Thursday, December 09, 2010

The Names of God (part 3)

"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I AM!" (John 8:58)

Today we continue our look at the Biblical names that God has chosen for Himself.

In Ezekiel chapter 48, God is named Yahweh-shammah, the Lord ever-present. After the nation of Israel fell and its people were scattered, Ezekiel spoke of the day when God would return His people to their homeland. The prophet talked about life after the restoration, and he had this to say about the capital: the name of the city from that time on will be: THE LORD IS THERE. God would always be present with His people; He would never walk away from them. God is always with you; even when you feel all lone with your troubles, the Lord is near and is paying close attention to your situation.

I said earlier in this series that Yahweh translates as "I AM". Jesus applied this name to Himself frequently in the New Testament. Let’s look at some examples.

In John chapter 6 Jesus declared "I AM the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." Jesus compares Himself to bread, one of the most basic of foods. Just as bread keeps the body alive, Jesus keeps the soul alive. Food for the soul is essential; God says man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD (Matthew 4:4). Jesus is the Word of God that came to walk among us; when He speaks, our souls are made healthy and strong. If we listen to Christ, His words can free us from anger and fear, loneliness and despair.

In John chapter 8 Jesus said, "I AM the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." God views darkness as evil; the first thing He did was to create light. Sadly, our sin makes the world a very dark place. Without light, everything eventually dies; darkness is the enemy of life. Thankfully, Jesus brought the light of God into our dark world; if we stand in His light we will be invigorated, so invigorated that we can live on in spite of death. The light of Christ reveals the grave to be a shallow thing, not worthy of our fear.

Next time we will conclude our look at the many names God uses to reveal Himself to us.

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