What Is His Name?
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Intro
Intro
Who is God? What is God? This is such a mysterious question. So many wander as though they do not understand. Most have some idea of who God is. But here is the problem. We naturally project on God who we assume He is, based upon our experiences with one another, or our experiences in this world. So We basically say, I have a hard life, or may father was a jerk. God must be a jerk. Satan comes and he says, hey your mom abused you, therefore God is cruel.
Uh no, that doesn’;t make sense. A doesn’t necessarily equal b. At all.
That would be like me walking in to a gas station the attendant screams, get out you loser. I hate you. don’t ever come back here. Then going down to the grocery story and assume they are nasty as well. You must be cruel. Why? because the gas attendant was cruel. Right. that’s bad but what we naturally do to God.
Moses, had ran from Egypt, become a shepherd and was now investigating a fire when God calls to him.
When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
Moses knew the Stories of the Hebrews, he had a Hebrew midwife that raised him for a while. So moses would have known his ancestry. He would would have loosely known of the Hebrew God. Abraham, Isaac and Jacobs God.
But Moses was culturally Egyptian, He would have worshiped the gods of Egypt, he would have known them, prayed to them, served them.
He would have prayed to:
Osiris
Isis
Horus
Seth
Ptah
Re
Among others
What do you need? God to that God and get it.
The Hebrew slaves as well had adopted a lot of the Egyptian culture. Worshiping the Egyptian gods They had become worldly if you were. This is why God sends plagues on His people as well. He is punishing them, reminding them. That Yahweh is God. That is Jehovah that reigns.
What is in a name?
A lot. A Name signifies who you are. It designates something about your character, or nature. They were normally descriptive in ancient times. In modern times. No one cares and they just name people whatever they want.
We are Going to be exploring the fundamentals of Christianity over the next few weeks, and we are going to begin by asking the question, What is God? and Who is God? What makes the christian God different?
This obviously is an overview of these Theological concepts. We could spend years on them and not scratch the surface.
So Lets ask:
What is God?
What is God?
M-w defines God as: the supreme or ultimate reality:
God is
God is the Beginning. He is the End. The First the Last. He is the Alpha and the Omega.
He is Self Existent,
He is Self Existent,
Meaning that He is exists in Himself. He needs no other. He is Wholly independent
Now All things flow from God. The universe itself rests in God. God is the supreme being. There is nothing higher, greater, stronger, than Himself. He is the All in All.
Now All things flow from God. The universe itself rests in God. God is the supreme being. There is nothing higher, greater, stronger, than Himself. He is the All in All.
What is outside the known universe? God. What is at every corner of the known universe? God.
If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
In God, is all Knowledge, All Power, All Strength, All Majesty, All Splendor.
He is the End and the Beginning.
Before time.....God was.
After time........God will Be.
Glory to God.
God is Spirit
God is Spirit
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
God is a Triune being.
God is a Triune being.
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
Triune, meaning He is 3 in 1, and 1 in 3
The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
They are 3 Equal Persons. That make up 1 God.
How does that work? IDK? But that's how it is.
God is Holy
God is Holy
Perfect in every way. There is no flaw, no error, no sin, no injustice. He is Perfect!
And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”
who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
So that is a very quick overview What God is. We will eventually go deeper in all of this, but for now our goal is just to get a framework from which to build.
So Once Once we begin to understand what God is, we then begin asking, OK. So there is a God. is he good, or bad? What is His Character? That’s where we return to the burning bush.
Moses, terrified because this God he had long heard about, perhaps even made fun of this God who was now calling to him. This God was setting Himself apart from the other gods. Because you see, the gods of man, cannot speak. they cannot hear, they do not breathe. they are dead. but now out of this fire, a voice calling to moses. A God is saying, hear me.”
Who is this God?
Who is this God?
You see One of the Characteristics of the Christian God is that He is both
Infinite, and Personal
Infinite, and Personal
Which is not the case for most gods.
There is always this tension between the infinite, all powerful god, then the personal get to know you god.
In history there certainly cases of both. the Greco-roman gods, certainly were personal. but they were not infinite. the Egyptian gods, again, personal, but not infinite.
however the Hindu gods, certainly are all powerful, but they are not personal. in the same, Allah in Islam, all powerful. but certainly not personal.
But the God of Bible ids both All powerful, infinite and personal.
Then arises a problem, when you have a infinite perfect God, that desires a personal walk with His creation. There is a huge problem
Because He is perfect and we are not, how can a perfect god ever truly have relationship with a sinful creature.
There is a massive chasm.
God cannot deny his holiness. He cannot overlook his justice. So how does a Holy perfect God, who longs to be intimate with his creation, build relationship. He sends a deliverer.
So when God finds Moses in the desert, He begins speaking to moses about how He has seen His peoples needs, He has heard their cries. That He was sending moses to deliver them.
Well moses doesn’t agree. Because, he is a murderer that can’t talk. Sorry your the guy!
Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”
Lets say I do go to them? I don’t even know your name. What is your name? they will ask me.
God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”
Listen moses, I know you have these fancy gods in Egypt, with these fancy names. your father in law is a priest to another god. I know you do not know me yet. But understand this Moses. There is no Word, there is no name, there is nothing in the language of men that could even begin to describe me.
I Am What I AM
I am not like these Egyptian gods. I am Holy, I am other. I am all powerful. Follow Me, trust me, let me lead you.
In that we begin to see the greatest difference between the God of the bible and all other Gods. The Christian God loves us. He ran after us.
God pursued us.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Moses wasn’t good enough. God used him yes. but moses was not perfect. So it took another 1000 years before God would send his Son, to walk amongst us. So that we might know Him.
That Son would live the Live that we could not live. so that we would not have to die the death we deserve, in order to live a life we cannot fathom.
Do you know him today?