Saturday, August 29, 2015

Thy Kingdom Come # 18

The Kingdom and the Name (continued)

The Lord - Jehovah

We can only distinguish this name in our Bibles by the fact that it is rendered Lord and printed in capital letters. In the book of Daniel, the Name of the Great "I AM" only appears in chapter 9, but there it can be found seven times; that is, in perfect fullness. This Name is never spoken to the men of Babylon, for it is a precious Name for the covenant people; it is only spoken by Daniel in the holy atmosphere of the place of prayer. What does it mean?

It is the Name of unchanging faithfulness. Daniel was careful in his prayer ministry to keep close to the Lord's promises and declared purpose. He did not pray for what he thought might be good, nor did he suit his requests to the general ideas current in his day. He went back to the Word of God, and concentrated on God's revealed purposes for His people. True, they had forfeited every right to the promises by their sinful unbelief, but he felt sure that the faithfulness of God had an answer even to sin. And he was right. "Jehovah" is the name of the Redeemer, the One who will "make reconciliation for iniquity", and "bring in everlasting righteousness", in order to "seal up vision and prophecy", or, as this phrase means, "to make the visions and prophecies come true" (Daniel 9:24). Those who know such a faithful God can afford to go even into the fiery furnace or the lions' den for the sake of their vision.

It is also the Name of unquenchable life. Moses learned this Name in the desert, where he saw the flame which burnt on without consuming the bush. It was there that he first heard the great title, "I AM THAT I AM". It is not life which has to avoid death, but life which can go right through it and emerge triumphantly on resurrection ground. None but Jehovah could bring a new Jerusalem out of the ruined city of Daniel's fathers; but He could, and so Daniel prayed on and continued to hope. No other could ever bring a triumphant and glorious Church out of the confusion and weakness of things as they are today; but HE CAN, and so we too must pray on and not lose hope. It may mean the fiery furnace heated seven times for us, but we need have no fears. He will not let us avoid it; He will do better - He will bring us unscathed and triumphant through. He is the God of Resurrection.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 19 - (The God of Daniel)

No comments:

Post a Comment