Lesson for November 24, 2019
The Compound Names of Jehovah – Lesson 4
Jehovah-Shammah means the Lord is Present. God is personally present everywhere. The whole of God is in every place.This is not pantheism, since pantheism denies the Person of God saying that God is in the rocks, the grass, etc. God’s essence fills the universe. (Psalm 139:7-8; Jeremiah 23:23-24; Acts 17:27) God is also free to be local, as in the mountain with Moses, or in the Holy of Holies above the Mercy Seat. He is free to become flesh and dwell among us as Christ did. (John 1:14)
Unlike man, God is not limited by time or space. God invented time and space and is not subject to its limitations. Since God is omnipresent, He is with us at all times and can handle any adversity or problem that we face. God is infinitely greater than anything that a believer faces, and He is with us every step of the way through life. However, we must make the choice to allow God to help us handle our problems, solve our problems and guide us through this life by means of the study and application of His Word, Bible doctrine and the filling of the Holy Spirit.
Though God is limitless in His being, He may at times limit Himself, as in the case of the Hypostatic Union. Under the Doctrine of Kenosis, the deity of Jesus Christ limited Himself to the limitations of a human being. Christ deprived Himself of the use of His deity while on earth, prior to the Resurrection, while submitting to the plan of God the Father. Never did Jesus Christ become less than God, He remained co-equal and co-eternal with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Therefore, in His human body Jesus was limited to being in one place at one time. (Ezekiel 40-48)
Jehovah-Tsidkenu means the Lord Our Righteousness. God’s righteousness is perfect therefore He demands perfect righteousness. His judgments are perfect, therefore demanding perfection. Perfect righteousness requires Bible doctrine in the soul to understand His essence. In perfect righteousness, divine love for God’s integrity is revealed. In perfect righteousness divine love exists, but in justice divine love is expressed. In the function of the essence of God divine perfect righteousness and justice always precede divine love. God cannot love personally that which is not perfect. God is not arbitrary in any way. Perfect righteousness demands perfect righteousness. God’s nature cannot change, we must change. (Jeremiah 23:1-8)
The word righteousness is translated from the Greek word “dikaiosune.” Righteousness is an attribute of God that denotes His perfect character. Originally it was spelled “rightwiseness,” which clearly expresses its meaning. It also means “right action,” which in the case of God means that He always does the right thing.
Righteousness is one half of God’s holiness and justice is the other half. Many times in Scripture, God’s righteousness and justice are interchangeable because they are so closely associated. Righteousness is the standard or principle of God’s integrity and justice is the function or action of God’s integrity. Because God is righteous, He must condemn sin wherever it is found. God’s justice carries out that condemnation. And God always does the right thing, whether condemning sin or providing salvation in the Person of Jesus Christ. Justification is the theological term for declaring the believer to be righteous before God. Christ was condemned in our place. God’s righteousness was satisfied (propitiated) on the Cross, as His justice carried out the sentence of spiritual death. (Romans 3:26-27)
Jesus Christ is the personification of God’s perfect righteousness and the Gospel reveals His perfect righteousness. Prior to Christ coming to earth, God’s perfect standard of righteousness was the Mosaic Law. Christ, of course, fulfilled the Law by keeping it perfectly (the only human being that ever has). By fulfilling the Law, Christ in sinless perfection revealed God’s standard of holiness. Christ is the standard to which the Church Age believer compares himself/herself.
When a person believes in Jesus Christ as Savior, God the Holy Spirit imputes God’s righteousness to that person. The Greek word for impute is “logizomai” and means to credit to one’s account. God’s righteousness is never achieved as a result of human effort and is completely undeserved. God does not credit His righteousness to the believer because he has earned it or because he deserves it. Like eternal life, God’s righteousness is a gift. (Titus 3:5; Hebrews 12:1-3)
It was the perfect humanity of Jesus Christ Who completely satisfied the righteousness of God by means of His substitutionary spiritual death on the Cross. In His humanity, under the control of the Holy Spirit, He was able not to sin and He fulfilled the righteous standard of the Mosaic Law. Christ, a sinless Person, willingly became sin for us, taking our place, being judged in our stead. He is now sitting in the place of honor at the right hand of the Father, which signifies that God is satisfied with Christ’s death on our behalf. (II Corinthians 5:21)
Mankind’s righteous works fall well short of God’s righteousness. Mankind’s concept of righteousness is relative. For example, one person may think that his sin is not as bad as the next person’s sin. Therefore, he is more righteous (in his opinion). Mankind is minus the righteousness necessary to enter Heaven and no amount of human effort can produce this righteousness. God’s view of mankind’s righteousness is that it does not measure up to the absolute righteousness of God. The Bible declares that “there is none righteous” and that “man’s righteousness is as filthy rags.” (Isaiah 64:6; Romans 3:23) Because of the lack of absolute righteousness, mankind cannot enter Heaven (a holy place) based on their own righteousness. God cannot have fellowship with that which is sinful or falls short of His righteous character. Mankind, therefore, needs God’s righteousness in order to have a relationship with Him and to live forever in the holy place known as Heaven.
Other Names of God
Elohim translated “God” is found more than 2300 times in Scripture and means “the strong One that binds with an oath.” El” is the singular form of Elohim and is found 250 times in Scripture. Elohim refers to all three Persons of the Godhead
Adonai translated “Lord” means He is in authority or He is master. Adonai is also used of men in authority.
El-Shaddai means almighty God and is a reference to His omnipotence. (Genesis 17:1)
El-Elyon means most high God and is a reference to His omniscience. (Genesis 14:18)
El- Olam means everlasting God and a reference to His omnipresence. (Genesis 21:33)
In the Old Testament, children were often named with God as a part of their name. When the Scriptures say not to take the Lord’s name in vain, it is a reference to those who believe in Jehovah (Jesus Christ) as Savior and fail to fulfill His plan for their lives. For believers in the Church Age, taking the Lord’s name in vain means saying you are a believer in Jesus Christ (a Christian) and failing to execute the plan, purpose and will of God. The word vain means empty or useless.
The names of God, El-Shaddai, El-Elyon, El-Olam, tell us a lot about His character. They tell us that He is all-powerful (omnipotent), that He has complete knowledge of everything (omniscient) and that He is present everywhere at the same time (omnipresent). So, the application of this information about God is He is all powerful and He has provided believers the power to execute His plan, purpose and will in the Person of the Holy Spirit. Since He is present everywhere at the same time, He is always with believers in every situation of life and therefore knows exactly what each believer is going through. Since He has complete knowledge of everything, He knows everything about me and therefore His solution to my problem is always perfect. In other words, there is no problem that we face that God cannot solve.
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