How God's Names Show What He's Like

Many people today are confused about who and what God is. And as we prepare for Pentecost this year, just a few weeks away, I am always reminded of what Jesus said after the Passover, as he was talking to his disciples, and before he was arrested, he said that he and the Father would make their home in us. And I think that is one of the most profound and beautiful statements in all of Scripture. And we know, of course, the day of Pentecost is the anniversary of when God gave his Holy Spirit to his church. So considering the fact that Pentecost is just a few weeks away, and that Christ and the Father have offered to make their homes within us, I thought it would be good for us to remind ourselves about the characteristics, the character, and the qualities of God. And if you were going to learn about God, if you wanted to learn about some of the characteristics and qualities that God has, the best way to do it is obviously to study the Scriptures and see God's names, plural, and how the name of God is often tied to a verb or to another word that reveals a lot of what God is like. And I thought in preparation for Pentecost that that might be helpful for us. Let's begin by going to the book of John, chapter 1 and verse 1. John chapter 1 and verse 1, and we're going to see the connection that's made between Jesus Christ and God the Father, who John refers to here as God. In John chapter 1, beginning in verse 1, he refers to Jesus Christ as the Word, and he refers to the Father whom Jesus came to reveal as God. We'll give you a few seconds to turn there. Now, I'm going to be reading from the New Century version. Certainly follow with me whatever translation you have. Actually, this is, I think, similar to the New King James, but it enlightens a few areas a little stronger.

John chapter 1 and verse 1, it says, In the beginning there was the Word. So, it's the beginning of time, if there is such thing as time, because when you live forever, when you're eternal, when you have no beginning and you have no end, time doesn't have relevance to you like it does to physical beings who do have a beginning and certainly do have an end. But it says, In the beginning there was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. So, what that basically tells us right there, as we're going to see in just a few verses, that the Word is Jesus Christ. That in the very beginning of time, Jesus Christ was with God and Jesus Christ was God. Beginning, now let's take a look at verse 2. He knew He was with God, the Father. In the beginning, all things were made by Him and nothing was made without Him. In Him there was life, and that life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overpowered it. There was a man named John who was sent by God. He came to tell people the truth about the light so that through Him all people could hear about the light and believe. Now, John is drawing a metaphor here. The Word was the very one who, in a physical sense, said, Let there be light. And that was the beginning of the physical creation of the world that we live in. Later on, that very being who clothed himself in flesh and became known as Jesus Christ brought spiritual light and understanding. He brought a way of salvation away from darkness and the influence of this world through Satan and his demons. And he brought the light of God so that spiritually people could discern righteousness and faith and ultimately salvation. So John is playing on the metaphor here regarding the word light. Verse 8, John was not the light, but he came to tell people the truth about the light, the true light that gives light to all, was coming into the world. The Word was in the world, and the world was made by him, but the world did not know him. Jesus Christ created the world, but except for a very few people in the Old Testament, no one had his Holy Spirit, except for a few prophets and kings and just a handful of people in the Old Testament. The world did not know the God, the one who later would become known as Jesus Christ. Verse 11, he came to the world that was his own, but his own people did not accept him. So even when he walked on the earth as Jesus Christ, the Jews basically rejected him. After three and a half years of a powerful ministry, there were very few people who would become his disciples, who would become his followers, who did accept him. For the most part, the Jewish people rejected Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Verse 12, But to all who did accept him and believe in him, he gave the right to become the children of God.

They did not become his children in any human way, by any human parents or human desire. They were born of God.

Verse 14, The Word became a human and lived among us. We saw his glory, the glory that belongs to the only Son of the Father, and he was full of grace and truth. So he was full of mercy and pardon and favor and truth, revealing understanding of mankind.

From him we all received one gift after another. Verse 17, The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. Again, remember that in context, God that he's talking about here is the Father. But God, the only Son, is very close to the Father, and he has shown us what God is like.

So John here tells us about the history of Jesus Christ before he walked on the earth. He refers to Christ as the original Word or spokesman who brought all physical things into existence at his command. John refers to the Father simply as God in these verses, and he tells that the one who later became known as Jesus Christ was there at the beginning of time.

And he was there with the Father, and he was called or known as the Word. Verse 18 reminds us of what Jesus said about himself. He said that he, that is Christ, is the God revealed in the Old Testament, and he came to earth to reveal the presence of the Father. So knowledge and understanding of the Father was unknown until Jesus Christ came to earth and revealed that God was also a Father.

Before the encounter between God and Moses in the Midianite desert, God was known generally in the early books of Genesis as the God of the patriarchal fathers. He was known as the God of Abraham, or the God of Isaac, or the God of Jacob. Various names were used for God before he established a covenant with Israel in the early books of Exodus, most of which were associated with a very ancient, primitive, Semitic word known as El, Yell. And it was through that ancient Semitic word that the Jews used to refer to God. Now, we have to be honest in understanding the roots of this word, because the word is far older than any relationship that Israel had with God. And it's far older than the Hebrews themselves. It's an ancient, Semitic word. It's a generic term for God or deity. Even though El was a term for God even in pagan or polytheistic religions, it is not a designation of an impersonal force, but it was always a designation of an awesome power that instills within humankind a mysterious dread or reverence. So even the pagans, when they referred to El, they referred to El as the lofty God, as the God above all of the other gods. The term El appears in other ancient languages aside from Hebrew. One of the chief gods of the Canaanite pantheon was known as El. If you've ever heard the Arabic name for God, Ah-la, Ah comes from the same root as El.

We certainly understand God differently than they do, but the root term that they use for God comes from that Semitic root, that ancient Semitic root known as El. So I wanted to give a little bit of that background, because in context, when we get into the Bible, the Hebrews naturally took a word that already existed and changed it to conform to their understanding of God.

That may be a little difficult for us to understand, because in our society today, we create words all the time. We create words like blackberry. We create words that never existed, and to suit our purpose for something new and innovative, we just create a word. But that wasn't done, instantly. Anciently, the language was pretty rigid. The language was established, and all that people would do is they would take a common known word, and they would change its meaning for their own culture.

The Hebrews and the Jews never ever looked at the word El as being polytheistic or meaning more than one God. But it was the only word they had to refer to the lofty, awesome, magnificent God that they had a relationship.

So they used the word El, and in context of the Scriptures, it never implies polytheism. It never implies more than one God. Now, let's go to Genesis chapter 1 and verse 26, and obviously another beginning. We read John chapter 1, which is a word about the beginning. Here's another beginning. Genesis chapter 1 and verse 26. We're not going to go to the origins of the creation of the world, but what we will do is see what God said when He created man.

There's a word that's used here that includes El in it. It's actually a plural form of the word El. Genesis chapter 1 and verse 26. Then God said, Let us make man an hour, that's plural, image, according to our likeness, again, that's plural, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

So God created man in His own image. In the image of God, He created Him male and female, He created them. And God, and the word here is a plural form, again, of El, Elowim, blessed them, and Elowim said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

So again, this plural word of El, Elowim, was a word that was anciently used to refer to in pagan cultures, God's more than one, in the ordinary sense, but obviously in the Hebrew sense, it was used to refer to the supreme God family in its context, not God's plural, but God as a family in its context.

It is occasionally used in the Scriptures to also refer to magistrates, sometimes the angels, sometimes the judges, and sometimes the kings. So you have to look at the actual context of a Scripture to understand who it's talking about. Obviously, in the Scripture we just read, it was talking about God talking Jesus Christ and God the Father communicating together, that is, the Word and the Father communicating together as man was literally being created. Here's what the Scofield Bible notes say about these verses we just read. It has two points. Point number one, man was created, not evolved.

This is expressly declared, and the declaration is confirmed by Christ in Matthew 19.4 and Mark 10.6. It also is confirmed by the unbridgeable chasm between man and beast. The highest beast has no God consciousness or religious nature. So that's point number one from the Scofield Bible notes, is that the highest beast has no consciousness of God or has a religious nature.

They have no desire to understand whether they'll live again. They don't look up into the stars at night and ponder their existence or ponder the purpose of life. There's a huge gulf between the highest of the so-called primates and man himself. And then our second point here from Scofield is this. Quote, man was made in the image and likeness of God. This image is found chiefly in the fact that man is a personal, rational, and moral being. While God is infinite and man finite, nevertheless, man possesses the elements of personality similar to those of the divine person.

For example, thinking, and it refers to Genesis 2.19, feeling, Genesis 3.6, and willing, Genesis 3 verses 6 through 7. So once again, to understand what we read here in Genesis, that Elohim is a plural form for God, and it reveals the fact that God is a family. We know that God is composed of the Word, who later became known as Jesus Christ, otherwise known as the God of the Old Testament, and the Father, who John referred to just as God in John chapter 1.

As I mentioned, Elohim is a plural form of God, and it's a frequently used term, and the most comprehensive of the L-E-L combinations.

The plurality of this word, and I have to mention this again, does not have a hint of polytheism in Hebrew culture. It never referred to more than one God.

No matter how it was used before that time by other cultures, it was never used, not even a hint of polytheism in Hebrew culture. It is a revelation of the infinite nature of the God family, in which the Word and the Father dwell together as God. In the creation narrative, we read, quote, then Elohim said, let us make man in our image. This name suggests that there was a mystery to the Creator God, which humankind could not fully comprehend. And we couldn't comprehend it until Jesus Christ came to earth and said, there's someone else.

He is called the Father. It's not just me alone. There is someone else who is God, who is within this family. And Jesus was the one who revealed that understanding to us. As he frequently told his audiences, no one knows the Father. No one knows of the Father until this time. One of the rules that Jesus came to this earth for was to reveal the Father.

If you'll begin turning to Genesis 17, I'd like to comment that the name El is frequently combined with other nouns or adjectives. And it is these that we can understand a little bit more about who and what God is. First example, the word Israel is the one who was ruled by God.

The word Beth-El means house of God. In the crucifixion of Jesus, as recorded in Mark chapter 15, Jesus himself employed the word El when he cried from the cross, Eloi, Eloi, that is, my God, my God, why have thou forsaken me? So he used a form of El when he even cried from the cross as he was dying. One of the most interesting uses of El is a combination with other Hebrew words to reveal the character of God. And this is what we want to focus on for a little while. The first use of the word El, in combined with another Hebrew word, is El Shaddai. That means God of the mountains or Almighty God. If you have ever been taking a hike and you suddenly come upon some huge mountain peaks, it is a magnificent sight. It is startling to be in flat land and suddenly see beautiful, majestic mountain ranges. El Shaddai means God of the mountains. Of course, mountains are higher above everything else. So the metaphor here is that God is the highest thing in the universe, higher than the plains. Why is this important? Because in the pagan cultures around Israel, they had many gods. They had the God of the mountains, the God of the land, the God of the wind, the God of the grass, the God of this, the God of that. Basically, this is the God that is above all of those other non-gods that the other nations worshipped and idolized. Genesis 17, let's pick it up in verse 1 and see where this is used here.

So this term El Shaddai was more closely associated in what we would call the patriarchal period and can be found mostly in the books of Genesis and the book of Job.

It's important here to understand that God used this term for himself to create a covenant with Abraham. So he said, I am the God of the mountains. I am the Almighty, the highest one, El Shaddai.

A word that's similar to meaning, if you'll turn to Genesis 14 and verse 18, is another word in which El is combined with in Genesis 14. It's El Elyon. That's E-L-Y-O-N. El Elyon. And it means the Most High God. It means the Exalted One.

And because he is exalted is one of the reasons that God's law says that you should never use his name in vain. Genesis 14 and verse 18.

Now, for the context of this sermon, I don't have time to show you that Melchizedek was also the same being known as the Word, who came to earth and lived for a time as Melchizedek. It was actually the pre-incarnation of Jesus Christ. I don't have time to go through that today, but this is obviously a very powerful scripture. Melchizedek says here that he was the High Priest of El Elyon, and he blessed Abraham in this name, referring to El Elyon as maker of heaven and earth, as the Exalted One, the Most High God. And that's important for us to understand. And again, because the quality of God is that he is the Exalted One, that's why we should always use his name, any reference to him, with deep respect and with awe. Genesis 16 and verse 8. Another word that's combined with El is L-row-e. That's E-L-R-O-I, pronounced L-row-e.

And this means the God who sees me, or the God of vision. Why is this important? It's important because it reveals that God sees everything, everything that goes on in the universe. God has perception and awareness. He has vision. He can look into the future. He can reveal things that happened in the past that we're not even aware of. So he is the God who sees me. He's the God who sees you. He's the God who, in his vision, sees everything. And that's an important concept. Genesis chapter 16, verse 8. The story of when Hagar fell abused by her maid Sarai and fled from her. An angel came and here's the exchange that took place. And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, where have you come from and where are you going? She said, I'm fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai. The angel of the Lord said to her, return to your mistress and submit yourself under her hand. Then the angel of the Lord said to her, I will multiply your descendants exceedingly so that they will not be counted for multitude.

In other words, there will be many of them. And the angel of the Lord said to her, behold, you are with child and you shall bear a son and you shall call his name Ishmael. And that is the father of the Arab people today. Because the Lord has heard your affliction, he shall be a wild man. His hand shall be against every man and every man's hand against him. A prophecy about the Arab people today that I won't go any farther in at this point in time. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. Western Europe can attune to that today. Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, you are the God who sees. El-roi, you are the God who sees. For she said, have I also seen him who sees me? Therefore the well was called Bir Lai-roi. Observe, it is between Kadesh and the red. And of course that name, Bir Lai-roi, means well of the living one who sees. And that's an important characteristic of God. He's omnipresent. He knows everything that's going on at any given time. Whether he chooses to intervene or not, he knows every evil, every sin, every good thing done in secret. God is aware of it all. Psalm 90, verse 1. Another very powerful characteristic of God that's kind of hidden in the New King James Version is El-olam, which means the God of eternity, the God of everlasting. Psalm 90, and we'll pick it up here in verse 1. The psalmist wrote, Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever, you had formed the earth and the world. Even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. Unfortunately, the New King James masks the power of this phrase. It should be, you are El-olam, which means God of eternity, God of everlasting. Continuing, you turn man to destruction and say, return, O children of men. So you destroy people. This is how powerful you are. You destroy nations. You can bring that nation back. For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past. That's how eternal you are. And like a watch in the night, you carry them away like a flood. They are like a sleep. In the morning, they are like grass, which grows up. In the morning, it flourishes and grows up. In the evening, it is cut down and withers. So the psalmist is saying, you are the great God of eternity. You raise up nations. You have nations collapse. You have the birth of a new generation. And they are little babies. And then they are adolescents. And then they are adults. And then they control society. And then they grow old. And they die. And they are replaced by another generation. You raise them up like grass, as it says here. In the morning, it flourishes and grows up. And in the evening, it is cut down. And there is one generation rises, grows old and dies, and is replaced by another. And this goes on and on and on, because you are the God of eternity. It is interesting the Hebrew word, olam, means the vanishing point of where past meets the future.

That's kind of heady thinking, isn't it? If you were to look at this timeline, that little dot where past and future just kind of merge from this point on, its future, from this point on, its past, that is what olam is. And again, it's referring to a characteristic of God. Another phrase for this Hebrew word is time out of mind, meaning it's time that we can't comprehend in our human minds.

Like eternity. What is eternity? I have a hard time comprehending that, because I had a definite beginning. Every day as I get up in my knuckles crunch and other changes occur in my body, I realize that someday I will have an end.

So the concept of eternity is a little hard for me to grasp. I've never touched it, tasted it, experienced it. My five senses have never had the opportunity to enjoy eternity. And again, that's the meaning of this Hebrew word, olam. Time out of mind. And the point is that God's sovereignty extends through the passing of time and beyond our ability to see or understand time. It's also used in Genesis chapter 21.33, and this phrase is used in Isaiah chapter 26 and verse 4.

So these were some of the qualities of God that were combined with El in the Old Testament. But the eternal being who would later walk on the earth and be known as Jesus Christ revealed a formal covenant name.

There came a time with Moses when he wanted to reveal a personal name that he had. He no longer only wanted to be known by this ancient, Semitic word and variations of it. He felt, since he was going to create a new covenant with the nation of Israel, that he would reveal his formal, personal name.

It's a name that became so sacred it would take the breath out of people if it was said. The Jews were so concerned about not uttering the name that vowels were dropped. And instead of reading the actual formal name of Yahweh, they would substitute another name for God like Adonai. So it became, in their mind, such a sacred name, such an important term, that in time they even lost the ability to know how to pronounce it.

That's how exclusive the name became. And that's why, when we go to John 8 and verse 54, we're going to see where Jesus Christ said something about himself, that to use a modern phrase and modern expression, it blew them away.

He's going to say something here that in their ears is so blasphemous, so outrageous, that they were dumbfounded and they immediately wanted to kill him. He's in the temple. He's having a discussion with the Jewish leaders. Here's what he says in John chapter 8 and verse 54.

John chapter 8 and verse 54. Perhaps a little metaphor there with the word word as well, too, since Jesus was the word.

What Jesus is saying is that when Abraham lived and walked on the earth, he had a vision, he had an experience, probably when he went to sacrifice his own son Isaac. And he had an experience in which God revealed to Abraham that this whole thing about Isaac and sacrificing him was to relate to this. And this that Abraham gets to see is the Jesus Christ of 3132 AD walking along the streets of Jerusalem as the Messiah and preaching the good news of the kingdom of God.

That is what Abraham got to see, and it made Abraham happy. Now I understand what all of this sacrificing my son was about. Now I understand what these trials and tribulations. Now I know why I'm a stranger in a pilgrim in this land. Now I know why your promises haven't been fulfilled in my lifetime. It's all about this event in the future, this Jesus Christ and what he means and what he will do.

So that's what Christ means when he says that your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and he was glad. In verse 53, then the Jews said to him, you were not yet 50 years old and you have seen Abraham? And Jesus said to them most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. And wow! Did that do it!

Did that cause an explosion? Verse 59, then they took up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple going through the midst of them and so passed by. And I would have to believe that it was God's intervention that allowed him literally to walk by unscathed all of these individuals in the temple who had picked up stones and were ready to kill him. Because in their minds, he just announced the name that is unannounced.

He just said that name that no one is allowed to say and he referred to himself by that name. The Reary Bible notes says this, and I'll quote Reary Bible notes, Now, to understand fully this, let's go to Exodus chapter 3 and verse 10 and go back to the point where the very one who later would walk the earth as Jesus Christ revealed his name to Moses.

Exodus chapter 3 beginning in verse 10. God spoke here in Exodus chapter 3 and verse 10. He's speaking, In verse 14, in verse 14, In fact, words of Jesus Christ said, And he said, And he said, And from this point on, every time you see the word Lord in all capital letters, that is the YHVH, the consonance of the word Yahweh, I am. The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.

So God's covenant name, his formal name that he reveals to Moses, which is part of the covenant in Hebrew, is known by the modern technical phrase, the tetragrammaton. Isn't that exciting? We have to have these words created by biblical scholars, because their goal is always to learn more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing. So the phrase tetragrammaton is Greek, and it means four letters. That's all it means, four letters. But they couldn't say four letters because just anybody could understand it.

So they have to come up with these terms. So there are four consonants that make up the phrase, I am who I am, and they are part of what made up the divine name, and they are YHWH. And that's what it said here. First of all, it's meaning. The meaning is, ever living one. I am who I am means, when it says, what's your name? My name is, I have always been, from the very beginning of time, I dwell in the present, and at the same time I dwell throughout all eternity.

And I can walk to the future, to the present, or in the past at will, because I am the eternal one. That's the meaning of his name. And it's the Hebrew consonants YHWH, and it's actually found more than 6,000 times in the Old Testament, if you add it all up. The written Hebrew language did not include vowels. Only the consonants were used, and readers supplied the vowels as they read. And in time, the pronunciation of the actual vowels were lost.

So what happened? Well, a Latinized form, those who were of Latin culture, basically took YHWH or YHVH, and they added their own vowels, and they came up with a pronunciation called Jehovah. And there is even a large religious organization known as the Jehovah's Witnesses. But actually, the word Jehovah is not a real word at all. From the study of the structure of the Hebrew language, virtually all scholars today agree that YHWH or YHVH with the proper Hebrew vowels inserted should be pronounced Yahweh. That's Y-A-H-W-E-H, Yahweh. So that's what we will refer to, the covenant, the formal covenant name that God gave to Moses, which means, I am that I am, or that I am an eternal, ever-living being. Let's now go to Exodus 6 and verse 2, and we'll see where formally this transition of God's name, of the name of the one who later would become known as Jesus Christ, is made to Moses and to the Israelite people. Exodus 6 and verse 2, I think just a few chapters from where we were at.

I was not known to them. So God says here is a gift, something that wasn't even known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I'm telling you and making part of my covenant relationship with you my formal name. And here it is. So this is the transition when the covenant name became revealed by God. As I mentioned in the Old Testament, the name of Yahweh was sometimes used with other words to describe some of the character of the name of Moses. And what I'd like to do for a while, for the rest of the sermon actually, is to review many of the terms where Yahweh is combined with another Hebrew word that again tells us some of the characteristics and qualities of God's character. So let's go to Genesis chapter 22 and verse 11. If you'll turn there, Genesis chapter 22 and verse 11. We're going to see the phrase Yahweh Yera. It's Y-A-H-W-E-H-J-I-R-E-H. In most cases in Hebrew, a J should be pronounced as a Y, by the way.

Yahweh Yera, and it means the Lord will provide.

Verse 11, but the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, said, Abraham, Abraham. So he said, Here I am. And he said, Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. And again, this refers to what I mentioned a few minutes ago. Abraham received an odd command that he thought was from God, and that is to go take your son Isaac and sacrifice him. Now he knew that the God that he worshiped wasn't that kind of a God. What would he want with the physical sacrifice of Abram's son? But there was a lesson to be learned there, and the lesson, as I just mentioned a few minutes ago, was that God wanted to see if Abraham had the same kind of love for his own son that God the Father had for his son. Because the time would come when Jesus Christ would have to be sacrificed for the sins of the world. And that would be being painful to God. To give up someone that he loved so dearly, an innocent, beloved son, and allow him to die for the sins of the world. He wanted to see if Abraham had that quality of character within himself, and thankfully Abraham did. Verse 12, and he said, Do not lay your hand on the lad, nor do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. Then Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place, The Lord Will Provide. That's Yahweh Yura. As it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be provided. So this was the name given to the location where God provided a ram for Abraham to sacrifice in place of Isaac. And this name is a testimony to God's deliverance. So, does Jesus Christ have the same qualities? Is Jesus Christ our provider?

Well, you bet he is. He provides all of our needs. He's our great High Priest. He's our intermediary who goes to the Father on our behalf. He made it possible so that we can be reconciled and have a relationship with the Father. We don't need to go through human instruments in our prayers. We don't even have to go through Jesus Christ Himself to get to the Father. We can go directly to the throne of grace knowing that our High Priest is there to intercede and intervene on any need.

He is the Lord, indeed, the Lord our provider. Exodus 17, verse 13. Another phrase, Yahweh Nisi. Exodus 17, verse 13.

Exodus 17, verse 13. It is recorded, so Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. Then the Lord said to Moses, Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.

Moses built an altar and called its name, the Lord is my banner, Yahweh Nisi. Think about how banners are used. First of all, in ancient Rome, the Roman legions had banners, and each legion had its own unique little emblem on it.

When they marched somewhere, the first thing you saw, aside from these puny little men, was the Roman banner. That meant that you were in big trouble, because you were about to tangle with the mightiest army on earth at that time.

What we are being told here is that Yahweh is our banner.

He is our protector. He is the image of what keeps us going. He is the one who protects us. When Satan and his demons see the banner of Yahweh about us, they back off. They are not about to tangle with the most powerful army in the universe, that is God's angels and God Himself.

Yahweh is our banner. The Lord's name was a battle cry in this instance. You and I are given victory over Satan and sin because Yahweh is our banner. He is what should light up our lives. He is what we should look up to and feel secure and feel safe and feel loved.

Again, He has given us victory over Satan and sin. The very fact that we are God's children has given us that banner, that spiritual shield, that spiritual flag, that says, this is an ambassador for Jesus Christ.

This is my son, my daughter, whom I am working with and conforming with, someone whom I have put my home in this person, and this is reflected by this banner, a changed life, a converted mind. Very beautiful Scripture. Let's now go to Exodus 31, verse 13.

Exodus 31, verse 13.

We'll see the phrase Yahweh Kadesh or Meccadash. Yahweh-M-E-K-A-D-D-E-S-H. Yahweh Kadesh or Meccadash. And it means that the Lord sanctifies. Exodus 31, verse 13.

Now, a couple of things we can understand from this title that God has. First of all, only God can make something holy. And that's very important because a number of years ago, I was told by a pastor general that councils and pastor generals can decide what days are holy. That it can be Saturday this week, and it can be Sunday another week, and it can be two hours on a particular day, and that man can make things holy. And this is contrary to what God's title is. His title is that the Lord sanctifies. Only God can make a day holy. He can make it a holy day, make it a time of sacred celebration. And the same thing in our lives. Only God can sanctify us. All the good works we do cannot make us righteous, cannot sanctify us. Only the shed blood of Jesus Christ can set us apart, which is what the word sanctify means, and can make us holy in the eyes of God, and can make us righteous in His eyes because of the sacrifice of Christ. So, indeed, we worship Yahweh, Meccadash, the Lord who sanctifies.

Now let's go to Judges 6, verse 21. Judges 6, verse 21.

We know this was an awkward time in the history of ancient Israel. The time of the Judges are when everyone did what was right in their own eyes.

God was trying to work with an individual Gideon who, at times, lacked faith, was perhaps the least likely leader that one would want over any tribe of Israel. But God works with whom He desires. And here's what it says in Judges 6, verse 21.

Well, I certainly hope so. I mean, you don't see that every day, do you? Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord. So Gideon said, This was the name of the altar that Gideon built at Oprah, signifying that the Lord was a God. So is the God we worship? Is Jesus Christ peace? Well, he said, Come to me, all of you who are burdened and have heavy labors, and I will give you peace.

Every Sabbath day, why do we keep the seventh day Sabbath? Well, we don't idolize the Sabbath day as we've been accused by some. But we understand that the Sabbath day is a weekly reminder of what? The peace of the kingdom of God. That's what every Sabbath day is about. It pictures the millennium, one thousand years when mankind will have peace and plenty and prosperity. And there will be no more war, no more sickness, no more disease, no more starvation. It will be a world at peace. So Jesus Christ, indeed, the Lord is peace.

That's a characteristic of him. 1 Samuel chapter 1 and verse 1. Another phrase we'll see is Yahweh Sabeoth. 1 Samuel chapter 1 verse 1. Now there was a certain man of Remathim Zophim, of the mountains of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuf, the Ephraimite. And he had two wives.

The name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other was Penaiah. And Penaiah had children, but Hannah had no children. This man went up from his city yearly to worship and sacrificed to the Lord of Hosts. So this is Yahweh Sabeoth, the Lord of Hosts in Silo. Also these two sons of Eli, Haphne and Phineas, the priests of the Lord, were there. And this is a prelude to the birth of the prophet Samuel.

But here, God is called the Lord of Hosts, meaning he is the leader of heavenly bodies. You ever go out on a starry night when the sky is clear, and you look up into the heavens, and it is so bright, it's almost luminous.

You look up and you see tens of thousands of white dots in the sky. And you may even make out a planet, you may make out Jupiter, you may make out something beautiful. And basically, what this phrase means is that God is the leader of all heavenly bodies. They circulate on a system because God ordained them, He created them. They rotate and they do what they do with the command of God.

They were all created by Him, they all individually have a name. And that's a remarkable thought, that He is Yahweh Sabeoth, the Lord of Hosts. This can also be rendered the Lord Almighty. Let's go now to Psalm 23 and verse 1. Psalm 23 and verse 1. Scripture we're very familiar with. Yahweh Ra'ah, that's Y-A-H-W-E-H-R-O-H-I, Yahweh Ra'ah, and that is, the Lord is my Shepherd. It says, the Lord is my Shepherd, the Lord is Yahweh Ra'ah I shall not want. So this scripture just plainly and clearly says that God is the one who brings loving care for His people. Do you remember what Jesus said regarding Himself in John 10? He said, I am the Good Shepherd. That's what He said of Himself.

He said, I am the Good Shepherd because Jesus Christ is a Good Shepherd. He takes care of His flock. His flock know who He is. They recognize Him. He recognizes them. They have an affectionate relationship together, the Shepherd and His sheep. Indeed, Jesus Christ fulfills the role that the Lord is my Shepherd, Yahweh Ra'ah. Now let's go to Jeremiah 33. We have just a few more today, and we'll be ending the sermon a little early.

Jeremiah 33, verse 14. We're going to see the phrase, Yahweh to Sedek. I'm going to spell this for you. It's a little weird. Y-A-H-W-E-H dash T-S-I-D-K-E-N-U. T-S-I-D-K-E-N-U to Sedek. That means the Lord is our righteousness. Jeremiah 33, verse 14, a prophecy. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

In those days, and at that time I will cause a grow-up, a branch of righteousness, he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which she shall be called, the Lord our righteousness, Yahweh to Sedek. This was the name Jeremiah gave to God, the righteous king, who would rule over Israel after their return from captivity. Now, is Jesus Christ our righteousness? Well, certainly we all know what it says in Romans chapter 3.

And indeed, Christ is our righteousness. So indeed, he fulfills this title that the Lord is our righteousness. It's because Jesus Christ was perfect, and he shed his blood, that he fills the void in our lives with his righteousness where we fall short. And that's what makes it possible for us to continue to have a relationship with the Father, even though we struggle, even though we have weaknesses, even though we sin occasionally. We are still able to have a relationship with the Father because the Lord is our righteousness. Now, Ezekiel chapter 48 and verse 35, another characteristic of God, as explained by an additional name. Ezekiel chapter 48 and verse 35. I'm just going to cut into the context here to get to the point.

It's describing in the future the perimeters of the city of Jerusalem, and also this book has in Ezekiel the perimeters of a future temple. But Ezekiel chapter 48 and verse 35, it's giving dimensions, but it gives the name, and that's very important. 48 and verse 35.

This is associated with the future restoration of Jerusalem. All the way around shall be 18,000 cubics, and the name of the city from that day shall be, The Lord is there. That's Yahweh Shom. Yahweh Shom, spelled dash, Yahweh dash, S-H-A-M-M-A-H. Yahweh Shom. The Lord is there. What does this teach us? This teaches us and helps us to understand that God is ever-present. When you leave services today and you're in your car, God is there. When you get out of your car and you go in your home, God is there. When you go to sleep tonight, God is there.

You get up the next day, if you use yard work, or you do yard work, or whatever you do tomorrow, wherever you were at, God is there. His presence is with you. Why? Because especially if we receive God's Holy Spirit, God put His home in us.

So God is always there, wherever we are, living His life through us, guiding us, pricking our conscience, reminding us when we're not quite living up to the standards we should, convicting us of sin, encouraging us when we need it, giving us a desire to go on, the will to do the things that He wants us to do. God is there. And now the final one, Exodus 15, verse 24. Exodus 15, verse 24. This is one of my favorite terms for God, and I often use it in prayers that I give for anointing.

Yahweh Ratha, the Lord who heals, the God our healer. Exodus 15, verse 24.

The Hebrew word ratha means to mend. Now, unfortunately, ancient Israel never kept God's law perfectly, and they did have diseases like the Egyptians. And unfortunately, we live in a world with pollutions, with food processed poorly. You know, we could have sermons just on the culture that we live in and how degenerate it is, but because of thousands of years of DNA in our bodies that make us prone to some diseases from birth, because of poorly processed or grown foods, because of many pollutants that we don't even understand yet, how toxic they are, we too suffer diseases, and we suffer afflictions, and we suffer difficulties with our health. But it's comforting for us to know that we can go to the Lord who heals, and we can ask Him to intervene and give us sustenance to sustain our physical lives, to sustain us, and we can thank Jesus Christ as Peter said that it's by those stripes that He took upon His death on the cross that we are healed, that we can go to God and ask Him to do that and make that claim. I think that's very important, and again, one of my favorite phrases for the qualities and characteristics of God, because He is the Lord who heals. But in a spiritual sense, Jesus Christ was also our healer, because we were spiritually diseased. We were infected with the cancer of Satan that permeated our minds and our attitudes and our thoughts. It made them negative, it made them harsh, and that was a spiritual disease. And far more important than being physically healed, because even if we're physically healed today, we're still going to grow old and die. So far more important than physical healing is the spiritual healing that we're offered, because of what Jesus Christ did, because of the life that He lived, He was perfect, never sinned, because He was willing to shed His blood on the cross, because He came out of that grave three days and three nights later, was resurrected from the dead in the firstborn of many brethren. We have the opportunity to be healed spiritually from sin, and that is far more important than any physical promise.

If I had time today, I would take a look at some of the terms that we have in the New Testament regarding the Father. I'll just give you a little bit of a foretaste of some things to think about as we prepare for Pentecost and as we close the sermon.

Since Jesus Christ and the Father have made their home in us, again, John 14, verse 23, it's right and fitting that we should know at least a little bit and understand the qualities of the Father. And again, the word that Jesus used isn't formal, like the phrase I'm using, the Father.

The term that he often used was an Aramaic term, Abba, which is very intimate and is like us saying Daddy or Papa. That is the kind of relationship that he wanted us to have when communicating with the Father. It's a close level with God that no other generation of man has ever been able to have. Abraham wasn't able to have that kind of relationship with God that he could call him Daddy.

Moses didn't have that kind of a covenant relationship with God that he could call him Papa. But you and I have the kind of relationship with the Father that we can use those endearing terms to him. So in closing, I'd just like you to think of the designations, a few of them that we have in Scriptures, regarding the Father, whom Jesus Christ came to reveal, because no one knew of the presence of the Father until Jesus walked in the earth. Again, all of these Scriptures that we read in the Old Testament were referring to the very being who would later become known as Jesus Christ and walk in the earth. So I'd like you to just think about the fact that in Matthew 6 and verse 9, he referred to him as our Father, not some distant Papa, not somebody else's Papa. He's your Papa, and he loves you, and he wants to hear from you every day. Phone home. Call me. Every day, Papa, Dad, Daddy wants to hear from you through a process that we call prayer. In 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 3, he's called the Father of Mercies. He's not a harsh Father. He's not out there with his belt in his hand. Oh, you messed up again! Whack! He's not that kind of a Father. He's not harsh. He's not looking for reasons to beat us. He is the Father of Mercies. He's patient. He's kind. He's long-suffering. Wow, I guess he's all the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

The Father of Mercies, 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 3. He is the Father of Lights. That's the mention of James chapter 1 and verse 17. He's the Father that illuminates our lives and gives us purpose and meaning when all else may seem to be failing. He gives us truth and understanding, takes us out of the darkness and confusion of this world, and lights up our lives with truth and understanding, and with the magnificence of his presence by bringing light in our hearts. And one of the fruits of God's Holy Spirit is joy. And as the Father of Lights, we have a lot to be thankful about. Our hearts and minds should be illuminating with thankfulness and appreciation and radiate joy. He's also called the Father of Glory, Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 17. The Father of Glory. And he's not a selfish Father who wants to hold all glory to himself. He's not an autocratic Father who just wants to hold on to everything. He is a Father who wants to give away everything he has. That's why he wanted to create a family. Because he wants to share all of the glory and all of the wealth and might and majesty that he has with those children whom he has called in this lifetime. And that's what awaits us. He is the Father of Glory. Again, that's Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 17. Well, there are a few other characteristics that we could discuss, but these are for another sermon at another time. I wish all of you a fulfilling Sabbath day. Have a wonderful Sabbath. Have a great week. May God protect you and bless you, and we'll see you here again next Sabbath.