The Names of God – Lifter of My Head

Psalm 3:3 (ESV) But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.

This has been one of my favorite images of God for a long, long time. I have always pictured our Father as one that would come to the aid of the downtrodden; the underdog, the one that seemingly was out of the race. One of the first things that happens when we sense that failure is about to be the result is that we drop our head. Watch the sidelines at a football game. When the other team scores what is most likely the winning touchdown every head on the sideline drops in disappointment. There is no longer the expectation of winning.

Life is hard. Life has times that are called “troubles” for a reason. When it seems that there is nowhere else to go, The Lifter of My Head comes and gives new hope. One vivid example of this is in the life of Abram, later known as Abraham. When God first came to Abram and presented His plan of a son, God gave Abram a visual aid. He said, “Abram, your offspring will be as the sands on the seashore.” Years passed and no son.

God came to Abram again, this time giving him a new name: Abraham – Father of a multitude. God also gave him a new visual aid as well. God asked, “Can you count the stars? So shall be your offspring.” Abraham started looking upward. God had “lifted His head” to see the possibilities that faith can produce. (You can find the whole story in Genesis 14-18)

Another picture of God being The Lifer of My Head is in the story of the woman caught in the very act of adultery. (John 8) It is said that the religious leaders of the day brought the woman to Jesus to see what He would have them do with her. The Law required her to be stoned, but they had heard Jesus’ teaching on love and forgiveness.

After pondering the situation Jesus spoke up and said, “He that is without sin cast the first stone.” One by one, the multitude left the scene until only Jesus and the woman remained. Jesus then asked the woman, “Where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?” She replied, “No one, Lord.”

Jesus then said, “Neither do I. Go, and sin no more.” He had just lifted her head, given her hope of a better day. I’m sure in that moment, especially when they brought her to Jesus, the shame and ridicule that she endured was horrifying. She probably wanted to die. But after the encounter with Jesus, she left, able to hold her head up and look for a new possibility at life.

Jesus is still raising heads today. He still comes to each of us and says, “No one condemns you. Go and sin no more.” Listen to The Lifer of My Head say these words to you, regardless of where you are, or where you’ve been. He loves you absolutely, and has redeemed you completely.

TRUE vs. TRUTH About God

Romans 11:33-36 (ESV)

33  Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

34  “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”

35  “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”

36  For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Take a good look at the above image. It shows one object illuminated with light from two different directions. In the blue light, the image casts a shadow that appears as a square. In the yellow light, the image casts a shadow in the shape of a circle. I recently saw this image with some graphics added for emphasis. I couldn’t find the image I saw, but recreated it below.

It is TRUE that the blue shadow is a square. It is TRUE that the image created by the yellow light is a circle. However, neither shadow properly describes the original image – TRUTH!

I heard an explanation of the scene in heaven described in Revelation 4:1-11.

Revelation 4:1-11 (ESV)

1  After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”

2  At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne.

3  And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald.

4  Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads.

5  From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God,

6  and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

7  the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight.

8  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!”

9  And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever,

10  the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

11  “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

The minister described this scene and then asked, “How could they do this 24/7 for eternity?” He went on to give his thoughts on the scene. Each time the creatures looked at God they saw something in Him they had never seen before. The only response to the majesty and glory of God is to bow down and cry, “Holy!”

When I considered this scene I imagined God being like a diamond. Even though a diamond is finite in the physical size, shape, and number of sides, as you turn the diamond it presents its various facets that give a different picture of the inner beauty contained in the stone. When light hits a diamond from various directions different colors appear due to the prism effect of the diamond. Using this simple illustration it is not difficult to imagine the variety of “facets” you might see in our God. Each time we see Him there is more to behold, more to worship.

I’m convinced the phenomenon that causes so much division in the Body of Christ is the view we have of God. Someone encounters God and sees a “circle”; another, a “square.” Both are TRUE. Neither is TRUTH. Convinced beyond a doubt, they commit their life to sharing their “experience”, totally unaware that they have only seen one glimpse of whom God really is.

This is the reason that I consider the Bible a more reliable source of TRUTH regarding God, and lean much less on my experience. In our finite, 3 dimensional world, objects of greater magnitude, or dimensions, like our God cannot be fully comprehended with just one glimpse. We can spend a lifetime exploring the vastness of God, plumbing the depths, climbing the summit of every peak, and still come way short of truly understanding Him fully. I believe this is where Paul was when he penned the words found in Romans 11 quoted above.

The primary reason I’m pursuing the study of the Names of God found in scripture is to try to put in some ascertainable format a description of God. I hope you will continue on this journey with me. I welcome your thoughts. I would love to hear your favorite perception of God, or the most recent “revelation” you have of Him.

The Names of God – Adonai

This name of God is intriguing. It only appears by itself one time in scripture. However, it appears many other times represented by the letters YHWH, typically pronounced Yahweh. When you see the word LORD used in all capital letters it is the name Adonai.

This name of God is considered divine. Israel would not even speak the name in order to give it reverence. In Exodus 6:3 God states, “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD (Adonai) I did not make myself known to them.”

God chose to withhold an aspect of His nature until this exchange with Moses. God knew that Israel would need an intimate connection with their Creator in order to trust Him as they were led from slavery to a new life in Canaan, the Promised Land.

It reminds me of names that spouses will give to one another. When they become “one” in marriage the bond between them is unique. Many times they call each other by names that only they know. These names are never used in public. They are reserved only for their intimate relationship.

LORD, or Adonai, was a name that God revealed to Israel to give them intimate insight into His character and nature. He would be their LORD. David declared, “The LORD is my Shepherd…” and “O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name …”

Later in the book of Exodus Moses and God have this exchange:

Exodus 33:15-19 (ESV)

15  And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.

16  For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”

17  And the LORD said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”

18  Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”

19  And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

God showed Moses, and through him, Israel, all of God’s goodness and proclaimed His name, Adonai, before them. God was saying to them, “I AM Sovereign. I AM LORD.” A sovereign is a supreme leader. In a monarchy it is the king! God is saying that in His kingdom He is the King.

Here is one last thought on this. In the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ (Revelations) one of the churches to which letters were written is Pergamos. The word Pergamos comes from a root word that means castle or tower. That sounds like a place where a king would dwell. One of the promises made to this church was this: Revelation 2:17 (ESV) He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’

Isn’t that something? Not only does God have a name reserved for us (Adonai), He also has given us a name that He will reveal to us that no one else knows. He loves us so much!

Jesus' View of the Cross

From Communion on September 9, 2009

Without vision the people perish.

If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.

A farmer, when plowing, finds an object on which to focus in order to plow a straight line.

When you drive, you do not look at the line beside the car, but instead on the horizon where you are headed.

Jesus, from the time He knew who He was, the Messiah, the Son of God, kept His eye on the goal for which He was destined – The Cross.

The first recorded event in the life of Jesus after His birth was when He went with His parents for the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles.  It may have been there talking with the Priests and Elders in the temple that He became fully aware of His mission.  His response, when questioned by His parents concerning His whereabouts, was “I must be about My Father’s business … The Cross”

At His baptism by John, Jesus began His three year march toward Golgotha.

The Cross - in the wilderness, being tempted by satan, each time Jesus refused to give in because His destiny was compelling Him, overshadowing Him every moment.  I cannot yield to the temptation because My destiny awaits.

The Cross – with each disciple He chose, He was looking at the cross.  When He spoke to the multitudes, fed the 5000, healed the sick, rebuked the pious, it was all motivated by His view of the cross.

Every action Jesus made, by His own confession, was in response to what Father was doing.  Every word spoken was in response to what He heard Father say.  All of it – every thought, every act, was with The Cross in plain view.

We are here to celebrate what Jesus did through His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seating at the right hand of Father.  The cup and the wafer symbolize that for us.  We do this to remember Him.

But more than that, we are here to remind ourselves of the call that is on our lives.  We are to live our lives with a constant view of our destiny, to become like Jesus; to do the things that He did – listen to Father and say what He says, and see Father and do what He does.

The Cross beckoned Jesus toward His appointment with it.  The Cross now empowers us and thrusts us forward to our appointment with Him.

Hebrew vs. Greek: Remembrance

There is a fundamental difference between Hebrew and Greek ways of thinking. A Hebrew mind would say, after having done something, “I now know about that.”

The Greek mind, however, would exclaim, “I now know about that”, after HEARING about it.

Why is this important to you and me? In 1 Corinthians 11:25 Paul exhorts us to “do this in remembrance…”

Look at the difference between how that word is defined in Hebrew and Greek. The Hebrew word means: “to mark so as to be recognized.” There is an implication of mentioning it. We see this in the command given by God to the nation of Israel before entering into the Promised Land.

Deuteronomy 4:9 (ESV)

9  “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children—

The Greek, on the other hand, means simply: “to recall.” There’s a group of people in scripture specifically mentioned because they did not simply recall. The Bereans were given special honor in scripture as being “more noble” because the searched the scriptures to see if the things being taught them were correct.

We in the West are basically Greek-minded. We hear things and believe them. We then go about our lives as though we now “know” these things. We must be “doers of the word, not hearers only.”

Paul teaches us in Ephesians 1 & 2 that salvation is the process of becoming identified with Christ in these areas: His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seating at the right had of God. When Paul, in the book of Romans, says, “If you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth then you are saved”, he meant the same thing. You see, being saved is not just some “mental exercise” of seeing yourself being made the righteousness of God. Salvation is actually experiencing “being made” the righteousness of God.

When you can “mark in your life” that you died, that you buried your flesh, that you were resurrected to a new life, that you have ascended to where God dwells, and have taken you place at His right hand, you are saved. It’s not simply being able to “recall” a time when you filled out a card, or shook the preacher’s hand.

This time, communion, is give so that we can “mark”, again, the change that occurred when we became identified with the blood of Jesus, and became the recipients of His grace, resulting in the saving of our souls.