Daily Archives: December 8, 2011

Names of God Series

Names of God – El Olam

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It’s time for another post in our Names of God series!

So far we have studied four of the names of God revealed to us in His Word.
We have seen how God is Creator God in the name Elohim.
We have seen how God is the Most High in the name El Elyon.
We have seen how God is the God who sees in the name El Roi.
We have also seen how our God is our all-sufficient Almighty God in the name El Shaddai.

Today we will learn about even more about our God as we dig into the name El Olam.

We first see this name of God in Genesis.

 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba,
and there he called on the name of the LORD,
the Everlasting God.

Genesis 21:33

Let us take a close and detailed look at this name of God revealed to us by Abraham in Beersheba. Everlasting God is El Olam in Hebrew— El meaning “strength, mighty,” especially the almighty; Olam meaning “eternity, always, ancient, everlasting, perpetual, beginning of the world, and without end.”

The Lord the God of eternal strength.
The God who is always mighty.
The God who is perpetually powerful.
The one who is the great, mighty one from the beginning of the world and is without end.

“Before the mountains were born
or You gave birth to the earth and the world,
even from everlasting to everlasting,
You are God”
Psalm 90:2

In Daniel we read how our Everlasting God, El Olam, is called the Ancient of the Days.

“I kept looking
Until thrones were set up,
And the Ancient of Days took His seat;

Daniel 7:9

In Revelation we read how He is the Alpha and the Omega

 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,”
says the Lord God,
“who is and who was and who is to come,
the Almighty.”
Revelation 1:8

and  how He is the first and the last

When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man.
And He placed His right hand on me, saying,
“Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last,
Revelation 1:17

In the book of John we read how He is before all things

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 apart from Him nothing came into being
that has come into being.
John 1:1-3

Oh precious one, are you shouting yet?

Is your chest filled with a hope that lifts up your spirit within you and makes you stand a little a taller, a little straighter, with your shoulders a little stronger as you remember who your God is? He is our perpetual power, our eternal strength. He is always mighty. There is no situation or circumstance in all of history, in our current present, or in days future that He is not in total and complete control of and more powerful than. He is the Everlasting God!

We read in Genesis that when Abraham called on this name of God he planted a tamarisk tree. This tamarisk tree is an evergreen.

These trees grow tall, and they are strong. They are able to tolerate conditions that destroy other trees. Their roots are able to reach deep into the soil and bring up the salt and water that is needed to sustain its life. By doing this, it is able to eliminate the competition of other plants in its area. This tree is spread from one place to another by cuttings.

When you receive Christ as your Savior you are cut out. You are made separate from the world, possibly even from family and friends. So why has God not also removed you from all your problems? Why has He not destroyed all these false gods and false teachers around you? Why do you still face all these temptations of life?

God cut Abraham from his home and from his family. He also cut him from the false gods he worshiped. He, however, did not remove Abraham from the world or blind him to the temptations of this world. God did not have to because He knew that the deep-rooted life that He would give Abraham would destroy all competition of all other gods and any temptation he might face.

Oh precious one, He wants you to see that He is greater! He will outlive all this temporary crap! He is what lasts! He is forever and ever and ever and ever and ever!

Blessed be the LORD,
the God of Israel,
From everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.
Psalm 41:13
Devotional Studies Through the Bible

>Suffering Saves

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Behold, I have heard
that there is grain in Egypt;
go down there
and buy some for us from that place,
so that we may live and not die.
Genesis 42:2
 
Jacob and his eleven sons and their families need food in this famine. Jacob sends his sons—all but Benjamin— toEgypt. Oh, what a surprise it will be when they learn that the very one they wanted to rid themselves of is the only one who can give them life.
 
My friend, what a surprise it will be when those descendants of Israelwho have so wanted to get rid of Jesus discover that the very Jesus they have been trying to rid themselves of is the only One who can save them. In Acts 2:36 we read, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”
 
Paul explains to us in Romans 11 that God has placed a partial hardening over His people so that the nation does not recognize Jesus for who He truly is, but the day is coming when the hardening will be removed. Then all ofIsrael will be saved.
 
They will recognize Him and they will worship Him. They will mourn when this realization hits, but still they will praise Jesus as the Messiah. They will know Him as Lord and King.
 
As Jacob said, “Behold, I have heard there is grain in Egypt,” Israel will say, “Behold, I have heard that there is life in Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17). They will say, we have heard that He is the true bread that comes down out of heaven and whoever eats this bread lives forever (John 6).
 
In Zechariah 12:10 we read, “They will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him.” We can read on in Zechariah 13:6 that “one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then He will say, “Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.”
 
Yes, Jesus was wounded by those who once claimed to love Him. He was not turned over to the cross by the Gentiles but by His own people. Yet it was for God’s purpose. Had the nation ofIsraelrecognized Jesus for who He truly was, then they would never have sent Him to the cross, and it is only by the cross of Christ that we may all be saved, Jew and Gentile.
 
If Joseph’s brothers had recognized him for who he was going to be, then they would not have sold him as a slave. Yet by the suffering Joseph received from his brothers, he was not only able to give them life, but he was able to give life to the world.
 
So are we to hate Joseph’s brothers for their ignorance?
 
Joseph, the one they sinned against, did not hate them. Joseph saw the big picture. He knew that God was in control, even when he didn’t completely understand. Joseph never stopped loving his brothers.
 
My friend, Jesus does not hate those who put Him on the cross. He has never stopped loving them. It was His great love for them, for us, that led Him to that cross and held Him to that cross. Sin was what threw Joseph in that pit. Sin was what sold him as a slave, and it was sin that sent him to prison. The same is true of the cross. Sin—mine, yours, and the world’s—sent Jesus to the cross.
 
Oh, precious one, do you hear?
Do you hear that He provides for His own in ways that we cannot even fathom?
 
Have you heard that the nation of Israelwould have perished before the nation could have ever begun had it not been for her God, who sent Joseph ahead of her to Egypt, and not just Israel, but the nations of the world? Here we are, and here is the whole world dying in our sins, yet there is a way. Have you heard there is the way (John 14:6)?
 
Oh yes, Jesus is the way!
He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
 
Oh Father,
 
I hear that Christ died for my sins, according to the Scriptures. I hear that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures. I hear that He appeared to many (1 Corinthians 15:1–6). Oh Father, I hear and I believe! This gospel, this good news, that was promised beforehand through Your prophets and in the Holy Scriptures (Romans 1:2), this truth so displayed through the book of Genesis and in the life of Joseph, oh Father, I believe. My Jesus, I believe that You are God and You are my Savior. I love You and I thank You.
 
My Jesus, it is in Your name I pray,
Amen.