We are facing a “New Year?” But what does this mean to us? Or does it mean nothing to us? If you are alive on January 1, 2019, you have before you a time to serve God through Christ, who is sitting at the right hand of Almighty God.
Let us as this “New Year” begins, simply think about God! There is no greater thought! But, do we really understand just what it means to think about God? When, the word “God” comes before us, do we really get even near the fullness of the thought, “God?” When God was telling Moses that he would bring Israel out of the bondage of the Egyptians, God said: “And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them” (Ex. 6:3). With these words God spanned the foundation of Israel in the names of: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then, God introduces himself to Moses, who would introduce God to Israel; thus, Israel would come to know “JEHOVAH!” For the first time God identifies himself in the word, the name: “JEHOVAH.” So, with this new name, new to man, just what is in the name, “Jehovah?” The word means: “self-Existent” (Strong). Never had man heard this name! Through the history of man, covering the time from Adam to Moses, God had been known as “el-o-heem,” the name Moses used in the first chapter, and the first verse, of the Old Testament. It must be understood that, as we read the Old Testament, when the word “God” is used it is the Hebrew word “eloheem” but when we see the word “Lord” in all capital letters (LORD), the Hebrew word is “yeh-ho-vaw” or as it is better known, “Jehovah.” It is this name that God is telling Moses he is to tell Israel that he is and what a change in understanding is called for!
As the “New Year” arrives, I would like for us to think of knowing God, the “self-Existent” one! There is no greater thought that man can have than “JEHOVAH!” Therefore, what is being called for, is that our minds arise to the highest name, the greatest thought, that we human beings can have! When we obeyed the gospel, as we were raised out of the water, in baptism, a child of “JEHOVAH” has been born! As when the baby is taken from the womb of the mother, we are a “new creature,” we are one which has never been before; as Paul wrote: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). These words bring forth the question: “How do we get into Christ? Let Paul answer: “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27). Did you get it? When we were “baptized into Christ,” we “have put on Christ!” In this we have become a child of “JEHOVAH!” The “self-Existent” one! In this action we did surrender the total of our self to the will of “JEHOVAH,” as Paul wrote: “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Rom. 6:16). Oh, what a thought, as we review such a time!
Do we see ourselves in such a manner? Here is a good time to recall the words of Jesus as he prayed, just before being crucified on the cross: “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matt 26:39). Yes, just as Jesus cried out, “nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt,” his words must be our words, not my will, but the will of God, is our life! The “new year” gives us time to think, I am really a child of God! Now, taking our thoughts to one of the most misused verses in the New Testament: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Rom. 8:28). The plan God announced following the first sins committed, when God said: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel (Gen. 3:15). Every “little” point in the plan of “JEHOVAH” has “work(ed) together for good to them that love God!” My fellows, “all things” from God’s degree following the sins of Adam and Eve, have worked “together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Please notice the words, “according to his purpose,” it does not read, according to our purpose, but God’s purpose!
As we think, as the “New Year” comes upon us, let the words of Jesus be the heart of our thought: “nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt!” Is there a thought that can be in our hearts, that could be greater, I think not! Yes, we who have “obeyed that form of teaching”, are children of “JEHOVAH!”
The final question: “Will this be our thought?” Will this be your thought?
Frank R. Williams