The Name of God – El Olam – June 12, 2022 – Pastor Marvin Engle

 

INTRODUCTION:

There is a profound satisfaction which is realized by the true believer as he discovers more and more of the wonderful glories of the God of the Bible and His grace.  As a believer walks with God in this life and feeds on His Word, there is a growth in grace and in the knowledge of God that is inevitable – 2 Peter 3:18 – ¹⁸ But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

As each of us have a chain of personal new experiences in the Christian life, we become better acquainted with our God, and we become better able to trust Him.  Dawn and I were put in a place several times in our ministry where we had no one to trust but God; in those personal experiences, we learned He was totally trustworthy and we learned by experience to trust only in Him, not in men or what they could do for us.  God taught us that he knew our circumstances, and He proved worthy of our complete trust.  In those times, such verses as Proverbs 3:5-6 – ⁵ TRUST in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto THINE OWN UNDERSTANDING . ⁶ In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths and Isaiah 26:3-4 – ³ Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. ⁴ Trust ye in the Lord forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength: became absolutely precious and personal to us along with many other portions of Scripture.

As you go through various difficult circumstances of life, ask God to show you one of the names of God that will meet your particular need.  When He shows you that name, trust in the name of God – Proverbs 18:10 – ¹⁰ The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.  One of the very favorite names of God in our family is the name of God we will study next week – Jehovah-Jireh.  This name means, “The Lord will provide.”  We have seen God provide for us so often, and so often unexpectedly; Lonnie will tell you this is His favorite name of God.  I heard him use it when God recently provided another car for him!  I cannot tell you how often this name of God has been heard in my home through the years!

The name of God that becomes precious to you does not have to be one of these Old Testament names.  It could be one of the names of Jesus Christ or one of the names of the Holy Spirit.  When we were lost in sin and without hope, He became our Savior.

When we experience a time of sickness, He becomes our Healer – Psalm 103:1-3 – Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. ² Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: ³ Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who HEALETH all thy diseases.

When we experience a time of sorrow, He becomes our Comforter – 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 – ³ Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT; ⁴ Who COMFORTS us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

When we experience a time of need, He becomes our Provider – Philippians 4:19 – ¹⁹ But my God shall SUPPLY ALL YOUR NEED according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. 

When we experience a time of confusion and need guidance beyond ourselves, as we turn to God for the answers, and seek His divine guidance, He becomes our Shepherd and Guide in daily life.

When we are tempted to worry and have anxiety, and when we pray and trust the Lord, He becomes our Peace – Philippians 4:6-7 The Living Bible – ⁶  DON’T WORRY about anything; instead, PRAY ABOUT EVERYTHING; tell God your needs, and don’t forget to thank him for his answers. ⁷ IF you do this, YOU WILL EXPERIENCE GOD’S PEACE, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. HIS PEACE WILL KEEP your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest AS YOU TRUST IN CHRIST JESUS.

 

THE NAMES OF GOD ABRAHAM HAS LEARNED THUS FAR:

In addition to our personal walk and experiences with God as believers, the Word of God constantly is used of God to reveal Himself to us in new and instructive ways.  Many of you have come to know and understand your God better by the names we have studied so far.  Each new revelation of God to us is designed to prepare us for greater trust, greater service, and greater testimony for Him in the future..

Most of the names of God that we have learned thus far were revealed to Abraham, the Father of the Jewish nation.  Each new name learned by Abraham was intended to strengthen his faith and prepare him for his “greatest test of faith” that he will experience in his entire life, one we will look at next week.

Abraham has come to know God as Elohim, the strong and faithful one, his Creator, the God of Glory who appeared to him in Mesopotamia and called him to a life of separation.

He also knows his God as Jehovah, the living God who created man in His image to have fellowship with man; the Holy God who loves him and has appeared to him many times for personal fellowship and communication.  Jehovah is his Redeemer and Savior, the great I AM.

Abraham has come to know his God as El Elyon, the Most High God, who possesses and rules on the earth; gave him victory over his enemies, and rules in the kingdom of men.

Abraham recognizes his God as Adonai, his Lord and Master; the owner of his life and his possessions; his Supreme Lord to whom he owes absolute obedience and trusting faith.

Abraham learns through his servant-girl, Hagar, another new name of God when He appeared to Hagar as El Roi (EE), the God who sees me, the One who is everywhere present and fully aware of their trials, who loves His children too much to take His eyes off of them.

Last week, we saw that Abraham learned yet another new name for his God, El Shaddai, the Almighty God, the One who is all-powerful and able to make fruitful his children.  There is nothing too hard for El Shaddai who is able to fulfill His promise of a son to Abraham and Sarah by a miracle-birth of Isaac to one who was 99 and whose wife was 90.

Last week I wanted to point you to one other portion of Scripture that speaks to us so beautifully of El Shaddai – Psalm 91:1-2 – He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. ² I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.  El Shaddai is not only the theme of a great worship song, it is also a name of God that holds secrets known to the believer, but unknown to those who have no knowledge of the wonderful God we love and serve.  Have you met Him lately in the “secret place?”  Have you learned to say by experience, “in Him will I trust.”

 

EL OLAM – THE EVERLASTING GOD:  Genesis 21:30-33

Now Isaac has been born and Abraham and Sarah have been fruitful and filled with laughter – Genesis 21:1-5.  Isaac continues to grow up and Abraham is thinking about the brevity of life, knowing he is getting old and cannot live on earth forever.  The scene for the first use of the name El Olam is a treaty between Abraham and Abimelech, requested by Abimelech after seeing that God was with Abraham (22) and desiring to resolve a dispute over a well (25-26).  After resolving the dispute over the well, Abraham planted a grove of tamarisk trees, the evergreen tree of the East, and calls on the name of El Olam – 21:30-33.

            Abraham is aging and becoming more aware of the frailty of his earthly life and realized that he will die as all men die and perish from the earth, but his God is the Everlasting God, the One who lives on forever.  Abraham needed this new revelation of his God as One who will never cease to exist but will eternally exist to carry out His promises to Abraham’s children, grandchildren and generations to come.

            Life on earth is an uncertain and changing existence.  As he journeys on this insecure journey of life, every man needs an anchor for his soul to give him a sure and secure future in eternity beyond this life.  Ecclesiastes 3:11 AMP – ¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has PLANTED ETERNITY in men’s hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that MEN CANNOT FIND OUT what God has done from the beginning to the end.  The great need of every man’s soul is the promise of eternal existence beyond this life.  The knowledge of Jesus Christ as your Savior is the answer to this great need – John 17:1-3 – These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: ² As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that HE SHOULD GIVE ETERNAL LIFE to as many as thou hast given him. ³ And THIS IS LIFE ETERNAL, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Friend, the God of the Bible is El Olam, the Everlasting God, the God who is without beginning and without end; the God who will never grow old and will never die.  Moses wrote of El Olam when leading a group of Israelites through the wilderness for 40 years while those who rejected His command to enter the Promised Land, 20 years old and upward, died as a result of their rebellion in Psalm 90:1-4 – Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. ² Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even FROM EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING, THOU ART GOD. ³ Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men. ⁴ For A THOUSAND YEARS IN THY SIGHT are but as YESTERDAY when it is past, and as a watch in the night.

Men live and die according to the will of God, and those who live a full span of life on earth, find it is brief indeed.  Yes, men die and so do their earthly gods (ever hear of anyone today praying to “Diana, the great goddess of the Ephesians” – Acts 20:34-35)?  But the Everlasting God lives on from everlasting to everlasting.  He is eternal, unchanged and unaffected by death.  It is on Him we trust to keep His promise to those who trust Jesus Christ as their personal Savior to give them eternal life.  An eternal and everlasting God lives on forever and bestows on those who believe, “forever life.”

EL OLAM IS THE “GOD OF THE AGES”:

One of the great meanings of the name El Olam is the truth that He is “the God of the ages.”  He is the God who lives from age to age, and works out his will over a successive period of time, and in varied dispensations; not all at once!  This is a great truth!  God reveals Himself in varying degrees over a period of ages, according to man’s capacity to receive His new and growing revelation.

God has “A Plan for the Ages.” To those of you who are studying Bible Dispensations in my brother, Larry’s Sunday school class, there is a man named Clarence Larkin, who wrote an amazing book in 1918 full of clear explanations, ingenious charts, and invaluable prophetic information.  His book is called, “Dispensational Truth or God’s Plan and Purpose in the Ages.”  THE SCOFIELD BIBLE NOTES SAY – “HE IS THE GOD WHOSE WISDOM HAS DIVIDED ALL TIME AND ETERNITY INTO THE MYSTERY OF SUCCESSIVE AGES OR DISPENSATIONS.”

This name of God, El Olam, assures us that the Everlasting God is possessed of a life that allows Him to personally carry out His plan for man from age to age.  He never changes and is ever the same as the Psalmist expresses in – Psalm 102:24-27 – I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: THY YEARS ARE THROUGHOUT ALL GENERATIONS. ²⁵ Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. ²⁶ They shall perish, but THOU SHALT ENDURE: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: ²⁷ But THOU AT THE SAME, and THY YEARS SHALL HAVE NO END.

EL OLAM IS THE EVERLASTING GOD WHO KNOWS AND REVEALS SECRETS: 

Isaiah 40:25-28   ²⁵  TO WHOM THEN WILL YE LIKEN ME, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. ²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high, and behold WHO HATH CREATED THESE THINGS, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth. ²⁷ Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? ²⁸ Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the EVERLASTING GOD, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? THERE IS NO SEARCHING OF HIS UNDERSTANDING.

El Olam, especially the word Olam, contains the idea of something which is “secret.” Eternity is from the “secret past” to the “secret future.”  A time which is not measured and cannot be measured, from ”the hidden, secret, unrevealed ages of the PAST on into the hidden, secret, measureless ages of the FUTURE.”

El Olam is the Everlasting God, there is no searching of His understanding.  He has secrets He has not yet revealed to believing men – Deuteronomy 29:29 – ²⁹ The SECRET THINGS belong unto the Lord our God: but those THINGS which are REVEALED belong unto us and to our children for ever…  Romans 11:33 – ³³ O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

I Corinthians 2:9-10 – But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.¹⁰ But GOD HATH REVEALED THEM UNTO US by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

The secrets and mysteries of El Olam are “hidden” to men who are unsaved; men who do not know and reject the God of Heaven, and men who do not know and reject the Bible as the Word of God, cannot know the secrets of God.

God revealed His secrets to believing men in the Old Testament as He chose to reveal them, as he did to Daniel – Daniel 2:17-22, 28, 47 – ¹⁷ Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions: ¹⁸ That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven CONCERNING THIS SECRET; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. ¹⁹ THEN WAS THE SECRET REVEALED unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. ²⁰ Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: ²¹ And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: ²² HE REVEALETH THE DEEP AND SECRET THINGS: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. ²⁸ But THERE IS A GOD IN HEAVEN THAT REVEALETH SECRETS, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;        ⁴⁷ The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that YOUR GOD IS A GOD OF gods, and a Lord of kings, and A REVEALER OF SECRETS, seeing thou couldest REVEAL THIS SECRET.

He also revealed His secrets to godly men in the New Testament – Ephesians 3:3-5 – ³ How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, ⁴ Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) ⁵ WHICH IN OTHER AGES WAS NOT MADE KNOWN unto the sons of men, AS IT IS NOW REVEALED unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;

THE MEANING OF “EL OLAM” TO US:

The Everlasting God created man in His image with an immortal soul that will never cease to exist. – John 11:25.  You will spend eternity somewhere.  Everlasting punishment is as true, as real, and as lasting as Everlasting life – Luke 12:4-5; Matthew 25:41.

The Eternal God is the only One who can promise Eternal life, and then be there in Eternity to guarantee it – John 10:27-30.

Believing child of God, the Eternal God is our Refuge and Shelter in the storms of life – Deuteronomy 33:27 – ²⁷ The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms

El Olam, the Everlasting God, will never, never leave us or forsake us.  He is always with us in life.  He is always there with us through every trial.  He is our Refuge.  He will fulfill all His promises.  He is worthy of your trusting faith!

Unsaved one!  You were created for eternity.   You can still trust in Jesus Christ and receive the gift of eternal life.  The choice is yours!  All eternity will prove whether you are a wise man who built his house on the solid rock, the Lord Jesus Christ, or whether you chose to be a man or woman Jesus described as a foolish man.  What is your choice?