I invite your attention to the
prophecy of Isaiah chapter 6. Today's message will be the sixth
in this series on Jehovah's names or Jesus's names. And we'll be looking today at
the tenth name. if you will you can refer to
your bulletin because I Expanded at this point and it is in your
bulletin. So locate your passage Isaiah
chapter 6 and in your bulletin the expanded point While you're
looking Mitch told His daughter being
born a beautiful young girl, but a sinner. I can relate to
that. My son was a handsome young boy even
when he was a wee lad. We lived on the island of St.
Lucia. It was a sacral society. Everyone was hatched, matched,
and dispatched in the church. So when you were born, a religion
was assigned to you. I had to take my son to hospital
on occasion. As I said, he was a wee lad.
And they asked for his name and address, and then they asked,
what is his religion? And I said, he has none. Well, I have to put something
down. Well, he has no religion, he's too young, he's not chosen
one yet. Well, what are you? Well, I'm a Baptist. But don't
put down Baptist for him because he's not a Baptist. Well, what
am I gonna put down, she asked, and I said, put down heathen,
that's what he is, he's a heathen. So she put down Baptist. God never saved anyone except
heathens and sinners. That's good news, is it not?
The only people God ever saved were a bunch of heathens and
sinners. I'm so glad. So glad he saved my heathen son,
my heathen daughter, and their heathen father. God is so good to undeserving
sinners, is he not? But now to the book of Isaiah,
chapter six. We're gonna look at this name
that is found for Jesus Christ here. The name is Jehovah Tzabalot. Let me read the passage for you,
Isaiah, chapter six. This is perhaps the conversion
of the prophet, the man who would be the prophet, he says, In the
year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord. The Hebrew word
here for Lord is Adonai, master. I saw the Lord, Adonai, sitting
upon a throne, high and lifted up in his trained field of the
temple. Above it stood the seraphims,
Each one had six wings, with twain he covered his face, and
with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And
one cried unto another and said, holy, holy, holy is Jehovah Tzabot,
the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. There's the name that we're considering today. First name given to him is Adonai,
the master, the king on his throne. And here his name is Jehovah-Tzabot,
the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. And the posts of the door moved
at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with
smoke, incense, probably. because you do not want to look upon
God apart from the incense and the smoke. Isaiah saw Him. He knew who it was. I saw Adonai. I saw Jehovah. even though the
house was filled with smoke. And then said I, woe is me, for
I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell
in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Now watch this, for mine
eyes have seen the king, Jehovah of hosts. Jehovah, who cannot be seen,
was here seen. His name is Jehovah of Hosts. Now consider, the word host means
armies. When we speak of Jehovah of Hosts,
we're talking about the God of the armies of the earth, of his
creation. Even the stars are said to be
of the hosts of Jehovah. When he sent Moses into Egypt
to convince Pharaoh to let his people go, Jehovah proved himself
to be Jehovah of Hosts when he sent a number of hosts against
the Egyptians. Frogs and gnats and flies and
hail with lightning and thunder and locusts. The Lord showed
that every creature is under his control. He can send locusts
if he wants to. There is army, and they'll devour
every green plant, every leaf, every stalk you can find. The clouds are his hosts. The
thunder, the lightning, all these. He is in control of all created
agencies. There is not a snowdrop that
falls to the ground, but watch Jehovah did not watch over it
and guide it all the way down. Think about that. He's in control
of all these hosts. He and his omnipotence, this
is a mighty and awesome God that we serve. This name appears at
least 185 times in the Old Testament. It appears in the New Testament
as the name the Lord Sabaoth. And if you'll recall, Martin
Luther used that term in one of his hymns. Here is Isaiah
using that term. I want to look at this one because
it is found 185 times at least But I want us to look at this
one for this specific reason Isaiah said my eyes have seen
Jehovah the Lord of hosts One of the sacred writers in
Scripture says No man has seen God at any time. But Jesus said, he who has seen
me has seen the Father, for he is God manifested in the flesh. He is the image of the invisible
God, the express or exact image of his person or his essence. When you looked upon Jesus Christ, You were looking on Jehovah.
Jesus Christ is Jehovah, to see him is to see Jehovah. But I want you to note something.
John chapter 10, I give you the reference in your note. Jesus quoted from this passage,
Isaiah chapter six. And then the sacred writer of
the scripture says, these things said Isaiah when he saw Jesus's
glory and spake of him. Now think of it. When Isaiah saw Adonai the master
seated upon his throne, when he saw Jehovah of hosts, the
Holy Spirit expressly declares, he saw Jesus Christ. He saw Jesus
Christ. I saw Jehovah of hosts high and
lifted up and the train of his robe filled the temple. Isaiah
saw Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ is. Jehovah of hosts But
let's take another approach at this if you will go to the book
of Joshua chapter 5 Joshua chapter 5 Joshua is the successor of Moses
Moses has led the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage
and through their redemption in the Red Sea to Mount Sinai
where they entered into a covenant with Jehovah. He led them for
38 years, wandering in the wilderness from place to place. He brought
them even to the very border of the land, but was not permitted
to enter because of a rash deed he himself had done. But he was
blessed to go to Pisgah, look from the lofty mountain, see
the promised land. And there he died and the Lord
buried him. Joshua succeeded him. It was
Joshua who led the children of Israel across the Jordan just
as Moses had led them through the Red Sea. And it was Joshua
who has now brought them to the first city that they must conquer,
Jericho, a mighty city, walled in. Two spies had already been
sent there to Search it out How is this Ragtag army gonna take
over this city. They've never fought a battle
in their life. They They Descended from slaves
Well, they had they fought a few battles in the wilderness, but
the Lord took care of those battles as with the Amalekites How is
this band of soldiers untrained Unequipped
going to take a city like Jericho walled in strong and well-defended
Joshua is Thinking of the situation and then we come to the fifth
chapter of Joshua Verse 13 And it came to pass when Joshua
was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold,
there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his
hand. Now consider, it is a man, and
he's standing there, and Joshua evidently is by himself, perhaps
meditating or praying, but looks up and there's a man who's got
a sword drawn in his hand. Joshua went unto him and said
unto him, Art thou for us or for our adversaries? And the
man said, Nay, but as the captain of the host of Jehovah am I now
come. And Joshua fell on his feet to
the earth and did worship and said unto him, What saith my
Lord unto his servant? Now consider who's he meeting,
the commander of Jehovah's hosts. Who is this commander of Jehovah's
hosts? It is Jehovah Tzabot, the Lord
of hosts. But he's also a man. How can
Jehovah Tzabot, the Lord of hosts, the commander of the armies of
Jehovah, how can he be a man? This is the pre-incarnate Jesus
Christ standing there before Joshua. The two Joshua's, if
you will, for Jesus's name is Joshua in the Old Testament in
the Hebrew. Both of them with their swords
facing each other. But one of them has said, I am
your commander. I am your commander. And Joshua
fell at his feet. of his master, Jehovah of hosts,
commander of the army of Jehovah, and the captain of Jehovah's
host said unto Joshua, loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for
the place whereon thou standest is holy, and Joshua did so. Now, let me tell you something about
chapter divisions. When the sacred writers penned
their books, they did not write in chapters. They just wrote
sentence after sentence after sentence. There were no chapter divisions
in our Bible until the year 1205. 1205. Stephen Langton, Archbishop of
Canterbury in England, divided the scriptures in the chapters. And overall did a very good job. Sometimes he did not do a very
good job at all. For example, John 14 verse one,
let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. Well, why should my heart be
troubled? Well, there's a bad chapter division,
if you will, because the reason why your heart should not be
troubled, and Jesus spoke those words to Peter because Peter has just been told, you'll
deny me, but let not your heart be troubled. You see, sometimes
these chapter divisions, though usually good, are not always
the best. I have wondered if, Mr. Langton in deciding where
to make chapter divisions sat there with his quill in one hand
and the scriptures in the other and he is going down reading
the sentences and puts a mark, make a division there. And perhaps
he's got his quill in his hand and wondering where he should
put the mark and someone surprises him. He's made a division that
should not have been made or he's sitting there and nods off.
And you know, sometimes these chapter divisions are in the
wrong place. So let me suggest to you that
a chapter division here would have been good between the 12th
and the 13th verses of Joshua chapter 5. What I just read to
you would have made a good point for the first verse. Because
now read chapter six. Now Jericho was straightly shut
up because of the children of Israel. None went out and none
came in. And Jehovah said unto Joshua,
when did he say it? Right there while Joshua is with
him, the commander of Jehovah's hosts. It is Jehovah with whom
he's speaking. I've given unto thine hand Jericho,
and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valor. And then
the commander of Jehovah's hosts, Jehovah of hosts, the pre-incarnate
Jesus Christ, tells him, here's your battle plan. And it'll work. And you're not gonna be doing
much of a battle here. I'll take care of this one for
you. I sent locusts and frogs and gnats and scarabs against
the Egyptians. I'll take care of this one. You
just get that Ark of the Covenant, get the priests with their trumpets
of ram's horns, and you just march around that city one time
in silence and then go back to your camp. Do it for six days. Now I grant you, those Jericho-ites
are gonna call you crazy. They're gonna laugh at you, you
know. What kind of a silly parade is this? All they do is just
march around the city, then go back. How do they expect to take
over a city like Jericho if that's the only battle plan they have? Do they think they're gonna bore
us silly so that we finally give up? And Jehovah said, you just
do it. But on the seventh day, you march
around that city in silence six times. You'll have their
attention now. And then at the last you tell
those priests to start blowing their horns and you tell the
people to jump and shout, and I'll bring down the walls flat.
And he did. You see what a commander we have.
We should never get ahead of him in fighting the battles of
this life. Sometimes it's just wise to stand
still and see the salvation of Jehovah. You see what he did
here at Jericho? He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. This is the one that we serve. I'll give you another instance.
In the 12th chapter of the book of Revelation, we read of Michael
the archangel fighting against Satan and his angels. Now, Michael
the archangel is Jesus Christ. That name Michael means who is
like God. Jesus is like God. He's the archangel,
the highest of all the angels. He's the angel of the covenant.
He's the angel of Jehovah. This Michael the archangel is
Jesus Christ, and he went to battle against Satan and won,
and Satan was cast to the earth. Give you another instance, and
it applies to every one of us. We are told to conduct ourselves
as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. We're in his army. We're in his
army. He's our commander. And I tell
you this, there was never a better commander. He never lost a war. He's been fighting wars ever
since his enemies ever came up against him. He never lost one
Wow Jesus Christ is Jehovah up hosts Michael the Archangel the
commander of Jehovah's hosts and our commander-in-chief. Now
let's look at another name, Jehovah Tzipkenu, that's the 11th name. Jehovah, our righteousness. You know this one quite well,
you've sung the hymn. I once was a stranger to grace
and to God, I knew not my danger nor felt not my load. Though
friends spoke in rapture of Christ on the tree, Jehovah's subcane
was nothing to me, till free grace awoke me, the hymn writer
says. This is his name. Jehovah said
canoe now look at the prophecy that is given unto us in Jeremiah
23 Jehovah says now listen carefully Jehovah says Behold the days
are coming Then I will raise the day with a branch of righteousness
now watch Jehovah says I'm sending someone to you And when he comes, this is his
name by which he will be called, Jehovah Tzidkenu, the Lord our
righteousness. You can almost imagine Jeremiah
writing these words down. Lord, oh Lord Jehovah, you are
Jehovah. And there's only one Jehovah.
and you're gonna send one to us, and his name is Jehovah. Yeah, that's right. Okay, you said it. And writes
it down. That's his name. That's his name. And Jeremiah wrote it. It is no wonder that in the New
Testament we read that the ancient writers searched their own writings
trying to find out whom and what Christ is. They could not understand. You and I understand. We've been
given a better revelation than even Isaiah and Jeremiah, Daniel
and others had. But here is Jehovah saying, I'm
going to send someone to you, and his name is Jehovah Tzitenu. He is the Lord our righteousness. And so it is. The righteousness
Jesus brought through his obedience has been imputed unto us in our
justification by God. Consider that. What was he doing
in his life? He's weaving a tapestry in its warp and woof. Every deed
he did, nothing was trivial. He goes to John the baptizer
and says, baptize me. Well, Lord, I should be baptized
by you, John says. No, no, no. It behooves us to
fulfill all the righteousness. Everything he did, he was born
under God's law. God's law was written in his
heart. He says, I delight to do your
will, and your law was written in my heart. He was born under
the law. fulfilled it in every jot and
tittle, never broke any commandment in the law, did all that the
law required, did nothing that the law forbade. Until he comes
to the end of his ministry in the night before he gives his
life He prays there in that garden and he says father I have finished
the work you have given me to do I have had your law in my
heart. It was ever before me. I fulfilled
it in every jot and tittle and Then in his passive obedience
there on Calvary He shouts out again. It is finished Father,
I have finished the work you have given me to do. And in so
doing, in completing God's law, fulfilling it, he worked out
a perfect righteousness, a perfect righteousness. And now God imputes
that righteousness unto us. The righteousness of Jesus Christ
imputed unto us in our justification. He became for us righteousness
for God, from God. He was made to be sin for us
so that we might become God's righteousness in Him. You know, that is, that's an
awesome verse. There's been great battles fought
over that first part. God made him to be sin for us. I mean it does not say God imputed
sin to him. The scripture never says God
imputed sin to Christ. Doesn't say he infused sin into
him. It says made him to be sin. Now what does that mean? It means
God made him to be sin. And people quibble and argue
over that. But have you considered the second
part of the verse? That we might become God's righteousness
in Christ. I don't understand that. But
it's true, is it not? God made Christ to be sin for
me, and then I have become God's righteousness in Christ. Now that's what the scripture
says. I'm gonna take that at face value. Jehovah said canoe. And because
he was made to be sin for me, I have been made to be God's
righteousness in Christ. We are found in him not having
our own righteousness, but that righteousness which is through
the faith of Christ. Not so much faith in Christ,
but the faith of Christ, the faithfulness of Christ in working
out this righteousness. We are clothed in the robe of
righteousness, Isaiah 61 10, and that robe of righteousness
is Jesus Christ himself. We do not boast of our own righteousness,
for all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, menstruous cloths. Therefore, when you sing that
hymn next time, I once was a stranger to grace and to God until I learned
Jehovah Zidkenu was precious to me. It's who he is. Jehovah sent Jesus Christ to
be Jehovah our righteousness, and God forbid that we boast
of any other. We boast of him alone. One more,
and we'll close this series Point number 12, Jehovah Shammah,
it means the Lord is there. Ezekiel 48, 35, when Jehovah
prophesied the church of Christ in this age, he identified it
as a city and declared the name of the city from that day shall
be Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is there. That's a good name. And this speaks of the church
of Jesus Christ. We are his city. What is our
name? In this place, our name is Jehovah
Shammah because he is here. It is his city. And he is in it. He occupies
it. He's the king over it. He's present
in everything that is done. in this city. But I want you to note that his
name is Emmanuel. Our English text says that word
is translated God with us. And that's true, but just do
observe that God's name, El, is in this name, Emmanuel, and
God's name is at the end of the name. And more particularly,
the word is translated, with us is God. That is more forceful
than God with us. With us is God. Think about it,
folks. With us is God. He's here this morning. I thought of the inclement weather that we've
got We have a couple of couples that are vacationing in warmer
climates. They picked a good time to go.
And we have some of our church members who are unable to be
here today because of being in outlying districts and snow,
inclement weather, unable to make it in, wanting to, although
they told me they'll be worshiping with us today. Thank you, Sean,
for the broadcast, the live stream. But I realized this morning that
just be a few of us But I found great consolation
in this, that Jesus said, where two or three are gathered in
my name, I am there in the midst. And I thought, well, you know,
we're gonna have more than two or three, so surely he will be
here. He will! His name is Jehovah Shammah. The Lord is there. He walks in
the midst of his churches. That's the description given
of him in the first chapter of the last book in the Holy Scriptures,
which appropriately is named the Revelation of Jesus Christ. There, the lance stands, seven
of them representing his churches. And what's he doing? He's walking
in their midst. Walking in their midst. Do you realize that this morning
there is a church, a lamp stand, if you will, in Great Falls,
Montana. There's another one over in Rock
Valley, Iowa. There's another one to the west
in the Dolls, Oregon. They're in Rescue, California. Going back toward the east in
Danville, Kentucky Lexington, Kentucky Orlando, Florida and
in other places around the world The Lord's got lampstands churches And he's visiting every one of
them walking in their midst and Walking in the midst of his churches
so that every one of them knows Jehovah is here Furthermore as
I just mentioned he said where two or three are gathered in
my name I am there in the midst of them He's sitting in a pew
here this morning or else walking up and down between the pews
And he's doing it in Lexington and Danville, Kentucky and Sellersburg,
Indiana and wherever the Lord's people are. What a blessed thought
is this. Our Jehovah Shema, Jesus Christ
is omnipresent. Everywhere present at once. That's
an awesome thought. That's a comforting thought.
But you know what? This is also a concerning thought. Because if he's here, and he says he
is, his name Jehovah Shema says he's here. You know what he's
doing? He's listening to every word we sing. He was listening. Oh, he sings with us, he says,
in the midst of the congregation, I will sing. He's listening to
us sing. He hears us praying. Not only
that, he reads our hearts and our minds while we're here. What are you
thinking about? I have no idea what you're thinking
about. I hope you're thinking about the message, I cannot know,
he does. He knows what I'm thinking when
no one else does. But that's a comforting thought
as well. If we have rightly worshipped him, he's aware of it. Shovah
Shammah, he is here. How blessed it is to know that
he is. And I pray that we are blessed in knowing that he has
met with us today. and He is our righteousness,
and He is our Commander-in-Chief. O God, our Father, bless this
word we pray to the glory of Your Son, in whose name we pray,
amen.