This is my 200th post here. I considered for a while doing something special, but discarded that idea. After all, this isn’t about me, this is about Him.
My favorite way to refer to God is “Ancient of Days.” If I had to pick a second favorite it would be “I AM.” I recall a poster hanging in my church when I was a teenager emblazoned with “I AM,” and at the time I had no clue what it meant. Back then I was a lot more ignorant than I am as I write this.
The two names of God above sort of dovetail together. Ancient of Days refers to His “everlastingness,” if I were to coin a new term. He’s been around since before there was time, and will last longer than time itself. Therefore, “I AM.” The sentence from the bible, “Before Abraham was, I AM,” sums that concept up. He’s been around.
Back in biblical times there were lots of gods. There’s Dagon, Astarte, and dozens of others. You can look them up. During the time of the Exodus alone there were batches of ‘em. Each of the ten plagues inflicted on the nation were direct attacks on the gods of Egypt. In essence, God was saying, “You like frogs, I’ll give you enough frogs to choke you.”
SIDEBAR: When the Hebrews were wandering in the wilderness He did the same thing there. “You want meat to eat? I’ll give you so much it’ll come out your noses!”
In Egypt back then the Pharaoh was worshiped as a god. That ruler’s first born son was to be a god after his dad died. So the last plague, the death of a first son, was a direct attack on that as an object of worship. “What you worship as a god is nothing compared to Me. I can destroy anything you hold up in adoration. I AM and there is none like Me.”
I don’t recall who pointed this out, but anyone reading this with a skeptical eye has to answer a very pertinent question: where are the other gods of that era?
Does anyone today worship Dagon? Astarte? Baal? Chemosh? Where are the worshipers of Zeus and Apollo? I don’t doubt there might be a dozen or so here and there, but Mithras is all but forgotten. The God of the bible, however, is not.
In fiction, if they mention faith in other gods at all, it’s treated with respect and kindness. “Oh, you worship Asherah? How can we support you in your quest to spread (pun intended) the word of her divinity?” But if there’s someone in a TV series who worships the God of all Creation, His Son dying on the cross to pay the penalty for our imperfections, that’s met with derision. That person is (almost) always portrayed as an idiot. There are exceptions, but they’re rare.
There’s only one other spiritual being that’s hung around as long as the Ancient of Days, and that’s the Accuser. He’s the one who can put an unholy thought in a person’s head and follow that up with, “You call yourself a Christian after thinking that?” He takes every opportunity to accuse us in front of God.
A bit of an aside, here, but the angels all tend to fall on their faces in adoration of I AM. When the Accuser walks into the place where God is, that fallen angel won’t even address Him with respect.
So none of those other gods are around. Or are they?
Asherah is still getting folks to spread their legs. Dagon is still convincing folks that the weather can be controlled. Chemosh is still getting parents to sacrifice their children.
The names may be changed, but people are still trying to find a formula to control everything. Get enough cash and you can bend others to your will. Who hasn’t heard reports of famous people saying, “Do you know who I am?”
Ask yourself, “Do you know the great I AM?”
