`Then the LORD (Jehovah) rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD (Jehovah)

out of heaven' (Gen. 19:24).

This is revealed for our faith, but does not attempt an explanation. Many who oppose the testimony of passages we

have brought forward, subscribe to the inspiration of all Scripture. To such this appeal is made :

If the answer be `yes' then we must acknowledge that in this twenty-fourth verse we have a revelation that

reflects upon the nature of the Lord, and brings to light a constitution and an order of Being entirely foreign to our

experience. But it is nevertheless TRUE. Jehovah, in all appearances a man, is here represented as standing on the

earth raining down fire and brimstone from Jehovah out of heaven, `and HE (not they) overthrew those cities'.

In the presence of these passages, would it not be wise humbly to acknowledge that we do not know and cannot

comprehend the essential nature of God, and that any attempt to construct a system of Divinity that ignores this

limitation is necessarily doomed to failure?

`It is not GOD Himself, but the knowledge He has revealed to us concerning Himself, which constitutes the

material for theological investigation' (Dr. Kuyher, Encyclopaedia of Sacred Theology).

We turn now to the great text already introduced in the last chapter that speaks of the unity of God, namely

Deuteronomy 6:4.

`The LORD our God is one LORD'.

Jehovah our Elohim is one Jehovah.

In the first place let us notice that it is not `God' Who is said to be one, but the Lord, and before we go further

with this great verse, let us remember that over and over again the God of Israel is called `The LORD our God' (Deut.

1:6) or `The LORD your God' (Deut. 1:10) or `The LORD God of your fathers' (Deut. 1:11). This title comes so many

times that it is impossible to ignore it. Now in chapter 4, it is twice asserted that `there is none else' (Deut. 4:35,39),

so that the idea that God could tolerate `A God' beside Himself, as some ignorantly and blasphemously imagine

John 1:1 teaches, is proved to be unscriptural and untenable. Jehovah is God, and there is none beside Him. We are

not yet ready to consider the proofs that Scripture contains, that the `Jehovah' of the Old Testament is the `Jesus' of

the New Testament; we have here to examine Deuteronomy 6:4. Here we have the title already referred to `The

LORD our God' Jehovah our Elohim `is one LORD (Jehovah)'. The word echad which is translated `one' here means

a `compound unity'. Thus it is used in Ezekiel 37:16,17, where two sticks are taken by the prophet, the one bearing

the name of Judah, the other the name of Joseph, and he was told to `Join them one to another into one stick; and

they shall become one in thine hand'. So, in Genesis 2:24, the word is used of the oneness of man and woman in

marriage `they shall be one flesh'. Instances can be multiplied.

In Numbers 13:23, the spies cut down a branch which carried `one cluster of grapes'. We are therefore

compelled by the weight of evidence and the choice of words, to believe in the `unity' of God, but that assent of the

heart in the presence of Revelation does not by any means indicate that the human mind can comprehend what is

thus clearly revealed to faith. What the consequence of such a revelation should be, is that with true humility and

wonder we should put our hand to our mouth, and worship rather than speculate, refraining from the presumption

that argues `If God ... then He cannot be ... ' for we have nothing in our experience to supply the necessary facts

upon which to base an argument or to draw conclusions.

The next subject that awaits our reverent investigation is the one already suggested, namely, that the Jehovah of

the Old Testament is the Jesus of the New Testament. Let us start with Deuteronomy 6:4. The God of Israel is the

`one LORD'. The Septuagint version translates the name Jehovah by the Greek word kurios, and this title is used

over and over again of the Saviour in the New Testament. It is not the Father Who is called `one Lord' in the New