(Divine Attributes) 04 Jehovah, the Eternal Self-Existent One — Denny Kenaston

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold.

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We come boldly before Thy throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Here we are, Lord. We don't know what to do. We don't know how to do it. We don't know how to say it. How can we mortal men talk about You?

Please come and help us, Father. For Your sake, that we all may see more clearly who You are. And glorify, Lord anoint, anoint Thy servant this morning. That we all may hear in Jesus' holy name. You can turn to Exodus chapter 3.

Jehovah as the Eternal Self-Existent One

We'll be reading there in a moment. We will be covering two attributes again today. It won't be that way every day, but today it is. Only this time, the two are wrapped up in one name. Again, these two flow together very well, the one to the other.

The title of the message this morning is, Jehovah, the Eternal Self-existent One. Jehovah, the Eternal Self-existent One. And remember, an attribute is that which God has declared to be true about Himself.

Many times, and we will see that as we go through this study. Many times, God declares Himself by giving one of His many names. We saw that already. We will see it again today. God declares Himself by giving one of His names.

And remember, name and character are the same with God. We have one of those names today, packed with divine revelation of the nature of God. Looking in Exodus chapter 3, Moses is having a bit of a conversation with the Lord, with Jehovah.

Moses and the Burning Bush

And Moses is a bit reluctant. He's done a very big task. He's been hiding in the wilderness for 40 years. He lost all of his great abilities that he got as he was trained in the house of Pharaoh. He stutters now.

He's not a very good leader, he thinks. He's been leading sheep instead of men. And now God has appeared to him in the wilderness in a burning bush that burned, but did not consume. And God has gotten Moses' attention and given him a task to do.

Moses, I want you to go back to Egypt now. And go back there and tell my people I have heard their cry and I have seen their dilemma and their sufferings. And my mercy is being manifested toward you. And go tell Pharaoh, let my people go.

Now, lest we get too hard on Moses for needing to argue a bit with God, put yourself in his shoes and see if you wouldn't have a few questions to ask also. So, Moses is talking with God in Exodus chapter 3 and verse 13.

And we're breaking in here a little in the conversation. Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers has sent me unto you, and they shall say to me, What is his name?

What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I am that I am. And at least in my Bible, that's all capitalized. I am that I am. And he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am has sent me unto you.

And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me unto you. This is my name forever and this is my memorial unto all generations.

This is my name forever. God is beginning to pull back that veil to reveal to Moses and eventually to all Israel more of who he is. This is my name, he said, forever. And this is my memorial unto all generations.

I am. My name is I am. Moses, you go and tell them that I am sent you. Now at first we might think, now that's a bit of an odd name. I am. But when you put it in its context and you realize who is saying that, and you realize that in your own self you could never say that, then all of a sudden that name begins to bring some deep significance.

The Meaning of “I Am”

He didn't say, I am, and put some other word on top of it. He didn't say that. He just simply said, I am. Now for you to do that, it would be absolutely absurd. But for God to do that, it's absolutely revealing.

Tell them my name, Moses. My name is I am. What does I am mean, brethren? It means the ever-present tense. I am ever-present tense, God says. I'm not past tense. I'm not future tense. I am ever-present tense.

Follow me back 10 ,000 years in time. I am ever-present tense. Follow me forward those 10 ,000 years. Go 10 ,000 years further into the future. I am ever-present tense. Glory! Tell them that I am sent to you.

I am ever-present tense. I am eternal. Not only does it mean that I am eternal, I am in the ever-present now, but it also means I am the self-existent one. I stand by myself. I don't need any other name tacked on me.

I can say the words I am and I need no other word after it. Tell them, Moses. Go and tell them the ever-present tense. Eternal, self-existent one hath sent thee. God is declaring His name. He is declaring that He is self-existent.

That He has His being of Himself and needs no assistance and needs no help and needs nothing at all. He is Himself the self-existent one. God is declaring that He has His being in Himself and in nothing else.

And if you think about it, if He had His being in anything else, He wouldn't be God. But He has His being in Himself. He is declaring that He has no dependence upon any other. Man must say, I am what I am and then must give a cause.

But God can say absolutely, I am that I am and He gives no cause. Hallelujah! No cause. I must stand here this morning and say, I am Denny Keniston. I am the son of my father, Kenneth Keniston. And on down the line I could go.

That's how I declare who I am. But when God declares who He is, He doesn't say, I am what I am. He says, I am. This is more than any creature, man or angel can say. Not even the most powerful archangel in heaven can say the word that God just said as He declared His name and His glorious attributes in His name.

God as the Source of All Being

Let's look at the definition. Self-existent. It's in your glossary there. That inherent existence possessed by a being's own nature. Independent of any other being or cause. That inherent, within Himself.

That inherent existence possessed by a being's own nature. Independent of any other being or cause. Only God can be the self-existent one. God is the fountain of all being. Not beings. All being, singular.

All beings, plural, exists because He, God, exists. He is life. And He is the fountain of all life. He is the cause, the means, and the end of all things in the entire universe. God is. He is the self-existent one.

He stands by Himself. He needs no one's help. He needs no one else's energy. He needs no one else's support. He stands by Himself because His life is within Himself. He is the cause, the means, and the end of all things in the entire universe.

This God is our God. Yes, Moses, go and tell them, I am sent you. We don't know how much Moses understood that first time when God began to pull back the veil and show him who he was. We don't know how much he understood.

But he must have understood enough to go and tell those people those very words. He must have understood enough to gain the strength and the confidence that he needed to do a task that every one of us would cower at the thought of.

I mean, just put yourself in his shoes. Go and see the President of the United States and tell him, you are wrong. If we say, I am, we must put something ahead of it. I am a man. I am a carpenter. I am a Christian.

We must put something ahead of it. Or it means nothing. God alone can say, I am, and not add anything more to it. Why? Because God is. Because he is, he can say, I am. He has no origin. Origin is a created creature word.

It doesn't fit God at all. Because he has no origin. It is a created creature word. And God is uncreated. He is the origin that has no origin. He rises far above man's understanding and stretches our imagination.

Doesn't it? You know, we've been at this now, this is the fourth day. And I've been watching your faces while we have been talking together. But we are stretching now into realms that are a little harder to understand.

And I see it on your faces this morning. You're kind of looking at me like, welcome home brethren. This is part of the God we serve. But I can see it on your faces. Isn't that interesting? That's okay.

Stretch to understand this morning. Stretch to understand. Don't just turn off. Don't just say, no. Stretch to understand. A God who is in himself a self-existent God who needs nothing, no one to prop him up, to hold him up, to keep him up.

He needs nothing. He stands by himself. He will always stand by himself. He always stood by himself. He's the self-existent one. He has no origin. He always was and he always will be. That's our God.

My son David. Oh, they don't like it when I use their names. But my son David, puzzling, he says, Papa, okay, we began. I understand that. But when did God begin? I said, David, God has no beginning. And he looks at me and he says, Now, that can't be.

Everything has a beginning. See? And in his mind, he's thinking right. He's thinking the only way all of us think. We think in relation to what we know. And in relation to what we know, everything has a beginning.

We had a beginning. Our parents had a beginning. Even this world had a beginning. If we believe in creation, even the world had a beginning. But God has no beginning. Yes, God has no beginning. He is Lord of all being.

He is the center and soul of every sphere. Lord of all being. Turn to Exodus chapter 6. I'm sorry, we're already in Exodus. Exodus chapter 6 as we move a little further here. Here in Exodus chapter 6 verse 1 through 3, God clearly declares His name.

Jehovah Revealed in Exodus 6

Here is one of those examples again where God is pulling back the veil to reveal His character, but He is pulling that veil back by giving a name because God's name is a revelation of His holy character.

Look what takes place here. Then the Lord said unto Moses, Oh, this is beautiful. I like this. Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of this land.

And God spake unto Moses and said unto him, I am the Lord. In the margin of my Bible it says Jehovah. I am Jehovah. And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty.

But by my name Jehovah was I not known to them. Do you see what's happening there? Moses, in time past, I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I revealed myself to them as God Almighty, El Shaddai.

Remember we read it just yesterday there. Genesis chapter 17. God revealed His omnipotence to Abraham. And God is saying, this is how my people have known me up until now. But starting from now, I want you to know more who I am.

I am Jehovah. Jehovah. The eternal self-existent One. It is the same as what we just looked at. I am that I am. It is the eternal self-existent One. Moses, in the past, my people have known me as God Almighty.

As a powerful God. But now I am here revealing myself to you and I want my people. This shall be a memorial for the everlasting ages for all the generations to come. This shall be a memorial. I am Jehovah.

I am the eternal self-existent One. I want you to know more about myself. This is some more truth that I am revealing to you about myself. I am Jehovah. And I want us to read down through these verses and I want you to notice.

You'll find it five times in there. He says, I am the Lord. I am the Lord. You'll find it five times. God is making this declaration and then speaking about what He will do. And each time you see that phrase, I am the Lord, He's saying again, I am the eternal self-existent One.

You see, I would like us to be able to train our minds to understand that a name is not just a name. So that we don't just flip over it. You know, when you read in the Scriptures, if we just flip over a name, we don't get anything out of it.

A name is not just a name. And God's names are not just titles for us to remember. They are a revelation of His character. So in light of that, look at these words. I am the Lord. By my name Jehovah was I not known to them.

And I have also established my covenant with them. To give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage wherein they were strangers. And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage.

And I have remembered my covenant. Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the eternal self-existent One. My name is Jehovah. And, now He starts giving promises, see. Puts up the character of His name, then backs it up with promises.

Then puts up the character of His name again and backs it up with more promises. I am the eternal self-existent One. And I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will rid you out of their bondage.

And I will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great judgment. And I will take you to Me for a people. And I will be to you a God. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah, the eternal self-existent One, God is saying.

Which brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. And I will give it to you for an heritage.

I am Jehovah, the eternal self-existent One. And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel. But they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit and for cruel bondage. What a revelation of God for an insecure Moses who is, by the way, if you look at the context, he's coming back and saying, Lord, what do I do?

They're not listening to me. They're upset at me. They're saying I messed everything up. You know, he's coming back insecurely. And God says, Moses, don't you know who I am? This is what I'm going to do.

This is who I am and this is what I will do. This is who I am and this is what I will do. Oh, if we could get a hold of that, brethren. For our own personal lives, this is who I am and this is what I will do.

And what precious promises to a people whose vision has dimmed through time and through the discouragements of the things that have happened to them, to come to them and say to His people, I am Jehovah, the eternal, self-existent One and this is what I will do for you.

That's powerful. In this name, God is expressing His nature and promising that He will manifest in deeds the very nature expressed in His name. Do you get it? By this name, God is designating Himself as the Absolute God, acting with unfettered ability and total self-dependence.

By this name, God is declaring Himself as the Absolute God, acting with unfettered ability and total self-dependence. God is eternal. This attribute, the eternity of God, is hidden in the other. How can you be self-existent if you have no origin and not be eternal?

The one is hidden in the other. If you are self-existent and you are the one who has no beginning, then you are eternal. Even if God did not declare that He was eternal, He is still eternal because He declared that He is the self-existent One.

Do you see that? The one attribute flows out of the other and a good student, a good meditative student could draw out of the one attribute and recognize the other one is also true. But God in His graciousness has also revealed that to us.

The Eternity of God and Human Perspective

I am eternal. A supreme being and first cause of all other beings must have existed from eternity for no being can have created himself. Do you understand that? No being can create themselves. No created being.

I want you to notice, take note of this. These words appear 550 times in the Bible. Eternal, everlasting and forever. God is eternal. And God is trying to get the attention of His people that they may also understand who He is and understand what life is really about.

If God is eternal, and He is, if He is everlasting, then that's going to have a profound effect upon my own life. It takes this little puff of air called my life, this little vapor, and brings it into a totally different perspective.

Isaiah 57, 15 says these words, Thus saith the High and Lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy. I dwell in the high and holy place. Look at that. Look what God says about Himself. He is revealing His character in this verse.

I am the High and Lofty One, and I inhabit eternity. Now you figure that one out. What is eternity? How far back do you want to go? How far forward do you want to go? God inhabits, He dwells in all of it.

All at the same time. Yeah, that's right. I can't figure that one out. I dwell in eternity past. I dwell in eternity present. And I dwell in eternity future. All at the same time. They are all alike to me.

Psalm 90, turn there. Psalm 90, verse 1 through 6. Lord, I think it's interesting. Moses wrote this Psalm. He can write it. He knows. Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations, before the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hast formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting Thou art God.

Thou turnest man to destruction, and sayest, Return, ye children of men. For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday, when it is past. And as a watch in the night, Thou carriest them away as with a flood.

They are as asleep in the morning. They are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourishes and groweth up. In the evening it is cut down and it withereth. And what is he talking about? A thousand years.

It's how God sees a thousand years. One day. Just one day. One thousand years. As God looks at one thousand years from His immense perspective, His eternal perspective. Oh, it's like a watch in the night.

I went to sleep and I woke up. And a thousand years went by. Let's look at the words, everlasting to everlasting. Why does God say it that way? From everlasting to everlasting. That phrase simply means this.

From vanishing point in the past, to vanishing point in the future. Vanishing point in the past. Go back as far as you can. Go back before there was even any Englishman here in the United States. Go back further than that.

Go back to two thousand years. Go back six thousand years. Go back before that. Go back before God created all the angels. Go back before all of that. Go back into vanishing point in the past. Until you can't think back any further than that.

Then turn around and go forward as far as you can think forward. That's who God is. He is from everlasting to everlasting. From everlasting past to everlasting future. Thou art God. The eternal, self-existent One.

How do we, as men created in time, grasp the concept of eternity? It's hard to do. But consider this this morning. If one day is as a thousand years to God, one day, let's consider the age of man and the age of this earth.

Six thousand years. That's about how long this earth is here. Six thousand years. Six thousand years times 365 days. Now remember, one day is as a thousand years to God. From His immense perspective. Six thousand years times 365 days is 2 ,190 ,000 days.

Now those are our days. But one day is like a thousand years to God. 2 ,190 ,000 days times 1 ,000 years is 2 ,190 ,000 ,000 years. And God looks at the whole thing. He says, oh, only six nights sleep.

That time, six thousand years of human history, is a tiny dot on the never-ending line of eternity. Imagine it. Just imagine it here. We'll put a line on the board and call this line eternity. Follow this line as far as you want it to go into the past.

Follow this line as far as you want it to go into the future. Follow it all you want to. But as God looks at man's six thousand years of time on this earth, He sees it as just a little dot on the line of eternity.

That's how God sees it. Just a little dot. God is eternal. That little dot to God, from God's perspective, represents 2 .2 billion years. Hey, Brother Denny, I can't even fathom that. I know. But you know, someday it won't matter.

Because time is something that God made for man. And according to the book of Revelation, there shall come a point in time when one angel shall stand and declare that time shall be no more. And when time shall be no more, then we are all into eternity.

And then the time won't matter. But right now, time matters to every one of us. We are time creatures. So we look at that and it boggles our mind. God looks at it and He says, Oh, just 2 .2 billion years.

That's nothing to me. Nothing at all. You know, it's interesting. You know that, oh, where is it in the book of Ecclesiastes where it says that God has put eternity in man's heart? God has put that in our heart.

There is something inside of our heart that is eternal. Isn't it? And it lifts our heart and draws us when we begin to think thoughts like this. God wants it that way. He has revealed Himself to be the eternal self-existent One and put eternity in every man's heart.

And eternity, the eternity of God, the attribute of the eternality of God draws every one of us as creatures. It draws us. It is hard for us to understand the concept that God dwells always in the now, but He does dwell always in the now.

He sees everything past, present and future all at the same time. But when you consider this dot on the board called time as being so small, it is a little easier for us to grasp God's eternity. However, though small this little dot is in our sight, it is not small in God's heart.

Time, Repentance, and Eternity

Though you may look at it and say, it's only a short amount of time in my perspective of eternity, it is not small in His heart. God holds time in His heart like a precious diamond and surrounds time with His loving jealousy.

Time has to do with us and God so loved us that He is very jealous over this little space of time in eternity. He is very jealous about it because we are in. God uses these time words to help us creatures grasp the reality of eternity.

Remember the creatures there in Revelation chapter 4 who used the phrase, which was and is and is to come? That is to relate to us those three tenses. But remember, God has no tenses. He is the ever present tense.

But for our minds, He is the God which was and is and is to come. God is His own eternity. He is not eternal by the design of some other being. He is by nature and essence eternal. He is not eternal by the nature and design of someone else.

He is by essence eternal. In Deuteronomy chapter 33 and verse 27, Moses encouraging Israel before he died, encouraged them with these words, The eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms.

Look at the power of those words. What is Moses doing? He is telling the children of Israel about God to encourage them to go in and possess the land and be faithful to God. God cries out to all of us in the Scriptures, I am that I am.

I am Jehovah. I am the eternal self-existent One. I am an unbounded sea of being. I am an infinite, incomprehensible life. I need nothing to be complete and I am complete and ye are complete in me. He needs nothing to be complete.

Isaiah 26 verse 4, hear these words, Trust in the Lord forever for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Here God doubles His name. Lord is Jehovah and Jehovah is Jehovah. I am the eternal self-existent One.

The eternal self-existent One is everlasting strength. That's the way that should read. God says it twice. Frederick Faber says in a hymn, No age can heap its outward years on thee. Dear God, thou art thyself, thine own eternity.

Look at those words. Remember what Jesus said in John 8 and verse 58 when He was there wrestling and discussing things with the Pharisees and they were trying to catch Him at His words? It makes a lot more sense when we understand what that little phrase, I am, means.

When Jesus said to the Pharisees, Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. And they took up stones to stone Him. They knew. They knew what He said. They knew what it meant. Those were sacred words to them.

In fact, they wouldn't even write those words. That word, I am, they wouldn't even write it. They knew what it meant. 4 ,500 times in the Bible, the name Jehovah is used. It is translated Lord in your Bible.

It seems the translators followed the Jewish tradition of not writing the sacred name and so they wrote it Lord. But it is actually Jehovah. 4 ,500 times God says to His people, I am the eternal, self-existent One.

Do you think God is trying to get our attention? He is trying to tell us something about His holy character? This is the clearest and most frequent declaration of the character of God in the Bible. 4 ,500 times.

And brethren, you know it so, and I admit it, I admit it, we read over that word, that name, so flippantly and go on the lesser words in the Bible. Think about it. It's what we do. In our ignorance, but we do it.

It's interesting, the French translate the name Jehovah, or Lord, they translate it differently. In the French Bible, the French word, the eternal, is in its place. So that means in the French Bible, if I understand it correctly, in the French Bible, when a Frenchman picks up the Bible and reads it, every place where in our Bible it says Lord, they have the word, the eternal.

And the eternal said, thus saith the eternal. And on and on and on it goes down through the French Bible. Wow! What a way to read the Bible. Brethren, have we lost our God by our shallow vision of Him and our flippant reading of His name?

Applying God’s Eternity to Christian Life

I wish we could somehow write the meaning of this name Jehovah so on our hearts that whenever we read the word Lord in the Bible, we would think Jehovah, the eternal, self-existent One. Read the Bible throughout loud.

Have you ever done it? Take the Bible and read it throughout loud with inflection. And each time you come to one of God's names, instead of giving His name, speak out His attributes. Imagine you're reading through this Bible 4 ,500 times, you come to the word, the name, Lord, and instead you say the words, the eternal, self-existent One.

Isaiah 42, verse 8. Let's just give you a few examples. God says, I am the Lord, the eternal, self-existent One. That is My name. Look at it! Did you get it? I am the eternal, self-existent One. That is My name, says God.

And I will not give, and My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images. Isaiah 43, verse 10. Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord Jehovah, the eternal, self-existent One. Ye are My servant whom I have chosen, that ye may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He.

Before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me. I am the eternal, self-existent One. It just takes a verse like that and explodes it with meaning. Verse 11. I, even I, am the Lord Jehovah, the eternal, self-existent One, and beside Me there is no Savior.

I have declared and have saved, and I have showed, when there was no strange God among you, therefore ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord Jehovah, the eternal, self-existent One, that I am God, and there is no other God beside Me.

Yea, before the day was, I am He, and there is none that can deliver out of My hand. I will work, and who shall let it? Oh my! That's powerful to me. God has every right to declare Himself that way, and God has every right to speak that way about Himself.

Just look at that. Look at those people receiving those words in the midst of a difficult situation that they're facing. I am the Lord Jehovah. That is my name. Nothing will get in my way. Nothing will stop me from fulfilling my purposes.

Seven Applications of God’s Eternal Nature

I will work, and who, who shall let it? Nobody and nothing. So how does all of this apply to you and me today? It's America 2006. Number one, The Eternal God has created us eternal beings. The Eternal God has created us eternal beings.

We have a never-dying soul. How then shall we live? Number two, The Eternal God is calling me and you to enter into His life, which is eternity. Come unto me, He says. Believe into me with your whole being.

Enter into life. I am eternal life. Be there as the ages of the ages roll on. What an offer! Be there! God is inviting us. Number three, The things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

What are we living for? And what motivates our life? Or, what rings your bell? What captivates your attention? What consumes your heart? What makes you tick? What is it that moves and motivates us? The things which are seen are temporal.

The things which are not seen are eternal. Let us live for the things that are not seen. Eternity is a long, long time. And dear brethren, if this little dot represents 2 .2 billion years, what does your little puff of vapor represent on this line?

What is your life? It's only a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away, but yet it goes on and on for eternity. Number four, I need God in reality, for God is my eternity. I need God in reality in my life, for God is my eternity.

No reality of God, no eternity. I don't care how good your theology is, no reality of God, no eternity. God is my eternity. Amen? Number five, how dreadful to be under the stroke and punishment of the eternal God.

Does the stroke and punishment of the eternal God last? Number six, our sins, unconfessed and unrepented of, stand in the face of our eternal God as if they happened right now. Though it may have been two years ago, it is in the face of God as if it happened right now.

And God promises, if we will repent, He will separate it from His face as far as the east is from the west. Hallelujah! But if it is still there, it is in His face. See we think in time, so we think, oh it's back down there two years ago, now it's ten years down there.

No it isn't. It's right in the face of God as if you just did it before His very person now. And lastly, number seven, He will be our loving eternal Father from everlasting to everlasting. Think about it.