Abraham And The Revelation Of El Shaddai
February 2025
“And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God [El Shaddai]; walk before me, and be thou perfect.”
— Gen. 17:1
Abraham was now ninety-nine years of age, and it had been about thirteen years since the Lord had spoken to him. No doubt that during those thirteen years, he thought Ishmael was the promised seed of God as Genesis 17:18 seems to imply.
The last revelation that Abraham had received concerning the name of the Lord was during his time with Melchizedek. It was during this time that revelation was given by Melchizedek to Abraham with the Lord being referred to as “El Elyon,” which means “most high God, possessor of heaven and earth.” Through Hagar he learned of God as “El Roi” which means, “Thou art a God who permits Himself to be seen.”
But now God will give to Abraham the Revelation of El-Shaddi, which means “Almighty God,” also meaning “strong so as to overpower.”
Johan Friedrich Keil, a conservative German Old Testament scholar says of this name,“as possessing the power to realize His promises, even when the order of nature presented no prospect of their fulfillment, and the powers of nature were insufficient to secure it.”
George Williams, in The Complete Bible Commentary, says of this, “Fourteen years ofsilence on the part of God follow upon Abraham’s folly in the matter of Ishmael; but man’s foolish plannings cannot undo God’s eternal counsels. The time is fulfilled and the child of promise must be born. But faith must be energised if Isaac is to be begotten; and accordingly, there is a new and abrupt revelation made of Jehovah to Abraham’s soul as ‘El-Shaddai.’ This is the first occurrence of this great Divine title. It assured Abraham that what God had promised, He was almighty to perform. The first occurrence of this title in the New Testament [II Cor. 6:18] expresses the same truth. Throughout the chapter therefore, man is dead and God is the actor; and it is not so much what God was for Abraham, but what he was Himself—not ‘I am thy shield,’ but, ‘I am El-Shaddai.’”
PROGRESSIVE REVELATION
In all of this, we are given insight as to how God works, in that He very seldom gives His plans in full detail but reveals His plans a little at a time. The revelation that the Lord wants us to have is opened up to us a little at a time based upon our faith and obedience to what God tells us to do.
In God’s Word, we see the progression of revelation through the different dispensations that are presented:
• The dispensation of innocence. This pertains to the time from the creation of Adam and Eve to their fall. Its duration is unknown (Gen. 1:26-3:24).
• The dispensation of conscience. This time period lasted from the fall of man and his expulsion form the garden of Eden to the flood of Noah which was about 1,600 years (Gen. 4:1-8; 14).
• The dispensation of human government. This was from the flood of Noah to the call of Abraham, a period of about four hundred years (Gen. 8:15-11:9).
• The dispensation of promise. This was from the time of the call of Abraham to the exodus of Israel from Egyptian bondage under Moses, a time of more four hundred years (Gen. 11:10-Ex.12:51).
• The dispensation of law. This was from the exodus under Moses until the first coming of Christ, a period of about 1,600 years. (Ex. 13:1-Matt. 4:1, 11:10-13; Luke 16:16).
• The dispensation of grace. This time began on the Day of Pentecost and continues to present day up and until the second coming of Christ.
• The dispensation of divine government. The millennium—this time will be from the second coming of Christ until the last rebellion of Satan on the earth, a period of 1,000 years (Rev. 20:1-5).
• The dispensation of the perfect, eternal age. This age will begin at the conclusion of the millennium and will last forever (Rev. 21-22).
In these dispensations, we see the Lord revealing Himself in a progressive matter as each successive time reveals a little more about God and His plans.
THE ALMIGHTY GOD
In this new revelation of God to Abraham, he was telling him the following:
• In spite of the deadness of Sarah’s womb, the Almighty God was still able to bring forth a son.
• In spite of Abraham’s many failures, Almighty God was still able to give Abraham a son and the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant, which was the promise of a land, the promise of blessing, and the promise of redemption—the covenant of grace
. Man could not do this, but El-Shaddai could.
You must lay hold of this promise for yourself. God is able to do the impossible. What man cannot do, the Almighty God is able to do.
El-Shaddai can open Red Seas, cause the sun to stand still, close the mouths of lions, and turn a fiery furnace into a place of comfort and protection. El-Shaddai can kill a lion, a bear, and a giant. El-Shaddai can take the jawbone of a donkey and defeat the enemies of God.
El Shaddai, the Almighty God, is still able to perform miracles, so don’t stop believing.