The Ohio Independent Baptist, May 1963

e eatness o o ~ The Greatness 111 (\Jr fr t t11l, \\t ,,rl1lc )f 111~ ur~~(Ill' ,t ll)l1·, T81llCS Ullll re– ." i l'll tl1, t ,, t' \..:\ tflll lear11 ,l, 111t1cl1 (lf 1·, 111igl1t ~ltlli grncc anti l ni rl1ft11- 11t..' .... • r ,n, 111~ t\\'(.) 111a111 r1a111c, al()nc - l l )l1i111 ar1li Jcho,,ah . ftcr 11cl1 : tttli, ,,,c 111,1, l)c , er) ,t1rpri~cti tc 1 l"',lli 1n tl1 1 J, tl1 P4\nln1 and the ,c~~ , li , cr.., e : ..J ,,·ill ,i orsl1ip ro,,·ard t/1.v /10!_, . 1t'lllfJlt, a11,I pr,1ise t/1.v 11a111e for tll)' lc>, ,, t. ki11tl11c r a11d for tit)' tr11tl1: f c>r r lt<>tt /10, T ,, 1art11if ied t 11)' ,,·ord t1b<) l ' t 1 ,1// 1/1y 11a111e. 0 It een1 trangc that hi Word hould he n1agnified abo,·e hi ame. If , ou read the \\ hole P alm, you ,, ill r{ot1ce that Da,·id prai ed God in the tcn1ple for hi an1e, for it poke to h1n1 of loving kindne and truth ; bt1t that a he wor hipped, he came to realize that wonderful as that name of J eho,·ah wa , the divine name that Da,·id u ed throughout thi ,p alm, tho e ble ed truth tood out even more clearly in the written Word. If the)· did. it mu t be that God him e'lf had been plea ed to magnify hi Word abo,·e hi ame. ou ee. David wa wor hipping a a Bible-taught believer not a a groping heathen. He had often tudied the f i,·e book of Mo e and Jo hua and Job: and ince thi p aim wa \\ritten toward the end of hi life, it i likely that he al o po e ed the original autograph of Judge , Ruth and Fir t Samuel. Then he al o recog– nized that hi own p alm were in- pired and a part of the Word for he aid, ''The Spirit of the L ord spake by 111e. and his word was in my tongue.'' David loved to study Dai·id /01·ed to stitdy the lvritten U 1 ord. He said, ''The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soz1l: rl1e tes11111on)' of tl1e Lord is si,re, r1zaki11g 1-t ise the si111ple . . . More to be desired are the}' tl1an gold, yea, 111ucl1 fine gold: sweeter also than l1one)· and tl1e ho,ze)' con1b." If David felt that way about it ho\\' much more should not we, who ha,'e a completed Bible? We al o should open th1 Book and ay prayer– f ull)r... Thou ha t magnified thy word above all thy name.·, Of course \ve ought not ay it if we mi under tand what David meant. · If Jeho\ 1 ah repre~ent his \'ery Per- Page 4, MAY. 1963 A message from the Word ~ na It t \ • t1 l tr t c t ca nnot n1 ea n that tl1c Bil1lc i greater than JO() him– , elf. (, c.J in pirell the 40 me11 who pcnnetl the pages of the Bible, and o i the rea l Auth r: and an author i al~ay greater than hi. book. David did n t ay that men hould magnify the Bible above od, but that od him elf magnified it above hi name. It mu t mean that a a revelation of Him elf it ha more fully revealed od than hi name . But thi i certainly included in it that we honor God bet when we honor Hi Word - and Hi Son who i the living Word revealed in the Bible. We are bibliolater when we do that. The Bible and Elohim Let u turn briefly to that fir t name for God we find in Gene i 1 : 1. ' 'In ,the beginning God (Elohim) created the heaven and the earth.' ' La t time we explained that Elohim i not an exact duplicate for our word ' God ', which means "The Good. ' It mean The Mighty One who created the heaven and the earth. David, the outdoor man, un– doubtedly loved to look at the hill and valley of Pale tine, and up at the oriental ky, and feel how true that fir t ver e in the Bible was· but again, let u remember that it wa the Word of God who helped him to under tand the wonders of nature and o to under tand how almighty God was. "Flower in a crannied wall ' may try to tell u that God and man i ; but we will have to remind Lord Tenny on that it language i very feeble until we ee it in the light of the Word that ays, "Let the earth bring forth gra . . . and it wa o.' It i when we tudy nature in the light of the 23rd P alm that we realize bow mighty i the God who could peak and it wa done, com– mand and it tood fa t." How mighty i not He who .!,,.could peak word into existence, bring forth light out of the womb of darkne and with one creative impul e light a million blazing sta.r ; All the more hould we Chri tian understand it, who have experienced the light of the glory of God shining into our heart from the face of J e u Chri t! The Bible and Jehovah ~l~llt'n tl1crc is th, t grcnt 11n111c J cl1ov ah. \.Vh ic 11 the J cw. can1c tc ho ltl after thei r llal">yfor1ian cn1,i tivi ty to he \O holy tJ1 at only the high prac\t J1ad tl1e right to 1 ronoL1ncc it. ancl he only ttron the Day of tone– n1cnt. When ,they saw the r1 amc J eh vah in their criplltres they c.li cl not (1 arc to pronot1 nee it, hl1 t sa itl Ad nai , or ord, in tead. l l1al is why, althot1gh it wa plainly a st1pcrstition, mo t of our Bible<; use ord to thi s day, and only tell ti s that the origi nal L Jehovah by capitalizing all f Oltr Jetter . Why we are o prejuc1icec.l again. t the American tandard Ver - ion of I 901, the best ever produced, with only two or three blunder in it, jt1 t becau e it i faithful to the Hebrew original i hard to under- tand. Why leave that wonderful Name to ome fal e Witne e ? It mean , "I am that I am,' or that God i the eternally eJf-exi ting One. Now, wonderful as that great name i , it i plain that our text tell u that God has magnified Hi Word even above the name Jehovah. It tell u more about the eternity of God than the mere name can do. It may not tell u more fully that eternity reache backward a well as forward; but it tell us omething far more import– ant, that the eternal God i al o the God of time who take note of us today. So we can ay with David: ''Though the L ord be high, }'el hath he respect 1,nto the /owl)' . . . Thoi1gh I walk in tl1e niidst of trouble, thoi1 wilt revive 111e. .. T/1 e L ord will per/ect that which concernet/1 111e." Or we can ing, "Guide n1e, 0 Thou great Jehovah Pilgrim through thi barren land; I am weak, but Thou art mighty, Hold me with Thy Powerful hand. ' Or turn to the ew Te tament, where the Living Word a ure u , "And lo, I am with you alway , even to the end of the age.' It j a ble ing ju t to know that there j a God above u , who ha created u and thi univer e in which we live. We honor every divine ame that tell u of him. We ought never u e any of tho e name in vain. But we ought to be po itive a well a negative, and tudy hi Word, until we ee and wor hip him in all hi greatne . There you will find that Jehovah i alvation - that he ha not only wi hed u well but come down in the Per on of hi Son. We (Continued on page 7) THE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST