H2a4-c – El Olam, The Everlasting God, part 3

Later, Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the LORD, the Eternal God, *El Olam*…
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📖 **I HISTORICAL READING** # 3:

🤔 WHERE did Abraham get this concept of an eternal God? Let’s look at some of the things God had said to him when He established the covenant, as recorded in Genesis 17.

1. Genesis 17:7 “I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an **everlasting covenant** *(librit olam)*, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.”

2. Genesis 17:8 “I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an **everlasting possession** *(la’ahuzzat olam)*; and I will be their God.”

3. Genesis 17:13b “…thus (circumcision) shall be My covenant in your flesh for an everlasting covenant (librit olam).”

4. Genesis 17:19 ‘But God said, “…Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an **everlasting** **covenant** ***(librit olam)*** for his descendants after him.”‘

It was God that hammered the idea of eternity (olam) in His covenantal communications with Abram/Abraham. It would make sense that he would use God’s own words to call on Him. After all, God’s words are for us–to tell us and remind us what we need to know about Him and remember from Him.
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🎓 II. INSTRUCTIONAL: This Name for God has three main meanings:

**No Beginning or End**: God exists outside of human time. *El Olam* existed before and spans all of past, present, and future history.

**Unchanging Nature**: While the world around us changes and things fade away, *El Olam* stays the same, “yesterday, today and forever.”

**Faithful to His Promises**: The Name *El Olam* reminds us that God keeps His promises across generations–what He has promised in the past, he stands by now; what He promises us now, He will fulfill in the future at the right time, in HIS timing, because He is also *El Elyon,* the Sovereign God.
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📄 III. OTHER VERSES.

Although this Name for God is specifically used only twice in the Hebrew Bible, the concept of an eternal/everlasting God is frequently expressed using the Hebrew word olam and equivalent words in the New Testament. Here are two such verses.

📜 **Old Testament verse** 3.

1 Chronicles 16:36 “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, **From everlasting even to everlasting⁴.** Then all the people said, ‘Amen,’ and praised the Lord.”

This verse is at the end of a wonderful song of praise to God written by King David for the dedication and celebration of the ark of the covenant arriving in Jerusalem. (Parts of which are also included in other psalms.)
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⁴ ha’Olam we’ad ha’Olam – David uses our theme Name for God in his blessing.

📃 **New Testament verse 3.** Romans 1:20

In his introduction of the letter to the Christian believers in Rome, Paul states that the basic characteristics of God, the invisible Supreme being, should be obvious by His visible creation.

Although Paul listed those invisible qualities as God’s ‘eternal power and divine nature,’ he could just as easily have reversed the nouns and adjectives to say, ‘His eternal nature and divine power,’ and been just as accurate, and in line with the Hebrew Name, El Olam.

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🙌 IV. WORSHIP: As we have seen, the concept of God’s eternal nature is expressed using different words in the Bible. Following are some of those words, verses and concepts, interwoven so that you can pray them back to God in worship and thanksgiving.