I Know His Name: Discovering Power in the Names of God

images/img-1-1.jpg Message from My Heart images/img-1-2.jpg

Bible study field day! we exclaimed as we piled into a few cars and headed out for a fun day of bowling and fellowship. Our morning was filled with lots of laughter and, yes, a little bit of competitiveness. But that all changed in one moment when one of our sisters received a call that her husband had been taken to the hospital for emergency surgery. She rushed out the door with two of our friends, and a few of us called out that we would join her after we prayed. We gathered in a circle, and I opened our prayer with the words Jehovah Rapha, which means God the Healer in Hebrew. Eyes closed, hands clasped, tears falling, we stood united in heart and Spirit and prayed for God to heal my friend’s husband. Unbeknownst to me, one woman had opened her eyes, elbowed the woman next to her, and whispered, Why is Wendy praying to another God? Does she believe in another God that I don’t know?

The day my friend shared this conversation, it was an eye-opening moment. I realized that in the years I had been teaching Bible study, I had never shared the fact that Scripture contains hundreds of names for God and that those names speak to the vastness of His character and how He works on our behalf. I knew then that I needed to share that knowledge with as many people as I could. Because, friend, the more deeply we explore our God, the more we move from simply knowing about Him to truly knowing Him.

Some of you grew up knowing and believing in God, and He is familiar to you. Others of you are new believers to whom God is a bit of a mystery. But what matters to me is that you are here, and I believe with all my heart that God drew you here.

I am so grateful to come alongside you on this journey of unveiling God. I hope you feel prompted to ask lots of questions, because questions are good! God has a divinely appointed message for you and questions He wants to answer for you. Be assured that He will meet you wherever you are and unfold great and marvelous truths about Himself and His creation.

I pray that the pages of this book will empower you to experience God in fresh new ways. To uncover life-changing revelations regarding His splendor and majesty, His sovereignty and power, His love and protection, and His faithfulness and goodness. You may be familiar with these words and understand their meaning. But it’s my desire that through our time together, you will study them, savor them, believe them, claim them, pray them, and live confidently in them every day of your life.

Friend, God delights in us and created us for inconceivable joy and fulfillment! Listen to His invitation: Taste of His goodness; see how wonderful the Eternal truly is (Psalm 34:8a). May He engage all our senses with every turn of the page.

As we unwrap the mysteries of God’s Word, we will experience the fullness of His goodness and the sweetness of His presence in every facet of our lives. Together let’s digest each and every truth, soaking in them until they become part and parcel of who we are, what we think, and how we act.

Are you excited about our adventure? I know I am, so let’s jump right in!

CHAPTER ONE

Elohim:

The One Who Created You

Prayer:

O God, I’m so excited for this journey on which I’m about to embark. I’m thirsting not only to know more about You, but also to know You more. God, through the power of Your Holy Spirit, help me to discover who You truly are. Open my eyes to see, my ears to hear, and my heart to understand eternal mysteries that only You can reveal on this exciting adventure. Give me the discipline to do my work, the perseverance to continue when I want to give up, and the mind to practically apply all that I learn. Enable me to taste and see that You are good. Show me marvelous things from Your Word. Reveal Your majesty, show me Your glory, and draw me so close to Your heart that I feel, down to the marrow of my bones, that You are the All-Consuming Fire! I ask all this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Part One: In the Beginning

Memory Verse: In the beginning, God created everything: the heavens above and the earth below. Here’s what happened.

—Genesis 1:1

The Word declares that our God is a personal God and a loving and forgiving Father. He demands justice, yet extends grace. He is kind and compassionate and allows for free will, but mandates that this free will has consequences when wrongly exercised. However, because of His grace, in the midst of those consequences, God extends mercy and promises to never leave us or forsake us.

Do you ever wonder what our world would be like if everyone knew our God in this way? I do … often.

The notion that God has continued to impress upon my heart is this: if we are to introduce others to the God whom we know and love, then we must know Him better. When I first had this thought, hard questions followed. Wendy, how well do you really know Me? My heart, My character, My names, and the attributes those names represent?

I must confess—I did not. When I first started reading the Bible, I noticed that the writers referred to God by other names now and then. But I did not pay much attention or question why, and often I could not even pronounce the names! As I studied the Bible more, I learned that each name meant something; sometimes the name pointed to an aspect of God’s character, and other times it pointed to how He relates to His people. Over time, I could recite many of those names and pray them eloquently, but I really didn’t understand all of them or know where each name originated.

So I immersed myself in the pages of His Word once again, this time inviting God to unveil Himself to me in a fresh way. I prayed, Show me who You are, God, and why I should care. Reveal to me why You are worthy of being called the One True God; why I should unabashedly love and serve You and You alone. Decipher Your names. Make known Your character. Help me know You better so I can live and walk in the image in which You created me.

As I poured myself into the Scriptures, God answered my prayers. And the more I approached God’s Word with an open heart, the more I fell in love with God’s wonderful names—the names that reveal the vastness of His character. The names that affirm the work He does on our behalf.

Friend, the more deeply we explore our God, the more we are able to move beyond simply knowing about Him to truly knowing Him. And as that love grows and our relationship strengthens, God settles into that special place—reserved solely for Him—that He created in our hearts. We become a living, breathing vessel through whom God can work in this world. He transforms our hearts, and through our changed hearts God can change the world.

The more deeply we explore our God, the more we are able to move beyond simply knowing about Him to truly knowing Him.

Our newfound knowledge will give us privileged access into God’s heart and open new ways for us to experience Him in quiet time, prayer, and worship.

So let’s turn our attention to Elohim (pronounced el-o-heem), the God who created us.

We find our first name of God in Genesis 1. In an English-language Bible we see the word God. But in the original Hebrew language, the word was Elohim. The word el is a generic word for god. It refers to our God as well as other, pagan gods. The writers of the Bible added the word im to the end of this generic name. This is like adding an s to the end of a word in English; it makes the word plural.

So the noun Elohim is plural, but it is always used with a singular verb. What does this mean? It means Elohim signifies one triune God, not many gods. This unique use of the plural Elohim to refer to one, individual god is unique to the God of the Bible. No other God has the name Elohim.

Why is this significant? Because it indicates a unity and diversity within the nature of God. The Hebrew language often pluralized nouns to express greatness and multiple attributes. With the name Elohim, this unity and diversity captures the doctrine of the Trinity—one God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Though the exact meaning of Elohim is not known, the name itself incorporates the idea of strength and power and speaks to the supremacy of God as He reveals Himself through His creation. We find it in the opening words of Genesis 1: "In the beginning, God created everything: the heavens above and the earth below …" (Genesis 1:1a).

images/img-20-1.jpg Digging Deeper

In the beginning God created. Our universe does not exist by accident. God acted freely and intentionally with each word He spoke. He executed each stage of creation’s design. Just look around you—the glorious beauty that lies before you has been carefully crafted by a living, personal, creative God! Elohim purposefully placed earth in its exact location and deposited each one of His created people on that earth at a specially ordained time and place in order to accomplish His purposes!

images/img-21-1.jpg Read Acts 17:24–27. How do Luke’s words confirm the truth that God is Creator?

images/img-21-1.jpg Throughout Scripture, God’s Word affirms and confirms that He is the Creator. Read the following verses and share what you learn about Elohim.

1. Psalm 8:3–9

2. Proverbs 3:19

3. Isaiah 40:26

images/img-20-1.jpg Apply It

Our God has done great and unsearchable things beyond our comprehension. He brought into existence every natural wonder the eye can see: every twinkling star, every delicate snowflake, every drop of rain, every billowy cloud, every crisp cool day, every roaring sea, every clap of thunder, every bolt of lightning, every majestic mountain—all gifts shaped and fashioned by our Creator. Elohim’s invisible qualities echo throughout our world: "From the beginning, creation in its magnificence enlightens us to His nature. Creation itself makes His undying power and divine identity clear, even though they are invisible; and it voids the excuses and ignorant claims of these people" (Romans 1:20).

Elohim dictates the rising and the setting of the sun. He sets the boundaries of the sea. The stars rise and fall at His command. Nothing, absolutely nothing, has been or ever will be that His hand has not created.

images/img-21-1.jpg Take some time today to thank God for His creation. Look outside your window. Remember the sights and sounds from any of your trips to the mountains or the beach. Praise Him for all He has created for your enjoyment and pleasure! Write your prayer of praise in the space provided.

Part Two: Creator of Heaven and Earth

Memory Verse: In the beginning, God created everything: the heavens above and the earth below. Here’s what happened."

—Genesis 1:1

Let’s revisit Genesis 1 as we probe deeper into the word create and what exactly God created in the beginning.

images/img-21-1.jpg Reread Genesis 1:1.

In the beginning refers to a specific point in time. While Genesis 1:1 is the starting point of creation, God existed before that time. He is an infinite being without beginning and without end (Revelation 21:6; 22:13). But in Genesis 1:1, God initiated a work that is measured by time as we understand it.

The word create, as used here, translates from the Hebrew word bara.¹ By definition, a deity name is always the subject or the implied subject of this verb, meaning it refers solely to divine work. This has profound theological significance because it means that any activity associated with this word is inherently divine, initiated by God and God alone. All other verbs for creating allow a much broader range of meaning and can have both divine and human subjects.

Most scholars agree that create, as used here, expresses the notion of creation out of nothing. In other words, there was no preexistent matter from which our earth was produced. The light, waters, dry land, and seas created in Genesis 1:3–10 were made out of nothing, formed at God’s command and then filled with God’s created things.

images/img-21-1.jpg Read Isaiah 45:18. How does this verse speak about creation?

images/img-20-1.jpg Digging Deeper

Human logic teaches that you cannot create something out of nothing. Our understanding of the laws of nature governing the universe make such a thing impossible. But by the power of our Almighty God, such things are possible. In fact, God’s Word explicitly states that with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26; Luke 18:27).

images/img-21-1.jpg How does God create something out of nothing? What exactly happened in Genesis 1? To answer this, we must first know what our world looked like at the time of creation.

images/img-21-1.jpg Read Genesis 1:2 and John 1:1–2. Describe the condition of the earth at the time of creation. Who was present?

In the beginning the earth was formless, empty, and dark (from the Hebrew words tohuw, bohuw, and choshek). Tohuw means to lie waste, a desolation, a worthless thing. It also means confusion, without order.² Bohuw means to be empty.³ Choshek means darkness, dark (as withholding light).⁴ This darkness surrounded a desolate, unformed mass. There was absolutely no light. It was out of this chaos, this immense mass of matter, that God created the earth upon which we walk today.

Biblical scholars debate exactly how creation occurred and the actual number of days or years that it took. Some theologians theorize that there were actually two creations. They base this on Genesis 1:2, which says that God was present in a mass of unformed matter before He initiated His first day of creative work, which is described in Genesis 1:3. Genesis 1:2 says, The Spirit of God was hovering over the empty waters. They contend that Genesis 1:2 describes the first stage of God’s creative process, initially unformed and unfilled, and that Genesis 1:3 relays the second phase, His intentional, purposeful process of forming and filling the earth.

While these are fascinating debates, for our purposes this distinction is irrelevant. We want to focus on the first few verses of Genesis 1, which teach that at a certain point in time, God’s Holy Spirit—the power that parted the Red Sea, the power that raised Jesus from the dead—brought shape, order, and light to a formless, chaotic mass.

images/img-21-1.jpg What do you think the universe felt and looked like before God’s Spirit began His creative work? Describe your image of the earth before God said in Genesis 1:3, Let there be light.

The words in Genesis 1:3–25 generate still more controversy among biblical scholars. Scripture teaches that God created our earth in six days. The probing question is whether this refers to six literal days as we know them. Some scholars argue that the days in Genesis 1 represent six literal days as measured by our modern-day calendar. Others argue the days represent eons of time. Still others argue the referenced days are merely a literary device and have nothing to do with the actual length of time that passed.

images/img-21-1.jpg Read Genesis 1:3–25. What words or phrases might lead to the conclusion that God completed His creation in six literal days? (See also Exodus 20:11.)

images/img-21-1.jpg Read 2 Peter 3:8. What does this verse say about creation?

Although we will not dwell on the answers to either of these questions because there is no certain resolution, they are interesting to think about. But what is certain is that Genesis 1 makes it quite clear that we live in a personal world created by a loving God, who brought forth something from nothing … who brought life from death … who made full from empty. And the best news of all is our God wants to do the very same for each one of us.

We live in a personal world created by a loving God, who brought forth something from nothing … who brought life from death … who made full from empty. And the best news of all is our God wants to do the very same for each one of us.

Now, let’s explore God’s creative activity during those first six days.

images/img-21-1.jpg Reread Genesis 1:3. Describe what happened on day one.

As we study God’s creative process, we find distinct steps. First, God spoke. Second, what God spoke came to be. Third, God evaluated His work and commented on it. Fourth, God named what He created. Finally, God established evening and morning, a beginning and end to each day.

images/img-21-1.jpg Do you see this exact process in each of the first five days of creation?

images/img-21-1.jpg Did you find any differences between the days? If so, what are they and in what ways do you find them significant?

Did you notice God created each thing according to its kind? The root word