The Names of God #2 - Elohim—Part 2

By Fred R. Coulter

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As we learned in the last segment, one of the first names that God is called by, or that reveals Himself to mankind, is the word ‘Elohim’: one who remains in a constant covenant relationship. This constant covenant relationship is regardless of the state of the individual. In other words, God loves, always loves and will love regardless of the state of the individual or the degree to which the covenant has fallen apart, based upon what human beings do. This is where we get things like the story of the ‘prodigal son’; to where God loves even though he did what he did.

When we get into ‘Yahweh,’ we’re talking about love not just in relationship—which is always perpetual—we’re talking about righteousness and judgment. Love, with Yahweh is going to be conditional upon what you do. His love is given when you follow what He says; you are blessed. When you don’t follow what He says you are cursed. That shows a little different aspect of God. Sometimes we find ourselves with many of these same emotions. If we have our own children, if we have our loved ones or whatever it is, even though they become very despicable, whatever they are, we still love them.

Remember what happened when David was out chasing Absalom when Absalom rebelled? He told all the men, ‘Don’t kill Absalom, just capture him alive!’ Then Absalom was being chased by Joab and Absalom had this long flowing hair. If you’re going fast on a horse, it’ll be flying in the wind. He got caught by his hair in a tree, and Joab came along and ‘did him in.’ David mourned, mourned for his son and said, ‘Oh my son Absalom!’ Here he was causing him all the trouble, chasing David out of the palace, chasing him out of his kingship and everything. But David mourned and said, ‘Oh, my son Absalom; I would that it had been me and not you!’ That’s demonstrating the kind of love that—in spite of anything that is done—Elohim has in relationship to the covenant that He has made with everything that has been created, and with the covenants that He makes with each individual.

Let me review and cover a couple of quotes. One of them in particular I want to cover.

from: The Names of God in Holy Scripture by Andrew Jukes.

For this covenant relationship, which the name Elohim expresses is first, a relationship in God. He is One, but in Him also, as His name declares, there is plurality, that is, more than one. In this plurality, He has certain relationships, both in and with Himself, which because He is God, can never be dissolved or broken.

That’s why you understand where it says, ‘God so loved the world.’ Then we go to 1-John 2 and we’re told, ‘Don’t love the world.’ It’s a different kind of relationship in God loving the world than what we can do in it.

pg 20—But the truth here is that the covenant relationship involved in the name Elohim goes still further. For the Beloved is the Son, the Word, by Whom all things were made, in Whom all things consist. All things were created by and for Him. God therefore, or Elohim, in covenant with the Beloved Son, must be in covenant with all that is created by Him, which only consists of, or is held together in Him; and in virtue of this covenant relationship, because He is Elohim, though his creatures fail and fall, He will never leave us nor forsake us.

As far as God’s way, God’s will and trusting in the promises of God, that’s really something you can always rely on. Therefore, do not ever feel that you have sinned such a sin that even God can’t forgive you. The only sin that you would sin that God won’t forgive would be the unpardonable sin, and that would mean you wouldn’t even care. It would not even bother you because you would sear your conscience with a hot iron. If you do that, you don’t care about anything, anyone, God or who knows what.

pg 25—And by His work in us, He makes us know what it is to have a covenant God Whose fullness meets our every want and Whose very name and nature is the pledge of our deliverance. The mark especially that Elohim works not only on, but with, His creation. This indeed is grace most wondrous and abounding.

That’s why God sends the rain on the just and on the unjust and makes the sun to rise on the evil and on the good.

For it is all of grace that Elohim should restore and save His fallen creation. It is still greater grace that in this restoration, He makes that creature a fellow worker with Himself.

That’s really something! As I mentioned in part one of this series, what is the greatest thing that you could do in the flesh? The greatest thing you can do is have your own children and pass on part of you to the next generation and beyond! God says that there are some people who cannot do that, have not been able to do that. He has a special blessing for them; a special blessing, which He can give as a compensation because they weren’t able to. That’s something that you need to focus in on, too, if that’s a situation where you may be. Don’t feel as though you have lost out because you haven’t been able to have children. That is only in the flesh, and I was just drawing an analogy. The greatest thing that can happen in your life right now is that you receive of God’s Spirit. That is the greatest thing. Just spend some time thinking on that and praying about that.

pg 25—His love indeed is the cause of all and His Word the agent in affecting all. But in accomplishing His purpose, He works not apart from, but with, the creation.

Then he talks a little bit about the doctrine of evolution, how they miss the point but it’s God Who’s the One Who’s been doing that.

And the fact that this earth, when God began to work upon it, was itself a ruin of a prior creation.

I wanted to especially read this paragraph because it shows that there are a lot of people who knew and understood that the situation with Satan and his angels was well known. The first destruction of the earth was well known by a lot of people and it’s not some new special doctrine that just a few people have understood. I’ll just repeat that sentence again:

And the fact that this earth, when God began to work it, was itself a ruin of a prior creation. The debris, if I mistake not, of the once bright, spiritual kingdom of Satan and his angels, which was destroyed in self-consume by them.

This book was published in 1888. While some may want to try to build an organization by claiming that the Gospel has not been preached for over 1900 years, that’s completely wrong. If that’s so, then that goes contrary to what Jesus said, that He would build His Church and it wouldn’t fail! If you build the Church, then what’s the Church? The Church is the ground and the pillar of Truth! If the Church is the ground and pillar of Truth, are they going to understand what the Scriptures say? Certainly! Certainly, they are!

Let’s review a couple of things; let’s see where God, or Elohim, has His covenant relationship and never forgets it. In Gen. 6, it’s talking about God’s relationship with Noah at this particular time. In Gen. 9, we find where God said He would make the covenant with everything, and He would never destroy it again.

God is talking to Noah and He said, Genesis 6:18: “But I will establish My covenant with you...” When God establishes a covenant, remember that is Elohim, as covenant-relationship God, Who once He has established that covenant and relationship, never, never, never goes back on it! He may punish, He may correct, but He never goes back on it. He will always remember it.

Genesis 8:1: “And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals, which were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. Also the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained” (vs 1-2). How would you like to be in a rainstorm for 40 days and 40 nights like that, with everything busting loose?

We had this storm that passed through Southern California. It had the lowest recorded barometric pressure of any storm in 100 years. I think it was 28.65 or something. It was really a huge, gigantic low. It picked up all this moisture out of the Pacific and came ‘whacking’ into Southern California, straight across the country, wreaked havoc, and caused tornadoes. I know when you get in some of those areas, those tornado clouds are dark, heavy and look like they are just sitting right on the ground.

If you can, in your mind expand this out to what God did with the Flood. He burst open the earth is what He did and let all the water that’s under the earth pour forth. When you do that, what happens to the earth? It sinks down into the water! When He stopped it, He began filling it up and the earth began rising back up again. The actual land mass moved.

Verse 3: “And the waters receded from off the earth continually...” That is going and coming; that’s how all the sediment got laid down. As the earth was rising up, while that was taking place, a lot of the landmasses split. That’s where we get some of the valleys and things that we have now. I think that’s how the Grand Canyon was formed. Shortly after the Flood it was lifted up. They even now know there was a huge inland lake that was north of the Grand Canyon. All of a sudden, that emptied out and caused the Grand Canyon. You can only do that where the stone and everything is soft. People look at it now, it’s all hard, and they say it took millions and millions of years. You stand up on top of the Grand Canyon, look down and you think, ‘That little trickle of a river did that?’ In some places, it’s a mile across! This is where a lot of this happened.

Verse 4: “And in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month; and the tops of the mountains were seen in the tenth month, on the first day of the month” (vs 4-5). Just to show that God remembered!

Genesis 17—here’s quite a covenant that was made at this point with Abram, who was at that time called Abraham. We’ll get into that a little bit more when we get into ‘El Shaddai’—God Almighty—same One but just a different aspect of Him.

Genesis 17:1: “And when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am the Almighty God [El Shaddai]! Walk before Me and be perfect.And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.’ And Abram fell on his face. And God [Elohim] talked with him, saying, ‘As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations’” (vs 1-4). I wonder what Abraham thought and felt when he was talking right with God, and God looked at him and said, ‘Abram, My covenant is with you.’ That must have been some feeling and quite a thing!

Verse 5: “‘Neither shall your name any more be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham...” Do you see some parallels here with the New Covenant? What does it say in Rev. 2 about a new name that God is going to give us? He gave it to Abraham right there!

“‘...for I have made you a father of many nations.And I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you in their generations for an everlasting covenant...’” (vs 5-7). That is a fantastic promise when you think of that. That is an awesome promise. God told Abraham, this one man, with “…your seed…” and with you, I will make this “…everlasting covenant…”!

When you look at what the Jews do today, as one tribe of people, they say they are the whole sum of all of Abraham’s children. That also becomes an effrontery to God. If you had a family with 12 brothers and one of them took everything that belonged to all the brothers and said, ‘I am the one and furthermore I’m the father, the grandfather and the great grandfather. I’m taking it all to me.’ It doesn’t work that way. These are some tremendous promises.

Verse 9: “ And God said to Abraham, ‘And you shall keep My covenant, you and your seed after you in their generations. This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your seed after you. Every male child among you shall be circumcised’” (vs 9-10). Then they went through the whole ritual in circumcision.

Verse 15: “And God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name shall be Sarah.And I will bless her, and give you a son also of her. Yes, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations—kings of people shall be from her’” (vs 15-16). That’s absolutely true. Almost all of the king-lines in Europe can be traced back to the Davidic and Abrahamic promise. Almost every single one of them!

You know what happened, the promise that was there to Ishmael; the problems that were there also. That’s the problem that’s right now in the Middle East. Actually, there are several. You’ve got the Palestinians who are of Edomeia; they are the Edomites. That’s why they are so fierce and unrelenting.

Then you have the Jews. You have a problem with the situation over there, too. As far as other people look at it, they are using the same exact tactics upon the Palestinians that were used upon the Jews by the Germans in WWII; which ought to be a testimony that everybody’s human nature is equally evil. There’s no one any better or any worse. We’re all equally evil. Nevertheless, it’s a terrible problem. You have the problem with:

• Ishmael and Isaac
• Jacob and Esau
• Joseph and the other 11 brothers, including Ruben

All of these—in the interaction of the way human relations are—sort of tear at all of the things that God has promised that He would do.

Verse 18: “And Abraham said to God, ‘Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!’ And God said, ‘Sarah your wife shall bear you a son indeed. And you shall call his name Isaac. And I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But I will establish My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time in the next year’” (vs 18-21).

Who did God remember when Lot was being saved? Genesis 19:29: “And when God destroyed the cities of the plain, it came to pass that God remembered Abraham... [Lot was saved because of Abraham] ...and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.”

God will remember. When push comes to shove, God will remember! He will always remember His covenant! God cannot go back on His word.

This is when He re-established the covenant with Isaac, Genesis 26:24: “And the LORD appeared to him the same night, and said, ‘I am the God [Elohim] of Abraham your father. Do not fear, for I am with you, and will bless you and multiply your seed for My servant Abraham’s sake.’” It’s just a little different when it gets to Isaac and Jacob. When it was with God and Abraham, God said, ‘I will establish my covenant with you and your seed after you.’ When it comes to the children, He says to the children, ‘Because of Abraham, I’m doing this for you.’

• Did Isaac earn it? No!
• Did Isaac deserve it? Can’t answer that!
• Is it something that he could control? No!

God chose! God said He would do it!

You know what the relationship was between Isaac and Ishmael: hatred, still down to this day!

Verse 2: “And the LORD appeared to him and said, ‘Do not go down into Egypt. Live in the land, which I shall tell you of.Stay in this land, and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your seed, I will give all these lands; and I will establish the oath, which I swore to Abraham your father’” (vs 2-3). When God says He’s going to do something and He covenants, it is an oath. He has bound Himself to it, everlastingly bound Himself to it!

Verse 4: “‘And I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and will give to your seed all these lands. And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws’” (vs 4-5).

We come down to the time of Jacob, Genesis 28:12: “And he dreamed. And behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven! And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!And behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, ‘I am the LORD, the God [Yahweh Elohim] of Abraham your father, and the God [Elohim] of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your seed. And your seed shall be like thedust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south. And in you and in your seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with you, and will keep you in every place where you go, and will bring you again into this land, for I will not leave you until I have done that which I have spoken of to you.’ And Jacob awoke from his sleep, and said, ‘Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.’” (vs 12-16).

Then he took the pillar and this is the pillar that even some claim was the stone that they brought out of Egypt and the stone out of which the water was given to the children of Israel. We find that in the rest of Gen. 28.

Jacob married and ended up with two wives and two handmaids. The one he really wanted couldn’t have children. In some of these things, just stop and think of the strife in the household that went on. It must have been terrible!

It is true that a man cannot endure very long the vindictiveness of women. Because they don’t want to hurt them or anything like that, a man, for his own self-protection and because he can’t endure it—he’s not necessarily afraid, but he doesn’t like the confrontation—will kind of run and hide away. Jacob had a perfect out. He could go and watch the sheep. Every night he would come home and there would be Leah, Zilpah, Bilhah and Rachel. They were always fighting over whose tent would he stay in. The four of them didn’t stay in one tent.

There was Leah’s tent with all of the kids. She’s strutting out there saying how great she was because she had all these kids and then her handmaid. Then there’s Rachel bemoaning and boohooing, not having any children, and every time that Leah, or one of the handmaids, would have one; they used the handmaids for competition, too. So, you had Leah and her handmaid, and Rachel and her handmaid. When Leah’s handmaid had a child, Rachel said, ‘Here, take my handmaid.’ Believe it or not, that’s how the 12 tribes were formed. That’s why there’s little difference in them. Can you imagine the strife? There was strife!

Genesis 30:22: “Then God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her and opened her womb.And she conceived and bore a son, and she said, ‘God has taken away my reproach.’ And she called his name Joseph. And she said, ‘May the LORD add another son to me’” (vs 22-24). When that was done, she got up and said, ‘Yeah, you watch! He’s going to add another son!’ The main thing I wanted to bring out is that God remembered Rachel.

In spite of all the mistakes that happened to Jacob, God said to Isaac, ‘Because of Abraham, I’m going to bring My covenant through you.’ And God said to Jacob, ‘Because of Isaac and Abraham, My covenant is going to be with you.’ God even, by example said, ‘Jacob, even though Laban is:

• a rotten father-in-law
• gave you the wrong wife, whom you worked seven years for
• then the dirty dude made you work another seven years
• then he tried to steal all of your cattle

—you go through the whole thing about the ring tail and the solid color and so forth. It ended up that God kept blessing! Finally, Laban said, ‘I see that God is blessing you; I’ve learned that.’ Even with all that, God honored the one that Jacob loved: Rachel. God remembered Rachel! That’s the point. God will never forget!

If you really feel down and out and if you really feel miserable imagine how Rachel felt. All these kids are going around and I imagine that Jacob was browbeaten by that time with all the fights and everything. I imagine he could hardly wait to get out in the morning to go take care of the sheep, talk to the cattle and say, ‘At least I can talk with you. When I go home, there’s nothing but fighting among those four women and the kids fighting.’ Imagine the competition that was between the kids. Even to the point that they sold Joseph off to the Arabs. A nice, loving, Christian family! Lots of times we think, ‘If I could have been one of the patriarchs.’ You wouldn’t want to have been one of the patriarchs. How would you have liked to have been one of the four women?

Jacob goes back to Bethel, Genesis 35:9: “And God appeared to Jacob again after he came out of Padan Aram and blessed him.And God said to him, ‘Your name is Jacob. Your name shall not be called Jacob any more, but Israel shall be your name.’ And He called his name Israel. And God said to him, ‘I am God Almighty... [El Shaddai; it overlaps because it’s the same God] ...Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall be from you, and kings shall come out of your loins. And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give to you, and to your seed after you I will give the land’” (vs 9-12). He set up the pillar again.

The long and short of the problem with Esau was that Esau went out and took everything that looked like he was going to inherit it.

Judges 2:1: “And the angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, ‘I made you go up out of Egypt, and have brought you into the land which I swore to your fathers. And I said, “I will never break My covenant with you.”’” You talk about swearing to something to your own hurt, God did! He promised Abraham, and everything that streams from that, God says, ‘Because of this promise to Abraham, “…I will never break My covenant…”

I want you to please keep that in mind concerning the New Testament also, about the forgiveness of sin and about the closeness of contact with God. If God swore this here, and had to deal with all the stiff-necked Israelites—God had to put up with it, God was grieved at heart many times with those people—just think how much more God is not going to break His covenant that He is giving now to us!. We can just really claim that promise.

Verse 2: “‘“And you shall make no treaty with those who live in this land. You shall throw down their altars.” But you have not obeyed My voice. What is this that you have done?…. [haven’t driven them all out] ...And I also said, “I will not drive them out from before you, but they shall be thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you”’” (vs 2-3).

God said: ‘All right, I won’t break My covenant I swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I will not break it! Why did you do what I said not to do? Why did you come in here when I said:

• destroy all the people
• tear down all their altars
• get rid of their priests
• get rid of everything

That was My sentence upon them. You were the tool in My hand but you didn’t do it! You allowed all this thing to continue on.’

He was still bound by His covenant and He said, ‘I will not break it! Okay, I’m going to let these things be as thorns in your sides and a snare unto you. Now you’re going to have some greater problems. If you don’t want to be bothered with what I said to do, then you will be bothered by your own devices and those that you have left.’ Can we see the same thing in this country today? Absolutely the same thing!

Verse 4: “And it came to pass when the angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the children of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept.And they called the name of that place The Place of Weeping… [Bochim—the weepers] ...And they sacrificed there to the LORD” (vs 4-5).

You can read the rest of the book of Judges and see what happened. We’ve covered that before in relationship to how they left God and how they went on their own way. God would never break His promise, never break His covenant! When the children of Israel repented, what did God do? He restored them! That’s a tremendous promise.

This helps us have more faith in God, that what God has said He will do; He will do what He has promised! In other words, whatever God has said, it’s just like an oath. He will perform it! He will do it!

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That’s is fantastic to know. There are times when you may feel so down that you may have to go to God and say:

• God, I know that You don’t lie
• God, I know that You will not break your covenant
• God, I know that You will keep your promises
• God, I know I’m a sinner and a rotten person, but please, God, remember what You have said’
• You have promised

That’s not exalting yourself as anything; that’s just going before God and reminding Him of His promises that He’s made. Can we claim the promises of God? Sure we can!

Psalm 111 is a nice little, short Psalm but it sure has a lot in it. This contains in it pretty much what we have covered, in just a little bit different way. Psalms 111:1: “Praise the LORD! I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart...” If you can really grasp and hold on to the promises of God and praise him with your whole heart; it’ll be:

• joyful
• uplifting
• good
• fine
• right

Even in your most desperate time and hour you can feel happy, because God won’t leave you or forsake you. What if you find yourself even on your deathbed? What then? God hasn’t turned His back on you! God has not forsaken any of His promises. He’s going to resurrect you! Sometimes there’s so much misery in life you think, ‘That’s what I want at this time!’

“…In the council of the upright and in the congregation.The works of the LORD are great, sought out by all those who have pleasure in them. His work is glory and majesty; and His righteousness endures forever. He has made a memorial for His wonderful works; the LORD is gracious and full of compassion. He has given food to those who fear Him; He will always be mindful of His covenant” (vs 1-5). Always, ever mindful of His covenant!

I’m going to stress some of these things.. When we get into the New Testament, the greatest thing—absolutely the greatest thing—that can ever be given to you in this life by God now is the New Covenant where He gives His Spirit and we become partakers of the Divine nature. That’s something! That has been bearing on my mind in studying and preparing for these sermons. That is really the most fantastic and wonderful thing!

It is much easier to preach the Word of God, to teach what God has, and always lead people to Christ; how much easier that is than to try and beat people into the Church or keep them in the Church by tongue lashings, fear or whatever it may be. I just feel so sorry for people who are in conditions like that, that it has to be that way with them. God is probably sitting there and saying, ‘If that’s what you want, that’s what you get.’ Just like He did with the children of Israel.

Lots of times we say, ‘How could God allow that to happen in His Church? God didn’t cause it! If it is allowed and people don’t stop it, if they don’t know enough about God’s Word that they will go ahead and tolerate and put up with it, then it’s just like ‘the thorn in the flesh’ that God said He would let continue because they didn’t do what God said.

• if you go along with the Church
• if the government within the Church, how it’s run

and you have people who

• lord it over the brethren
• the brethren allow it
• the ministers continue in it

God isn’t necessarily going to run down here and change it. He’s going to let everybody suffer. Then when they’re resurrected, He’s going to say, ‘That’s not the way to do it. Did you learn the lesson? Because of My everlasting covenant, which I will not break and I will always remember, I’m going to resurrect you, but have you learned?’

It’s so much easier when we just follow what God has to say! We can trust Him!

“...He will always be mindful of His covenant. He has declared to His people the power of His works, in giving them the inheritance of the nations. The works of His hands are truth and justice; all His precepts are sure.... [then it gets into the Commandments and keeping them]: ...They stand fast forever and ever; they are done in truth and uprightness. He sent redemption unto His people; He has commanded His covenant forever; Holy and awesome is His name. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever” (vs 5-10). That’s a nice little Psalm. That packs an awful lot just in those 10 verses.

Psalm 105:1: “O give thanks unto the LORD! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the people.Sing to Him, sing praises unto Him; talk of all His wonderful works. Glory in His Holy name; let the heart of those who seek the LORD rejoice. Seek the LORD and His strength; seek His face evermore. Remember His marvelous works, which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth, O you seed of Abraham His servant, you children of Jacob His chosen. He is the LORD our God; His judgments are in all the earth. He has remembered His covenant forever, the word, which He commanded to a thousand generations; the covenant which He made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac; and He confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant” (vs 1-10).

God can make some modifications of it as He goes along, but He will not break it. It is an everlasting covenant. Like He said in Judges 2, ‘I will not break My covenant. However, since you’ve done this thing, I’ll go along with what you’ve done, but it’s going to cause you problems.’ I think that many times, that’s the way God deals with each one of us. We don’t do what we ought to do. God doesn’t reject us but He says, ‘All right, since you’ve done that, this is going to be your problem.’

• He still hasn’t broken His covenant!
• He still has not left you!
• He still has not forsaken you!
• He still has kept His Word!

That’s good to know! If you go along and you make a big faux pas—you know it’s wrong, it bad and it’s terrible—remember, God hasn’t forsaken you! Maybe you’ve made the circumstances a little difficult yourself, but God will still see you through it.

2-Samuel 23:1: “And these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said:‘The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me, and His Word was on my tongue. The God of Israel... [Elohim of Israel] ...said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, “He who rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God, and he shall be as the light of the morning as the sunrises, a morning without clouds. The tender grass springs out of the earth through the sun’s clear shining after a rain.” Although my house is not so with God, yet...’” (vs 1-5). He even admitted his own sins, because after his sin with Bathsheba, it was a terrible and treacherous family from that time on.

“‘...yet, He has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure. For all my salvation and all my desire, will He not make it grow?’” (v 5).

2-Samuel 24 records what is next to the worst account of what David did that was wrong, that’s when he numbered Israel. When David repented:

2-Samuel 24:10: “And David’s heart condemned him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the LORD, ‘I have sinned greatly in what I have done. And now, I beseech You, O LORD, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.’” It was! After God fought all the battles for him, then David says, ‘I want to know how many men I have here, just see what this army is like.’ You’d think what’s the big deal about that? It’s a lack of faith, that’s what it was; that’s what the big deal was. God told him not to do it, and also Satan provoked him to do it.

Verse 11: “And David rose up in the morning. And the Word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying.” I imagine David really felt bad when he saw Gad coming in the door. ‘Hi, Gad.’ David, I have something to say to you. ‘Uh oh! What is it?’ It was bad! You talk about a choice. This did not have to be! God still didn’t break His covenant!

“…And the Word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, ‘Go and say to David, “Thus says the LORD, ‘I offer you three things. Choose one of them, so that I may do it to you.’”’ And Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, ‘Shall seven years of famine come upon you and on your land? Or will you flee three months before your enemies while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ plague in your land? Now advise, and see what answer I shall return to Him who sent me.’.… [that’s a pretty tough choice] ...And David said to Gad, ‘I am in great distress....’” (vs 11-14).

I wonder how much he repented then when he was walking back and forth and pacing. Wonder how his heart, mind and his gut felt. I imagine he felt like a huge earth remover just went in and grabbed him in the gut, and he said: “…I am in great distress....” He was! He had to make a choice.

Gad said, “‘...Let us fall now into the hand of the LORD for His mercies are great. And do not let me fall into the hand of man.’ And the LORD sent a plague upon Israel from the morning even till the time appointed. And there died from the people, from Dan to Beersheba, seventy thousand men” (vs 14-15). I don’t know how God made the decision who He killed or what happened. That didn’t necessarily have to be. Imagine how David felt.

Verse 16: “And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD turned from the evil...” The Lord repented. God is hurt when other people are hurt!

The long and short of it is that where the slaughter stopped. David bought the plot of land from the Jebusite and that’s were God chose to build the Temple. That’s amazing! It shows how absolutely firm God is that He will not break His covenant. It also shows how tremendous that repentance is in the eyes of God. Even though God has to ‘lay some stripes’ on us—for whatever cause—God still will be merciful, will be kind and will remember His covenant.

1-Kings 8:22: “And Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel and spread forth his hands toward the heavens.And he said, ‘LORD God of Israel... [Yahweh Elohim of Israel] ...there is no god [elohim] like You, in heaven above or on earth beneath, who keeps covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their heart’” (vs 22-23). Quite a promise!

That’s really encouraging to know, that once God has established a covenant

• He will never break it
• He will never leave you
• He will never forsake you
  • He may have to correct you
  • He may have to alter a few things in it for your own good or correction

But He will never break His covenant and He will always be with you even in your lowest hour! David was in his lowest hour when Gad came and said, ‘What’s it going to be David?’

Hebrews 13:5: “Do not allow the love of money to influence your behavior, but be satisfied with what you have; for He has said, ‘In no way will I ever leave you; no—I will never forsake you in any way.’” Never! In the Greek is the double: ‘I will not, I will not ever leave you or forsake you!’

Verse 6: “So then, let us boldly say, ‘The Lord is my Helper, and I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’” That’s a tremendous thing!

Part of the situation with understanding about Elohim is that with this love-covenant relationship of God, He will never leave you. You many leave Him but He will never leave you!

pg 30—Names of God in Holy Scripture:

For He is God of gods and Lord of lords. He does execute the judgment of the fatherless and the widow. A father of the fatherless and a judge of the widows is God in His Holy habitation.

That’s not of those who go out and commit fornication and have children without fathers around. Look at what has come upon the land because of that, but truly widows who are widows indeed.

God is a Judge of the widows. Is God in His Holy habitation. The faithful Creator cannot fail His creation. They may be, and or are, unworthy, but He is Elohim forevermore.

He is God forevermore! We can deny Christ but He cannot deny Himself.

Isaiah 45:22: “‘Turn to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God [Elohim] and there is none else. I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not turn back... [He will not go back on His Word] ...that unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.’ One shall say, ‘Only in the LORD do I have righteousness and strength; even to Him shall men come. And they are ashamed, all who are angry against Him.’ In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory” (vs 22-25).

Now we have the New Covenant. What did God say He would do with the New Covenant for His people? Think about this promise, this covenant, that God has made, of which we are a part!

Hebrews 8:10: “‘For this is the covenant that I will establish with the house of Israel after those days,’ says the Lord: ‘I will give My laws into their minds, and I will inscribe them upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they will be My people.’”

• Are the laws of God in your heart and in your mind? Yes, they are!
• Is God keeping His promise? Yes, He is!

He repeated it in Hebrews 10:15: “And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after He had previously said, ‘This is the covenant that I will establish with them after those days,’ says the Lord: ‘I will give My laws into their hearts, and I will inscribe them in their minds and their sins and lawlessness I will not remember ever again.’” (vs 15-17). That’s a tremendous promise!

Because we’re human and we have the law of sin and death in us, we can’t necessarily get rid of every memory of every sin that we have; but God does not view us through our own mind. God views us as though we are literally—because He looks at those that are not as though they are—His very sons. Now! Today! This minute! “…their sins and lawlessness I will not remember ever again.”

What is the consequence of what I just read? If you believe the first part—that God has put His laws in your heart and mind and inward parts—then go back and read v 15 again: “And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after He had previously said…. [it quotes what He said before] …‘This is the covenant I will establish with them...’ (vs 15-16).

What did He say after that? Verse 17: “And their sins and lawlessness I will not remember ever again.” Blots them out completely! No more!

Verse 18: “Now, where remission of these is, it is no longer necessary to offer sacrifices for sin.Therefore, brethren, having confidence...” (vs 18-19)—because you can come in the name of God the Father with the very promises that He gave as Elohim; that His very covenant relationship will be forever, and He cannot deny Himself.

James 1:17: “Every good act of giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with Whom there is no variation, nor shadow of turning.” He cannot deny Himself. He is God! If He swears and it comes out of His mouth it is an oath and He won’t break it!

Verse 18: “According to His own will, He begat us by the Word of Truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all His created beings” (vs 17-18)—of His Spiritual creation.

It’s tremendous when we go through and look at these things and sort of specialize this way and study them. I tell you, brethren, one of the best things that has been for us to grow in grace and knowledge that things have been on a continuous basis.

• we’re here every Sabbath

We’re going to be sick now and then, no problem with that.

• we’re studying the Word of God every week
• we’re growing in it
• we’re trying to build always in knowledge

and have

• God’s Spirit
• His laws
• His Word
• everything that God has in our hearts and our minds

It just makes it tremendous to be able to do that. It really does.

I have a situation where I’m having to teach the basic Spiritual things and the basic understanding to them. We went through the basic things of:

• What is sin?
• What is repentance?
• What is baptism?

I could not cover what I’m teaching here with them. For us who—as the Bible says—taste and see that the Lord is good and who have ‘eaten of His Word’ as it were, this is tremendously inspiring and uplifting.

Psalms 25:8: “Good and upright is the LORD; therefore, He will teach sinners in the way.The meek He will guide in judgment; and the meek He will teach His way. All the paths of the LORD are mercy and Truth to those who keep His covenant and His testimonies” (vs 8-10)—if you’re not out there sinning. We don’t have to be out there sinning greatly, we’re going to sin enough just driving down the road. But if we are truly keeping His covenant and His testimonies, then there’s going to be mercy and graciousness given to us. That’s tremendous!

Verse 11: “For Your name’s sake, O LORD, pardon my iniquity, for it is great. What man is he who fears the LORD? He shall teach him in the way that He shall choose. His soul shall dwell at ease, and his seed shall inherit the earth. The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant” (vs 11-14).

We still have to live in the world and we still have to live in this nation and you think, ‘Oh, what is God going to do with these people?’ Read Leviticus 26. That’s what you want to call a ‘heavy chapter’! He says, ‘If you still won’t keep My commandments and do the things, I’m going to punish you seven times yet again. I’m going to punish you until it gets so bad that:

• your enemies are going to eat your food
• you’re going to be left destitute, naked and starving in your own cities
• you’re going to cannibalize your own children

What’s God going to do right in the middle of all that?

Leviticus 26:39: “And they that are left of you shall rot away in your enemies’ lands because of their iniquities. And also they shall rot away because of the perversities of their fathers with them.But, if they shall confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their fathers with their own iniquities which they sinned against Me, and that they have walked contrary to Me, so that I, in turn, have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies, and if their uncircumcised hearts are then humbled, and they accept the punishment for their iniquity, then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and also My covenant with Isaac; and also My covenant with Abraham I will remember. And I will remember the land” (vs 39-42).

Verse 43: “The land also shall be forsaken by them and shall enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies waste without them. And they shall accept the punishment of their iniquities; because, even because they despised My judgments, and because their soul hated My statutes. And yet, for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not entirely cast them away; neither will I hate them to destroy them utterly and to break My covenant with them, for I am the LORD their God. But for their sakes, I will remember the covenant of their ancestors whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, so that I might be their God. I am the LORD” (vs 43-45).

We can trust in God always that He will remember His covenant!

All Scripture from The Holy Bible In Its Original Order, A Faithful Version by Fred Coulter.

Scriptural References:

1. Genesis 6:18
2. Genesis 8:1-5
3. Genesis 17:1-7, 9-10, 15-16, 18-21
4. Genesis 19:29
5. Genesis 26:24, 2-5
6. Genesis 28:12-16
7. Genesis 30:22-24
8. Genesis 35: 9-12
9. Judges 2: 1-5
10. Psalms 111:1-10
11. Psalms 105:1-10
12. 2 Samuel 23:1-5
13. 2-Samuel 24:10-16
14. 1-Kings 8:22-23
15. Hebrews 13:5-6
16. Isaiah 45:22-25
17. Hebrews 8:10
18. Hebrews 10:15-17, 15-19
19. James 1:17-18
20. Psalms 25:8-14
21. Leviticus 26:39-45

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• 1-John 2
• Genesis 9
• Revelation 2

Also referenced:

• Book: The Names of God in Holy Scripture by Andrew Jukes
• Sermon: Names of God # 1

FRC:nfs

Transcribed: 12-31-13

Proofed: 1-5-14