Ex 20:1-7 no other gods ‘above’ YHVH; do not carry YHVH’s name in vain
Ps 8:1 YeHoVaH, our God, how excellent is Your Name in all the Earth . . . .!
Everyone has received a name from his/her mother and/or father. We who are parents have given names to our children.
—Ex 20:12 Honor your father and your mother: sanctify their names by honoring them in our
own name as their children.
–hearts of fathers to the children, and of the children’s hearts to the fathers: functional, healthy family
Who of you want people to think well of you when they hear your name?
Who of you do not want people to think well of you when they speak your name?
Who of you do not care whether others think well of you or not when your name is mentioned?
The Holy Spirit through the Scriptures tells us that “a [good] name is to be chosen than great wealth . . . .” (Pr 22:1a) For those desiring to be a leader in the church, he “must have a good name among those who are outside . . .” (1Tim 3:7)
YEHOVAH, God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, is a jealous God. (Ex 20:5; 3:14-15) In fact, one of His names is Jealous. (Ex 34:14) He alone is YHVH, and He will not give His glory to another. He is Jealous for His holy name’s sake; He is Jealous for the sake of His Good Name.
What distinguishes the God of Israel from all other gods is that He is a Living God, and He is Holy. He is “other”, different, set apart. There is NONE like Him. (Lev 11:45) He alone is eternal. He alone is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He alone is Creator of all, and the Redeemer of His own creation. He alone makes and cuts covenants, and also fulfills His promises.
When Israel asked for a king like the other nations have, they received from Yehovah God what they asked for: a sinner like themselves who also disobeyed and rejected YHVH from being King over them. Yehovah is holy, judging not only the outward deeds like we do, but also the thoughts and intentions of the heart. YHVH wants a holy people without and within. He alone redeems a people for Himself through mighty deeds to deliver us from bondage, and through the death and resurrection of His only begotten Son, whom He loves. He is holy, and He will inherit a holy people to be a kingdom of [holy] priests.
Dt 32:14 Yehovah our God is great, perfect, just, truth, righteous, upright!
When we speak His Name; when we meditate on His Name; when we live our lives . . . is His Name precious to us – excellent – above all other names? Are we jealous for His good and holy Name’s sake? Do we love Him above all? Or, are we carrying His name in vain? (Ex 20:7; Num 6:22-27; Jn 17:11-12)
What light can Jewish people or Christians be if we do not know, or else are afraid to say, Who He is that has chosen us to be His witnesses and people!? What is the Name of HaShem (The Name)? It is a superstitious fear that prevents Jews from pronouncing the Name of YHVH, going even beyond that by not pronouncing or writing even the Hebrew pronunciation of Elohim or Adonai, neither of which are even personal names of God. This gets carried over to some believers writing in English God as G-d, and Lord as L-rd; again, neither of them either being proper names. But Yeshua or Jesus they will write out!
Yeshua said that we must confess His name before men. Our good works must be done in His Name, if we want our Father in Heaven to be glorified. We are not giving HIM glory or sanctifying HIS name unless less we speak (or write) it!
Num 23 – 24 YHVH gave the false prophet Balaam to see the end of His work in Israel, and not the present reality (Is 41:1-4,21-24)
Ps 83:16-18 (17-19 Heb) A prayer of a priest for Yehovah, God of Israel, to act on behalf of His own people in a manner that the enemies will know that He alone has the name YHVH, and is Most High over all the Earth. He is God of gods!
Ezek 36:20-23 YHVH is telling His people that He must act for His Holy Name’s sake, because we have made His name a reproach among the nations.
Ezek 38:23 YHVH will magnify and sanctify His Holy Name when He brings Gog against Israel in the last days, and defeats him and all his armies on the mountains ofIsrael. Gog and all the nations — including Israel — will know that His Holy Name is YEHOVAH!
Who is YHVH, that we who believe in Jesus/Yeshua should be so concerned with Him in His determination to sanctify and to glorify His good name?:
Mt 6:9 Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your Name . . .
–Yeshua brings the revelation of God as the Father in a personal way (2Sam 7:14), and brings us “home”.
–Father to Israel (Ex 4:22; Is 64:8)
–Replacement theology rejects God’s relationship to Israel as the Father who loves them
–orphans, or else a father who rejects His children (Ishmael and Esau), which can produce a bitter root
–In these end-times of the last days, the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ becomes even more “praying in the Spirit” when all our own talking and righteousnesses become still a hindrance to genuine unity and love.
–sanctified by the truth (Jn 17:17-19)
Jn 12:34-41; Is 6:3 Yeshua, Yehovah of Hosts: Holy, holy, holy is He, and His glory fills the whole Earth!
Acts 4:12 There is no other Name under Heaven given among men by which we may be saved, other than through the Name of Jesus/Yeshua, Lord and Messiah/Christ!
Until today in Israel, and in many nations of the world, the Holy and Good Name of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ is cursed and blasphemed. (1Cor 12:3) As sons and daughters of God, and as those who have been saved from sin and death by the precious blood of Jesus, it should matter very much to us that we live our daily lives – whether ‘in the world’ or ‘in the church’ – in such a way that believers and unbelievers will think well of our great God and Savior when they hear His Name.
Phlp 2:10-11; Is 45:21-25; Jn 12:26-28 Every knee will bow . . . and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is LORD/YEHOVAH – the Name above all names – to the glory of God the Father!
Sanctify and glorify Your Name, O Lord our God!
And in that day, YHVH shall be one, and His Name one. (Zech 14:9)
