Category: Bible

Knowing God Through His Name

“I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.” John 17:6

Knowing a person’s name is the first step in human relationships.  A name is powerful because it is the expression of a person’s unique identity, the embodiment of  his very essence, attributes, and character.

In the Old Testament, God revealed Himself through His name.

We first encounter a class of names in the Bible pertaining to God: “El, Elohim, El Shaddai, El Elyon”, referring to “the strong and mighty One”.  So the first thing we need to know about God is to realize His absolute might, strength and power.  He is God Almighty, there is no limit to His power.  He is the Creator,  originator, and sustainer of everything that exists.

The name God revealed to Moses was the great name Jehovah, which in Hebrew is represented by the four letters YHWH.  It means the self-sufficient and self-existent One from eternity to eternity, the One who increasingly reveals Himself to His people.

Jehovah is the name of God in His relationship to mankind. The God of eternity and glory takes the first step to reach down to humanity, in spite of all its sins and shortcomings. Other names are appended to the name “Jehovah”,  and in these various names are incorporated God’s promises to His people.

Jehovah-Jireh: “The Lord will provide”.  In our deepest needs, when we come to God in prayer, we are to remind ourselves that the Lord has promised to provide.

Jehovah-Rapha: “The Lord who heals”.  God has the power to heal us of our diseases, and most of all the power to heal us of the ultimate disease, sin itself.

Jehovah-Nissi: “The Lord our banner”.  God enables us to obtain victory over foes in this life.

Jehovah-Shalom: “The Lord our Peace”.  When we are in the midst of turmoil in our lives, we can go to God because He has promised to give us peace.

Jehovah-Ro’eh: “The Lord is my Shepherd”.  Because He is our Shepherd, we shall not want.

Jehovah-Tsidkenu: “The Lord our Righteousness”.  God is the source of our righteousness, and not we ourselves.

Jehovah-Shammah: “The Lord is always present”.  God is always with us, throughout all our experiences in life, especially during times of trouble.

These then are the attributes of God. But yet in spite of the revelations of His name, mankind still could not really know God. This is because there is no true knowledge of God except in and through Jesus Christ.  He is the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him. (John 14:6)

Through Christ we come to realize that God’s name is ultimately Love, as He has loved us with an everlasting love. And by knowing God as love, we can appropriate for ourselves the gracious and precious promises  embodied in His name, among them are His provision, healing, victory,  peace, and His loving and abiding presence in our lives.

*** Reference: Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Safe in the World, The Assurance of our Salvation, Crossway  Books, Illinois, 1988, pp. 44-54

*** Photography: Tree of Light by J. Philipson

The Cross that Reconciles

“For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.” Ephesians 2:14 NLT

A long time ago, a young man died a violent death, leaving His followers devastated.  That young man was Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who rose triumphant from the grave, whose death on the cross is the only real hope for a lost and fallen humanity.  In a world full of division, hatred and wars, it is the cross of Christ alone that can bring about true unity and peace among men.

Pride is at the root cause of these hostilities, and it takes many forms.

People take pride in their birth and race, deeming themselves superior to others who are not like them.  There is also pride of possessing power which causes tension between the “haves” and the “have nots”, the employer and the employed, those who govern and the governed, among other things.  There is pride of intellect which causes the separation between the “Greeks and barbarians”, the wise and the unwise, the educated and the uneducated.

Peace involves love, sympathy and understanding, but the world is incapable of producing true peace because the problem is in the heart of man, not his mind. Pride is a formidable power in this world, and none of man’s own inventions can deal with this problem.

The only thing in the world that can bring peace and unity among men and women is the cross of Christ.  How is this accomplished?

First, the cross shows us the reality about ourself.  We are prideful beings, thinking we are always right and it is always the other person’s fault.  But the cross of Christ humbles us when we consider why Christ came into the world.  He came because we cannot save ourself, He came “to save that which was lost”.  The cross tells us that we are complete failures who have missed the mark, and that Christ came to die on the cross so that we can be made right with God.

Second, the cross reveals to us the truth about others.  The cross shows us that other people also have souls, and that it does not matter what the color of their skin is, their economic status or level of education, we are all alike. We all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We are one in sin, in failure, in hopelessness and helplessness.

The cross unites us in every respect.  In our failure and helplessness, we receive the same forgiveness, being equally made the children of God, sharing the same divine life. We rejoice in the same Redeemer who has broken down the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile, who has torn down the barrier between us and our fellow human beings.

God forbid that we should boast about anything, except in the death on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

* Reference:  Martyn Lloyd-Jones,  The Best of Martyn-Lloyd Jones, 1992, Baker Books, England, pp. 85-107

* Photography by Jean Winters Olkonen

The Amazing Gift of Eternal Life

“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” John 17:3

Life in this world is temporary and limited, but there is a life different from the mere existence that most human beings can comprehend.  It is an amazing life, and it can be said that the reason the Son of God came into the world was to offer this kind of life to those who believe in Him. It is the gift of a life that lasts forever, measured not simply by its duration, but by its intense and distinctive quality.

Eternal life brings us into fellowship with God.  Into this life are given the exceeding great and precious promises of God, enabling us to be partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).  When we are born again through faith in Christ, we do not simply become “better persons”; we share and participate in the very life and nature of God: we are in God, and God is in us, a mystical conception and a reality that is staggering to the human mind.

It is a life of purpose, sharing in God’s interests and objectives, whereby we become partners in God’s great plan of salvation for the world.  We feel God’s grief over sin and see evil as a real force that manipulates the lives of mankind in their enmity against God. Hence we live to push forward the kingdom of light against the kingdom of darkness.

God becomes very real to us. We are steadily aware and certain of His presence. It is a life of communion with God and knowing Him as our Father, recognizing that we are never alone because God is constantly with us and that our lives are in His hands.

Eternal life is knowing God. What could be more amazing than that?

* Reference: Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Fellowship With God, Crossway Books, Wheaton, Illinois, 1993, pp. 56-85
* Photography: Sunrise by Knowles Gallery @ Flickr cc 

Chaff in the Wind

“And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.  The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.” Psalm 1:3-4

In comparing the wise man with the foolish man, Jesus used the illustration of two houses: one built upon the rock, and the other upon the sand.  Contrasting the godly with the ungodly, however, King David used two profoundly disparate symbols: a tree by rivers of water, and chaff.

Why did King David compare the ungodly with chaff? Perhaps we can infer how he appraised them by considering the characteristics of chaff.

It is what remains when the grain is removed, a relic of something that was once alive. The ungodly are like husk, King David said; everything that is vital and of value is gone. They are separated from God, the source of life.

Chaff has no form, consistency, or structure.  In the same way, the ungodly have no pattern in their lives; they seem to be ever changing with the whims of the world, the fashion of the times.  They are people who are difficult to define.

Chaff has no roots.  A heap of chaff can be scattered by the wind or trodden underfoot, with no definable shape; it follows where it is moved.  Likewise, the ungodly have no foundation, living a life with no definitive principles.

Chaff cannot bear fruit. A godless life finds out in the end that all the dazzling prizes of the world are nothing but a heap of empty shells.  A life without God cannot give satisfaction and joy to the human soul.

Such is the life of a man or a woman without God.  But the good news is that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, came into this world as a human being to “seek and save that which is lost”.  He came to rescue the ruins of the soul by dying on the cross and bearing the punishment for our sins. Through faith in Him, we become a new creation:  we receive new life, the sustaining grain and power within the husk.

* Reference: D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “True Happiness”, Gwasg Bryntiron Press, Wales, UK, 1967, pp. 29-50

* Photograph: Lonesome Tree by Rove

The Quest for Happiness

“But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. “ Psalm 1:2

Is true happiness attainable? The longer we live in this world, the more we are exposed to the harsh realities of life, leading many to a sense of utter desperation.  Still, others go beyond despair to a state of cynicism. Both perspectives ultimately hold the view that true happiness is beyond grasp in this world.

The Bible addresses these two impressions with the assertion that yes, life can be tragic, but these ways of thinking leave out the most important factor: God.  The Book of Psalms starts out with the words “Blessed (happy, fortunate, prosperous, enviable) is the man who…”.  Therefore, it is possible for a person to attain happiness.

The first psalm shows the way.  It starts by laying out the things one must avoid.  What are these things?

First, do not walk in the counsel of the ungodly.  If you want to be happy, the first thing you must do is to stop listening to the outlook of the world: that which disregards and excludes God, the view that is opposed to God.  The counsel of the ungodly solicits the trust in one’s own knowledge and understanding. The word “ungodly” as translated implies a sense of restlessness; they must be restless because their knowledge is man’s knowledge, and therefore contingent and transitory.  Consider science theories decades ago that have now been discarded and replaced; consider the changing whims of fashion: what is fashionable today may be considered ludicrous in a few years.

Second, do not stand in the way of sinners.  This admonition requires little explanation.  If you want to be happy, you must avoid the way of the world, the way of the sinner, the way he only lives to satisfy the flesh.  This will never bring true happiness.

Third, do not sit in the seat of the scorners. These are people who hold everything that is holy in derision, people who laugh at God and religion and the sanctities of life, people who scoff at morality and decency.

The retrogression from walking, standing and sitting is clear in this first verse and illustrates the increasing grip of sin upon the soul.  Another aspect of this is how it causes the finest things in a person to degenerate to a state of immobility,  accomplishing  and affecting nothing, just sitting and muttering out their own conceived cleverness. Scoffers and scorners are so far removed from happiness, with no hope, paralyzed by evil and sin.

The other side of the prescription for happiness is a positive instruction.  Here is the secret of true happiness: it is that a man or woman ‘delights in the law of the Lord’, not in the wisdom of philosophers and thinkers, not in following the ungodly, but in the law of the Lord — the Bible.  Here is everything we need, God’s way to happiness.  But notice that those who are blessed delight in God’s law; they do not simply have an intellectual interest in it, or a religious compulsion to do so, but they have great pleasure in knowing it.

What makes a person delight in God’s Word?  We cannot attain this ourselves; it is a process wherein God takes the first step in showing the way to true happiness.  Amidst the tragedies of life, the desperation, the evil in this sinful world, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to bear the punishment for our sins, reconciling us to God, and making us heirs to eternal bliss. Our part is to acknowledge our sins and put our faith in Jesus, believe that He has paid the price for us.  Once we believe and make Jesus the Lord of our lives, we become a new creation; we discover that we do indeed ‘delight in the law of the Lord’, we will lose our taste for the world and its temporal pleasures, we will desire to know more about God and His eternal truths.

Do you have this blessedness, this happiness?  Do you delight in God and His Word? Do you take pleasure in meditating about the joys and glories of eternity? If so, then it does not matter what you experience in this world, you will continually be blessed, and nothing can take this happiness away from you.

* Reference: D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “True Happiness”, Gwasg Bryntiron Press, Wales, UK, 1967, pp.1-27

*Photograph: Panoramic Sunset over St. Finian’s Bay by Jean Winters Olkonen