Ancient Anglican

Read is a spiritual manner (2 Cor. 3:6), these prophetic pronouncements concerning Jehovah-tseboath are not judgments upon people but against the adversarial hosts of darkness and evil (Eph. 6:12), the destruction of which brings about the restoration of the image of God within us all.

The God of Peace, in the first instance, doesn’t bring peace among the inhabitants of this world, rather, the Peace is between God and his Creation so that, like Gideon, there is no longer any fear. 

As you work through these names and read the stories associated with each name, think about a time where and when God personally intervened on your behalf.  And, like Abraham and Moses, find a name for that place and event.  

The name “Jehovah-jireh” is only used once and arises from the story of the Sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22. 

In following Jesus the Messiah, we are a people of prayer, of proclamation, and of an abiding humility.  We follow him in peace, respecting the dignity of others, and caring for their physical needs.  And, like the Messiah, we are a people of forgiveness and reconciliation.  This is what it means, when we call ourselves, The Church of the Messiah.      

The name “adonai” derives from the Hebrew word “adon” meaning “lord” or “master.” The word Adonai is the superlative or emphatic form of adon, and is used in the Hebrew Scriptures to refer exclusively to the Divine. 

In El Shaddai, we have a joining together of an understanding of God, not only as our Sufficiency, but also as Fertility and Destruction.

God’s name “Jehovah/Yahweh” discloses that God isn’t specific to a place or a function, and thereby isn’t limited to that place or function, rather God simply is.  God is self-existent and thereby is the source of existence.  

The first name of God that we encounter in Scripture is “Elohim” – “In the Beginning, Elohim created . . .” Genesis 1:1a.

On a deeper level, however, the name itself contains a part of the substance of the person it signifies. The invocation of the name can make present the person who is called.

In the Presentation, Simeon, an ordinary man, takes Jesus in his arms and praises God for the coming Messiah.  The priests, however, who performed the purification ritual under the Law (Lev. 12) failed to recognize who was in their presence. They simply took their fee and moved on. A common man recognized the Messiah, while the religious leaders were blind to him. For us, the question is when do we do the same?

If we Christians would join the Wise Men, we must close our eyes to all that glitters before the world and look rather on the despised and foolish things, help the poor, comfort the despised, and aid the neighbor in need.”  We should not build churches of wood and stone, but build up the spiritual temples of going to the least of these.