El-Olam – The God Who Sees Beyond Our Vanishing Point

“When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.  After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.  “Get up!  Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,”  The angel said.  “Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him”  That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, and they stayed there until Herod’s death.  This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet:  “I called my Son out of Egypt.”  Matthew 2:12-16

“Then Abraham plated a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he worshiped the LORD, the Eternal God. (In Hebrew – El-Olam)”  Genesis 21:33

“A great sign appeared in heaven:  a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.  She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.  Then another sign appeared in heaven:  an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on it heads.  Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.  The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.  She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.”  And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.  The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.”  Revelation12:1-6

“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.  Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”  Matthew 26:52-53

The Eternal God.  El-Olam.  The name literally means “to be hidden” and speaks of something that cannot be seen or perceived.  The idea is that there comes a point in this world where our senses reach their absolute limit, like when we look at the horizon ahead of us and can’t see any further.  Some scholars have defined “olam” as the vanishing point.  Our Eternal God transcends what we can see and measure with our finite senses.  He can see all things that are beyond our vanishing point!  Take a moment to look up and see your horizon.  Look at the very furtherest point that you can see with your vision.  Now put this thought in your head – God sees what is beyond that last focal point of your eyesite!

Mind Blowing!  Boom!  There is a sign for awesome.  Put your fingertips together at your temples then pull away and sign them blowing apart.  That is the sign for awesome.  That is the sign for mind blowing.  That is the sign for El-Olam.  Eternal God.

That is who is warning the wisemen in these verses.  The Eternal God.  That is who is warning Joseph.  El-Olam.  Abraham worshiped El-Olam thousands of years before Joseph was charged with keeping “The Eternal God made flesh” safe.  Wrap your head around this thought – before the Father sent His Son into the world, He promised His Son safekeeping.  That is why Jesus told Peter, “Put your sword away.  Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and He will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”  The Eternal One – the One who sees beyond the vanishing point, knew danger was coming down the mountain.  I can see it in my thoughts now; more than 12,000 legions of angels were surrounding Mary, Joseph, and the Child Jesus at this point, at this moment.  The Eternal God saw evil hordes coming.  “Get up!”  “Right now, get up!  Flee to Egypt!”  The hordes of hell were fast approaching trying to thwart the Plan of Salvation for all mankind.  Their instrument of evil was the jealousy of King Herod.  El-Olam, The Eternal God, knew this evil would be coming before a single day was created.  El-Olam, The Eternal God, warned the wise men, “Don’t go back to Herod.”  The Eternal God saw beyond their vanishing point.  Maybe they thought they could read about this evil in the stars that guided them, but the One who created their guidance system, guided them out of the danger He foresaw coming their way if they went back to Herod.

El-Olam.  Our Eternal God.  He sees all that is beyond our vanishing point.  And He provides escape routes and He sends us provisions beforehand for all that we might need.  Where did Joseph get the money to help his family escape to safety?  His son, the Son of God, was just given a whole camel train laden with gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  El-Olam.  The Eternal God provided for their needs before their need arose because He saw beyond Joseph’s vanishing point!

He is still El-Olam.  He has not changed.  These are turbulent times.  Our future is unknown.  We can take on all kinds of worry for what is unseen and lying ahead, OR, and I say again, OR!  We can trust El-Olam, our Eternal God who is going to provide for all of our unknown needs!