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<B>By Richard Krejcir
When you call out Gods name what do you mean? Who is God? How do we know who He is?
Into Thy Word - </B>
When you call out Gods name what do you mean? Who is God? How do we know who He is and how we should respond to Him? We know by learning His names and titles!
When someone speaks your name, you will normally quickly come to attention thinking, who said that, what do they want? We do this because our name is the most personal thing we have; it is our identity, who we are to ourselves and others. So what about God? Have you ever considered that God has many names? Do these names tell us about who He is and who we are? What do these names mean? How do we respond to these names now? Well, that is what we are trying to do in this article. I posted an outline of the different names of God, and it has been one of our most popular articles. So I decided to redo that lesson, go into the original languages, and do a careful study of what the major names are, what they mean, and how do we respond to them.
As I was doing this study, I was thinking of grade school and how much I hated learning grammar. And here I was some 25 plus years later doing what I used to hate most, but this time enjoying it! Because, I was learning more about my Lord and Savior whom I love!
So do you remember learning basic grammar in grade school, such as verbs? You probably thought what does this have to do with anything, and hated it all the way, as I did. Do you remember the verb to be and all of its forms, such as I, Im, I am and so forth? Do you know that this is the most common word in our daily language that is spoken? Just try to hold a conversation without using any of the verb forms to be or any of its declensions. That is, you cannot use the word I, or me. Try it! I bet you will not be able to do it! What does this have to do with the names of God? Well, it conveys our name, our identity, who we are, how we perceive ourselves, and how we relate to others. In turn our understanding of God is delivered to us through the verb to be, because it conveys the power of name.
<B>To get to know more about to be let me ask you this:
Q: Who are you? What are you? What do you want? What is your essence, your being? </B>
You may go, Huh? But think about it. Try to be philosophical, asking these age old questions that have been sought since the advent of human thinking. When we do this it, it gives us a perspective of how important our name is, and more so how important Gods names are.
<B>Now consider this:
Q: What is the 'essential' difference between us (humanity) and God, what the philosophers call "ultimate reality"?</B>
A: Our 'being' is who we are beyond our skin and bones and what we see in the mirror. Our being is our essence, our soul, our ultimate reality, and most philosophers today would say, "It is the same". Thus, there is no real difference between us and God. This attitude and philosophy is demonstrated by how most people live their lives. It is demonstrated in that people think they are in control and have dominion in the universe. In a sense, the philosophers and society are right; in the ultimate sense they are way off! They are right because we both are 'beings'. They are wrong in that One is Supreme; the other (us) is created and therefore is not Supreme.
The real difference is what the word 'to be' or 'being' means. What does it do? Yes, this may be philosophical mumbo jumbo to you, but this is important stuff because we have to know who leads us in life. Do we do it ourselves, by our self-will and self-driven rebellious nature, or is there a governing purpose for our existence? In other words, what is our purpose and the meaning of life? Are you lord or is there a Lord? Most people live their life as if they are the Supreme Being in the universe, when the true Supreme Being is knocking on our door (Rev. 3:20).
Going back in ancient Greek times when Scripture was being penned, through to the modern academic classrooms of today, the over-arching concern of philosophers was 'diversity versus unity'. This is the question, "What was being?" They pondered, "What ever is; is", meaning for anything to be real, it must "be". This means God cannot be an idea or thought, He must be real. And in then a French philosopher named René Descartes (1596-1650), asked the same of humanity: do I exist, do I matter, is there meaning in the universe? His conclusion was, "I think, therefore I am" (He was also the one who invented geometry and basic engineering principles, so you can thank him for all of your high school homework!), that we as humans have to be real too. This idea of being and 'to be' was most extraordinarily expressed in Shakespeare's Hamlet, "to be or not to be". To die or not to die, to live or not to live, will it be the end of existence or not, will I be judged by God or not, asked Hamlet.
So why talk about all this philosophical stuff? Because, when we look at the names and titles of God, they mean 'being'. These names and titles that we are talking about declare to the world who He is while answering our deepest questions of who we are and what is our relationship to God, ourselves and each other. And as a bonus, God uses His titles as a help to clarify our deepest longing, and as an assault to our reasoning and mindsets when we refuse His love. Even during our quest for ultimate truth and meaning God answers us in His Names! Thus, all the philosophical thinking and wonder has been answered. And the final answer of this being stuff; that there is one God and we are not it!
So what about us? Do we care about our being, who we are, our place in the universe? We should because there are life essential questions that are at the root of who we are and how we react to the world. How we behave, treat others and serve God will be rooted in how we perceive ourselves in the ultimate reality of our being. Thus, how we see ourselves in Christ, who we are in Him, will determine all that we do and how we react in life. So this stuff does matter, as we will see when we examine the names of God.
God and God alone has the power to Be in and of Himself. This means God is omni-existent; He always has existed and always will 'Be'. Nobody made God; He is eternal. We were brought into existence by God. God has being in and of Himself, nothing else has that type of Being, not the universe, not us. Thus, there is one God and you are not it! So with that, how will you lead
your life?
<B>So what about the names?</B>
In traditional European culture, it was common to name children from the parents lineage. And a nickname was given to them for their profession, which over the centuries evolved into the last names we have today. In the OT times it was common to name children from their character, as a child, and change their name if they went through a new character, such as, Abraham means "father of multitudes," Joseph means "God will increase," and the name Jesus means "Jehovah is salvation." Names that told of a great change include Jacob to Israel, or Saul to Paul, or Simon to Peter.
Jacob was born grasping his brothers heel and in his early life lived up to his name of being a deceiver and grasper of what was not his (Gen 32:33). Then a major conflict emerged in Jacobs life so his whole worldview, passions and reason in life transferred from being self-centered to God-centered. Thus, his name was changed too. During Jacobs WWF (TVs wresting sensation) experience, the angel could have taken out Jacob in a microsecond, but allowed a struggle to take place to give a subordinate perspective to the self-driven patriarch. This act was his turning point and a vivid illustration on the importance of names.
Why the name history lesson? Because again, if you did not understand all of the to be stuff, understand this; names are very important! Just think how you respond to seeing your name in print, or being said. It was even more powerful in ages past, especially in the Bible. As names convey power, authority, position, and character; thus it is with the names of God Himself. God has chosen to reveal Himself to us through His names that reveal His character as recorded to us in Scripture. Remember, God is beyond our comprehension and understanding as He encompasses the entire universe through all space and time. Thus, there are no names that can fully describe the Eternal One; yet God has revealed much about His nature through His Names. His names convey some of His character, attributes and power, in a way we can understand and relate to Him. By us understanding His names, it will give us a glimpse into who He is and how we are to respond to our Lord.<!-- BEGIN TEMPLATE: postbit_signature -->
When you call out Gods name what do you mean? Who is God? How do we know who He is?
Into Thy Word - </B>
When you call out Gods name what do you mean? Who is God? How do we know who He is and how we should respond to Him? We know by learning His names and titles!
When someone speaks your name, you will normally quickly come to attention thinking, who said that, what do they want? We do this because our name is the most personal thing we have; it is our identity, who we are to ourselves and others. So what about God? Have you ever considered that God has many names? Do these names tell us about who He is and who we are? What do these names mean? How do we respond to these names now? Well, that is what we are trying to do in this article. I posted an outline of the different names of God, and it has been one of our most popular articles. So I decided to redo that lesson, go into the original languages, and do a careful study of what the major names are, what they mean, and how do we respond to them.
As I was doing this study, I was thinking of grade school and how much I hated learning grammar. And here I was some 25 plus years later doing what I used to hate most, but this time enjoying it! Because, I was learning more about my Lord and Savior whom I love!
So do you remember learning basic grammar in grade school, such as verbs? You probably thought what does this have to do with anything, and hated it all the way, as I did. Do you remember the verb to be and all of its forms, such as I, Im, I am and so forth? Do you know that this is the most common word in our daily language that is spoken? Just try to hold a conversation without using any of the verb forms to be or any of its declensions. That is, you cannot use the word I, or me. Try it! I bet you will not be able to do it! What does this have to do with the names of God? Well, it conveys our name, our identity, who we are, how we perceive ourselves, and how we relate to others. In turn our understanding of God is delivered to us through the verb to be, because it conveys the power of name.
<B>To get to know more about to be let me ask you this:
Q: Who are you? What are you? What do you want? What is your essence, your being? </B>
You may go, Huh? But think about it. Try to be philosophical, asking these age old questions that have been sought since the advent of human thinking. When we do this it, it gives us a perspective of how important our name is, and more so how important Gods names are.
<B>Now consider this:
Q: What is the 'essential' difference between us (humanity) and God, what the philosophers call "ultimate reality"?</B>
A: Our 'being' is who we are beyond our skin and bones and what we see in the mirror. Our being is our essence, our soul, our ultimate reality, and most philosophers today would say, "It is the same". Thus, there is no real difference between us and God. This attitude and philosophy is demonstrated by how most people live their lives. It is demonstrated in that people think they are in control and have dominion in the universe. In a sense, the philosophers and society are right; in the ultimate sense they are way off! They are right because we both are 'beings'. They are wrong in that One is Supreme; the other (us) is created and therefore is not Supreme.
The real difference is what the word 'to be' or 'being' means. What does it do? Yes, this may be philosophical mumbo jumbo to you, but this is important stuff because we have to know who leads us in life. Do we do it ourselves, by our self-will and self-driven rebellious nature, or is there a governing purpose for our existence? In other words, what is our purpose and the meaning of life? Are you lord or is there a Lord? Most people live their life as if they are the Supreme Being in the universe, when the true Supreme Being is knocking on our door (Rev. 3:20).
Going back in ancient Greek times when Scripture was being penned, through to the modern academic classrooms of today, the over-arching concern of philosophers was 'diversity versus unity'. This is the question, "What was being?" They pondered, "What ever is; is", meaning for anything to be real, it must "be". This means God cannot be an idea or thought, He must be real. And in then a French philosopher named René Descartes (1596-1650), asked the same of humanity: do I exist, do I matter, is there meaning in the universe? His conclusion was, "I think, therefore I am" (He was also the one who invented geometry and basic engineering principles, so you can thank him for all of your high school homework!), that we as humans have to be real too. This idea of being and 'to be' was most extraordinarily expressed in Shakespeare's Hamlet, "to be or not to be". To die or not to die, to live or not to live, will it be the end of existence or not, will I be judged by God or not, asked Hamlet.
So why talk about all this philosophical stuff? Because, when we look at the names and titles of God, they mean 'being'. These names and titles that we are talking about declare to the world who He is while answering our deepest questions of who we are and what is our relationship to God, ourselves and each other. And as a bonus, God uses His titles as a help to clarify our deepest longing, and as an assault to our reasoning and mindsets when we refuse His love. Even during our quest for ultimate truth and meaning God answers us in His Names! Thus, all the philosophical thinking and wonder has been answered. And the final answer of this being stuff; that there is one God and we are not it!
So what about us? Do we care about our being, who we are, our place in the universe? We should because there are life essential questions that are at the root of who we are and how we react to the world. How we behave, treat others and serve God will be rooted in how we perceive ourselves in the ultimate reality of our being. Thus, how we see ourselves in Christ, who we are in Him, will determine all that we do and how we react in life. So this stuff does matter, as we will see when we examine the names of God.
God and God alone has the power to Be in and of Himself. This means God is omni-existent; He always has existed and always will 'Be'. Nobody made God; He is eternal. We were brought into existence by God. God has being in and of Himself, nothing else has that type of Being, not the universe, not us. Thus, there is one God and you are not it! So with that, how will you lead
your life?
<B>So what about the names?</B>
In traditional European culture, it was common to name children from the parents lineage. And a nickname was given to them for their profession, which over the centuries evolved into the last names we have today. In the OT times it was common to name children from their character, as a child, and change their name if they went through a new character, such as, Abraham means "father of multitudes," Joseph means "God will increase," and the name Jesus means "Jehovah is salvation." Names that told of a great change include Jacob to Israel, or Saul to Paul, or Simon to Peter.
Jacob was born grasping his brothers heel and in his early life lived up to his name of being a deceiver and grasper of what was not his (Gen 32:33). Then a major conflict emerged in Jacobs life so his whole worldview, passions and reason in life transferred from being self-centered to God-centered. Thus, his name was changed too. During Jacobs WWF (TVs wresting sensation) experience, the angel could have taken out Jacob in a microsecond, but allowed a struggle to take place to give a subordinate perspective to the self-driven patriarch. This act was his turning point and a vivid illustration on the importance of names.
Why the name history lesson? Because again, if you did not understand all of the to be stuff, understand this; names are very important! Just think how you respond to seeing your name in print, or being said. It was even more powerful in ages past, especially in the Bible. As names convey power, authority, position, and character; thus it is with the names of God Himself. God has chosen to reveal Himself to us through His names that reveal His character as recorded to us in Scripture. Remember, God is beyond our comprehension and understanding as He encompasses the entire universe through all space and time. Thus, there are no names that can fully describe the Eternal One; yet God has revealed much about His nature through His Names. His names convey some of His character, attributes and power, in a way we can understand and relate to Him. By us understanding His names, it will give us a glimpse into who He is and how we are to respond to our Lord.<!-- BEGIN TEMPLATE: postbit_signature -->