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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/jason-wahls/titles-of-god-used-in-abrahams-life/
Good evening. I would like to read in Genesis chapter 12, to begin Genesis chapter 12. And again, it's a privilege to be here with you and share in the conference. And we do pray that the conference will be a time of blessing, that we indeed would be able to not only enjoy fellowship one with another, but enjoy the word of God and learn of him.
Genesis chapter 12, please. And I'm going to read a number of verses from the account of the life of Abraham. And in a minute, hopefully it'll become apparent as to why I'm selecting these particular passages.
Genesis chapter 12 and verse 1. Now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee. And I will make of thee a great nation and I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing.
And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abraham departed as the Lord had spoken unto him and Lot went with him and Abram was 75 years old when he departed out of here.
And chapter 14, please. Chapter 14 and verse 18. Abraham is returning from the battle, having gained the liberty of his nephew Lot. And verse 18 says, and Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine and he was the priest of the most high God.
And he blessed him and said, blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be the most high God which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, give me the persons and take the goods to thyself. And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up my hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread even to a shoe latchet.
And that I will not take anything that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich. Save only that which the young men have eaten and the portion of the men which went with me. Verse number one of chapter 15.
After these things, the word of the Lord came unto Abram and a vision saying, fear not, Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord God, what will thou give me seeing I go childless?
And the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus. Verse seven. And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees to give thee this land to inherit it. A little further along in chapter 17, chapter 17, verse one.
Chapter 17 and verse one. And when Abram was 99 years old, sorry, 90 years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am the almighty God. Walk before me and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee and I will multiply thee exceedingly.
Chapter number 18, verse 25. Abraham here is interceding for Lot and his family in the city of Sodom. Verse 25, that be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee.
Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Now in chapter 21, chapter 21 and verse 33. And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God. Chapter 22 for one final reading, please.
Chapter 22, the chapter in which Abraham is called upon to offer up his only son, Isaac, the son that he loved. Genesis chapter 22 and verse 14. And Abraham called the name of that place, Jehovah Jireh, as it is said to this day in the Mount of the Lord, it shall be seen.
You might want to keep your Bible handy if you can, to refer back to some of these verses, because what I would like to point out might not be so noticeable in our English version of the Bible. And so it might be a help to have your Bible handy.
I'd like to begin with a quotation that you would find if you happen to have the book by J .I. Packer named Knowing God. There's a lengthy quote and I will read it to you. It says, the highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy which can ever engage the attention of a child of God is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls Father.
There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of divinity. It is a subject so vast that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity, so deep that our pride is drowned in its infinity.
Other subjects we can compass and grapple with. In them we feel kind of a self-content and go our way with a thought, behold, I am wise. But when we come to this master science, finding that our plumb line cannot sound its depth and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with a thought that vain man would be wise.
No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind than thoughts of God. But while the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it. He who often thinks of God will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe.
The most excellent study for the expounding or expanding, sorry, the soul is the science of Christ and him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of deity.
And whilst humbling and expanding, this subject is eminently consolatory. Oh, there is in contemplating Christ a balm for every wound. And musing on the Father, there is a quietness for every grief. And in the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a balsam for every sore.
Would you lose your sorrow? Would you drown your cares? Then go plunge yourself in the Godhead's deepest sea, be lost in his immensity. And you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated.
I know nothing which can so comfort the soul, so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief, so speak peace to the winds of trial as a devout musing on the subject of the Godhead.". That quote is a quote of C. H. Spurgeon, talking about contemplating God, thinking upon deity.
You know the marvelous thing, the incredible thing? He was 20 years old when he wrote that quote. Are there any 20-year-olds here today, 19-year-olds, 21, 22, 18? Even those of us that are older, how much time do we spend thinking about God, getting to know God, studying God?
I was thinking of the young people that are in college and their massive textbooks. Our oldest daughter is now in college and we've gone to the university bookstore and the massive volumes on chemistry and biology and so much knowledge.
But yet, as Spurgeon points out, the greatest science of all is the study of God, an infinite God. And so what I would like to try to do with you in this particular message this evening is look at how Abraham was able to get to know God, to try to follow his progression from the moment of his call to leave his homeland and to move to a land that God had promised to him, and then follow throughout some of his life, and obviously we won't see all of the details, but to see how he was able to apprehend or to grow in his knowledge of God.
And we will notice that by seeing the different names of God that are used in the scriptures that we read. And that is why I asked you to perhaps have your Bible handy if you could, because in the English it's not so noticeable in every instance that Abraham is using a different word when he is speaking about God or speaking to God.
But there are various titles, and let me just run through them real quickly, and then we'll go back and try to examine them in greater detail. He would speak of God as Jehovah. He would speak of God as the Most High God.
He would speak of God as, and I'm not sure that I'm pronouncing these correctly, and they might come out with a bit of a Spanish pronunciation anyway, but he speaks of God as Adonai. He speaks of El Shaddai.
He speaks of God as El Olam, and there are various names that he speaks about God or calls upon God. Beginning in chapter 14, Abraham has returned from rescuing Lot. Just a little background of what had happened.
God had called Abraham to leave Ur of the Chaldees, and at the age of 75, finally Abraham comes out. He leaves Haran, and he comes into Canaan, and you know the story there. He's in the land of Canaan for a little time or some time, and then there's a famine in the land, and without seeking perhaps guidance and direction from the Lord, he's relatively young in the faith.
Although he is 75 years old, he's young in the faith, and he leaves the promised land, and he goes down into Egypt, and as strange as it might seem to us in that land, God blesses him, and he leaves the land of Egypt, and he goes back to where he had first constructed an altar to God, and there's the division.
Abraham and Lot separate, and after a time, Lot begins to move closer and closer to the city of Sodom. Then there is a battle. There's a war, and the enemies of Sodom come, and they conquer that city, and they carry Lot and his possessions and the inhabitants of that city away captive, and Abraham hears the news, and he arms his servants and those of his household, and they go to pursue the enemy, and they overtake them, and they are able to defeat them, and they're able to rescue Lot, and as they're coming back from that battle and that victory, there come two kings out to meet them, the king of Sodom and the king of Salem, and Melchizedek, the king of Salem and the priest of the Most High God, it says, the Most High God.
He comes out, and he says to Abraham, and he blessed him, and he said, Blessed be Abraham, or Abram, of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth. Now, this is the first time that we have this particular title of God in the Old Testament or in the Bible, and it is the words El Elyon, El Elyon, the Most High God, and in this particular passage, it is mentioned four times in verse number 18, verse number 19, verse number 20, and verse number 22 of chapter 14.
Again and again, God is referred to as the Most High God. Now, obviously, it has the connotation of the, that God is superior, and if it's, if the title is taken to be thinking of the pagan gods of the surrounding peoples, that God is the God.
He is superior, but look at what is attached to that title, the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth. Chapter, verse number 19, and again in verse number 22, Abraham says unto the king of Sodom, I have lift up my hands unto the Lord, the Most High God, the possessor of heaven and earth.
In other words, God is the owner of all things. Another version would say that He is the creator, but here the word is, in our authorized version, is He is the possessor, the owner. The word means to buy or to purchase or to create or to make, and so this title of God is telling us, is reminding us of His ownership, that He owns all things, that He is superior.
It is the first time, to my knowledge, that Abraham, or Abram, as he is called here in the beginning, heard this title of God. Perhaps he had prior knowledge of it, but it is not recorded for us in the Scriptures.
But I do find it interesting, if you look at the context of the passage and you look at what has been happening in the life of Abraham, that this title is presented at this time. Possessor of heaven and earth, possessor of all things.
Well, just as I had mentioned a little bit about the life of Abraham, he was very wealthy. He had gone down into Egypt and there, strangely as it might seem to us, God had blessed him greatly, so much so that when he came out of the land of Egypt, it says that he was very rich, not just rich, but very rich in cattle, gold, and silver.
And then the problem between he and Lot arose because the land was unable to support the abundant flocks and herds that they had. Abraham was extremely, extremely wealthy. And here he had gone in pursuit of his nephew Lot to rescue him, and in the course of rescuing Lot, he was able to actually acquire more wealth, right?
Because all the goods that that army had stolen, had looted from the city of Sodom and the other cities, Abraham was able to recover it. And so that when he came back from that battle, he came back even wealthier than when he had gone.
I think it would perhaps be wrong to suggest that Abraham had become materialistic, because I don't see that so much in the text. And again, in the Old Testament, riches were an indication of, amongst the Jews anyway, an indication of the blessing of God.
But in this moment, in this experience of his life, in his growth and his understanding and his knowledge of God, he's going to come to understand this, that God really is the possessor of all things, that he really is the owner of all things.
And immediately, Abraham offers tithes to the king of Salem, to Melchizedek, in a sense offering them to God. I just want to ask us from the beginning, from this little particular passage, do we understand that all that we have is really God's?
That he is, in fact, the possessor of all things. He is the creator of all things. As it says in Colossians, for by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created by him, and catch this, and for him. Not only by him, not only did the Lord Jesus create all things, but all things are for his glory and for his purposes. They are his. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
I would just like to remind us that not only are all things that we have the Lord's, but also those of us that are saved, we are his. You would remember that Paul would have to remind the Corinthians, what know ye not, that ye are bought with a price, ye are not your own.
You're just not your own. You have been purchased, you have been bought by the Lord Jesus. And here Abraham, one of the very first lessons as a young Christian, you might say, that he is going to learn is that God is the owner.
There's ownership. And then if you follow this particular passage down into chapter 15, I find verse number one most interesting. After these things, you see, the king of Sodom, he came and he made a proposition.
He tried to make a deal with Abraham. And he said this, because Abraham had rescued the people, the people that were from Sodom, from that kingdom, the king was only interested in having the people back.
And he says to Abraham, he says, you can have the goods, the possessions, but I want the people. And Abraham denies and says, no, I'm not going to take a single thing from you, lest you are able to say that you have made me rich.
Abraham denies taking of those goods, those possessions. But look at chapter 15 and verse number one. Did Abraham go without reward? No. Verse number one says, after these things, the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision saying, fear not, Abraham, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward.
God was his reward. Think of that for just a minute. God was in fact his reward. The knowledge of God, an intimate relationship with God, growing in his knowledge of God and fellowship with God. I am thy reward.
Oh, that we could learn something of this. That this life consists of more than what we can accumulate. And that we could understand that God is our reward, not the things that we can gather here in this world.
I know it's very difficult. We all struggle with it. Materialism, wanting to have more and seeing what other people have and the jealousy and the desire. And Abraham, yes, no doubt, was very, very wealthy.
It says so. But his greatest reward here was knowing God. So the first particular title, I'm going to skip over the title of Jehovah because, God willing, I would like to speak about that a little bit tomorrow.
But the first thing that we run across in the experience of Abraham here after being called and after leaving his land and coming into the promised land is he's learning about ownership. But the second thing I would notice in chapter two, and this is where it is not so observable in English, is that in verse number two of chapter 15, it says this,.
And Abraham said, Lord God, Lord God, what wilt thou give me? The word Lord is the first time in our Bible that we have the title Adonai, or Adonai. It occurs 410 times in the Old Testament. If I'm not mistaken, the majority, if not all of them, are in reference to God.
And Adonai is a title that refers, means master or Lord. That's why on this particular occasion it is translated as Lord. And just to mention in passing, many times, almost exclusively, the name Jehovah is also translated in our version as Lord.
But here it is Adonai, means master or Lord. In seven occasions in his life, in the details that we have recorded, Abraham refers to God using this particular title. Here in this chapter, and later in chapter 18, when he is referring or interceding on behalf of Lot, he is speaking to God in that manner.
I want to just ask us a question. Maybe this will be more evident in some of the other passages that we would look at. But when you pray, I know the Lord Jesus taught to pray to our Father, which is in heaven.
And that is almost how we exclusively direct our prayers to God, as to our Father. But do you ever, when you're in prayer, do you ever vary the titles of God as you're speaking to God? Thinking of your particular need, perhaps, or your particular petition.
Using some of the compound names of God, Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Rapha, those different names, Adonai, the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth. I think you would find that in some of the life of Abraham, that he is varying the titles.
You would read time and time again that he called upon the Lord. He called upon the Lord. But there would be a variation sometimes. Depending upon the circumstances, depending upon the situation, he would vary the way in the manner in which he is speaking to God.
The sense of this word or this title of God, again, is master or Lord. There are some that would say that it would also have the idea of a husband. And so that Abraham is realizing here, at this point in his experience of knowing God, that God is the one who is going to care for him.
And that God is his Lord. Very briefly, I'd like to mention lordship. That Christ is Lord. He is Lord. The Lord of the life of the believer. Now, to me, and personally speaking, I think lordship is one of the most difficult aspects of Christianity in the sense that we all have our own will, what I want to do, my plans that I am making, my ambitions, my goals, what I would like to accomplish.
And many times we set out upon our life and begin to make our plans, and we have these internal desires and things that we want to accomplish. And often we go ahead and make our plans without taking the Lord into account, without consulting him, without looking for the Lord's guidance and looking for the Lord's will in our lives.
And I would just like to ask all of us, how often do we recognize the lordship of Christ? And how often do we seek his will and his guidance? Does he want me to study this career? Does he want me to take this job?
Does he want me to move? Does he want me to do this? Does he want me to do that? It's not just a one-time thing of, okay, I'll consult the Lord today, and I'll get that out of the way, check that box, and then I can go on the rest of my life.
But I would suggest that it's a day-by-day thing of seeking the Lord's face and seeking his will. And here Abraham is calling upon God. Adonai, Jehovah, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus.
God had made a promise to him, and the promise had not yet been fulfilled. And Abraham is seeking the Lord's face, seeking his guidance. And he's making the suggestion now, well, since I do not have any direct heir, any direct descendants, perhaps one of the sons of my servant, he could be the heir to fulfill the promise.
And God in this chapter confirms to him that, no, there will be a son born to you, and he will be the heir. You know what happens? Well, if we continue on to chapter 16 and chapter 17, Abraham and Sarah spend 10 years waiting.
You ever had to wait for something? You ever had to wait upon God, wait for him to reveal his will to you, wait for him to indicate to you what he would like you to do? Waiting is not easy, is it? Waiting can be very difficult, very stressful, and it's very difficult to learn patience.
And Abraham and Sarah wait 10 years for you. Read the final verse of chapter 16. Abraham was fourscore and six years old. Chapter 16, verse 3, after Abraham had dwelt 10 years in the land of Canaan, they had been waiting for 10 years for a promise of God to be fulfilled.
And perhaps in a moment of weakness, a moment of desperation, Sarah came up with a plan, and apparently culturally at the time it was an acceptable plan, and perhaps they rationalized it and justified it in that manner.
But they came up with this plan that Abraham would be married to Hagar. She gave him to Abraham as his wife, and that perhaps through Hagar they could have a son, and that that son would be the heir. And it's exactly what happened, and Ishmael was born.
Notice the last verse of chapter 16, please. And Abraham was fourscore and six years old when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abraham, or to Abram. Then notice verse number one of chapter 17. And when Abram was 90 years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am the almighty God.
Walk before me and be thou perfect. What is the first thing that you notice looking at those two verses, particularly when you take into account the age of Abraham in chapter 16 and the age of Abraham in chapter 17?
What is the first thing that comes to your mind? Well, there were 13 years of silence from age 86 to age 99. No appearance of God, no vision from God, no word from God that we read of. Thirteen years of silence.
Abram and Sarah had depended upon the flesh and had depended upon their own doings and their own devisings and their own scheming to try to fulfill the plan of God. And there were 13 years of silence, 13 years without communication with God.
Lost time. Dear brother and sister, when we try to do our things our own way, without the Lord's guidance, we lose time, lost time. But notice when God finally speaks, God doesn't say, Abraham, I'm Jehovah.
Or Abraham, I'm the most high God. Here's what I want you to do. Or Abraham, I'm Adonai. God doesn't reveal himself in that way. He reveals himself with a different title. I am the almighty God. The almighty God.
And there the word or the title in Hebrew is El Shaddai. And it is a title that scholars would tell us would mean the all-sufficient God. All-sufficient. The God that can provide. I like the comment of one commentator, and he says this.
He said, here Jehovah describes himself as El Shaddai, God the mighty one. The name describes God as possessing the power to realize his promises, even when the order of nature presented no prospect of their fulfillment and the powers of nature were insufficient to secure it.
Have you noticed how God in the life of Abraham here, in the growth of Abraham, how God is presenting himself and Abraham is recognizing God for who he is exactly according to the need of Abraham. And so God is facilitating Abraham's growth.
Possessor of heaven and earth. Just at a moment perhaps when Abraham needed to hear that, needed to understand that all things are God's. Adonai, he is the Lord. Should be looking for his lordship, for his guidance, for his will.
And then when Abraham deviates from the plan and has the child with Hagar, God reveals himself as the one that is sufficient for Abraham's every need. Abraham, I am the almighty God. I am the one that is sufficient for every need that you will have.
Abraham, you could have just depended upon me and my sufficiency and my ability and my power. The almighty God, the God that possesses all power to be sufficient for every need. Later in Abraham's life, he would have to be reminded of that again when he's having the conversation with God regarding Sodom.
You recall that conversation and again God is confirming the promise of a child, of Isaac. And God has to say, why did Sarah laugh? Is there anything too hard for the Lord? The word there, too hard, means the idea of doing marvelous things, doing wonders.
Is there any wonder? Is there any marvel? Is there anything that God cannot do? And here at a critical moment in Abraham's life, he has to realize that he had depended upon the flesh and not upon God and God's sufficiency.
And we, too, so many times, we depend upon our own abilities and our own plans. I don't think it's conclusive, but I was looking at the title El Shaddai in its usage in the Old Testament, obviously, and I found it interesting that the almighty God, El Shaddai, is how God appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob.
It is a title that is used very frequently in the book of Job and once in the book of Ruth, when Naomi is coming back, having spent years away. And while obviously God had many dealings with other individuals in the Old Testament, on certain occasions we see that title linked with when God is having dealings with individuals.
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the book of Job, and Naomi. God is sufficient. You remember the apostle Paul. What did he say? That his thorn in the flesh, he sought the Lord three times. What was God's answer?
The Lord's answer, my grace is sufficient for thee. Can I ask myself and ask you a question today? Is God sufficient for us? Is he a big enough God for us? He is the almighty God. In the next chapter, chapter 18, we find Abraham interceding on behalf of Lot.
God has revealed his plan that he has come to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for their great wickedness. Abraham begins to intercede and he comes to this, shall not the judge of all the earth do right? By this point in his experience, Abraham has gotten to know God just a little bit an infinite God.
And he doesn't appeal to God's mercy or his kindness or to his love, but to his righteousness. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Appealing to God's righteousness. And that goes back to what I was saying a little bit earlier about our prayer life and our intercession and our petitions before God.
How often do we use the various names of God, appealing to his character, thinking of how that title would describe God in his character and in his person, and using that with a knowledge of this is what God is like.
Using that in our prayer and our speaking to the Lord. Very quickly to finish here, chapter 21, we find one more title that Abraham uses in reference to God. Verse 33. Abraham now is older and perhaps thinking of the brevity of life and how quickly life has passed by.
And he thinks of the everlasting God. The everlasting God. Verse 33. And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord the everlasting God. We have an eternal God. From everlasting to everlasting thou art God.
He who inhabits eternity. He's an everlasting God. I wish I had the ability to take these names and to try to make us understand how these names describe the God that we have. He's an infinite God. And finally, to finish chapter 22, the remarkable chapter of Abraham offering up his son.
And he uses the name Jehovah. And he makes that into a compound name. Jehovah Jireh. And verse 14. God who sees. God who provides. That would be a good title to use in our prayer to God, right? Jehovah Jireh.
The God who sees the need. The God who provides. And God very clearly provided in that particular chapter. Abraham and Isaac ascending that mountain. Isaac concerned that they had all things except for the lamb.
And Abraham confident. God will provide. You see how Abraham has grown in his knowledge of God? Back in the earlier chapters when he was patiently waiting and finally couldn't wait any longer for the heir, the son that God had promised, he took things into his own hands.
But here he has learned something about the Almighty God, the sufficiency of God. And although he doesn't use that title in this particular chapter, he realizes that God will provide. Do you not see how God is working in the experience of Abraham, revealing himself to him?
Is that what's happening in our lives? Are we looking for it? Are we growing in our knowledge of God? Are we able to understand these names and these titles of God and see how they fit into our lives?
My desire this particular weekend and burden for the conference is that we might study God. We might be filled with the desire to know him and to appreciate some of these names and to have a lasting impact on our lives.
May the Lord bless his word.