God Gives the Increase

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“For the LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth.” Psalm 47:2

The inspired writer of Genesis includes a lengthy introduction to Abram’s victory over the kings of the land, a closer look at their names reveals much about how God views the kingdoms of this world.

Amraphel is a sayer of darkness and fall of the sayer, Arioch is lion-like, King of Ellasar or chastened by God, Chedorlaomer is a handful of sheaves, King of Elam or “eternity,” Tidal is a “great son,” King of nations usually of non-Hebrew people.

Here with a word picture is the history of the world; we live in a fallen world filled with deception and lies, propagated by false prophets of darkness. “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened” Romans 1:21.

The history of the world is the warring of the nations, and after they make war they are chastened by God and loose their position in the world. “…that you should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein: Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.” Acts 14:15-16. (Emphasis added)

After all the warring is over, and the pleasure seeking and fortune hunting ends, it is always true that man is left with a hand full of sheaves for all eternity. “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life?” Matthew 16:26

To rule the nations without the God, who is the ultimate ruler of nations, is foolishness indeed! The Christian should understand that God rules in heaven no matter what it looks like on earth; His plan is coming to pass completely on schedule, He is building His church as He said He would. Nothing and no one can stay His hand or prevent all things He has ordained to be.

Calvary

“And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” John 17:26

In the Gospels, whenever Jesus prays He prays to the Father; and as the only begotten Son of the Father He makes known to us – the Father character of God. As the Father begets the Son, so the Son becomes the Father. Herein is the unity of the Trinity, and the perfect love that binds them together.

Out of a love for the Son, the Father sent Him to redeem sinners so that He (the Son) might bestow upon the Son all the glory due His name. Out of a love for the Father, the Son condescended to become man and redeem sinners, and bestow upon the Father who sent Him the glory due to His name. The circle is complete, God is one, and we are loved in Him and them.

Apart from the redemption plan, God could never love man to the extent He does. “…that the love with which You loved me may be in them…” God loves Christ His Son for who and what He is, Holy, undefiled, separate from sinners, very God of very God, love incarnate, and if I could say all that could be said there would be no end. How could God love man as He loves His Son except the two be made one?

At the cross of Calvary, Christ and man are made one in death, Christ having died for the sins of men; at the empty tomb Christ and man are made one in life, man having been made righteous by the resurrection of Christ. Henceforth, the Father no longer sees man for what He is apart from Christ, instead He sees man in Christ and Christ in Him.  Hence, the Father loves us with that love with which He loves Christ.

The Christian is one who receives love beyond comprehension, it exceeds unconditional love, and even surpasses a love had we never sinned. The love we receive belongs to the Son alone, and yet it is made available to us – sinful men that we are/were!

Best friends are intimate with each other; intimacy is the freedom to share who you are without fear of rejection. In – to – me – you – see is the dynamic of intimacy, that which makes sharing personal. True friendship is a gift from God.

It is difficult for sinful people to accept the fact that God is Lord, and all creation must submit to Him as slaves, it is equally difficult to believe that a holy God would call sinful people His friends. However, that is what Jesus said.

“Greater love has no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not slaves; for the slave knows not what his lord does: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” John 15:13-15

We have all heard it said, ‘You are on a need to know basis, and you do not need to know.’ In a Master slave relationship, you might expect to hear, ‘Do what I say, and do not ask questions.’ Jesus, however, welcomes His slaves into a fuller, richer, and more intimate relationship with Himself. ‘I do not only call you slaves but friends,’ and then He communicates all things that He hears from the Father.

We are not only privileged to be forgiven, adopted into the family of God, made heirs and joint heirs with Christ, but we are made to know God, intimately through His Son. “And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

John 17:26 (Emphasis added)

The Christian is overwhelmed with the prospect of knowing Christ; to know Him is to receive the best in life, and to miss Him is to miss everything of value!

The Old Testament is the story of creation, the fall of man into sin, his guilt before the holy law Giver, and the unfolding of God’s plan to save man from sin. The prophetic message of the messiah is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, which explodes upon the pages of the New Testament. In Christ, truth was heard like never before, and love was seen as only God could personify it.

When we read the Gospels, we behold love, which is freely given, bestowed upon the wicked, and never withdrawn. Christ is the personification of forgiveness, mercy, and compassion, which culminated on a Roman cross as he suffered and died as the sacrificial lamb. As the Gospels close and the Apostles begin to write to their readers the things, which are needful for them to hear, they take up the cause for loving Christ, and not take him for granted.

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Romans 6:1-2

John Newton understood the intent of God’s Grace when he penned the words, “twas grace that taught my heart of fear.” Speaking of guilty sinners in Romans 3, the apostle Paul said, ‘there is no fear of God before their eyes.’ Christ’s acts of love on the cross draws men to love, obey, and submit to God, not take Him for granted. “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace” Romans 6:14.

Christ’s love is unconditional, incomprehensible, and without cost, yet it is anything but cheap.

The Christian is one who grows to appreciate the high cost God paid to love him, and shows his gratitude by word, thought, and deed.

It is harder to get the devil out once you let him in, than to keep him out, with this thought in mind let us consider the words of the apostle Paul. “Do you not know, that to whom you yield yourselves slaves to obey, his slaves you are to whom you obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” Romans 6:16

No one has the option to walk in and out of slavery as if it were just another job; the one who becomes a slave stays a slave unless he is set free by his master or bought by another. The slave owner in Romans 6:16 is either sin or righteousness, as it is written, ‘…his slaves you are to whom you obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness.”

If we willfully sin, that is, plan to before time, make allowance because of grace or any other reason, or excuse ourselves because of some pending circumstance, then we present ourselves to sin. Once we present ourselves to sin, we become the slave of sin. Paul warns us not to become slaves of sin because once enslaved it is difficult to become free.

The child of God is free from sin because of his union with Christ. “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin” Romans 6:5-6.

However, the person enslaved to sin does not easily exercise faith, because he has no spiritual strength to do so. If you are enslaved to a sin set aside prolonged periods of time to pray and fast, so that you might be given the necessary faith to reckon yourself dead to sin and alive to God, by your union with Christ.

The Christian will rise again by faith when knocked down by sin; he is united in Christ’s death, therefore, he will also be united in His resurrection, so that he might not be enslaved to sin!

“Likewise you reckon also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:11

We can reckon ourselves alive unto God because of the power working within us that enables us to call upon Jesus Christ as Lord. “Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine, by the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21

The term for Lord in Romans 6:11 is Kurios in the Greek and refers to one supreme in authority, but more importantly it is slave talk. In the New Testament, the word Kurios (slave) is used 711 times, and always refers to Jesus as Master. Kurios is unequivocal in its meaning according to Kittle, a premiere Theological Greek Dictionary. Kurios has one meaning and that is slave.

In almost all English translations, the word Kurios is translated servant (it might be offensive) except when referring to a specific person, but in reality the word is undeniably “slave.” The New Testament writers had no problem referring to themselves as slaves, “Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ…” Romans 1:1; “James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ…” James 1:1; “Simon Peter, a slave and an apostle of Jesus Christ…” 2Peter 1:1; “Jude, the slave of Jesus Christ…” Jude 1.

The Christian is one who recognizes his life is not his own, he was created, rebelled, and was bought back by the sacrificial death of Christ. Such recognition can only mean one thing – a willful and loving submission to Jesus Christ as Lord and Master.

“Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them. If you buy an Hebrew slave, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.” Exodus 21:1

You do not have to drive down the road very far before you spot a bumper sticker that says, Jesus is Lord; I often wonder if the person truly understands the meaning behind the statement. The word for Lord in the Hebrew is Adonai and it means My Masters; the plural form suggests the Trinity. When referring to men in the Old Testament text it is always in the singular form.

The prominent concept behind the name is that of a master/slave relationship. Following the giving of the law in Exodus 20 is this passage concerning the treatment of slaves among God’s people Israel. Slavery is not discouraged or encouraged in the Bible, nevertheless mistreatment of others is forbidden. The idea of ownership of men by masters is used by God as a description of the relationship between God and men. When the word Lord is spelled with a capital “L” and a small “ord” in the NAS and KJ versions that word is Adonai or ‘My Masters.’ This word signifies ownership, where the slave does not possess rights, privileges or any freedom of his own.

In Exodus 21, the slave has the option to go free after seven years, but if he desires to stay because he loves his master, wife, and children then he can decide to do so. If the slave decides to stay, he must have his ear pierced with an awl, which is a sign that he will stay a willing slave forever. God gives us a picture of willingly giving up all rights to serve Him as a slave for all eternity. If this is a hard concept, stay tuned for future Blogs.

The Christian is one who willingly serves Christ as a slave, out of love, and devotion, where once he was enslaved to sin, and wickedness.

“Do you not know, that to whom you yield yourselves slaves to obey, his slaves you are to whom you obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” Romans 6:16

“who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.” 1Peter 2:23-24

It is hard to believe that God is in control of all things when there is so much evil in the world. There is evil in the world, this is an undeniable fact, how it got here leaves us with only two choices. First, God is sovereign and there is an ultimate and glorious purpose for sin which is to reveal the love and holiness of God, and second, God is not in control but evil men have ceased control for a time. The second choice for understanding why there is sin in the world does not understand God as God, but something less than God.

The biblical understanding of sin is that God in His divine sovereignty permitted it, and thereby willed it, but in His love dealt with it in a most severe way. First, God created hell to punish sinners for eternity; second, God placed upon His only begotten Son the sins of all those chosen to receive His grace and mercy. The revelation of God is costly and it was most costly to the Son of God.

Some will say, ‘how is it most costly for Christ when men will spend an eternity in hell?’ What is being considered in the previous statement is quantity not quality. Men are evil; therefore, they want no part of God, His holiness, law, love, character, and especially Lordship. Christ is the God/man who as the Son of God loves the Father with a love perfect and far-reaching as infinity. Now imagine, as if we could, One with such love and devotion toward God cursed by Him. Only infinite love can know infinite suffering.

The Christian is one who considers the sufferings of Christ infinitely worse than his own, and appreciates them as undeserved, and as a substitute for his sinful rebellion and hatred of God!

This is the transforming love of Christ!

The name Yehovah (I AM that I AM) is the one God chose to distinguish Him from all His creation; the fact that He is self-existent, timeless, unchanging, and thus the absolute authority and potentate set him apart. The one element necessary for us to participate in this glorious reality is faith.

You believe God is sovereign when:

· It is not necessary to take matters into your own hands, but can entrust any outcome to Him.

· Living a holy life is important to your own hurt.

· Getting the Gospel message right is what matters, out of obedience to His word. 1Timothy 4:6

· Living by the bible is not pretentious but serious business.

· Life is not about fulfilling all your personal desires but His.

You believe God is sovereign when:

· You recognize He has a calling on your life, and that call includes career, marriage partner, and place of residence, standard of living, church you attend, the way you speak, dress, and react to difficult circumstances.

· You believe in a life after this one, and so much so, you are willing to suffer in this one.

· Ministry is not according to personal preference, the culture, or times in which you live, but the standard set in the Bible alone.

· Prayer is so important that you set apart a portion of your day to meet with the only one that can make a difference – in you and everyone around you.

· The time you spend in prayer is not primarily selfish but for the better good of others.

· The time you spend in prayer is substantial because God is that important to you.

You believe God is sovereign when:

· You believe the Bible and ‘live with your wife in an understanding way.’

· You believe the Bible and ‘honor, respect and submit to you husband.’

· You believe the Bible and ‘obey your parents.’

· You believe the Bible and ‘do not frustrate your children.’

· You are faithful to your spouse – in mind and deed.

You believe God is sovereign when:

· The Church is the bride of Christ, as such, to be taken seriously, and never to be criticized.

· You take the Bible seriously and ‘beware of false prophets,’ do not submit to them, and warn others who listen to them. Matthew 7:15

· You take the Bible seriously and ‘due to use have your senses exercised to discern both good and evil’ Hebrews 5.

· You take the Bible seriously and ‘Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good’ Romans 12:9

· You take the Bible seriously and ‘by sound doctrine, both to exhort and refute those who contradict’ Titus 1:9

· Jesus Christ is not a means to anyone’s selfish end, but the One by whom His sacrifice furthered the Father’s purpose and created a bride for His own glory.

“What if God, wishing to show his wrath and make known his power, has endured with much patience the vessels of wrath made for destruction? This was to make known the riches of his glory to the vessels of mercy, which he has prepared previously for glory” Romans 9:22-23.

The Bible declares that God is the only sovereign in the universe, which means He is the supreme authority, and He has the final say in all things. It is one thing to accept the previous statement as true, and it is still another to accept all things as under God’s control, for example, He allowed sin for His designed purpose, and He created hell for an equally transcendent reason. Put another way, have you ever heard someone ask the question, ‘if there is a God why does He allow evil in the world?’

Romans 9:22-23 makes clear that God would make Himself known! Therefore, in order for man to comprehend mercy there must be wrongdoing, for forgiveness an offense. God purposed to create a people who could know and love Him for what He is, that includes His holy anger on evil and His righteous wrath. The answer to the question, ‘why is there evil in the universe?’ it was part of the plan! However, God creates no evil, and does not make men and angels sin. James 1:13-14

What people do not understand about God is the seriousness with which He approaches everything. God wants man to know Christ perfectly, men cannot know hot without cold, light without dark, good without evil. Romans 9 makes clear that God wished to reveal his wrath and to make his power known, in order to reveal His glory on vessels of mercy.

It is not wise to accept the parts of the bible we like and reject all others, but he who accepts the hard truths finds wisdom!

The Christian is one who accepts Jesus Christ as Sovereign LORD, which includes justice and wrath!

“But the LORD said, “I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt …Therefore I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians…” Exodus 3:7-8

The Christian is set free from the requirements of the law, by the sacrifice of God’s Son at Calvary, immediately the LORD sets him apart for the holy purpose of worship and service to God. This act of being set apart for a holy purpose the bible calls sanctification.

Going in to salvation the Christian performs no good works, nor would any works proceeding from a sinful heart be acceptable to a Holy God. However, coming out of salvation and by sanctification of the Holy Spirit, good works are always produced. The Apostle Paul transitions from the great liberation of Romans 5, to the great demand to live consistent with our profession in chapter 6, with these probing words, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Romans 6:1-2

It is as though the Apostle says, what I am about to say is so basic; this should have been the first thing you learned. “Do you not know that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:3-4 (Emphasis added). Do you not know, did you not get this yet, you don’t make sin a practice anymore!

The act of believing in Christ and receiving the work that He did on our behalf cannot be separated from confessing Him as Lord. “For, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.” Romans 10:9

The Christian is one who believes in Jesus Christ to the saving of his soul from sin – and its penalty!

“But the LORD said, “I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt …Therefore I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians…” Exodus 3:7-8

The name Yehovah is first revealed to Moses in the third chapter of Exodus; the context is the deliverance of Israel by God from their bondage to Egypt. This truth is clear by God’s repeated use of the phrase ‘I will,’ “…I will be with thee…” “I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land…” “I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt…” etc.

It is a natural transition into the New Testament to see the correlation between Israel’s physical bondage in Egypt and man’s bondage to sin. Yehovah/Jesus delivered the nation of Israel from their physical bondage to Egypt, as a picture of Christ the Messiah delivering man from his bondage to sin.

The first way Christ delivered men from the bondage of sin is judicially, as Christ was put to death to meet the demands of God’s justice, because of man’s disobedience toward God his creator. The Father purposed the salvation of sinners, the Son purchased their release, and the Holy Spirit performs the work of God in the Son and the work of the Son in man. Salvation is an act of God, by grace, on behalf of man who is too sinful to save himself.

“That as sin has reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 5:21

The second way Christ delivered men from the bondage of sin will be discussed in the next Blog.

The Christian is one made righteous in the sight of God by the blood of Christ; nothing further need be done to satisfy the just requirements of the law, as set by God – Hallelujah what a savior, deliverer, and friend!

“Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt” Exodus 3:16

The God whose name is I AM should be regarded with the utmost reverence. The context in which His name is revealed is one of great grace, mercy, and love, and equally judgment, wrath, and justice. For Israel who placed their faith in the word of God, which came by the prophet Moses, and put the blood of a lamb on the lentils and doorposts, the death angel passed them by and they were saved alive. However, Judgment and death came to the firstborn in the whole land of Egypt.

“And God spoke thus, ‘His descendants shall be aliens in a land not their own, where they shall be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years; but I will bring judgment on the nation they serve,’ God said, ‘and after that they will come out and worship me in this place.” Acts 7:6-7

Egypt was devastated by ten plagues that God brought upon the people in process of Israel’s freedom, God brought further judgment upon the people in the land of Canaan, which Israel displaced.

“When he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them (Israel) their land as an inheritance at the end of about four hundred and fifty years.” Acts 13:19-20 (Emphasis added)

Amidst a “Christian” culture that is all about proclaiming God’s love without His justice such judgment may seem very harsh, but God does nothing apart from absolute righteousness, therefore, when He was giving a promise to Abram and His descendents He made the following statement.

“In the fourth time-span the others shall come back here; the wickedness of the Amorites will not have reached its full measure until then” Genesis 16:14. God would not judge the Canaanites one day before their wickedness was complete, then nothing could prevent it. Let us remember, God is the Great I AM who has the absolute right to decide what judgment will be, why, and on whom it will fall.

The Christian is one who appreciates the mercy and love of God, because he knows God is not to be trifled with, who spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all!

“But he replied, “Who has appointed you ruler and judge over us?” Exodus 2:14

After Moses took matters into his own hands and murdered an Egyptian in defense of his brethren, he was questioned by what authority he did this, or ‘who appointed you ruler.’ At that time he could give no answer, however, when commanded by God to return to Egypt and lead His people to freedom, he wanted a name by which he could answer any further questions to his authority. The name of authority is I AM or Yehovah.

“The name Yehovah is derived from the Hebrew verb, “Havah,” to be, or being. This word is almost exactly like the Hebrew verb, “Chavah,” to live, or life. One can readily see the connection between being and life. Thus when we read the name Yehovah or LORD in capital letters in our Bible we think in terms of Yehovah as the Being who is absolutely self-existent, the One who in Himself possesses essential life, permanent existence.

(Names of God, Nathan Stone, Moody Press, page 20)

The Hebrew verb meaning ‘to be’, or ‘being’ is Havah and it is possible that a composite word could be constructed from different forms of this verb as, Yehi – will be – future tense, Hovi – being – present tense, Havah – was – past tense. The composite word would then be Ye Ho vah.

The Christian is one who realizes that essential eternal life is a person, His name is the Lord Jesus Christ, and one day by His authority, He will judge the world!

“God has overlooked the times of ignorance, but now he demands that all people everywhere repent because he has established a day on which he will ‘judge the world with justice’ through a man he has appointed, and he has provided confirmation for all by raising him from the dead.” Acts 17:30-31

“And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shall you say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.” Exodus 3:15

In the KJ and NAS versions when you see LORD spelled with all capitals it is Yehovah in Hebrew, and when combined with God capital “G” small “od” it is Yehovah Elohim. God used His name Yehovah seventy-five hundred times in the bible.

It is important to know God’s name, if for no other reason than, God used it so many times. As Mathew Henry put it, “Whenever we have any thing to do with God, it is desirable to know, and our duty to consider, what his name is.”

“…this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial (or remembrance) unto all generations.” Many scholars believe Yehovah is the name God used to be His personal name. He told Moses when you bring me to mind, this is the name I want you to use. Many names describe the attributes and character of God, but He wants us to remember Him by Yehovah.

There is controversy about this name because as Strong’s concordance says, “the name is unpronounced except with the vowel pointings.” The name was considered so sacred and to keep it from being misused the Hebrews left out the vowel pointings. How we can know the proper personal name for God will be in my next Blog.

The Christian is one who shows God proper respect by knowing Him by His proper name!

“Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come” Revelation 1:4.

I will never forget the day my son spoke with reverence toward God. It is a day every Christian parent hopes for, when their child comes to a realization that God is real, their faith is energized, and they begin to give tangible proof that belief is their own.

I entered the front door, and my son was standing by the entrance to his room. He asked me to read from Revelation 1, he stopped me at verse 4, ‘Grace to you, and peace, from him who is…” “Read it again,” he said, “Grace to you, and peace from him who is…” “Who is what, he replied?” “I have been standing here for fifteen minutes in awe at the fact that God is.” Such a statement gives evidence to a living faith!

The bible states the fact that God is, in many ways, from the pronouncement “In the beginning God…” to a voice from a burning bush that declares His personal name, “I AM that I AM.” Eventually and consistently, in the book of Revelation is this word, “From Him who is, and who was, and who is to come.” He is, because He is essential life, He was, because He was before us, and He is to come, because His is an indestructible life. (Hebrews 7:16)

It means very little when people say they believe in God, if their description of God is not biblical. There is faith that makes men hypocritical atheists, who say they believe in God, and all the while denying Him by their attitudes and actions.

The Christian is one who realizes the reality of God in the person of Jesus Christ; his is not simply an intellectual ascent to biblical facts, but a transforming faith that results in a transformed mind and life!

“Thus you shall say unto the children of Israel, I AM has sent me unto you.”  Exodus 3:14

All that I ever was and all that I ever will be I AM; no humble man would ever make such a statement. No man with any sense would want to stay as he is, not if he is honest about the things that need to change. All that I ever hope to be, by the grace of God, is sensible; to say, I AM what I will be is audacious, arrogant, proud, and just plane not true.

When God revealed Himself to Moses as the Great I AM He was revealing Himself to His people as one who could be trusted. When James, the Apostle and first pastor of the Jerusalem church, presented God to his hearers, he said, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” James 1:16-17

The fact that God does not change is the point of His name I AM, there is no need for Him to change because He is perfect and complete as He is. God is perfect in knowledge, power, presence, love, and holiness; He is self-sufficient. Men only think they are! The name I AM means that God does not change; therefore, God is outside of time because time is a measure of change. Every day everything changes whether we realize it or not, even our bodies continue to reproduce them selves a trillion times over at the atomic level, from moment to moment we are never the same. God is the same!

The Christian is one who realizes God can be trusted, because He will never change what He has promised!

“And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shall you say unto the children of Israel, I AM has sent me unto you.” Exodus 3:14

Recently, I read a Blog where the author was trying to make the point that nowhere in the bible does it say that God is self-existent and eternal. One of the greatest revelations in the bible is the fact that God is self-existent and eternal. Only in a day like ours do men believe there is no God, supposedly the universe is just a cosmic accident, where “random chance” is the ruler and master of all things.

Aristotle’s law of contradiction is under severe attack today; men suppress the truth, and do not want to believe there is a self-existent God who created all things. Aristotle’s law states that A cannot be A and non-A at the same time and in the same relationship, or stated another way, a thing cannot be and not be at the same time. Because this logic holds true, self-creation is against reason. “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind” Romans 1:28. A reprobate mind is incapable of reason or rational thought, no matter how intelligent the person may be.

The bible declares God to be self-existent not self-created. I AM is God’s personal name; it describes the attribute of God that is like no other, God has no beginning of days, He just is. It is at this point that any sane man would fall down and worship. Time is as much a creation of God as matter, energy, and space. I AM is awe-inspiring, it raises God to a level far beyond anything we can conceive of in this life. Everything has a source; nothing stands alone – except God!

The Christian is one who worships God for who He is – exalted, high and lifted up, without beginning of days or end of life. He understands Jesus Christ for who He is, “For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth,” “He is before all things” Colossians 1:17&18.

“Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush”  Exodus 3:1-2

God’s revelation, the bible, is a story about individual people; who display God’s glory, as He worked through them, and as they rose to heights that could only be attained by God.

Moses was a Hebrew destined by the Egyptians for death, but God had other plans, and He prevailed. Moses grew in the house of Pharaoh and became a general, according to the historian Josephus, of great stature and to the envy of his peers. He was destined by Pharaoh’s daughter for greatness, perhaps even to become Pharaoh himself, but God had other plans, and He prevailed. As a result, Moses was endowed with God-given faith, and ‘Chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season’ Hebrews 11:25.

Moses, the general, who lived in Pharaoh’s courts, became a shepherd, a detestable occupation to Egyptians. It is here we pick up our verses, and understand something of the man that God prepared to be His friend, who would look on the Great I AM – face to face. For forty years, Moses learned who he was, and what he was capable of doing. For forty more years, Moses learned what he was not capable of doing as he reflected on his error and sin, which grew out of his own arrogance and pride. During the last forty years of Moses’ life, he would learn who God was, and what He was capable of doing – for His own glory.

The Christian is a person who learns humility at Calvary, where through the prism of Christ’s sacrifice, he sees his sin that put Jesus there, and the death that secured his forgiveness!

“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” 2 Corinthians 4:6

“So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground” Exodus 3:4-5

There was nothing special about the mountain on which Moses stood; God’s special presence made the ground holy. God took ordinary ground and set it apart for a special purpose, and in God’s purpose, the ground became holy.

When Jesus comes down men are changed, they are justified, sanctified, and made holy. When Jesus comes down, men are born again, given a change of heart, a new spirit, an unselfish, God centered purpose for living.

Except Jesus come down and make men holy, all religion is empty, mere moralism, fake, deceptive, and vain. When Jesus comes down, the cross becomes central in the message, the gospel includes a clear and accurate rendering of the sovereignty of God, the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the wickedness of sinners, and the absolute need for a God-given repentance and faith for salvation.

The Christian is one who knows the bush that burns within, and His name is Jesus!

“But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: “Let all the angels of God worship Him.” And of the angels He says: “Who makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire.” Hebrews 1:7. (Emphasis added)

Marriage is a relationship of oneness and fidelity, meant to typify faithfulness within the Godhead, and there is nothing more beautiful and fulfilling in human relationships. Likewise, nothing is more reprehensible or painful than infidelity and divorce.

The bible tells us that God views idolatry as the sin of adultery, which is God’s relationship with the nation Israel. “Then the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagan.” Hosea 3:1. “Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. “So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees” Jeremiah 3:8-9.

Experts say the most hurtful experience is divorce, because while the death of a loved one is second on the list, finally, it becomes only a memory, but while the divorced people live the experience lives on.

The greater the heart, the more pain it feels! I cannot explain how God can experience perfect peace and joy, and at the same time be grieved, but that is how the bible explains Him. God is infinite in love and character; can you imagine how the sin of idolatry (adultery) makes Him feel?

Dear Christian, we should come to abhor all sins of idolatry, as they are adultery toward God!

“The LORD has sworn, and will not repent; You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek” Psalm 110:4

From creation God revealed Himself as a Promise keeper in the name Elohim. It was in the plan that man would be given a choice – trust God or seek to live life on his own. When man sought to live by his own devices, for his own lusts, and glory, God in covenant relationship with Himself declared He would save him from his sins.

By nature, God is a covenant maker, and because of His great love with which he loved us, He bound Himself by an oath. As the writer of the letter to the Hebrews put it, “Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us” Hebrews 6:17-18

God is not like us, what God swears to He will fulfill, and what God starts He will see through to the end, God has both the power and the character to fulfill all He vows. If you want to be blessed, consider the character of God, when He determined to redeem fallen men from their wicked deeds of betrayal, He vowed to do so, knowing its fulfillment would take – forever. “…You are a priest for ever…” (Emphasis added).

To God, Covenants are a serious business; Christians should always strive to keep their word!

A Lesson in King James English

In the Bible God uses the name Elohim over twenty five hundred times to describe Himself. Unfortunately, much is lost in our English translations; however, if you have a New American Standard or King James Version the translators made it possible to know when the term Elohim is used. When you read the word God with a Capital ‘G’ and a small ‘od’ it is Elohim in the Hebrew. Other names are used with variations in the capitalization of the words, LORD, Lord, GOD, etc. I will explain in future lessons.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1

Many names portray the person and character of God in the bible; however, He chose to use Elohim first, with a synopsis of creation.

In the name Elohim, there are three essential elements: first, “El,” which means strength, second, “oh” that is to bind with a covenant or faithfulness, and lastly, “im” the plural ending of a word. Put them all together and you have the strong faithful ones, which reveal God’s power, promises, and His plurality in a unity or one God in three persons.

When God created the universe, He entered into a covenant relationship with it, because that is who He is. He always does the right thing; exercises perfect justice, and impart limitless love. Nowhere are these two royal characteristics seen more clearly than in Christ, at the cross of Calvary.

What could create more faith in us than an all-powerful, self-sustaining God that makes promises, and keeps them to His own hurt?

“Give to the LORD the glory due God’s name. Bow down before the LORD’S holy splendor!” Psalm 29:2

In our culture, personal names have little meaning, a point made by John Dunbar who found meaning in life as “Dances with Wolves.” We communicate who we are using names, such as cousin, friend, co-worker, neighbor, etc.

In the Bible, names describe God’s non-communicable attributes such as He is all-knowing, everywhere present, all-powerful, etc. God’s names help to explain His character, and all God’s names are infinitely meaningful because He personifies there meaning perfectly.

The Psalmist commands us to give to God the glory or respect that is due His name, and from Psalm 29 his names are the Strong Faithful Ones, I AM that I AM or the One who was, is, and is to come, and Holy.

Unfortunately, our English translations do not make it easy to recognize the names of God; in future Blogs I hope to bring attention to specific names of God, and their biblical meaning.

Names are meaningful, and to us who have been redeemed by the blood of God’s Son, they should be very important, as they aid us in giving Him glory! 

“For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” Romans 5:10.

We were expecting our first child; I was seated in the waiting room at the doctor’s office, completely thrilled as I read the letter to the Romans for the first time. I saw the truth in the tenses of the verbs, ‘having been justified by faith’, ‘having now been justified by His blood’, ‘we were reconciled to God.’ Repeated were the phrases that declared my salvation complete, I could be assured of eternal bliss, and I could be free from the anxiety of death that dogged me for so long. They were all in the past tense, as if God had said, ‘Now don’t miss this, I want you to know how final your salvation is.’

It’s been more than three decades since that personal revelation, and one thing has become certain to me, walking with Jesus in this world is not a walk in the park. The world, the flesh, and the devil make the Christian life an all out war, what is at stake is our joy, Christian testimony, and the glory God derives from our obedience.

Victory depends upon our faith in God keeping His promise to bring us home victoriously; hence we read two very important words in our verse, ‘much more.’ When we were His enemies, put to death His Son, stiffened our necks at respecting Him, ran away from obeying Him, He reconciled us by the death of His Son; how much more now that we belong to Him as beloved children and friends will He bring us home and save us by the life of His Son.

“Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” Ephesians 7:25

He will save the Christian for His Son’s glory – we have His word on it!

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might” Ephesians 6:10.

The Bible is a complex book, often it tells us to do things that have already been done for us. God speaks this way because he calls us to exercise faith in His person and work. Throughout the letter to the Ephesians the phrase “in Christ” is used repeatedly, which refers to our new identity in Christ. At the end of the letter the Apostle says, in addition to this be strong ‘in the Lord’ …put on the whole armor of God” (Emphasis added & paraphrased from the Greek). Paul reminds us that our strength is “in” Christ and not ourselves, and if we are to stand against the wiles of the devil, we must put on Christ.

When we put on our armor, we put on Christ because Christ is our armor. The helmet of salvation that protects our head, the place where we think, is salvation made clear through the heavenly blessings of chapter one – in Christ. The breastplate of righteousness is our standing holy and blameless before God, chapter one – in Christ. Each part of our armor is clearly defined in chapter one and two, made clear that it is always “in” Christ.

The Christian is given a new identity in Christ, a truth woven throughout the New Testament.

“The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light” Romans 13:12.

“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” Romans 13:14.

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” Galatians 3:27.

“Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him” Colossians 3:8

God asks us repeatedly to enter into that which He has already accomplished – in Christ!

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” 2Corinthians 4:7

Recently, the world witnessed Susan Boyle, a middle age woman, from a poor part of England, embarrass her audience and judges by out-performing their very low expectations.

In a world focused on outward expressions of prestige, power, and pomp, while caring little for inward qualities of character, dignity, and humility the true gospel is viewed as the message of fools. The true Christian proclaims Christ as a substitute for sinners, a resurrection for the dead, and he is mocked or at least dismissed as a message for fools. However, the Christian who lives consistently the message he proclaims gains a degree of respect.

One day Christ will return to earth and put to silence the entire mocking crowd, and He will set forth the truth about sin, righteousness, and judgment. All those who gave themselves to Him, and who served Him willingly and affectionately will be rewarded for their God-given faith. No one will be laughing in that hour; the applause will arise for Christ and for him alone. All who have followed Christ will be seen as those who put on Christ, their sins covered by His blood, their weakness replaced by His strength, and their ignorance exchanged with His wisdom.

Life is so much better when we live for the applause of heaven?

“Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit” Ephesians 5:18

It is one thing to know God’s will, it is still another to be able to get it done – it takes the right stuff. Not only must a Christian be able to do the will of God, he must also do it for the right reason. At this point, if you have any sense of reality at all you are saying to yourself, ‘this standard is just too high for me, I can’t do it.” However, that would make you a possible candidate to pull it off.

God does not regard what we do in our own strength any more than what we do for our own glory; the only remedy for the sinful inclinations that reside within us is brokenness.

“For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased. The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Psalm 51:16&17

When we are broken (humbled by our sinful inadequacy), our sin runs out like sand through a sifter, and God’s holiness enters in; what we cannot do by our self, God does – filling us with Christ!

“So be imitators of God, as beloved children” Ephesians 5:1

The apostle Paul was not intending to say the Christian should imitate God, as we use the word impersonate in contemporary language.

Impersonate 1. To mimic the voice, appearance, and manners of somebody else, especially in order to entertain. 2. To pretend to be somebody else, especially illegally in order to deceive. It is from the early 17th century Latin persona "mask worn by an actor, character."

Instead, the Apostle describes the proper motive for imitating God in the previous verse, “(And) be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ” Eph 4:32. The Christian’s motive in godliness is appreciation for sins forgiven, as he says in the following verse, “and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma” 5:2.

As always, we see in 4:32 our identity is “in Christ” because only there we are forgiven, and loved as dear children. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery; by it, we glorify God!

“I, then, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received …striving to preserve the unity of the spirit” Ephesians 4:1

When our first parents Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden they did more than just separate themselves from God, they separated from each other. The history of the world has been the war of the world; how could it be otherwise? When man turned away from God who is light (understanding), and love, he turned to the darkness and every form of selfish evil.

“No longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds; darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance, because of their hardness of heart, they have become callous and have handed themselves over to licentiousness for the practice of every kind of impurity to excess.” Ephesians 4:17-19

The apostle’s remedy for a divided people is two-fold, first, Christ must dwell in one’s heart through faith, and apart from such a living reality, all attempts at “godliness” will be futile because as we have seen Christ is at the center of God’s plan for man, and the only means for God to receive glory.

“For this reason I kneel before the Father …that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” Ephesians 3:14&17.

Second, the Christian must grow up in Christ and receive the truth (sound doctrine), so that he may live the truth in love. All sin is falsehood, lies, deceitfulness, and scheming, and that includes all man made religions.

“So that we may no longer be infants, tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching arising from human trickery, from their cunning in the interests of deceitful scheming. Rather, living the truth in love” Ephesians 4:15-15

Only when the church is united in the same doctrine is it truly united!

“Wherefore I ask that you may not faint at my tribulations for you, which are your glory.” Ephesians 3:13

Paul the apostle in his lifetime went from zealous for the religion of the Jews to zealous for the church of Jesus Christ. As a religious leader he was honored among his peers, respected by the people, no doubt praised by his teachers, and he excelled all his fellows by seeking to destroy Christians, thinking they were against God.

However, as a Christian, he was persecuted, first, for Christ’s sake and the gospel, and then secondly, for the sake of the Gentiles that he was seeking to reach. This, he says, was for their glory, as one day they would be received up into glory because they received the message Paul preached.

“For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus in behalf of you Gentiles. If so be that ye have heard of the dispensation (management) of that grace of God which was given me to you-ward” Eph 3:1-2 (Emphasis added). In Paul’s words the change that took place in his heart that sent him in another direction was the grace of God. His transformation was not by human effort or engineering, but by the power and presence of God, due to no merit of his own.

The most glorious reality is the gift of God’s grace that results in a transformed life. This grace is described in chapter one as heavenly blessings, depicted in chapter two as the calling of Gentile believers, and further illustrated in chapter three by the transformation of an individual – Paul the Apostle.

“But now in Christ Jesus you that once were far off are made near in the blood of Christ.” Ephesians 2:13

Paul begins the second chapter of Ephesians with the condition of his hearers before they came to Christ, which was independent of God. Sin always alienates the originator of it from a holy and righteous God, such a state is portrayed for the entire world to see in the Gentile nations. God in His rightful sovereignty chose for Himself a people He would call His own – Israel, which left all the other nations as separated from Him.

The playing field was leveled at the cross of Christ. “For through him we both have our access in one Spirit unto the Father” 2:18. That which once separated the two peoples was a stewardship of God’s laws, covenants, promises, and the lineage of the coming Messiah. Those who heard the law (the Israelites) were brought to know God’s holy standards, and were condemned by them; those who never heard God’s law (the Gentiles) were condemned by their conscience, which bore witness to God the creator and judge. “For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without the law: and as many as have sinned under the law shall be judged by the law.” Romans 2:12

Therefore, it is “in Christ” we who were independent in the worse possible way are made intimate in the best possible way – O’ the glory and grace of God. “you (gentiles) were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world” 2:12. (Emphasis added)

In the early seventies I used to wear a dog tag that said born again; they could be bought at any Christian bookstore, and people would actually ask you, “what does that mean?” Most evangelical churches at that time thought of conversion as something radical, instant, life changing, essential, and so it is.

1 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),” Ephesians 2:1-5.

Nothing could be said more clearly than Christianity is a complete renewal of life, v.5. New life is explained in the previous verses: dead in sin, walking in the same direction as the world, under the control of the devil, with an attitude of disobedience toward God, led about by the desires of the body, and under the pending judgment and anger of God.

To become a Christian is to go from this deadly and dangerous state to being raised from the dead as a gift of God’s love and grace. The term grace is explained as God’s work on the Christian’s behalf, stated in v.10, ‘For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works…” In salvation, the Christian is as much a creation as he is the first time, only this time saved from all the ravages of sin. As Christians we are created for the good works that God prepared; nothing is left to chance in God’s universe. We are not left to live our lives by guessing, or desiring according to the flesh, but by learning God’s word (God’s will) and then living according to His design and purpose.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us… To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” Ephesians 1:3&6

All world religions teach some form of making the worshipper acceptable in God’s sight by his own labor. However, in Christianity God makes the believer acceptable, therefore, God receives the praise and the glory, as our verses suggest, because He and not man is the author of salvation.

We all know what it means to be disappointed by others, and to disappoint others by our behavior or work performance. However, God who is rich in mercy and love chose to make His people acceptable, so He would not be disappointed but give hearty approval. The key phrase that unlocks the mystery of God’s gracious work is “in the beloved.” Jesus Christ is the beloved by the life He led as a man for thirty-three years, the death He died as having received the punishment of sin in His own body, and the resurrection he attained by having lived and perfectly obedient life to the Father.

Thought for consideration: because of the Beloved Christ, the heat is off and acceptance is guaranteed!

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” Ephesians 1:3

Blessing the older son is distinctly Middle Eastern having two basic ideas behind it. One, the Father would speak well of the older son, which meant he was worthy of his father’s respect. Two, the son would receive the blessing because he was worthy; his work, and character brought honor, protection, and prosperity to the rest of the family.

Paul in his letter to the Ephesian believers began with the profound thought that all believers are blessed, but how does a sinful wretch receive a blessing from God? The answer is found in two words, “in Christ.” Christ is the older son who is worthy of the Father’s praise, and when the believer is saved he/she is placed into Christ so the Father sees them through the prism of Christ.

Thought for consideration: this blessing makes possible victorious Christian living!

I AM ADOPTED

“In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.” Ephesians 1:5-6

A straight forward rendering of this verse is God predestined us, God is the subject, and predestined the verb in the active voice which places the action on God; we are the object and recipients of the action. The English lesson is to point to the fact that God placed His love upon us before time began that we should be part of His family.

In Romans 8, Paul said it this way, “For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…” To know someone in the Bible is to know them intimately, as Adam knew Eve and she conceived and brought forth a son. Therefore, when it says God foreknew us it means He determined to love us intimately, and this He did before the race was created.

Everyone has a tough time with predestination, but for those who embrace this doctrine the terms grace, love, and freedom from the works of the law take on a whole new dimension. God does not love me because of anything I have done or anything I am, but because He decided to set His special love upon me. God loves us all by not destroying us the first time we sin; He loves some specially by redeeming them from their sins.

Every time we sing the song “Before the Throne of God,” I am struck by the words, “My name is graven on His hands, my name is written on His heart.” Think about it a minute, who am I that my name should be engraved on the hands of God or written on His heart?”

If you wonder if these lyrics are true, consider the following verse, “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him,” Ephesians 1:4. Before the foundation of the world God chose those for whom He would die; it was then that our names were written on His heart. When, before there was time – God knew my name. Even now, I well up a little on the inside.

It is blasphemy, of course, to think that there is something in us that God wants, as if it is there on its own. God is the creator God, Father of all things, and so God chose me, as the scripture says, “in Him,” that is Christ. I am chosen, redeemed, sanctified, and one day glorified through and in the person and work of His Son, my savior, Jesus Christ the Lord. It is Christ who gives me my identity, and by whom I benefit from the Father’s love. However, God’s glory which reveals Him as the source of all things does change the fact that my name is written on His heart, and engraved upon His hands – indeed, it makes it that much sweeter.