The Lord, God

 אֱלֹהִים  or, "Elohim", is the first known word for God. It is the word used through the entire book of Genesis referring to the cosmic God of creation...omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. But, it is not technically a proper name. Also it is, curiously, a plural noun...confirming our conviction that the God we worship is actually triune (three in one). 

Elohim spoke ten times in just the first chapter of Genesis...with cosmic results.
Genesis 1:3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
Genesis 1:6 Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”

Genesis 1:9 Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.

Genesis 1:11 Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so.

Genesis 1:14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years;

Genesis 1:20 Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.”
Genesis 1:24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so.

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 

Genesis 1:28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Genesis 1:29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;

  

 יְהֹוָה  or, "Yahweh" (Jehovah), is the name first revealed to us at the burning bush in Exodus chapter three. God (Elohim)  said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘The Lord (Yahweh), the God (Elohim) of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations. It is the proper name of the God of Israel. So...what does "YAHWEH" mean? A fair translation of Yahweh is "I am the One that Is...there is no other". 

In other words, the Lord told Moses "I (Yahweh) am the only God that actually exists. All those marvelous works witnessed by your ancestors...that was me. There is no other. I am now going to be the personal God of Israel."  Elohim and Yahweh are one and the same...which is why we often read the phase "the Lord, God" in scripture.

Which, of course, prompts the question...when the Lord, God speaks, do I trouble myself to listen? We tend to listen to a lot of non-existent gods while failing to heed the voice of the one who actually exists.

At our peril...

The Lord, God, spoke over a thousand times in scripture. The God of all creation...coming to us personally and revealing His desires for us. What could be more important? The next several entries will address some of the important things God said

Live boldly out there today....