peace. He is the Lord your Healer (Ex 15:26), Yahweh raphah. He mends. He cures. And if I may, I think the KJV actually hits this one out of the park with the translation He ‘makes whole’. It’s not just an addressing of colds or aches and pains or what have you. It’s not even just addressing serious maladies like cancer. God may very well opt to do such things, but perfect physical health was never the guarantee, nor can it be the main point.

Let’s consider that passage in which we meet Yahweh Raphah. It comes at a site of rebellion in Israel. They are out in the wilderness – and I would stress out there with the very visible, very manifest presence of God accompanying in the pillar of fire by night smoke by day. It’s not as though they had cause to think themselves left to their own devices. My goodness! They had just seen the whole army of Egypt swallowed up in the Red Sea at the direction of this God who was so clearly with them a mere three days past (Ex 15:22). They had sung songs to mark this great victory, proclaiming, “The LORD shall reign forever and ever” (Ex 15:18). And three days later, they’re ready to toss it all because they’re thirsty, and they don’t see God’s immediate provision at hand. Where’s the easy life, Moses? We want the easy life!

God was once again compassionate and gracious to this people in spite of themselves, and provided water, water that by some accounts accompanied them on their wanderings for the next thirty years, such that they never need ask again what was to drink. But, observe. Because of this, God established a relatively straightforward law for them. “If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, and your Healer” (Ex 15:26).

[05/05/19]

I cannot help but observe that on the occasion of God addressing His people by this name, there was not any apparent physical ailment that needed His attention. Indeed, He utters this name in conjunction with a conditional promise that He won’t afflict His people with the sorts of diseases with which He had afflicted the Egyptians. These, one observes, were not run of the mill human ailments, nor even ailments of a less common sort. They were afflictions that were beyond human arts to address. If they were to be healed, it would require divine intervention. That being the case, I cannot look at this passage as advocating that God has promised His people, even His obedient people, if such can be found, perfect health all their days. What He has done is to emphasize the necessity of obedience to the Almighty, the Holy One.

There is a fine balance to be maintained here. God can and does heal. That this is the case is demonstrated repeatedly throughout the pages of Scripture, from start to finish. But, it is equally clear that physical healing, as wonderful as it is to us should we experience it, is not the point even of those acts of healing, any more than disease was the point of God afflicting the Egyptians. Those afflictions were not meted out because they weren’t taking sufficient care of themselves, and they weren’t meted out simply to demonstrate that they were not among the elect. They were meted out for one purpose, to turn attention back to God, and to obedience to God. The application is no different amongst believers and unbelievers. The outcome, it is devoutly to be hoped, is. The unbeliever, though afflicted ever so much, will not, indeed cannot turn to God and seek healing in the only place it can be found. Indeed, the unbeliever, even if he should cry out to God, remains too focused in the symptoms of affliction to recognize the healing that is so desperately needed.

Sadly, for many a believer, the same holds too much of truth in it. Many a believer will look at a passage such as this and see nothing more than the name. They will neglect the situation and simply take this as a promise of divine health. They will look at the healing miracles of Jesus and fail to see the full significance, taking away only an inferred promise that they, too, are assured of healing as concerns their physical maladies. And if those maladies continue, what can it mean? It may be that they will conclude their faith is insufficient, which it no doubt is. However, rather than turning them to God their Healer, it turns them inward, to greater efforts at belief, whatever that may look like. They may take to chasing ‘miracle cures’, things that make all manner of claims, even spiritual claims, but are quite certainly not God, and almost as certainly not going to work.

Those miracles were to a purpose, and that purpose was nothing so small as an individual’s physical health which, having been granted, was still going to leave that one prone to death, even assured of death, so far as this present, material world is concerned. What’s so grand about that? Oh, look, I’m healthy! No you’re not. You’re still numbered amongst the walking dead, and the grave remains just as certain an outcome as ever. Physical health, it turns out, can become, and for vast swathes of the population has become an idol. It becomes a matter of greater concern and greater notice than God. We develop rituals of exercise, rituals of diet, rituals of potions and notions and positive thinking and pretty much anything else we can concoct by which to worship the idol of health, and God gets second mention at best. And this, we suppose, honors God? No, it utterly misses God. God is far more honored, I conclude, by the one who, in spite of lifelong malady, holds fast to their Savior, content to know that He has their eternity well in hand.

These know, as the healthy do not, the Lord their Healer. These know the disease that needed healing, else all health is pointless, is sin. Sin was at issue there in the desert, when the people expressed their distrust of God when He was quite visibly present with them. How were they going to fare when that physical reminder was gone, and faith required believing things not seen? Their sin was one of distrust. The healing that was necessary was a reshaping of the heart, a replacing of the heart. That is always the necessary cure for our great disease of sin.

As long as we’re here, I suppose we might as well consider that other favorite of the health crowd, Isaiah 53:5. “But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.” It really isn’t that difficult to see that there is nothing here to do with physical maladies, except as those maladies concern our chastening, disciplinary actions undertaken by our loving Father. If one but recognizes the tendency for poetic parallelism in Hebrew writing, it is pretty clear that all four clauses of this verse are making the same fundamental point. He was pierced, He was crushed, He was chastened, He was scourged… These are all of a piece, and point to the actions of punishment. Our transgressions, our iniquities… these are the disease of sin, the root issue. Our well-being, our healing… these can only be found when that root issue has been addressed, and that is what is addressed at the Cross. There upon the Cross in that moment, in the grave for the days that followed, and now Risen and seated on His eternal throne, is Yahweh Rapha, who has achieved the cure of sin for all who are His own.

Clearly, that cure is not an immediate cure, but a slow-acting medicine which will take our lives to fully achieve its purpose. What is that to us? We have eternity ahead of us, and the assurance that Yahweh Rapha HAS healed. Entrance into the new heavens and new earth, wherein no sin is found, nor any lingering effect of sin, requires it, and He has assured us, promised us, that this will be our home, wherein He has gone ahead to make a place for us. Our Shepherd has gone ahead to ensure the field and the fold are fully prepared. Our Healer has been with us even to the end of the age to ensure that we, His sheep, are fully prepared. The Holy One, whom none can see and live because their sin would require immediate judgment in His presence, shall be seen, for we will be made like Him.

“Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1Jn 3:2-3). This we cannot do except Yahweh Rapha has already healed the rebel heart. This has nothing of physical health to it, nor does it lend itself to any sense of us seeking or expecting eternal life in this body. No, this body must undergo its own resurrection and renewal. This imperfect must be transformed. This temporal frame cannot begin to bear eternity. But our loving Husband, our caring Father, has seen to it already. Our Healer, Who has already mended the heart and transformed the soul, will finish that transformative, perfecting work on the Last Day, when it’s time to come home. O Glorious Day!

x. Our Father

[05/06/19]

The last name I wish to consider here is that which may be, probably should be the most surprising of the names given us by which to address God Most High; the name, Our Father. Now it seems to me this name reflects an understanding which developed over long ages. It’s not something we see expressed directly in the earliest texts, nor even much in the Old Testament at all. What we do see there is this idea of the God of your father, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of your father David, and so on. This in part reflects the patriarchal nature of the social order of that time. The god of your father was almost by definition your god as well, whether that god was God or that god was some pagan idol. A father’s influence was significant, and to be a proper son indicated that one had taken on much of one’s father’s beliefs and practices as one’s own. That has much to say about us in our position. It also has much to say about who this God is.

We get the vaguest of hints of this fatherly nature of God as He rebukes Job, although the focus is not on their relationship at that juncture, but rather the sheer distance between God and man, so far as knowledge and capability are concerned. “Has the rain a father? Who has begotten the drops of dew? From whose womb has come the ice? Who has given birth to the frost of heaven?” (Job 38:28-29). There is a claim in that which goes beyond that of Creator. For the only viable answer to that whole series of questions, as well as the encompassing barrage of similar questions is, that yes, they do have a father, and their father is God. If, then, these inanimate forces of nature, as we might call them, have God as their father, certainly man, as the pinnacle of that creation, likewise as God as his father.

David saw it quite clearly, I think. “A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows is God in His holy habitation” (Ps 68:5). Yet it remains the case that he would seem to have seen only in part. He saw a father, but only to those in need. Did he yet understand that all were in need? Perhaps he did, but his focus is on exalting the Lord, and extolling His virtues, which are many. A later psalmist, Ethan the Ezrahite, had a similarly clear, if restricted view of this point. "I will sing of the lovingkindess of the LORD forever,” he writes (Ps 89:1). His psalm, it must be observed, switches rather swiftly to the prophetic voice; God speaking directly to His people, rather than the psalmist singing to God. That this is, then, a Messianic psalm is soon blatantly obvious. “I have made covenant with My chosen; I have sworn to David My servant, ‘I will establish your seed forever, and build up your throne to all generations’” (Ps 89:3-4). The psalmist continues with interleaved bursts of praise to God, and messages from God. In this latter context we arrive at this declaration. “He will cry to Me, ‘Thou art my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.’ I also shall make him My first—born, the highest of the kings of the earth. My lovingkindness I will keep for him forever, and My covenant shall be confirmed to him” (Ps 89:26-27).

Now, we can argue as to whether this psalm addresses David and his line, or Messiah and His line, or perhaps both. But, for the purpose of my discussion here, we see this first sense of God is my Father, albeit with a very limited application, whether that be to the literal David or to the greater David to come. It’s not until we arrive at the prophets that we start to see this more widely applied. It’s there in that marvelous burst of names that Isaiah proclaims as he looks forward to the day of Messiah, where we find amidst that list the name, Eternal Father (Isa 9:6). And later we see him expand on this point just a bit, “Thou art our Father, though Abraham doesn’t know us and Israel doesn’t recognize us. Thou, O LORD, art our Father, our Redeemer from of old is Thy name” (Isa 63:16).

I observe that this is not a particularly happy piece of prophecy, but depicts instead God come from a place of punishing vengeance. His garments are red with the blood of His enemies. Perhaps, given He is coming from Edom, this is actually good news for Israel, but it is also, I think, dire warning. “I looked, and there was no one to help, and I was astonished that there was no one to uphold; so My own arm brought salvation to Me and my wrath upheld Me” (Isa 63:5). This does not speak well of the people who would be known as sons of God. Isaiah recognizes this, I think, and is quick to speak of God’s lovingkindess, His goodness towards Israel. “For He said, ‘Surely they are My people, sons who will not deal falsely.’ So He became their Savior” (Isa 63:8). Sadly, that is not the culmination of the story. “But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. Therefore, He turned Himself to become their enemy. He fought against them” (Isa 63:10). It seems Isaiah is more or less cataloging Israel’s history in short form. We could add, perhaps, a “Rinse, lather, repeat,” to it. It is recognition of all that God had done historically, and all that Israel had done – to their shame – which moves Isaiah to make that declaration of God’s fatherhood. Abraham, he is saying, wouldn’t recognize us as his children, for we have failed to prove ourselves sons of Abraham. Yet, this holds: You are our Father, our Redeemer.

The whole of this passage lays out the same case that the Reformers press home over and over again. It’s not about you and your works. It can’t be, for your works earn only one thing, and that isn’t salvation. But, God, by His own right arm, brings salvation to Himself. God continues to be faithful to His people in spite of their constant rebellion against Him, and negligence toward Him. I have to observe at this point where Isaiah proceeds from this point. “Why, O LORD, does Thou cause us to stray from Thy ways? Why dost Thou harden our heart from fearing Thee?” (Isa 63:17a). For those that think Calvin and Luther made up this idea God is in control even to this severe degree, and that the reprobate can in no way hope to shift is lot except God does it for him, here is Isaiah making much the same point. God not only prevented their changing, He caused the straying. That did not relieve them in any way of their moral responsibility for straying, for in hardening their hearts and causing them to stray, God did nothing more than to withhold that influence which might have led them to act against their natural predilections. “But now, O LORD, Thou art our Father. We are the clay, and Thou our potter, and all of us are the work of Thy hand” (Isa 64:8). Oh, amen!

Jeremiah has a similar observation of God as Father, and from the mouth of God Himself. Then I said, “How I would set you among My sons and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of the nations!’ And I said, ‘You shall call Me, My Father, and not turn away from following Me’” (Jer 3:19). Or, much later, “For I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is My first-born” (Jer 31:9). At the close of the Old Testament, we see it again, and not in a happy light. It does, however, provide some additional light on what it means to have God as Father. “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? If I am a master, where is My respect?” So says the LORD of hosts to those priests who despise His name, though they protest otherwise (Mal 1:6). He later rebukes his people. “Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?” (Mal 2:10). There is, then, this combined image of the God of the fathers, and God as their father.

This is not to say they supposed themselves imbued with godlike powers, or that they supposed themselves to possess God as progenitor in the fashion of the Greek Titans or some such. This is a view of God as the Father, a view of God as Master. You see those two combined in Malachi’s words. It is a title of command and authority, as we may ascertain from its association with the LORD of hosts. That whole chain of names relates to authority. The son is expected to embody the ideals of the father. That is what makes him a son. It’s not a matter of mere genetics. It’s a matter of moral shaping and commitment. It’s a matter of following in the ways of the father and making them one’s own.

This plays into that role of the Rabbi that we considered earlier, and explains, I think, why Jesus insisted His disciples not address any other as Rabbi or Father. It’s not that they were to refuse acknowledgement to their parents, and it’s not that they were never again to have teachers. It’s speaking to authority, not labels. This moves us into the New Testament, where it seems we find this idea of God our Father far more prevalent.

[05/07/19]

Here, we find that the Israelites still have the sense of God as the Father, but the tendency is to consider Abraham as father. We find this in the example given in John the Baptist’s address to the people. “Don’t suppose you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham” (Mt 3:9). If there was understanding amongst the Jews that God is Father to His people, it seems to have been only in the most theoretical sense. Consider that a portion of their offense at Jesus was that He was calling God His own Father (Jn 5:18). Now, I grant that they had specific concern here, that in doing so He was making Himself equal with God. But, then, He is equal with God, being God Himself.

To our present point, however, I observer that as often as Jesus speaks of God as His Father, He is forever making the stunning point that God is our Father. Consider the whole flow of the Beatitudes. “I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good. He sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Mt 5:44-45). Hear that message! God is your Father, therefore behave as His sons. Here is the Truth. Now act like it!

Pray to your Father (Mt 6:6), your Father knows what you need, so there’s no need for lengthy, repetitive pleadings. He is your Father, not your cruel taskmaster. And so, when His disciples ask how they are to pray, Jesus offers them a model from which to begin, and that model begins with the most marvelous declaration: “Our Father who art in heaven” (Mt 6:9a).

This personalizes the whole affair. This God, this Self-Existent, Eternal King of kings, Lord of hosts, God Almighty is our Father! This goes far and away beyond merely pointing to Him as creator. I think perhaps even those who bristled at the claim of Jesus, and instead clung to Abraham as their progenitor comprehended this much in regards to God the Father. I think that may very well have been the sum of their understanding. He is our creator, our Father in that sense, but the same can be said of the evil and the good, man and animal and plant and mineral. So, what sort of distinction is that? Why even bring it up? But, here is the Son of God, proclaiming to His disciples, speak to God as our Father.

I love this! He doesn’t say, pray to your Father. He doesn’t advise them to pray to His Father. The example is a prayer to our Father; God who is mutually, and quite personally, Father to all His children, all those whom He has chosen to adopt as His own. This signifies a massive change in each such individual. God has moved from being the Potter fashioning clay to the Father raising sons. Our Father has not simply created us and turned us loose in the world to sort things out for ourselves. He has modeled before us Who He is, and who we are fashioned to be.

He is our Father, and as such, we learn that our God is, as it is to be hoped our earthly fathers were in their own way, compassionate and gracious. Here is something revealed to Moses long ages past, when he had requested to see God’s glory. “Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth” (Ex 34:6). More follows describing the outcome of the LORD being Who He Is, but that is perhaps the most powerful declaration God makes in regard to His own person. He abounds in chesed. His love towards His children is eternal as He is eternal. His faithfulness and mercy are eternal towards His children as He is eternal. His children may rebel and disobey. Indeed, it is quite certain they do. Yet God remains faithful in His love and His mercy. His children may fail utterly to shape their lives as sons of His, and apart from Jesus have done so universally and without exception. Yet, God does not disown His faithless child. He disciplines. He does what must be done, because that is what Love does. He sees our hopeless estate and rather than shaking His head and walking away, He establishes by His own strength, by His own actions, the way for our restoration, our refashioning into that image for which we were created. Recall the earlier passage. “I bring salvation to Myself.”

Is it any wonder, then, that the Psalmist, looking to his Father, this God Most High, beholds one of whom he speaks as, “my strength and my shield” (Ps 28:7)? As a sun and a shield (Ps 84:11). “The LORD gives grace and glory. No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” Who are they? They are those He has made sons. They are those to whom He truly and most personally has revealed Himself as our Father. He remains, as that psalm continues, the Lord of hosts, but this Lord of hosts, commander of the armies of heaven, the eternally victorious Warrior, is our Father! He provides. He guides. He exemplifies and sees to it that we learn from His example. Our Father has made us who we are. This is more than creation. This is shaping. This is guiding. This is working day by day to fashion and refine, that we may, in the Last Day, stand before Him as those able to look upon Him as He truly is because we have been made like Him, true sons of the True Father. Again, I can’t help but conclude, “O, Glorious Day!”

xi. Son of Man

[05/08/19]

How serendipitous that this morning’s reading in Table Talk has brought me to John 1, wherein I find Jesus speaking of Himself by that most frequently used title of His, Son of Man. In John’s account, that name of our Savior is heard right from the outset. As the first disciples are having their first encounter with Jesus at the place where John the Baptist has been preaching, we find Jesus speaking of Himself thus. They have just seen this One pointed out by John the Baptist as being the Lamb of God, the Messiah, and so have turned to Him as their Rabbi (Jn 1:29-38). It doesn’t take those first two, Andrew and one who goes unnamed, but may be presumed to be John, long at all to conclude that this is in fact Messiah. Whatever it was they spoke of that first evening seems to have been enough, having had that strong introduction from the Baptist. They immediately go and call others, Simon first, and then also Nathanael. Nathanael, though skeptical at first, is quickly convinced. “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel” (Jn 1:49).

It might seem unfair to us that Nathanael doesn’t get the credit for being the one to recognized the deity of Christ, when his confession is quite nearly the same as Peter’s much later confession. Of course, Jesus doesn’t reject that confession. But, he doesn’t tell Nathanael, as He will Peter, that the Holy Spirit has revealed this to him. Perhaps it is because He hears that off note of kingship. Perhaps He finds Nathanael’s confession too reflective of the common misunderstandings that currently informed Israel’s sense of Messiah. But, it is His answer to Nathanael’s confession that brings us here. “Truly, truly, I say to you, you shall see the heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (Jn 1:51).

This is a declaration fraught with historical connections. The imagery takes us back to the Patriarchs, to Jacob’s experience at Bethel (Ge 28:11-22). He is on the run from his brother, from whom he has conned the birthright. Oddly, Esau is a bit unhappy about that. But, Jacob has come to this place and fallen asleep. He dreams. He dreams of a ladder between earth and heaven, upon which angels of God are ascending and descending. This alone, I should think, would be a pretty intensely impressive dream. But, there’s more. Yahweh Himself appears at the head of that ladder, and proclaims His covenant to Jacob. It is a reiteration of the Abrahamic covenant, and identification of Jacob as the next link in that covenant chain. It is a confirmation of that birthright, then, by the only One who matters. “Your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth for number… Behold, I am with you and will keep you, wherever you go… I will not leave you until I have done what I promised.” In response, Jacob sets an upright stone in place, recognizing, “This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” It is thus that the city previously known as Luz is renamed, Bethel, house of God.

Now, Jacob being Jacob, one has to wonder to what degree he was leaving that stone as a landmark. We get a sense of his thoughts. Here is the gateway to heaven. If I ever need God, I can come back to this spot and He’ll be here to aid me. But, God’s promise is much grander than that. “Wherever you go, I am with you.” It will take Jacob awhile to recognize this truth. It will take wrestling with God.

But, our purpose here is to see the image with which Jesus is identifying. I seem to recall a teaching years back that saw this as Jesus identifying Himself as that ladder which connects heaven and earth, and that’s certainly a useful image by which to contemplate the salvific work of Christ and the Atonement. But, I think rather He is looking to relay a grander message. Here is the House of God in the Son of Man. Here is God Incarnate, taking upon Himself a house of flesh to tabernacle amongst His people. I suppose it depends how we view that matter of ascending and descending, and perhaps which term He uses for ‘on’.

As to the latter question, it is epi. That term can mean over, or upon, or towards, or even coming to rest on. Certainly that word could support the idea of Jesus as connective road for angels between heaven and earth, but it could as readily indicate Jesus as that towards which they travel. He being both God and man, I could suggest that whichever way those angels are headed, they are, at that juncture at least, headed toward Him. But, I may be pressing the matter too hard. Either way, whether He intends to relay that He is the ladder, or the place upon which it rests, this much is clear in that message: Here is not a man, but truly the Son of God.

But, whereas Nathanael was ready to identify Him as Son of God, Jesus speaks of Himself not as Son of God, but as Son of Man. Now, that name should reasonably put us in mind of Ezekiel, to whom God often spoke in such terms. “Son of man, stand on your feet” (Eze 2:1). “Son of man, I am sending you” (Eze 2:3). “Son of man, eat” (Eze 3:1). “Son of man, prophesy!” (Eze 11:4). It keeps going, but you get the message. This is the name by which God addresses His spokesman. At minimum, then, I would suggest that Jesus is identifying Himself as a significant prophet. But, I don’t think that’s the whole of it. Rather, I think He expects that name to bring the hearer back to Daniel, the prophet of Messiah. “Behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. To Him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed” (Dan 7:13-14). Yes, Nathanael, the Son of God, the coming King is here, but it’s not just Israel’s king. He is the King of kings!

Yet we learn that the Son of Man, King of the eternal kingdom that encompasses all nations, “is going as it has been determined” (Lk 22:22a). He must be lifted up (Jn 12:34), not to be exalted by man, but crucified at their hands. Yet, the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost (Lk 19:10), and He will be seen coming in a cloud with power and great glory (Lk 21:27). Nathanael, you have the right man, and even the right titles, but the wrong timing. Now, the Son of Man is glorified (Jn 13:31), and that in His death. Yet, death could not hold Him. He Himself descended from heaven (Jn 3:13). He must return hence because while He has fully accomplished His mission in His death and resurrection, yet it is not His day. The day of the Son of Man shall be like the days of Noah (Lk 17:26). All will be going on as it always has right up until that moment that the Son of Man is revealed (Lk 17:30). And here is perhaps the most important aspect of all this for us: “From now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God” (Lk 22:69).

What is perhaps most stunning is that this great proclamation is made not to His disciples but to His enemies, the Sadducees and Pharisees of the Sanhedrin who are committed to His destruction (and who, I might add, are themselves committed to destruction for their actions). Hearing this most wonderful message that Messiah is taking His rightful throne, their response is anger. “Are You the Son of God, then?” You see, they know, as perhaps the people in their charge did not, that Messiah is not chiefly a military commander come to throw off Roman rule. He is greater. What exactly they thought to encompass in the term Son of God we cannot say. But, one thing is clear. They knew it implied deity. When Jesus answers, “Yes, I am”, their reaction is not one of worship, but rather condemnation. They can hear only blasphemy, for they have no concern for truth.

So it is that as Scripture draws to a close, we find this same Son of Man revealed. He is there amidst the lampstands as John opens His revelatory text (Rev 1:13). Here is the message, and it holds to this very day. Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of Man, is in the midst of His Church. He has not abandoned or neglected that which He established, but is in fact working in and through that establishment even now. Then once more we see Him, this Son of Man who is the Lamb of God. “I looked, and behold! A white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head, and a sharp sickle in His hand. And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, ‘Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, and the harvest of the earth is ripe.’ And He did” (Rev 14:14-16). This is not the end, for there remains the full outworking of God’s wrath upon the condemned, but the redeemed are in heaven, singing the song of the Lamb, while they await the new Jerusalem.

With that, I have wandered far into territories reserved for much later in this effort. But, behold! The Son of Man has come; the Eternally Victorious Lord has conquered even death. He has ascended to His throne, and when He comes once again upon the earth in bodily form, it shall be to bring the whole matter to its fitting close: The redeemed resurrected bodily to a sinless life in His presence, the reprobate relegated to the Lake of Fire for an eternity under God’s wrath for sin, and the new heavens and the new earth established once for all to enjoy the full and unopposed reign of its glorious King of kings, the Lamb of God, the Prince of Peace, the Son of Man who is the Son of God.