The Law as a Theater of the Names & Ways of God

“All hail.” – Matt. 28:9

God’s Name is eternal. God’s Ways and Attributes are immutable. What has been revealed cannot be repealed by the fruition of new and greater Covenants. At the fruition of the Abrahamic Covenant in the Mosaic Covenant, or, at the fruition of the Mosaic Covenant in the Davidic Covenant; and, finally, at the fruition of the Old Covenant(s) in the New Covenant: the Names, Ways, and Attributes of God are increasingly clarified and never nullified.

“Thy Name is from Everlasting” - Isa. 63:16

“His Ways are Everlasting” - Hab. 3:6

“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” – Heb. 13:8

“I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him. That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.” - Ecclesiastes 3:14-15

From the genesis of redemption, to its glorious terminus (Rev. 2:17, 3:12), the exploits of salvation are being crystallized by ascribing to God a new Name to memorialize each event and capture the essential message as it pertains to the personality of God. However, not in the same sense that systematic theologies use generic or philosophical terms to catalogue the attributes of God (Prov. 25:14). This core doctrine of the Bible is grindingly practical to the daily walk of believers. The mighty scope of all that is intended in Scripture by the Names of God does far exceed the pathetic imaginations of men. Therefore, an oversight here means unforgivable loss in the pulpit.

A preacher who doesn’t comprehend what it means to know (Ps. 9:10, 91:14), remember (Ps. 20:7), fear (Mal. 2:5), and act in the Name of God (Ps. 118:10-12), being oblivious to the salvific aid and immediate safety of it (Ps. 124:8, Prov. 18:10), shouldn’t be in the pulpit. For, the Name of God isn't merely something that can be spelled-out on paper or spoken in a word. In fact, such a relationship with the Name of God is strictly forbidden (Ex. 20:7, Deut. 5:11, Ps. 139:20, Isa. 29:13)! For, the Name of God isn't merely a word by which mankind should address God, nor is it just a characteristic about God; rather, it speaks of the actual living presence of God. Demonstrably, that's why the Name of God can be in or near people or places (Ex. 23:21, Ps. 75:1); or, that's why it can be recorded or placed in or upon people or places (Ex. 20:24, Num. 6:27, 2 Chron. 6:20). 

This being the case, what can be said of all the preachers who speak in the Name of the LORD from the pulpit on any given Sunday? Theological titles from your name brand Seminary nowadays commercializes the holy offices of “the Church”, making the study of God far from practical for the so called “laymen” of the congregation. Therefore, men should beware of the modern enterprise of Theology. Formal academic training will accredit your spirituality before men, but not before God. You will become professional and polished, and masterful at Church Polity, while the conceptual essence of “knowing” God in your soul is totally perverted in the process. The sheer volume of unbiblical information ingested by the mind of seminarians will bring decay to the memory of sweet communion in the presence of God. Before long, students will forget the reason why men are supposed to search the scriptures to begin with.

“Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me. And ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.” - John 5:39-40

This is the robbery of our time, as in bygone ages. This diabolical art threatens all from the pulpit in the Church on your street corner. It is unrelenting until everyone’s sincere fascination of faith in God, for the sweetheart love of knowing the Lord in the Spirit, is replaced with sheer intellectualism and a growing sense of pride. Rather, in searching the Scriptures, God would have men to search for Jesus Christ; and, in searching for Jesus Christ, God would have men search for the Gospel and its bonafide equivalents woven throughout the tapestry of divine revelation. For, if these things are rightly being understood, they proclaim Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 10:1-4)!

At the mountaintop experience of Moses in Horeb a precedent was set. He was searching for the presence of God, with heartfelt longing to see the glory of God, and the LORD proclaimed to him the Name of God (Ex. 33:12-23, 34:5-8)! Remember? Upon hearing a mighty divine proclamation of the Name of God, things have never been the same. Accordingly, knowing God is formally clarified to be nothing short of an intimate and personal communion with the LORD made possible by the Presence of God, as it empowers redeemed men to walk in the Ways of God (Deut. 4:1-4, 5:33, 8:6, 10:12, 20, 11:22-23, 13:4, 19:9, 26:17, 28:9, 30:15-20, 32:4; Micah 6:6-8; Acts 11:22-24) – all of which is the same essential experience as thinking, speaking, acting, moving, and having one’s being in the Name of God.

Apparently, to be unknowledgeable of this doctrine is to be ignorant of the Gospel and unknowledgeable of God, even in the Old Testament (Ex. 33:13-14; Ex. 33:19, 34:5-7, Ps. 103:7-8; Ps. 95:10-11, Heb. 3:18, 4:2). For, in the Theater of Redemption, we behold an increasingly clarified sculpture of divine personality. In Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, & Deuteronomy we behold a Spectacle of Salvation that is crystalized in the Names of God. Anyone blind to this mystery needs to take another tour of the Law looking for the great hallmarks of redemption; only let the reader focus on the Names of God as they correlate with each exploit of salvation, and how these relate to the Gospel Message being presented through typological shadows. In God’s providence, this lens and scope shall make for a new experience in the divine spectacle – the storyline of these two generations: the Exodus Generation and their of age Children. From the vantage point of Deuteronomy, in retrospect, the core doctrines of the faith are profoundly clarified. This was God’s condescension to the Children of the Exodus Generation, and to us (1 Cor. 10:11-12), as the LORD seeks to forbid all believers from the wander lust of the Exodus Generation.

Deuteronomy shows the correlation between The Names of God and the Ways of God in the divine operation of salvation accomplished through the Gospel in the Old Testament. For, apparently, in losing sight of this, the Exodus Generation lost sight of Christ (1 Cor. 10:1-4). This is a truly unforgiveable offense committed by the Exodus Generation, now serving as an immortal warning to believers of all time (1 Cor. 10:5-12). Categorically identifying the core problem of negligence that led to a sudden apostasy in true believers, the spirit of prophecy in David focused on one thing in particular: “…My Ways” (Ps. 95:10). Furthermore, the writer of Hebrews (expounding Psalm 95:7-11 in Hebrews 3:7-4:11), interpreted this category of biblical truth to be: “the Gospel” (Heb. 4:2). Therefore, to comprehend what happened to the Exodus Generation in respect to their knowledge of the Ways of God, we must analyze their salvation experience focusing on the Names of God. Only then can we truly comprehend what happened to them and how to prevent it.