El Elyon
Introduction
A certain little girl, when asked her name, would reply, "I’m Mr. Sugarbrown’s daughter." Her mother told her "don’t tell people that say" "I’m Jane Sugarbrown."
The pastor spoke to her in Sunday School, and said, "Aren’t you Mr. Sugarbrown’s daughter?" She replied, "I thought I was, but mother told me not to tell any body."
The little girl needed to learn we can be called by several names.
Psalm 91:1 He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High (EL ELYON), shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty (EL SHADDAI); (2) I will say of the LORD (JEHOVAH), He is my refuge and my fortress; my God (ELOHIM); in Him will I trust.
ELOHIM is the aspect of God where we all began and Elohim’s love for His creation is a love that is shown through unconditional covenant with the whole of creation.
EL SHADDAI shows forth the Love of God through caring, nurturing, feeding, protecting the offspring of Himself.
JEHOVAH (or Jahweh) ... the I AM THAT I AM was the name God revealed Himself to His chosen people, the Israelites. Jehovah has the father-image and loves His creation and brings them to Himself through discipline, obedience, correction and holiness for He desires that they be a holy nation, a royal priesthood and a special people ... which three titles Christ later brings forth in God’s overcomers.
El Elyon is the Father who art in heaven. (Col. 2:9-10) For in Him (Christ ... from v.8) dwells ALL THE FULLNESS of the GODHEAD (Gk. says divinity .. the divine nature) bodily, (10) And we are complete in Him ... In Christ including Jesus the Head and His saints the body, have the fullness of Father-God within them. Christ was fully revealed and demonstrated in Jesus Christ during His earthly ministry. Why did God add in the word ‘ALL’ in front of the word ‘FULLNESS’? ‘Fullness’ is an all-inclusive word. ‘Fullness’ on its own would refer to any of the individual aspects of His Divine Nature revealed in any one name. The word ‘ALL’ added in includes all the aspects in their fullness together like a whole lineup of pails filled with water. All the fullness equals all the water in all the pails. Thus in Christ the whole expression of the Divine Nature is placed and we, being in Him, are included under such an endowment. No wonder the Word tells that we are heirs of God for we have certainly inherited all of His Essence, Nature and ability.
I. EL ELYON, THE GOD TO TRUST.
ABRAHAM AND THE MOST HIGH GOD. GENESIS 14:18 – 23.
The first time we read of this title is in the Book of Genesis. Lot, the nephew of Abraham, had settled at Sodom. However there was a war between the kings of the whole area. Four kings against five. The king of Sodom and his allies were defeated and lost everything. All their possessions taken and along with these possessions many slaves were taken among them Lot and possibly his family. Someone escaped from the battle to go to Abraham to tell him of the situation. Abraham must have been a very powerful and wealthy man because he had a private army of 318 trained men. God gives Abraham the victory and all is brought back safely.
It is here that we meet that most mysterious character Melchizedek. And we discover that He is a Priest of God Most High. He blesses Abraham of God Most High, in other words Abraham is a servant of the Most High God, and tells us that victory was his because of God Most High, who is the possessor of Heaven and Earth. But the title occurs again in the passage. The king of Sodom is naturally pleased that Abraham has returned all the possessions of Sodom and all the people. And he suggests that Abraham takes the goods, all the possessions of Sodom for his trouble. Then see verse 22. ’I have lifted up my hand to the Lord, God Most high, the Possessor of Heaven and earth, that I will take nothing....
It would seem that Abraham had vowed to God that he would have nothing with the people of Sodom or of their possessions. He had separated himself from all ungodliness. He had vowed that he would not become rich with the world’s goods.
God is the One who meets our daily needs. We can depend on Him. He is the God of Absolute Power and the God of Absolute Faithfulness, the God who Sees our need and the One who is Possessor of Heaven and Earth. Abraham was willing to give God His place in his life and to give God His Tithe also, He would depend on God. Paul says, ’My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.’ He is the Most High God, the Possessor of Heaven and Earth.
A. What The Name El - Elyon Means Concerning God.
1. El - Elyon Means God Is the . . Supreme God. v 18-19
The name or title "Elyon" emphasizes God’s uniqueness and his supremacy above all others. It reminds us he is the Creator of heaven and earth and the Owner of all. He is not merely mighty, but Almighty. During the time Abram lived, his father was a worshiper of the moon. He thought the moon was God. These people had all kinds of different gods and so it is significant to come back with this passage of scripture and notice that He said that He is the God Most High. This relates to the Supremacy of God.
Notice again, verse 18 & 19 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said, "Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth.
The name or title Elyon emphasizes God’s uniqueness and his supremacy above all others. It reminds us that He is the Creator of heaven and earth and the Owner of all. He is not merely mighty, but Almighty. That’s the emphasis of Elyon. Most High God, Almighty God. Elyon also means Strong God or Strength.
2. El - Elyon Means God Is the . . Strong God. v 20
He is a God who is Most High who has delivered him from all of his enemies. When you think about your enemies, if you will remember that your solution is God and that God is the Supreme God; then your enemies come down in their size.
Now it may not be good to say enemies, but any kind of opposition, any kind of difficulty that you or I would be faced with at a particular time is not as big as our God. You see we get our eyes too much on trouble, too much on tribulation and not enough on God.
Elyon is the Strongest. He is the Strongest of the Strong. No other is as great in power and possession. He is the ultimate God, the God of Gods, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and Abram gave a tenth to him.
This is the first time the tenth is mentioned in the Bible.
Illustration
A pastor preached on the ownership of God and the trusteeship of man. A wealthy landowner invited him home for lunch. The man took him to an area where he could see out to the land and all that he owned. And he said preacher, do you mean to tell me that all of this is not mine? And the preacher said, sir, ask me in a hundred years.
That puts it all in perspective, doesn’t it? You know that the older you get and look back on how many times have possessions or things seems so very important and yet the older you get the less importance they have. They kind of wane in their importance and family and friendship become more meaningful. Those are the things that are the most important. El-Elyon is God not only Supreme but God who is the Strongest.
II. EL ELYON, THE GOD TO WORSHIP.
Of the 48 references to El Elyon in the Bible some 18 are to be found in the Psalms and many of them refer to the worship of El Elyon. The Most High God. Just look at a few of these.
1. Psalm 46:4. ’The city of God, the holy place of the Tabernacle of the Most High’.
There is that place where God had chosen to be worshipped by His people.
2. Psalm 7:17. ’I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness, and will sing praise to the Name of the Most High.’ The One who is most high is worthy of all our praises. Now remember that He is the God of absolute power and the God of absolute faithfulness, He is the God who sees and considers you, and He is the One who is above and beyond all. He is God alone and therefore worthy of all praises.
3. Psalm 50:14. ’Offer to God thanksgiving and pay your vows to the Most high.’ For all the Lord has done for me I never will cease to praise Him. Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all His benefits. You know of the ten lepers who were healed by Christ, only one returned to give thanks. ’How sharper than a serpents tooth it is to have a thankless child.’
4. Psalm 57:2. ’ I will cry our to God Most High. To God who performs all things for me.’ We remember that David wrote this Psalm when he had to flee from Saul. Saul sought to kill David. He cried out to, El Elyon, God Most High. He is confident that God will hear and answer him. He prays for God’s glory, v. 5. Then he speaks of his steadfastness of heart because his trust in the Most High God. This leads, even in such a situation, to praise from David. And again that God might be exalted above the heavens. His Glory above all the earth.
III. EL ELYON, THE GOD WHO IS SOVEREIGN.
El - Elyon Means God Is the. . Sovereign God. v 21-23
If we boil all of that down; Abram was saying God is the Sovereign God. If I am made rich, it is going to be to the Glory of God. If I am made poor, it can still be to the Glory of God. Whatever happens, it is going to be the Sovereignty of God.
Illustration
This is an interesting story about Billy Graham. When he was kind of a young, 50 years ago he was like any other traveling young evangelist. But he came into Los Angels and the crusade began to develop and expand as the hand of God was obviously on him. Mr. Hearst went and heard him. And he came back and told his newspaper promote Billy Graham. Give him the utmost of coverage and the news media sent it all over the United States and it did help Billy Graham.
Someone years later some one said, well, the newspapers made Billy Graham. You know what some wise and really intelligent person said? He said, "Let’s see you make another one. Let’s see you make another one." You see the Sovereignty of God. How come Hearst happened to be there? How come Hearst said blow up Billy Graham, give him ultimate coverage? God wanted it done and got it accomplished. He is the Sovereign God.
Another book where we find El Elyon on a number of occasions is in Daniel. Some 11 times. Remember that in Genesis we discovered that El Elyon is the Possessor of Heaven and earth. This is again seen in Daniel but in a slightly different context.
In 606 BC. Nebuchadnezzar had besieged Jerusalem and Daniel was among those carried away captive. The city was left in ruins, the Temple destroyed and the majority of the people deported. We must remember that in those days a great deal of stress was put on territorial deities. If a nation was defeated then it was naturally assumed that the conquering nation’s gods were superior. Judah had been conquered. That meant to them that Jehovah was not a very powerful God. It would seem that nothing was superior to these gentile nations. Nebuchadnezzar had even taken the treasures, all the sacred vessels, from Jehovah’s Temple and put them in the house of his own gods. In their mind they had defeated the God of Judah.
However a series of events were to prove that Jehovah was the God Most High, He was the Possessor of Heaven and Earth. Babylon was not going to be an everlasting kingdom. The Most High God had decreed that. We discover the mighty power of the Most High God in the preservation of the three young Hebrew men from the fire. Then saving Daniel from the den of lions. Then God’s dealing with Nebuchadnezzar in his dreams. Then his humiliation as he becomes as an animal. At the end of it all we discover that Nebuchadnezzar has to acknowledge that it is Jehovah who is the Most high God and He it is who is to be praised and worshipped. It is His kingdom alone which is an everlasting kingdom. It is from generation to generation.
B. What The Name El - Elyon Means for Mankind.
1. El-Elyon Means Man . . Can Praise His Strength.
Ps 57:1-2 1 Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, for my soul takes refuge in Thee; and in the shadow of Thy wings I will take refuge, until destruction passes by. 2 I will cry to God Most High, to God who accomplishes {all things} for me. (NAS)
Yes it means that El-Elyon can be Praised for His Strength. And I need to praise Him over and over again for His strength and if I am busy praising Him for Him being El-Elyon the Strong God, my enemies, my difficulties, my trials and tribulations, my troubles of any kind will not seem so great.
1. Elyon Means Man . . Can Praise His Supremacy.
Ps 138:2
2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. (KJV)
Illustration
I’ll remind you of a story about me and Janice Meier, let’s just say she’s our resident Hebrew scholar, our on call Hebrew scholar. She is with the Sunday School Board helping write and edit Sunday School literature. Some of your ladies have the Woman’s Study Bible. It is an excellent study Bible and she is one of the editors of that Bible. But as she was here on Sunday morning I said "Janice are you going to be here for awhile" and she said "yes." I said "come by to my office would you and let me talk about some things in Hebrew."
She came in I said, "okay, here’s what I want you to study with me." And I pulled up on my computer the Hebrew Bible. She said, "don’t you have a Bible?" I said well, "right there it is."
You know, she didn’t want to use that new-fangled stuff on the computer. She said, "don’t you have a Hebrew Bible." Well, I got it out and dusted it off, and gave it to her. Well, then we studied this verse. This Psalm 138:2 and I quoted the King James. The last phrase of the King James is "for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name."
I wanted some additional help on this. I said, "what is that saying?" Tell me more in the Hebrew what that is saying. I studied a little bit but I’ll yield to you that you are superior in Hebrew scholarship. And we began studying and began looking at some of the other translations and she said, "Well, the evidence is such that there is as much evidence or more for the King James translation in that phrase as there is in any others. So you’re well on good grounds to be able to say to magnify thy word above all thy name. Can you think about that for a moment. That your word is magnified above your name. When you really think about that if your word isn’t any good, then your name isn’t either.
I discussed the idea of the inerrancy of scripture with someone the other day. They said well, it’s so simple to me. If we have an inerrant God then why can’t we have an inerrant scripture? And it just does really follow, it’s just that simple. If you have a problem with the Word of God, it is because there is some kind of problem with God. And here it says He magnifies His word above His name. And so the Supremacy of God, I can praise Him in that manner and I can say like this someone said, Father, You magnified Your Word, above all of YOUR NAME!
2. El - Elyon Means Man . . Can Praise His Sovereignty.
El-Elyon can mean to man that we can praise His Sovereignty. Elyon sovereignty delivers his children and sovereignty accomplishes his purpose even in their suffering, which itself is temporary and will be followed by the eternal refreshment he promises to bestow on them. He is sovereign. You look further in the Old Testament for this phrase Most High God. It is interesting to note, and if you do not have your note sheet, turn to
Isaiah 14:13-14 this passage of scripture, if you do much reading about it or studying about it, it is thought to be the words of Satan. It is given in a context of a king of Persia but many will say, and I agree, that it is actually the words of Satan. And it says in the 13th verse, "But you said in your heart, ’I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. Look at verse 14, "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High."
Satan desires to exalt himself and say I’m going to be like the Most High. Well, he never did accomplish that. Interestingly, if you’re going to the New Testament and you look up this phrase Most High God, it is used 4 times. Three times, it is used by demons Jesus is about to cast out.
Let me read to you from Luke 8:28
And seeing Jesus, he cried out and fell before Him, and said in a loud voice, "What do I have to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me." So here you have Satan wanting to exalt himself like unto and be the Most High God. But on this earth when Jesus comes those who are obviously demon possessed as Jesus prepares to cast out that demon, the demon says, O thou Son of the Most High God.
Hell recognizes Jesus and hell recognizes that El-Elyon is the Most High God. So interesting in the New Testament times, the scribes and the Pharisees deep and skilled in the Word in the Old Testament they didn’t recognize Jesus as the Most High, but demons did.
