What’s In A Name?, Pt. 7: El-Olam
Genesis 21:33 33Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the LORD, the Eternal God.
Psalm 90:1-2 1Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. 2Before the mountains were born you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
El Olam, pronounced el-o-lahm, is usually translated forever or eternal or everlasting. But this translation misses the mark a little bit. The thing to remember is that the Hebrew people were a very concretely operational people, which is to say that they dealt with what was before them. In this vein, the meaning of Olam is ‘beyond understanding’, or ‘beyond the horizon’ rather than eternal. And remember the Hebrew language had no way to express superlatives. The way to express ‘best’ was to double the word. So when Psalm 90 says that God is everlasting to everlasting we are to understand that to mean God is ‘far beyond understanding’.
So we shouldn’t stop at eternal. Yes, El Olam refers to the eternality of the person of God but we should remember that if the person of God is eternal, so are His attributes. So all of the characteristics of God—His love, His grace, His forgiveness, His mercy—are also unchanging. And I, for one, need this. Today’s world is a mess. Most people acknowledge that, but most people also wring their hands in frustration at not knowing what to do about it.
For the LORD is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations. (Psalm 100:5)
This is the thing I need. When things are going wrong, when I am fearful of what may be just around the corner, I need to know that God will always be there when I call on him.
But there is a little bit of salt mixed in with this sugar. It is easy for us to seek the eternal nature of God in His blessings, but not so easy to seek His judgments. For Olam also refers to His Word, both Living and written. If God said do not murder 3500 years ago it still applies today. The prohibition against adultery, or fornication, or taking the Lord’s name in vain, still apply today. If the Royal Law to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself applied 2000 years ago, it still applies today. And they apply without restriction. We humans tend to compartmentalize things and we tend to justify things based on special circumstances which apply only to us. We criticize others for doing the very thing we excuse ourselves of doing. Loving our neighbor as ourselves does not have a clause that says, “except when he mows his lawn at 11:00 at night”.
So yes Olam is beyond understanding, but remember we are all responsible for what we know about God. There certainly are mysteries about him we won’t understand until we reach eternity, but he has revealed much to us. We can’t condemn a sinner for being a sinner; it’s all he knows to do. But having once accepted Jesus as Lord things must begin to change. It is time to leave those old ways and come into the saving knowledge of Jesus. Having once accepted Jesus as Lord He, through the Holy Spirit, resides in us and guides us into understanding. Following God as El Olam does not excuse us from striving for holiness and righteousness. It is not OK to say, “Yes this is sin, but God will forgive me.” Yes he forgives as we repent of our sin and come to him in full humbleness and repentance. There may be much about El Olam that we don’t understand but we must follow that which we do understand.
9“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him— 10these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. (1Corinthians 2:9-12)
If God is the Olam of the past, He is also of the present. He was active then and is active now. And He speaks to us. Have you ever read a verse 50 times and then on the 51st something jumps out? That’s God talking to you. Maybe a circumstance brings you to an ‘aha’ moment. Or something your spouse, or child, or friend says does so. That’s God talking to you. God never changes and the endless ways He works in our lives never stops.
God is the Olam of the future too.
“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:28-31)
We do our best to plan our lives, to provide support for our families, and to make things easier. But we humans can’t foresee every circumstance so ultimately the only thing we can do is trust the unchanging character of God. But things happen, and that’s ‘where the rubber meets the road’.
When you or your possessions are in danger, whom do you trust? Are you tempted to make shady deals or compromise your honesty? When you are discouraged with the drain of life, do you turn to sinful pleasures? I’m as guilty of this as anybody. When recently I determined to buy a car for my grandson and give it to him for much, much less I asked the seller to put the lower price on the Bill of Sale so my grandson would have less sales tax to pay. When your faith begins to fail with age, in whom do you trust? The secret for supernatural strength when our strength seems to be failing is to trust in the everlasting God, El Olam. If you know God as El Olam, you can wait on Him or trust Him with tomorrow. When you know Him as El Olam, it will renew your strength and as it does, you shall mount up with wings and soar like eagles.
Towns, E. (1991). My Father’s Names. Liberty University. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/towns_books/32
Drake, S. (2018). El Olam-How To live Above Your Problems. Retrieved from El Olam- How To Live Above Your Problems Sermon by Shawn Drake, Genesis 21:33 - SermonCentral.com