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By Fred R. Coulter
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What is in a name? We're going to go through and study many of the names of God, and I think we're going to find these very unusual.
There is a great controversy about those people who claim that if you do not use sacred names as listed in the Bible—the Hebrew names of God—you shall not be saved. Is that true? We'll answer that. Does that mean that we should avoid what those names are? or Can we learn from them more about God? What is the greatest name of God that you can use?
A name gives you identity—doesn't it? Some tell who you are and other names tell what you are. For example, I'll just use my name:
- Fred R. Coulter
- also known as:
- Fredrick Robert Coulter
- also known as, because I have a 'dba':
- Robert York
- Bible Answers (when 'Biblical' split happened)
- Coulter Financial Services
- York Publishing, another 'dba'
- I have a graduation certificate in:
- Fred R. Coulter
- Fredrick R. Coulter
- Fred Robert Coulter
- Fredrick Robert Coulter
All me! What else could I use as a name to not only tell who I am, but what I am? I'll just list some; I am:
- a cook
- a writer
- an editor
- a minister
- a teacher
- a publisher
- a college graduate
- a loan broker
- a real estate agent
- an author
- a driver
- a counselor
- a draftsman
- a carpenter
- an advisor
All of these are names that apply to me, but what is the greatest thing in the flesh? I'm talking just about in the flesh. What is the greatest name that I can have? 'Christian'? Not quite, but that's pretty close to the top! 'Father'! Why is that the greatest name I can have? Because I can pass something on! All of my children are the result of father and mother. So, you can say:
Fred R. Coulter, son of R.W. Coulter and Dorothy E. Coulter
We can take my children:
- Jonathan, son of
- David, son of
- Steven, son of
- Rachelle, daughter of Fred and Delores
Read in the book of Ecclesiastes that you brought nothing into this world and you're going to take nothing out of this world. What is the greatest thing you can do in this life? Be a father or a mother! You are passing on something in the world that will last after you. Your children are an extension of you. I can see that in all my kids. When I die, when Delores dies, there's still part of me going on in my children; that's part of me, part of my father and part of my mother. You can call me Fred, or you can call me Ted, or you can call me cook, or you can call me whatever, but the greatest thing I can be is a father.
That will telegraph to you what is the greatest name of God that we can use. For example: Who has a closer relationship with me? My children—the closest relationship is husband and wife, obviously—or other people? What is the closest relationship any of them can have, providing there is God's blessing? You wouldn't want to have it with God's curse. The greatest relationship they can have with me, with God's blessing, is that they have part of me—my children.
I may be able to cook you a fantastic meal and you all enjoy it, but that's still nowhere compared to being a son or a daughter. I can draw plans for you and help you build a house. I can come out and help build it. With plastic plumbing, I can do at least a halfway decent job with plumbing. I still can't do very good with electricity. I can frame, put in windows, put on stucco, pour concrete, setup foundations, do finishing work and all those things I can do.
What if I help you buy some real estate? No, that's not too close a relationship because after you bought your house, five years from now you'll forget me unless you want to buy another one or sell that one. What if I get you a loan? If it's a good loan, you'll remember me nicely, and if it's a bad loan, you'll curse and swear at me until you qualify for a better loan. What if you get something that I—the publisher and editor—wrote? What kind of relationship does that put you in with me? Neither here nor there! What if you ride in the car with me? That's another story! You may not like that relationship too well.
Just to show you that there are many things and many names that can apply to a person, we could do this with Ed: He is a father. He has two sons. He is a plasterer and lather. He can build his own home. He can do all of his own landscaping and do all of his own electrical. So, he's a carpenter, an electrician, a plumber and a driver because he commutes. He's also a Christian. All those things describe him, and we could go down the line with every one of us. All of those are different names. You can apply this to anybody.
Likewise with God; there are many ways to describe God. Also, it will be true that the greatest name you can use in your relationship with God is Abba Father. No one has as close a relationship to me as my wife. No one has a closer relationship to Jesus Christ than the Church—same as husband and wife. No one has a closer relationship with God than being a son of God, because through His Holy Spirit, you have part of Him in you, which then is greater than you.
However, there are many main things that we're going to learn of God. Almost anyone in the world that you talk to who has heard of Christianity and in any talk about God, you ask them what best describes God and they will almost universally say: love. When they come up with the term love, they cannot comprehend that:
- love can also have anger
- love can also destroy
- love will also punish
Part of the reason is that they want God:
- made in their image
- on their terms
- for their likes
- for their uses
and that's just not the way it is, folks! It's not that way! God says: 'Shall the thing that is made say to the Maker, What are you doing? I don't like that.' No way!
Let's look into some of the names of God. Let's understand something that we have concerning our view of God. This is still true even today. Let's hope we can view a little further in our perspective and understanding of God.
1-Corinthians 13:11: "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I reasoned as a child..." We could translate that in these terms: When I was in the flesh:
- I thought in the flesh
- I acted in the flesh
- I reacted in the flesh
However, when the resurrection takes place, I will not react according to the flesh. He's in some way drawing an analogy that way. What's it going to be like to have the mind of God? That's going to be something—isn't it? What's it going to be like to think as God thinks? That's going to be fantastic—isn't it?
"...but when I became a man, I set aside the things of a child. For now we see through a glass darkly..." (vs 11-12). That's what we're doing; we're still perceiving things as through a dark glass. We're to grow in grace and knowledge. We're to grow in understanding of God, which we are going to do. We are going to learn a lot of thing about God and why the different names of God are used and what that has in meaning for us today. I want to reiterate, I want to make it absolutely clear, this is not a prelude to lead to enforcement of sacred names, growing of long beards and putting up a tetragrammaton, which means: four letters, that's all tetragrammaton means. That's the four letters for YHWH.
If you just worship YHWH, then you're going to have some problems; because your view of God is not as a Father. Your view of God is as viewing someone on a different relationship. It means you're viewing God as righteous and judge—YHWH. That's what YHWH means. It can be pronounced: Yahwah, Yahweh, Jehovah and Jeho. That sounds a little Chinese, but I saw even the pronunciation of that—'Ieue'—that's the way it is phonetically spelled in English. So, we do see things darkly. Hopefully, with the light of God's Word we're going to learn more and more as we go.
"...but then... [at the resurrection] ...we shall see face to face; now I know in part..." (v 12). Here's the Apostle Paul and he sure knew a whole lot more than any of us—right?
"...but then I shall know exactly as I have been known.... [then he makes the famous quotation here]: ...And now, these three remain: faith, hope and love; but the greatest of these is love" (vs 12-13).
Just to make sure we get our perspectives going in the right direction, 1-Corinthians 2:9: "But according as it is written, 'The eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.' But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things—eventhe deep things of God. For who among men understands the things of man except by the spirit of man which is in him? In the same way also, the things of God no one understands except by the Spirit of God" (vs 9-11).
This is how we are going to understand these things. It is going to open up a tremendous view and vista for you to understand. I'll have to say that we're not the first ones to understand. I have almost finished reading this book by Andrew Jukes, The Names of God in Holy Scripture. He has a few things that he runs astray on. He thinks that Melchisedec is one of the high priests of Canaan and he believes that the Holy Spirit is a person. When was this written? It's very interesting. There were a lot of things done in England and America concerning the Bible and the opening up of the Bible. You have:
- Strong's Concordance
- Cruden's Concordance
- The American Bible Society
- The British Bible Society
- The German and Dutch Bible Society
They translated and spread Bibles all over the world, but in particular the British and American Bible Societies. This is: The Names of God in Holy Scripture by Andrew Jukes, reproduced complete and unabridged from the first edition, published in London, 1888. This is nothing new. However, we knew nothing of these things. So, it's information for us. Here's just a good example that this is information that is passed down to him from someone else and to us from him, which eventually comes from God. That's how we're going to learn the things that are there.
ELOHIM:
Let's look at the first name that is revealed to us in the Bible. It is called 'Elohim'—translated in the English: God. It's a very unusual word inasmuch as that it is plural:
- can be used with singular verbs
- can be used with plural verbs
- can be used with adjectives
- can be used with pronouns
For example it says: 'You shall have no other 'elohim' before Me': gods—lower case. It also says: 'Elohim said, Let Us make man in Our own image.'
The name Elohim has some apparent contradictions in it, because when we come to Isa. 45:22 we find that God says that He is one. However, can two be one? I want you to think about that for a minute! Can more than one, be one? A mathematician would argue with you all day and tell you, 'No!' However, when you look out into the universe standing here on earth looking out, it looks:
- beautiful
- serene
- quiet
- lovely
- nice
- inspiring
- You get out there, there are:
- exploding stars
- fantastic winds
- deadly rays
- light forms
- bits and pieces of planets and galaxies
That may not be the greatest place in the world to be, but looking at it from the earth up, it looks beautiful and wonderful. My! It's lovely! It's the same way with God. How can you have Elohim, who says He's one, be more than one?
Isaiah 45:22: "Turn to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am [Elohim] God, and there is none else." The Jews look at that and say, 'Obviously, there cannot be God and Christ!'
When a man and wife are married, they are to become one flesh! The two become one and the longer you are married, generally the more you think and act alike. In some cases, look alike.
The word 'Elohim'—God—denotes a covenant God. He makes a covenant based upon a love relationship. There are other aspects of God that have to do with:
- judgment
- punishment
- retribution
You have heard of the weakness of God—haven't you? That the weakness of God is greater than the strength of men? Have you ever wondered about that Scripture?
- Why is it that God has weaknesses?
and if there are
- What are they?
- If God is all mighty, how can He have weaknesses?
They're not contradictory. In our own minds, the way we think as human beings, that becomes a contradiction. It's just like the pure light of the sun that looks pure and white, when you run it through a prism there are actually seven colors in it. What you see is not what is really there. God can be all mighty, but He can still have some weaknesses. Don't think of them as weaknesses as we have weaknesses in the flesh. Elohim comes from the Hebrew word 'Hai Yah,' which is to swear; one who stands in a covenant relationship, which has been ratified by an oath. So, God has sworn! As Elohim, we will see that God has a covenant relationship with more than just human beings.
Hebrews 6:13: "For God, after promising Abraham, swore by Himself, since He could swear by none greater, saying, 'Surely in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply you'" (vs 13-14). That's not exactly the way that humans swear—is it? When God gives His Word—as a matter of fact, when God doubles His Word—that is the equivalent of His swearing: 'In blessing I will bless you.'
Human beings do it the other way. They put their hand on the Bible and say, 'I swear.' Of course, most people today turn around and lie. They even have it that an attorney cannot stop his client from lying on the stand. The other attorney has to prove his perjury. How's that for twisting everything around? You'd be surprised the 'circum-locomotion' reasoning that different people come up with to justify whatever they're going to do.
Verse 15: "Now, after he [Abraham] had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For indeed, men swear by the greater, and confirmation by an oath puts an end to all disputes between them. In this way God, desiring more abundantly to show the heirs of the promise the unchangeable nature of His own purpose, confirmed it by an oath; so that by two immutable things..." (vs 15-18). God said, 'In blessing I will bless and multiplying I will multiply.'
"...in which it was impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to lay hold on the hope that has been set before us" (v 18). If you have any doubt about salvation, you might as well cast it aside because God has said, 'In blessing I will bless, and in multiplying I will multiply' and 'by Myself.' When we talk about the New Covenant ratification and the things that Jesus has said, that gives us a whole lot to ponder on with that kind of relationship.
Hebrews 7:20[transcribers correction]: "...it was not without the swearing of an oath that He was made a Priest. (For those who descend from Aaron are made priests... [Levitical priests] ...without the swearing of an oath; but He was made a Priest with the swearing of an oath by Him Who says concerning Him, 'The Lord swore and will not revoke His Word, "You are a Priest forever according to the order of Melchisedec."')" (vs 20-21).
When did God establish a covenant relationship for certain things pertaining to His plan? When did God make that oath? We can get a couple of glimpses of it! We're going to see that it was before man existed.
Revelation 13:8: "And all who dwell on the earth will worship him... [the beast] ...whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." God already had it determined. If God knows the beginning from the end and the end from the beginning, God had to establish a covenant and oath relationship with what He has done.
We'll see that it applies to more than just eternal life, Hebrews 1:1: "God [Elohim] Who spoke to the fathers at different times in the past and in many ways by the prophets..." We're going to learn about God and Elohim in the Old Testament. There's a way that God revealed Himself and there's a lot to be revealed to us about God concerning the different uses of the name of God.
"...has spoken to us in these last days by His Son, Whom He has appointed heir of all things..." (vs 1-2). When did He appoint Him heir of all things? Obviously, God the Father and the Son had had a covenant relationship before human beings ever existed; before the universe was created They had a covenant relationship.
Verse 3: "Who, being the brightness of His glory and the exact image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His own power..." We're going to see that that is because of laws. Laws are because of the covenant relationship that God has with the universe that He has made! That may sound a little strange in some ways, but God has, by the virtue of creation, established the covenant relationship with everything that there is, and men worship it as God, unfortunately! So, He upholds "…all things by the word of His own power…"
Titus 1:2: "In the hope of eternal life, which God Who cannot lie promised before the ages of time"—before the foundation of the world, before the world began.
Ephesians 1:4: "According as He has personally chosen us for Himself before the foundation of the world..." God's plan was before the foundation of the world.
When we get to Gen. 1, I want to have laid the groundwork to show that by the virtue of the fact of creation, God has a covenant relationship with what He has made—different and varying covenants.
He's talking in Psa. 89 about His covenant that He had with David. Just in passing, Psa. 89 is by Ethan the Ezrahite. Ethan was one of the priests who came back with Ezra and he was lamenting the fact that there was no throne. They were under a governorship, under the Persians, and there was no throne of David. He's really complaining and saying, 'God, why is there no throne of David when You promised by a covenant?' It's just like many of the things the Jews are not willing to acknowledge—that there were 11 other brothers; that there was another son of Judah who was actually born first, who had the crimson thread on his wrist. So, He's complaining to God. Lots of times we do that. We limit God—don't we? We don't see that God has it worked out in His own way.
Psalms 89:34: "'I will not break My covenant, nor change the thing that has gone out of My lips. Once I have sworn by My Holiness... [Whew! That's really using something awesome to swear by!] ...I will not lie to David. His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before Me. It shall be established forever like the moon... [is established] ...and like a faithful witness in the heavens.' Selah" (vs 34-37) That means truly, amen, so be it. That's pretty powerful!
Proverbs 8 is talking about the Spirit of God. When we get to Gen. 1, we're going to see that the Spirit of God hovered over the deep. 'And God said....' 'Elohim said…'
Proverbs 8:22: "'The LORD possessed me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth ever was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth" (vs 22-25). That's interesting. The mountains were settled. That is a very interesting statement when you think about it.
Verse 26: "Before He had made the earth, or the fields, or the highest part of the dust of the world, when He prepared the heavens, I was there; when He set a circle upon the face of the deep" (vs 26-27). That's a very interesting terminology. It shows they knew about compasses and magnetism back then.
Verse 28: "When He established the clouds above, when He established the fountains of the deep, when He gave to the sea its limit... [decree, a covenant relationship] ...that the waters should not pass His command when He appointed the foundations of the earth" (vs 28-29).
Here's something that God challenged Job with. Job was thinking that he was so great, high and mighty, good and had done all these things. Typical, as far as people relying on their own works. This really started to humble Job. Imagine, after all he went through, sitting there arguing back and forth for days on end. He sat there five days and didn't say a thing. They just sat there and looked at each other. Job winced and groaned, took the potsherds and scraped the boils and let the pus run down and threw ashes on it. Imagine the flies buzzing around and just heaping the dust and sitting there batting away the flies. Here are your three no good friends over here and they're saying this and saying that. When you're miserable, the worst thing to do is to get in an argument—isn't it? When you're miserable, you just say all kinds of things! That's what went on with Job.
When God finally got to him, Job 38:1: "Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said... [that'll startle you to no end] ...'Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now gird up your loins like a man; for I will demand of you, and you shall answer Me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare it, if you have understanding! Who has determined its measurements, if you know? Or who has stretched the line upon it? On what are the foundations fastened to?.…'" (vs 1-6) That's an interesting thing!
- Have you seen pictures of the earth?
- How is it hung out there in the universe?
- How much does the universe weigh?
- How much does the earth weigh in the universe?
In order to stay in the universe the way it is, the energy that is used to uphold it equals the sum total of it's mass and it's speed, squared—whatever that is. Literally, the earth in space, according to the way we measure things, weighs nothing; because when you get an object out in space, it is weightless. Weight is only in relationship to magnetic pull and structure as we know it. If there were more magnetism on the earth, we would weigh more. Just double the magnetism and see what would happen on the earth. That would be something!
"'...Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth as it came from the womb? When I made the clouds its robe, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it'" (vs 6-9). Then He goes on showing all the things that He did.
Verse 33: "Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you set up their dominion on the earth?" Ooo! Startling question! My brain is already sagging with fatigue just trying to think of that!
Verse 34: "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that floods of waters may cover you? Can you send lightning that they may go and say to you, 'Here we are?' Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind? Who can number the clouds by wisdom; or who can pour out the bottles of the heavens... [I don't know exactly what that is, but that's an interesting phrase] ...when the dust is melted into hardness, and the clods cling fast together?" (vs 34-38). It goes on here with all the things showing that God is the One Who has done this.
Understand John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and not even one thing that was created came into being without Him" (vs 1-3).
There are certain things that God has made that men have adjusted a little bit. Now they're adjusting a little more. They showed a special on horses that they bred down to be about two feet high—little, teeny horses. They're trying to breed 18-lb. chickens. They're trying to make chickens that will lay 280 eggs a year. Can you imagine how tough that would be in stewing after that? Put it up there and ground out 280 eggs in a year and then send it off to the stew market.
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In the beginning of Genesis I want you to notice that it doesn't say anything about God other than Elohim—God. It doesn't say:
- the Almighty—El Shaddai
- the Lord of Hosts—Yahweh Sabaoth
- the Most High
It is Elohim, because this is a covenant with everything He has made!God is establishing with every one of these things that He is making a covenant relationship. He has a covenant relationship with human beings. Our relationship is also different than anything else because there can be more than one kind of covenant.
After blessing Noah and His sons, telling them to be 'fruitful and multiply, Genesis 9:8: "And God spoke to Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, 'Behold I... [Elohim, not Yahweh, not El Shaddai] ...even I establish My covenant with you, and with your seed after you; and with every living creature that is with you—of the birds, of the livestock, and of every animal of the earth with you—from all that go out from the ark, to every animal of the earth. And I will establish My covenant with you. Neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood. Neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.' And God said, 'This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you and every living creature with you, for everlasting generations'" (vs 8-12).
God has a covenant relationship with everything! That's why it's good that people are out there trying to save whales and trying to save certain parts of the environment. The only problem is that a lot of them get all wrapped up in New Ageism, Hinduism and all the stupid political and spiritual hoopla that goes with it, unfortunately.
Verse 13: "'I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. And it shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud. And I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the rainbow shall be in the cloud. And I will look upon it that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God [Elohim] and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth'" (vs 13-16).
You can't get any more all-encompassing than that—can you? No, you cannot! Why? Because God made it, Elohim! God's covenant remains in spite of everything—doesn't it? There are other covenants that have conditions. There are other covenants that are unconditional. All of those are a part of God's way in dealing with people.
Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning God [Elohim].created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.... [tie that in with Prov. 8] ...And God [Elohim] said, 'Let there be light.' And there was light. And God saw the light that it was good; and God divided between the light and the darkness. And God called the light day, and He called the darkness night. And the evening and the morning were day one" (vs 1-5). You go through each verse and each one says, 'And God [Elohim] said.' He made the firmament, divided the firmament above and below.
Verse 9: "And God [Elohim] said, 'Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear.' And it was so." Then there's the covenant that God has. He made the law. He told the sea, 'this far and no further.' Then we have the earth.
Verse 11: "And God [Elohim] said, 'Let the earth bring forth vegetation—the herb yielding seed and the fruit tree producing fruit after its kind, whose seed is in itself—upon the earth.' And it was so." So it happened, God brought it forth.
Verse 12: "...And God [Elohim] saw that it was good."
Verse 14: "And God [Elohim] said, 'Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide between the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for appointed seasons, and for days and years."
We still have it today—don't we? How do we calculate time today? By the covenant that God has made in His creation! Then it talks about the two lights. Almost every verse it is Elohim said! Elohim saw!
Verse 20: "And God said, 'Let the waters abound with swarms of living creatures, and let fowl fly over the earth on the face of the firmament of heaven.' And God created great sea-animals, and every living creature that moves with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged fowl after its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them... [Here's a covenant with them]: ...saying, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters of the seas, and let the fowl multiply in the earth'" (vs 20-22). Boy, that is true! Every time you see one of these specials about different birds, it's absolutely amazing!
Just take the penguin. You have many different kinds of penguins. The Emperor Penguin stays through the Antarctic winter down at Antarctica, all winter! They lay their eggs upon the ice, held up by the tops of their feet. They have the big, fat flap that comes down over it and underneath and they hold the egg in there and in spring the chick is hatched. You have other penguins that go to Patagonia, which is the southern peninsula of South America. They dig burrows and lay their eggs in a burrow. They come 3-million at a time to this one island—clanking, clattering, splashing—it's incredible! Just think about all of the other animals that there are that God has created. It's a fantastic and marvelous thing! It showed how these penguins are just awfully awkward on land. Once they get in water, they'll outdo any submarine or torpedo. They just sail through and they can catch fish like there's no tomorrow, and penguins can't fly.
Verse 24: "And God said, 'Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind—livestock, creeping things, and beasts of the earth—each after its kind.' And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and every creeping thing upon the earth after their kind. And God saw that it was good" (vs 24-25). Everything all the way through here, God has made it good!
To this day people marvel at the goodness of the creation of God, though they may attribute some of it to evolution. It's not evolution, because nothing comes into existence that God has not made! You can even 'special breed' it, but God has still put the laws there that make it. I greatly fear that somebody's going to do some genetic engineering and going to try and splice in animal genes into humans to make super athletes. Don't laugh! If they do that, I think we're close to the end. Remember, anything man imagines to do, he can do!What is one of the advertisements they have on television? The greatest thing you possess is your imagination! The imagination of man is continually evil, always.
Then God created man, v 26: "And God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness; and let them have dominion…"
v 28: "God blessed them…."
v 27: "He created them male and female. Humanity is found in two: male and female.
v 31: "And God saw everything that He had made, and indeed, it was exceedingly good…."
from the book, The Names of God in Holy Scripture, by Jukes.
For this covenant relationship, which the name Elohim expresses is first, a relationship in God. He is One but in Him also, as His name declares, there is plurality. And in this plurality, which has certain relationships, both in and with Himself, which because He is God, can never be dissolved or broken.
Don't we have the Scripture that says, concerning God, that He, Himself cannot break, that He, Himself cannot deny?
2-Timothy 2:12: "If we endure, we shall also reign together with Him; if we deny Him, He will also deny us; if we are unfaithful, He remains faithful—He cannot deny Himself" (vs 12-13). There are certain things that God has said and certain things that God has done that He alone can do—Elohim alone—that can never be dissolved or broken. Part of that is that regardless of how wicked human beings are, God's covenant is by Himself He made with all the earth and every living creature! That He won't destroy it ever again with the Flood!
But the truth here is that the covenant relationship involved in the name Elohim, goes further. For the Beloved is the Son, the Word, by Whom all things were made, in Whom all things consist, all things were created by and for Him. God, therefore, or Elohim, in covenant with the Beloved Son, must be in covenant with all that is created by Him in which all consist are held together in Him; for, as Paul has said, He is God that cannot lie Who promised eternal life before the world began and, in virtue of this covenant relationship because He is Elohim, though His creatures fail and fall, He will never leave us or forsake us.
This will help us to understand why God lets things go the way they have gone; why God is glorified in our weakness. Have you ever wondered how God is glorified in our weakness? That's a very interesting question—isn't it?
All Scripture from The Holy Bible In Its Original Order, A Faithful Version by Fred R. Coulter.
Scriptural References:
- 1-Corinthians 13:11-13
- 1-Corinthians 2:9-11
- Isaiah 45:22
- Hebrews 6:13-18
- Hebrews 7:20-21
- Revelation 13:8
- Hebrews 1:1-3
- Titus 1:2
- Ephesians 1:4
- Psalms 89:34-37
- Proverbs 8:22-29
- Job 38:1-9, 33-38
- John 1:1-3
- Genesis 9:8-16
- Genesis 1:1-5, 9, 11-12, 14, 20-22, 24-26, 28, 27, 31
- 2-Timothy 2:12-13
Also referenced: Books:
The Names of God in Holy Scripture by Andrew Jukes
Strong's Concordance by James Strong
Cruden's Concordance by Alexander Cruden
FRC:nfs
Transcribed 12-26-13
Proofed: bo—1-5-14
