We're going to pick up reading at verse 22 and we'll read to the end of the chapter. And it came to pass at that time that Abimelech, in my call the chief captain and the host, spoke unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest. Now, therefore, swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son. But according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me into the land wherein thou hast sojourned." And Abraham said, I will swear. And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away. And Abimelech said, I do not know who has done this thing, neither didst thou tell me, neither had I heard of it until today. And Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them unto Abimelech, and both of them made a covenant. And Abraham set seven new lambs of the flock by themselves. And the Bible said unto Abraham, What mean these seven new lands which thou hast set by themselves? And he said, For these seven new lands shalt thou take of my hand, that they may be a witness unto me that I have taken this dwelling. Wherefore he called the place Meersheba, because there they swore both of them. Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech rose up and Phicol, the chief captain of Israel, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God. And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many days. Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba and called there upon the name of Jehovah, El-Holam. Previously we have looked at some of the names of God as God has revealed himself to Abraham in the book of Genesis. If you recall, we looked in Genesis chapter 14 and saw the name El-Elyon. And this surfaced when Abraham had his encounter with Melchizedek. And we saw this name indicated God's absolute supremacy, His advocating strength, and His all-encompassing sovereignty. It's a name of God that many are not familiar with, but you recall we saw that El Ollant was the name of God that Satan tried to usurp when he would challenge God. Then in chapter 16 of Genesis, we looked at the name Delroy. Thou God seest me, as Hagar realized. God did not only see and take notice of her, but He cared for her. Then we looked at El Shaddai. The Almighty God. When Abraham had come to the end of himself, Abraham's plans in the flesh to complete God's spiritual plan failed. Then God intersected Abraham's life and said, I am El Shaddai. I am Almighty. Each of these names of God are very important, especially when you take the aggregate of all of God's names and you see how God is revealing himself to man. This afternoon we're going to look at the sixth name that God reveals himself by to Abraham. This name is El-Olam. This is the sixth name that God has chosen to reveal himself to. In order, we have Elohim, Jehovah, El Elyad, El Roy, El Shaddai, and then Lord Adonai, and now, El Abba. Let me mention two things by way of introduction. The first one will be by way of a reminder. Do you recall that studying the names of God cannot be done in a cavalier or intellectual way. In Abraham's experience, God revealed himself, or in Hagar's life, or whoever he revealed himself to, there was heart issues as well as head issues, there was experience, there was a covenant. Many things came to the fore, even man's failure, when God revealed Himself in such a way. In the past we've quoted Psalm 51, Behold thou desires truth, in the inward parts. And so just by way of reminder, true knowledge of God, familiarity with His characteristics, with His nature, is something that only the Holy Spirit can teach. It's something that only the Holy Spirit can work into our lives such that we know God as El Shaddai, or we know Him as one of these names. Secondly, by way of introduction, let me say that the names of God should be super-elevated in our mind. And recall when Jesus was teaching his disciples how to pray, one of the phrases was, Hallowed be thy name. God's name is to be revered, sanctified, that is set apart. Because recall the names of God are revealing his essence, his nature, his attributes, his characteristics. This was one of the passions of Jesus Christ. As he prayed, he said, I have manifested thy name unto the men thou hast given me, and so I have glorified thee on the earth. It should be a very big deal to you to know some of the names of God and to hold them in a super elevated position. We are to insult His name together, as we sang. It doesn't mean we can add to God's name, but we can make His name larger and bigger to others who do not know Him. In the first place then, this afternoon, let's discuss briefly the context where God does reveal Himself as El, Elohim, Jebalus, and God. In the broader context of the life of Abraham, you do not have a jungle of events or incidental acts or the happenstances of a life. In Abraham's life, what you have is an individual that God has chosen to reveal His truth, to unfold, to begin to unfold His eternal purposes. There is a tremendous amount of the revelation of God in Abraham's life. And when you look at his life, you see this theme coursing through us. You don't so much see the life of Abraham as you see what God is doing, what God is making Abraham for his own purposes. Now, at this particular junction, there is this thriving over a well, a well of water. Two alliances or two covenants are made between Abimelech, who is this monarch over a mini-empire, and his chief of staff. And it's very interesting that Abimelech begins to, probably unknowingly, vowed some of the words of the covenant that God had made to Abraham. Remember what God said back in Genesis 12, I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who curse you. And here's a Philistine who acknowledges that God is with Abraham, and he immediately implies that Abraham would take care of him, take care of his son, his son's sons. knowingly or not, he falls into this category of those that would bless Abraham, God would bless, those he curses, God would curse. They strive over this well of water, it is eventually reconciled, and they name this place Beersheba, the well of the oak. And after this occurrence, this name, El Olam, meets with Abraham. It meets him after his name has been changed from Abram to Abraham. It meets him after the son of promise, Isaac, is born. Isaac, obviously, pivotal to the covenant and God's dealings with him. Abraham had journeyed in several parts for many years of this land. He had been to the north, now he was to the south. He had built altars along the way. He had called upon the name of the Lord in several places. In the next chapter, he's going to be called upon to offer up his son Isaac. And in this context, Abraham understands that God is the everlasting God, El Olam. Even though Abraham is a man of faith, He cannot foretell how God is going to work, what exactly God is going to do, or when God is going to work. God's timetable to Abraham, as you know from the scripture, is very mysterious. And as we read, a day with the Lord is as a thousand years, a thousand years as a single day. And a life of 70 or 80, though it seems to be strong relative to 70 or 80 years, which it says quickly, fades and passes away. Through the changes of his life, through God working very dynamically in his life, given these tremendous promises in this strange land, Abraham understands that God is the everlasting God. Secondly, what does this name mean, Everlasting God? There are three component parts to this name, El Olam. El, as you know, means God, and it expresses power. Olam is a word that is rendered everlasting, or ever, or time, or ages. And when we understand the word everlasting God, we think about the eternality of God. He is eternal. We don't understand eternity any more than we understand time. We know it, we believe it. But really, when you step from this life into eternity, what's that going to be like? We really don't know. So, El Olam. Secondly, it's not just that God is the everlasting God, but He's also the God of the ages. He's the God of the ages. And so, think of the overarching truth that He is everlasting and eternal, but He's also in charge of, or God of, time. And He developed these ages, or these epochs, or these dispensations, or these time segments within time, to successfully open up and reveal His grand purposes. His work intersects time, and He's also the God of the ages. Think about some of the ages of the Scripture. There was this whole time before Noah's flood, And there was Noah's flood. There was the time when God's people, Israel, were in bondage in Egypt. There was the deliverance. There was the conquest of Canaan. There was the time of David. There was the time of the prophets. There was the time of the birth of the New Testament Church, we would say in Acts chapter 2. And although we are not dispensationalists, we do recognize that within God's unfolding and grand purposes, there are definite periods of time when God works a particular way. As a matter of fact, this word Olam is used to speak of time segments. For example, Hannah, when she gave her son to the Lord, she said in the same sentence, I will give him to the Lord forever, that is, Olam, for as long as he lives. Joshua said, your father dwelt on the other side of the flood in the old time, in the old Olam. Olam is used to speak about the priesthood. the offerings the temple serves. Many places where this word is used to express a time, or an age, or a season, or some passing period that runs its course and fulfills God's purposes. Not all at once, but in successive order. And then the third component part of this name of God Olam is also translated as mystery, or hidden, or not revealed. When Olam is applied to God as His name, it does contain the idea of a secret in the sense of His timetable, in the sense that we do not know what a day may bring, in the sense that all of our times are in His hands. And again, we do not understand eternity, we don't understand time per se. There is this element of secretness or mystery to it. So those are the three component parts of God's name, El Olam. El, meaning God, signifying power. Olam, meaning everlasting, He is the everlasting God. Also meaning He is the God of all the ages. And thirdly, this idea of mystery. How God brings forth the covenant. How God shows to us that Christ is the end of the law. And the law had its proper place and purpose in time. A time for temple worship. A time when that is no more. Thirdly, I would like to further develop now this name of God by mentioning four observations or applications as we consider this name of God, El Balaam. The first one is this, and it's in the form of a question. What is the purpose of the ages? and people who have fled to monasteries to try to think through some of the great issues of life, have struggled with this question, what is the purpose of engagements? If there were some smart people in the room today that came from some ivory tower someplace and they heard that we wanted to discuss the purpose for all of time, they would say you were out of your head. They would say you were reaching for something that you have no business to understand, nor do you have the capacity to understand. But in fact, the scripture tells us what God's purpose is for all these ages, and what God's purpose is for time. As a matter of fact, I even think this particular name of God reveals to us what His purpose for the ages is. It's a witness to His grand and glorious purpose. Again, whenever this name El Balaam is used speaking of God, it always has reference to God's dealing with man. using circumstances to reveal something about his purposes, his plan. Some of the occurrences are very plain and easy to understand. Some are hidden or have to be done through. But this distinct working of God, these stages where He deals with His creatures so He is everlasting, He has designed a great purpose for time, for these epochs. He has a culmination thought. He has a consummation thought. And it started even before Genesis was written or impacted. And quite simply, we're going to look at a few verses, but the Apostle Paul tells us what the purpose of the ages is in the book of Ephesians. And to paraphrase it, he says that his dealings with man is revealing of himself in time. Is all for the purpose of revealing his son, Jesus Christ? of fixing the fall and bringing glory to himself. Perhaps it's a foregone conclusion to you that time is God's servant to do His work, but personalize it, individualize it. Even before time began, God has this grand and glorious purpose to reveal His Son in you, to make grace operative. And all the segments of time that we could artificially or spiritually determine from His Word, we could see they are like building blocks to point to this grand and glorious theme. Paul said it this way, he said, I'm the least of all the saints, but this grace was given to me that I should preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery. which from the beginning of the world has been hidden in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ, but now with the intent that even principalities and powers in heavenly places and to the Church might be made known the manifold wisdom of God, according to His eternal purpose, which He purposed in Christ Jesus. In that passage in Ephesians chapter 3, there's several ideas of eternity and something that was mysterious, something that was secret. But this purpose, Paul was able to understand from the Scriptures and proclaim it. That Christ Jesus has been sent forth to be the propitiation of our sins. That Christ's plan of redemption was authored before time began. In a word, this name of God, Elulam, is connected with the restoration and the redemption of mankind and the appointed order of how it's going to be revealed and how it's going to be worked out. This manifold wisdom, the unsearchable riches, the mystery of the kingdom, The book of Hebrews, the context of Hebrews, you know, was difficult for the Hebrews Christians because they saw how they were raised and that culture and that theocracy vanishing away. Paul said this. He said, it's waxing old because there's a new covenant that's built on better promises that is going to ascend and fulfill what God had previously done. Several times in the New Testament, this word, for the age, for of the ages, for the age working in God, God is there doing something. The fall is being remedied. He saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and His own grace, which He gave us in Christ before the world began. We who are in hope of eternal life, God who cannot lie, promised before the world began. And if you are familiar with the New Testament, you know that the mystery is put in different languages. Sometimes it's called the mystery, the glorious mystery, Christ in you, the hope of glory. For Christ has appeared for us once in the end of the ages to save us. In Christ we will see the exceeding richness of His grace, which He brought in Christ. One more verse in Romans 16, 25-26, Now unto Him that is of the power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began, but now is manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets according to the commandment He has made known to all nations. I think sometimes our Christian life is on autopilot, and we cannot see this grand and glorious idea of what God has done. Think about it. From before the world began, God determined that one of the purposes of the age was that by degree, by succeeding revelation, He would show this mystery, that there would be restoration, there would be redemption, that the fall would not have the victory. that he would reveal to you Jesus Christ. This name of God, El Olam, is connected with his succeeding revelation of himself in time. Secondly, this name of God, El Olam, I believe is a name that strengthened Abraham's faith. We would say that saving faith is a gift of God, it is complete, it is perfect, it lacks nothing. Our experimental faith is something that grows. Many things increase our faith. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Other parts of the Christian life can build up our faith. Another aspect of the Christian life that builds our faith is the true knowledge of God. When you couple Abraham's understanding of the Covenant with the fact that Abraham increasingly learned who God was, you see a faith that is super strong. Abraham knew God. Remember the scripture says that Abraham believed God and was imputed unto him for righteousness? Then how does that sentence end? It ends by saying, and he, that is Abraham, was called a friend of God. Abraham was the friend of God. He knew God. He understood as man can understand. So he walked with God. He worshipped God. He knew God. And that's how he was fully persuaded, as it says in Romans chapter 4. His knowledge of God increased, and this increased his faith. relative to the covenants, I believe he began to see certain things implemented by God. Of course, the starting point, the realization of his son, Isaac. But then this Philistine, coming to him as we read, asking that Abraham would, if you will, cover him, that Abraham would bless him. Receiving this well of water, God had promised that he would have the land. I think Abraham at this point saw the well of water as a token that in fact this promise of the land would come to fruition. The amazing thing is his knowledge of God, his understanding of God, his faith strengthening his faith, You know, we can't just paint a rosy picture of Abraham's life. Abraham had doubt. He had missteps. He had temptations. He had sin. He had some brokenness. He had some misunderstandings. He had some lack of discernment. Abraham knew God well enough that he could look past his failings and see the everlasting God. And that's what his faith was in, God Himself. This is the way it should be for us. You can dwell on your shortcomings, your sins, your temptations, your brokenness, your hurts, your disappointments, your lack of spiritual discernment, all these things. And if you dwell on that, you will do that for your entire life, because it will always be with you. Abraham looked past that and he saw God is everlasting. God has an everlasting purpose. God has an eternal purpose. God is not stuck in the here and now. And that, I believe, is how his faith became bolstered, became strengthened. Thirdly, I believe he outlines this calling upon the name of Jehovah of Hell for long. Let me just mention this briefly. Two points. When we call on the name of the Lord, we don't want to use His specific names as a gimmick. or as a mantra, or trying to twist God's arm, if you will, because we know a specific name that we may correlate with a specific instance of prayer. But I believe we should use God's specific names, because Paul said, I will pray with the spirit and with the understanding. You, as a Bible-believing Christian, should have knowledge of some of the 300 names of God, whereby you can apply to Him for specific issues, meet Him on a specific ground, a specific part of the Gospel. So we should know these names, we should be able to call upon Him in these names. category calling on the name of Jehovah alone. The Holy Spirit, when he constructed the Bible, did it very carefully. Jehovah, remember what that name of God means. He said, I am that I am a self-existing one. And he also calls on the name of El Alam, the everlasting God. What he was doing was calling on both of these conditions, for lack of a better word, he called upon God who is, who is now, and the everlasting God. See, God was just not stuck out in eternity somewhere. He was also the God of the age, He was also the Lord, He was Jehovah, the existing One. And fourthly and lastly, that is the everlasting God, the God of the ages, answers one of man's deepest needs. And I think it's a very unique need that we perhaps don't think of very often. You're familiar with Ecclesiastes chapter 3, I'm sure. To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under the heaven. Remember he talks about there's a time to be born and there's also a time to die. There's a time to plant, a time to pluck up and a time to stand. Well, that passage ends this way in verse 11. He has made everything beautiful in His time. Also, He has set eternity in their hearts, so that no man can find out the work that God made from the beginning to the end. Ecclesiastes was a very difficult time period in the life of the preacher who wrote it. One of man's greatest needs is opened up in Ecclesiastes chapter 3. It's this contradiction or this paradox to reconcile time and eternity. Whether you know it or not, mankind has this aching void, this vacuum, this emptiness, that God has put there. He has put eternity in mankind's life. The struggle that we have is not just grace and our spiritual life versus the flesh and sin and temptation, but this conflict of time and eternity, mortality and immortality. Solomon, as he wrote Ecclesiastes, speaking about prosperity on one end and then adversity, good things and then all of a sudden bad things, talking about love and society and then loneliness, he saw that in the human life there was this great contradiction, changes. Nothing settled, nothing steadfast. He perceived that all the negative things had a right to exist as long as they were in their proper sphere, but he could not reconcile them. He lived in a society like we do, fleeting changes. Changing culture, a disproportionate connection between time and eternity. The fact that man has this consciousness that he belongs not just in time, but that there is something past time, there is something after the grave. And as you know, Solomon, as he wrote this book, was quite miserable until he got to the conclusion and saw that God must be in everything. Fear God and keep His commandments. There's only one way that God could harmonize these two sets of experience. Transient, changing life, and longings for the eternal. We'll consider the fact that eternity is set in every human heart. It's an amazing thought. Only man, out of all of God's creation, only man can think about eternity, can begin to understand it. Only God can correspond the two together. But there's this disproportion between time and eternity in our nation. Maybe you had the same experience as Solomon did, who went for the gusto. We try to fill this eternity void with things of time, place and eternity. Whether it was great buildings, whether it was treasure, whether it was relationships, whether it was statute, fame, fortune, whatever it might be. The reason those things will never satisfy you as a human being is because that's not the void God built in you. God built the void of eternity. And Solomon struggled with this. He saw that, you know, there's a time to love and to embrace, and that's a good thing. But then there's going to come a time when we will refrain from embracing. Perhaps death takes the loved one. He saw that light is pleasant to the eyes. But then, as soon as he was comfortable with that, darkness came, and he was afraid. There was a time to invest your life in planting, in agriculture, in building things up. But the vanity and the vexation is that that too passes away. It decays. It can be stolen. It's not permanent. And so man who has this eternity in his heart, he hungers for something, he thirsts for something, he looks to material things to fill it. And no matter how much time you get, no matter how much stuff you get, Maybe just a little bit more of the world, a little bit more time, because of a thousand years filled up with all the good stuff of life. And that eternity void will be empty. Because there's only one thing that can fill that eternity. Your joys, your treasures. They are a blessing, He has given us all things richly to enjoy, but they don't last. We live, we fade as a leaf as we read in Psalm 90. We understand with that joy that sorrow will come as well. Changing time is stamped on everything we see. Unless we see God in everything, we will be best. We will be dissatisfied. I was up at Jamestown this morning and I was talking to the men and we were talking about this. And the men there, talking with them, could all point to something in their life, small or large, that they had invested so much into. And even if it lasted for a few years, when it was taken away, when it was stolen, when it was broken, when it was hurt, when it was removed, or just because their joy in that thing wore out, they saw this vanity of living in God's world apart from Him. God has set a law That is eternity. God has set Golan in everyone's heart. Question, what do you think fills that space? Golan. El Golan. The God of eternity. The God of the ages. The God who has purposed a grand and glorious purpose for mankind. For anyone who has ears to hear. That's why you will never be satisfied trying to fill that eternity void or vacuum in your life with anything else. Solomon saw this at the end. Dear God, keep His commandments. You see, the book of Ecclesiastes was not written to paint a picture of a hunky-dory life. The book of Ecclesiastes was written to point men to a building, a city made without hands, a heavenly building, a heavenly home. And though it took Solomon, sometimes it takes us, it may take you many years and many frustrating exercises to get to that point. That's the theme, that's the point. Eternity and the harms. Praise God that He put that little void, that emptiness in our hearts so that it could be filled with Him. Friends, that's what I want to share this afternoon. This name of God, El Allah, it's more than just that He is eternal. It's more than He is just everlasting. The name signifies that He's also the God of all these individual ages and epochs. Not just in the Bible, in your life as well. You know, if you were to want a piece of paper this coming week, make a template or a timeline of your life. And, whether it's elementary school, then high school, then maybe the military, college, career, and of course family and wife or husband, make a timeline of your life with these segments and leave God totally out of it. And make this timeline all the way up to where you are today. And leave God out of it. And then, see God in it. See how God works in all your epochs and seasons and time pages. And that's when your life takes on meaning. That's when it becomes purposeful. That's when you can see it's the glory of God. Oh, may God be pleased to reveal himself to us, as he did to Abraham, as the everlasting God, God of the ages. Father, we thank you for your word which does reveal you in your essence, your nature to us. Father, we know that your Holy Spirit must meet with us through your providence, through to show us who you are, and to help us to understand, and oh we pray that that would be our happy cause, our blessed life, that you would continue to reveal yourself to us. Oh, these names of God which are so super elevated, so precious, might we learn them, and in so doing, learn of you. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.