Thursday, March 18, 2010

Eternal Verities 5A

Continuing the study on Eternal Verities (Eternal Truths) -

I'm going to copy parts of a thought paper and we're going to delve into more about what I was talking about yesterday, the Godhead and eternal truths. I'll interject it with my own thoughts and probably end up breaking it up into digestable pieces, meaning give it bit by bit so it's not overwhelming and gives us time to think about what's being presented. If you're reading this you'll have access to the internet and as such it's easy to check various facts such as the meaning of Greek and Hebrew words. Don't hesitate to take time to check things for yourself. We are accountable for what we can do and that means seeking the knowledge where we can. In our time we live in something called the 'Information Age' and it is. Information is right at our fingertips and we have to avail ourselves of it.


May God bless us as we seek to understand more fully His will, His way, the truths that we need to know and believe as this world becomes more and more deceptive.

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Exodus 3:13-14 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is His name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM; and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel , I AM hath sent me unto you.


The Hebrew word translated, "I AM" is the imperfect form of the verb, hahyah, "to be." Most of us have names which are classified as nouns. Not so the name chosen by God to designate Himself.


Further the verb is in the imperfect tense denoting unfinished action. Gesenius suggests in his Lexicon that the meaning of "I Am that I Am" is that God "will never be other than the same" and is. (p.384)


In other words, by this name God designates Himself as eternal and immutable. This word is the root for the name Jehovah. Jesus in His humanity claimed this name for Himself. (John 8:58)


A comparison of various verses in Revelation (1:10-11,17-18; 22:12-13 with 1:8) indicates that both He who liveth and was dead but is alive forevermore, has the same designation as "the Almighty." This reinforces the Hebrew Shema that the Gods of Israelis is one Jehovah. Gesenius observes in his discussion of the Hebrew word, Yehowah that "several ancient writers" relate "that the God of the Hebews was called IAW." (ibid.) ["I am Alpha and Omega"]


Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a child is given . . . and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.


Young's Literal Translation of the Holy Bible, following closely the Hebrew, renders the titles of the prophesied God-man, as: "Wondeful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Father of Eternity, Mighty God." The expression, "the Father of Eternity" is the best that human language can find to express the eternal pre-existence of the Logos.


Eternalness is an attribute of Deity, and thus "eternity" is synonymous with God, and not a creation of God.


It is the "time" frame of God's ever-existence which the human mind, limited as it is by time as we know it, cannot comprehend.


The same thought is given in Micah 5:2 where the Messianic prophecy, revealing the place of the birth of the Coming One, describes His "goings forth" as being "from everlasting." The word translated "everlasting" (gohlahm) is the same word used in Psalm 90:2 - "From everlasting to everlasting, thou art God."


Again, the eternalness of God cannot be limited because of the limitations of human language and thought to express or comprehend what "everlasting" really is. He who has existed from all eternity comes forth in time from that incomprehensible reality.


Zechariah 6:12-13 Thus saith the Lord of Hosts saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord: Even he shall build the temple of the Lord: and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne: and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.


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My thoughts-


Can you ever imagine a time when you were not? Of course you can't *remember* that time. To yourself you always were and it's only history that tells us otherwise. It's only pictures that bring to life a world before ours. Books bring the past to us. Our imaginations fill in a lot of gaps. Most of us can't remember our own first word, our own first step, we start to remember things on an average of about age 4-5 years old. This isn't to say there aren't some who remember earlier, and some who don't start to have self awareness memories until later in their lives. We know we aren't from forever. We have a beginning at conception, an introduction to the world at birth, and a life after birth that eventually will end up in our deaths. We watch people die, maybe not literally, but we live under the shadow of death always. Our great grandparents pass away, then our grandparents and eventually our parents in the natural progression of normal aging without the exceptions of which there are many. When someone we know dies, we begin to comprehend that our life too will end some day. We will cease to have breath in our bodies, a heart beating in our chests, our life on earth will end. I'm not telling you anything you don't already know I'm sure. What I'm emphasizing is that God is ever- God always was, God is, and God always will be, He is infinite we are finite. Jesus in His Spirit form has been with God infinitely, taking on flesh to live and die among us and He lay in the grave three days before rising from the dead. He then had yet to ascend to His Father after rising from the dead. And now Jesus lives infinitely with flesh that has been glorified by God and made new as all who will one day be with Him will have.


We are studying to comprend the truths of the Godhead and we will continue to do so. May God continue to bless us as we learn, relearn, and forever seek to learn.


By the grace and mercy of our Lord, our Savior, our Redeemer now and forever. In His love always!


Amen.

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