"Who Is The Lord God, How Do We Define Him, What Is His Nature?" By: Dr. Shuffel P. Hepburn

Who is the Lord God? How do we define Him? And what is His nature? That's our message.

Prior to Moses meeting the Lord God at the place of the burning bush on the backside of Mount Horeb, he did not know the one true God, according to Exodus 3. Perhaps he had some idea about Him having been nursed on the breasts of his biological mother who was a Jewish woman. I am sure he had heard her sing the songs of Zion and heard her talk about the God of Abraham. Perhaps he knew less than that because when the child started to grow he became the son of Pharaoh's daughter, and she would have seen to it that he would be taught in the way of their gods, the gods of the Egyptian people.

Apparently the Egyptians had a pantheon of gods which included gods of creation, gods of the sun, gods of the afterlife, and gods of wisdom and various aspects of nature. She would have arranged tutors to teach him the Egyptian language, its culture, science and whatever else Egyptian children were

taught in those days. And even so the law had not yet been given to the Israelites and the most concrete doctrine was perhaps the doctrine of circumcision which the Lord had given to Abraham who believed in the one true God who possesses power and knowledge. Moses would have been circumcised on the eighth day, but perhaps he had no idea why he was circumcised or even that he had been.

And Father we thank you for this message that it may give the listener a good understanding of who you are. We thank you and praise you that you will reveal yourself to the listener in this message Father in Jesus name we pray. Amen.

At their first encounter the Lord identified Himself to Moses as God Almighty, El Shaddai. He said He was the God of his fathers. He said to him "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look upon God. So the Lord referred to Himself in this way because He knew that Moses knew his biological father and would understand. You see the Lord had given His covenant to Abraham, reaffirmed it with Isaac and reaffirmed it again with Jacob. He promised them and their descendants the same blessings and the same land. He also promised them vast numbers of descendants like the stars in the sky, and He told them to be faithful and trust in His promises. And He knew that they would pass His promises on to their children. And this covenant was sealed in blood on the penis of every male child born in the Jewish household.

Then in verse 14, the Lord said to Moses that He was going to send him to Pharaoh so that he may bring God's people, the children of Israel out of Egypt. And Moses asked the Lord what is the name that he would give the Israelites when they asked him who sent him. At this point the Lord said something incredibly difficult to grasp. He said I Am who I Am. Some translations say it this way I Am that I Am. Others say I Am what I Am and then there are a few that say I Am

the being.

This phrase I Am who I am recognizes the divine nature of God, His forever existence and His unchanging ways. In some translations it is I will be what I will be, and there are many other variations of this phrase, as many have taken a crack at it trying to interpret what this really means, what God was really saying to us. So here are two more examples; I will become what I choose to become and another says I Am the existing one. To sum them all up the Lord was simply saying just tell them I Am has sent you.

According to Exodus 6 and 3 Abraham Isaac and Jacob did not know the Father as Lord. Moses was the first person privileged to know our God as Yahweh, which means Lord. The King James version uses the Latinized version which is Jehovah, however at the end of the book of Revelation there's a term that we are all very familiar with. In this place the Lord says "I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end, the first and the last." And this puts a nice wrap on this discussion about the definition of God and His name.

Now what about the nature of our God, the nature of our Father, the nature of Yahweh. The Lord has described His nature in several places in the Old Testament carefully crafted. When He spoke to the children of Israel from Mount Si. He told them, "I the Lord your God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments," Exodus 20 verses 5 and 6.

He was telling them this is who I Am.

Sometime later Moses was called back up to the mountain by the Lord to carry the second tablets of stone upon which God would write the ten

commandments with His finger, because Moses had broken the first set. For when he came down from the mount and saw the people were worshiping the golden calf that they had forced Aaron to make for them. He broke the

commandments, dashing them to the ground. So when he went up on this occasion the Lord said that He would be gracious to whom He will be gracious and He will have compassion on whom He will have compassion. In other words do not question Him about whom He bestows His grace and His mercy upon.

On this visit He described His nature in more detail to to Moses. He made all his goodness pass before Moses and showed Him His glory. This is the manner in which He announced Himself as He passed by His faithful servant. The Lord, the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abounding in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation, Exodus 34:6 and 7. The Lord describes His nature in a similar manner in two other places in scripture namely Deuteronomy 5:9 and 10 and Numbers 14:18. So there should be no doubt about who God is and He does not change. Our God is not a chameleon like Satan who changes every day.

Let's take a look at these descriptions of God's nature to see what they really mean and we will look at them line by line. The first is:

I will have compassion on whom I will and be gracious to whom I will: The Lord is saying here that He reserves the right and has the sovereign authority to extend grace and compassion upon whomever He wants to and this is not necessarily based on merits or actions of the individual. And therefore we should be happy when someone is blessed by God and praise Him for them. For He indeed does all things well. He is just, he is fair. Has He not blessed us beyond measure, so why should we be jealous about any blessing that He bestows on anyone else. Next in line He says:

I the Lord your God am a jealous God: Now when the Lord describes Himself in this way this should not be compared to the petty jealousies of we human beings which arises from our insecurities caused by low self-esteem. But rather this is a Godly jealousy described by one source as a zealousness for maintaining the covenant relationship with His creations and Has every right to be jealous over us. He made us to worship Him in spirit and in truth and any other worship my friend is unnatural for His creations and will exclude them from His eternal presence. The next line that we'll look at says:

The Lord is merciful and gracious: He will not keep His anger forever." According to Psalm 103 it says "The Lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins nor punished us according to our iniquities. Glory to God! The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting friend upon those who fear Him and His righteousness to our grandchildren and beyond. And this applies to all who keep His covenant and those who remember to keep His commandments, is what the word of God tells us. The next line says:

The Lord is long-suffering: He goes beyond the limits in His patience with us even when He's faced with our sins and our repeated

transgressions. His hand is ever extended to us still, otherwise who among us would possibly be saved?" And then there's a line that says:

Our God abounds in goodness and truth: There's no end to His goodness. And the word of God says "Taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man who trusts in Him," Psalm 34. There's a never ending stream of goodness in our God, something that is in such short supply on the earth today. Likewise there's no end to His truth but there seem to be a shortage of it in the world today. Jesus Christ told His apostles, "When the Spirit of truth has come He will guide you into all truth for He will not speak on His own authority but whatever He hears He will speak and He will tell you things that are to come," John 16:13. Then a line says:

Keeping mercy for thousands: And this speaks of the length and breadth of God's mercy to many generations. And the word of God says through the Lord's mercy we're not consumed because His compassions fail not, Lamentation 3 and 22. The Lord's great mercy my friend prevents us from being devoured by the one who comes to steal, kill and destroy. The next line says:

Forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin: My friend the Lord has promised to remove our transgressions, our law breaking from us, and He promises to place it as far as the east is from the west. This is how far our breaking of His laws will be removed from us, we'll be totally forgiven. In other words we will be totally separated from these sins. This also applies to our iniquity which is our wickedness, our injustices and moral wrong doings. According to first John 1:9, if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Therefore He's willing to forgive us all our wrongdoing, God is faithful. An interesting line says:

By no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children: It should be clear to us that the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. All sin has consequences my friend and sometimes the

same sins we commit follow the generation behind us, namely our children. I repeat the fact that our blessings fall upon our children, therefore it is only natural that our curses should do the same. While God is merciful and gracious when a sinner repents, He will not allow that sinner to get away without consequences, even while offering forgiveness and mercy to all who repent with a sincere heart. The sin is forgiven

but painful consequences still may remain.

Now if our children walk in obedience to God these consequences of our sins will not fall on them and they're able to break the cycle of sin in their family, break the curse from over their family and live righteously bringing forth a righteous generation. And fortunately according to Ezekiel 18 the child will not die the second death for the sin of the parents. Yet be admonished that the consequences of our parents sin are waiting in the wings to fall upon us when we step away from under the umbrella of Jesus Christ who provides protection for us, and we may be inflicted by or visited by some of these consequences. And this is why we are admonished to be sober, to be vigilant because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, 1 Peter 5:8. Fortunately the Lord merely visits the iniquity of the parents upon the children to the third and the fourth generation and does not cast it upon them like a net from which they are unable to escape.

Because humans are generational with one

generation coming forth from the previous one it is only natural that both good and bad consequences be passed from one generation to another. Because of this, sin has generational consequences which we refer to as generational curses. If it suits you not to call it curses then you may refer to it as generational consequences or whatever you wish, however be certain, be sure, be mindful that it is certainly not a generational blessing. If one generation is blessed for instance by the previous generation, then it goes to reason that one generation can also be cursed by the previous one. However the Father has placed limits on this phenomenon according to Ezekiel 18 where He says that the son will not die for the father's sin, nor will the father die for the son's sin. And so the main message of Ezekiel 18 is that the soul who sins is the one that will die.

The Lord tells us in Malachi 3:6, "For I am the Lord I do not change." In addition to this Hebrews 13:8 tells us Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. And so we end this message that defines God by declaring the unchanging nature of Christ consistent with the steady and reliable doctrines of the Christian faith. May God bless and keep you, and may you have a good understanding of His nature and who He is.

You've been listening to this message, perhaps you do not know this God, this Yahweh, this Jehovah, as your personal savior. Well we want to give you an opportunity to make that commitment today. Please engage your heart and say this prayer after me:

-Father I am a sinner.

-I'm sorry for all my sins.

-I crave your forgiveness.

-I need your forgiveness.

-Thank you Lord for being merciful unto me.

-Today I welcome Jesus Christ into my heart.

-Dear Lord Jesus make my heart your home.

-I give you the key to my heart because I now belong to you forever.

-Please give me the Holy Spirit to lead me into all truth.

-Thank you Lord for saving my soul. Amen.

Welcome friend to the body of believers in Christ. There are so many, so so many of us here awaiting the return of the good master. In the meantime we want to encourage you to become water baptized as quickly as possible. Let your pastor know that you've committed your life to Jesus Christ and you want to be baptized the

way Christ was baptized.

Begin reading the word of God every day. Begin in the book of John then go to Matthew Mark and Luke. Pray daily, attend at your local church and one glad morning the Savior will come and receive us all unto Himself and we shall forever be with the Lord. God bless and keep you in Jesus mighty name. Amen.