Carolyn E. Jacobs

This week’s name is El Elyon, the God Most High. It has so much significance. We discussed how King Nebuchadnezzar came to acknowledge him as El Elyon, the Most High, one true god raised above all the false ones. But what else can we learn? Elyon provides shelter. The name makes me think of standing on the highest mountain, sheltered in his arms. I can observe the chaos below, but I’m completely protected from it. That’s how I feel in today’s crazy world. One who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will lodge in the shadow of the Almighty. – Psalm 91:1 Speaking of mountains, mountain can symbolize God’s administration. Consider Nebuchadnezzar’s vision…

What’s the featured image, you ask? And what does it have to do with the God Most High? Why, it’s the Ishtar Gate, of course, built by King Nebuchadnezzar who acknowledged El Elyon. Do I expect you to believe King Nebuchadnezzar drove a beat-up Cadillac? No. The site of ancient Babylon has been turned into a tourist destination, complete with a rebuilt Ishtar Gate. But what does the Ishtar Gate have to do with this week’s name, El Elyon? First, a little background. El Elyon means The God Most High. It’s easy to skim over it in your daily Bible reading and keep on going, but pause a moment. What…

This week’s name is The Lord Our Righteousness, Yahweh Tsidqenu. What a beautiful reminder that, although we’re not righteous, he is. That’s what matters. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. – Romans 8:10 (NASB) It’s about Christ in us, not our own righteous deeds. Isaiah doesn’t mince words. For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. – Isaiah 64:6 (NASB) The King James version calls our attempt at righteousness “filthy rags.” Gross. Thank…

Yes, I’ve said this before, but I love this week’s name. Yahweh Tsidqenu. It’s got beauty and pathos and irony. Besides, Jeremiah used it. You know I love Jeremiah! Let me set the stage. Chapter 21 of Jeremiah occurs toward the end of King Zedekiah’s reign. It’s a message of utter destruction. 4 ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: “Behold, I am going to turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you are making war against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the wall; and I will gather them into the middle of this city. 5 And I Myself will make…

Is Yahweh still the Hope of Israel? Or has the Church replaced his chosen people? Yahweh keeps his promises. 31 “The days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will make a new promise to Israel and Judah. 32 It will not be like the promise that I made to their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of Egypt. They rejected that promise, although I was a husband to them,” declares Yahweh. 33 “But this is the promise that I will make to Israel after those days,” declares Yahweh: “I will put my teachings inside them, and I will write those teachings on their hearts. I will be their Elohim, and they will be…