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Logos Ministries Incorporated
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BEHOLD THE BRIGHTNESS This 180 page book points out how God has revealed Himself through His names in the Scriptures. In each instance, this work seeks to identify the involvement of the context in the use of each name INTRODUCTION God, as an act of loving fellowship, has revealed Himself to humanity in a variety of ways which we can grasp with our minds and hearts. This self-revelation is presented in such a manner that we can only grasp it as we are enabled by the Holy Spirit. Our inability to discern the person of God cannot be attributed to Him. He is not reluctant to be discovered. Our inability to grasp is rather an outgrowth of our casual search, our human limitations, a fear that we could not comprehend His nature at all or a fear of what we would learn that might confront us to live differently. We might not want to change that much. This often leads people to abandon the search. Names are very important to us. We choose the name of a business with great care. An emerging nation has called itself Macedonia. Because of this, they are experiencing intense problems with the nation of Greece. The Greek government believes that the name "Macedonia" belongs to Greece. As third World countries attain their freedom, they immediately change their names. The names of children are very significant. When John the Baptist was born, there was a lengthy discussion about what his name would be. Many American children, born in the 1930's were named Franklin, after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Most of us know children who were named after John Wesley, or John Calvin. Our own children were given very carefully chosen names. Our daughter was named after her mother and a Biblical personality whose character had great meaning for us. Our son was named after a college professor who was very dear to my wife and me. Names are very important to people, even today. The author of the epistle to the Hebrews spoke of Jesus in these words.
There are two illustrations of who Jesus is in this verse: the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being. The word "radiance" is "apaugasma" or "ajpauvgasma" in the Greek. It is made up of two words:
This helps us to understand that it is the shining forth of a light from a luminous body. It is not a reflection, but the brightness, the radiance itself. Jesus is also the exact representation of God's being. "Exact representation" or "express image" as some translations have it, is the Greek word "Carakthjr or "charakter." This word comes from the engravers' trade. In that day, people did not have credit cards as we do now. The wealthy, however, had essentially the same thing. An engraver would take a ring or cylinder and carve the family design into the precious stone. When a person wished to make a purchase, a bill of sale would be made out. Instead of signing the bill, they would place some soft clay or wax on it. The purchaser would then either press the ring into or roll the cylinder through the soft wax. This would leave an exact representation of the design on the ring or cylinder in the wax. The author of Hebrews was saying that what the impression in the wax was to the design on the cylinder, Jesus was to the Father. When God had finished commanding Moses in the mountain, this man of God gave vent to a basic human longing.
There is within the human heart a longing to discover the glory of God. If this is the case, and it is, then why is it so difficult to satisfy the human longing we all share? Why hasn't that been fulfilled long ago? In the book of Job, one of the "comforters," Zophar, speaks to the perplexity of our condition when he asked these questions:
Every person who has ever attempted to contemplate the person of God is quite familiar with the dilemma of which Zophar spoke. Paul focuses the problem of our search in a doxology he shared with Timothy.
To some extent, we stand in awe of rulers. God is the ruler who stands in judgment over all the rulers of the earth, all the rulers of all ages. He is the King who commands every king who occupies a throne. He is the Lord who was and is master of every master of servants in human history. Part of our dilemma is the sheer greatness of our God. Again, as Paul said, God is uniquely immortal. This dilemma is obvious. How can mere mortals ever fully grasp what it means to be immortal? Someone has said it is like one blind man trying to describe to another blind man what an elephant looks like. God lives in light unapproachable. The word "unapproachable" is "aprositos" or "ajprovsito"" in the Greek, which means inaccessible, one whom we are unworthy to approach. We struggle to penetrate the brightness which inhibits our fuller discovery of God because of the faultiness of our comprehension. Again, Paul speaks impressively to the issue:
The word for image is "eikon" or "ejikwjn" in the Greek. This word was used of the representation on a coin or statue. I never saw a man named "Lenin," but having stood in the center of Donetsk, a city in the Ukraine, I saw a statue of him, and will forever be able to identify a picture of the man because of the likeness I saw there. Jesus is the visible, comprehensible representation of the invisible God. Another of Paul's beautiful doxologies speaks carefully to our difficulty in discerning the indiscernible.
The wisdom of God is so deep that our finite minds cannot fully plumb its depths or define His unsearchable judgments. The problem with which we struggle is the shallowness of our mental grasp and the infinity of God's wisdom and knowledge. Good reasons motivate individuals in their undaunted search to know God. Scripture and history teach us that it is a personal liability to fail to know God intimately. Genesis tells us that our first parents created a historical cataclysm because they did not take their knowledge of God seriously. The history of Israel is replete with similar examples. God told Israel precisely what He wanted them to do. The nation disobeyed; they did not take the instruction seriously. Israel and the whole world are still dealing with the consequences of that faulty judgment. In the Scriptures we are commanded to be like God.
I am unable to obey that instruction unless I know what God is like. I face a failing situation because I am incapable of moving toward the totally incomprehensible. Because this is true, God has revealed Himself in ways which make it possible for us to understand and incorporate our discovery of God into our daily experience. Finally, it is imperative for God's people to penetrate the brightness which surrounds God's person because of love. God is drawn to us because of His love for us. We are drawn to God because His love draws us and we love Him. Love urges us to discover, ever more clearly, who God is. The self-revelation of God is a divine effort assisting limited, human minds to gain an understanding of the Unlimited, the One not totally discernible to human comprehension. It is God's gracious concession to our humanity, our finiteness. This self-revelation takes on many forms. In this study, we will confine our focus to these expressions: First, the names of God. Though it may not be too clear in some translations, there are many names for God which are used in the Scriptures. The use of a particular name is not a random choice. We will observe that specific names for God are used when certain kinds of activities are being described. When a text describes judgment, a specific name for God is commonly used. When the text describes mercy, however, a different name is used. This suggests that the use of divine names is intentional and specific. This will be our major focus. The order in which the words of the names of God are written give it a delicate shade of meaning which is slightly different from others. On occasion, two different compound names for God may be made up of the same words, but in different order. This suggests a different emphasis by the author. This is true in more than one situation. It is particularly obvious in names such as "The Lord God" and "God the Lord." This is further complicated by the fact that our English translations use one word to represent two or more different words in the Hebrew. If you look at the places where each name is found, it is clear that the different shades of meaning reflect different needs of each context. It does not necessarily reflect the presence of another author or redactor. We need to look carefully at the meaning of the name to see exactly what God has revealed of Himself through the author's word choice. Secondly, God also revealed Himself through specific teachings and actions. Throughout the Old and New Testaments, God consistently judges evil and eventually rewards righteousness. This fact tells us something specific about God's character and desires. Thirdly, God also reveals Himself through descriptive statements. In the book of Revelation, John uses this means to give us a picture of Jesus and the Father.
Through many different means, God reveals Himself to His people in love. God breaches our dilemma of imperception. He reveals His omnipotence to the powerless. To the finite, whose days are numbered, God withdraws the veil covering His eternity. There is a revealing promise given by God through the prophet Jeremiah to the people of Judah. God said,
Because God describes Himself as changeless, He will be for us what He was for the people of the Old and New Testament. God will do for us as He did for them. I cordially invite you to share with me in this search after God, to discover His brightness. |
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