Ezekiel 48:35 It was round about eighteen thousand measures: and the name of the city from that day shall be, The Lord is there.

Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is there.

If the lost are to seek God, don’t they need to know where He resides?

While we are talking about who God is in relationship we should keep in mind that while we know this to be true, the lost are blind and they do not see the truth.

The truth is that God resides in me. I cannot just blurt out the truth to an unbeliever who is seeking God. That truth is revealed in two ways. First they must know what to look for in God related to His character and personality. Secondly they should be able to see those traits in me.

2 Corinthians 5:20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.

As ambassadors we do not speak for ourselves but only those words given to us by our Lord. As ambassadors of the Kingdom of God our conduct in the world needs to reflect our citizenship and our relationship. Being reconciled to God is all about Christ’s propitiation, a standing in for us, an acceptble substitute when it came to suffering death for our sins.

Being reconciled to God is like that in ambassadorship, where we stand in for Christ in this world for the lost. We sacrifice our self-interests in favor of God’s will to draw the lost to Himself. We do all this for the first character trait of God, love. Love compels us.

Luke 14:23 (NASB) And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.

Jehovah Raah; The Lord is my shepherd

Psalm 23

¹ The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

² He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

³ He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

⁵ Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

It is clear to see from these verses who God is in personality and how He interacts with us in relationship. David was a shepherd before he became a king. He could identify with God’s character because he knew what it meant to be a good shepherd.

John 10:11, 14-15 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

Know the Shepherd, know the Son. Know the Son, know the Father.

Hebrews 1:1-3 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high: