I will discuss some adjectives that have been compounded with the word El for God. So intrinsic are these to God’s nature, that in the case of El Kanna’, they become a title for God.
God said: thou shalt worship no other God: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous (Kanna’) is a jealous God (El Kanna’) (Exod 34:14) God is only jealous for our love because He treasures us. He says of His people: they shall be mine . . . in that day when I make up my jewels. (Mal 3:17)
YAHWEY appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am El Shaddai. (Gen 17:1)
El Shaddai is translated in the King James Version as God Almighty. The Almighty is implied in the word El which is translated as God over 200 times in the bible. El Shaddai could also mean God All-Sufficient.
God revealed this title to Abram just before the birth of Isaac, saying to him: I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee . . . And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. (Gen 17:6-8) And this promise was made to Abram when natural fulfilment seemed impossible due to his age.
This title of God was first used when Abraham was blessed after he had rescued Lot in battle. Melchizedek said to him: Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, (El Elyon) possessor of heaven and earth. (Gen 14:19) Abram was strengthened by this message not to take anything from the king of Sodom, who also had been rescued, lest, said Abram to the king of Sodom: thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich. (Gen 14:23) God was Abram’s provider.
God is the ultimate owner of all things. He says: every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills . . . the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. (Psalm 50:10,12) All we possess is God’s gift. So as well as being wise stewards we must also be thankful.
If we are promoted at work, we should remember that: promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another. (Psalm 75:6,7) And if you say, My cleverness earned this promotion, who gave you your cleverness?
Melchizedek also said to Abram: blessed be the Most High God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. (Gen 14:20) The designation, Most High God, signifies that God reigns supreme. And: if God be for us, who can be against us? (Rom 8:31) We are safe when we trust in the Most High God: Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation, There shall no evil befall thee. (Psalm 91:9,10) And: A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. (Psalm 91:7)
But this deliverance is only for those who seek to understand God and obey Him. God says: Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. (Psalm 91:14)
Read all of Psalm 91 when you wish to remind yourself of all the glorious way that God blesses and protects those who trust in Him. This psalm, as with so many psalms, could be incorporated into your worship.
The title El ’Olam was first used when Abraham regained a well that had been taken from him. Then: Abraham . . . called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God. (Gen 21:33)The thought is that the unchangeable God supplies our changing needs, but far more is conveyed in this title.
The eternal God lived for an eternity before creating man for the second half of eternity. The Lord Jesus as Wisdom says: I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. (Prov 8:23) Initially, from the beginning there was only Christ and God the Father.
Because God has made: an everlasting covenant with them (His people) (Isaiah 61:8), everlasting joy shall be unto them. (Isaiah 61:7). And: the Lord shall be thine everlasting light and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. (Isaiah 60:20) And the reason, God says to us is: I have loved thee with an everlasting love. (Jer 31:3) All this gives us much cause to praise God.
After contention between Sarah, Abraham’s wife and Hagar, Abraham’s concubine, Hagar fled into the wilderness away from Sarah. But God saw and heard. He said to Hagar: thou . . . shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; (meaning God shall hear) because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. (Gen 16:11) After giving Hagar promises regarding Ishmael, Hagar: called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me (El Ro’I) for she said Have I also here looked after him that seeth me. (Gen 16:13)
El Ro’I saw and heard Joseph’s affliction. After being sold to work as a slave for perhaps ten years, and spending some years in prison, Joseph might have thought God had forgotten him. But God says: Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me. (Isaiah 49:15,16)
God gave Joseph interpretation to dreams, which led to him standing before Pharaoh. His affliction was to perfect him. It is written of him: Joseph, who was sold for a servant: Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron: Until the time that his word came: the word of the Lord tried him. The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let him go free. He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance. (Psalm 105:17-21) Joseph also had a mighty purpose: to preserve life during the famine.
So we should not cease praising God in tribulation, just because we do not understand all of God’s purposes from the beginning. God sees our tribulations and remembers them and will reward us for them. David said: Thou tellest all my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book? (Psalm 56:8) How we can praise God for this.
Conventional theology, with which I disagree, seems to undermine our appreciation of the compassion of God. Conventional theology teaches that the least fault arouses such righteous indignation in God that He would find it necessary to consign us to eternal torments, except He focus His mind on Christ rather than us. But this is not the picture the Bible paints of our Father in heaven. If it were how could God have graven us on the palms of his hands.
David says of God: Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. (Psalm 103:13,14) God is not infuriated by the least fault, because He is understanding. This is why: The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. (Psalm 103:8)
And if occasionally we sin more grievously and provoke the Lord to anger: He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. (Psalm 103:9) Moses told the children of Israel that if, because of their sins, they were removed from the land of Israel, they could still find the Lord if, when in distress, they sought Him and listened to His voice: For the Lord thy God is a compassionate God (El Rahum); He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which he swore to them. (Deut 4:31 NASB) Our God: delighteth in mercy. (Micah 7:18)
It is written: thou wast a God that forgavest them (El Nose’). (Psalm 99:8) Forgiveness is a wonderful concept. It means that never will that sin be counted against us for punishment. Such sins are not temporarily removed and stored. Rather God: wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19) from whence they cannot be retrieved. Little wonder that David says: Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. (Psalm 32:1,2)
Although sin may incur some loss of reward, forgiveness removes all fear of judgement and removes God’s anger. God told the Jews: In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. (Isaiah 54:8,9)
Forgiveness also generates love. Jesus said of Mary that the one that is forgiven much loveth much. Perhaps this is one reason why God makes us imperfect before he perfects us.
When the Levites stood up before the congregation of Israel to bless the Lord for His mighty works, they remembered how Israel had been scattered because of their disobedience. But they also remembered how God had gathered His people back to Israel. They said: for thy great mercies sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God (El Hannun). (Neh 9:31)
Grace means unmerited favour. And Paul writes: by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Eph 2:8,9) God’s motive was only love: God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom 5:8)
Salvation was also not due to our might. Moses told the Israelites: The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the Lord loved you. (Deut 7:7,8) For no power of their own, Moses told them: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. (Deut 7:6)
Not only salvation, but also all God’s works toward us, are of grace. Jacob, who was blessed by God until he had much cattle, said: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant. (Gen 32:10)
And we are not worthy of the eternal reward God has for us. The twenty-four elders who shall be about the throne, and who shall receive crowns of gold will: fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord. (Rev 4:10,11) Not that they do not want their crowns, but rather they think God is too good to them, and they do not feel worthy of their crowns which they will wear for eternity.
When Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, returned to the land of Canaan after twenty years in Padan-aram, he built an altar and called it El Elohe Israel, or God the God of Israel. This refers not to the nation of Israel but to his own name. He is declaring that God is his God.
This reminds us of the vow he made twenty years earlier, when, fleeing from Esau his brother, he said: If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God. (Gen 28:20,21) God did much more and blessed him abundantly. And Jacob kept his vow.
God being our God is a very definite relationship. He is the one whom we fundamentally obey. And it is He who fundamentally looks after us. Jesus said: take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? . . . for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. (Matt 6:31,32)
How wonderful that there is more to life than what we see around us. Jesus said: this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3) God will take all true Christians through bitter experiences that they may: grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (2 Pet 3:18)
And during such bitterness we are to: glorify . . . the Lord in the fires (Isaiah 24:15) and be thankful for what we learn of God. To truly make the Lord our God is to: In everything give thanks. (1 Thess 5:18) And then: this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death. (Psalm 48:14)
God said to Jacob: I am the God of Bethel. (Gen 31:13) Beth means house and El means God, so Bethel means house of God. God’s house is the congregation of the church (1 Tim 3:14).
We do not have to wait until we go to heaven to experience the glory of the Lord, as now on earth we should be able to experience something of God’s glory in His house. David said: I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth. (Psalm 26:8) It is here more than anywhere else that we taste: the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come. (Heb 6:5) This is why David said: One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple. (Psalm 27:4)
Sion, a mountain in Jerusalem, is also a picture of the church (Heb 12:22,23) and David says: Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion. (Psalm 65:1) It is good to sing songs of praise in the church, but I consider a pity that prayers of praise from the mind and heart are not also, often said in the church.
We can praise God that He has given such a place to experience His fellowship.