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The reason that there are many names of God is because it reveals more than one aspect of God. When we are one dimensional we see things only one way; then we limit ourselves and we limit God. Is God one dimensional? No! God is multi-dimensional. The more that you look into the things that God has created, the more fantastic they are, whether you look into the universe or you peer into the construction of the cells and molecules.
Things as they appear are not as they are in every case. For example: If you had solid stainless steel two inches thick you can say that it is impenetrable. Maybe make it so that you could even shoot a rocket up on it and it would dent it a little bit but not get through it. However, the smallest, little particle from outer space can pass through it, called a ‘ray.’ It’s not what it appears. It is what it is, but what it appears is another thing. It’s the same way with God.
Let’s review again so we can understand as we go along. ‘Elohim’ is God in covenant relationship, and He always loves because of that covenant relationship, which is with His whole creation. Therefore, God is not going to destroy it or neglect it. God is righteous, ‘Yahweh.’ What does Yahweh do that’s different from Elohim? He judges! Why does Yahweh judge? Because He is the Lawgiver and demand’s righteousness!
Another aspect of God’s name is that God has to have all power and all might to:
- enforce judgment
- carry out His plan of salvation
- carry out His will
God’s ‘almightiness’ is to carry out His will! His will expresses everything under which He is going to do everything. What we’re finding out is that in order to understand God there are many things that:
- you can describe about Him
- you attribute to Him
- He does
They are all true!
For example: Within the Law of God, those things relating to that are true. For one who’s the sinner—a real, wretched sinner—he looks to the great mercy of God, and that is also true. Neither one contradicts the other. They’re all different aspects of God!
God’s Grace:
Let’s begin by comparing God’s free grace. You have on one hand God’s free grace. What is the total opposite of that? Man’s free will! That’s why many times there will be those things that you would call ‘apparent contradictions.’ If all is going to be grace, why would God judge and punish? Because judgment and punishment is also part of love, but a different aspect of love! In part two of El Shaddai we’re going to understand why Job went through what he went through. That’s a very important part in carrying out the will of God. That’s His almightiness!
We find some aspects of God and what He’s going to do in relationship to His grace in Romans 9:6: “However, this does not mean that the Word of God has failed because not all of those who descend from Israel are Israel.” They are not all Abraham because they are of Abraham.
- Who were the sons of Isaac? Jacob and Esau!
- Could Esau say, ‘My father was Isaac?’ Yes, he could, but God didn’t give him the promise!
The same way with Abraham and Ishmael.
- Was Abraham Ishmael’s father? Absolutely! Did Ishmael get the promise? No!
Verse 7: “Nor because they are Abraham’s seed does it mean that they are all children of the promise. But, ‘In Isaac shall your seed be called.’” Esau wasn’t! Esau, one of the sons of Isaac, was not “…of the promise.”
Verse 8: That is, those who are the children of the flesh are not the children of God... [they didn’t receive the promise] ...rather, the children of the promise are reckoned as the seed because this is the word of promise: ‘According to this set time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son.’ And not only that, but Rebecca also having conceived by one, Isaac our father, but before the children had been born, or had done anything good or evil (in order that the purpose of God according to His own selection might stand—not of works, but of Him Who calls)” (vs 8-11). You have a whole lot of serving in this verse; children not yet born have done neither good nor evil.
Verse 12: “It was said to her, ‘The elder shall serve the younger.’ Accordingly, it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, and Esau I hated.’ What then shall we say? Is there unrighteousness with God? MAY IT NEVER BE! For He said to Moses, ‘I will show mercy to whomever I show mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I have compassion.’ So then, it is not of the one who wills, nor of the one who runs; rather, it is of God, Who shows mercy” (vs 12-16). In other words, it is all of God’s grace! That shows a tremendous thing. God is going to carry out His will. It also shows the grace of God.
Man’s Free Will:
Looking at the other hand of it: man’s free will among those who were chosen. It’s not those who want to be chosen, which says an awful lot, it’s those that God is going to call.
- What of those that God has called?
- Do they get God’s free grace just because they have been called?
No! There’s a free choice that has to be.
John 5:40: “But you are unwilling to come to Me, that you may have life.” One does not contradict the other. They both fit together. God calls!
- What happens when God calls?
- What do we have to do?
- We have to answer Him!
- What happened to Jonah?
God called, knocking on the door, and Jonah said, ‘I’m not going to answer that; I’m going to run away from that.’ You know the story.
- God got him
- put him in the fish
- spit him out on the land
- made him do it
We still have to have our willingness. I suppose Jonah is an example of what God is going to do even though you’re not willing. If He’s determined, He’s going to do it. He did it! God did it!
Let’s see how this action of God vs our own free choice works. God works with both. He does His will, and He allows free choice! When He does both, according to how we react, there is blessing or cursing. There is the carrying out of the will of God in one way or the other way. Many times God has done things for Jerusalem.
He says in Matthew 23:34: “Because of this, behold, I send to you prophets and wise men and scribes; and some of them you shall kill and crucify, and some of them you shall scourge in your synagogues, and some of them you shall persecute from city to city;so that upon you may come all the righteous blood poured out upon the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous, unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar” (vs 34-35). That takes a lot of gall—doesn’t it?
Verse 36: “Truly I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation.” What do we have? We have the grieving of God.
- He makes the judgment
- He pronounces and says it’s going to be
- then He grieves
He says, v 37: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who have been sent to you, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you refused!” Here’s the will of God! The will of God is never going to be thwarted because God is going to accomplish it, but He has to change what He has decreed He’s going to do.
That’s why we can never set a date for the return of Christ. Anything that man is going to figure out, you know that that can’t be, because God gives allowance for choice and repentance. When God gives allowance for choice and repentance, then God is flexible enough to change His will!
Look what He did with Hezekiah. He sent Isaiah. He said, ‘Isaiah, you go tell Hezekiah to prepare his house and set in order; he’s going to die.’ Isaiah dutifully marches in and says, ‘Hezekiah, set your house in order. God says you’re going to die.’ Hezekiah went to the wall and wept sore and said, ‘Oh, God! Please! I don’t want to die at this time.’ He repented; he turned to God. As Isaiah was walking out of the court, the Word of the Lord came to Isaiah and said, ‘Go back and tell Hezekiah you’re not going to die. You’re going to live 15 more years.’ That’s why God is not going to be pinned down—on any day, any jubilee, anything—because there is the free grace of God, but there’s also the free will of man. When these oppose, then God has to work His plan a little differently.
Let’s look at some of the contrasts of God. Look at the Passover sacrifice of Jesus Christ. There are contradictions in the way that it is perceived. Ephesians 5 talks about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in quite an endearing way—and it is.
Sweet Smelling Savor:
Ephesians 5:2: “And walk in love, even as Christ also loved us, and gave Himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.”
But what other aspects of the sacrifice of Christ do we have? Jesus said, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’ It was not a sweet smelling savor; but it was a sweet smelling savor. In that sacrifice was encompassed everything that God was going to do to reconcile human beings!
Curse of the Law:
Another aspect of it, Galatians 3:13: “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law...” Protestants read that and in their minds they view it: The Law is a curse’ therefore, we are redeemed from the Law. Therefore, we don’t have to keep the Law. Oh, but by the way, don’t murder and don’t steal—they rearrange it.
“...having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’)” (v 13). Jesus was made sin for us though He knew no sin (2-Cor. 5). All of those things are not contradictions.
For example: ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’ means that He died a cursed death. How can a cursed death be a ‘sweet savor’ to God? They’re both contained within the same thing. One doesn’t contradict the other. The sacrifice of Christ has many aspects. It’s not just one. When we get to looking at things in just one dimension, then we get all disarrayed.
Grace and Knowledge:
2-Peter 3:18[transcriber’s correction]: “Rather, be growing in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ....” Let’s talk about both of these for just a minute. Grace covers your entire relationship with God. All of those who just rely on grace alone—which you can, which you should—they:
- don’t keep the laws of God
- don’t follow the things that God has said otherwise
- just look to God’s grace
You can’t have grace without knowledge!
What happens when you have knowledge without grace? Knowledge puffs up and it becomes one dimensional! It’s so one dimensional that a little group over here with eight people says, ‘We are the only ones that God has called.’
What does the ‘letter of the Law’ do? ‘The letter kills but the Spirit gives life’ (2-cor. 3)! That’s why I’ve placed grace and knowledge in a circle. Grace and knowledge continuously comes together! In understanding the things of God, God is so great, so fantastic, that the more you study the Word of God—the way God reveals that it should be studied:
- the more you’re going to learn
- the more grace you’re going to receive
- the more knowledge you can handle
The knowledge is not going to puff you up. It’s going to give you a greater dimension of viewing things, where you’re not just thinking in a single dimension.
That’s why in our past church experience we found out that everyone was trained to be single dimensional in their thoughts. If they didn’t belong to ‘this-and-such’ they didn’t belong. Knowledge puffs up. That’s why we need understanding, so that we can continue to grow in grace and in knowledge.
Look at what happens with mankind when they have a certain knowledge but not the knowledge of God. Everything that they do ends up in evil and destruction. Things that appear are not as they really are. What does man do with all the knowledge that he has? We can create wonderful appliances and we make awesome rockets and planes for destruction. It’s incredible!
It’s the same way with viewing God. People want to accept one view of God: ‘That is correct, brethren!’ I’ve heard it and if you don’t accept it, that’s not of God! It’s put very well by Jukes: (The Names of God in Holy Scripture by Andrew Jukes)
Yet, Holy Scriptures distinctly teaches that Christ’s sacrifice has both these aspects: that of “the curse” or “the sweet savor.” It is also yet voluntary. Did not Christ willingly give Himself, but was it also involuntary, that it was determined and ordained before the foundation of the world that’s what He would do?
Both are correct! As human beings, we view things as either/or. God views them from His perspective. He is great and fantastic and that’s part of God Almighty!
As we pass from things as they appear to things as they are...
That’s the key thing I want to focus in on: Things that appear are not what they actually are!
I heard this fellow who comes on KGL once in a while, and he belongs to the skeptic society, and he himself is a magician. Every one of these things are tricks that are physically done that make it appear that they are not what they are. You see something as it appears. He said the simplest one to do is to cut off someone’s head. You do this by mirrors. It looks like you cut off their head. You have the head in one place talking and the body in another place wiggling. The person has not had their head lopped off, but it appears that way. That is not what actually happened.
It’s the same way with what we do in our own lives. It’s the same way with understanding about God. Those who believe in God’s love—that God is love—cannot understand the wrath of God, cannot understand the judgment of God. Those who say life is precious—which it is—cannot understand how God is going to just absolutely destroy 10s of millions, maybe 100s of millions of people, when Christ returns. It’s hard to fathom! Our ‘pea brains’ can barely handle it!
...we see that no sacrifice can be perfect unless it is at the same time both voluntary and involuntary; so, as to God Himself. It is only the union of apparent opposites. By understanding that, that we can even glimpse His unmeasured and immeasurable fullness. To contend, therefore, only for one view or one side of truth against another. Simply because, under the limitations of our present nature...
Jukes is saying that human minds are limited, in the present nature we have, to understand every aspect of God all at once! That is true!
As we grow up, we look back now—at whatever age 50, 60, 70—and say: ‘If I could go back and be 15, start with the knowledge that I have now and go forward from there. ‘Ah, but it can’t be!’ We’d love it to be but it can’t be! Jukes said:
...we cannot, at once, logically reconcile the two; to shut ourselves out from the knowledge—that more perfect knowledge—to which God leads us by varied revelations.
That is really true!
What are the basic premises to understanding the Word of God?
How do you understand the Word of God?
reading
studying to show yourself approved
What happens when you do those?
Do you understand it all at once?
line upon line; precept upon precept; here a little, there a little
grace
knowledge
the Spirit of understanding
All of those fit into understanding and every one of them is true. To whom shall God give knowledge? To ‘those who are weaned, drawn from the breast,’ etc! You have to have wisdom to use knowledge in the right way. Otherwise, that comes into worshipping in vain.
What this series of sermons is going to do by the time we’re finished is to open up a whole lot of understanding. We’re not going around with one concept of God. We’re understanding more of the fullness of God! Of course, we won’t be able to do that completely until the resurrection! However, all of these things come together.
Just to show that knowledge in itself can be without wisdom: When I was a kid and playing around with firecrackers, we got these cherry bombs. We were playing around, throwing them off and getting a little more daring. I lit one, set it in my hand and let it go off. Luckily, it went up instead of down. I still have my hand and all my fingers. That is knowledge without wisdom, not only without wisdom but also adding foolishness and stupidity. Knowledge without wisdom is destructive!
But how many are thus straightening themselves, loosing thereby the fullness of the light, which the acceptance of every ray of His Truth—however much one may seem to differ from the other—must always bring with it.
When you cannot reconcile the love of God with the death of the wicked, then you don’t understand God!
Both saints and sinners may err in this way, through one-sided views of Truth.
It’s still Truth, but it’s only one-side. You can have a coin; there are two sides. You can have a block; there are six sides. You can trim those corners and you can make eight more sides. Then you have fourteen sides. You can drill a hole through it and you’d have another dimension but you’d still have the block of wood. It’s still a block of wood!
It’s the same way with God’s Truth. When you understand that you need to keep the Law, that’s fine, but is that all there is to God? No! Then you learn that the letter of the Law kills. What are you going to do? That is what Paul was saying: ‘What I found to life, I found unto death. The Law is spiritual, Holy, just and good, but I’m a sinner. I found it unto death.’ Why? Because that’s not the fullness of God’s plan, that’s only part of it!
- Do our lives alone consist of eating?
- No, it’s part of it!
Do our lives alone consist of mental exercise?
Do our lives alone consist of reading?
Do our lives alone consist of studying?
No, that’s part of it!
Do our lives alone consist of just athletics?
No, but that could be part of it!
What if our life only consisted of sleeping?
That would be no life at all but it’s part of life. It’s all part of life.
On the one hand, careless souls with a vague hope of some future salvation—on the ground that God is merciful and can never leave us or forsake us—shut their eyes to the no less certain fact that, He is righteous and must judge not only all evil, but evildoers also, to the uttermost.
People think they can sin and get away with it and they’ll repent later. If you have that in mind, your attitude later is, you’re probably not going to repent. There are some people who operate that way: ‘Oh well, God is merciful. He understands.’ Then along comes a law-keeper and he’s got his six shooter out. With every little law-breaking, he shoots. That’s not it either!
Andrew Jukes—100 years ago—would you say he understood God? Would you say the Gospel has not been preached? No, way! Absolutely not! It has been!
On the other hand, those who have learned that God is righteous and that His will is crossed by sin—which He must judge—conclude that because it is now so crossed, it will be crossed forever and that because He is righteous—though He desires to save all—He must forever lose a portion of His creatures.
Part of that is true but you don’t discard all humanity and come down to eight again.
If these careless souls could only see that their thought ignores God’s Holiness and that all evil, sooner or later, must be judged—because the Lord is righteous—they could hardly live as they do in their present carelessness, but would judge themselves so that they might not be judged of God.
Some very, very insightful things! When I went through and read that, I read it over about six or eight times so I could really get it in my mind what was really being said, because it was so profound.
EL SHADDAI:
Let’s talk about the name of God, ‘El Shaddai’—God Almighty. This helps us understand why God cannot lie. If you take human logic alone:
Is God almighty?
Can He do everything He wants to do? Yes!
If that is so
Why is it impossible for God to lie?
Human logic would demand that if God is almighty and all powerful and can do all things, then He could surely lie. If He can’t lie, then He’s not almighty because He can’t do everything. Isn’t that the logic that people are hit with when they go to college? They say, ‘Get rid of God!’ It’s a contradiction, too much; you can’t stand it! If God is love and God loves life and God is giver of life, why does He kill? Can’t take it!
Almighty is supposed by some to mean: One who has the power to do anything and everything. But such an idea of all mightiness is not that which the Holy Scriptures present to us.
That’s only part of it.
Holy Scripture says that God is truth and love and as the true and the righteous God the very truth: He cannot lie. He cannot! Does this ‘cannot’ limit His all mightiness? Would He be more mighty if He could lie? Certainly not! Falsehood is weakness.
A lie is a weakness! It is not power!
All mightiness, therefore, is not the power of doing anything or everything, All mightiness is the power to carry out the will of a Divine nature.
Does God have the power to do it and carry it out? Yes!
It is no part of God’s nature to be false or lie. It is, therefore, not limiting of His all mightiness to say that God cannot lie. But God is also love. His will is to bless all. Would it be any proof of His all mightiness instead of being able to save and to bless His creatures, He could only punish and destroy them?
You have the contrast. It’s more than that.
Take an illustration: Suppose a sculptor who desired to form an image of himself out of some material, whether of wood or stone or metal. Would it be any proof of his power as a sculptor, if because the stone or the wood or the metal were hard to work on, he dashed his image all to pieces?
That’s how a lot of people view God: ‘God is going to come and destroy and wipe everything out. That’s the end of it! That’s God! If you don’t get right with the will of God, you’re going to get it!’ That’s partly true but not all the truth.
Would such an act show his ability? Quite the reverse, and so with God. To be almighty, He must be able to carry out His will and purpose to the uttermost, and this will is: to save His creatures, to restore, to reform His image in them. If He cannot do this, and turn the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, He is not able to fulfill the desire of His nature, so He would not be almighty. I say, ‘if’ He cannot do this. Thank God He is able to subdue all things to Himself, because He is love, and to subdue all things to Himself, is to subdue all things to love.
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EL:
The El is translated: God, and also power. It has to do with power as well as just God—God having the power. God has the power to destroy everything, but that’s not the only thing He uses.
Genesis 15:1: “After these things the Word of the LORD [Yahweh] came to Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Fear not, Abram, I am your shield and your exceedingly great reward.’ And Abram said, ‘Lord GOD, what will You give me since I go childless, and the heir of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?’ And Abram said, ‘Behold, You have given no seed to me; and lo, one born in my house is my heir.’ And behold, the Word of the LORD came to him saying, ‘This man shall not be your heir; but he that shall come forth out of your own loins shall be your heir.’And He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward the heavens and number the stars—if you are able to count them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your seed be.’And he believed in the LORD [Yahweh]. And He accounted it to him for righteousness” (vs 1-6).
Then God made a covenant with Abram. This was quite a covenant. This is part of the covenant, but it’s with Abram. God does something to Abraham. Have you ever wondered why God changed the name of Abraham from Abram?
Verse 18: “In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘I have given this land to your seed, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates’” If the Jews tried to claim that today, look what would happen.
Does God let us use our own devices from time to time to try and do the will of God, and yet, not necessarily be a lack of faith. You’re acting on the Word of God. What did God tell Abram? He said, ‘Of your own bowels—out of you—will your seed come, not out of Eliezer.’ So, Abram sat down and talked this over with his wife.
Genesis 16:1: “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, did not bear him any children. And she had a maidservant, an Egyptian, and her name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, ‘Behold now, the LORD has kept me from bearing.…’” (vs 1-2).
‘That’s not your fault Abram, it’s me. You can still have children from you. Isn’t that what God said? Didn’t God say you can have children come from your own bowels? Yes! So, have children by my handmaid, Hagar.’ That created all kinds of problems. These are the children not of the promise! It’s still a difficulty today—isn’t it? Terrible, terrible, terrible!
Hagar conceived and so forth, and her mistress was despised in her eyes, Hagar hated Sarai. Verse 5: “And Sarai said to Abram, ‘My wrong be upon you....’” More than upon you; upon the whole world! I wonder what’s going to happen at the resurrection. Not only is God going to say, ‘Abraham, these are all your seed.’ Sarai is going to be able to say, ‘Uh oh, look what I did.’ All these Arabians over here from Ishmael—the 12 tribes:
- Were there 12 tribes on both sides?
- to the children of promise?
- to the children not of promise?
Did they both have 12 tribes?
- Yes, they did!
Were they both a mighty people?
- Yes, they were!
- Did they both inherit wealth?
Yes, they did!
- one in the desert
- one in the nice places
You know the rest of the story.
A few years later, Abraham learned that it wasn’t going to be by what he decided, though he was trying to follow the will of God—‘of his own bowels.’ Ishmael was of his own bowels, but not of Sarai. Here’s what happens:
Genesis 17:1[transcriber’s correction]: “And when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am the Almighty God [El Shaddai]!.… [able to carry out my will, able to do as I am determined, able to do as I have said. So, He said]: ...Walk before Me and be perfect.’” The assumption is, up to that time, he wasn’t perfect.
Verse 2: “And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” God is adding to and repeating the covenant (Gen. 15:18), there was a covenant. Years later, here it is again.
Verse 3: “And Abram fell on his face. And God talked with him, saying, ‘As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. Neither shall your name any more be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations’” (vs 3-5).
What letter was inserted into the name, ‘Abram?’ ‘H’, and that comes from the name of God, ‘Yahweh.’ The ‘h’ from God’s name is added to Abraham. Now, it’s Abraham, and it’s going to be because of God’s will! God already told him what His will would be and it would come through the bowels of Abraham. ‘H’ is also the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet and the #5 is the number of grace.
- by grace we have the calling
- by grace we also have the conception
- by faith and by grace God has made it irrevocable
God is not going to go back on that. God said, ‘I will call your name Abraham.’ He puts the Hebrew ‘h’ in there from ‘Yahweh’s’ name.
Verse 6: “And I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you in their generations for an everlasting covenant...” (vs 6-7). That goes beyond the covenant to Israel. It includes:
- the covenant to Israel
- the covenant to the New Testament Church
- the covenant that God has made with all of His creation
Verse 7: “To be God to you and to your seed after you.And I will give the land to you in which you are a sojourner, and to your seed after you, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. And I will be their God.’ And God said to Abraham, ‘And you shall keep My covenant, you and your seed after you in their generations. This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your seed after you. Every male child among you shall be circumcised” (vs 7-10). Then He makes the token of the covenant, which is circumcision.
It’s interesting that as we become more and more ‘Babylonianized,’ the trend is for where 99% of all males born in America were circumcised, whether and if they are or not, it’s not consequential on the day, and now the trend is to be uncircumcised. That’s being pushed everywhere in the United States. It’s interesting how that as God withdraws all of the knowledge, everything is being withdrawn.
Then God said, v 15: “And God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name shall be Sarah.” The letter of God put there from ‘Yahweh. The ‘h’ is added to her name, which tells us that seed and that conception of hers, was from God by grace!
- It is God’s will!
- It is God’s action!
God gave them a new name because of what God had done. Project that forward and think about that for the resurrection, we’re going to have a new name.
Revelation 2:17: “The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes I will give the right to eat of the hidden manna; and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows except the one who receives it.”
- a special name of God
- created by God
- given by God
That’s going to be something!
Revelation 3:12: “The one who overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall not go out any more; and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which will come down out of heaven from My God; and I will write upon him My new name.”
We’re going to have four parts to our name. It’s what it says. We’ll have four parts to our name:
- our own name
- the name of God
- the name of the city
- the name of Jesus Christ
Don’t think that’s unusual. How many of you have three names right now? Most of us do! Some even four! Especially in the Spanish tradition, they keep all the names, the mother and father on both sides. That name can be so long they could have 20 or 30 names in there. Don’t think it unusual. Someone who has only one perspective of the Truth says: ‘If you have a new name, you have a new name. How can you have more than one new name.’ You’ll have four new names!
We’ll talk a little bit about the ‘El’ part of ‘El Shaddai,’ showing that it is power but it also is the ability to carry out! It is translated in different places such as might or strength.
Deuteronomy 28:32: “Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, and your eyes shall look and fail for them all the day long. And there shall be no power... [In Hebrew that is ‘El’—no power, no might.] ...in your hand.” It can be translated different things.
Genesis 31:29: “It is in the power of my hand to do you harm.... [the El of my hand, or the power] ...But the God of your fathers spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Take heed that you do not speak either good or bad to Jacob.’” It is power! If you’re going to have power, or El, included with God’s name. ‘El’ can be translated power, might or strength.
Psalm 18:30: “As for God, His way is perfect; the Word of the LORD [Yahweh] is tried....”
- it’s tested
- it’s righteous
- it’s pure
- it’s true
- it’s judgment
All that sort of thing, all of these involved.
“...He is a shield... [someone to have strength] ...to all those who take refuge in Him, for who is God besides the LORD? Or, who is a Rock except our God? The God who girds me with strength [El]...” (vs 30-32). There are sometimes when the word ‘God’ is translated from ‘El,’ where it looks like it is translated from Elohim. We will cover a couple of those, but first, we’ll finish here.
Verse 32: “The God who girds me with strength [El]... [strength or power] ...and makes my way perfect.” That tells you how your way can be perfect.
The power has to come from God and it has to be through His almightiness to make it happen, not through your own works. That’s the whole lesson why God let Abram do what he did. When his name was changed to Abraham, then it was the will of God that did it, not the interpretation of the will of God by Abram!
Verse 33: “Who makes my feet like hinds’ feet, and sets me on my high places.He trains my hands for battle...” (vs 33-34). That’s a very interesting thing. A man after God’s heart, “…He trains my hands for battle.” A God of love, a God of war, how can they both be the same? They can both be the same because it is Yahweh who must judge and it is Yahweh who must punish!
When David turned and went against the will of God, you know what happened to him. He had to be judged. He had to be punished. Why? God is righteous and God is no respecter of persons! Those who think that God is a respecter to them, what happens? When they sin, God judges them!
Psalm 77:13: “Your way, O God, is in holiness; who is so great a God as our God?You are the God Who does wonders; You have declared Your strength among the people” (vs 13-14). ‘El’! In this particular case, Elohim and El are both translated God. There are 2,200 and some places where Elohim is translated God and there are 220 places where El is translated God. You can’t tell by reading the King James which one is which, but you can tell by the context.
- strength
- might
- power
- will
That shows that it is from El—El Shaddai!
Psalm 78:19 “Yea, they spoke against God; they said, ‘Can God [El] set a table in the wilderness?’” In other words, does God have the power to furnish a table in the wilderness? You know the rest of that story.
Here is where the word God is translated from the Hebrew ‘El,’ Isaiah 40:18: “To whom then will you compare God?…. [talking about all the power of God] ...Or what likeness will you compare to Him?” Just before, it talks about the fantastic power of God and His creation, what He’s done. Who’s been His counselor? No one has! Then, God looks at everything as just a small drop in the bucket compared to human’s way of looking at things. El=God:
- Who is mighty!
- Who is powerful!
- Who has strength!
SHADDAI:
What does ‘Shaddai’ picture? ‘Shaddai’ means the pourer forth or the giver of bountifulness, the One who pours forth the blessing—Shaddai. It actually comes from the Hebrew: ‘shad’—translated: breast and female breast. God has the power to pour forth and God did create male and female. Have you ever wondered about this Scripture in the book of Numbers where it says, ‘Is God able to furnish a table?’
Numbers 11:1: “And the people complained about their distress, speaking evil in the ears of the LORD. And the LORD heard it, and His anger was kindled.... [must judge] ...And the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some in the outermost parts of the camp. And the people cried to Moses. And when Moses prayed to the LORD, the fire was quenched. And he called the name of the place Taberah because the fire of the LORD burned among them. And the troublemakers in their midst lusted with great lust. And the children of Israel also turned and wept, and said, ‘Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish, which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic’” (vs 1-5 There’s nothing that makes things taste good like onions and garlic.
Verse 6: “‘But now our soul is dried away. There is nothing at all besides this manna before our eyes.’ And the manna was like coriander seed, and the color of it was like the color of bdellium. The people went around and gathered, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of fresh oil. And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it. Then Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent....” (6-10). Quite a riot going on.
“...And the anger of the LORD was kindled greatly. Moses also was displeased.And Moses said to the LORD, ‘Why have You afflicted Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight so that You lay the burden of all this people upon me? Have I conceived all this people?.… [Have I begotten them? Lord, is it my fault?] ...Did I bring them forth that You should say to me, “Carry them in your bosom like a nursing father carries the sucking child,” to the land which You swore to their fathers?’” (vs 10-12).
Quite a term—isn’t it? “…nursing father…” Have you ever seen a nursing father? They’ve actually made nursing fathers! You know how they make nursing fathers? With female hormones! They produce milk and there are children. The wonders of modern technology! It can be done. (I’m only passing on what I’ve heard!) Therefore, this statement becomes something in relating to a function of God. Though He is not a woman, He can give. Part of His name is from ‘shad’ which means breast, but it’s ‘Shaddai’ which means the pourer forth of blessings.
In Isaiah we have the phrase again, only this time it’s balanced out a little different, Isaiah 49:22: “Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Behold, I will lift up My hand to the Gentiles, and have set up My banner to the people; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be your nursing fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers….’” (vs 22-23).
It‘s a matter of caring, nursing and so forth. That’s what it’s portraying. It portrays something that God has to give to us, which can only be exemplified by the one Hebrew word, ‘shad.’ So, it is El Shaddai. God has all power to carry out His will and to bountifully bless.
How do you understand the Word of God? Isaiah 28:9: “‘Whom shall He teach knowledge?.… [we get back to knowledge and grace] ...And whom shall He make to understand doctrine? Those who are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts.’”
Again, we have our relationship with God, likened to the same thing and what we are to do, 1-Peter 2:1: “Therefore, having put away all wickedness, and all deceit, and hypocrisies and jealousies, and all slanders, as newborn babes, yearn after the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow, if you yourselves have indeed tasted that the Lord is gracious” (vs 1-3).
You can’t have any more direct analogy to what God is going to give than by this analogy of a new born babe who’s being fed on his mother’s breast. The pagans have taken it and what have they done with it? They’ve made Diana, the many-breasted god! You see how Satan takes it and perverts all of that?
It says, ‘If you’ve tasted.’ What do you taste? In Psalm 34 it talks about ‘tasting God,’ and ‘of His way,’ as it were.
Psalm 34:1: “I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall always be in my mouth.My soul shall make its boast in the LORD...” (vs 1-2).
- Is the soul male or female?
- If you have a soul and you’re a male, how can you be male and have a female soul?
It’s only the language; the soul is neither. I thought I would just interject that to get us thinking.
Verse 2: “...the humble shall hear and be glad.O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together. I sought the LORD, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant; and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried, and the LORD heard, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them O taste and see that the LORD is good...” (vs 2-8).
- You’re not tasting God!
- You’re not eating the Lord!
- It is, to make His way, your way!
You live it!
You trust in it!
That’s how you taste it. You don’t taste it by biting and eating. You taste it by believing and doing, but it’s figuratively speaking. God has the pouring forth of all of His blessings.
Verse 8 “...blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.O fear the LORD, all you saints, for there is nothing lacking to those who fear Him” (vs 8-9).
All Scripture from The Holy Bible In Its Original Order, A Faithful Version by Fred R. Coulter.
Scriptural References:
- Romans 9:6-16
- John 5:40
- Matthew 23:34-37
- Ephesians 5:2
- Galatians 3:13
- 2-Peter 3:18
- Genesis 15:1, 5-6, 18
- Genesis 16:1-2, 5
- Genesis 17:1-10, 15
- Revelation 2:17
- Revelation 3:12
- Deuteronomy 28:32
- Genesis 31:29
- Psalm 18:30-34
- Psalm 77:13-14
- Psalm 78:19
- Isaiah 40:18
- Numbers 11:1-12
- Isaiah 49:22-23
- Isaiah 28:9
- 1-Peter 2:1-3
- Psalm 34:1-9
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
- 2-Corinthians 5; 3
Also referenced: Book:
The Names of God in Holy Scripture
by Andrew Jukes
FRC:nfs
Transcribed: 02-04-14
Proofed: bo—2-11-14
