When God Gives Himself A Name
God has given us some names He has identified Himself with.
These names are so that He might reveal Himself, His nature, His character and His purpose to His people and then, through them, to show Himself to the whole world…. God wants the people He created to know Him! So He removes the curtain like He did when He ripped open the veil of the temple, so that we can come into the holy place of relationship with Him….
Jehovah Jireh, (Our Provider) Jehovah Rapha, (Our healer) Jehovah Nissi, (Our Victory) Jehovah M’Kaddesh, (Our Sanctifier) Jehovah Shalom, (Our Peace) Jehovah Saboath, (Our Defender)Jehovah Elyon, (The Most High God) Jehovah Raah (Our Shepherd) Jehovah Hoseenu, (Our Maker) Jehovah Tsidkenu, (Our righteousness) Jehovah Shammah (He is here)
Having said all that….“God” is not His name—it’s a title. In Hebrew, it’s the word Elohim, which is a category of being (and that being is a deity), and there were many deities that were worshiped in that time. Just like “human” is not our name, it is a category of being. We’re not animal, we’re a human being. You wouldn’t like to just be called “human”… “Hey human, come here”…..”Hey human, I want you to do something”, “Hey human, where are you going”? No, you are a human, but you have a personal identity!
That reminds me of a story I heard…..A car was involved in an accident in a busy street. As expected a large crowd gathered. A newspaper reporter, anxious to get this story could not get near the car. Being a clever fella, he started shouting loudly, "Let me through! Let me through! I am the son of the victim." The crowd made way for him, and there,
Lying in front of the car was a donkey. (Be careful how you identify)
So, God gives us His names because He wants an intimate relationship with each of us and all humans, that He created in His likeness….
Last week I told you that I found a name for God that I had not considered and researched before… in John 1:16 it says “For out of His fullness [the superabundance of His grace and truth] we have all received grace upon grace, blessing upon blessing, favor upon favor, and gifts heaped upon gifts”.
If we are open to receive it, then this comes to us from the God of fullness….John says, that His name is “Jehovah mel-ay-ach” The God of Fullness
Colossians 2:9 “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form”. Jesus was and is, and always will be, God manifested, or the expression of Elohim,. Jesus is fully God! We who have received Christ, are the expression of Christ in human form. It says that He made man in His image and His likeness. We have a measure of that expression, Jesus was the fullness of thatexpression without measure! We can be like Him…. An expression of Him, and without Him we can be or do nothing…. Our next heartbeat won’t happen without Him….Our next breath won’t happen without Him, Our next thought could not happen without Him! He is the creator and sustainer of life.
He is fully God without limitations, but He chose to operate in human form, to show us what the expression of God looks like and is capable of as a human… Jesus is now, desiring to express Himself, to us, through us, and in us.
John 3:34 “The Son was sent to speak God's message, and He isfully God” (without measure, Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and Omniscient) “Jehovah mel ay ach” The God of all fullness.
He poured out the Holy Spirit on us, in full measure through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Luke 3:16: says that "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire”. He is the one who baptizes us in the Holy Spirit…. We have received a full measure, according to the need of the moment. For example You use a different full measure of flour for biscuits than you would for waffles, and it would be different depending on the amount or number of biscuits or waffles you needed. So full measure, would be according to what would beneeded in each situation or circumstance.
1 Corinthians 12:11 “All these things [the gifts, the achievements, the abilities, the empowering] are brought about by one and same Holy Spirit, who distributes to each one individually just as He chooses”.
Holy Spirit isn’t the giver, but He is the administrator…
And He is in charge of the Harvest of souls until the end of the millennium.
John 16:8 “And when He (Holy Spirit) has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. 9 About sin, because people do not believe in me (Jesus) 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.”
So we are equipped by Holy Spirit, to fully engage the need of the moment, while not necessarily, operating in all the gifts in that moment.
That’s what John is saying in the John 1:16 ….“And of His fullness have we all received”, not individually, but collectively as the body of Christ….. John 14:12 “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in Me, will do the works I have been doing, and they will doeven greater things than these, because I am going to My Father”. Collectively, world wide, the Christian community, will do greater numbers of healings, raising the dead, casting out devils, and curing diseases, than Jesus in His physical body could ever do!
Now, I would like to share the next name of God, which I discovered this week.
Let’s start at Romans 15:4 “For whatsoever things were written before handwere written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. 5 Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus”…. There’s more, but Let’s pause and look at this before we go on….
The God of Patience and consolation…. Patience here issav•la•noot… bHe who bears our pain, suffering and agony…
So, He gives us His name, here, Jehovah Sav-la-noot….
Then we have the word consolation which is “ne-cham-ah” in Hebrew…. It means, He who brings restoration through comfort. To not only treat the pain, sorrow, or discomfort, but to restore us to joy, peace and happiness….
So here we see that His name is “Jehovah Ne-ch-amah” God of Consolation… I read that a soldier who greatly admired his president, was on leave, and came to the white house, hoping to get a glimpse of the president. But he couldn’t get beyond the main gate. A young boy come up and asked the soldier, why he was so down hearted. The soldier, said, “I was hoping to get a glimpse of my president whom I greatly admire. The boy said follow me. They passed the guard, crossed the lawn, entered the front door of the white house with no trouble. Then they walked up to the President’s private study, went in, and the boy said, “Dad, I would like you to meet my new friend. They sat down together with Abraham Lincoln, and chatted while they had coffee, and cinnamon buns.You see, Jesus, king of the universe, eternal creator, Lord of Lords, All powerful, All knowing, Master, Savior, the Alpha and Omega, brings me into the very throne room of heaven, and says, “Sit down, what can I do for you today”….I love spending time with you….and as you fellowship with Him, you discover that your joy, and peace are restored and your spirit is renewed.
Isaiah 61:3 “To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion (God’s kingdom and rule) to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He might be glorified”.
Hallelujah, we have an appointment with Jehovah Sav-la-noot, who bears our pain, suffering and agony… and Jehovah Nech-am-ah, who brings restoration through comfort…. And it is all for this purpose…..Isaiah 61:6 “That we may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
His names are about relationship.
God is doing all this that we might have relationship, with Him and one another…
Now Here’s the next name I have discovered this week as I was reading Romans 15:13 “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost”.
Here’s where we are going to spend the rest of our time today…. In the Hebrew language, the word for hope is Tikvah…. It is the same as Expectation, and Anticipation of what is yet to come….
Jehovah Tikvah, is the God of all Hope….
Ephesians 1:18 says “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints”.
Think about that…. You are called by God to the hope, which is the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints….Our hope is in all He has promised unto us…
Hebrews 10:23 “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faith-ful”. (fulfills our faith)
We have hope, because the God of hope has promised us, aglorious inheritance. But we must be constantly declaring and confessing what He has given us, even though we haven’t seen it yet…That’s why I place the confessions and declarations on the literature table which have come out of the messages I have presented, so we can keep our inheritance always before us.
In the Hebrew language, the word Tikvah, is almost always put with the word E-mu-nah which in English is the word “Faith”…
We see this in Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good report. 3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which can be seen”.
So we can see here that Hope is the foundation for faith… Without hope it is difficult to have faith….
I thought it was interesting that the word for hope is the same as the word for “rope”…. You put a bucket on a rope and let it down into the well in hope of coming back up with a bucket full of water… The rope connects the hands of hope with the bucket of possibility and potential.
Isaiah 22:22 “I will place on His shoulder (Jesus) the key to the house of David; what He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open. 23 I will drive Him like a nail in the Holy place; He will become a seat of honor for the house of His father. 24 All the glory of His family (every believer) will hang on Him….”
So this dual prophecy points to Christ, who drove a nail in the Holy Place and secured our hope in heaven where Satan, all the demonsthat serve Satan, and thieves, robbers, and every usurper, cannot touch it.
Our hope is secured, safe, and untouchable!
Because of this secure hope we have been given….look at
Romans 4:18 “In hope against all hope Abraham believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE.”
It’s telling us that against everything that he could see, Abraham believed in a hope that could not be seen, because Jehovah Tikvah, the God of all Hope…. Had made him a promise….
The God of Hope is prophesying to you today…..
He is saying to you in Romans 15:13 “The God of hope wants to fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope”.
He is saying to you in Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope”.
He is saying to you in Romans 5:5 “Hope will not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given unto us”.
He is saying to you in Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord of hope, your God, who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”
He is saying to you in Hebrews 10:23 “Hold fast the confession of your hope without wavering, for He who has promised you is still faithful”.
Wouldn’t it be absurd for anyone born in America to wonder if they were an American? In the same way, wouldn’t it be absurd for anyone who is born into the kingdom of God, through Jesus blood and His grace, to wonder if they were a Christian? You are American or you’re not….
You are a Christian or you’re not…. Of all the nationalities, races, creeds, classes and genders, there are only two kinds of people on this planet… Believers in Christ and unbelievers…. And since most of the world right now are non-believers in Christ, it makes it easy to find someone to share the message of the gospel with and introduce them to Christ. It’s like trying to find a palm tree in Key West…. Pretty easy, they’re everywhere!
If you have received Christ as savior, and are seeking to obey Him and serve Him…. Your hope is now your reality, it is a fact, and you are walking it out by faith….You have already received the blessed hope… now you operate in that reality by faith!
By faith, you use what you’ve been given…. By faith, you walk in the promises that you have laid claim to…. By faith you determine to grow in your relationship with Christ, and your fellow Christian.
This is all because you hope that by faith a harvest of souls will be brought in to the gospel net, blessings will rest on your household, and you will make a difference everywhere you go, and that there will be changed hearts and lives for eternity…..
Faith now stands on the foundation of hope and walks out the new reality that we as believers in Christ have been given….
Hope is usually the first casualty of False Hope….. How many times have I said, “God answers 4 ways, “Yes, No, Wait, and “You’ve got to be kidding”…. That last one is the response to False or faulty Hope”. That’s why the bible says in 2 Timothy 2:15 “Study to shew yourself approved unto God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”.
There are many who live with false hope and give up their faith when it doesn’t turn out the way they expected…. If you jump off a 300 foot cliff, you can flap your arms and think positive and hope for a good outcome al you want, but you probably will not fly or have a very happy ending… However, you WILL APPEAR on the 6 O’clock news!
People ignore God in their lives, avoid Christ, live any way they want, and still hope to make it to heaven… That is false hope.
False Hope, is like getting in the ring with Mike Tyson and hoping I can win….No, that’s how you die, painfully and probably very quickly…
Real, lasting, God centered Hope, walks in obedience….
Christians who never tithe, or honor God in their finances, are living in the false hope that they will be blessed financially…..the bible tells us that… if you honor God with your increase, He will rebuke the devourer from your life… Yes, it takes faith to do what God says, without seeing the outcome before you act, but God centered hope believes that He will do what He says, Because He is the God of hope!!
We can ignore God’s law of sowing and reaping and expect to have a good harvest in our lives…. But that is only false hope… If you don’t sow, you will not reap…..and what you sow, is what you will reap….You can run but you cannot hide…. Never giving God honor, and worth and then expecting Him to bless you, and give you your heart’s desire, is false hope…. That’s like shopping at Winn Dixie and paying your bill at the fishing boat rental or the casino…. It just won’t work…. God calls it robbery….
Galatians 6:7-8 “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life”.
Hope that honors God, and walks in obedience is based on trust..The greatest reason folks don’t walk in obedience is because they really don’t trust God to honor His promises….They put God in the same category as all the people who have let them down and disappointed them….
So they never enter into an intimate relationship with the God of Hope!!
A Christian let you down, a preacher let you down, things didn’t go the way you thought they should because you had false expectations….
Malachi 3:8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings, says the Lord. 9 You are under a curse—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour you out so much blessing, that there will not be room enough to contain it”.
We will all receive back what we are sowing… Sowing and reaping is a spiritual law and it’s built into the fabric of nature… and it flows from the God of Hope….
As Vice President, George Bush senior, represented the U.S. at the funeral of former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Bush was deeply moved by a silent protest carried out by Brezhnev's widow. She stood motionless by the coffin until seconds before it was closed. Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid to close it, Brezhnev's wife performed an act of great courage and hope, a gesture that must surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience ever committed: She reached down and made the sign of the cross on her husband's chest.
There in a citadel of a secular, atheistic culture, the wife of the man who had run it all, hoped that her husband was wrong. She hoped that there was another life, she hoped that God would intervene and there was way for him to still make it, Her hope was courageous and it was bold, in that Communist atmosphere, but it was false hope…
Scripture says “It is appointed unto man once to die and after that all must face the Judgment”.. That’s like the wealthy man, who asked his wife to put his wealth in his casket when he died, so he could have it with him… so she wrote out a check…..That’s a description of false hope….
You see, God is not our last hope, He is our only hope.
Psalm 31:24 “The Lord will keep you from all harm—He will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore”.
Parade magazine published the story of self-made millionaire Eugene Land, who greatly changed the lives of a sixth-grade class in East Harlem. Mr. Lang had been asked to speak to a class of 59 sixth-graders. What could he say to inspire these students, the odds were that most of them would drop out of school with no hope and not much of a future. He wondered how he could get these underprivileged children even to give him their attention. Putting asidehis notes, he decided to speak to them from his heart. "Stay in school," he admonished them, "and I'll help pay the college tuition for every one of you." At that moment the lives of these 59 students changed. For the first time they had hope. Said one student, "I had something to look forward to, something waiting for me. It was a life changing feeling." Nearly 90 percent of that class went on to graduate from high school, and went on to college with the help of Eugene Lang…who gave them new hope that things could change….
That’s what Jesus said. I am Jehovah Tikvah, the God of all Hope….I have an inheritance for you….
His offer is much the same…. I have paid it ahead for you…. Walk in my promises, hear my word, give me first place in your life, and the stars are the limit…. Isn’t that what He told Abraham…. “As the stars of the heaven”.. so shall be the number of your blessings….. The God of hope is waiting for us to make our choices….
Deuteronomy 30:19 “This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses between us, that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your house may live.”
John 10:10 The thief has come to only steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly.
Now there’s something to put your Hope and Faith in….
Abundant life… covers the physical and spiritual dimensions of our lives.
As Yogi bear would say “that’s more than the average bear”!!!
Let’s make our choice today, for the hope we can put all our faith upon.
Let’s believe together and know that the God of all hope will keep His promises, and will honor those who honor him and obey Him…..
A man approached a little league baseball game one afternoon. He asked a boy in the dugout what the score was. The boy responded, "Eighteen to nothing—and we have the nothing."
"Boy," said the spectator, "I'll bet you're discouraged."
"Why should I be discouraged?" replied the little guy. "Mister, We haven't even gotten up to bat yet!!
Let’s stop looking at the score board and look to the God of all hope, and begin to get excited, begin to imagine what is possible as you take Him at His promises…Goliath sure looked like he was going to win, but David hadn’t gotten up to bat yet. Saul was discouraged, the troops were depressed, but David hoped in the Lord…
I close with the words of David…..Psalm 42:5-11 “Why are you cast down, O my soul? and why are you troubled within me? I will hope in God: for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance (favor and support).
Faithful is He who has promised you, who will bring it to pass…
