Wednesday 24 August 2011
Jesus is Enough
El Shaddai
The first place El Shaddai is used is in Genesis 17:1, in which God introduced Himself as El Shaddai.
The Torah – Genesis 17:1-8
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I Am El Shaddai. Walk in My ways and be blameless. I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will make you exceedingly numerous.”
Abram threw himself on his face; and God spoke to him further, “As for Me, this is My covenant with you: You shall be the father of a multitude of nations. And you shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I make you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fertile, and make nations of you; and kings shall come forth from you. I will maintain My covenant between Me and you, and your offspring to come, as an everlasting covenant throughout the ages, to be God to you and to your offspring to come. I assign the land you sojourn in to you and your offspring to come, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting holding. I will be their God.”
In Kay Arthur’s book, LORD, I Want To Know You, she writes, “First, the LORD says, ‘I am God Almighty.’ Here is the revelation of the source from which Abram is to receive everything. Then He adds something to Abram’s name. He puts something into Abram, which at once changes him from Abram to Abraham. What He adds is the He, * , the chief letter of His own name ‘Jehovah’, - that sound which can only be uttered by an out-breathing – thus giving to the elect something of His own nature, (for name denotes nature,) and so by the communication of Himself and of His out-breath or spirit, molding His creature to His own pleasure, that he may be a channel of blessing to many others.”
Jesus did this in John 20:21- Jesus therefore said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
John 20:22 – And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
The definition of the word inspire is: 1a - to breathe or blow into or upon, b – to infuse (as life) by breathing.
So, God was inspired to make a covenant with Abraham and added His out-breath to him , giving part of Himself to him; and in just the same way, Jesus added His out-breath to his disciples in the form of the Holy Spirit – inspirational!
El Shaddai is traditionally translated as God Almighty and the All-Sufficient One. Maybe these translations should not be taken separately because, really, to be God Almighty would you not have to be All-Sufficient and to be All-Sufficient would you not also have to be Almighty?
The Jewish rabbis translated El Shaddai as God Almighty. And He was certainly God Almighty when He formed the covenant with Abram, but he was also the All-Sufficient One when He provided the ram for the sacrifice for Abraham and Isaac.
El Shaddai in Genesis 17:1 means Almighty, the Almighty, the Powerful One, or the Mighty One (God).
Shaddai is used forty-nine times in the Old Testament, thirty-one of which occur in Job.
Jesus introduced Himself in Rev 1:8 as “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Almighty here means – all, every, power, strength, dominion, Ruler overall, omnipotent, almighty, spoken only of God. Jesus was saying He is El Shaddai. He is still saying it!
All through the book of Revelation: Rev 1:8, 4:8, 11:16, 11:17, 15:3, 15:4, 16:7, 16:14, 19:6, 19:15, 19:16 and 21:22. Hallelujah!
