Don't Get This Surname Wrong

If you do, it may bring disaster

Hello dear saint.

I'm going to ask a controversial question.

So here goes...

What is GOD's surname?

Hint:

He only has ONE.

Is it?

GOD... The LORD

The Almighty?

The Father?

The Creator?

The Son?

The Spirit?

Sorry, no.

It's none of those.

They are not surnames.

They reveal His being, His status as GOD. The GOD who made all. And His revelation as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Yet it is true.

God really does have a proper surname.

Which also means... He must have a family (hold that thought).

Moses revealed to us His first name is...

"I AM"

“Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

Exodus 3:14 ESV

This always used to confuse me when the LORD told Moses His name was 'I am' when speaking to him from the burning bush.

I used to think... "that is a really weird name."

Yet I also felt it was a very very deep revelation about who GOD really is. Very very mysterious. Very very important...

I was right.

One day I saw it!

If 'I AM' is GODs first name, it suddenly makes sense if you CONNECT it to His SURNAME. And an astounding truth about God's FAMILY reveals itself.

Logically then the next question is...

What is God's surname then?

This...

'The GOD of Israel.'

Now look what happens when we combine the two names (first and surname) togther.

We get in all it's wondrous glory...

God's FAMILY NAME IN FULL.

Which is...

"I AM... the God of Israel"

Or when He likes to use the triple-barrelled version...

"I AM the GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."

Okay,

"Fine Dave... er,

Why is this even important?

Does it have any revelance to me as a gentile believer in Jesus? A New Testament Bible believing Christian actually?"

Great questions.

We gentiles as Christians are added to 'the family of GOD, yet don't think of the modern 'Church' here. No, think of the family here in context of being added to the 'Commonwealth' of Israel, the original 'Church in the wilderness' Acts 7.38 (i.e. Called out ones).

"Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ."

Ephesians 2:12-13 ESV

So you see how as Gentiles we are brought near (into the Church birthed out of the Holy stump of the family of Israel)...

The Church resides inside the family of God, expanding it to all nations.

Which all fufils GOD's eternal promise to Abraham that he would become "Heir of the world" as Paul says in Romans 4:13

"For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith."

Romans 4:13 ESV.

Understanding this correctly is critical to how God views you as a Christian on Judgement Day as well.

Don't believe me?

Okay, here's proof from the lips of Jesus regarding the blessed who will go into eternal life because it appears only a certain group will...

"And the King answering shall say to them, Verily, I say to you, Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it to me.

41 Then shall he say also to those on the left, Go from me, cursed, into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels...

45 Then shall he answer them saying, Verily I say to you, Inasmuch as ye have not done it to one of these least, neither have ye done it to me.

46 And these shall go away into eternal punishment, and the righteous into life eternal."

Matthew 25: 37-41, 45,46 Darby Bible

So we see there is ONE criteria Jesus uses here...

How Christians treat His 'brethren.'

So who are they?

ISRAEL.

So what Jesus is really saying here is...

How you treat His brethren in the flesh PRIMARILY, (though not exclusively... of course it also includes 'The Church' and gentile believers) is a very big deal to Jesus.

How we treat the Jews has MASSIVE consequences for us.

Look at what Paul in Romans 11 reveals...

1. I ask then: Has God totally rejected and disowned His people? Of course not! Why, I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin!

2 No, God has not rejected and disowned His people [whose destiny] He had marked out and appointed and foreknown from the beginning.

11 So I ask, Have they stumbled so as to fall [to their utter spiritual ruin, irretrievably]? By no means! But through their false step and transgression salvation [has come] to the Gentiles, so as to arouse Israel [to see and feel what they forfeited] and so to make them jealous.

12 Now if their stumbling (their lapse, their transgression) has so enriched the world [at large], and if [Israel’s] failure means such riches for the Gentiles, think what an enrichment and greater advantage will follow their full reinstatement!

13 But now I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles...

15 ... For if their rejection and exclusion from the benefits of salvation were [overruled] for the reconciliation of a world to God, what will their acceptance and admission mean? [It will be nothing short of] life from the dead!

16 Now if the first handful of dough offered as the firstfruits [Abraham and the patriarchs] is consecrated (holy), so is the whole mass [the nation of Israel]; and if the root [Abraham] is consecrated (holy), so are the branches.

17 But if some of the branches were broken off, while you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them to share the richness [of the root and sap] of the olive tree,

18 Do not boast over the branches and pride yourself at their expense. If you do boast and feel superior, remember it is not you that support the root, but the root [that supports] you.

19 You will say then, Branches were broken (pruned) off so that I might be grafted in!

20 That is true. But they were broken (pruned) off because of their unbelief (their lack of real faith), and you are established through faith [because you do believe]. So do not become proud and conceited, but rather stand in awe and be reverently afraid.

21 For if God did not spare the natural branches [because of unbelief], neither will He spare you [if you are guilty of the same offense].

22 Then note and appreciate the gracious kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s gracious kindness to you—provided you continue in His grace and abide in His kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off (pruned away).

23 And even those others [the fallen branches, Jews], if they do not persist in [clinging to] their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.

24 For if you have been cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and against nature grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much easier will it be to graft these natural [branches] back on [the original parent stock of] their own olive tree.

25 Lest you be self-opinionated (wise in your own conceits), I do not want you to miss this hidden truth and mystery, brethren: a hardening (insensibility) has [temporarily] befallen a part of Israel [to last] until the full number of the ingathering of the Gentiles has come in,

26 And so all Israel will be saved. As it is written, The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will banish ungodliness from Jacob.

27 And this will be My covenant (My agreement) with them when I shall take away their sins...

29 ... For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable. [He never withdraws them when once they are given, and He does not change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call.]

Romans 11: 1-2, 11-27,29. AMP(C) Bible

You see then,

The will of our Father NEVER changes.

He keeps His promises.

Remember also our Father, GOD Almighty, having cut a covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob said way back in Genesis...

"I will bless them that bless you and I will curse them that curse you."

Genesis 12:3 KJV

And that is how Jesus will look at you that day almost as a final qualification test for eternal life with Him and Father (and the rest of His 'family').

Simply,

Did you bless or curse the Jew?

Are the Jews perfect?

No.

Are you?

Is our Church?

No.

We are saved by grace and get to heaven that way too.

Pray for Israel to have their eyes opened.

They will see the Messiah soon too...

Exactly like the brothers of Joseph back in Egypt suddenly had their eyes opened and realised he was their brother after all.

What did Joseph do next?

He saved them.

So to wrap up...

Everything in this article is a prophetic picture of the end times when Jesus will be revealed to His 'brethren in the flesh' the Jews and they will see and accept Him.

And we will all be family together forever.

Bless you.

Dave.

PS Still don't like them?

Okay.

For me…

I choose to be blessed by GOD, not cursed by Him.