El Elyon. We find this throughout scripture. It means God Most High. Remember, El means God. Elyon means “Supreme” or “Most High”.
Psalm 18:13: “The Lord thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded.”
Now, I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty profound!
My father had a huge voice. I grew up fearing that voice when it came thundering my name. The problem was that not only was it a strong, big voice, but it was a well-trained voice. The baritone voice would roar through the house when we were in trouble and everyone would duck and cover.
One of my childhood embarrassing moments was because of that big voice. Since dad was a pastor, we didn’t generally worship in other churches. But, every summer we would go up to our cabin in central Iowa. Dad always took a couple of weeks so that we could work on the place and enjoy ourselves. The first Sunday that we were there, we would go to church in town. We had never been in a church with a balcony, so that is where we kids wanted to sit. It was fun for us. However! Dad would begin singing the hymns of the morning and I just wanted to crawl under the pew. His voice was booming out over the congregation. Over the tops of the heads of the congregation! They would turn around and stare at us and I would just shrink. But, Dad didn’t mind. He loved to sing, and he had a beautiful voice. He was not ashamed to be singing praise to God with all he had.
A couple of side notes to that story? When Dad retired, he moved to that community and made that church his home church. Even though he had Parkinson’s and it destroyed his speaking voice, it never affected his singing voice. His booming voice could be heard throughout that sanctuary until he died. And the other side note? I received that big voice and there is nothing more fun for me than singing praise with all I have!
I do have to tell you that God redeems everything. The little girl who wanted to crawl under the pew when her dad was singing, now sings with her heart and that thrilled my father when he would hear me sing.
YAHWEH SABAOTH. The Lord of Hosts.
Max’s very favorite hymn is “A Mighty Fortress is our God”. While I’ve always loved this hymn, it stirs him completely.
If you read through the poem, the second verse tells us about the Lord Sabaoth.
Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.
The Lord of Hosts is the Commander of the Angelic host and the armies.
We see Him in I Samuel 17:45. This is the story of David and Goliath.
“David said to the Philistine, ‘You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.’”
And we all know what happens when the God of the armies marches against His foes. They are defeated!
Psalm 24:10 affirms a universal sovereignty. This encompasses every force or army whether it is heavenly, cosmic or earthly:
“Who is he, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty – he is the King of glory.”
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