Seventeen Names Of God And Their Significance

Seventeen Names of God and Their Significance (Psa 46:10)

"Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted in the nations. I will be exalted in the earth."

Perhaps the most common sin of omission is the failure to worship the Lord for who He really is. Mistaken notions of God inevitably lead to mis-guided assumptions and decisions. I am afraid that many of us have neglected the proper worship of God because we cannot describe more than one or two names of God. I would like to give a quiz this morning and see how many of the following seventeen names of God are known, understood and properly appropriated for their significance by ten people in our audience this morning.

Peter wrote, "But grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity." (2 Pet 3:18) Failure to know God will hinder our ability to fully give God the glory He so richly deserves. Some of us have been Christians for many years and yet are unable to articulate the names of God and their meaning and their significance to even those who are closest to us. Perhaps, we have never realized before how important it is to God that we understand the significance of the Biblical names of God used throughout the scriptures. There are a total of over 200 names of God in the Bible, but this morning we will only concentrate on seventeen. Jesus said, "This is eternal life that we may know you and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." (John 17:3) This will be our eternal occupation and it is best to begin sooner rather than later.

Learning more about the names of God helps us learn how to effectively praise, honor and thank Him for who He is. David wrote, "I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise will continually be in my mouth. My soul will make its boast in the Lord. The humble will hear it and be glad. Oh magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all of my fears." (Psa 34:1-4)

There is great power in the praise of God’s name as it goes right to the heart of His glorious character. When we understand the names of God, we gain a greater depth of appreciation of the riches of His splendor, majesty, holiness, love and total attributes.

Illustration: Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him. --Psalm 34:8

I have often joined in singing the chorus "God is so good, God is so good, God is so good, He’s so good to me." I could sing this with sincerity, thanking Him for my family, my fulfilling occupation, my many friends, and above all my salvation. But one day a feeling of guilt swept over me as I sang. Would I sing these words if I were living alone, felt unloved, and had little to eat?

I hope so. I am confident that the Lord, in whom I have placed my trust, would give me the same grace He’s given to millions who have nothing but Him. Imprisoned for their faith or undernourished or ostracized or painfully ill, they can rejoice in the Lord and declare His goodness.

A friend who has been working with Christians in India told me that hundreds of thousands of new converts reflect a joy and gladness that puts him to shame. Could it be that because they are desperately poor they focus more fully on Christ? This friend and I have Jesus Christ plus many earthly possessions and pleasures. They have Christ plus nothing. He’s all they need, and so they sing with greater fervor than I, "God is so good!"

Yes, God is good, no matter what our circumstances. It’s a lesson we all must learn sooner or later. --HVL

O taste and see that God is good

To all who seek His face;

Yea, blest that one who trusts in Him,

Confiding in His grace. --Psalter

Even when everything looks bad,

God is good. (Our Daily Bread)

1. Elohim means God Gen. 1:1: Psa 19:1 - "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Speaks of God’s power and might. The only supreme-true God

2. Yahweh means The Lord Gen. 2:4; Ex 6:2,3. "I am the Lord, I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them" Speaks of the name of the divine person above all.

3. El Elyon means the God Most High Gen. 14:17-20; Psa 7:17. "I will give thanks to the Lord because of His righteousness and will sing praise to t he name of the Lord Most High." Speaks of the fact that He is above all gods; nothing is more sacred than Him.