March 14, 2010
Names of God – Him reaching us – Us reaching Him
For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. Romans 11:36 (NKJV)
In Bill Somers’ article of last week, To Call Upon The Name Of The LORD, he wrote about what is in a name.
Bill writes –
This paradox we spoke of comes when people concentrate on the literal meaning of what is written in regard to the name of Jesus, and neglect to seek for a deeper meaning. If I were to ask you ‘what is the name of Jesus’ you might find yourself wondering what planet I was from.
The deeper meaning of a name is who you are, in the sense of what you are. With the case of the Lord, it’s his nature, character and authority.
There are so many verses in the New Testament, such as Romans 11:36 above, referring to Jesus as through Him that I see this term as a name of Jesus. Jesus is the way for our prayers to reach God and Jesus is the way for the blessings of God to reach us here, all things of God are found by us through Him – Jesus.
God’s blessings reaching us –
Blessings given from heaven reveal God the Father’s name in Romans 11:36, His name is Of Him. All blessings given from heaven are given by our Father.
The way for these blessings to reach us is through Jesus, thus His name Through Him.
Blessings given by our Father are received by the Holy Spirit, To Him. He lives here with us.
For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things,…
Blessings given from heaven are of God the Father (Of Him), through Jesus Christ (Through Him) and to the Holy Spirit (To Him) who lives with us here.
John 16:14-15 says we obtain all things of God from the Holy Spirit. He makes these blessings evident to us here.
He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew (make evident) it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew (make evident) it unto you. (Meaning of shew added in parenthesis)
Our prayers reaching God –
When it comes to our prayers and petitions of God, things change a little.
One of the Holy Spirit’s names is the Spirit of Supplications (Zechariah 12:10), He is the Holy Spirit of earnest and pleading prayer. When we pray and petition heaven, the Holy Spirit helps us pray, His name becomes Of Him.
Jesus remains Through Him. He is the way for reaching God with our prayers.
When we pray and petition heaven, God the Father’s name becomes To Him. Our prayers and petitions are directed to Him.
For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things,…
Spiritual prayer is joined to the Holy Spirit (Of Him), is through Jesus Christ (Through Him) and to God the Father (To Him).
Romans 11:36 gives us both sides of a picture – how God’s blessings reach us and how our prayers reach God.
God’s blessings reaching us –
The flow is Of Him – God the Father, Through Him – Jesus Christ, To Him – The Holy Spirit. According to John 16:14-15, we obtain All Things of God from the Holy Spirit. This is God’s way for us to receive All Things given from heaven.
Our prayers reaching God –
The flow is Of Him – The Holy Spirit, Through Him – Jesus Christ, To Him – God the Father. This is God’s way for us to pray and petition Him for All Things from heaven.
These names of God – Of Him, Through Him and To Him show us that God has a hierarchy in place for Him reaching us and a hierarchy in place for us reaching Him. The hierarchy is Him and it takes Him, in each one of His names for us to reach Him or for His blessings to reach us.
These names also show us what happened at the cross where Jesus accomplished everything for us. The result of the cross was Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was sent to earth. This is when the hierarchy began – the New Covenant.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Romans 8:14