The Ohio Independent Baptist, March 1963

INSPIRATIONAL TALKS ON THE NATURE OF GOD By Ralph T. Nordlund The greatness of His name ln thi da)· when cientific di co eries have exhalted the ego of man, we need to con ider the greatnes of God. Jl of our discoverie ought to humble u , and will when '-' e remember that we are only beginning to enter into a fe,,, of the ecrets of the Almighty. When Vasco da Gama olum?u , and Magellan began the conque t of the ea, the)· d 1d not create it, but only di covered how great it \Va ~. So. ~'hen n1odern man venture into space and hope to reach the moon and Mar he creates nothing: but i beginning to di cover how endles the firmament j that God tretched out. With P a im 115: 16 in the Bible, I very much doubt that man will ever get to 1ars and live to tell the story ; but even if he doe , he ~'ill be very foolish to think that he has become too important to need God any more. The greatnes of God, however, i not fir t een in His work of creation, but in Hi Name; and o we begin with it. The third ommandment intimate it when it ay , 'Thou sl1alt not take the nat11e of tl1e Lord t/1 y God in vain; for tlie L ord will not 110 /(/ hirn g1,iltles tliat taketlt l1is 11ame in vairz ." Profane men cannot under tand why God hould be o concerned about a lip of the tongue~ but the reason i found in the imple truth that God's name represent hi person; and an irreverent use of his Name reveal a lack of reverence for hi Per on. You ec that in Exodu 34: 5, 6: "A rid tl1e LORD clesce,1ded i,1 ilt e clo ud, a11(/ stood with him tl1ere, and proclai111ed the 11a,1ie of tl1e LORD. "And the LORD pa sec/ before hi,11, a11d pro– c-/ai111ed, Tl1e LORD (or Jehovalz ), the LORD God. merci/L,1,l and gracious, lor1gs1,f fering , and ahL,r1dant i11 goodness ar1d trut/1." Jehovah is the name by which God revealed hin1 elf te h1 people a their covenant God. Ruler and Redeemer . Mo cs cou1d not look t1pon God and live· but he wa, al– lowed to look from a cleft in the rock and ee what is ca lled the "hinder part ' ' of the Al mighty. How can we treat ~uch a God irrevently, when the angel of heaven cannot approach the throne without vei ling their face~? Rather, we hould be thankftil if we get even a flecti.ng glimp. e of him 1n a mountain top experience, or ce hi, glor}' in the beautic of nature. God's names and His character ~ he na111e of God stand for his character, fir\t of all. ,od JO the Hebrew i __ I hi 111 , which mean ~ Mighty nc, and so speak of hi~ creative wi dom and p wer . It i a plltr-al noun but i .. alway u cd with a . 1ngl1lar verl, ,vhen vcr it refer to the trlte ~•od, n1aker of hea, 1 en and earth. Jt is the plural of n1ajc. ty, which is till tt eli ir1 01111.: languages. ~or cxa111ple, i11 the \Vedt\h , man ~·ill feel ir1sul ted if his ~cr,•ant addrc sc hir11 with th i11gular JJronou11 tl1ou. He will likel a11swer, "'l)on't thotJ ' tl1 u· 111e." He dc111ands tl1e pltaral .. }'Ot1." \ rer y ]j cl)' Wl; t1"e tli ~ Jllural pro11oun in ~nglisl1 for the . a1n re on. but l1a 'C ~o co111pleteJ}' forgottc11 it, that \\'e h co111 to l]1in that 1l1ou' ' i mor resp c tful ! nl)' a fe\\' tin1cs i J d c, II d ..I i11 tl1 ld ,., star11er1t }1 \V, s o grea t t}1at 11 n1u t b call d El l1ir11. nd ' t tl1i Old c rn .. n1 nt u ag\_'; al o 111a .. ro n1 f r tl1 d trine f ll1 ri11it ', tliat tflcrc; are thr J)l:T ons i11 tl1e db,, d - ", tl1cr, 11 arid ] IOI}' pirit . E,,~n or11c f t]1 ld J wi 11 rabbi J It tI,e no d s 111 t1cl1 c J nati n, or tJ1 ' t lk\;d of t l1t: ti ire rd o , TH OHIO INDEPENDENT BAP IST Jeh~vah i God' covenant name, b}' which he re– vealed him eJf to I r ael as their Saviour and King. It means, ' 'I am that I am.., Moffatt , in hi Old Te tament translation, rendered it .. The Eternal." But it mean more th~n that. lt sound forth God· clain1 that he i elf– ex1 tent and upreme deJ)endent and ub ervient to no ~ne. How different from the Greek Zeu . who wa brought ~orth by Krono . or the God of Time. Nlore than that. tt tell . u that God lives in what Carlyle called ' 'The ever la trng Now.' ' A Jehovah he not onl}' know all in that h~ been committed and rnu t puni h it· but he ~now tt ~efore it i conceived and prepare for the salva– tion of his people! I n't it ble sed to notice th at when God cal l hi,nself Jehovah. he tel) u that Hi name sta~ds ~or mercy and grace and truth fir t, and only peak of JL1st1ce and puni hment afterwards? God's name and His personality In the Bible the name of God tand for more than ~is c~aracter important a that may be.: It tand al O for h1 very personality - it tand for Him! To us a name i only a mean of identification , a handle to pump, but in the Bible a nan1e mean much more. ! n Exodu 23: 20, 21 we read that God promi ed to lead h1 people to the Promi ed Land by an Angel that ~a none other tha~ G?d him eJf. Notice that it a)' , . my name hall be 1n htm.,, It wa that fact that made 1t so dangero~ to .di obey him, for the name or per. onality of God was JD h1n1 and so he wa divine. He ~'a none other, we believe, than the Second Per on of the Trinity or the Pre-incarnate hri t. ' God's name and reverence Now. if the name of Go<l tands for al l the oJorie of God' c ~arac.te ~ ~nd alf the n1aje t)' of hi pe;~ onality. how terrible rt 1 t or a pt1ny 1nan to take it liohtly ttpon h. 1· ' w O 1. 1~ . . hat ever made the fir. t profane per. on think of <l~1ng 1t, and what 1nake fooli .. h 1ncn contint1e the ~ract1c~ f ron1 the day of Lan1ech until thi · n10 t pro– t a11e of a ll age ? I <lo not know: bt1t it lioe .. n t e. cu .. e it t ay that it began a pra)·er or with ttic u. tor11 of . \\ earing to the truth . ~ J t i · an open qt1c. tion "'h thcr goo<.1 hr1 t ian., Ottght to swear to t}1 e trt1th even in cot1rt - tl1c ,, a,, the average court uoc" it! Per. onall)·, I ha,c al\\ a) bel.1"vcd that ,vhen our T.orll said, h ~car not at all," \\c are t tinucrstan<l it, not a contradictir1g the Old T ,ta111cnc, fJttl a conde111ning chc ligl1t anti fri olot1~ ,,vearing to ... lf1 trttth, (••(' ro. Ill\' 11 art anu h pc t Jte' ') that \\ a, \O co11ln1on a11tJ stall i, a111ong religt()lJ · pcopl 11J ) ct t f10,c \.\'Ord'i, '\. "'car n l at all." arc Jtt-... t a-... appror)rt,ttl' 111 a \\ orld ly a nu irre\ crcnt cot1r t roo111 . I hate 1,ro anit). \\ h ' lh\,;r ic be tl1c rol1gl1 ,, caring ot ,oldicr ,1 nd CO\\' bO\' · tha t I h, ,,e hcarcl ttntil 1t \\ l)ttlll • ring lik a r~pcatin g re~()r<.I in 111) 1111nll r i1 l tl1c 111i11' ti ath~ of la, lae • gt:11tl\!n1en a11tl (lT~,t~hcr~ t rcft1sc to rca l 111ag,tzi11es anll b oks that pt1t th<1t kir1cl t indc;CCJlC}- i11t 1>ri11( . f\f)' Ill ltllt'r 's lt: lfS llr\! I llll' f it \\.' l1er1 J ,, as s .. ,, 11 , nr1'-l '\'eJ')' \\' t>fl ot it is a d tggcr th~,t ct1ts anti \\' tin Is. J fltll ~tire 111 lll of 111, 1 re tli r. •el th • sa111c \\\ v flb tat it; a11 l \ l.·t I t ti , r lllt:1111, r tt1 ·1t c ttr r • fll)I\' ,oti 11,ttl', 11 h si11 as 111t1 11 Ol<.)re tt1, r1 ,,. l 1s he " valt1 s hi r1a111 111 r tl1 a l1 '" <.I • l r1l, 11 kn ,, ho,, • t1 l)' His !1 tr , LCll:r 1s, ar1 t llt. ,, 111 j sti i hi pc rsOll,l li t . lJ 11til ,vc: l1ir11 ta t<.> fa ~. \\' c: J1a\'l' l1i ,, rtl f Jr it , 11 t I 11a t l t r c; '" i l n c l l i 1 1 s l> : " l"'or I 0 111 l or<I /1 ,,v e \ elle111 ir 1/1, ,, 111 i,1 all 1J1e e , tl,J'' P ge 3, MARCH 196