NAME ABOVE ALL NAMES

The Bible uses many names for God. These names reveal God’s character, which in turns, builds our confidence and faith in Him.

God Most High

Psalm 9:2
I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

El - God
Elyon - Most High

God Most High means He is highest in rank, power and authority. He is supreme, sovereign and superior to all others.

Whether we acknowledge Him or not, God remains Maker, Owner, Sustainer and Ruler over all things.

1.‘God Most High’ fills us with perspective.

Genesis 14:18–23
And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) And he blessed him and said,

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
and blessed be God Most High,
who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”

And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. And the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself.” But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted my hand to the LORD, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’

Anything and everything I have is only because the Most High God allowed it and empowered me to possess it.

John 3:27
“A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.”

Daniel 4:17
the Most High rules the Kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will…

I have nothing except that God, the Possessor of heaven and earth, has allowed me to receive it.

James 1:17
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above …

Whether I feel you have a lot or a little, it has all come down to me from God Most High, so I can bless God and thank Him for what He has released into my life.

2.‘God Most High’ fills us with comfort.

El Elyon, appears consistently through the Psalms, particularly those of David.

He wrote Psalm 57 when on the run from Saul.

Psalm 57:1–2
Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,
for in you my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,
till the storms of destruction pass by.
I cry out to God Most High,
to God who fulfills his purpose for me.

David cried out to El Elyon, knowing ultimate jurisdiction doesn’t belong to Saul, it belongs to God Most High.

Ephesians 1:11
…[God] works all things according to the counsel of His will.

3.‘God Most High’ fills us with fear.

Three centuries after David’s time, Israel are taken into captivity by pagan ruler Nebuchadnezzar. He was King of Babylon around 605-562BC. His reign brought Babylon into an unprecedented concentration of power, resources, glory.

God warns Nebuchadnezzar in a dream to humble himself and acknowledge Him. A year went by - he’s witnessed the power of the Most High at the furnace; he’s been warned in a dream, but still he boasts in his own power and glory.

Nebuchadnezzar was so deceived, God did the most loving thing possible.

Daniel 4:31–34
… there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.”

Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds’ claws.

At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever…

Success, status, promotion, can breed a type of delusion that makes us lose our bearings.

Isaiah 66:1–2
Thus says the LORD:
“Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool;
what is the house that you would build for me,
and what is the place of my rest?
All these things my hand has made,
and so all these things came to be,
declares the LORD.

God has no problem with success – but He’s not impressed by it. What gets his attention?

Isaiah 66:2
But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word.

For the sake of our soul, we need always keep in view that He is God Most High.

4.‘God Most High’ fills us with wonder.

Every human religion places the burden on humanity to climb toward God by good works, self-denial, or piety.

Christianity differs.

It tells us the One who occupied the highest place voluntarily took the lowest place. Jesus, who was called “the Son of the Most High” climbs down to us.

The One who transcends all creation descends to be born of the virgin and laid in a manger. Born in the likeness of men, Jesus chose to bridge the divide between the heights of heaven and the depths of humanity.

Philippians 2:8–11
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

El Elyon willingly became Emmanuel, God with us.

The One who rules over Kingdoms, came as a suffering servant. The Sovereign Son of God washes the dirt from the disciples feet and carries a sinner’s cross to Calvary.

Only when we hold in view the heights of God Most High, that we truly appreciate the extent of His saving love for you and I.

Ephesians 3:18–19
[that you] … may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

God’s love is so great, the Son of the Most High came all the way down to us, as proof that He is willing to meet us where we are at.