Names of God 4: El Elyon Dan 4:2,3, 13-17, 33-34 WBC 18/9/05am
A true story - a woman entered a Haagen-Dazs store on the Kansas City Plaza for an ice-cream cone. After making her selection, she turned and found herself face to face with Paul Newman. He was in town filming the movie Mr. and Mrs. Bridge. Newman’s blue eyes caused her knees to buckle. She managed to pay for her cone, then left the shop, heart pounding. When she gained her composure, she realized she didn’t have her cone. She started back to the store to get it and met Newman at the door. "Are you looking for your ice-cream cone?" he asked. She nodded, unable to speak. "You put it in your purse with your change."
Contributed by: Scott Weber on www.sermoncentral.com
I pray that you may have a sense of speechlessness and awe in God’s presence this morning. One greater that Paul Newman is here!
So much greater!
Nebuchadnezzar knew about God. He searched Daniel out to interpret his dream because he had heard about the one true God. But at the end of his experience he knew something of the one true God for himself- because He had experienced him as El Elyon
EL ELYON
God is revealed in scripture as El ELyon.
- Melchizedek blesses Abram in the name of El Elyon Gen 14;18
- Abram responds in oath to El ELyon
PS 18:13 The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of El Elyon h resounded.
- The psalmist cries out to El Elyon to be rescued 57:1, 78:35
- Is 14:13 The King of Babylon (and it’s a picture of Satan in his rebellion) tries to raise his throne above the stars of God and make himself like El Elyon
El Elyon. 28 times in the OT. 19 of those in the psalms
- El meaning God (hear last sun pm sermon)
- Elyon meaning highest… most high
The title conveys truth about God… and His nature
- that, in a cosmos of many powers: political and spiritual. Many ’gods’ as were followed in the nations around Israel and are worshipped today
o HE is the most high. The most high God. There is no other but Him
- It conveys his power. His transcendence
o That He is above all
R.C. Sproul tells us
transcendence means literally, "to climb across." It is defined as "exceeding the usual limits." When we speak of the transcendence of God we are talking about that sense in which God is above and beyond us. He is higher than the world. He has absolute power over the world. The world has no power over Him. Transcendence describes God in His consuming majesty, His exalted loftiness. He is an infinite cut above everything else. [The Holiness of God p. 55]
Contributed by: Bruce Goettsche on www.sermoncentral.com
This word conveys God’s omnipotence.
- His ability to do absolutely anything
o "Is anything too difficult for God?’
- He is all powerful. Utterly and completely in control. Totally
- The creator of all things. Sovereign over all things. Lord of all things.
o The One before whom every knee must bow- willingly or in awesome angst.
o The Power and dynamo of the universe. The one who speaks and things come into being
" Illustr: Angels and Demons. A priest proves matter can come from energy… and this proves the source of the energy and matter: God.
Our view of God is too constrained by our culture… and our experience… and our feeble minds
- in here (Bible) there is no sense of duality. There is no sense of God and Satan being the Yin and Yang of the universe. Fighting it out for position
o Just think about it! Who made who? And every time Satan appears in here he is subordinate to God: is overruled by Him, or by His disciples in Jesus’ name… has to ask permission to do anyting. Is chained and restrained
- In here there is no sense of anything else being in charge. Chance. Fate. Us. Time. Eternity. Events.
o The whole of Is 40 onwards shouts His singular omnipotence
"God controls all that happens in His world, every meal, every pleasure, every possession, every bit of sun, every night’s sleep, every moment of health and safety, everything that sustains and enriches life, is a divine gift. And how abundant these gifts are!"
-J.I-Packer, Knowing God, p. 147
There is one God and His name is El Elyon.
As a Christian, there comes a time when you have to settle in your mind who is Lord
- "(John Ortberg. "If You Want To Walk On Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat" p. 191) As soon as children are old enough to speak, one of the first questions parents ask is, "How big are you?" Children seem to always give the same answer, "I’m soooo big!" They generally raise their hands to get additional stature, as if to say, "I’m huge. I’m enormous. There’s no telling how big I may be." This is not a scientific answer. You can’t use it in every context. For example, if your spouse were to ask, "How big do my hips look to you?" you might not want to throw your hands high over your head and exclaim, "Your hips are soooo big." You teach your children to say this because you want them to realize they are growing. We know that the way they think of themselves matters. You don’t want them to think of themselves as small, weak, and lacking adequate strength to handle the challenges of life." But now I have a more important question: How big is your God? How big is Christ in your life? cited on www.sermoncentral.com
There are times whey you have to ask and settle, who is Lord/biggest/boss
- you do it to a large degree when you become a Christian
- but, you will find, you have to do it again, and again
o as our faith… and THE spiritual reality is forged in our minds, soul and spirits
o these things happen in times of crisis, thought and revelation
Is it you?
- do you live for yourself? Who is Lord in your life. Boss. Biggest. The one with the most power
You.. or your abilities… intellect.
"Several years ago Time published some revealing statistics. It reported that every year 36 to 77 of every 100,000 physicians in our country commit suicide, three times the rate of the general population … Los Angeles psychiatrist Robert Litman offers his explanation: ’They believe themselves to be omnipotent, semi-deities in a white smock’ … It’s not easy playing God. After trying it for a while and failing, the physicians have to admit they are failing. Omnipotence is beyond them, so they turn, the article says, to drugs, alcohol, psychotherapy, and eventually suicide."
Dr. LeRoy Lawson, A Strength Not My Own, 15.
Contributed by: Joel Smith on www.sermoncentral.com
Is it other powers? Is it Satan? Are you going to spend your life fearing him, doffing your hat, practicing superstitions, in Lesotho fearing your dead ancestors?
- who is God? Who is boss? The highest?
Is it fate? Chance? Are you going to believe it is fate that rules your life? ’Chance is Lord’
Or is it El Elyon. God most high?!!
- Satan had a real problem with this. He tried to ascend to the throne.
o Got kicked out of heaven. Got smacked again as the disciples went and preached in Jesus’ name. Got dealt the crucial blow at the cross
- King Neb, thought more highly of himself than he ought. But the Lord God Almighty, God most high taught him who was who
Nations, kings, powers come and go. This years peacock is next year’s feather duster. And El Elyon remains… unchanged above it all. Lord of the universe.
You have to grasp this. You have to understand this
- and then with this comes peace. Surety
GOD is in control. Nothing happens without His foreknowledge, His permission or His ultimate sanction
Of course… this is also the roots of humankinds biggest dilemma. From our perspective…. Feeble understanding
- "if He is this powerful… then He mustn’t be all-loving because of what He allows. Either that or He is not in charge"
But the stance of the Bible is not to major on the things we don’t understand, at all. It majors on what it does understand and convey
- that actually God IS in control and IS big and IS all loving
- but He is SO big there are some things that only HE can understand. And this applies to these big questions. Suffering. Certain events.
o It pulls on and magnifies the mightiness of God, saying
o "yes. He is still in control. And it’s His size and your minuteness that means He understands and you don’t… and means that He can work all things for good"
" He has His reasons. He is infinite. You are finite.
So- the mightiness of God’s power is the answer for all these things, too.
- and it’s more than my brain can take in
- and this is the essence of faith. Not to be able to work it all out, but to be able to accept El Elyon IN it
- and don’t anyone tell you that real faith is blind or costless. It is forged in the fire of life and doubt and in the final decision that El Elyon is Lord
(God most high appears on ppt)
GOD- MOST PERSONAL
But, of course, all this is just head knowledge unless God reveals it to you.
- You can know ABOUT God from His names… but you know HIM.. His NATURE… as His names are experienced or proven in your life
o Otherwise it’s just ’head’… theory… hypothetical. Untrue!
- It is true.. God is known… as you experience Him
o As Jehovah Jireh. When He provides!
o As El Shaddai- as He blesses you with practical provision
o As Jehovah Shammah- as He is HERE. Tangible and immanent
o As Jehovah M’keddesh- as you experience His forgiveness and cleansing by the blood of Christ
o As El Elyon when Psalm 138:6 becomes your experience
Though the LORD is on high, he looks upon the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar.
Am I advocating experiential Christianity?
- no. Not to live by
- but YES… totally… to show that it is true and God is true to His name (nature) or names
And Christianity is an experienced religion! It’s all about God acting and revealing Himself!
- How do you know El Elyon.. the transcendent God… unless He becomes immanent and is born as Immanuel… Jesus?!
- How do you live with the unanswered questions of life unless there is enough light in the things that ARE known and answered to help you trust through the things you don’t understand?
As is said ’The things I do know help me with the many things I don’t’
Friend. Do you ONLY know God as ’God most high’? In which case you do not know Him at all!
- you only know Him in theory
- God is known through (His) Actions and experience!
You must know Him as God most personal… and then you will truly understand Him as God most high.
So- I’m looking for a ’happening’, this morning. I am looking for God to come and touch you in some way that will make Him known to you.
- I am expecting God to honour His name and His word as you respond to Him
o In some way…. That is down to His sovereignty
o (today, tonight, tomorrow)
Let me close by telling you a TRUE story of how God most High became TRULY known by being "God most personal"
On the Thursday night on arrival in South Africa we stayed in the farm of Robert and Ricki… and August’s ’house church’ descended on us. We were asked to contribute so we told some testimonies and then came the time for Mark to tell his. Mark was a high powered lawyer working for loan sharks. It was 80% of his income. He knew August by nature of being Rob and Ricki’s neighbours. In fact, he had asked August to do the christening of his child some years before. In fact R& R had prayed for him for 9 years. At the christening August took a bible and tore pages out of it saying ’well you want a christening, but you don’t believe this…. That… so let’s just tear them out of the bible". August then handed him the tattered bible as a christening gift! Mark wasn’t sure he understood what was going on, really!
But, years later, disquiet about making money in the way he did, off poor people, set in. He could get no peace. He knew it wasn’t right but (1) it was 80% of his income (2) ’the boys’ weren’t the kind who appreciated people walking out on them… particularly when they knew so much!
But, somehow, Mark just knew one day- "if I go and do it now… it will be okay. It will be okay". He drove down to the office. The ’boys’ were in conference… all in one place. He stumbles in. "I just can’t do this any more!"
- "oh, okay, Mark. We’ve wondered how you have stuck it as long as you have"
He went home… still concerned over how he would survive, but having this sense ’it will be alright’. The phone started ringing. The work came in
But the story doesn’t end there. (that night?) Mark goes to bed and is woken by an audible voice calling him. He thinks he’s dreaming. Tries to go back to sleep-and the voice comes again "Mark, Mark".
To cut a long story short Mark is reminded of certain bits of the bible. Bits he hasn’t heard for years. In fact- he doesn’t even think he has a bible. Then he remembers: "August gave me one!". He eventually finds it… and searches for the bits that he knew were Jesus’ words so must be in the gospels. But- can’t find them anywhere! None of the bits he wants are there! None of them. Eventually he looks on the torn out sheets stuffed in the front and there.. on the back of each one August had torn out.. were the passages he was looking for.
Needless to say El Elyon became "God most personal" that night to Mark!
But the story doesn’t end there. Nicki… always religious… and believing there is a God (as do most in Africa) thinks he’s off his trolley. Mark keeps at her for years (3?) until, eventually, he gives up in desperation.
Immediately after that - while driving in the mountains… as shafts of light pierce through the clouds… on her own… the penny drops for Nicki. She has always believed in God but at that moment she understands that God is PERSONAL … for HER…and that He is personal because He can be known through Jesus.
- as she told us this she started crying. "I never knew God could be so personal … personally known… in Jesus. Mark’s the one who thinks about it all… but I KNOW it. It’s real to me"
El Elyon… God most high… is known when He becomes "God most personal." Through Jesus.
DA 4:2 It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me.
DA 4:3 How great are his signs,
how mighty his wonders!
His kingdom is an eternal kingdom;
his dominion endures from generation to generation.
DA 4:13 "In the visions I saw while lying in my bed, I looked, and there before me was a messenger, a holy one, coming down from heaven. 14 He called in a loud voice: `Cut down the tree and trim off its branches; strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the animals flee from under it and the birds from its branches. 15 But let the stump and its roots, bound with iron and bronze, remain in the ground, in the grass of the field.
" `Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him live with the animals among the plants of the earth. 16 Let his mind be changed from that of a man and let him be given the mind of an animal, till seven times pass by for him.
DA 4:17 " `The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men.’
DA 4:33 Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like cattle. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.
DA 4:34 At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever.
