God Almighty—El Shaddai

Michael Heiss—July 14, 2012

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Good morning everyone! If you remember, last time we talked about Elohim, the Family of God, one of the names of God. I can possibly do it, we are going to cover three other names of God and then we're going to wrap it up comparing Jehovah of the Old Testament with the resurrected, risen Jesus Christ and tie it all together with Elohim. That is the goal!

Elohim is the most magnificent subject you can possibly imagine, because God dreams big! In a portrait there was a trashcan and in the trashcan was the face of a cat with his paws up and below it says 'Dream Big!' You see the dots and the big cloud and in that cloud was the face of a massive lion! The cat dreams big!

Well, God dreams big, the biggest of them all. His goal is to have everybody part of Elohim. Before we get there, we have to continue from last time rehearsing a bit. Elohim is a title, not a name of God. It is a description of God; the Mighty One—or Mighty Ones—it is the rank of Elohim. He the Father is the Chief El.

We also looked a bit at Jehovah as the national God of Israel. But what I want to go through is Exodus 6 where God is revealing Himself as Jehovah instead El Shaddai.

El Shaddai—The Almighty

God says, Exodus 6:2: "And God [Elohim] spoke to Moses, and said to him, 'I am the LORD [Jehovah]. And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty [El Shaddai]. But I was not known to them by My name JEHOVAH'" (vs 2-3). What He's saying is that not they didn't know the name 'Jehovah'—they did!—but He did not declare Himself saying, 'I am Jehovah.' There's a big difference.

Jehovah is to become the national God of Israel and elevated to the God of all the world. But first He said, I appeared as El Shaddai. It's most interesting, El Shaddai we generally quote as 'God Almighty.' or 'Almighty God.' Fair enough. What does that mean? I submit to you that we have let too much of a philosophy of Plato and Aristotle influence us. El Shaddai does not mean the God that can do everything we think He should be able to do.

Examples of sophomoric language that I used to face: If God is so powerful, can He build/create, a rock/mountain so big He cannot move or lift it? It's a trick question. Either way El Shaddai is not El Shaddai. If He could build a rock so big He couldn't lift it, then He could not lift it and would not qualify as El Shaddai. If He can move any rock, then He can't build it, so therefore, He's not El Shaddai. That's not the context in which El Shaddai is ever used. It's a different one.

Now let's look at a concrete one. How about truth? If God is all powerful and can do everything, can He lie? Can He sin? He's El Shaddai, isn't He? It depends on what you mean by El Shaddai! Truth: What is truth? Remember that question? Who asked it? A career politician! A cynic!

John 18—Pontius Pilate, oh was he ever a cynic. He'd been 'around the block' a few times. You bet he was! What we find here: John 18:37: Pilate therefore answered Him, 'Then You are a king?' Jesus answered, 'As you say, I am a king.'…. [v 38]: …Pilate said to Him, 'What is Truth?'…. [Because Jesus just said]: (v 37): …Everyone who is of the Truth hears My voice." Jesus answer that question, but not to Pilate.

John 17:17: "Sanctify them in Your Truth; Your Word is the Truth." Truth is whatever God says it is, and the reason it is true, because God says it, is because it is true. God is the God of Truth. He is so stated to be the God of Truth.

Isaiah 65:16:"He who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself by the God of Truth. And he who swears in the earth will swear by the God of Truth…" So, God is a God of Truth. Can He lie?

Have you ever had dealings with a company/business, you're trying to make something right or they did something wrong and you say, 'Can't you do this? Can't you help out?' And the person on the line or across the counter says, 'I'm sorry, but we just can't do that.' Then the question arises: You can't? or You won't? There is a difference! God can't lie because He wills not to lie! That's the difference.

Paul gave a most definitive answer to that one. In his epistle to Titus 1:2: "In the hope of eternal life, which God Who cannot lie promised before the ages of time." God cannot lie because He won't!

That is El Shaddai. What El Shaddai really means is a God Who has the power, might, strength to accomplish whatever it is He says He's going to accomplish! That is what Shaddai means: the power to do whatever He's going to do. It has nothing to do with any of the sophomoric arguments put out by Socrates, Plato or Aristotle, or any of the ancient Greek philosophers.

You have to look at it from Hebraic point of view. That's what Shaddai means. In fact, the term Shaddai is human power also. We're going to see it in the book of Genesis used in human power. We're going to look at with Jacob. If you will recall, Jacob is fleeing from Laban and Laban is catching up to him, looking after him, trying to get him and he says:

Genesis 31:29: "It is in the power of my hand to do you harm…."—the 'shaddai' of my hand; 'shaddai' simply means power.

Let's look at four places where El Shaddai is used prior to Exodus. Genesis 17:1: "And when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD [Jehovah] appeared to Abram and said to him, 'I am the Almighty God [El Shaddai]!…." A little later Elohim talks.

You always find El Shaddai used where God is going to do something, He promises to do something, or human beings are asking Him to do something. You never find it where it says, 'O praise You El Shaddai.' El Shaddai is not praised that way. Jehovah is praised—Bless the Lord O my soul. But you'll never hear El Shaddai O my soul. El Shaddai is the God of Power. That's how it's used.

Isaac is calling Jacob, Genesis 28:3: "And may God Almighty [El Shaddai] bless you, and make you fruitful…" Here again, he's calling upon the Almighty God to do that.

Genesis 35:11: "And God said to him, 'I am God Almighty [El Shaddai]….'" And He's promising him that He going to give him the land, a nation and a great company of nations will arise. It's always that way.

Genesis 43:14—this is where Jacob is brought to the point where he's got to send his own son Benjamin down; didn't know what was going on: "And God Almighty [El Shaddai] give you mercy…"

That's how El Shaddai is used. Sometimes you just find 'Shaddai'—the Almighty. In fact, I remember humorously: I was in former days a great fan of Star Trek—I was a bit of a 'trekkie' myself. In one of those movies, humorously speaking, where it dealt with a god of Sha Ka Ree. Captain Kirk says, 'What is God need with a spaceship? 'Bones'—the doctor—says, 'Jim, you don't ask the Almighty for His ID.'

The Bible uses the term 'Shaddai' meaning the Almighty. In the book of Job, 31 times just the name Shaddai, the Almighty. That word was used in our political system as late as 1944. Does anyone remember a momentous event that occurred on June 6, 1944? D-Day! Deliverance Day. And FDR—I don't think he could ever get away with it today, but back then political correctness had not fully set in—had a prayer written out that he sent out to the entire nation and they read this prayer as he was speaking it. It opened up: By Almighty God! Beseeching Him to grant victory over Hitter's fortress: "The flower of our youth we are sending, asking God for the victory." Well, if Benjamin Franklin had been alive at that time, he would have said the same thing he said in 1787 at the Constitutional Convention. He said, 'Our prayer was heard.'

I don't know if any of you have read the book or seen the movie The Longest Day; by far the best war movie I ever saw. It actually followed the script, it really did. It was the event of D-Day, showing four or five major events that occurred here, here, and there, which actually tipped the scales of that battle. If they had not occurred, the Third Reich would have won! But El Shaddai was on the job!

El Elyon—God Most High

We covered it that briefly last time. We found the first mention in Genesis where Abraham is coming back from the slaughter of the kings and Melchisedec is priest of the God Most High.

Genesis 14:18: "And Melchisedec the King of Salem brought forth bread and wine. And He was the Priest of the Most High God. And He blessed him, and said, 'Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth' (vs 18-19). Who is Melchisedec? and Who is God Most High?

We found that out in Heb. 7. You'll find that Melchisedec had neither father nor mother, no genealogy, no beginning of days. Obviously, this is the One Who became Jesus Christ. If Jesus Christ is of the order of Melchisedec, Who is the Most High God [El Elyon]?

El Elyon, if it's not Jesus Christ, there's only one left: the Father. It's interesting in terms of El Elyon. The 'elyon' really means tough. Let's take a look and see how it's used in the book of Genesis. We have Joseph in prison; he was going to interpret the dreams of the baker and the butler.

Genesis 40:17—the baker speaking: "And in the top basket were all kinds of baked foods…" That were tough; the high basket. It wouldn't be rational or be good English to say the basket most high. That doesn't make sense in English. But it's the top basket. If I were to say, 'I left my Bible in the other room and it's on the top shelf.' I would say, 'the shelf elyon,' the top shelf. If I say 'the top shelf,' that means there are other shelves. If I say 'the top basket' it means there are other baskets underneath.

If God is El Elyon, what does that tell us? There are other Els! Only this one is the top El, the Chief El! The #1 El!

Let's look at Psalm 136:2: "Oh, give thanks to the God of gods… [v 3]: …Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords…" This is the El Alei of elohim, which follows through. You can't be the God of gods unless there are other gods for you to be the God of. You can't be the Lord of lords unless there are lords for you to be Lord over. Remember, Jesus Christ, 'King of kings, Lord of lords.' It's the same principle, exact same principle.

Here we're going to take a look at what I brought out before in John 1. It is said that nobody knew the Father. These are simple hints of the Father, El Elyon. But in John 1 and 5 we find two definitive, very clear statements made by Jesus:

John 1:18: "No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." All right, that's fair enough.

John 5:37: "And the Father Himself, Who sent Me, has borne witness of Me. You have neither heard His voice nor seen His form at any time."

Israel of old heard the voice of God and they saw God, and it's so specifically stated. If they had never seen God—according to Jesus—but Israel did see God, we can't be talking about the same God. That is impossible.

Deuteronomy 4:32: "For ask now of the days past which were before you, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and from the one end of the heavens to the other end of the heavens, where there has been any thing as great as this, or has been heard any thing like it. Did any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire as you have heard and live?" (vs 32-33).

Verse 36: "He made you hear His voice out of heaven… you heard His words out of the midst of the fire."

They heard His voice. And more dramatically, you talk about seeing God and some of His glory, take a look at this; this is when Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and 70 elders of Israel saw the God of Israel. Exodus 24:10: "And they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the heavens in clearness." They saw the God of Israel; they saw the One Who became Jesus Christ. They did not see the Father. The Father is El Elyon.

Jehovah

Now I want to emphasize Jehovah. This is where we're going to key in Jehovah into the resurrected Jesus Christ and wrap it up into Elohim. That's where it is the mind-blowing part of it all.

In a sense, it kind of begins here, Exodus 3:6—this is the burning bush: "And He said, 'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.…. [v 7]: ...I have surely seen the affliction of My people…. [v 8]: …And I am coming down to deliver them…'" He is to become their national God.

That is what He says in Exo. 6 where we read that enigmatic statement. Exodus 6:7: "And I will take you to Me for a people, and I will be to you a God. And you shall know that I am the LORD your God [Jehovah]…" No longer 'am I El Shaddai; I am Jehovah, to be your personal God.' Israel is the only nation that God knew specifically; the only nation that God ever dealt with that way.

Notice what God says to Israel, Amos is saying, Amos 3:1: "Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, 'You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities" (vs 1-2). Jehovah was known only by Israel. No other nation knew Him. He didn't reveal Himself to any other nation. But, He is going to be elevated to the God of the entire earth, because He said, 'All the earth is Mine.'

We're going to see a verse that for a long time puzzled me. I did not understand it; I really didn't. Zechariah 14:9: "And the LORD [Jehovah] shall be King over all the earth; in that day there shall be one LORD, and His name shall be one." This word in the Hebrews is 'achd'—one; exclusiveness; a class by itself. When you put that expanded meaning in, what's it really saying is, 'Jehovah, in that day, will be the only one, the only God; His name the only name. There will be no other gods mentioned, no other gods will be worshiped. He will be Lord over all the earth, not just the God of Israel.

In fact, what we need to do here is take a look at the book of Acts, chapter four. You talk about the only name. How is the name of Jesus Christ portrayed? Acts 4:10: "be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarean, Whom you crucified, but Whom God has raised from the dead, by Him this man stands before you whole. This is the Stone that was set…. And there is no salvation in any other, for neither is there another name under heaven which has been given among men, by which we must be saved" (vs 10-12). That is the meaning of Zech. 14.

Jehovah is now going to be the God of the earth. He may also be known by another name, I'm not sure; I just mention this as an aside. I assume that it will still be by Jesus Christ, but if you will look you will see that Jesus Christ has another name, a new name, a name that no one knows.

Revelation 19:12: "And His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written that no one knows except Him." Perhaps we could say that the Father also probably knows. He is saying, no human knows, no angelic force knows.

God's accepted this, the Father knows. Will He be known by that name? I don't know! I assume it will still be Jesus, because in Rev. 22 it says, 'come Lord Jesus.' I think it will still be Jesus Christ, but nevertheless, He will be known by a particular name, and that name will be the only name for God known throughout the Millennium.

Now we want to check Jehovah with Jesus Christ. Turn to the Prophet Isaiah and then we're going to compare with Revelation. This is what the Prophet Isaiah has to say:

The First and the Last

Isaiah 41:4: "…I, the LORD, am the First and the Last; I am He."

Isaiah 44:6: "Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer even the LORD of hosts, 'I am the First, and I am the Last; and besides Me there is no God.

Isaiah 48:12: "… I am He; I am the First, I also am the Last."

That is three times. If that is not enough to convince us that He is the First and the Last, Revelation 1:10: "I was in the Spirit on the day of the Lord; and I heard a loud voice like a trumpet behind me, saying, 'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last'" (vs 10-11).

Wait a minute, if Jehovah is the First and the Last, how can Jesus Christ be the First and the Last? Easy! They are ONE and the SAME! The resurrected Jesus Christ is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. That's why They're called this way. We're showing that continuity.

We find the same thing in Revelation 22:13: "I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last."

Not only are They both the First and the Last, They're both the Rock. We'll see another description of Jehovah:

The Rock

Isaiah 44:8: "Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from that time; and have declared it? So you are My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me? Yea, there is no other Rock; I know not one" Jehovah is the Rock.

So is Jesus Christ the Rock. We remember when Jesus Caesarea, Philippi, said to His disciples: 'Whom do you say the Son of man is?' Peter answered, 'You are the Christ.' Jesus said, 'Blessed are you Simon Bar-Jona, it is My Father in heaven Who has given this information to you.'

Matthew 16:18: "And I say also to you, that you are Peter… [pebble or stone] …but upon this Rock… [referring to Jesus] …I will build My church…" It's going to be built on Jesus Christ, the Rock.

Matthew 7:24: "Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and practices them, I will compare him to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock." Who is the Rock you build your spiritual house on? Jesus Christ! The foundation (1-Cor. 3)—Jesus Christ!

If that doesn't convince us, look what Paul says in 1-Corinthians 10. This ought to convince anybody. Of course, it doesn't convince the 'one God' people, I know. I don't know that anything will ever convince them.

1 Corinthians 10:4: "And they all drank of the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them. And that Rock was Christ." They are one and the same.

We have one more comparison before we wrap this up into Elohim, the most mind-boggling part I have ever seen of Scriptures that I read right over for years and didn't understand the depth of it's meaning. One more comparison:

Every Knee Shall Bow

Isaiah 45:23: "I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not turn back, that unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear." I believe it! I accept it! Every knee will bow!

The Apostle Paul said something very similar about another individual—didn't he? We are going to see what he said about Jesus Christ: Philippians 2:5: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied Himself, and was made in the likeness of men, and took the form of a servant; and being found in the manner of man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God has also highly exalted Him and bestowed upon Him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of beings in heaven and on earth and under the earth…" (vs 5-10).

Once again, one and the same! But now let us take a look at how Jehovah, El Shaddai—all of it—is wrapped up in Elohim, the ultimate goal of the Father. I never fully understood it, but I'm beginning to.

Jesus Christ said something most fascinating in Rev. 3. We're talking about the letters to the Churches. In this particular case He's talking to Laodicea. But it doesn't matter, because '…remember what the Spirit says to the Churches…' so it applies to all.

Revelation 3:21: "To the one who overcomes will I give authority to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and sat down with My Father in His throne." Do we understand what has to be in order for this to happen? For Jesus Christ to be able to sit down on His Father's throne, He has to be equal to the Father in every sense of the word. He can't sit on His throne that way. This is what the Jews didn't understand. This is why they were enraged with Stephen. Stephen gave his magnificent sermon/speech, and he culminates it:

Acts 7:55: "But he [Stephen], being filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, 'Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.' Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and rushed upon him with one accord" (vs 55-57). They were enraged! This was waving the red flag in front of the bull. Why?

In order to be at the right hand of God you have to be God! This was the whole Hebraic concept. You can't sit at God's right hand unless you are equal to Him. For the Jews being absolute monotheists, only one being is God. Therefore, for any other being, any other person to be at God's right hand is utter blaspheme. They were enraged! They couldn't see it! They didn't get it that Elohim consists of more than one.

So, back we are to Revelation 3:21, He says, "…I give authority to sit with Me in My throne…" If Jesus Christ is sitting on the throne of God, and we can sit with Christ, then we are equal to Christ. All one substance! All once composition! That is the mind-boggling part of this.

I'm not an authority. There's a pecking order; let's get that straight. We do have a pecking order here:

• God the Father as the Supreme patriarch of the clan
• Jesus Christ as His firstborn son under Him
• The rest of us are all of the same substance; the same form; all destined to be Els and Elohim.

This is the whole thrust of all of this. We'll see how the Bible explains this. Look at what Jesus said; we all read this on the Passover night. But Jesus is saying something very specific here. This is where He gets very intimate with His disciples:

John 15:14: "You are My friends, if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, because the servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends because I have made known to you all the things that I have heard from My Father" (vs 14-15).

Not to be too facetious. Yeah, I know, a dog is man's best friend. I get that. If you live in Washington, D.C., it has been said by many who deal with the body politic, if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog. At least a dog won't turn on you the way the politicians will.

That's not what Jesus is saying. He's saying, "You are My friends…" How can we be the friend of Jesus if we're beneath Him, subsistence? We're not! We're His equals. Our elder brother, to be sure, but we're of the same substance. That's His whole point here. We are of the same substance; we are brethren

Hebrews 2:17: "For this reason, it was obligatory for Him to be made like His brethren…" We are the brethren. This is all the way through the New Testament

Romans 8:29: "Because those whom He did foreknow, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His own Son, that He might be thefirstborn among many brethren." We are equals with Him; not only equals but joint heirs. This is what is so mind-boggling.

Verse 16: "The Spirit itself bears witness conjointly with our own spirit, testifying that we are the children of God. Now, if we are children, we are also heirs—truly, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer together with Him, so that we may also be glorified together with Him" (vs 16-17).

I know what a joint-heir is. I deal in the realm of taxes and inheritances. When we talk about joint heirs, what it means is you and your brothers, when dad dies, you're joint heirs, you get everything. You split the pot 50-50. In this case, whatever Christ inherits we inherit. If Christ inherits the universe, we inherit the universe. We can't do that if we're any less than the power and might and stature of Elohim. It cannot be done. This is Elohim! That's our destiny to be Elohim! This is what is incredible here.

In 1-John 3 John is talking about the love of God, but he says it magnificently. 1-John 3:1: "Behold! What glorious love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God!…. [2] "Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be; but we know that when He is manifested, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him exactly as He is." How is He? We know! Rev. 1—'we heard the voice and this was this majestic being. John is just filled with joy; he's excited at this. You can almost feel it in the way it's written.

Revelation 1:12: "And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me; and when I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands; and in the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of man, clothed in a garment reaching to the feet, and girded about the chest with a golden breastplate. And His head and hair were like white wool, white as snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire; and His feet were like fine brass…" (vs 12-15).

That's us! We're going to be there! Not only that, Jesus Christ confirmed this. I don't know about you. I've read this a dozen times, a hundred times, and never saw it. The real Lord's Prayer, not the model one: 'Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.' That's the model prayer, but here is the real prayer of Jesus Christ.

John 17:22: "And I have given them the glory that You gave to Me, in order that they may be one, in the same way that We are one: I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one; and that the world may know that You did send Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that those whom You have given Me may also be with Me where I am, so that they may behold My glory, which You have given Me…" (vs 22-24).

Do realize what that means? Jesus is saying, 'Father, I have given them the glory that You gave to Me.' The glory that the Father gave to Christ, He gave back to His disciples. They're going to get in full at the resurrection, "…in order that they may be one, in the same way that We are one" (v 22). Christ and the Father, one in Spirit, one in mind, one in thought, one in being.

So that we—all of us together—from the first sermon given by Peter, the baptism, clear down to the end of the age, all of us together, will be one. But God goes beyond that. That's just the beginning, He goes on to say, "…in order that they may be one, in the same way that We are one: I in them" (v 23).

Verse 21: ""That they all may be one, even as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, in order that the world may believe that You did send Me." Who is the 'Us'? (Gen. 1)

• in the beginning Elohim
• let Us make man in Our image
• behold the man has become one of Us
• let Us go down

These are tens of millions sons of God, all for one and one for all, all as one! Elohim! God talks about the glory of His children. Not just the glory of the Son. Verse 4: "I have glorified You on the earth…"

Romans 8:16: "The Spirit itself bears witness conjointly with our own spirit, testifying that we are the children of God."

Verse 18: "For I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation itself is awaiting the manifestation of the sons of God" (vs 18-19).

Verse 21: "In order that the creation itself might be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God." At the resurrection

• the Father has glory; life inherent in Himself
• The Son has glory inherent in Himself

at that time

• we are going to have glory inherent in us

Paul is emphasizing the fact that everything is awaiting the manifestation of the Sons of God. That's us! And the world will be delivered from the bondage of corruption unto the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We will have that glory!

• God wills it!
• It is His purpose!

I don't know how many times people have thought, 'I don't understand that Hebrew stuff; the Greek; these names of God; chronology; the Jubilee Year; seven years this and seven times that. Besides that I'm getting old and I've got the aches and the groans and quite cut the mustard. I don't seem to be able to overcome the way I thought I would. I don't know.'

God says, 'Stop right there! I've got too much invested in you! I've got the blood of My Son invested in you! I don't care what you think of yourself. I don't care how inadequate you may think you are. I see something in you.'

Something that Fred said a couple of times. I kind of knew it, but he made it jell in my mind when he says that God looks at us—yes, He sees us as we are, but He is able to look down through the corridor of time and sees us as we will be!

Romans 4:17: "…[God] calls the things that are not as though they are." He sees us as His glorified sons.

Remember the poster of Uncle Sam saying, 'I want you!' Remember that? God says, 'I want you!' Doesn't matter why He wants us. He's chosen us! As El Shaddai He says, 'As I was with Jacob, as I was with Abraham, as I was with David, I will be with you and I'm going to have you in My kingdom. I'm not going to give up on you, so don't you dare give up on Me!'

That, in essence, is what He is saying. Why He wants to have it that way, He says, 'It's My good pleasure to give you the kingdom.' Who can fathom that mind? I can't! But that's the way it is; that's the way He is. We are His own. That's why He confirms us.

I can give you two pieces of advice; two admonitions:

• 'I will reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory to be revealed' (Rom. 8).

the glory of being Elohim

• We should be doing what the Apostle Paul said he was doing.

One final thought; one final Scripture. When all is said and done about the resurrection and attaining the kingdom, what does Paul say:

Philippians 3:14: "I press toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." The goal and high calling of being Elohim; one day, at that resurrection, somehow the Father is going to be there, the Son is going to be there looking at all His sons and thinking, this altogether we are Elohim.

• What's the prize?
• What's the goal?

That of being an individual El, a mighty El comprising Elohim and attaining the rank of Elohim. That is our destiny!

Scriptural References:

• Exodus 6:2-3
• John 18:37-38, 37
• John 17:17
• Isaiah 65:16
• Genesis 31:29
• Genesis 17:1
• Genesis 28:3
• Genesis 35:11
• Genesis 43:14
• Genesis 14:18-19
• Genesis 40:17
• Psalm 136:2-3
• John 1:18
• John 5:37
• Deuteronomy 4:32-33, 36
• Exodus 24:10
• Exodus 3:6-8
• Exodus 6:7
• Amos 3:1-2
• Zechariah 14:9
• Acts 4:10-12
• Revelation 19:12
• Isaiah 41:4
• Isaiah 44:6
• Isaiah 48:12
• Revelation 1:10-11
• Revelation 22:13
• Isaiah 44:8
• Matthew 16:18
• Matthew 7:24
• 1 Corinthians 10:4
• Isaiah 45:23
• Philippians 2:5-10
• Revelation 3:21
• Acts 7:55-57
• Revelation 3:21
• John 15:14-15
• Hebrews 2:17
• Romans 8:29, 16-17
• 1 John 1:3
• Revelation 1:12-15
• John 17:22-24, 22-23, 21, 4
• Romans 8:16, 18-19, 21
• Romans 4:17
• Philippians 3:14

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Hebrews 7
• 1 Corinthians 3
• Genesis 1

Also Referenced: Sermon:
God and His Titles (Michael Heiss)

MH:bo
Transcribed: 7-24-12

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