Names, Fatherhood and Silence of God
Names, Fatherhood and Silence of God
INTRODUCTION We have learned about the existence of God and about His nature and unity. In Bible lands names had and have a significance unknown to us in the West. In a study of the Names of God, we learn many things about God.
THE NAMES OF GOD
The Names of God are found in three forms: (1) Primary, (2) Compound with El, (3) Compound with Jehovah.
Primary - One word only: El, Elah, Elohim, Jehovah, Adon, Adonai, God, Lord.
Compound with El- Almighty God; Most High God; Everlasting God.
Compound with Jehovah - Lord God; Jehovah, the Everlasting God, etc.
Elohim... Genesis 2:4 . . . . The One Who is MightyThe Lord Who Creates
El Elyon . Genesis 14:22 . . The One Who is SupremeThe Lord Who Owns
Adonai . . . Genesis 15:2 . . . The One Who is RulingThe Lord Our Master
El Olam . . Genesis 21:33 . . The One Who is Mysterious.. . The Lord Who Reveals
Jireh .... Genesis 22:14 . . The One Who RedeemsThe Lord Who Provides
Rophi . . . . Exodus 15:26 . . . The One Who HealsThe Lord Who Heals
Nissi .... Exodus 17:15 .. . The One Who Fights for us ... The Lord our Banner
Yekaddia . Exodus 31:13 .. . The One Who is Sanctification. The Lord Who Sanctified
Shalom.. . Judges 6:24... The One Who Gives Peace.. .. The Lord our Banner
Sabaoth .. 1 Samuel 1:3 .. The One Who is Possessing. . . The Lord of Hosts
Zidkenu .. Jeremiah 23:6 ... The One Who is Justifying.... The Lord Our Righteousness
Shammah. Ezekiel 48:35 . The One Who is PresentThe Lord at Hand
Elyon . . . . Psalms 7:17 .. . The One Who is BlessingThe Lord Who Blesses
Roi. . . Psalms 23:1 .. . The One Who is Caring. ,The Lord our Shepherd
THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD
"Our Father which art in heaven" (Matthew 6:9); This is our happiest conception of God.
Pagan religions know nothing of a God which is a "loving heavenly Father." Pagan religions portray God as immense, terrible, cruel and One to be dreaded. The Bible pictures God as loving, friendly, companionable, approachable and desirable.
It was the Saviour who taught us to pray "Our Father"- a new revelation of God.
God is revealed as Father in two ways:
As the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, John 5:17; John 1:14.
As the Father of those who believe on the Lord Jesus. John 1:12, "But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God." The Jews thought of God as their Father in a national or poetical sense:
Poetical- Psalms 68:5, "A Father of the fatherless, and a Judge of the widows, is God in His holy habitation."
(2) National- Exodus 4:22, "And thou shalt say unto Pharoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is My son, even My firstborn." Israel did not have a personal consciousness of sonship, as "God is MY Father." .
Modernism reasons "God is my Father and my Father will not harm me, so I will take my ease, eat, drink, and be merry and He will be merciful to me to the end." John 8:44, Jesus speaking to the Jews said, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do." God is the Creator of all, but only the Father of those that are in the family.
1 Corinthians 6:17-18, "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." As a Father God gives life to His children; there is no sonship without a hew birth. As a Father God bestows love on His children - to those in the family of God. This relationship, Father and son, gives a true ideal for work (it is not master and slave). .
It Is as a Father that He hears and answers our prayers, sifting the requests as a true Father.
THE SILENCE OF GOD .
In times of difficulty men reason, "If there is a loving Father God, why is He silent?"
"Why did He allow this to happen?" "Why didn’t He prevent this?"
Why does He not prevent disastrous explosions, accidents, typhoons, floods and wars? An infidel having no faith in the existence of God argues from the silence of God - the greatest problem of our times.
Job 23:3-4, "Oh that I knew where I might find Him! that I might come even to His "seat! I would order my cause before Him and fill my mouth with arguments."
Psalms 28:1, "Unto Thee will I cry, 0 Lord my Rock; be not silent to me: lest, if Thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit." Men have devised several probable answers to this age-old problem:
Deism - God is a good God but He has no time to look after the details of life. God is only a spectator of the affairs of this life.
Atheism - silence proves that God is a myth. A living God would speak.
Materialism - The world is governed by law, without a personal God. The} teach that we are at the mercy of blind chance.
To reject God and the Bible only plunges mankind into greater darkness.
Why, then, is God silent? Several negative answers present themselves:
Indifference - Christ suffering on the cross cries, "My God, My God." God cared so much for our souls that He continued His wrath upon the Son.
Unobservant - This is contrary to the omniscient understanding of God.
Unloving - The parent that truly loves a child will punish it, Hebrews 12:7-8.
Unwillingness - He sees the end from the beginning and plans our whole lives.
If these five negative answers are wrong, what, then, is the correct answer?
Common sense view - A lot of the difficulty is a result of deliberate sin due entirely to man’s carelessness, neglect and folly, such as accidents. Galatians 6:7, "For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."
Reverent view - Is it right that my puny mind should question the workings of the Almighty God? Isaiah 55:8-9. Doubtless God’s master plan for my life will include sorrow, suffering and pain.
The philosophical view - Human free will involves the consequences of those actions. Human freedom means moral responsibility - adultery leads to syphilis.
Lover’s view - God is a jealous lover. Exodus 20:5, "I the Lord thy God, am a jealous God." He seeks to divorce us from everything and cause us to cling closely to Him.
Dispensational view.- This is the day of man, the day of sin the day of grace, when God beckons, "Come Home" but a day of judgment, interference, and the silence of God will be broken with audible condemnation. God will yet reckon accounts with men and their relationships with God and society.
Faith view - John 13:7, "Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter." Lord teach me to wait patiently
The testing of my faith - 1 Peter 1:7, "That the trial of your faith, being much more p:recious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found Unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing. . ."
The mysterious works of God - John 9:3, "Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." This is the story of the man that was born blind. I may suffer, not for my sin but to be made a blessing to someone else. Only those who have passed through suffering and sorrow can comfort others.
CONCLUSION Live in a conscious sense of His presence even though He seems to be silent.
Learn to think positively. I know God - I spoke to Him today. He spoke to me through His own precious Word. He spoke through answered prayers.
Live according to the knowledge that we have. Caution: Romans 1:21, "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God. . ." then read Romans 1:24-32.
Matthew 11:27 teaches that it is the work of the Son to reveal the Father. The Quiet Hour is our opportunity to deepen our acquaintance with the Lord God.
Psalms 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God."
REVIEW QUESTIONS
Give three names of God and their meanings.
What is our happiest conception of God?
What is the price of having a happy relationship with God as our Father?
Does the silence of God prove His non-existence or indifference? Why?
What is the doctrine of Deism?
Ust three wrong answers given by man to explain God’s silence.
What is the teaching of materialism in regard to the silence of God.
Give five possible reasons for the silence of God.
How can I become more God-conscious?
When is the best time to deepen our acquaintance with God?