The Name of the LORD (Part II)

Well, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Exodus, Exodus 3, and we're going to look one more! time to that passage, this time specifically verses 13 through 15, and I'll read that here in just a moment, but I want us to remember kind of the purpose for our subject last Sunday and tonight, because after I get back from China and we have Lord's Supper on that Sunday that I get back, after that we'll be moving into the book of Judges, studying the book of Judges, and we understand from the book of Judges on into chapter 2 of Judges the reason why we have the book of Judges, why Israel needed Judges. By the way, we're not talking about Judges who sit on the bench, you know, that kind of thing. When we think of Judge, we have a different concept. These were people basically, men and women, who were raised up to be deliverers and judges. I mean, they did decide cases and such, but all of this transpired because Israel, according to Judges chapter 2, after Joshua died and that generation died, and all that generation being gathered to their fathers, the Bible says, and here's the verse that gives us a great introduction into the book of Judges. Another generation arose after them who did not know Yahweh, did not know the Lord, nor the work which he had done for Israel.

Those two go together, his name and his works, his name and work. They did not know the Lord and his works. Now that's a direct reference, of course, to some of the big things that, you know, some of which we read about when we were studying through Joshua and tremendous, marvelous, wondrous things that God did for his people Israel to conquer in order for them to conquer their land.

For that is wondrous works in Egypt and their deliverance and so forth. And so here's a generation that has been raised up. The old generation is gone. Joshua and the others with him are gone.

And they forgot about God, forgot about his works, did not know them. And so I'm keying in, last Sunday, this Sunday, on the name of God. Because if you forget his name, that's the same as saying you have forgotten who he is and what he has done. And not just his character, but also his works. And that's what Israel had done. I'm afraid we're living in a generation now that by and large has not just rejected God, the one true God, but they don't even know him. Don't know him, don't know his works, don't know his character, his nature. They don't know his word, don't know what he demands of them. And so that's the generation we live in. That explains what happened to Israel over and over and over again throughout the book of Judges, really throughout their entire history. And that explains also what is happening in, I think, in our nation. We've forgotten the Lord. So then let's focus, and that's what we're going to finish up on tonight. And I better get to it because we have business meeting tonight as well. So the Bible says, when you think about how important the name of God is, the Bible says that a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches. That's what the

Bible says about names. Now we talked a little bit about this last week. You know, we have a strange way of selecting names. Names that we select don't have anything to do with the character of a person or the purpose of a person or the goals or plans or any of that. We just kind of arbitrarily select names. But the Bible says that a good name is to be chosen above great riches. And of course, you know that the Bible is not talking about the name per se, but talking about what's behind the name, what is the person behind that name. And that is to be chosen above great riches. A good name, a good reputation is to be chosen. And so we're to understand that that refers also to God, to the name of God.

His name means something. His name points us directly to His character and His nature.

And so when the name of God is mentioned, we are, we immediately think of who He is and what He has done and His greatness and His glory and His, and all of those things that the Bible tells us, reveals to us about Him.

Because names do that to us. Even, even in our own culture. You just mention certain names and certain key names and right off, you associate the name with the person that you know or you've heard about.

Let's just throw out one here. Jezebel. That's a real popular name for parents to name their children, their daughters, right? No, not exactly.

I mean, there's a certain character, a certain nature, in this case, a certain wickedness that we naturally associate with the name Jezebel.

Now we do so because we, you know, we have been rooted in and we've grown up in a biblical kind of Christian culture. And so we know about Jezebel. But that name then, you see, associate, we associate the name with a certain character.

Let's take something from our history. How about the word Benedict? I mean, not only is that a corny name, but nobody here named Benedict, right?

But we associate that with who? Benedict Arnold. Now, you know, a lot of people I've met are named Arnold, but Benedict's, you know, and so we have that association.

Adolf. Now, we don't have to even mention. Of course, then there's some, now we have more in our culture, these kind of Middle Eastern names like Saddam or Osama.

And right off, our minds take us to the person we know by that name and the person's character. I hate to give you a string of really lousy people, but how about the name Don?

You know, some names do remind us of people that we love, right? And, okay, bye. But, you know, there have been some other Don's.

How about Don Rickles? Now, you have to be a little bit older to remember Don Rickles. Don Rickles, you know, that funny guy who really was known for cutting people down and making insults about people.

How about Don Knotts? Don Knotts. Okay? Barney Fife. Barney Fife. I mean, right off, I have to just say Don Knotts, and man, you have that picture right in your mind.

And it's about the person. Now, his is a portrayed character. I don't know if he was, you know, like that in real life. Don Juan. We don't need to go there. Don Coleman.

Okay? So, you know, word or names, a person's name recalls to your mind something about that person's character, or at least a person you have known by that name.

And so, my point is, what about God? What about the name for God? God has a name. We studied that last week. A lot of titles throughout the Scripture, and which are really very, many of them very closely associated with names, very similar to names, but there's only one name and one sacred name for God, and we studied that last week, and it is, best we understand, Yahweh.

It's mentioned. In fact, it appears in the Old Testament over 6,000 times, the name Yahweh, and you can recognize that name in your Old Testaments when you have Lord spelled or the format in all capital letters.

That's the name for God, Yahweh, Yahweh. All right, so what about his name? What does it mean, and how important is that to us? Well, I think we should start, and we did start here last week, with the exact time, point in time, when God revealed that name to man, and it was to Moses.

And we find it in Exodus 3, starting with verse 15. Moreover, God said to Moses, wait a minute, not 13, not 15.

Then Moses said to God, Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they say to me, what is his name?

What shall I say to them? And God said to Moses, I am who I am. King James presents it, I am that I am.

And he said, thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I am has sent me to you. So that's my name, God is saying.

I am. I am has sent me to you. Tell them that. Moreover, God said to Moses, thus you shall say to the children of Israel, the Lord God, Lord, there it is in all capital letters, Lord, the Lord God of your fathers, Yahweh Adonai, of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.

This is what you tell them. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations. So God reveals his name, his sacred name, his real name, to Moses.

He reveals it right there. In fact, this is the first time in Scripture, first time that God reveals his personal name to man. And we know that from just a chapter or two later in Exodus chapter 6 and verse 2.

And God spoke to Moses and said to him, I am the Lord. There's Yahweh. I am Yahweh. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, as God Almighty.

That's Adonai. Actually, that's El Shaddai. No, no, that's Adonai. I appeared to them as the Lord God Almighty, but my name, but by my name, I did not appear to them.

Excuse me. Let me back up. I have also established my, no, I appear, where are you? Yeah, Exodus 6?

Okay. It's right here. It's my bifocals. I'm always having trouble with those things. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name, Lord, I was not known to them.

By Yahweh, I was not known. Because he revealed that name first to Moses. Yahweh is his name. He did so at the burning bush.

This is the, what we have going on here in Exodus chapter 3. And God reveals his name, Yahweh. Now, how important is it that we know the name of the Lord?

How important is it? And that name being Yahweh. Well, I think the Bible answers that, I think, very clearly in several places. In fact, we're going to see those places here tonight.

Not all of them, but a lot of them. For example, Psalm 9 and verse 10. Let me just read that to you. You don't need to turn to it. I'll read it very quickly.

Yahweh. And those who know your name will put their trust in you. For you, Lord, there's Yahweh, have not forsaken those who seek you.

All right, so those who trust in your name, who know your name, rather, will put their trust. So you know his name, you put your trust in him. But how? How can knowing his name lead me to trust him more?

How about this passage? Proverbs. And really, I'm skipping quite a number of, there are a number of places, but here's another one. Proverbs 18.10. The name of the Lord, you're familiar with this one, the name of the Lord is a strong tower.

The righteous run to it and are safe. All right, so the name of the Lord is a strong tower. We can kind of understand the concept there, that God is like a strong tower.

He's like a fortress. It's a metaphor, but we understand that, that God is like that, like a strong tower, a fortress. And there is safety, of course.

Conveys the idea of safety, safety in a fortress. But again, we have to ask the question, how can God's name His name do that, to be like a fortress?

Well, it's because there's something about God's name. Something that we can know. And when we know the name, and we know the one who goes by that name, and when we embrace that name, Yahweh, and we embrace the one behind that name, then we trust Him.

just merely knowing His name, so that you can just speak it or pronounce it as not it. It's what the name represents, the character, the person, and the work of the one who carries that name.

And so God's name is Yahweh. And so how then does that work? Well, let's just consider tonight. I'm going to give you eleven. Eleven names.

Well, there are titles primarily in Scripture. In fact, several of them, most of them, are not in the form of one word. They are, in the English, translations of a couple of words that are compound words that come together.

And we'll see that as we go along. But you can just jot these down. First one we should mention because it's the first one that we discover in Scripture is that God is our Creator.

He's our Creator and His name as Creator or His title is Elohim. Elohim. E-L-O-H-I-M. That's how you would spell it in English.

Elohim. He's Creator. Genesis 1-1. You go all the way back to the very first verse of the Bible where the Bible says in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The word God there is not L-O-R-D all capital letters Yahweh. The word there is Elohim in the Hebrew. Elohim. And interestingly it's plural.

Can you imagine why it would be? Plural. Well, didn't God say let us make man in our own image? The plurality of God the triunity of God three persons one God and so Elohim and you'll find a number of variations in the word of God for Elohim El is just the word for God in the Hebrew and so what's attached to it gives us a little bit more information about the person and so you have Elohim but you also have El Elyon El Elyon God most high you have El Roy El Roy which means God who sees there's El Shaddai I mentioned that a moment ago that's God almighty or we could better translate it God my all sufficient one El Shaddai you might remember a song a number of years ago by a lady sorry to say a young lady she's not really young anymore and I'm talking about

Amy Grant remember Amy Grant and she sang that song El Shaddai remember that it was a long way back you have to go way back there and one line is El Shaddai El Shaddai El Yana Adonai those are just stringing together several titles for God that begin with the word El for God so my sufficient one my sufficient one God most high that's El El Yana God most high my Lord that's Adonai Adonai so God is our creator and then second God is our provider our provider and his name is you don't normally hear it put this way but I prefer Yahweh over Jehovah and I explained last week how Jehovah was kind of a development that happened over time from the melding together of the name

Yahweh or the letters for Yahweh and inserting Adonai just above that and the vowels kind of melded into the word and we have something that sounds very much like Yahovah or Jehovah but Yahweh is really I think the closest thing so here's the name for God who's our healer it's Yahweh Rapha Yahweh Rapha God our healer you can just jot down this text Exodus 15 and 26 I'm not going to go and read all of these these are familiar stories so let me just relate the story God had delivered Israel out of the bondage of Egypt and he parted the Red Sea and he destroyed the Egyptian army and so Exodus 15 in that kind of chapter all Israel is singing the praises of the Lord or song to the Lord and it's a time of great joy and gratitude and yet three days later

Israel is complaining what are they complaining about do you remember they have any water that is drinkable water they were in a place they encamped there where the water was bitter and that made them angry and they blamed Moses and they did that repeatedly and yet God was gracious remember the story and he heals the water miraculously but he said to his people in Exodus chapter 15 26 if you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God and will do that which is right in his sight and will give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes I will put none of these diseases upon you which I have brought upon the Egyptians for I am Yahweh Rapha I am the Lord that heals you that's the character of God that's what's behind the name

Yahweh now you're probably wondering if you were listening a while ago that I said that God had revealed his divine name to Moses there at the burning bush and yet you know there are other times even prior to that that you'll have the word Lord Yahweh appearing in scripture but just remember that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible okay and so we have the use of Yahweh predating the time that he gave it to him at the burning bush but this is after the burning bush and God reveals his name and attaches to it a part of who he is his nature his power and he is the God our healer the God who heals us he is Yahweh Rapha and so God is our creator he's our provider he's our healer and now we're ready for number four no number three wait a minute did I skip one provider and I just gave you healer right number four

God is our banner our banner of victory and his name is Yahweh Nisi Yahweh Nisi Exodus chapter 16 or 17 rather in verse 15 and you will remember this story as well this is not long after the the Exodus and the Amalekites remember they kind of came up from behind and they ambushed the people of Israel they attacked first the weak and the old that were in the back part of the of the people as they traveled but Israel of course ultimately won the victory and they did so through a very unusual method you remember Moses would raise the rod of God up in the air and as long as he held the rod in the air Israel would prevail against the Amalekites but if his arms got tired which they did and he began they began to droop and he dropped the rod then the

Amalekites then would prevail and so they brought a rock I've always thought that's unusual we'd bring a chair but they bring a rock for him to sit on I guess that's all they had out there so I'm trying to picture how big of a rock that might have been and so they bring a rock for him to sit on and they raise he raises up the rod and Aaron his brothers on one side and her on the other side I don't know if his left or right and they hold up his arms so that he can keep the rod of God in the air and Israel prevails and wins the victory against the Malachites so you're I think familiar with that story and when it's all over then Moses builds an altar and in verse 15 of Exodus 17 Moses built an altar and called the name of it Yahweh Nethi the Lord is my banner for he said because the Lord has sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation by the way and this is another sermon

Amalek is a picture of the flesh we do battle with Amalek generation after generation after generation we do battle with Amalek today as new battle with our flesh now the word Nethi then means basically banner banner and we're not really familiar with what that means you know a lot of churches have banner banners and banner ministries but that's not what it is a banner was a flag sometimes just a pole just a pole that could be raised up and people could see it might have a banner a flag on it and it was to mark the point of the battle it marked the front line and it was the kind of the rallying point for the army and it was the line of march against the enemy so it signified the point of strength so God is our strength he is our banner he is Yahweh Nisi number five God is our sanctification our sanctification his name is Yahweh

Makadishkam I'm not sure if that's how it's pronounced that's good enough for all of us isn't it Makadishkam and Exodus 31 13 Moses is up on the Mount of Sinai and what's he doing there he's receiving God's laws the Ten Commandments and the people where are they they're encamped at the foot of the mountain and God is up in the mountain he's confirming to Moses that Israel will be God's personal possession that's what the word sanctification means that God was setting apart a people for himself what set them apart his law that he's given them he gave it to Israel that was the setting apart the sanctifying of people for himself and so he says to Moses in Exodus 31 in verse 13 speak also unto the children of Israel saying verily my

Sabbaths you shall keep for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I am Jehovah or Yahweh Makadishchem that is the Lord who does sanctify you that's what the name means that's behind the name Yahweh see all these all these are attached to the name Yahweh so that when you know the name Yahweh you also know all of these things but we're not done yet number six God is our peace our peace and so he is he goes by the name of Yahweh Shalom we're familiar with that word we know that means peace Shalom and so he's the God of our peace Judges 6 24 and let me just relate the story it's the time of course during the Judges a time when Israel went from kind of peace and tranquility to rebellion then to divine punishment and then deliverance and then peace again only to start the whole cycle over again and so Judges 6 details one of those times one of many when God had allowed an outside aggressor to oppress the people of Israel because of their sin their rebellion and this time it was the

Midianites and their close allies the Amalekites and God's deliverer for the people this time was a very unlikely candidate it was a poor peasant named Gideon remember Gideon and Gideon was afraid he didn't think he could do it he didn't think he was up to the task he was afraid but it was through Gideon's encounter with the living God that we learned something very important about the name of God he said to Gideon in Judges 6 23 peace be to you fear not you shall not die then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord the Bible says and called it Yahweh Shalom God is our peace our peace alright so you see Israel needed to know that and we need to know that that there is no peace apart from fellowship with the Lord of peace

Yahweh Shalom quickly number seven God is our Lord of hosts and his name is Yahweh Sabaoth Yahweh Sabaoth 1st Samuel 1 11 is the passage that we find that in and may be kind of a strange sort of passage because it is when Hannah it's about Hannah when Hannah was barren and she's desperate to have a son and so she's praying and praying and praying that God would open her womb and give her a son and she made a vow to God the Bible says in 1st Samuel 1 11 and she vowed a vow and said Yahweh Sabaoth she's speaking to him calling him by name Yahweh Sabaoth that is Lord of hosts that's what Sabaoth means it means host it refers to an army it refers to strength and power but she's praying to

Yahweh and dressing him as Yahweh Sabaoth if you will indeed look on the affliction of your handmaid and remember me and not forget your handmaid but will give unto your handmaid a man child then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life and there shall no razor come upon his head and she did have a son God did give her a man child his name was Samuel not Samson Samuel and so here she's praying to Yahweh Sabaoth the Lord of hosts the Lord of strength the Lord of power and God reveals himself to her in that way and to us also when there's nowhere to turn nowhere to go no hope no no and we're desperate and it's kind of like saying call out the troops need help and we pray to

Yahweh Sabaoth all right so the name of the Lord as we said as scripture says a strong tower God is our creator our provider our healer our banner of victory over the flesh our sanctification our peace our Lord of hosts when things seem hopeless and number eight God is our shepherd Psalm 23 Psalm 23 verse 1 and his name is Yahweh Raah R-A-A-H that we spell it in English Yahweh Raah Psalm 23 1 we know that one by heart the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want so God is our shepherd number nine God God is our righteousness our righteousness and his name is Yahweh T-S T-S T-S-I-D-C-A-N-U K-E-N-U if you're writing this down

Jeremiah 23 6 Jeremiah the prophet was allowed to as all prophets were allowed to look forward and he looked forward to the coming of Messiah and he saw rising out of David a righteous branch and he saw then a king and this is his name this is a quote from Jeremiah 23 6 and this is his name whereby he shall be called Yahweh Tzidkanu the Lord our righteousness the Lord our righteousness and to whom is he referring well don't you know Jesus of course referring to Jesus the Messiah and so Jesus is our righteousness the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5 21 for he has made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him number 10

God is the Lord who is there that's kind of an interesting title or name for God and his name is Yahweh Shammah Yahweh Shammah Ezekiel 48 and verse 35 the Hebrew word Shammah just simply means there there Ezekiel in this particular passage is prophesying during a time when Israel is in captivity as many of the prophets did and they're in captivity and he's speaking of a future time when Messiah will set up his earthly kingdom and rule from New Jerusalem and God even gives the measurements for the walls and the gates and so forth and you can read that on your own from Ezekiel and then he names the city he names the city and here here's the name of it and the name of the city from that day shall be

Yahweh Shammah the Lord who is there or the Lord is there and he will be there in the city in the New Jerusalem he will be there actually there and in that time at the end of all things and so considering these revealing names that's what we're doing here do you see then and we should be able to see why the Bible says that they who know that know your name shall put your trust in you and we know now that the name and why the Bible says the name of the Lord is like a strong tower and the righteous run into it and are saved so there is provision in the name of the Lord Yahweh

Jireh the Lord will provide there is healing from the Lord when you know him Yahweh Rapha the Lord that heals there is victory in the name of the Lord Yahweh Nisi the Lord my banner there is sanctification from the Lord when you know him Yahweh Makadesh him he sanctifies the Lord who sanctifies you there is peace from the Lord when you know him as Yahweh Shalom there is hope from the Lord when you know him as Yahweh Sabaoth there is protection from the Lord when you know him as Yahweh Ra'ah the Lord my shepherd there is righteousness from the Lord when you know him as Yahweh and there is presence the presence with the Lord when you know him as Yahweh

Shammah the Lord who is there there's one more and here is one from the New Testament you probably guess who it is and it's God our Savior God our Savior and his name is Jesus what does the name Jesus mean?

it means Yahweh is salvation Yahweh is salvation the grand culmination the peak the ultimate of what we know if we know the name of the Lord he is our salvation and what does the Bible say about that name?

it says there is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved the name of the Lord is a strong tower that's what the Bible says and the righteous run into it and what?

are saved and so after Joshua and we go full circle back to the people of Israel after Joshua was gone we move into the days of the judges a generation arose that had forgotten Yahweh they had forgotten his name and everything that goes with that they forgot who he was his character his works all of those things they had they didn't even know about them and so the question is what about this generation?

what about this generation which we live in? I know we're represented by quote different generations of us here from you know the youngest among us to the oldest among us and we kind of think of different generations of people and it's rightfully right to think of it in those terms but I mean the generation of our day in America do they know the name of the Lord?

most do not do they know then obviously then they do not know the person behind that name and it is that which we must proclaim as a church and when we proclaim the name of the Lord we're not only proclaiming him as creator but with some people we need to start there we're proclaiming him as savior the only savior he is Yahweh our salvation you