Word of Encouragement (9/29/2021)

We are going through the prayers/praises we see in the Book of Revelation. We began on the first one, which is, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come” (Rev. 4:8)! Yesterday, we talked about God’s holiness. Today, let’s reflect on the significance of the way the four creatures are addressing God—“the Lord God almighty.”

Some of you might have noticed that, when you read the Old Testament, you often encounter the expression, “the LORD” (L-O-R-D, all in capital letters) as well as “Lord” or “lord.” When the title of God is all capitalized (“the LORD”), it is to show that the Hebrew word for that expression is YHWH (or, Jehovah, יְהוָה), the proper name of the God of Israel. In fear of using God’s name in vain in violation of the Third Commandment, the Jews did not pronounce the name of God; instead, they said, “(my) LORD” (Adonai, אֲדֹנָי). In this tradition, the LXX (Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament) uses the Greek word, κύριος (kurios, Lord). The New Testament follows this tradition as well. So, when we read, “the Lord God almighty” in Rev. 4:8, we can safely assume that “the Lord” refers to YHWH. (Elsewhere in the New Testament, it often refers to Jesus Christ, affirming His divine nature.)

God explains the meaning of YHWH in response to one of Moses’ excuses not to accept God’s commission to go back to Egypt and deliver the people of Israel. Moses asked, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them” (Ex. 3:13). God replied, “I AM WHO I AM.... Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you’” (Ex. 3:14).

The name, YHWH, is derived from “I AM WHO I AM” or “I AM.” We can see how “the Lord” (YHWH) is worthy to be praised, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord...!” We said that God is holy because He is set apart from everything else as the Creator of all things. If He is the Creator of all things, He must exist in and of Himself, not made or created by anything. He has life in Himself—“I AM THAT I AM”! As such, He is not affected or changed or defined by anything else, except by His own being.

This boggles our minds, doesn’t it? We did not will ourselves into being. We are given birth and life. Everything we see around us is made by something else, which is made by something else, etc. With our finite mind and experience, we cannot imagine what it means to exist eternally without a beginning or an ending. But without such a self-existing Being, how can there be creation and creatures? How awesome is our Lord, YHWH! He, who gave us life, desires to give us eternal life in communion with Him.

“God,” of course, is the generic name of the divine, transcendental/holy Being. As in this verse, it is used often in conjunction with YHWH (“the Lord God”). This combination shows that the God of Israel (YHWH, the Lord) is the one and only God Himself.

God is also addressed as “the Almighty,” too. He is the all-powerful (omnipotent) One. This doesn’t mean that He can do anything and everything. He cannot lie. He cannot sin. He cannot do anything contrary to His character. But He is able to do anything and everything He wills to do according to His character and purpose. How much greater He is than we are with our finite abilities and weak and divided will! And what a blessing it is that the Almighty loves us and wills to do good to us! “Thou art coming to a King, / large petitions with thee bring, / for His grace and power are such / none can ever ask too much” (John Newton)! Let us praise the Lord God Almighty!