Names of God – Pt 7
(Psalm 75:1) – “We give thanks to You, God, we give thanks, For Your name is near; People declare Your wondrous works.“
El Taur – “God Our Rock (Has Redeemed)” (Deuteronomy 32:3-4)
The Name of God that we look at today is a strong Name that we all need just as the Israelites needed Him when He revealed Himself as “EL TAUR (or ZUR) – GOD OUR ROCK (Has Redeemed)!” This is found in Deuteronomy 32:3-4 in Moses song to God’s people as he is about to leave them and entrust Joshua to lead them into The Promised Land.
The Song of Moses is powerful song that reveals the rollercoaster lives of the Israelites as individuals and as a nation. They will ebb and flow greatly in their walk with God and their faithlessness in chasing after idols and false gods.
However, in v. 4 Moses declares by God’s Spirit that God is EL TAUR…He is THE ROCK and His Ways are perfect and just, always. Even as His people’s faith comes and goes He will remain steadfast and will redeem them!
That promise is fulfilled in Christ, our Rock and Redeemer, in The New Covenant and we find it most poignantly in 1 Corinthians 10:4 where Jesus is explicitly called The Rock, speaking of His provision to the Israelites themselves and encouraging us today, “for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.” Again we find in 1 Peter 2:6-7 that Christ as The Rock is The Cornerstone of our faith but a stumbling block to unbelievers, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone, and the one who believes in Him will not be put to shame. This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for unbelievers, a stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief cornerstone.”
He is also called The Rock and Cornerstone as that which holds His Church together in Ephesians 2:19-22 (emphasis v.20)!
PTL that He is El Taur – God our Rock from the beginning and throughout time and is revealed clearly in Christ as The Rock, the Cornerstone of our lives and His Church, and is our Redeemer (Ephesians 1:7, 18-23)!
El Kedern – “God From The Beginning” (Deuteronomy 33:27)
I pray that you are drawing closer to God the Father, Son and Spirit as we explore and study the Names that reveal all that He is to us. I have to believe that The Lord is doing this in and through all of us.
These next, actually 3, Names for God come from Deuteronomy 33 and the first Name is “EL KEDERN – GOD FROM THE BEGINNING” which echoes His Name Jehovah Olam our Everlasting and Eternal God! He already existed from the beginning as we understand time but He has no beginning and no end!
In Deuteronomy 33:27, Moses is in the midst of blessing the tribes of Israel and he closes the blessings by addressing EL Kedern/Jehovah Olam as The Eternal God. We never have to fear that God is not with us and for us nor will He ever fail in producing all his blessings…from the very Beginning!
As we enter into the season of Holy Days Lent, Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, we see this same concept and transition for us to see Christ as God and God in Christ in Isaiah 9:6 as a clear prophecy about Christ as one of the Names is “Everlasting Father.” How profound and comforting is that!?!
He is not claiming that Christ take the role of Father here but is describing the same divine nature of God in Christ and His role as Son, and as Savior and Lord to us. A divine mystery that I can’t fully comprehend but I trust in His Word in all things!
In the transition to, and fulfillment of, the New Covenant, Christ is given that same Name and attribute in numerous places as we observed in a recent blog in this Names of God series (see https://loveandlordship.com/blog/names-of-god-pt-3/). We can clearly see Christ and His Nature of God from His own lips in John 10:30 and in John 14:9-10.
Jehovah Chereb – “God Our Sword” and Jehovah Magen – “God Our Shield.” (Deuteronomy 33:29)
I pray that these final two Names of God in this post will encourage you to get into the battle and stand firm because He is all that we need. Watch closely as God orchestrates in His Word Who He Is both to us and for us.
These Names of God today comes again from Deuteronomy and is found in Deuteronomy 33:29. He is “Jehovah Chereb – God Our Sword” and “Jehovah Magen – God Our Shield.”
As Moses is closing out the blessings of God on all the tribes of Israel, he proclaims by The Holy Spirit, that God saves them, as He is “The shield of your help, and He who is the sword of your majesty!”
How awesome is that! He is all we need to battle the enemy and defend against all the enemy brings against us!
As always, how does this Name and all that He Is translate to the New Covenant and Christ? First of all we can look and see in Ephesians 6:17 that the Sword of The Spirit is The Word of God. And just Who Is The WORD or SWORD of God (See John 1:1, 14)? In that same chapter in Ephesians, v. 16, we are to take up the Shield of Faith to stand against all the schemes of our enemy, satan.
John 1:1,14 tells us very plainly that Christ is THE WORD become Flesh! God our Sword is His Word, Living in Christ and written in His Holy Word, The Bible! In the Ephesians 6 passage (vv. 10-18) we find that all of these items of God’s Armor are found in Christ (see v. 10) as we stand strong in Him as we intentionally put them on every day.
Just as God The Father is our Sword and Shield, so is Christ as our Savior and Lord and as God in the flesh. He is our strength and protection!
How are you daily putting on and standing in His protection and wielding His Sword of Truth in Grace and Love?
Love and Lordship…Food for Thought – God as El Taur (Zur) is our Rock and Redeemer and we can always count on Him…no matter what! We also know this because He is and always has been El Kedern – God From The Beginning with no time or limitations. He is eternal and never changes! He is also Jehovah Chereb – God Our Sword and Jehovah Magen – God Our Shield in which we find both protection and Truth to cover and guide us. That’s a God we can always depend on! I pray you know Him!
Love and Lordship…Action Item –
- Read the Scriptures in this article and ask The Holy Spirit to teach you.
- Write down what each of the Names of God in this post mean to you.
- Which of the Names of God in today’s post has had the most significant impact in your life and why?
- Find at least one other person to share what the Names of God in this post (or at least the most significant one you chose in 3 above) means to you?
Contact us at Love and Lordship to find out more about how you can know God the Father, Christ His Son and The Holy Spirit and The Lord God.
Check out this week’s Love & Lordship Mentoring Minute Video