Hallowed Be Your Name, A Study of the Names of God - Part 8: Jehovah Rohi

REVIEW
 
So we have been studying the Names of God for a couple of months now, which all has been aimed at helping us know Him better and, therefore, it helps us to approach God better. So no, we are not studying this just simply to accrue more knowledge in our heads but to grow in a more personal & intimate knowledge of Him. 
 
The title we gave this series is “Hallowed Be Your Name” because this is how the Lord Jesus taught His disciples to pray – by first recognizing His Name. I made the point that this evidently is a big part of our prayer life because if one does not truly know the One they are praying to, it can hurt their faith and level of confidence when presenting their requests to Him. However, as Daniel 11:32 says, the people who know their God will be strong and do great exploits. And that certainly applies to prayer. Amen?
 
Now you might question how knowing God’s Names can affect us so much, but in Bible times, the names of people, places, and things taught you a lot about the one you were referring to. Likewise, with God, His Names reveal to us who He was, who He is, and who He forevermore shall be. In other words, His Names reveal to us His nature, who He is at His core, and what we can count on Him always being.
 
So we’ve looked at several Names of God so far, beginning with the first name we see Him called – Elohim, which describes Him as the All-Powerful, All-Knowing Sovereign Creator who rules over all!
 
We then learned that Elohim needed a little more specific description, so there were several names given to it like El Shaddai, El Elyon, and El Roi.
 
We then turned our attention to the most accurate Name for God, the Name, Yahweh. We saw how this name describes God as the Great I AM, the self-existing One and the one who was and is to come. Through this Name, the LORD essentially says, “I AM” and we would say, “The LORD IS.” Yes, this Name basically invites us and even teases us to know Him better by leaving an open-ended sentence of who He is.
 
So then we saw how through this Name Yahweh (which is commonly known as Jehovah in our English-speaking Bibles) He began to reveal Himself more specifically to His chosen people and answer that question – Who is He?
 
So we then learned about Jehovah Shammah –The LORD is there. From this, we learned how God’s nature is to be faithfully present with His people.
 
Then we looked at Jehovah Rapha – the LORD is our Healer. So we learned that this describes the LORD as the One who heals and wants His people healthy.
 
We then looked at the Name of God, Jehovah M’Kaddesh, which means “The LORD is our Sanctifier.” In its simplest terms, this means that the LORD is the One who separates or sets apart something to make it different and special.
 
And then last week, we looked at what is the most often used Name of Yahweh in the Scriptures, the Name Jehovah Sabaoth. We saw that is where we get that familiar phrase “The LORD of hosts” from in the Scriptures and then we looked at what these hosts are that He is LORD over. The Scriptures describe all of His creation as part of His hosts like the stars in the heavens, the birds of the air, the fish in the sea, etc. His heavenly hosts are also included such as His army of angels, but His hosts also refer to man and the people He has put on this planet to execute His will. So we learned from this that the LORD certainly likes to use others to accomplish His purposes, and those “hosts” that He uses are to operate in rank & file, in unity and as one.
 
JEHOVAH ROHI
 
Now the next Name of God that I feel led to share on is one that is certainly appropriate for what we are doing here at HPC today. I want us to look at the Name, Jehovah Rohi, the LORD our Shepherd.
 
Now Jehovah Rohi is not explicitly mentioned in the Bible like some of His other Names, but it’s derived from a combination of two biblical words used in the 23rd Psalm, one of the most famous and beloved passages in the Old Testament.
 
King David begins this Psalm with, “The Lord is my Shepherd” (See Psalm 23:1).  
 
So the first three words we see here are “The LORD is …”, and this is the Hebrew word Yahweh. Like we’ve learned, Jehovah is a variant of this divine name Yahweh, which is often translated as “LORD.” And as we’ve also seen, Yahweh/Jehovah literally can be translated as “The LORD is” and describes the Great I Am, the Self-Existing One.
 
But the next two words – “… my Shepherd” – come from the Hebrew word rohi (derived from the Hebrew root ra’ah). This verb encompasses the actions and responsibilities of a shepherd, such as guiding, caring for, feeding, and protecting his sheep.
 
Therefore, when the Psalmist declares, “The Lord is my shepherd,” it conveys the idea that God fulfills the role of a loving, caring, and protective Shepherd in the lives of His people. And since this is a Name of God, it indicates that God’s core nature is that of a Shepherd.
 
Now it is easy to understand where this Psalm’s author got his inspiration from: King David of Israel had himself been a shepherd as a young man, caring for his father’s flocks. So he knew from personal experience how vitally important it is to the safety and well-being of the sheep to have a good shepherd who would care for them even if it meant putting himself at risk or hardship. As we learn in First Samuel 17:34-36, David killed both a lion and a bear that were attacking his flock.
 
Now we will get back to the 23rd Psalm, but I did want you to know that it is by no means the only picture in the Bible of the LORD as being our Shepherd. Yes, references to Jehovah Rohi are sprinkled throughout the Scriptures and this idea of God himself being the Shepherd of Israel and his people comes from deep within the Old Testament, from the first family to the latter prophets. Here are a few examples:
 
Isaiah 40:11 says, “He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young.”
 
Jeremiah 31:10 says, “…‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd does his flock.’”
 
Ezekiel 34:11-12 says, “For thus says the Lord God: ‘Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day.”
 
Psalm 100:3 says, “… We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.”
 
Now unfortunately, just as sheep do not always follow their shepherd and wander off, we, too—God’s sheep—have failed to follow Him. We often wander away. Therefore, the Bible says in Isaiah 53:6 – “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
 
So from just this handful of Scriptures, we can clearly see what David said in Psalm 23:1 – that the LORD is indeed our Shepherd, our “Rohi.”
 
WHAT A SHEPHERD DOES
 
Now a lot of times what I like to do when discovering the meaning of certain Hebrew or Greek words is I like to look at how these words are translated the most. And I believe that would be a good practice here with rohi …
 
Did you know that even more than “Shepherd,” the original King James Version translates the word rohi as “feed”? So this shows me that one of the most important responsibilities of a shepherd is to feed his or her sheep.
 
Isn’t this some of the first things we see David describing that the Lord our Shepherd does for His sheep in the 23rd Psalm? He begins with saying, “… I shall not want.” (Psalm 23:1).
 
This reminds me of what David said in Psalm 34:9-10 – “Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger;
But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.”
 
Notice the comparison between “no want” and to a young lion lacking and suffering hunger. So to me, not “wanting” would definitely include being fed and not lacking the nourishment needed.
 
Psalm 23:2 goes on to describe how our Good Shepherd “makes us to lie down in green pastures and leads us beside the still waters.” Now this wasn’t just for peace & rest. How many of you know that those green pastures were to feed on and not just sleep on? Also, those sheep weren’t being led by the still waters to go sightseeing but to drink from.
 
So in the 23rd Psalm, we are seeing that the first things that the LORD our Shepherd does for us is make sure we are fed.
 
Now when it comes to us, His sheep, we are not just referring to physical food. We are also talking about spiritual food. And we know Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
 
So God’s Words are our manna! Yes, His Words – both the logos and the rhema – are our spiritual nourishment and what feeds our souls. Therefore, the LORD our Shepherd desires to feed us His spiritual food, being our teacher & preacher.
 
Now the first time we see this Hebrew word rohi used is in the story of Cain & Abel when in Genesis 4:2 we have described to us what these two brothers did. It says, “Then she (Eve) bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.”
 
It’s interesting that the word “keeper” is used here instead of shepherd because it reveals to us one of the primary responsibilities of a shepherd – to “keep” them (i.e. to protect them).
 
Isn’t the LORD described this way? As a keeper and protector? Oh yeah, He is certainly described over and over again as our shield, refuge, fortress, and strong tower. Time and time again the LORD is said to be the keeper of His sheep.
 
THE LORD IS MY PASTOR
 
Guess how else this Hebrew word rohi is translated? It’s also translated as “pastor.”
 
Now I’m sure some of you know this already, but this New Testament office that Jesus has gifted to His church of pastor literally describes a Shepherd. In fact, that’s the primary way that pastor is defined in our New Testament.
 
Now what is a pastor supposed to do? We are there to tend to God’s flock. We are there to feed His lambs and tend His sheep. This is what the Lord told Peter in John 21 when He asked him those three times if Peter loved Him. Jesus told Peter to “feed My lambs, tend my sheep, and feed my sheep.” So while this is not everything a true pastor does, it certainly is the primary thing.
 
Well, the Lord is the ultimate pastor! When our pastors drop the ball, mess things up, aren’t led & inspired by the Holy Spirit in what they say / teach, etc., God doesn’t. He is the perfect pastor and the One we should ultimately look to when it comes to our spiritual lives.
 
I say this because there are a lot of Christians out there who look to man for all their spiritual needs. Yes, they depend on their pastor to be their source of revelation. They look to the evangelist to bring people into the kingdom. They rely on the prophets to hear from God for them. But the fact is – David said that the LORD is my shepherd.
 
So you could translate this as David saying, “The LORD is my pastor.”
 
Now of course this does not mean that the LORD doesn’t give us pastors after the flesh and that He doesn’t use people to feed, keep, and tend to our needs. But my point is that you never put your faith and hope in flesh. We are all fallible and capable of missing it. We can let you down. But God is incapable of missing it and letting us down. He is faithful! Remember that!
 
You see, there are many Christians that like to put their “pastor” (or as some say, their “preacher”) up on a pedestal and either view them as a hireling who is there to do their bidding and come running every time they snap their fingers, or as the one that they hear from God through and the one that does their praying for them. Both of these mentalities are wrong.
 
A pastor is not there to hear God for you, to be the one who is always praying for you. I spent my first (close to) 4 years here developing a culture that we are not a one man show. You can believe God yourself. You can pray for others. You don’t need someone to hear from God for you. You are blessed. You are called. You are also in the ministry. My job is to simply equip and encourage you to go do the work of the ministry. Amen?  
 
Now don’t hear what I am not saying here. Robert and I are here to help, counsel and pray for you guys. We all at different times in our life need someone to hold our arms up when we are weak and weary, like Moses in the battle with Amalek (Exodus 17:11-12). My point is simply this: we do not want to live year after year, decade after decade, running to the pastor or even someone else every time we have a spiritual or natural need. As we learned last week, God has said that we all shall know Him from the least to the greatest. We all have a direct line with God and can pray and believe Him for ourselves. So, next time you have a need, don’t be so quick to run to the phone; first run to the throne – the throne of grace, that is. Amen!   
 
You see, if the Lord is my pastor, then that means I am to be taught of Him and He is my counselor and my comforter. Amen.
 
Again, this does not mean that you don’t need teaching from a man or woman, and it doesn’t mean that you don’t ever need counsel from someone other than God. Don’t get into either of these ditches. It just simply means that we need to go to God first – knowing that He is our Chief Shepherd. Amen?
 
First Peter 5:4 calls Jesus this when it says, “When the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.”
 
THE GOOD SHEPHERD
 
Now I’d like to tie this up today by looking at how Jesus specifically described Himself as this Jehovah Rohi and what our Chief Shepherd does for His sheep – John chapter 10.
 
But before we focus in on those verses, I did want to make sure we understand that John chapter 10 is certainly not the only passage that reveals to us that Jesus is our Shepherd.
 
In Matthew 18:12-13 Jesus said, “If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? And if he should find it, assuredly I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.” Luke 19:10 specifically tells us that He seeks and saves the lost like this.
 
So there is obviously a lot that points to Jesus having a shepherd’s tendencies, but it is important that we go over to John chapter 10 and look at the section of Scriptures where our Lord Jesus Christ revealed Himself as our good shepherd …
 
As we read this parable in John chapter 10, it becomes clear that Jesus is revealing Himself as not only our shepherd, but also as the door that the sheep enter in and out by. The premise of this parable is to show how our Lord is the shepherd as opposed to the hirelings – the thieves and robbers – that have come before Him.
 
The context of this parable is not my point as much as the characteristics that our shepherd possesses, because He reveals in this parable some wonderful attributes that we should take heed to. 
 
In verse 11, when Jesus reveals Himself as the Shepherd He described in this parable, He doesn’t just say He is any old shepherd – rather He says, “I am the good shepherd!” and goes on to describe Himself as the Good Shepherd who gives His life for the sheep.
 
Now there are a lot of things that make the Lord a “Good” Shepherd, but nothing trumps this one point – that He died for us that we might live! In other words, He gave His life for His sheep. Amen!
 
Now we acknowledge the fact that Jesus died for us and that the Father did not spare Him so that we might live. However, I think what Christians have failed to reconcile is that if the Father gave up His only begotten Son for us, how shall He not also with Him freely give us all things? (See Romans 8:32) Amen?
 
In other words, if He was willing to give us His very best – the Only Begotten of the Father – then why would we doubt that He would give us anything else we needed? That would be like me sacrificing Levi for you and then you doubting that I would help you pay your power bill. No, if I would give up my son for you, then I would most certainly be willing to give you things of much less value. Amen? He wants to take care of every area of our lives, and He has made the provision for this.
 
Jesus said in Luke 12:32, “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
 
Here, Jesus was establishing our hearts in a very important truth – that the reason we do not need to fear or worry about our needs being met is because it is our Father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom!
 
Now a very important point here is how He referred to us as His “little flock.” Little flock of what? Of His sheep, of course! Now a flock of sheep was not a band of pets. You realize that, right? Back then a flock was a business! So God sees you as His business, and He is not about to let His business fail.
 
All this rests on the fact that we must trust God - to hear Him, to know Him, to receive from Him.
 
THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD. THEREFORE…
 
But I want you to notice that in John chapter 10, there are some specific promises given to the Good Shepherd’s sheep and these are, therefore, things we can count on the Lord our Shepherd doing for us … 
 
Notice in verse 3 that Jesus says that His sheep:

1. Hear His voice.
2. Are called by name.
3. Are led by Him.

 
So, here we have three awesome promises of the Lord being our Shepherd:
 
HE KNOWS MY NAME
 
Let’s start with the fact that His sheep are called by name …
 
In verse 14, Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.” So again, we see the importance of knowing the Lord like we discussed last week. But I want you to notice that here we see the flipside of this: While it is certainly important to know that the Lord is not just our Shepherd, but that He is my own personal Shepherd, it is also important to know that our Shepherd knows us individually and specifically. So not only can we know His name; He knows our names too!
 
Isn’t that just awesome that our Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, knows His own sheep and calls them by name. Friends, that is a personal relationship. He knows who I am individually and who you are personally. He knows our names – which is not just knowing that we are Joe, Mary, etc.; it is knowing our personality, character, etc. He knows everything there is to know about us! Hallelujah!
 
This is so super important to understand because it creates confidence in God – that He knows who I am, what I need, what I like, etc., etc., etc. He knows me and, therefore, will not leave me hanging! Amen!
 
So we can see that the LORD wants us to know His Name, yes. But He knew our name first. Glory!
 
HEARING AND KNOWING HIS VOICE
 
In this passage, we also see that Jesus said that His sheep hear. In verse 4, He goes as far as saying that they know His voice. Therefore, if the Lord is our Shepherd we can rest in the fact that we hear and know His voice.
 
Now I understand that many Christians struggle with this, saying things like – “I just don’t feel like I hear from God.” Well, I believe a big reason for this is because many born again, Spirit-filled Christians have a serious misconception as to how God speaks to us.
 
When I hear this doubt in Christians that they can hear God, what I want to tell them is – If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you do indeed hear from God! Yes, you already do hear from God! How do I know this, you ask? I base that on these very Scriptures in John chapter 10. So, if Jesus – the Lord, our God – says that we hear His voice, shouldn’t we come into agreement with Him and start believing that we hear His voice? Of course, we should!
 
But you will hear believers cite their own experiences saying, “But I don’t hear His voice! I have asked and sought to hear from God, but I just don’t hear anything.” This is when we must base our belief system upon the foundation of His Word. As the apostle Paul said in Romans 3:4 – “Indeed, let God be true and every man a liar.” In other words, if our experiences and testimonies conflict with what God said in His Word, then those things are a lie in comparison. Saints, God’s Word is absolute truth. So, if He says here that we hear His voice, then we hear His voice, whether we feel like we do or not. This is one of the cornerstones of hearing from God – faith that we hear Him!
 
You see, we get what we expect from God (based on what He has spoken and promised to us). Things that God has provided are only going to be fully manifested in our lives as we actively put our hope in those promises and mix our faith with them. Everything from our initial salvation to hearing His voice is fully realized through our faith and hope – our confidence and expectation of them. So, we need to start believing and confessing that we do hear from God for He has said that His sheep hear and know His voice!
 
But someone will say, “Well, maybe I do hear something, but my big problem is that I do not know when what I am hearing is God or the devil, the Lord or myself.” I am glad you made that point because notice again what our Lord said… He said in verse 3 that His sheep hear His voice, but at the end of verse 4 He said that we know His voice! That means that not only do we hear from God, but we know when what we are hearing is God.
 
But in my experience, the general problem here is us: It is not that God is not speaking; it is us who are not hearing correctly.
 
A good example of all of this is that just as there are signals being transmitted in the air all around us right now – radio frequencies and television signals – there are also spiritual messages being transmitted in the atmosphere around us right now. But how many of you know that it would be ridiculous for one to say that they don’t believe that there are these signals and frequencies in the room with us right now just because they don’t see or hear them?
 
So, regarding this example, you can tell some people this and they might counter by saying – “I don’t hear spiritual frequencies and I don’t see these spiritual signals.” Well, it might not be that it is the transmitter that is broken; it might be that the problem is with their receiver!
 
You see, all of these unseen programs are being constantly broadcast, but if you do not have a receiver of some sort, you will be oblivious to them and won’t see or hear anything. And it is like that with all of those spiritual realities that we are promised exist. Friends, there is a spiritual world around us right now that actually is more real than this natural world we live in. Why? Because the spiritual world parented this natural world. All things were made by the things unseen (Hebrews 11:3).
 
That’s what faith does – It believes that the things that are made were created by unseen things. This verse teaches us an incredible lesson – that the Word of God was the parenting force that created all the things which are seen. And, bless God, you can bet the bank that it still works this way today! God’s Word can bring to reality in the natural realm things that are already a reality in the spiritual realm. The mirror of God’s Word reflects what is seen in God’s world. (Example of Elisha and his Servant, 2 Kings 6:17)
 
So, you see, it’s already there and we are not trying to get God to do something that He has not already done. No, we are simply positioning our receiver to hear and see what He has already done. Amen! And this certainly pertains to this promise of hearing God’s voice …
 
But I personally believe that the reason that many people’s hearing of God’s voice is so fuzzy is because they simply have not learned how He is communicating to us.
 
That is where this third and final benefit of our Good Shepherd comes in – He leads us …
 
Let’s look at a couple of passages that clearly indicate that we do hear from God and know His voice … 
 
AS MANY AS ARE SHEEP = AS MANY AS ARE LED
 
Let’s now look over at Romans 8:14 at another passage of Scripture that verifies my point that God’s children do hear His voice. Romans 8:14 says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
 
Many will read this and say something like – “Oh, well, I better start being led by the Spirit of God so that I can become a child of God.” No, it is actually saying the opposite - It is saying that the by-product of being a child of God is that you are led by the Spirit of God.
 
Now I have heard some try to make a distinction here saying that being led by the Spirit requires great maturity - thus the reason Paul refers to the phrase “sons of God” like these believers are the grown-up ones, but I disagree with this mainly because Paul uses the terminology “children of God” and “sons of God” interchangeably. You can look down at verse 16 and see where he uses the term “children” and in Galatians 3:26 says, “For we are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”
 
No, I see all of this as an excuse of why more people are not led by the Spirit. And whether you were just saved yesterday or 50 years ago, you can be led by the Spirit of God just the same. In fact, I believe many baby Christians are able to be led better than Christians who have been saved for a long time because their hearts are more soft, pliable and sensitive to His direction – not being hardened by the constant friction of not walking in the light that they have. 
 
But notice again that the Bible tells us that the sons (or daughters) of God are led by the Spirit of God … Not can be led, not should be led, but are led! This verse is basically equating “as many” who are led by the Spirit to “as many” are the sons and daughters of God. Therefore, if we are God’s children we are led just as if we are God’s sheep and we do hear His voice. So, again, we need to get into agreement with God and start believing and expecting to be led by the Spirit of God.
 
So the LORD indeed is our Shepherd. He tends, keeps and feeds us like a good shepherd cares for his sheep. He knows each of us by name, we hear and know His voice, and we are led by Him. We can count on Him to take care of us, church.