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Limited to
the abstract conceptualizations of God formed in my head over
a lifetime of hearing and using the word "God", I must
confess to a pretty vague notion of Him. But the multiple names
of God in the Bible have increasingly gotten my attention in recent
years because they show flashes of who he actually is and what
he is really like.
We are drawn a little closer to almost any human when we have a name for him or her locked into our minds. Knowing a person's name is a major step in moving from an impersonal to a personal relationship with a particular individual. As the relationship develops from mere familiarity with a face, to observing and experiencing the person through interaction, what was only a name takes on greater meaning. I think knowing God's names has a similar effect in our relationship with him, particularly when there is a context which enables us to appreciate their meanings.
One descriptive name for God in Scripture which always jolts me is "the living God." He is described by this term in several contrasting people and settings - in the Old Testament and the New, by unbelievers and believers.
The resurrection celebration this week focuses us on an awesome manifestation given to the human race, that the God of the Bible is "the living God." Jesus said, "For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself." The Apostle Peter named Jesus as the Son of the living God. Christ's resurrection attested to the veracity of Jesus' association with an embodiment of the name, "the living God."
This Easter we echo with confidence the same
message the Apostles heralded to the pagan world nearly 2000 years
ago: "We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn
from these worthless things to the living God . . . he has not
left himself without testimony . . ." (Acts 14:15-17). We
have turned from serving lifeless, man-created, false, material
"gods" to serve "the living God." Though
we have turned to a God we don't see with our eyes, he is not
a God we don't know. We know God to be "the living God",
revealed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is who God
is. That is what "God" means.
Happy Easter!
-- Steve Wilson, Pastor