Studies in Identity - God: The Names of God - Elohim 02-11-24

Overview: The speaker discusses the importance of understanding the names of God in the Bible. They focus on the name "Elohim," which means supreme or mighty One. They explain that the name is used to distinguish the one true God from other deities. The speaker emphasizes the need to consider the context of Scripture when studying the names of God. They also mention that Elohim is the first name of God mentioned in the Bible, and it represents the concept of God as a supreme being. The speaker encourages listeners to appreciate the power and design of God as seen in nature. They refer to the creation story in Genesis to illustrate the use of the name Elohim. Transcription: We began last week on a study, the identity of God. Who is God? And we set the foundation for our beliefs as Southern Baptists and kind of the underlying belief about who is God. And so we're going to spend the next several weeks pulling out different names of God and trying to understand the meaning behind those names as well as the application for us today. And one of the biggest differences between Bible times and all the way back into the beginning of time with Genesis is names have become somewhat meaningless. You don't sit there and think, well, what does that mean? What is the original meaning of that name? Where did that name come from? So what we have to understand when we're studying the names of God is there's a lot of weight, there's a lot of complexity when it comes to the names of God that I could never exhaust everything about who God is. I could spend the rest of my days on this earth standing behind this pulpit and never fully teach and fully understand and fully expound on that topic. And so, I bring to you these names of God with that understanding. I am giving you the summary of the names of God and what those names mean. I wanted to begin here for a couple of reasons. Understanding who God is, we look at His first name given to us in Scripture. Elohim. He is Elohim. This name for God is used over 2,000 times specifically in reference to the one true God. The name in and of itself means supreme or mighty One. And so when they would write or hear the name Elohim in Scripture times, they would understand what they were saying about God. That He is supreme. He is a mighty One. But we also understand that this title, this name was not only used for God. It was also used for someone who exhibited supreme rule or exhibited mighty power. The word would then be used to describe them. That would include rulers, kings. That would include false gods. That would include other things. But there are certain contexts, and you've heard me say this before, that context is key. That we can't pull one verse out of context, read what it says, and build a whole belief system off of that and not understand the context into which it was written. Many people try to do this. They'll pull a verse out like, eat, drink, and be merry. Well, that means I could go and eat and drink whatever I want to and as long as it makes me happy, then it's okay. But they don't understand that within the context of that, that all of that verse, the several verses that use that phrase is always spoken in a negative context. And the destruction and the false belief that follows that verse, they don't want to look at that. They just want the license to do whatever they want. They're pulling Scripture out of context. And so we want to make sure that we look at the names of God within context. And context, or the name Elohim, when put to the one true God, Elohim is a plural word. But when it's talked about within the context of the one true God, the verbs around it treat it as if it was a singular word. When it's applied to other deities, when it's applied to other rulers, when it's applied to anything outside of the one true God, then the verbs treat it as plural because that's what it is. But when it's in reference to the one true God, it is treated as being singular. This speaks to the uniqueness of the one true God that He has separated. Again, context, right? The people of Israel, the people of God, living within their context, knowing Him as Elohim, were living in a culture of polytheism. Multiple gods. They had a sun god, and a moon god, and a sea god, and an earth god, and this god, and that god, and whatnot. And so, the word Elohim, everybody would have recognized in reference to that mentality. But the writers of Scripture, the believers in the one true God wanted to make the distinction that their God was different. That their God was unique. And in fact, they would press it in and say, our God is above every other God that you would believe in. In fact, this is the same thought that Paul carries into the Areopagus when he looks at all of the statues and he sees all of these statues to these false gods, and he comes to the statue of the unknown God. And Paul says, this is the one that I want to talk to you about. This is the one that is the one true God. And that's the mentality. And so when these people of Israel, the early church, the believers, when they read the original text and they would see this, and they would say, oh, these verbs treat this as one God. He is unique. He is supreme over all these other things. He is mighty over all of these other things. And so when we read this name, when we see this name in the context of Scripture, we need to understand that it's talking about a unique, a supreme, and a mighty God. Sometimes Elohim is shortened to El and added to another word to highlight a certain characteristic of God. And we'll have names like El Shaddai, which means the supreme and mighty God is God. We have prophets like Elijah. God is Yahweh. We have Samuel, heard by God. We have Israel, which means a prince of God or a child of the King. A child of the Supreme One. We start with Elohim because it is the first name of God found in Scripture. We start with Elohim because it's a good place to start in our understanding of God. When you have a first encounter with God, it's usually this concept of God that we are met with face to face. We come to see Him. We come to understand Him as a supreme being, as an Elohim. That's why that name is prominent in books like Daniel and Jonah in the first two chapters of Genesis. It is usually only after God further reveals Himself past Elohim, that we come to understand Him as Yahweh. Simply knowing that there is a higher power, an Elohim, means that one has merely risen to the faith of the demons. For the demons believe and tremble. They know God as Elohim. But it's only when we move from elementary knowledge of God as Creator, that we embrace God as Father. This is the concept that we will see in the book of Romans when it says His invisible attributes were seen in creation. Even the Godhead. Simply look around at nature. Look at our bodies. Look at the animals. And we see that there's no way that all of this happened by chance. I told Will I was going to pick on him. Where did he go? He asked me, I believe it was last Sunday, right? About the pigs. He said, do you think we evolved from pigs? I was kind of looking at it. He said, because you know, they can take pig organs and put them into our bodies and they'll work. I said, yeah. I said, but do you think that is proof of evolution or proof that there was a Creator God that created all of these things at the same time and knew that one day we might need pig organs in our bodies to work and be able to fit? Well, yeah, I didn't think about that. I said, that's the same long lines of people who think we evolved from apes simply because we can push our thumb against the rest of our fingers. Maybe there was a Creator who has designed everything and designed similarities between the species. And of course, Mama was over there going, I told you so. I told you so. But isn't that interesting that all we have to do is look at nature and we can see evidence of a God who is supreme and mighty? And that's why I had us turn to Genesis 1.1. I think sometimes as adults, we allow ourselves to move past this elementary teaching. And we take it for granted sometimes. The power, and I want you to understand this, from Genesis 1.1 all the way down to Genesis 2.4, there is only one name for God. And that's Elohim. Because this is a good starting place to understand. I've had many conversations with people who would say, well, there's got to be something else out there. There's got to be a higher being. Well, what they're understanding is there is an Elohim. And what they need to know and be reassured of is that Elohim is the one true God. The God of the Bible. So Genesis 1.1, in the beginning, Elohim created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void and the darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of Elohim was hovering over the face of the waters. Then Elohim said, let there be light. And there was light. And Elohim saw the light that it was good. And Elohim divided the light from the darkness. Elohim called the light day and the darkness He called night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. Then Elohim said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters and let it divide the waters from the waters. Thus, Elohim made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. And Elohim called the firmament heaven. And so the evening and the morning were the second day. Then Elohim said, let the waters under the heavens be gathered together in one place and let the dry land appear. And it was so. And Elohim called the dry land earth and the gathering together of the waters He called seas. And Elohim saw that it was good. Then Elohim said, let the earth bring forth grass and the herb that yields seed and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind whose seed is in itself on the earth. And it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the earth that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And Elohim saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the third day. Then Elohim said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night and let them be for signs and seasons and for days and years. And let them be for the lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth. And it was so. Then Elohim made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. Elohim set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth and to rule over the day and over the night and to divide the light from the darkness. And Elohim saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day. Then Elohim said, let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens. So Elohim created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves with which the waters abounded according to their kind and every winged bird according to its kind. And Elohim saw that it was good. And Elohim blessed them, saying, be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters and the seas and let birds multiply on the earth. So the evening and the morning were the fifth day. Then Elohim said, let the earth bring forth a living creature according to its kind, cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind. And it was so. And Elohim made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And Elohim saw that it was good. Then Elohim said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle of the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So Elohim created man in his own image. In the image of Elohim, he created him. Male and female, he created them. Then Elohim blessed them and Elohim said to them, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And Elohim said, see, I have given you every herb that yields seed, which is on the face of the earth and every tree whose fruit yields seed. To you it shall be for food. Also to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, to everything that creeps on the earth in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food and it was so. Then Elohim saw everything that he had made and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Beloved God created everything in six days. Not six million years. Not sixty million years. Not six whatever. Six days. I believe it because that's what the Word of God teaches. Now there are a lot of theories and a lot of things out there, but I believe in an Elohim that is so supreme and so mighty that He can speak things into existence within moments, much less days. Elohim, what can we understand about this name? What does this name teach us in the realm, in the scheme of who is God? The identity of God. He is Elohim means He is preeminent. He existed before the limits. I told you last week, Genesis 1.1 gives us everything that we need to know about God and who He is and the fact that it says in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. In that one verse, we see that God created time, space, and matter. What are those? They're limits. They're limits. We were created within the limit of time. What does that mean? That means I am not before salvation. I am not an eternal being. I was created. There was a time when I did not exist. There was a time before... And so, there's a limit in the area of time. There's a limit in the area of matter. I am only so big. I am 5'6 when I wear my boots, or 5'6, 5'7 when I wear my boots, right? I could wish that I was 6'2 all day long. I could hope to one day go through a growth spurt that would make me tall. I could wish that one day I'll be able to stand and go, and dunk a 10-foot basketball goal. Beloved, that's not going to happen. Why? Because I am limited by matter. God created me to fit in a certain space. God created me to fit in a certain time. He created me to fit in a certain place. I know there's tricks that you can pull, right? You can go up to Copper Hill, Tennessee. The state line runs right through the city. And you can stand on that line and have one foot in Georgia and one foot in Tennessee. You say, oh, I'm in two places at once. No, you're in one place. You just happen to be straddling the state line. We are limited by space. We're not all places at all times. Now, we like to encourage our kids, right? Hey, just remember, I'm with you wherever you go. Maybe mentally and emotionally. And be careful because I'm going to find out what you did when you're not with me kind of way. But physically, you are limited by matter. You're limited by space. But God existed before any of these limits were created, which means He is outside of those limits. He existed before the limits because He is the creator of those limits. One professor that I saw a video on, he put it this way. He talked about a laptop computer. And he said somebody built that computer. But the person that built that computer is not inside that computer running around pushing buttons. That the person that built that computer had to be outside of that computer so that he could put it together. And so to think that God is constricted by the limits that He created is lacking understanding of creation. In order for Him to create these limits, He has to be outside of these limits. He is supreme. He is almighty over the limits that He created. He is preeminent. He existed before the limits. He exists outside the limits. And this is where it really starts to press into a practical teaching. We need to understand that He exists. That God is real. He's not a figment of somebody's imagination. He's not something that somebody came up with to control the masses. He's not fake. He's not one of many. He is real. Beloved, hear me this morning. Elohim, the supreme and mighty God over all things is real. That's where our understanding has to start. We cannot miss that. We cannot water that down. We cannot plug Him into one of many. We cannot bring Him down to the level of a created being. He is real. He exists. He exists at all times. There was never a time where He didn't exist. Here in verse 1, it says, in the beginning, God. So, in the beginning, the creation of time, God was already there creating those things. So, God existed before the beginning. When did God begin? Now, that's where we really start to not be able to understand it, right? Because everything that we know had a beginning. Everything that we see had a beginning. Everything we touch. Everything we eat. We're getting ready to go into garden season. We're going to enjoy the fruits of our gardens. But as much as that garden brings forth, it had a beginning as a seed. Before that, it was part of another plant. Before that, that plant was part of another seed. And on and on and on, all the way back to the time we see in Genesis 1. Everything has a beginning. And so for us to say, man, I fully understand and fully comprehend this idea that God had no beginning. We don't really understand that. We can't. Matter of fact, that's one of the simple questions that I've heard from a child to be asked me. When did God begin? He didn't. He always was. Wait, I don't understand. Neither do we. But it's a truth that we need to know about Elohim. That He has existed at all times. And He will exist at all times. This supreme and mighty God of Moses. This supreme and mighty God of Abraham. This supreme and mighty God of Jacob. This supreme and mighty God of Isaac. This supreme and mighty God of Paul and Matthew and Mark and Luke and John is the same supreme and mighty God that we worship and serve today. And it's the same supreme and mighty God that generations upon generations upon generations will continue to worship and serve until He comes back and calls us home. He exists at all times. He exists at all times in all places. This same mighty and supreme God that we serve here in six miles South Carolina is the same supreme and mighty God that Christians in Easley and Greenville and North Carolina and Washington State and Japan and Australia and Africa and every continent and country and little podunk town across the face of this earth. Every born again believer worships the same God. Now there's a big push within culture to say that we need to change who God is. That the God of the Bible is not sufficient for believers today. Well, that's because they don't understand Elohim. They don't understand the supremacy and the might of the God that we serve. And we as His heralds and we as His people need to be proclaiming that this same God was sufficient for Moses. He was sufficient for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He was sufficient for the early church. He's sufficient for the church today. And He'll be sufficient for the church through all of eternity. It's the same supreme and mighty God. He exists at all times and all places. He is preeminent. And the second thing that we understand from this name as Elohim is that He is stronger. He is mighty. He is stronger than creation. He spoke it all into existence. Now parents, I know none of you have said this, but I remember hearing this when I was a kid. I brought you into this world and I can take you out. Now y'all looking at me like y'all ain't heard that. I heard it several times as a kid. But we have this idea that it's something that we create, we make. And we have the right to determine what is done with it. Around Christmas time, I try to make these little wall decorations that look like snowflakes and had a wreath in the middle of it. And it's pretty and it turned out and I looked at it. I said, man, that's pretty nice. I take it inside and what is that? I guess it's junk. I walk outside and throw it on the back porch. It's still sitting on the table on the back porch. Why? Because I made it. I can do what I want to in it. Right? So we have this idea that we have the power over anything that we create. Well, beloved, I want you to know that right here in Scripture, in this very book, verse 26, then God said, let us make man in our image. Now that was Adam and later to be Eve. And from that point on, God created a way for them to multiply and fill the earth. He has not physically reached down and formed anybody out of the dust since then. He has not reached into another man's rib and pulled it out and created a woman from that rib since then. And yet, Scripture says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. That we are knit together in our mother's womb. That before the foundations of the earth, before Genesis 1-1, God knew you. He created you. And yet, sometimes we think we have the right with our possessions to do what we want to with them because we think we've earned them, deserved them, created them, built them, whatever it is. And yet, we don't give God that same respect. God, You created me. You put me together. But you know what? I'm going to do this on my own. God is stronger than creation. He is sovereign over all of creation. He spoke it into existence. Beloved, you and I, as much as we've built, as much as we've accumulated, as much as we've put together, we have never created something out of nothing. Never. You built a house, guess what? You used trees and minerals and other things to build that house. You didn't create those things. We got home Friday. J.D. and I went to a birthday party. They had some extra pizza. They sent us home with some pizzas, right? We get into the house, guess what they're eating in the house? Pizza, right? And so, we got Domino's, or no, Little Caesars. We got Little Caesars. They got DiGiorno or whatever, some kind of fruit, cook in the oven, right? And so, one of the kids said, hey, can I have some more pizza? Well, naturally, Sarah said, would you want Little Caesars or do you want the one I made? Well, then the question was, mama, you made it? Mama, you made that? What do you mean you made that? I didn't make it. Where'd you get it from? No, I cooked it. I prepared it. But she said, I made it. And that boggled the mind. How did you make a pizza? And that should be the awe and respect. When we look around, it's like, how did you make that? How did you create that? She spoke it into existence. Because He is sovereign. He is mighty. He is stronger than even creation. He is the sustainer of that creation. This world is held together by the might of our God. We are here today simply because He sustains life on this planet. That's all there is. He is stronger than creation. He is stronger than life. He gives life. He creates life in the plants and the animals. He creates life in Adam and in Eve. He creates, He gives us life. And thankfully, He restores life as well. Because Scripture says we are dead in our trespasses and sins. But He gives us life and life more abundant. He restores the life that we were meant to have. He restores the life that He gave Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He restores that relationship. He restores that abundant life that humanity was always meant to have before sin came into the picture. He is stronger than creation. He is stronger than life. And actually, He is stronger than belief. Beloved, He is God whether you believe it or not. He is Elohim whether we follow Him or not. He is Elohim whether we take this for the Word of God or not. He is beyond what we believe. We have no right to define who God is. He's already defined it for Himself. We are His creation. He alone is God. And we need to remember that. Because if we don't, then we will find ourselves in the same position that Satan found himself in heaven. Thinking that he was equal with God. Thinking that he could go to God and tell God, well, you're going to do this and you're going to do it on my terms. And beloved, I believe if we ever do that, we stand in the same danger that Satan stood in where God says, I don't think so, bub. Now, of course, He wouldn't use that language. That was the James Williams translation. But if we ever think that we are equal to God, if we ever think that we could tell God what to do, then we are putting ourselves in the same place that Lucifer put himself. He is God and He is right. He's right to tell us how to live. Why? Because He created us. Because He's sovereign over creation. He knows all things at all times. He exists at all places at all times. He sees the things that we don't see. And so He is right, and therefore, we can trust Him. When He says, go and do. When He says, come and follow. When He says, go here and do this. When He says, I am with you. When He says that there is never a place that you will go that I am not. We can trust that. And in a world that is so untrusting and untrustworthy, it is nice to know that we have something to put our trust in, and that is Elohim. Because He is God. And so, beloved, when you hear that Word, when you see that name, when it's applied to God, then know that it speaks to a God that is preeminent, that is stronger. This God who was before all limits created the limits and is stronger than that creation that is stronger than life, that is stronger than beliefs, is the same God who has set limits on sin. Sin can only go so far. It stops at the cross of Calvary on which Christ died. You see, I carried the weight of my sin for far too long. God revealed this to me over and over again through a grandma who believed, who prayed, through a neighbor who invited me to play basketball at a church. And in order to play on that basketball team, you had to go to church. If you weren't there the Sunday before the game, you couldn't play in the game. And so God put me in that church pew on the very back, sometimes laying down and sleeping. Sometimes staring at the walls, counting the chandelier light bulbs. Sometimes talking with my friends, but every time having seeds planted. Having the people of God talk to me and love on me and share with me. He used a friend in high school to share his testimony and invite me to church to place me under the preaching of Junior Hill that said it's better to walk down the aisle twice than go to hell once. I'm forever grateful of a God who sets limits on the cross so that when I bowed in humble submission to His authority, to His supremacy, to His might, He is so mighty that the Bible says if I will confess my sins, He is faithful and just to forgive me of my sins and cleanse me of all unrighteousness. He is sovereign and even over sin in my life. The same God that we read about in Genesis 1-1 is the same God that sent His Son to bow on the cross for me and for you. The same God has set a limit on your hurt, your heartache, and your struggles. Will you come to Him for all that you need? It doesn't matter what that need is. He's sovereign over it. He will give you exactly what is best for you, even when you don't even know what's best for you. Because He is Elohim. And I don't know your individual situation in life, but here's what I know. God is God. He is supreme and He is mighty. He is Elohim. So I encourage you, I invite you to come whatever your need is. Salvation, financial need, emotional, spiritual need, whatever it is, you come to Him today. And one way that we do that is we offer this altar at this time for you to come and bow, to pray, to ask God to be Elohim in the midst of your situation. I'll be down front. I'd love to pray with you. Pray for you. You come as the Lord leads. Ms. Patsy plays. You come. This altar is open.