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WEEKLY
Volume 3 Number 32
4 January 2009
The LORD God
(Message
delivered by Rev Hien Nguyen at the Worship Service, 2:00 pm, Jan 4, 09)
Text: Exod 34:6-7
We have learnt the name
Jehovah or YAHWEH. We must thank the LORD for being All we
need – our Righteousness (Jer 23:6), our Sanctifier (Exod 31:13; Lev
20:8; 21:8), our Shepherd (Ps 23:1), our Provider (Gen 22:14), and our
Banner or Victory (Exod 17:15), our mighty Defender (1 Sam 1:3), our
great Healer (Exod 15:26), our omnipresent and omniscient LORD (Ezek
48:35), and our Peace (Judges 6:24). It is always wise for you and me to
seek Him first, to love Him, honour Him, trust in Him, look unto Him and
submit ourselves to Him and His Word alone. Today we are learning the
compound name Jehovah Elohim, which means “The LORD God”
(Gen 2:4; Exod 34:6). Then what does this name mean to you and me and
what are our proper attitudes for this New Year 2009?
The Meaning of the Name
Jehovah Elohim
We have learnt the name
Jehovah or YAHWEH, which means, “I AM THAT I AM” (Exod
3:14), and is translated as LORD in the KJV. Jehovah is
God’s covenant Name to His covenant people. He is the eternal and
self-existent God, holy, righteous, mighty, wise, gracious, merciful,
faithful, and unchangeable, and He is All His people need.
The name Elohim, which
means God, who alone is the living and true God, the Creator, the
Most High God, eternal, almighty, supreme, and sovereign, and the Fount
and Source of all life and being. We do need the Lord Jesus Christ and
His grace to know and approach the living the true God, so the Scripture
begins with God, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the
earth” (Gen 1:1) and ends with the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God and the Saviour of the world, “The grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen” (Rev 22:21). Elohim is a
plural noun, but the verbs used are singular, and this reveals to us the
truth of God’s Trinity. There is only one living and true God but with
three equal Divine Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the
Holy Spirit (Matt 28:19; 2 Cor 13:14; 1 John 5:7-8).
The short form of Elohim
is El, and God has revealed His name as El Shaddai or
“the Almighty God” (Gen 17:1), El Elyon or “the Most High
God” (Gen 14:19; Ps 91:1), El Olam or “the everlasting
God” (Gen 21:33; Ps 90:2), El Gibbor or “the Mighty God”
(Isa 9:6; 10:21), etc.
Is the LORD Our God and My
God Personally?
Due to the sinful, depraved
and corrupt nature of human beings, even of God’s covenant people
Israel, they quickly forget that the LORD is their God. Therefore, to
remind His people that the LORD is God, God has revealed Himself with
His compound name Jehovah Elohim (Gen 2:4) or Jehovah El
(Exod 34:6) with 226 occurrences in the OT. In the days of Elijah,
Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD and followed the heathen gods
under wicked king Ahab and his wicked wife Jezebel, and God used the
prophet Elijah to bring His people back to Himself, the living and true
God, “And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye
between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then
follow him” (1 Kings 18:21). After preparing the burnt sacrifice,
Elijah prayed, “LORD God (Jehovah Elohim) of Abraham, Isaac, and of
Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God (Elohim) in Israel,
and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy
word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that
thou art the LORD God (Jehovah Elohim), and that thou hast turned their
heart back again” (1 Kings 18:36-37). And when the people saw the
fire of the LORD fall and consume the burnt sacrifice, “they fell on
their faces: and they said, The LORD (Jehovah), he is the God (Elohim);
the LORD, he is the God.” (vv 38-39).
Because of Jesus’ humble
Incarnation and shameful death on the cross, many Christians nowadays
also quickly forget that Jesus is God with a proper reverence and trust
in their hearts. Many are compromising, sometimes following the Lord and
His Word and sometimes following the world and human words. If the LORD
is truly your God and my God, we must worship Him, serve Him and follow
Him and His Word alone. Do you and I truly fear the Lord Jesus and
honour Him as the holy God? Do you and I truly trust in the Lord Jesus
as the almighty, supreme and sovereign God? How is our response when God
says to us personally, “I am the LORD thy God,…Thou shalt not bow
down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a
jealous God, …Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain”
(Exod 20: 2, 5, 7)? King Saul was rejected because of his rebellion
to the LORD, who was not his personal God but Samuel’s, saying to
Samuel, “I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the
elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I
may worship the LORD thy God” (1 Sam 15:30)! Moses not only
confessed before Pharaoh that “the LORD our God” (Exod 5:3; 8:10,
26, 27; etc), but also confessed before his people personally, “the
LORD my God” (Deut 4:5), Caleb had the same confession (Joshua
14:8), and David (Ps 18:2), Elijah (1 Kings 17:20-21), and so on. How
about you and me? Do you and I truly and personally confess “the LORD
is my God” with our heartfelt trust, reverence, and submission?
Our Proper Attitudes
towards the LORD Our God
In Exodus chapter 33, the LORD
said that He would send an angel before Israel but not Himself
personally, “for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art
a stiffnecked
people: lest I consume thee in the way”
(v 3). Moses fervently prayed
that the LORD Himself should go before His people, “If thy presence
go not with me,
carry us not up hence”
(v 15), and the LORD listened
to his prayer. Then Moses asked the LORD to show him His glory, but the
LORD said, “I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will
proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy…Thou
canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live” (v
19-20). Then in Exodus chapter 34, the LORD commanded Moses to hew two
other tables of stones so that He Himself would “write upon these
tables the words that were in the first tables” which Moses broke (v
1). God did preserve all His words as He promised (Ps 12:6-7). Then the
LORD proclaimed His Name, “The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and
gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and
sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity
of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto
the third and to the fourth generation” (vv 6-7). Then what are our
proper attitudes towards the LORD our God?
Humbly Worship the LORD and
Serve Him with Reverence and Thanksgiving:
After meeting the LORD and
hearing His Word, “Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the
earth, and worshipped” (Exod 34:8). God commands His people to be
separated unto Himself alone and to worship Him alone as He is a Jealous
God (Exod 34:11-17; cf. 2 Cor 6:14-18). We should not compromise or
“halt in two opinions.” If we truly know that the LORD is the living
and true God, we must worship Him, serve Him and follow Him alone with
our humble submission and reverence as God resists the proud and gives
grace to the humble (James 4:6) and has mercy on those who fear Him (Ps
103:13). We are to give thanks to the LORD, for He is “merciful and
gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.” God’s
grace is always sufficient for you and me (2 Cor 12:9), so it is always
wise for you and me to come to the LORD Himself so that “we may
obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb 4:16) in
this year 2009.
Love the LORD and Keep His
Word: God commanded
Moses, “Observe thou that which I command thee this day” (Exod
34:11). God commands you and me to love Him and keep His Word, “Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as
thyself” (Luke 10:27), and “If a man love me, he will keep my
words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him,
and make our abode with him” (John 14:23). Do you and I
wholeheartedly love the LORD our God and keep His Word? It is always
wise to keep and do God’s Word (not to doubt or criticise God’s Word) to
build a firm foundation for our spiritual life so that we may stand firm
no matter what may happen to us in the year 2009, “the rain
descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that
house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.” (Matt
7:24-25).
Fear the LORD and Depart from
Sins and Evil:
Although God is gracious and merciful, “Keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity (perverting or deliberate sin, guilt, evil)
and transgression (rebellious sin against God and His law, trespass)
and sin,” but “that will by no means clear the guilty (not
leave them unpunished; cf. Jer 30:11; 46:28); visiting the iniquity
of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto
the third and to the fourth generation” (Exod 34: 7). God loves
sinners but He hates sins and cannot ignore or tolerate sins. Truly,
“Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the
seed of the righteous shall be delivered” (Prov 11:21). The wicked
seem to be prosperous and successful at the moment, but they will not be
unpunished! God is righteous and just! Moses prayed to the LORD,
“pardon our iniquity and our sin” (Exod 34:9). It is always wise for
you and me to confess our sins and transgressions to the LORD right
away, fear God and depart from evil so that we may maintain our close
fellowship with Him and be blessed in the year 2009 as “your sins
have withholden good things from you” (Jer 5:25), but “If we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Trust in the LORD and Follow
Him: Moses asked
the LORD to graciously go among His people and guide them, “If now I
have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go
among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and
our sin, and take us for thine inheritance” (Exod 34:9). If you and
I truly acknowledge that the LORD is All we need, we shall always need
Him and greatly appreciate His presence in our lives. Is it not true
that if the LORD is with us and for us, we shall be fine no matter what
may happen to us in the year 2009? “If God be for us, who can be
against us?” (Rom 8:31). Moses also prayed to the LORD, “take us
for thine inheritance.” To be God’s inheritance means to be God’s
treasure, portion and possession. Do your life and mine belong to the
LORD alone and we are not our own? (1 Cor 6:19-20). It is always wise
for you
and me to wholeheartedly trust
in the LORD, keep a close fellowship with Him and follow Him each day in
the year 2009.
Conclusion
Dear friends, what do you and
I expect in the year 2009? Although we do not know what may happen to us
tomorrow, it is good enough to make sure that the LORD is with us and
for us. May God help us know more about the LORD as our personal God,
worship Him and serve Him without any compromise, love Him and keep His
Word, fear Him and depart from sins and evil, and trust in Him and
follow Him faithfully each day until our Lord Jesus comes. Amen.
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