The Names of the Lord

Q: What does the Bible say about the name Jehovah?

The name Jehovah signifies God's self-existence and eternal being, emphasizing His independence and unchangeability. In the Bible, especially in Exodus 3:14, God reveals Himself as 'I am that I am,' a declaration of His being as Jehovah. This name represents not only His self-existence but also His independence, highlighting that all other beings derive from Him. The New Testament further illuminates this name, as it ties the identity of Jehovah to Jesus Christ, indicating that the eternal God has exclusively taken the name Jehovah, which implies a significance that transcends mere nomenclature. Jehovah embodies the fullness of God's nature, character, and purposes throughout both the Old and New Testaments.

Q: Why is understanding God's names important for Christians?

Understanding God's names helps Christians grasp His nature and character, which deepens their relationship with Him. The names of God, such as Elohim, El, Adonai, and Jehovah, reveal different aspects of His nature and attributes. By studying these names, Christians can gain a clearer understanding of who God is, His power, His care, and His sovereignty. For instance, knowing God as Jehovah emphasizes His eternal, self-existent nature, while other names like Adonai communicate His role as Lord who upholds and sustains. This understanding not only enriches personal faith but reinforces the theological continuity between the Old and New Testaments, emphasizing that Jesus Christ fulfills and embodies these names, providing believers with comfort, assurance, and a deeper worship experience.

Q: How do we know Jesus is Jehovah?

Jesus is identified as Jehovah through His divine attributes and fulfilled prophecies in the Old Testament. The New Testament explicitly identifies Jesus as Jehovah, the same God of the Old Testament, through various names and roles attributed to Him. For example, in Jeremiah 23:6, He is called 'Jehovah our righteousness.' Additionally, the New Testament accounts of Jesus’ life, His miracles, and His teachings display divine authority that only God possesses. Scriptures like Hebrews 13:8 affirm that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, reinforcing His eternal nature. Moreover, various passages in Isaiah speak of the coming Savior as the Lord, linking Him directly to the divine name Jehovah, thus conclusively affirming the identity of Jesus Christ as the eternal God.

Exodus chapter 3 and verse 14
reads, And God said unto Moses, I am
that I am. And he said, thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses,
thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord
God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you. This is my name
forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. That name forever, that memorial
unto all generations, I think is a significant little comment. Here we are being told that the
I am of the Old Testament will have this name spoken of and
remembered and attested to forever. We come this morning to think
about the Lord Jesus Christ as a New Testament people. But we
need to remember that there is continuity in our scriptures
between that which was revealed in the Old Testament and that
which is revealed in the New Testament. We are not, as some
churches, who simply ignore the Old Testament, assuming that
having had the fullness of the Revelation, there is no need
any longer to understand or to study or to delve back into the
Old Testament Scriptures. Rather, we see a completeness,
a wholeness in our Scriptures. And certainly the fullness of
the Revelation is discovered in the New Testament. But there
also are the foundational pillars in the Old Testament which come
together to uphold and maintain the complete picture that we
have of revelation. And the Lord God said to Moses,
I am that I am. Our God has taken many names. in the scriptures over the years. He has taken names to himself
throughout scripture and by those names he reveals certain aspects
of his nature and character and his ways. For example, the very
first name of God that we have in scripture in Genesis chapter
1 and verse 1 is Elohim. And that is the most frequently
used name of God. I should perhaps just say that
we often have the word God or Lord in the Old Testament scriptures,
but there are multiple names in the original language which
are represented by our word God. The name Elohim speaks about
the plurality of the Godhead and the appropriateness of worshipping
that God who has created all things. Another name that is
taken by the Lord is the word El. And where El is used, we
sometimes see it in place names, it has to do with the power of
God and the presence of God. And so we will find it used,
for example, in the name Bethel, that is the house of God. The Lord Jesus Christ, when he
was on the cross, used that name when speaking to his father. He said in Matthew 26 and 46,
Eli, Eli, lama sabanthanai, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? And that speaks of the power
of God. And it's interesting when we realize that the Lord
Jesus Christ on the cross was saying, O powerful one, O sovereign
one, why hast thou forsaken me? Elohim is another name that is
used to represent God and it means the supreme God, the God
who is most high, the God who is looking down upon his people. Shaddai is another name that
is used and it speaks of Almighty God and the sufficiency of God. He is the all-sufficient God. He is the provider and we see
that in Genesis chapter 17 where it is spoken of as God providing
himself a lamb. Sabaoth is another name that
the Lord takes. It is the Lord of hosts, the
Lord of the armies of heaven, the Lord who has dominion over
all things. Adonai is another word that is
used to describe our God. And that is the initial cause,
the first cause, the Lord who upholds and who sustains. So in Isaiah chapter 41, verse
10, we read, Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed,
for I am thy God. I am thy Adonai. I will strengthen
thee. Yea, I will help thee. Yea, I
will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. And
these different names that are taken in our Old Testament scriptures
reveal certain aspects about the nature and character of God. But the name that God takes to
himself as his chosen name is the name Jehovah. And that is
the great name of God in the Old Testament. It speaks of his
self-existence. It speaks of his eternal being. It speaks of all other beings
deriving from Him, from Jehovah. It tells us that He is independent
of everything else. And so, because of the importance
of that name, when we are reading our Bibles, we will discover
that that name, Lord, is always capitalized. When Jehovah is
mentioned, it will be in capital letters, capital L, capital O,
capital R, capital D. These other names don't have
capitals, but Jehovah does, and it shows us the importance of
that name. So in Exodus chapter 6 and verse
3 we read, And I appeared unto Abraham, and unto Isaac, and
unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty. But by my name Jehovah
was I not known to them. And there was a time in which
God chose to reveal that name. There has been an opening up
of the revelation of God's character and his nature. So he says here,
there was an appearance in the past. He's speaking to Moses,
he's speaking to the children of Israel. There was an appearance
in the past to Abraham and Isaac, but I did not show them this
name Jehovah, this self-existent, eternal, independent being. He revealed himself in lesser
ways. And in Isaiah 42 and verse 8, he says, I am the Lord, that
is my name, and my glory will I not give to another, neither
my praise to graven images. And so we see that the Lord's
name Jehovah has been revealed at different times in different
ways. And he is jealous of that name
for it speaks of his glory. And he testifies to that glory
by the use of that name in various portions of scripture. It is
a very significant name. It speaks of his eternity. It
speaks of his omnipresence. it speaks of his immutability. In Exodus chapter 3 and verse 13 that we read, the
Lord is telling us that he came to the children of Israel as
the great I Am. You remember the incident how
that Moses stood before the burning bush and this revelation was
given to him. That term, that name, the great
I Am, It speaks of the eternal presence of our God, the unchangeability
of our God. It says, I am what I am. It says, I shall be what I shall
be. It says, I shall be what I have
been. There is no change in God. I am he that was, I am he that
is now, and I am he that is to come. the infinite, eternal,
unchangeable God. And because God is so in His
being, He is also so in His attributes. Those things that we know of
God, those manifestations of God, the attributes of His holiness,
are as unchangeable and enduring as His being is unchangeable
and enduring. His power is eternal for His
being is eternal. The attributes of God, His justice,
His goodness, His truth are eternal truths. It is an eternal justice
because it flows from the eternal God. That glorious name of our
God, Jehovah, is a name which He takes alone, and yet He takes
it in all three of His persons. And this is a little point which
is perhaps obvious to some but may be useful to others. When we talk about Jehovah, we
are not to think exclusively of God the Father. Sometimes
I think I'm prone to do that and I'm thinking, well, when
we're talking about Jehovah, we're not talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ. We're not talking about the Son
or we're not talking about the Spirit. We're talking about the
Father. But that would be wrong. The Jehovah is the three in one. It is the Father Jehovah, it
is the Son Jehovah, it is the Spirit Jehovah. For these attributes
of the being of God extend to all three persons of the Godhead
and continue in those characteristics in the persons of each one. This morning for a couple of
minutes, I just want to show you how that is revealed in the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ, if I may take your time. If you look with me at Isaiah
chapter 60. Isaiah 60 and verse 16. There in that verse we read, Thou shalt also suck the milk
of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings, and thou
shalt know Here's what he says. Thou shalt
know that I, the Lord, capital letters, you see that? That's
our translators telling us that that word in there is Jehovah. Thou shalt know that I, Jehovah,
I, the Lord, am thy savior and thy redeemer, the mighty one
of Jacob. So that is a direct reference
to Jehovah Christ. This is a direct reference to
the Jehovah of the Old Testament being the Lord Jesus Christ of
the New Testament. For I shall be thy Saviour, I
the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. And in Isaiah 63 verses 7 to
9, if you just turn over a couple of pages, Again, we're speaking of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I will mention the loving kindnesses
of the Lord, capital letters, and the praises of the Lord according
to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness
towards the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them
according to his mercies and according to the multitude of
his loving kindnesses. For he said, surely they are
my people, children that will not lie. So he was their saviour. In all their affliction, He was
afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them. In His love
and in His pity, He redeemed them, and He bared them and carried
them all the days of old. This is Christ that is being
spoken of, and yet this is the Lord Jehovah. Jeremiah 23, you
don't have to turn to all of these verses. Jeremiah 23, verse
6, they're just supporting verses which illuminate the frequency
with which we ought properly to discern the person of Christ
in the Old Testament. In Jeremiah 23, verse 6, we read,
In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is the name whereby
he shall be called the Lord Capital letters, Jehovah, our righteousness. Then Isaiah 47 verse 4, As for
our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One of
Israel. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer,
is called Jehovah in the Old Testament. There's a lovely little
verse in Zechariah chapter 12 and verse 10 which says, and
I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants
of Jerusalem. This is again the Lord, L-O-R-D,
capital letters, Jehovah, that is speaking. I will pour upon
the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the
spirit of grace and of supplications. And they shall look upon me whom
they have pierced. me, the Lord Jehovah, whom they
have pierced. And they shall mourn for him,
as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness
for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. The great Redeemer, the great
Savior, the one who is pierced, is the one who took our humanity,
the one who is Jehovah, the eternal God, and Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. It is the eternal God who saves
His people from their sins. And what is the importance of
realizing this? Well, it gives us, of course,
the continuity of the Scriptures, but it is also a practical, comfort
and joy if it is taken and applied to our circumstances. This Jehovah
of the Old Testament, this eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, everlasting
God is the Christ of the New Testament. It was Jehovah who
came Now, it wasn't the Father who came, nor was it the Spirit
who came to go to the cross. It was the Lord Jesus Christ.
It was the Second Person. It was the Eternal Son. It was
the God-Man. But He is Jehovah. And it was
not an angel, but the Eternal God Himself who hung upon the
cross there in Jerusalem. The New Testament, of course,
when we begin to think about it, is full of explanations and
evidences which support this teaching. We see the episodes
and evidences of the Lord Jesus Christ's divine nature wherever
we look, in the miracles that he performed, These were miracles
performed by the divine person in his teaching. This was not
teaching that man could bring forth. People heard him and they
realized that he was one who preached with authority, not
as their scribes and their Pharisees. The revelation that was given
in him was a divine revelation. And the Jews and the Gentiles
and the angels and the demons of whom the New Testament and
the Gospels speak, all acknowledged that he was divine. How that
is, of course, is in many ways impossible for us to comprehend. He suffered in one nature as
man for men. And yet as Jehovah, he had merit
with God. His sacrifice was sufficient
in that divinity for him to represent his people. As the God-man, he
reconciled and unite human nature to God and to the divine nature. But as Jehovah God, he retained
and maintained and possessed all power in heaven and on earth
to lead his people through time and into their eternal rest. It's only the love of God that
could conceive of such a plan. It is only his eternal grace
and mercy that could induce the eternal God to become a man,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as Christ is
the eternal, unchangeable Jehovah, so His love and His grace and
His mercy is also eternal and unchangeable as well. Eternal
love, eternal grace, eternal good to His people from the eternal
Jehovah God. In Jeremiah 31 we read, The Lord,
Jehovah, hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have
loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee. I have loved thee. We keep wanting
to emphasize the personalness of this. I have loved you with
an everlasting love. This is not a universal, this
is not a commonplace thing. This is not a love without distinction,
a love that makes no difference. This is the distinctive, definite
love of God, Jehovah, for his people manifested in the sacrifice
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jacob have I loved. I have known
thee. And he said, of course, that
the love of God was directed personally to those individuals
whom he was pleased in time to redeem. Hebrews chapter 7 tells
us, but this man, the Lord Jesus Christ, because he continueth
ever hath an unchangeable priesthood, wherefore he is able also to
save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. the eternal God. The writer to the Hebrews employs
this phrase, he continueth ever. It is the very essence of Jehovah. It is the great I am that I am. The Lord Jesus Christ often in
the Gospel of John particularly takes that phrase I am and applies
it to himself. It was for that very reason that
the Jews had so much hatred and detestation of him. Jesus said
to them in John 8, And the Jews couldn't stomach
that because they knew what he was saying. And now we know what
he was saying. He was saying, I am Jehovah.
That's what he was telling them. And in Hebrews 13 verse 8, Jesus
Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever. This is the unchangeable
one, the unchangeable Jehovah, whom all believers are called
to rejoice in. And in Revelation it will be
our eternal song. 4 verse 8 says, And the four
beasts, each had of them six wings about him. And their eye,
they were full of eyes within. And they rest not day and night,
saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was and is
and is to come. We have hope in the Lord Jesus
Christ as the Eternal One. But let me just say this, and
I'm about to finish here. Let me just say this. We ought
not. While we have established that
Jehovah is the Lord Jesus Christ, we ought not to take that name
Jehovah. We need not take that name Jehovah
and apply it to our Saviour as we speak together. Let us remember
who He is. Let us remember that this Christ
is indeed Jehovah, the Eternal God. But we have been given a
new name for him as he revealed himself to Abraham and to Isaac
and to Jacob in one way and revealed himself to Moses in another and
proves that continuity between them all. What we have been given
now, what the apostles take and use and apply almost consistently
is simply this, Jesus. Thou shalt call his name Jesus. He is the great Jehovah, but
we've been given this name now as the name with which we refer
to him. He is Jesus. He is Jesus the
Messiah. Again, the Lord said to Peter,
whom do men say that I am? Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God, the promised Messiah, the Deliverer, the Redeemer. Here was the fullness, here was
the revelation of the identity of the Son, the God-Man. This
is what was projected, this is what was foretold, this is what
was foreseen. Shadowy, certainly. Metaphorically,
certainly. But in the fullness of the revelation,
Jehovah had come Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the Anointed One, Jesus
the Christ, is revealed as the Saviour of His people. So we
call His name Jesus Christ, as did the apostles, as did the
disciples, and as does the New Testament Church. But He is the
Great Jehovah, He is the Eternal God, and He is that Great Jehovah
taking upon Himself the nature of man, that he might stand in
the gap, that he might fulfill that great need of being the
Redeemer. We talk about it being a day
of small things, as we look around and we see the way in which the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ as that true God and true man
is taken down and despised and rejected of men. But yet that
gift of faith that he gives to his people upholds and sustains
and comforts them through all the days of their pilgrimage
here. This faith that we have is Jehovah's
gift to his people. In Zechariah 4 in verse 9 we
read, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this
house. Zerubbabel was another name of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We could pick that up. His hands
also shall finish it and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts
hath sent me unto you. For who hath despised the day
of small things? For they shall rejoice and shall
see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven. They are the eyes of the Lord
which run to and fro through the whole earth. Our Lord, the
great Jehovah, is in control of this whole earth. He has not
laid down His eternal power and glory. All of the names of God's
dominion and majesty, His ever-presence, His all-knowingness, His eternal,
enduring, everlasting nature and character are vested in this
man, Christ Jesus. and he is worthy of the worship
of his people. So we gather this morning to
worship Jesus the Christ. And may our praises and may our
adoration be unto the one who hath done all things well. Amen. th th th

The Names of the Lord

What does the Bible say about the name Jehovah?

Why is understanding God's names important for Christians?

How do we know Jesus is Jehovah?

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The Names of the Lord

What does the Bible say about the name Jehovah?

Why is understanding God's names important for Christians?

How do we know Jesus is Jehovah?

Sermon Transcript

About Peter L. Meney

Comments

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