Who is God?

Who is God?
Words of Faith 3-20-2023
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2023
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Exodus 34
[5] Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. [6] And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, [7] maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation."

Moses had asked to "know" God's ways (Exodus 33:13). Moses had also asked to see the glory of God, His deeper nature and detail (33:18). So the Lord answered. He stood with Moses and proclaimed His name, The Lord. It is from the name of the Lord that His attributes flow and we find them here. "Who God is" is inseparable from His name. By proclaiming His name, the Lord revealed thirteen attributes of Himself. We will consider them over the next few days.
What is the primary attribute of God? Well, He is the Lord God, Jehovah. Yehovah - yeh-ho-vaw' or Jehovah means the self-existent or eternal One. He is the One not created by any other. He always was and always shall be. The text actually repeats this name twice. The Lord, the Lord God...
The second use of Jehovah is combined with 'El', which means 'strength' or "Almighty." El is a more generalized name for God that was even used in other cultures. This indicates that the Lord God is Almighty over all other gods. He is the most powerful and strong One. God of all. This does not affirm the "power" of other gods. It simply says that the Lord is the one true living God above anything that we may have thought was a god.
These attributes are foundational. When we begin to consider God we must understand that He is not a construct of our thinking or the product of our religion. God is the Almighty ever-existent One. We do not shape Him by our thinking or our theology. He simply is who He is. We may discover more of His attributes as He reveals Himself to us through Scripture, but He does not change. We do not uncover Him; He reveals Himself to us.
He is Almighty which means that there is nothing more powerful or more knowing than the Lord. We would call this sovereignty. He is the ultimate mark, measure, and judge of the universe He created. Whether we acknowledge the authority of the Lord or not, He is still the Lord God Almighty. He is the one objective truth and reality. At the end of all inquiry and after all debate, there is God, the Lord God Almighty.
Interestingly, most of the 13 attributes of God are what we might call "soft" qualities. We will hear much about His love and mercy in these verses. But at the foundation, we must understand His absolute power and authority. God has many warm and fuzzy qualities in which we can delight, but we will also see that His moral order is absolute. His right to set the rules of the universe according to His holiness is non-negotiable. He is the Lord God Almighty.
Meditate today upon the very name of God. Give reverence to His majesty and absolute power. He has revealed Himself to you through His encounter with Moses recorded in Scripture.

Lord God, Almighty. I bow my heart and mind before You. You are the ever-existent One. You are the sovereign over all the earth. You are the Almighty in all creation. I submit myself to You and Your authority in my life. In Jesus' Name.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2023
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2023 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.