2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
Yesterday, we looked at some of the citations which went translated into the original Hebrew language use the word “Eloheim” for God. There are some more that I want to share with you today. I hope that getting to know God better this way will bless you as it has me. We learned that “Eloheim” is pleural, and, as believers in Christ, understand something that is still hidden from traditional Jews. “Eloheim” expresses God in three persons, the Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit. The true identity of the second person, Jesus Christ, as the Messiah so long awaited by the Jews, is a secret that will only be revealed to a believing remnant of traditional Jews when God thinks the time is right [RO 11: 25 & ZECH 13: 8-9]. Personally and for many reasons, I pray that is soon. When referring to God as the Creator, “Eloheim” is the name most often used, although there are times when the name “Jehovah” is used interchangeably.
Let me repeat a citation from yesterday’s message that is quite revealing. GN 1: 26-27, “Then God said, ‘And now, We will make human beings; they will be like Us and resemble Us. They will have power over the fish, the birds, and all the animals, domestic and wild, large and small.’ So God created human beings making them to be like Himself. He created them male and female…“ King David was a most remarkable man. Despite all his human foibles, and believe me, he had plenty, God recognized in him a remarkable and malleable spirit. I mean this in the most positive way, because God was able to take a man who was a murder, adulterer, and who had blood on his hands from many battles, and reveal in this king extraordinary love of beauty and obedient faithfulness. PS 139: 3-4 shows the depth of David’s understanding of the Lord, his God. “You created every part of me; You put me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because You are to be feared; all You do is strange and wonderful. I know it with my heart.” David, while being a man of great contrasts, understood the basics of God’s sovereignty and mankind’s responsibility to respond to it. PS 7: 17, “I thank the Lord for His justice; I sing praises to the Lord, the Most High.”
Another prophet who knew and served God well was Isaiah. What a difficult task God had assigned him! Isaiah was to take a very unpopular, hard to hear message to the Jewish people. The message was that if they didn’t stop their disobedient idolatry and sinfulness, God would punish them. Isaiah’s message wasn’t just that of God scolding His people; it revealed God’s love for them too. “ IS 43: 1-4, 7, “Israel, the Lord Who created you says, ‘Do not be afraid-I will save you. I have called you by name-you are mine. When you pass through deep waters, I will be with you; your troubles will not overwhelm you. When you pass through fire, the hard trials that come will not hurt you. For I am the Lord, your God, the holy God of Israel, Who saves you. I will give up Egypt to set you free; I will give up Sudan and Seba. I will give up whole nations to save your life, because you are precious to Me and because I love you and give you honor…[referring to His own people] They are My own people, and I created them to bring Me glory.’ “ What incredible love undergirds this statement!
Eloheim is found in the NT too. This is especially revealed in the teachings of His Son. Do you remember the story of Christ’s disciples asking a very difficult question of Him in JN 9 when discussing a blind man. JN 9: 2-3, “Christ’s disciples asked, ‘Teacher, whose sin caused him to be born blind? Was it his own or his parent’s sin?’ Jesus answered, ‘His blindness has nothing to do with his sins or his parents’ sins. He is blind so that God’s power might be seen through him.’” I can’t help but see this principle repeated for all of us in a women like Helen Keller. Despite being blind, she had more appreciation for God as Creator and for the beauty of nature than any sighted person who could hear and speak. One need only read her books to know that.
Paul understood God as Creator too. He ended RO 11, a chapter that revealed crucial and far-reaching mysteries of God with RO 11: 33-36. “How great are God’s riches! How deep are His wisdom and knowledge! Who can explain His decisions? Who can understand His ways? As the Scriptures [IS 40: 13 & 55: 8] say, ‘Who knows the mind of the Lord? Who is able to give Him advice? Who has ever given Him anything, so that He had to pay it back? ‘ For all things were created by Him and all things exist through Him and for Him. To God be the glory forever! Amen.” What we can see in Paul’s understanding is even more profound when one looks at the meaning of the Hebrew word for “glory.” It means “to give a correct opinion of or estimate of.” Now, meditate on what this statement means to each of us in our individual lives: “We were created for God’s glory.”
In REV 4 & 5, we are privileged by God’s grace to have a glimpse at worship in heaven. God, Himself allows us to have a description of Him and the others who serve Him (the twenty-four elders, the four living creatures, angels, and the Lamb). We are even allowed to know the words of some of the songs that are sung there, songs which I believe we will sing there one day. One song deals with the Creation. RO 4: 11, “Our Lord and God! You are worthy to receive glory, honor, and power. For You created all things, and by Your will they were given existence and life.” What grace our Lord offers us! All He asks for in return is that we live to His glory, loving, obedient, and faithful lives. Recall GN 2: 1-4, “And so the whole universe was completed. By the seventh day God finished what He had been doing and stopped working. He blessed the seventh day and set it apart as a special day, because by that day He had completed His creation and stopped working. And that is how the universe was created.” When we think that all that we are and all that we have comes from Eloheim, how could we miss that we owe it to Him to take out one day a week and make it His day [EX 20: 8-11]?
PRAYER: O Lord, the concept of our being created for Your glory is not easy for us to understand. That is because our perspective is so limited in comparison to Yours. Your ultimate and complete righteousness is also foreign to us, because we were born in sin. However, each day You act on the invitation that You put out to us. You made our salvation possible through the sacrifice of Your Son, gave those of us who accepted Him as our Savior the gift of the Holy Spirit, and then remain as a Presence in our lives to guide us and encourage us in the spiritual warfare we must face. Even when You sent prophets like Isaiah to warn Your people of their need to repent, You also sent loving messages through him, reminding them (and us) that You claim ownership of Your children and promises of victory when we are faithful. You led David to reveal his remarkable faith and to help us to understand You better through it. For creating and loving us when we didn’t deserve the grace You offer us, we humbly offer you our love, worship, loyalty, obedience, trust, honor, praise, thanks, and yes, glory! In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will continue getting better acquainted with our loving Abba by looking at what the Scriptures reveal about the Angel of the Lord. Our Abba’s love is hard to miss, isn’t it? How blessed He makes our lives by His presence in them! We need never feel abandoned in our times of trouble and can look to Him for all that we are and all that we have. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn