Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / Equipped 2026: "Names of God" by John Moore

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Equipped 2026: "Names of God" by John Moore · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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There are indeed a lot of different names for God mentioned in scripture and a number
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of them beyond Genesis that you can study.
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I had a wonderful PowerPoint that I put together, somebody else put together for me, I gave
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the information, but I just got to thinking and I really struggled with this because I
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didn't want this to come across as just some sort of academic formal study.
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If you want the PowerPoint, I'll send it to you, just let me know and get it to you afterwards.
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But we're going to do something a little different because as I thought about the names of God
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and I thought about the God that I know, that's the God I wanted to talk about today.
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Not just some linguistic approach that gives us some lexical definition of these various
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names, although that's extremely important, but I want to talk about the God that I know
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and the God that I feel like that some people may not know.
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When Paul, who before became a Christian was named Saul, was on the road to Damascus to
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kill Christians, he was overshadowed by this tremendous bright light, a voice that said,
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Saul, why are you persecuting me?
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And do you remember Saul's reply, who art thou, Lord?
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I've always found that interesting.
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Clearly he was in a divine presence, but he didn't know exactly who or what, was it
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some sort of angelic being, was it God the Father as he knew him through Judaism, who
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was it?
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And so he addresses him as we get it into the Greek form of the word kurie, or Lord,
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as a sort of title of respect and reverence.
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And he really didn't know who was standing before him until Jesus revealed himself to
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Saul.
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Now Saul came to know the Lord, didn't he?
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Quite well.
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In fact, not only did he come to know him so well, but he also prayed that others would
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come to know God.
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You remember in Colossians 1, 9-10, when Paul in his prayer for those brethren said, I want
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you to increase in a knowledge of not only the will of God, but of God.
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I think some of us are really good about knowing God's will, but how many of us really know
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God?
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And the word know God there in Colossians 1, verse 10, is the word epigenosis that has
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reference to a thorough knowledge, a sort of working knowledge, a knowledge of our knowledge,
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and Paul, he thinks, by that preposition epi, I believe we need to spend some time
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getting to know God, helping people to see who God is, and one of the great ways that
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we can do that is through a study of his name, the various titles that are associated with
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the God of heaven.
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It occurred to me, and I'm not the first one, of course, that's thought of this, I've read
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about it, talked about it a lot, but if we're going to introduce the world to God, and if
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we ourselves are going to know more about the God that Paul wants us to know and increase
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in our knowledge about, we need to start at the beginning.
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And that's what this series of lectures is all about this weekend, looking at the book
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of beginnings.
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Yes, it's a book about the beginning of creation and sin and languages and covenant, but it's
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much deeper than that.
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This is a book that introduces us to the protagonist of the story.
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This is a book that introduces us to the very hero of the entire 66 books of the Bible.
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Just recently, I had a conversation with our neighbor, and it's developed into a Bible
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study.
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We're very excited about it, he's going to bring his friends next week.
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He had an interesting background.
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Growing up he was Catholic, but he, when leaving home soon, departed from that, became an atheist,
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and he's been sort of trying to find his way back to God.
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And he said to me the other day, John, I'm really trying to find my way back to Jesus,
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but I don't know him.
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And it occurred to me that as he, in thinking about his lack of knowledge of scripture,
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that he needed to start at the beginning, because the very first word that we are introduced
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to with regard to God is this word, Elohim, in Genesis chapter 1, verses 1, verse 1.
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In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
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Now there's much more to unpack with that one word that we want to start with, but I
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think it's a word that is worthy of our examination.
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And I'm just going to go from memory here, again, not following what I had already prepared,
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because to me, this is extremely personal.
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Because it really strikes the very core of not only what we do and why we do it, but
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it's going to draw us closer to God, it's what's drawn me closer to God.
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To not just want to do what's right because I'm in fear of God, but I reverence him with
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great respect, certainly!
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But because I've come to know him and love him.
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Because of what I've seen in scripture about him.
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That word Elohim actually starts with the word El, which was in the Canaanite religion
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a sort of general term for God, deity, some supreme being in some ways.
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But what's unique about this, and I invite you to really study it a little more in depth
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on your own, is that Elohim, yes, is in the plural, but not necessarily from my estimation
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with the view of trying to prove the triunal nature of God.
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But rather when coupled, as it is in this particular passage, with a verb that's in
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the singular, the plural form, Elohim, coupled with the singular verb here, created, is a
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way in the literature to express intensity, superiority, greatness, power, in other words,
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the one who creates, the one who is supreme, the God, in some ways, as we read about later
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on, that is above all gods.
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So while, yes, when we think about when this book was composed in roughly 1446 B.C., when
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the children of Israel came out of Egypt and went to Mount Sinai and received the law,
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and Moses is instructed to write and introduce to the world what some of them have known
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by Abraham, but little by little he's going to know more, is that you need to know is
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that while there are beliefs, there is a belief in gods, whether it's Baal, the chief pantheon
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of the Canaanites, or particularly of the region of the Canaanites, but this is Elohim,
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the supreme God, the God who is above all God, the Creator.
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Now we're going to come back to that in just a second, because there's another word that's
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found in Genesis chapter 2, that I think gets us more into seeing a little bit more about
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who this God is, and we're going to couple those two words here, this second one now,
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what some call or pronounce as Yahweh, Genesis chapter 2 beginning in verse 4, these are
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the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, and the day that the
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Lord God made the earth and the heavens.
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Now you see the word Lord there, it's all in capital letters, and those capital letters
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represent what, when I was in graduate school, we learned as the tetragrammaton, just a
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Greek word meaning the writing of four letters, and the way I was taught, and I think rightfully
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so, but there's a huge debate about this even going on, I'm not going to go into this in
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great detail now, but I want to encourage you to do it, because it's challenged my thinking
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about what some are saying about how to pronounce these four letters with regard to God or the
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tetragrammaton, whether it's Yahweh or whether it is in fact something closely akin to Jehovah
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or Yahweh, as some Jewish scholars are saying, we haven't forgotten how to pronounce it.
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But there is this belief that, and rightfully so, that they didn't pronounce the name of
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God at a certain point.
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Hebrew doesn't have written vowel points in the original language, now all language has
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vowels of course, but the earlier writing of Hebrew was without these vowels, just the
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consonants, and it was sort of understood by way of hearing it orally over time that
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you knew how to pronounce it, but because maybe some had quit pronouncing what they
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considered to be and is the divine name of God, then we sort of forgot how to do it,
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and then the Masoretes came a little bit later on, the 6th to 10th century BC, and they began
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giving us these vowel points.
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We can get lost in all the minutia of that, and it's interesting and fascinating, because
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that is how we pronounce those four letters, but what is more important is understanding
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the context in which that name is first introduced, and then saying it again in Exodus 3 verse
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14, when Moses hears the divine name of God but in reference to the phrase, I am that
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I am, and we'll talk about that in a second.
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But here now is the second name that's given.
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You see it?
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Sometimes or oftentimes just simply translated as the Lord, and some of the older translations
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may be as Jehovah, sometimes you'll see it as Adonai, or as translated here as the Lord,
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and some of the Dead Sea Scrolls have it translated in various ways and in various forms, sometimes
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with a sort of euphemism like Adonai, or they would put just some other letters there because
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they did not want to pronounce the divine name of God.
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So it's a special name, but we can get caught up in all that, and we can forget what Moses
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or what God is revealing about himself through Moses here in the story of creation.
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Chapter 1 is not simply about facts, though that is therefore certain, and I think anticipated
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much of what the world was going to say about how the world came into existence through
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some sort of evolutionary process, but rather it is an explanation, first and foremost,
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that this God is transcending.
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He's above the universe, he's anterior to the universe.
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He speaks and things come into existence.
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Let there be light, and there was light.
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And all the way down through chapter 1 we have this beautiful picture, this beautiful
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image of God as being the supreme divine one who with but just a few words can bring something
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into existence.
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My dad had a powerful word about him.
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He could get me to do a lot of things right by just saying, John, and that's all he had
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to say, and I was, that's good, boy I got right on what he said I was supposed to be
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doing.
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Someone that can bring this entire universe that Brother Higginbotham last night was talking
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about, the complexity of it, both in terms of its enormity and also the minuscule elements
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of it, it's just incredible.
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It is an explanation of saying that the God we want you to serve and the God we want you
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to know as we introduce them to our friends is the God with his creative power that can
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simply bring the world into existence.
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But more than that now, in chapter 2 as we are introduced to this divine name of God,
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is again not just facts about how Adam was created, though this is literal and absolutely
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should be recognized as the way God did it, but more with a specific element to showing
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us the protagonist, the God, the great hero of the Bible, and this God, you know what
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he does?
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He's intimate.
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His eminence is known here, that is his nearness.
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He's a God that creates with his hands.
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He fashions and he forms Adam.
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See it's very hands-on, isn't it?
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So it's not a God that just sits above the universe and says, okay, now I have no connection
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to you, no interrelationship with my creation, no, very much involved in creating this world
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and especially when it comes to you.
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When it comes to humanity.
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And so what did he do?
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He fashioned him, he formed him, he built him.
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And then what did he do?
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He breathed into him the breath of life.
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As intimate as that.
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Breathing into him the breath of life.
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And then God is not only this sculptor, he's not only a pneumatologist in the study of
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wind and breath and air, he is also a surgeon and a psychologist.
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He says it's not good for man to be alone.
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God's always been about seeing to our needs and understanding the creation, people that
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he created.
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And so he takes a rib out of the side of Eden and he forms, he builds a woman and brings
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her to the man.
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And then he's a provider because he puts him into this garden, into this area where all
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of his needs are met.
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And then he gives him freedom of choice.
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This is a God of love.
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This is a God that's not far off but a God that's near.
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It's the same God that Paul preached about on Mars Hill as we do in Acts 17 when thinking
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about the Athenians and the various philosophies and the Epicureans and the Stoics and their
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view of divine beings or that it's just this logos or this reason in the universe that
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has no connection to the people that are down here or that maybe these people are just sort
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of pawns in the overall scheme.
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No, this is a God that is not far from any one of us.
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If that happened, we would go looking for him and seeking for him.
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The translation, some of them said sort of groping for him, trying to find him with our
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own hands.
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We're going to see him.
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He's not far from any one of us because it is in him that we live and move and have our
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very being.
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Human beings are a reflection of God.
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The imago Dei, the image of God.
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It's a beautiful thing, isn't it, when we think about human beings and the counter-distinction
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between them and the animal world and all that we can do and the capacity that we have
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to love and who we are as people that can do good deeds and that reason and that faith
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to have a conscience.
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We're a reflection of God.
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It's a beautiful thing to think about.
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So, those two things right there, first and foremost, is where I think we need to begin
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with our view of God.
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He is both transcendent, but he's also near.
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He wants to be connected to us, to you.
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And then as you continue to read through the book of Genesis, I want you to see something
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else and there are many names, many other names that you can find and there are things
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like Eladon that we'll talk about here in just a moment.
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There are this one, Adonai, that we'll look at in a second, El Shaddai.
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And in a minute we're going to drive toward these in particular because as we've already
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seen in looking at these various stories or these various accounts of actual events that
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reveal to us who God is, it becomes very personal.
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God is transcendent, but God is near.
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The next one that I want us to look at now, just sort of by way of chronology in the book
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of Genesis, is the one found in chapter 14.
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Turn over there.
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Look in chapter 14.
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Now this is when, after Abraham rescues Lot from that coalition of Mesopotamian kings
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that had come down and taken him away, and Abraham goes and he acts as the goel, the
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redeemer, as the near kinsman, to go and rescue Lot.
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And we remember that when he comes back into this land of promise near the Kings Valley,
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verse 18 says that Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine, he was priest
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of God most high.
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And then there is so another word for us, Adon, this word for most high.
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And he is blessed, blessed by Abraham, who Abraham by God most high, possessor of heaven
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and earth, and blessed be God most high.
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Now what do we learn from that story about this God that we serve?
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He is a God that is the victor who delivers.
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I think by the context you can sort of maybe define it in just that way.
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I know that its basic meaning is to ascend or to go up.
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So literally then, he is the one who is most high, but this God who is most high, as sovereign
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ruler of the universe, can lead his faithful to great victories.
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First time I read that, and I studied that in a context, and I thought about the story
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in which it was found, I thought, isn't that powerful, because God led Abraham, his God
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is the God most high, that overcomes and moves beyond national entities or provincial
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borders.
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It is a God that is recognized not just by Abraham, who is selected because of his faith
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and brought out of the land of Ur of the Chaldees, but Melchizedek.
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More than just this Abrahamic lineage of people, but somebody else is recognized.
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And I think this is a cut for all nations.
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God has always wanted everyone to see him as the God most high.
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I found it interesting, a few years ago I was in Singapore, and I was in a museum, and
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I was thinking about how it was and how it is that Eastern culture just seems so different
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from Western culture in so many ways, but then I read a book called Finding God in Ancient
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China, and it was very, very revealing, because if you look a little more closely at some
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of what is in Chinese religion and in teaching, you're going to see little elements of God,
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things like even blood sacrifice and covenant, or like the character for the flood, remember
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the boat with eight souls, eight people in it.
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They had some knowledge of, originally, and it makes sense, right, because Noah and his
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family, they came off the ark, he would have taught them about the God most high.
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And so, as I'm going to this museum, I see that they have a chief pantheon, a chief pantheon.
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He's called Sha Di, and it means the God on high.
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The God on high.
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And interestingly enough, you know how he was represented by three other gods.
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Did they have some idea of the triune nature of God?
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Probably not.
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I don't know, but I found that somewhat interesting in the connection.
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So they had an idea of there being a chief pantheon, there being one God most high.
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And now, God reveals to us, through the great book of Genesis and the rest of the entirety
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of the Bible, this transcendent being that is so powerful, so great, that wants a relationship
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with you, that wants to be in fellowship with you, that invites you to his table, that wants
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you to spend an eternity with him.
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He's the God for all nations, for all people.
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The God of victory, who delivers.
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But then, notice in chapter 15, another name for God.
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In verse 15, after these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision and
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said, Fear not, Abram, I am your shield, your reward shall be very great.
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But Abram said, O Lord, now that's a different word there, it's not the Yahweh or the
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Tetragrammaton here, this is the word, Adonai.
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O Lord God, El, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house
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is Eleazar of Damascus.
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And then he goes down and he uses the word once more in verse number 7.
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It is Abraham, Abram here, recognizing that this God whom he has called to serve, now
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is master, he's Lord.
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God, what do you want me to do?
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I know you've told me what you want me to do and I've come to this land, but God, now
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how are you going to fulfill your promise of making me into a great nation and my descendants?
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And so there's a beautiful expression in the word that Abraham then uses that we use today
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even in the New Testament in our own language of Lord, of recognizing God as our master,
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as the one who has the right to determine what we should do and how we should live.
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And after all, it makes sense because he's the one that created all things and knows
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all things.
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But then in chapter 16, we continue to read about God, not just sort of disconnected stories
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that have no purpose, but rather a revelation about the very nature and the essence of who
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God is as seen now intertwined and working through this wonderful story, the providential
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story unfolding here of God fulfilling his promises to Abraham, a God of covenant.
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We see in chapter 16 that while Abraham still is childless, he thinks that maybe the way
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to work this out is through his handmaid, Hagar.
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And so there is and will be born to Hagar a child, but as she is great with child, remember
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that Sarah has treated her with contempt, verse number 4.
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She's looked on me with contempt, verse number 5.
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She has been dealt with harshly, verse number 6.
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Ever felt like that?
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You know of anybody that's been dealt with and looked upon with contempt, spoken to harshly?
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Where do I fit in?
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Who am I?
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What's life about?
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Especially among a people who profess to be a people of God, yet say things to me.
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That rob me of my value and my worth.
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And so she does what I think a lot of us are tempted to do.
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When people look on us in this way, or maybe even we look on ourselves in this way.
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We run away.
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We isolate ourselves.
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We go to the desert.
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And so Hagar goes to the desert, and the angel of the Lord found her, according to verse
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number 7, found her.
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And some who believe, and I'm one of them, that often is the case that the angel of the
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Lord is most likely to pre-incarnate Christ.
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To pre-incarnate Christ.
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Is there some form of the fact that Jesus is the one here in some measure that finds
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her by a spring of water in the wilderness and a spring on the way to Sheol, that's south
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down past Beersheba going out into the Negev, the true desert area that is barren.
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And he says, Hagar, servant of Sarah, where have you come from and where are you going?
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She said, I am fleeing from my mistress Sarah.
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The angel of the Lord said to her, return to your mistress and submit to her.
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The angel of the Lord also said to her, I will surely multiply your offspring.
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Hagar, I see you.
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I've come to you.
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You will have Ishmael.
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And there will be many nations.
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Verse 12 says, and he shall be a donkey of a man, and his hand against everyone, and
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everyone's hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all of his kinsmen.
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Now notice verse 13.
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So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her.
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So she calls Yahweh.
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What does she call Yahweh?
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You are a God of seed.
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For she said, truly, here have I seen him who looks after me.
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Therefore the well is called Be'er L'chaim.
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Literally, the well of the living one who sees me.
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Another one of those transformative, powerful references to how people view God and what
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God identifies with in terms of his name.
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A God who sees me.
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So when you're reading through Genesis, what are you looking for?
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You're looking for God.
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Are you getting excited about who this God is that we are called to serve?
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What does it reveal to us?
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This is a God that sees me when I am being treated harshly.
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When I am having problems.
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When I am having problems.
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When I am isolated.
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When others consider me or I consider myself not to have a whole lot of worth or value.
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Or when I'm struggling with some sort of ailment or pain or disease.
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Or when I lost my job.
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Or when I have in fact been ridiculed and vilified.
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God sees me.
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He knows me.
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He cares about me.
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He cares about me.
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Just like he did this bond woman.
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Off in a far away place.
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In a hospital bed we can begin to feel as though we are by ourselves.
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But we're not.
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Maybe in a difficult marital relationship where you're the only one that seems to be trying.
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You may feel alone but God sees you.
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Just like he saw Hagar.
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This is the God we serve.
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And then as you continue to progress through the text not only do we see this about Hagar.
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But now in chapter 17 when Abraham was 90 years old.
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The Lord appeared to Abraham and said to him.
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I am God Almighty.
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Or El Shaddai.
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I am God Almighty.
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God of the mountain.
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Some root form of that has reference to some sort of high mountain.
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Now what in the world here?
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Well you keep on reading down through the text.
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And Abraham has got this question again about the fulfillment of God's covenant.
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And so forth.
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And then notice what is said to him in verse 8.
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And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojourning.
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All the land of Canaan for everlasting possession.
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And I will be their God.
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Isn't it wonderful to think that as Abraham is thinking about God.
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You made these promises to me.
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I'm sojourning in faith.
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I haven't realized it fully yet God.
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Is it going to come true?
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And God says I am the God of the mountain.
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If I am the God of the mountain.
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Now all this other land that I promised you.
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It will come to pass.
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I own the mountain.
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El Shaddai.
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And we need to remember that don't we?
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When we are traversing through life's difficult waters.
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Or through the deserts of our life.
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And we think God where are the promises?
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And God says look beyond the land promise.
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The eternal promise of salvation with me in a heavenly home.
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And then there is another one.
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Not only in chapter 17.
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But now progress all the way quickly to chapter 22.
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Isaac finally arrives.
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And now he is growing.
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And what does God call Abraham to do?
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But together they land in Moriah.
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There at Jerusalem.
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What became later Jerusalem.
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Where the temple and where Jesus.
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Where the temple was located.
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Where Jesus was crucified.
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Abraham comes to this region.
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And he is called upon to sacrifice his son.
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Now why would he do it?
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How would he do it?
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How would he do it?
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Well we know the Hebrew writers tell us.
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Because he knew that God could raise him from the dead.
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Abraham had great faith.
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Abraham trusted God.
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He had come to know this God that we have been describing.
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All along the way.
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The God who sees.
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The God who is the God of the mountain.
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Abraham came to know him.
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So at this pinnacle of faith.
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In which he is going to demonstrate his trust.
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And put his eyes upon God.
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He says I will do it.
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Do you know what God would provide?
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Yes.
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He can raise him from the dead.
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He can do whatever he wants to do.
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And so to rival these Canaanite religions.
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Who would offer their own sons in sacrifice.
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Abraham demonstrates his great faith.
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In the one true living God.
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And goes here.
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And when then he is about to.
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Take his life.
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His hand is held steady.
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Or he is stopped by the angel.
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And we read.
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That God sends.
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A ram in the thicket.
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To be the sacrifice.
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And the substitute.
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Yahweh.
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Yireh.
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Or some say Jireh.
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But Abraham.
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Saw that God.
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Is a God that provides.
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A substitute.
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Now.
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Let's put that together.
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And.
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Especially.
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Exodus 3.14.
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I am the existing one.
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And in a way.
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To sort of maybe better understand that.
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Because it is in Hebrew.
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In the imperfect tense.
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A little different from the Greek tense.
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That maybe has more of an emphasis.
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Upon the past.
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It seems like in Hebrew.
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That there is an emphasis more upon.
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Somewhat into the future.
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The power of it.
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And so I am who I am.
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I am who I am.
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But I also.
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Am the one.
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Who will be.
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Now.
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Revelation 1.8.
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Reminds us.
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As Jesus says of himself.
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I am the God that is.
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That was.
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And shall be.
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I transcend time.
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I fulfill all things.
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And there is.
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Even in the book of Exodus.
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This sort of gradual revelation.
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About who God is.
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First starting at the burning of the bush.
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And then the revelation that comes there.
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With regard to this divine name that is given.
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And then at the plagues.
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And then when.
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Moses goes then to the mountain.
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He wants to see the glory of God.
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Exodus 34.7-8.
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And we hear about the mercy.
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And the divine forgiveness of God.
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This steadfast love.
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We keep learning more and more about God.
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But this God.
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That will be.
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Does that not leave.
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Some sort of maybe room for.
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The coming of Jesus.
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The incarnation.
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Because.
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Out of these things.
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That we have been talking about so far.
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The God that sees.
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The God that creates.
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The God that has this.
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Divine name.
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Connected with.
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I am.
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Is seen in Jesus.
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In the beginning.
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Was the word.
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And the word was with God.
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And the word was God.
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The same was in the beginning with God.
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And this God.
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Created all things.
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And this God.
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Who created all things.
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Inhabited a human body.
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He took upon himself.
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Flesh.
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Chapter 1 verse 14.
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And we beheld him.
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As the only begotten of the Father.
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Full of grace and truth.
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And as you continue to read through John.
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Jesus himself says.
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In 8.58.
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I am.
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Has sent me.
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I am.
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Making that connection to the existing one.
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The eternal one.
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But even this.
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And finally I leave you with this.
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Because as Jesus.
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Came to explain God to us.
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More fully.
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John 1.
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Verses 18 and 19.
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Speak of him being the exegete of God.
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To explain God to us.
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We do exegesis.
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We have the meaning of a particular passage.
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We read it out.
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And what Jesus came to do.
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Is to show us God.
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More fully.
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In all of these names.
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In all the way that God operated in the Old Testament.
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And now.
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Fully seeing Jesus Christ.
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As the one who.
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Gave himself for us.
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The one who lives forever more.
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And the one.
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Who sees.
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I have often been touched.
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By.
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Seeing in John.
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Chapter 1 and 2.
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About Nathanael.
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Do you remember that story?
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Nathanael.
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Is brought to Jesus.
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And he says.
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An Israelite.
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Of whom there is no guile.
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How do you know this about me?
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I saw you.
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Under the tree.
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Under the tree.
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I saw you.
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What was he doing there?
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I have often wondered about that.
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What was Nathanael doing there?
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Was he struggling with something?
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Was he looking for something?
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God saw.
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And then we continue to read through the Gospel of John.
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And when we get to chapter 5.
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And he goes to the pool of Bethesda.
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And the text says that Jesus saw.
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A man.
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Who had been lying there at that pool.
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And he was unable to get into the pool.
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Jesus saw this man.
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In his malady.
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And then you go to John chapter 9.
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And what does Jesus see?
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He sees a blind man.
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In chapter 9 verse 1.
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He saw a man blind.
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From his birth.
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And then.
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The touching story.
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Of Lazarus.
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Lazarus has died.
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Mary and Martha.
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Mary and Martha.
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I remember upset.
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Our brother would not have died.
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And I love how the text says.
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That when he saw them.
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Crying.
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He was moved.
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With compassion.
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And he wept.
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See the same God.
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I look at all these names.
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I see him in action.
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As revealed in all these accounts.
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And it is not just simply a name.
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It is not just simply an academic study.
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But it is reality.
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A God in action with creation.
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Of the flesh on earth.
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Where he is.
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In Jesus Christ.
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The God who sacrificed himself.
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For you.
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And for me.
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Jesus.
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Jehovah.
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Is.
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Salvation.
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Remember.
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God.
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With.
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Us.
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Get to know these names.
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The more you know.
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About God.
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The more you will.
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Love him.
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And want to serve him.