Psalms 113 emphasizes the “Praise to the name of the LORD.” I quickly found myself asking which name the writer was alluding to, since GOD has a manifold list of names. The names of God are a direct reflection to who He is and His righteous attributes and character. The Jewish writers and priest so revered the name of God, that they wouldn’t even say His name; The Name of Yahweh. We have what is known at a tetragrammaton word for Yahweh which is Jehovah. God, being trinitarian, represents Father, Son and Holy Ghost [Spirit]. When we say God, in our minds we think God as Father exclusively. In the Old Testament the LORD – is reference to the Father; Lord is referenced [especially in the New Testament] as reference to Jesus. It is very hard for our finite minds to conceive the “realm of God” and not separate the Trinity into separate, albeit equal persons. When trying to describe God in terms we can understand the one illustration that helps me is the use of an egg. An egg has three distinct parts – yoke, whites and shell. However, the egg cannot exist without any of the other elements. SO the egg is three distinct parts, yet dependent on all three parts functioning at the same time to make the greater whole. In any illustration to explain God will break down at some point, but I have found this egg illustration helps the most.
Okay, back to the praise of the name of the LORD. In Psalms 113 verse 5 it asks us “who is like our God? Immediately I think of Isaiah 40 which descriptively asks question to who we would compare God too. There isn’t anything on earth, or in heaven that we can really compare God to or with. His names are self descriptive of His nature. Our God is known by name for what He does. He has a covenant name – Exodus 3, in answer to Moses “I am that I am” which uses the verb “to Be” – which is a verb of Being or essence. YHWH – the Tetragrammaton, we get Jehovah. This is the same name Jesus used in his “I am” statements in the Gospel of John, which further gives a description of God by what He does/performs.
Elohim – the powerful God; which refers to His creative power; He created, spoke into existence everything we see from Ex Nihilo, from nothing.
One of my favorites is El Shaddai – Almighty God ; speaks of His blessing and love for us. I don’t have time nor space to go through all of the names of God, for further reference look at the book “the names of God” by Ken Hemphill.
A name use to be precious, for most people it was all they had; all you had to do is say a name and it brought to mind the character and reputation of the person. Even so this should happen to the believer as the Name of God evokes in our mind the wonderful attributes of how God expresses Himself to us His children. There is great power in his name, great reverence and awe. There is no other name under heaven whereby men must be saved. It is a glorious name, worthy of praise – hence every knee will bow, earth, under the earth, in heaven – at the mention of the name Jesus!
So in our praise we have an inexhaustible ability to praise continually the attributes of God – unceasing praise – Praise the LORD!
preachbetweenthelines 