INTRODUCTION
 
So on New Year’s Eve, I was thinking about the coming year and I was drawn to another “2025” that we have in the Scriptures – 2 Chronicles 20:25. So I believe that this is a Word for us on this New Year – that the LORD wants to bring us into SO MUCH in 2025.
 
This Word is certainly consistent with the LORD’s heart throughout Scripture as He is most definitely a God of increase (Psalm 115:14) and He always gives us hope for our future. But the problem is that when it comes to so many of us, we don’t seem to always find the fulfillment of these Words from the LORD.
 
Yes, far too many Christians are just wandering around in their life, never realizing their purpose nor having a vision for their life. Saints, living in this wandering and aimless state is actually a product of the curse of the law, which we are redeemed from according to Galatians 3:13.
 
Friends, the Lord wants us to know what our purpose is and wants our lives to be full of vision and focus as we press forward in fulfilling our destiny and dreams. He doesn’t want us to live lives of uncertainty and searching around blindly for what our heart is looking for. No! Having no direction and vision is a curse! God wants us to walk with clear purpose into the plans He has for us! Amen?
 
As I’ve considered this truth, I was drawn to one of our most loved verses, Jeremiah 29:11. In this beloved verse of so many, we have God’s heart concerning the plans He has for us. It says, “For I know the thoughts I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
 
THE THOUGHTS HE THINKS
 
First of all, I want you to notice that God is actually thinking about you and I … Did you know this – that the Lord actually thinks about us? Glory to God!
 
We tend to spend more time talking about our own thought life and how we are to keep our minds set on Him, but did you know that God practices what He preaches? For example, He told us to set our minds on things above, right? (see Colossians 3:2) Well, He also does this, but He sets His mind on things below (i.e. you and me)!  Praise the Lord!
 
Psalm 139:17-18 says, “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand…” Wow! Now that is a lot of thoughts! And when David wrote this, he was referring to just the thoughts that God thinks of him personally! Glory to Jesus! And did you know that since God is no respecter of persons, His thoughts are just that precious and innumerable about you too?
 
Now most Christians do not have a problem believing that God is constantly considering them; what they do have a hard time believing, however, is that those thoughts are good and positive thoughts. But again, what does Jeremiah 29:11 say that He thinks about us? “For I know the thoughts I think toward you… thoughts of good and not of evil, of peace, to give you a future and a hope.”
 
My brothers and sisters, God is not thinking evil about you! He is focusing on the good in you! And why? Because He loves you more than you can possibly imagine! You see, this fact that we are constantly on His mind reemphasizes to us a very important truth – and that is that He loves us.
 
You know, when we fall in love, one characteristic of that love is our minds become filled with that other person. We think about them all the time when we are at the height of that love. And why are we thinking so much of that person? It is because they are in our heart!
 
Saints, God actually holds us in His heart! He does not just tolerate us or make Himself have to think good things about us. No, He thinks good thoughts about us because we hold a special place in His heart! In other words, we are important to Him because you do not rent space in your heart to people or things that are not important to you. No, what is in your heart is what is valuable to you! Therefore, we must be extremely valuable to the Lord if His heart and mind are so inclined towards us! Amen!
 
PLANS FOR OUR PEACE
 
Now it should be noted that the word “thoughts” in the beginning of this verse carries more of the idea of plans, purposes, or intentions. However, we know that in order to have a plan and purpose, you must first give thought to those plans and purposes, right?
 
So the word “thoughts” is also a good word for us to consider because it shows that (as this Hebrew word is also translated in other passages of Scripture) God is “plotting, scheming and devising” a grand and glorious future for us! Amen?
 
You know, when we hear words like to “plot, scheme and devise,” we usually gear towards the negative, but that is not the case here. In the mind of God, His “scheming” revolves around our blessing! In other words, God’s thoughts towards us are thoughts that conspire for our good and welfare. Praise Jesus!
 
A good example of this is when in Genesis 50:20, Joseph said to his brothers that what they did to him, they meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. The word “meant” used in this verse twice are the same Hebrew word for “thoughts” in Jeremiah 29:11, and here we see how this word literally describes his brothers “scheming, plotting, intentions, and purposes” for evil against him but how the LORD had different “thoughts / plans” for Him.
 
You see, with man these thoughts/plans for us might not be so good. In fact, they might very well be as evil as Joseph’s brothers’, BUT GOD! But the LORD has different plans and thinks different thoughts for our future! Amen!  
 
My friends, the mind of Christ is filled with wonderful plans, purposes and intentions for your life! He has a plan for you! You might not think He does; but He does! That’s why I believe it is significant how the first part of Jeremiah 29:11 is worded…
 
Notice again that the Lord says, “For I know the thoughts I think toward you, says the Lord …” Why does He say, “For I know the thoughts…”? Evidently, it was because His people believed He was thinking something else!
 
Did you know that this is still true today? So many of God’s people have a totally incorrect perception of what God is thinking about them. They think God is harsh, critical and fault finding – always focused on our sin and shortcomings. This is why the Lord went on to say in Jeremiah 29:11 that the thoughts and plans that He knows He has for us are for peace and not of evil. Evidently this is exactly what His chosen people believed He was thinking about them – thoughts of evil. Nothing could be further from the truth!  As we have already seen, the exact opposite is true!
 
On a side note, let me show you why people think this way about God. It’s because they think that He thinks the way they think. In other words, most people will judge others according to how they would do things. If they think someone is always conspiring against them, it’s usually because they think that way. It’s tight but it’s right. 
 
You see, while God certainly is well aware of all of our faults and failures, He does not focus on the negative. No, in fact, God is focused more on our potential and His good plan for us than all of the ways that we fall short of His glory. Sure, we tend to focus on the negatives in people, but not God!
 
No, First Corinthians 13:5 tells us that love thinks no evil. Amen! Other translations say, “(love) keeps no record of wrongs,” “(love) does not count the bad” and “it doesn’t keep score of the sins of others.” So listen – if God is love (1 John 4:8), then that means that God keeps no record of wrongs, He does not count the bad things in us, and He doesn’t keep score of our sins! Amen! In fact, the Scriptures teach us that our sins and lawless deeds He remembers no more (Hebrews 10:17)! Why? It’s because He has removed our sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12)!
 
So His thoughts, plans and purpose for us are of “peace” and not of evil … Now, of course, the word “peace” comes from the Hebrew word “shalom” – which means more than simply having an absence of conflict. Shalom describes “completeness, wholeness, soundness, success and welfare.” It basically describes having nothing missing and nothing broken in our lives. So we can see that God’s thoughts and plans for our lives involve making them complete, whole, sound, successful and with nothing missing and nothing broken! Amen!
 
And not just “peace” for the present, but “peace” for our future. This is why Jeremiah went on to say that the LORD’s intentions were to give us a future and HOPE!
 
How many of you know that the LORD is called the God of Hope (See Romans 15:13)? He doesn’t just have hope to give; He IS hope! That means that, in Him, there is always hope. It doesn’t matter how impossible it may seem to us that things can turn around. It doesn’t matter how much we feel we have aborted His plans for our future. In Him, is always hope!
 
So we have clearly seen God’s heart on the matter… He has good thoughts and plans for us and for our future! His purpose for us is to live lives that are complete, whole, sound – with nothing missing and nothing broken in them – both today and forevermore! Amen and amen!
 
HOW TO WALK IN GOD’S PLAN AND PURPOSE
 
But how many of you know that not every Christian walks in the reality of this? We would be naïve to think that all of God’s children actually walk in this complete and total fulfillment of Jeremiah 29:11. We would be foolish to think that we all experience the height of His goodness and the extent of His hope. I would go as far as saying that the vast majority of God’s children do not experience what Jeremiah 29:11 describes.
 
So the question is – Why? Why do so many of God’s people not experience this wonderful hope and future that God has for them? Well, I believe the Lord has shown me that some of the reasons for this are found in this very chapter – Jeremiah chapter 29.
 
So what I want us to do today is look at a few truths listed here in Jeremiah chapter 29 because I wholeheartedly believe that in them lie some integral keys that unlock us fulfilling what God’s heart is for us to walk in.
 
You see, as it is with so many Scriptures, we tend to take these truths and lift them up out of context, and in doing so, we miss the complete picture of what God was trying to communicate to us. And Jeremiah 29:11 is no different! While so many believers can quote this verse, the vast majority of them have zero knowledge of the verses surrounding it.
 
So let’s take a look at this entire passage of Scripture and glean from the truth of God’s Word …
 
Now when you look at verses 4-28, you will notice that the margins are a little different in most of our Bibles. The reason for this is because whoever compiled Jeremiah’s prophecy wanted us to know that it is actually a letter that the prophet Jeremiah wrote to the exiles who were carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon. And the purpose of his letter was to give some specific instructions and exhortations to these exiles while they were in Babylon, which included our beloved verse 11.  
 
So let’s begin looking at this letter recorded in the Book of Jeremiah in detail and see what principles are included in it that will help us to enter into those thoughts, plans and purposes that the Lord has for us …
 
HOW TO FIND GOD’S WILL
 
I want to draw your attention first to the couple of verses that immediately follow Jeremiah 29:11.
 
Immediately after saying that He knows the thoughts He thinks towards us and that they are plans of peace, a hope and a future, the Lord says in verse 12, “Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me …” Now this is significant, saints, because the word “then” shows us “when” we will call upon Him and pray to Him. And when will this be? When we start thinking the way God thinks about us! Then we will call upon Him and go and pray to Him! That’s good stuff right there!  
 
So when we truly understand that God has a good plan for our lives (i.e. we are convinced that He has a good plan with a hope and a future) we will start calling and praying to discover that plan! Thank you, Lord Jesus!
 
You see, if we are convinced that the Lord has a good plan – meaning, this truth is established in our hearts – we will seek after it. For one to say they believe God has a purpose for them, yet they never search for it with any semblance of persistence and zeal, I highly doubt that they believe in their hearts that He has something good for them. Why? Because faith without works is dead (James 2:20).
 
And this leads me to my next point: This praying and calling upon the Lord is not a passive thing either! Notice what Jeremiah said next in verse 13: He said, “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
 
You know, one of the main reasons that many of God’s people do not truly uncover His plan for their lives is because they do not put their whole heart into discovering it! Sure, they hope they will discover the plan of God for them. They sure would like to know. But do they ever spend time seeking to know it? Do they get serious enough to fast and pray concerning what God’s purpose is for their lives? Sadly, not many do this. Like I said, they would like to know His plan and purpose, but they don’t love to know it! What I mean by that is they don’t want to know it to the degree that they’re willing to spend any time, effort, and energy to find it!
 
You see, God has told us time and time again in His Holy Word that when we ask, we shall receive, when we seek, we shall find, when we knock it shall be opened for us (Matthew 7:7-8)! But this asking, seeking and knocking is not just the casual – “Well, I knocked a couple of times, but no one came to the door. I guess they weren’t home, so I’ll just leave.” No, we are talking about a kind of asking, seeking, and knocking that is persistent and that is not willing to quit! Amen!
 
And it is not that God is like some old miser up in heaven who is unwilling to give you what you want until you beg enough. No, it is just that sometimes we must press through the flesh to uncover the riches of the Spirit! Amen!
 
So, yes, a foundational key to discovering God’s plan and purpose for you is to begin seeking Him for that plan with all of your heart! Amen?
 
But what do you do while you are seeking and searching? That is a great question; I’m glad I asked it.
 
Let’s go back to the beginning of this letter and see what specific instructions the Lord gave to these exiles through Jeremiah …
 
STEP #1- BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED
 
In the beginning of this letter, Jeremiah starts out by addressing them – “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon” (Verse 4).
 
It’s important to understand that it wasn’t the LORD’s plan for this. Just looking at this isolated verse can give one the impression that He instigated their being carried away into captivity, but no, it was their own numbskull decisions that got them in this predicament. As was usually the case with the children of Israel (and us too), our choices to not do things God’s way oftentimes lead to the struggles we experience in life. 
 
So always remember – if we are experiencing something that is consistent with what the Bible calls a curse, then it’s not God’s will for us. In this case, it was His chosen people who willed it, not God.
 
Then in verses 5-6, Jeremiah goes on to immediately exhort the people to build houses and plant gardens, to take spouses and beget sons and daughters. He was basically telling them to continue living the way they would even though they were not in their home of Jerusalem.
 
At the end of verse 6 he says, “… that you may be increased there, and not diminished.”
 
It’s important to understand that he LORD is always about us increasing, no matter if we are in the penthouse or the outhouse. In this case, they were in the cellar for sure. Yet, even though they were in a less than desirable place in bondage in Babylon, the LORD still encouraged them to increase, multiply, and prosper – showing us that even if we are not in the job we want, even if we don’t have the ministry we desire, or even if we don’t have the marriage we’ve always wanted, that we don’t need to wait to put our best foot forward. Press in to let the LORD increase you where you are at, even if the end result right now is someone else’s prosperity.
 
A good example of this is Joseph when he was enslaved to Potipher and in prison in Egypt. It didn’t matter where Joseph was or what undesirable situation he was in, he always did things with excellence and saw increase as a result. And, of course, we know what this led to – him experiencing his “Jeremiah 29:11.” Amen?    
 
The children of Israel did the same when they were in Egypt, didn’t they? From the days of Joseph to the days of Moses, they increased & multiplied in the Land of Egypt. Exodus chapter one talks about how they were “exceedingly fruitful” and how they “multiplied greatly.” They did this when times were good (when Joseph was around) and they kept doing it when times were bad (when they were oppressed by the Egyptians). 
 
So my point is that here is a good first step to fulfilling your purpose and vision – bloom where you are planted!
 
You see, human nature tends towards not putting its best foot forward if it does not have a controlling interest in the place that it is planted. In other words, we tend to take better care of our baby than we do of someone else’s baby. But if God has put us somewhere – whether that be in a job, a church etc. - then our goal should be to show the same diligence that we would if it were our own business or our own ministry.
 
In Ephesians chapter 6 we see similar exhortations to those of us who are serving under the umbrella of another… Beginning in verse 5, Paul addresses “bondservants.” Now the following exhortations can apply to anyone who is under the authority of someone else. He goes on to tell them – “be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men.” So what we see here is the heart attitude we should have when serving is that we are ultimately serving the Lord, not the man.
 
Now there is a reason that this exhortation is in the Bible, and do you know why that is? It’s because the vast majority of people do not do their job or serve in their churches with this attitude. Most people are men-pleasers and as long as someone is looking, recognizing their hard work etc. they will get the job done, but the moment eyes are turned away from them, they give a lack luster effort.
 
As it has been said in the world – “Dress for the job you want, not for the job you’ve got.” This goes for not only how you dress, but the attitude and effort that you dress yourself with in your current situation. Friends, promotion comes neither from the east nor from the west; promotion comes from the Lord! (see Psalm 75:6) But one of the main reasons I see that the vast majority do not get promoted by the Lord is because they are not truly working for the Lord; they are working for man.
 
So my point is that when we are currently in a situation where we are serving another man’s plan, purpose and vision, do it heartily as unto God, not unto man! Take ownership and put your best foot forward, knowing that as Ephesians 6:8 goes on to promise us – “whatever good any one does, he will receive the same from the Lord.” In other words, work hard for the authorities God has put in your life like you are serving Christ Himself. Then you will position yourself for promotion! Amen?
 
STEP #2- SEEK THE PEACE OF THE CITY
 
Yes, Jeremiah 29:4-6 tells us to live life to the full even if we are in Babylon. Don’t quit! Work heartily as unto the Lord in whatever situation you might currently be in. Trust the Lord to bless the work of your hands and to prosper whatever you set your hands unto. However, human nature is to simply gripe and complain about the way things currently are. Let me explain …
 
They let their discontentment affect their attitude. Not only do they not do their work as unto the Lord and bloom where they are planted, but they despise it.
 
You see, so many people despise the day of small beginnings, and the Scriptures teach us not to do so (See Zechariah 4:10). Now we all might tend to think we are not doing that, but I imagine the LORD might think we are guilty of this if we are not working diligently under the vision of someone else. So since we are unhappy with the thing that we are currently setting our hand to do, we do not show the same diligence and effort that we would if we had the job, family, ministry etc. that we desire. And this “despising” is so much more subtle than most realize. It causes offense that most never realize. A root of bitterness can spring up that defiles. And then we’ve got a heart that is ladened with weeds, briars, thorns, etc. that affect the issues of our life. 
 
This is why I believe Jeremiah went on to say in Jeremiah 29:7, “And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace.” Wow! There is so much we can learn from this verse!
 
What he was saying here is to actually, genuinely seek the peace of the city of their captors! That would be Babylon! That would be like us here in America being overthrown by another country and being carried away to that country to be servants there, and then the Lord telling us to seek the peace & welfare of that nation while we are there. I can only imagine what you might be thinking after reading that. Most of us are saying in our hearts – “Ain’t no way!” Well, that’s your problem. We have to be willing to do whatever the Lord tells us to do even if everything in our flesh & mind are completely opposed to it. In this case, it was a big part of the Lord leading them to those good plans He had for them.
 
You know, one of the most obvious ways that we have done this is with our own government here in the United States. So many people (including Christians) have been so disenchanted with the state of our country for years. And while I do not disagree with the fact that we need a major change and intervention from God in the United States of America, this does not mean we should be sitting around and cursing our nation because we don’t like how things are going. This is not “seeking the peace of the city” that Jeremiah was talking about. Complaining about it is not praying for it. No, if we are seeking the peace of our country and genuinely praying for it, then the poor attitude towards things will be absent.
 
And Jeremiah even went as far as telling them why it was so important to do this. It was because “for in its peace you will have peace.”
 
This reminds me of First Timothy chapter 2 where the apostle Paul taught us to pray for all men, especially the kings and all who are in authority. And why? “… that you may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.” (First Timothy 2:2).
 
Now if you know anything about history, you know that the ones he was talking about praying for here were the Romans. Yes, Rome was the oppressing city where the kings (i.e. emperors) and all who were in authority resided.
 
So essentially what Paul was showing his readers to do here was to seek the peace of Rome and the other Roman provinces, to pray for Caesar, his governors, etc. And this exhortation was made just before some of the worst, most ungodly Emperors that Rome had ever known would come into power.
 
I wonder if the Holy Spirit might have been inspiring the apostle Paul to write this because He knew what was on the horizon if they didn’t. And I wonder if the church just ignored this or did it half-heartedly. I think both of these are very likely.
 
So do you know what this teaches me? The reason why we don’t experience a quiet and peaceable life is not because of the king and those in authority, but because of the church’s failure to pray for the king and those in authority. Amen or Oh me? You see, we need to be praying for the peace of Jerusalem (absolutely!), but we also need to be praying for the peace of whatever place that we live in! Amen? For in praying for its peace, we will have peace!
 
But this also goes for praying for your family, your job, your church etc.  Saints, there are countless employees out there who are griping and complaining about how much they make in their job, but what if instead of them complaining, they would start using that same energy to pray for the success and prosperity of their employer? Do you think that just maybe if they started prospering, they would have more to pay you? Just maybe! But somebody will say, “Yeah well, they wouldn’t pay me any extra anyways.” But again, who is your employer? It’s ultimately the Lord! He is who we are to be serving whole-heartedly! So then, He is the One who can give us the raise that we desire by moving upon our employers’ hearts or by supplying our needs another way! Amen!
 
So pray for the place that you are in. Pray for the peace and prosperity of those around you - genuinely and from the heart, seeking their welfare. For, as this Scripture promises, in their peace, we will find our peace!
 
STEP #3- DON’T LISTEN TO HANANIAH!
 
Then Jeremiah goes on to exhort the people in verses 8-9 to not listen to the wrong voices …
 
He says in these verses – “For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the Lord.”
 
You see, there was a false prophet in Jeremiah’s day that was speaking lies to the people. If you go back to Jeremiah chapter 28, you will see where a man by the name of Hananiah was prophesying to the priests and all of the people that the Lord was going to bring them and all of their stuff back to Jerusalem in 2 years. The gist of his message was that they do not need to get too comfortable in Babylon – for the Lord was going to break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar from them soon.
 
Now while I’m sure these were comforting words in the ears of all the people and words their flesh wanted to hear, they were not accurate. In fact, in his letter to the exiles, Jeremiah gave them the true Word of the Lord that after 70 years are completed in Babylon, the Lord would bring them back to their own land (See Jeremiah 29:10). In other words, the truth he was giving them was that probably all of them were going to die in Babylon and their children or children’s children would be the ones to return to Jerusalem.
 
Now, as history has taught us, Jeremiah’s words were not appreciated very much. Why? Because people want to hear what they want to hear. Their flesh doesn’t like receiving things that don’t cater to convenience, pleasure, etc.
 
And church, this is something we need to guard our hearts against when we are in those days of small beginnings while we are on the way to the hope & future that the LORD has for us.
 
Now these “prophets & diviners” are not always flesh & blood. Sure, it can be a video on YouTube, a preacher on television, or a newscaster on the radio, but sometimes it is the voices on the inside of us or what we dream up on our own. This is why Jeremiah wrote – “nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.” That indicates that some of the things we imagine were conjured up by us.
 
Friends, when we are in our “Babylon,” we need to be careful not to heed the voices that we hear on the inside of us. For the flesh and soul love to feed us lies that enforce impatience and not remaining planted. We need to be careful not to feed those deceptions and uproot ourselves prematurely before the fruit can begin to come forth from the seed sown. This is a huge temptation that we need to resist – not to fight against or uproot ourselves prematurely before the fruit of God’s purpose can be produced in and through us!
 
CONCLUSION
 
Friends, these are just a few ways that you and I can be sure to stay on the path to entering into God’s plans and what He is thinking for our lives.
 
These are some good New Year’s resolutions for you – No, it’s not to lose weight or to become more organized. It’s to …
 
1.Be convinced that God is thinking good thoughts about you, and He has a bright future ahead for you!
2.Start searching for his plans for you with all of your heart – that is, spending time in your prayer closet seeking His face with the aim of obtaining His thoughts!
3.Bloom where you are planted – working as unto the Lord with all of your might!
4.Seek the peace of the place you are currently in and pray for those around you to fulfill their glorious future as well.
5.Not listen to those “Hananiah’s” who would try to convince us to move and uproot ourselves from our place called there!
 
Do these things and I will give you an unconditional guarantee that you will discover your purpose!      

Alright, so I believe are on the home stretch for concluding our series on the Names of God. But even though we’ve covered just about all of the Names God is given throughout the Old Testament, there is one New Testament Name which is above every other Name that I wanted to spend at least a couple of weeks covering.
 
But before we get into it, let’s review some of what we’ve covered thus far …
 
We started out “hallowing” God’s Name by looking at the general Name used for God and the first Name He is given in the Scriptures – Elohim. We learned that Elohim describes exactly what most people’s view of God is – that He is the all-powerful, sovereign Creator who rules over all and is the judge of all.
 
But we saw that, unfortunately, this is as far as most ever come in learning who God is. So that’s when we started looking at a few of the other Elohim “subtitles” that He was given like El Roi, El Elyon, and El Shaddai. These Names further described who God really was.
 
But we learned that even these derivatives of Elohim were not enough to fully encapsulate who the LORD is. So that is when we looked at the Name that one might consider God’s “legal name” – Yahweh. I say “legal name” because this is the technically correct Name that God likes to go by. And one of the reasons for this is because no other name could have fully described all that the LORD is since He is so great, magnificent, and glorious.   
 
We learned that Yahweh literally describes the One who was, is, and is to come. He is the Great I AM. Therefore, this ever existing One simply IS. But what I love about this Name is that it is basically an open-ended title because it begs the questions – What is He? Who is He? How is He? And Why is He?
 
So for thousands of years Yahweh began answering this question of who He is by revealing to His chosen people various Yahweh Names such as Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Rapha, Jehovah Tsidkenu, Jehovah Shalom, Jehovah Shammah, Jehovah M’Kaddesh, and Jehovah Rohi. All of these Names described specific characteristics that God possesses, and reveals to us who He is in terms of His nature and interests. 
And last week, we looked at one of the things that He is to us. Yes, we looked at what God is into and what we can expect out of Him – and that is for Him to be our Banner of Victory! We looked at His Name given in Exodus chapter 17 – Jehovah Nissi – and how God grants His people victory and always leads us in triumph.
 
Church, it’s wonderful that God is not into us losing. Yes, He always wants us to win, and He has done everything He is ever going to do in Christ Jesus to secure our victory in this life and in the next.
 
Be sure to go back and listen to that message this week if you missed it. It’s a winner! 
 
THE NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME
 
But like I said at the beginning, as we move towards concluding our study of the Names of God, it is imperative that we spend some time looking at the Name above all Names. Yes, there is one Name that outshines them all, that every tongue will one day confess as LORD, and that Name is obviously JESUS!
 
The apostle Paul speaks of Jesus’ Name this way in Philippians 2:9-11 when he said, “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
 
Now the context here is what Jesus laid down for us: Paul begins by saying that there was a certain mentality that Jesus possessed that we should aspire to have as well (Verse 5). And that mindset is that he emptied Himself of all of His Godhead privileges and was willing to let go of His glory to come become a human being like you and I (Verses 6-7). He then went as far as becoming the servant of servants and humbled Himself to the point of being crucified for us (Verses 7-8). So this is why His Father gave Him the Name above every other name and has honored Him to the degree that He has.
 
Now it’s obvious that the names that His Name is above is specifically talking about any “name” we have on this earth – from any king, queen, prince, principality, or power. However, I believe this also applies to any other Name of God – that the Name of Jesus is to be held in the highest esteem. Not that the rest of God’s Names are substandard; just simply that the Name of Jesus has been given special honor by God and deserves the highest praise.    
 
I’m reminded now of a verse in the Bible that speaks of how God has magnified His Word even above His own Name (See Psalm 138:2). Well, what (or rather, Who) is His Word? The apostle John reveals God’s Word to be Jesus (See John 1:1). So it should not surprise us that JESUS is the Name above every other Name of God and the Name that He has chosen to magnify above all of His other Names.
 
 
JESUS = SAVIOR
 
Therefore, I think it is good for us to take a deep dive into this Name of God and give honor to the Name of God’s only begotten Son. So let’s begin where Jesus was given His Name in the beginning of the New Testament …
 
In Matthew 1:21, we have the story of an angel appearing to Joseph in a dream and revealing to Him that this supernatural conception that had taken place in Mary was indeed by the Spirit of God. And the angel tells Joseph what He is to name Him. He says, “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
 
So this is how Jesus was given His Name. It was not by Joseph or Mary; God had a specific Name He wanted His only begotten Son to be called – and that was JESUS.
 
Of course, “Jesus” was not what you would have heard Him called if you lived in His day. Jesus is simply the English transliteration of His actual Jewish Name, Yeshua. We talked a little about this when we went studied the Name, Yahweh, and the point we made is that its not necessary to squabble about what His technically correct Name is and demand everyone call Him that. I personally don’t think that the LORD cares what letters of the English alphabet we use when writing or uttering His Name.
 
However, it is important to know what His Name means – And whether you like to call Him “Jesus” or “Yeshua,” both Names mean the same thing. And we don’t have a lexicon or some other Hebrew dictionary to know what Jesus’ Name means, for Matthew 1:21 tell us.
 
Notice again how the angel told Joseph that he was to call His name Jesus “for He will save His people from their sins.”
 
The word “for” denotes the reason why God wanted His Name to be Jesus. It was because He would save His people from their sins. In other words, because Jesus’ purpose for coming was to bring salvation to His people, the LORD wanted His Name to be the word for “salvation.”
 
So no matter if you look up the Hebrew word “Yeshua” or the Greek word “Jesus,” you’ll find that they both describe salvation.
 
Of course, to the Jew, this is exactly what they were expecting the Messiah to do – to bring salvation/deliverance to His people like He did through Moses when they were under the oppression of the Egyptians. In other words, the Messiah was said to bring salvation to the people of Israel, but they only heard that through carnal ears. Yes, they were looking for a physical deliverance from their Roman oppressors.
 
But we know from verses like Matthew 1:21 and many others in the New Testament – the salvation that Jesus’ Name spoke about was first salvation from our spiritual oppressor, that is, the devil and the kingdom of darkness.
 
You see, this is the purpose for Jesus coming. In fact, we have a bunch of other Scriptures that paint the full picture of this salvation:

1. First Timothy 1:15 = The apostle Paul said that “Christ came into the world to save sinners.”
2. First John 3:8 = This verse says that “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”
3. Luke 19:10 = Jesus said here that He “came to seek and save the lost.”
4. John 10:10 = Here He says that He came that we “may have life and have it more abundantly.”
5. John 3:16-17 = Jesus confirms here that He came that we would not perish but have eternal life and that the world may be saved through Him.
6. Matthew 20:28 = Here Jesus said that He came to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.
7. First John 4:14 = Finally, we see the apostle John telling us the Father’s purpose for sending Jesus – “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.”

 
So there is a broad scope as to why He came and what that purpose for His coming was, but it essentially boils down to this – The purpose for Jesus coming was to seek and save the lost, to give His life as a ransom for many in order to save sinners, and to destroy the works of the devil that we may have life and life more abundantly. Amen!
 
All of these things that Jesus came to do can be seen in the Name His Heavenly Father gave Him.
 
We see this described in Acts 4:12 when the apostle Peter addressed the Sanhedrin. He told them regarding Jesus’ Name – “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” 
 
So Peter was speaking the truth that salvation cannot be found in another – not Buddha, not Muhammad, and not any other name. No, all men and women must be saved through only one Name, the Name of Jesus! And one of the reasons for this is because none other has the Name of Salvation like Jesus does. Yes, Jesus’ actual Name is SAVIOR & SALVATION!
 
YAHWEH YESHUA & JEHOVAH JESUS
 
So you see, the Name Jesus or Yeshua literally describes Salvation. This is why I like to give God another Name and one that I believe is worthy of attention – YAHWEH YESHUA or JEHOVAH JESUS.  
 
Now this is not an official Name of God like the others we’ve covered, but to me, it is who our God is above all else. Yes, He is the LORD OUR SAVIOR or the LORD IS SALVATION.  Let’s look at it in detail … 
 
Now again, Yahweh means He was, He am, and He will be. So it is generally translated like so – “The LORD is.”
 
And then we come the Hebrew word/name for “salvation” which is Yeshua. Yes, this word describes something saved, but it also describes deliverance, aid or help, prosperity or welfare, victory or health.
 
So you can see that while “Yeshua” can simply be defined as “salvation,” it means much more than that. It describes everything from prosperity to health, and not just being “saved” like we use the term.
 
In fact, this Hebrew word gives us an almost identical definition of “salvation” as the Greek word for “saved” does.
 
You see, in the New Testament, the word used for saved comes from the Greek word sozo which means “to save, heal, cure, preserve, keep safe and sound, rescue from danger or destruction, or to deliver.” The Spirit Filled Life Bible says that this Greek word means “to save from physical death by healing, and from spiritual death by forgiving sin and its effects.” As a matter of fact, this word “sozo” is not just translated “saved or save”; it is also translated “made whole, made well & healed.”
 
So we see from both Yeshua & Sozo that “salvation” is not just a spiritual rescuing or deliverance; it also describes physical and natural salvation in every area of our life like our soul, physical bodies, finances, relationships, etc.
 
And this is who the LORD is! He is Yeshua! He is Sozo! He is our Salvation, which also means He is our Deliverer, our Healer, our Provider, etc. Do you see all of the other Names of God wrapped up in this salvation!?! This is who Jehovah is!
 
THE LORD OUR SALVATION
 
And the LORD being salvation is threaded throughout the Scriptures as well. Yes, Jesus was forecasted throughout the Old Testament.
 
You see, if you study out Scriptures that say that the LORD is salvation, you’ll be amazed to see how many verses there are …

• Psalm 25:5 – For You are the God of my salvation
• Psalm 27:1 – The Lord is my light and my salvation
• Psalm 27:9 – O God of my salvation
• Psalm 35:3 – “I am your salvation.”
• Psalm 38:22 – O Lord, my salvation!
• Psalm 62:2,6 – He only is my rock and my salvation,
• Psalm 65:5 – O God of our salvation
• Psalm 68:19 – The God who is our salvation.
• Psalm 79:9 – O God of our salvation
• Psalm 85:4 – O God of our salvation
• Psalm 88:1 – The God of my salvation
• Psalm 89:26 – ‘You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.’
• Psalm 95:1 – Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.
• Psalm 118:14 – “The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation.”
• Psalm 118:21 – “And You have become my salvation.”
• Isaiah 12:2 – “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; For the Lord God is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation.”
• Micah 7:7 – I will wait for the God of my salvation
• Habakkuk 3:18 – Yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.

 
I’ve counted at least 20 times that the LORD is specifically called our salvation in the Bible. In some cases, He is called my salvation as the author is specifically referring to who God has revealed Himself as to them. Sometimes He is referred to as something else along with our salvation, like a rock or light.
 
But the fact is, that’s a lot of times that the LORD is specifically referred to as our salvation and not just as the One who does the saving. That means that salvation is what He is and not just what He gives.
 
Saints, I just wanted you to realize today that just as the LORD is our Provider, our Healer, our Righteousness, our Sanctifier, our Shepherd, our Banner of Victory, etc. etc. etc., He is our Salvation too – which brings all of His other Names into one Name, the Name which is above every Name, JESUS! This is why I like to call Him JEHOVAH JESUS!
 
THE ANGEL OF THE LORD
 
Now I understand that the title “Jehovah Jesus” isn’t a Name of God that we see specifically mentioned in the Scriptures, but hey, there are a lot of terms we use in the church today that aren’t specifically mentioned in the Scriptures either.
 
One example, is the term “Trinity.” The Scriptures don’t ever really use this word. However, that doesn’t mean that the concept of the Trinity isn’t implied. So even though man came up with this title for the Godhead, the idea of God being three beings in one is laced throughout the Scriptures.
 
Well, the idea of Jehovah having another name, the Name which is above all names and the only Name that mankind can be saved by, is certainly implied as well. Yes, Jesus is that Name of God that shows that God is our Salvation.
 
But you see, even though we celebrate the birth of Jesus during this month of December, it’s important to understand that Jesus didn’t come into being around this time some 2,000 years ago. No, Jesus was in the Old Testament too.
 
Now He didn’t carry the Name of Jesus then. That Name wasn’t given until His physical birth that we see described in the Gospels. But His presence is throughout the Old Testament in the Person we see called “the Angel of the LORD.”    
 
Now this is not to be confused with an angel of the Lord. There is obviously a difference between the LORD’s angels that He sent messages through or that performed awesome feats through and what we see titled as “The Angel of the LORD.”
 
This phrase comes from the Hebrew words that describe “a Messenger of Yahweh.” (Sounds a little like the “Word of the Father,” doesn’t it?) Again, the LORD’s angels can be His messengers, but sometimes there is a special “Messenger” who appeared to God’s creation.
 
The first instance we have is in the story of Hagar in Genesis chapter 16 when the Bible says that the Angel of the LORD found her in the wilderness by the spring on the way to Shur after she fled from Sarai. This is when He said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude” (See Genesis 16:7-10).
 
Notice how this Angel of the LORD said, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly …” That sounds like the LORD Himself is talking, doesn’t it? And that’s because He was! Yes, Yahweh Himself had manifested Himself to Hagar as “the Angel of the LORD.”
 
And on top of this, if you recall, this is when Hagar named the LORD “El Roi” because she said that the LORD saw her. Therefore, El Roi was this Angel of the LORD, meaning God had appeared in the form of this messenger and spoke directly to her.
 
Another instance is found in Genesis chapter 18 when the LORD appeared to Abraham by the terebinth trees of Mamre for two reasons – to inform Abraham and Sarah that their son of promise would be born the following year and to inform Abraham that he was going to destroy the cities of Sodom & Gomorrah.
 
Now none of these three men that appeared to Abraham and Sarah are specifically called the “Angel of the LORD,” but I think that this is implied here because we are specifically told that the LORD appeared to Abraham (See Genesis 18:1).
 
Another time, we see that the Angel of the LORD called out to Abraham on Mount Moriah when he was being tested to offer up His son, Isaac, as a sacrifice to the LORD:
 
In Genesis 22:12, just before he was about to kill Isaac, the Angel of the LORD stopped him and said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
 
So again, the Angel of the LORD talked to someone like it was God personally talking to them – showing us that this particular Angel had to be some sort of manifestation of Yahweh Himself.
 
And like the story of Hagar, we see again God being given one of His Names through the Angel of the LORD’s manifestation because this was of course the story where God is named “Jehovah Jireh,” the LORD our Provider.
 
So we can see that this Angel of the LORD is certainly more than just your average angel. He is El Roi, the God who sees. He is Jehovah Jireh, the LORD our Provider. Yes, the Angel of the LORD is both Yahweh & Elohim!
 
THAT WONDERFUL NAME
 
But I want to share with you another time that we see the Angel of the LORD manifest Himself in the Scriptures because this one brings us full circle to who this Angel is and how awesome His Name is …
 
In Judges chapter 13, we have the story of the birth of Samson, and I want us to look specifically at how Samson’s birth was announced to his parents by this ‘Angel of the LORD” …
 
Judges 13:2-22 says, “Now there was a certain man from Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had no children. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, ‘Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean. For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.’ So the woman came and told her husband, saying, ‘A Man of God came to me, and His countenance was like the countenance of the Angel of God, very awesome; but I did not ask Him where He was from, and He did not tell me His name. And He said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. Now drink no wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’ Then Manoah prayed to the Lord, and said, ‘O my Lord, please let the Man of God whom You sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born.’ And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came to the woman again as she was sitting in the field; but Manoah her husband was not with her. Then the woman ran in haste and told her husband, and said to him, ‘Look, the Man who came to me the other day has just now appeared to me!’ So Manoah arose and followed his wife. When he came to the Man, he said to Him, ‘Are You the Man who spoke to this woman?’ And He said, “I am.” Manoah said, ‘Now let Your words come to pass! What will be the boy’s rule of life, and his work?’ So the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, ‘Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. She may not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor may she drink wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean. All that I commanded her let her observe.’ Then Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, ‘Please let us detain You, and we will prepare a young goat for You.’ And the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, ‘Though you detain Me, I will not eat your food. But if you offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the Lord.” (For Manoah did not know He was the Angel of the Lord.) Then Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, ‘What is Your name, that when Your words come to pass we may honor You?’ And the Angel of the Lord said to him, ‘Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?’ So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it upon the rock to the Lord. And He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on—it happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar—the Angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar! When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground. When the Angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of the Lord. And Manoah said to his wife, ‘We shall surely die, because we have seen God!’
 
So what we can gather from this story is more evidence that this Angel of the LORD was indeed God because of all the descriptions …

1. This woman described the Man who talked to her as “very awesome.” That sounds like God, doesn’t it? (Verse 6)
2. When Manoah approached Him and asked if He was the one who talked to his wife, His simple response was “I AM.” (Verse 11)
3. When Manoah asked Him to stay and let him prepare some food for Him, the Angel told Manoah that if he was going to offer a burnt offering, it must be offered to the LORD. But then we are specifically told “For Manoah did not know He was the Angel of the Lord,” showing us that this Angel of the LORD was the LORD (Verse 16).
4. Perhaps our greatest evidence is that when Manoah specifically asked Him what His Name was, He said, “Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?” The word “wonderful” describes something that is remarkable, extraordinary, and incomprehensible. That could only be God! Not to mention, when prophesying of the Messiah, Isaiah said that He will be called “wonderful” (See Isaiah 9:6).
5. Finally, when they offered up the burnt offering to the LORD, the Angel of the LORD ascended to heaven in the flame of the altar, their response was that they were toast because they had seen GOD, declaring this Man was God manifest in the flesh.

 
You see, church, all of this points to the truth that Jesus is the LORD! Yes, He is that messenger (or we might say, the WORD) of the LORD because, like Manoah didn’t know that this was the Angel of the LORD here, many didn’t know who Jesus really was 2,000 years ago.
 
Not only that, but the Angel’s response to Manoah’s question of if He was the Man was exactly what Jesus said in the Garden of Gethsemane – “I AM.” And we certainly know that Jesus’ Name is truly “wonderful” and indeed “awesome.”
 
And finally, just as this Angel of the LORD ascended into heaven by the altar, likewise, JESUS ascended to heaven after being offered up on the altar of the Cross for our sins, to forever be seated at the right hand of God!
 
Amen, church, JESUS is that Angel of the LORD and that makes Him GOD MANIFEST IN THE FLESH. 
 
As the apostle Paul said in First Timothy 3:16 – “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory.”
 
Church, Jesus IS the Angel of the LORD, the Messenger of Yahweh, who was manifest in the flesh and received up in glory! He is the First and the Last, found in the beginning and revealed in the end. Amen!
 
I AM THAT I AM
 
But probably one of our best examples of the Angel of the LORD being Yahweh is found in Exodus chapter 3 in that very familiar story of Moses & the burning bush …
 
This story begins in Exodus 3:1-2 by saying, “Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.”
 
Now notice here an important point that most haven’t noticed – that this voice of God that we know comes from the bush was specifically a manifestation of this Angel of the LORD! So everything we’ve ever envisioned of God appearing to Moses here in this burning bush is actually the Angel of the LORD!
 
Then in verses 3-6 we are told – “Then Moses said, ‘I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.’ So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ Then He said, ‘Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.’ Moreover He said, ‘I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.”
 
Then after the LORD tells Moses how he has heard the cry of His people and how He has seen their oppression, He tells Moses what he is to do. But Moses asked a good question in verse 13 – that when he is asked by the children of Israel what God’s Name was that was sending him, what should he tell them?
 
And we know the answer, right? In verses 14-15, the LORD responds with – “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” 15 Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’”
 
And as we’ve learned already this phrase “I AM WHO I AM” is just the way of saying, “MY NAME is YHWH!” because Yahweh literally describes the One who was and who will be, and therefore, the One who simply IS.
 
So this is who the Angel of the LORD declared Himself to be – the I AM!  And guess who else declared “I AM” many times in their ministry? Jesus!
 
THE GREAT I AM
 
Yes, Jesus Himself identified with Yahweh during His earthly ministry. For this reason, many (including myself) believe this Angel of the LORD to be a preincarnate manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ! 
 
First of all, He once told the Pharisees – “Before Abraham was, I Am.” (See John 8:58). This was not just a simple statement of Him existing before Abraham. No, this was Jesus equating Himself with the voice of the Angel of the LORD that spoke to Moses through the burning bush referring to Himself as “I AM WHO I AM.” If anyone else had made these statements, it would have been blasphemy (That is what Jesus was accused of by the Jewish leaders, who then arranged to have Him crucified for such “blasphemy.” Yet that plot was ultimately ordained by God to fulfill the prophecy that Jesus would be crucified for the sins of all who would believe in His name).
 
But now, I want us to look in the Gospels after Jesus was born and look at some of the other Names He is given. More accurately, we are going to look at some things that the voice that came from the burning bush said He AM. This will help you and I to better understand all that comes in our salvation package.
 
You see, if you study the Gospels, you will find that Jesus made numerous statements of who He is, was, and evermore shall be. In fact, in the Gospel of John itself, Jesus made seven “I AM” statements, which both identified Himself as deity and revealed certain divine characteristics that He possesses. Yes, each of these statements serve not only as a reflection of His nature but also as a way of revealing how the LORD desires to meet our needs.
 
In fact, Jesus fulfilled and affirmed numerous Old Testament prophesies about Himself through these “I AM” statements. It’s also important to consider that He knew who He was, and He wanted us to clearly know, too. He can’t be minimized to merely our “ticket to heaven” but must be seen as our daily sustenance, our direction, our protector, our sacrificial Savior, our victory over death, our access to the Father and eternal life, and our vitality and strength.
 
So what are Jesus' seven “I Am” Statements? Let’s look at them in order to gain a fuller understand of who Jehovah Jesus really is …

1. I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE

 
The first one is found in John 6:35 where Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” He also reiterated this statement in John 6:41, 48, & 51.
 
Jesus said this shortly after He had fed the five thousand in the beginning of the chapter. and the people wanted more supernaturally provided bread. This was an allusion to the supernatural manna that satisfied the physical needs of the Israelites in the wilderness, but only for a while. But Jesus didn’t want to keep filling their stomachs. He wanted them to see that physical food only satisfied hunger temporarily, but He was the One who could satisfy them spiritually.
 
Jesus Christ satisfies our spiritual needs forever. He was saying He is the bread that provides true life. So those who believe in Jesus have life. The manna in the wilderness satisfied temporary hunger, and those who ate it eventually died. Jesus provides the bread of life that leads to life everlasting.
 
Notice how Jesus said in John 6:35 that as the bread of life, that whoever comes to Him shall never hunger and whoever believes on Him shall never thirst.
 
You see, Jesus knew what these people were really “hungry” for – it was for more bread from heaven like the manna they were fed in the wilderness. But what He also knew was that the things that we as flesh & blood think we want & need is not what will satisfy us. Only Jesus can satisfy the root of all of these needs.
 
Church, the LORD is the only thing that can satisfy. He is the only One who can fulfill us and bring true contentment. And without Him, we will run around the same mountains trying to be made happy by this or that. For some, they will go from relationship to relationship trying to find happiness. For others, they will work tirelessly trying to make more money, thinking that will bring them the joy they are looking for. There are so many “cisterns” that we try and hold water with, but none of these baskets can hold the joy & peace that we are looking for. As the Scriptures say, they are all broken cisterns that can hold no water. Only the LORD JESUS is that fountain of Living Waters, that true bread from heaven that man is to live by (See Jeremiah 2:13). Amen! 
 
Jesus is the answer to our discontentment, and is the only way to have joy and be fulfilled.

1. I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

 
Jesus said in John 8:12 – “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
 
This second “I Am” statement of Jesus comes on the heels of a significant event – immediately after the forgiving of the woman caught in adultery.
 
Of course, we know this story – the scribes and the Pharisees brought to Jesus this woman caught in the midst of adultery, and when they tried to put pressure on the Lord to condemn her according to the law, Jesus didn’t condemn her but offered her grace. But not only did Jesus show her mercy but He also told her to go and sin no more. This is when Jesus then gave this second great “I AM” statement that He is the light of the world.   
 
So being this light of the world like the Sun is the light of the earth, the LORD gives direction out of sin and into the light of life like He did for this adulterous woman. There is no cause for stumbling to those who follow His light, but for those who turn from Him, they will most certainly walk in darkness.
 
Yes, Jesus is that great light that was given in Genesis 1:3 when God said, “‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” And this was before the sun was even created. Therefore, the SON existed before the SUN was created – the true light of the world.  
 
You see, if we don’t have the light of the world, then we can’t really find our way out of the continuous stumblings in sin and other poor choices. We need His light to both walk correctly and to be able to see accurately. And Jesus is the only light that can provide us with these things.  
 
Jesus is the answer to our stumbling around in darkness. He is the light that gives direction, purpose, and hope.

1. I AM THE DOOR OF THE SHEEP

 
Next, Jesus said in John 10:7-9 – “I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”
 
This third “I Am” statement stresses that no one can enter the kingdom of heaven by any other means than Christ Himself. Jesus’ words in this passage are using the imagery of a sheepfold. He is the one and only way to enter the fold. “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber” (See John 10:1).
 
Yes, Jesus is that one door that gave one access to Noah’s ark. So Jesus is that door that one enters salvation through to be delivered from the wrath & judgment of God. So this statement also reinforces what He said in John 14:6 about being the only way to come to the Father. The only way to get into God’s “sheepfold” or “family” or “dwelling” is to go through Jesus – the door or entryway.
 
However, that is not the only benefit of Jesus being the door. Jesus also said in verse 9 that not only is one saved by entering through Him, but that they are able to go in and out and find pasture. That shows me that Jesus is not only the door to our salvation and our home in heaven, but He is our door to find pasture outside of these spiritual things. So, He is the way to making us lie down on green pastures and our avenue to going beside the still waters. Therefore, He is the door to both a good life for all eternity and a good life now on this earth! Amen!
 
Jesus is the answer to our inability to go in and out and find green pastures and still waters. He is our comfort and our rest.

1. I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD

 
Later in this same example, Jesus gives us our fourth great “I Am” saying in John 10:11,14 – “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep … I am the good shepherd; and I know my sheep, and am known by My own.”
 
With this statement, Jesus was declaring Himself to be that good shepherd who would die for the sake of His flock. He was letting the Israelites know that, unlike a hireling who will run and leave a flock unprotected in order to save his own life when the wolf threatens the sheep, He will not abandon His sheep, but will keep watch over His people. And if He will lay down His life for His flock, then He most certainly will care for and love His sheep, knowing them each by name.
 
In Psalm 23, David referred to the Lord God as Jehovah Rohi, the LORD our Shepherd, and in this passage, Jesus refers to Himself as the ultimate Good Shepherd who was about to give His life for His sheep and fulfill His Father’s plan of salvation for all people.
 
But as our Good Shepherd Jesus not only gives us His life, but He gives us everything else as a result (Compare Romans 8:32)! Yes, the Good Shepherd leads us into the good life.
 
In these verses, we see the opportunity to know Him is one of the benefits of Him being our Good Shepherd. So we can have a relationship with the LORD God through Jesus and we can experience so much more as evidenced by the 23rd Psalm.
 
Church, when Jesus is our Good Shepherd, He does good by us! He provides us with direction, provision, protection, restoration, comfort, etc. The LORD is good, and He does good!  
 
Jesus is the answer for what we would call a bad life, full of no direction or provision. Knowing Him is the key to the life you’ve always been looking for.

1. I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE

 
The fifth “I AM” declaration that Jesus made in the Gospel of John is found in John 11:25. In this verse, Jesus said to Martha – “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.”
 
Jesus made this “I AM” statement immediately before raising Lazarus from the dead. He spoke this crowning statement of hope to His grieving friend, Martha, after she said that she knew that her brother, Lazarus, would rise again in the final resurrection. So Jesus felt the need to make it clear to her that He was and still is the resurrection and the life!
 
Now Jesus was obviously talking about raising up Lazarus right then and not having to wait until the final Resurrection. So this shows us that Jesus is not only the Resurrection and the Life for us eternally, but He is this to us right now!
 
And oh how Jesus most certainly is our Resurrection Life the moment we are born again! This involves us being born again and saved when our spirit is made fully alive by the power of the Holy Spirit, but it also involves our physical body being made alive by the Spirit of God.
 
The apostle Paul talked about this in Romans chapter 8 when he said that the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life to our mortal bodies (See Romans 8:11). That means that God wants that resurrection life to impact us now, not just in the sweet by and by. 
 
You see, death always brought a sense of despair, hopelessness, and finality until Jesus spoke those glorious words, and then demonstrated them by bringing His dead friend back to life. Shortly afterward, Jesus showed the world that He had conquered the grave when He, Himself, rose to life three days after His death for the sins of all who would believe.
 
Jesus is the answer for all that is dead. He gives life to anything or anyone He touches and raises them up. 
 

1. I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE

 
Now perhaps the most powerful “I AM” statement by Jesus is the one He said in John 14:6 in response to Thomas’ statement of not knowing where He was going and not knowing the way. Here, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
 
This powerful “I AM” statement of Christ’s is packed with meaning:
 
Like we just looked at in John 11:25, Jesus reiterated here that He is the life. This again shows us that the life is only found in Him. But Jesus included two other proclamations including him being the Way and the Truth:  
 
By saying that He is the Way, this is not merely one way among many ways to God; He is the only Way. In other words, like we saw in Jesus being the Door, Jesus is the Way to the Father.
 
Then by saying that He is the Truth, Jesus is stating that all Truth is found in Him. The Scriptures say that “The entirety of Your Word is truth” (Psalm 119:160), and here is Jesus proclaiming that He is the truth—confirming His identity as the Word of God (see John 1:1, 14).
 
So if I want to find the way, I need to find Jesus. If I want to know the truth, then I need to know Jesus. And if I want to have life, then I need to have Jesus.
 
You see, this statement was significant to those of His day who were trying to gain access to God’s favor through the Law and their good works. And it is significant to us today because we are surrounded by many beliefs and religions claiming access to God and a way to earn God’s favor and eternal life, apart from Jesus alone.
 
Jesus is the answer when we don’t know the way, when we are questioning what truth is, and when our life is in desperate need of a change.  

1. I AM THE TRUE VINE

 
Finally, we see Jesus in the same evening teaching about the Parable of the True Vine and its branches. And in the beginning of His teaching Jesus said – “I am the true vine and My Father is the vinedresser … I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:1,5)
 
So the final metaphorical “I AM” statement in the Gospel of John emphasizes the sustaining power of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are the branches, and He is the vine. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit unless it is joined in vital union with the vine, only those who are joined to and abide in Christ to receive their power from Him produce fruit in the Christian life.
 
But specifically by calling Himself the “True” Vine, that means that there are evidently “false” vines out there – again, other people, places, and things that we tend to grasp for to get life from. But no, Jesus is the only real True Vine and, therefore, the only true source of life & sustenance.
 
So only by attaching ourselves to and abiding in Christ are we able to have His life flow in and through us. Then we cannot help but bear fruit that will honor the Father. In this metaphor, He is the gardener. In Him, and in His nurturing, tending, and pruning, you and I can grow to our potential and bear much fruit. Jesus was saying “Stick close to Me and you will be able to accomplish much for My Father’s glory.”
 
Jesus is the answer to our fruitlessness. He is the only way for our lives to become truly fruitful and experience the life that glorifies Him.   
 
So just as the LORD gave Moses the answer to the question of who is it that was sending Him and what this One’s name is, Jesus is likewise the answer to everything we need!
 
Yes, He is the only Way, the only Truth, and the only Life. One cannot take another way, believe something else as truth, or find life in something else outside of Jesus.
 
He is the only Door and the Good Shepherd who leads us in and out to find the pasture we need. We cannot trust in any other “door” for salvation, but Jesus is certainly that Good Shepherd who will lead us in and out to find green pasture.
 
There is no other Bread that can satisfy, no other Vine that can give life, and no other Light that can show us the way. Jesus is our only hope for resurrection and without Him we can do nothing.  
 
Yes, Jesus is always the answer – the only Name that can truly satisfy and save!  
 
THE LIGHT HAS DAWNED
You see, the Name of Jesus contains so much wealth and depth. And it was even prophesied that this would be the case in one of our most popular Christmas passages of Scripture – Isaiah 9:6-7.
 
In these verses, the Prophet Isaiah prophesied – “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.’”
 
This is one of the most well-known prophecies about the coming Messiah. If you’ve been to a Christmas service before you’ve likely heard it read. And while it’s a great reminder during the Christmas season, it’s also a verse we should reflect on year-round because these truths about the Christ are not just reserved for the holidays, but they are the same yesterday, today, and forevermore!  
You see, these verses were not just intended to show Israel what was to come in the future at the time it was prophesied. Nor were they to just show us what came 2,000 years ago. No, these verses aren’t just to reveal what was or what was to come; they are to reveal to us who Jesus is and what He is still doing!
So as we look at these verses in detail today, be sure to view them not as something of the past, but as truths that are still relevant today. Amen. But before we look at them in depth, we need to consider the context in which these words were written.
You see, the Book of Isaiah is one of the most significant Books of Prophecy and one of the most important Books in the Bible. It is regularly quoted throughout the New Testament and also speaks of the coming Messiah and what He will do. 
It's for this reason that some call the Book of Isaiah the “Fifth Gospel” because of its unique and accurate description of Israel’s Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only does it give a description of His life and subsequent crucifixion, but it also describes His beginning – right here in Isaiah chapter 9.
 
But the context of Isaiah 9:6-7 in particular is this:  In the previous chapter, a picture of doom & gloom is painted to Israel. Invasion by the Assyrians was imminent and they would be oppressed for 13 years. This was not “gospel” to the nation of Israel and was widely considered a “conspiracy.” So at the very end of chapter 8, what we see is trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish, and how they would be driven into this dark time. However, in chapter 9, we see a prophecy of light and hope! Isaiah talks about a future for Israel where the darkness will be lifted! It’s a restoration to a bright future! And Isaiah prophesied that this will come about by a child that God will send who will become king. But this isn’t just any ordinary man; rather He will be called Mighty God and Prince of Peace, and his rule will never end!
So in Isaiah 9:1-7 we see this incredible promise that the darkness will be replaced by indescribable glory that will never end. Verse 2 specifically says that “the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.” This was a direct prophecy of Jesus’ Galilean ministry and Matthew records it as such in Matthew 4:16 of His Book. All this will be brought about by a baby Boy who will have a certain reputation.
So let’s now begin looking at this powerful verse in Isaiah 9:6 … 
First of all, notice how our verse begins with – “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given …”
Remember the context: Isaiah here is describing the future when God will provide a way out of the darkness, and that will come through the birth of a child. This passage is prophesying about the Light of the world and what the light is that He will bring to all who have eyes to see. 
When Isaiah started off with the word “For” he was giving the reason why God was going to accomplish what He said He would in the preceding verses (vs.1-5) – shining a light on their darkness/gloom, bringing them joy and their freedom being won. In other words, the Messiah was that light that would bring them true freedom. When Isaiah said “unto us” he was saying that He was coming for our benefit, and these were some of the benefits.
So when it begins with “For unto us …” we can picture the light of the world coming into our dark world and giving us light. Yes, like beams of light radiate from the sun as it rises in the east, the Sun of Righteousness has risen with healing in His wings (literally, the rays of light that come from the sun). So unto us this light was given and now we can have hope because salvation has come!
A SON IS GIVEN
 
The Prophet Isaiah in prophesying of the Christ child who was to come said, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given.” These are significant statements because in the first one, we have a reference to His humanity, and in the second, we have a reference to His deity. On one hand, He was born as a child in His humanity, and on the other, He was God’s only begotten Son given by His Father.
 
So, while many Christians very admirably make Christmas out to be Jesus’ birthday, that is not entirely correct. Sure, it is His birthday regarding His humanity, but His entrance into the world on that evening was not the beginning of His life. He is, was, and always will be the beginning! We need to predominantly understand that when He was born that night, He was more than “Baby Jesus.” He was the everlasting Word made flesh! Yes, a Son was given on that night!
 
So, Christmas should be viewed not so much as the birthday of little baby Jesus, but the glorious entrance of God’s greatest gift to the world—His only begotten Son!
 
Another familiar passage of Scripture, John 3:16, says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes on Him should not perish but have eternal life.” This reveals to us a couple of awesome truths about this gift:

1. The first thing is God’s motivation for giving us the gift of Jesus—it was because He so loved the world. God did not send us Jesus because He felt obligated to or even because we needed Him to. No, He gave us Jesus because He wanted to—because He sooo loved us. What makes this even more beautiful is that He did not so love us and give us Jesus when we were all that and bag of chips. No, John said that He so loved the world! That’s a world that was sinful, ungodly, and apart from Him. Now that’s love!
2. The other thing it shows us is what the gift entailed. You see, it wasn’t just that God gave us His only begotten Son; it was what Jesus’ life provided for us. And this verse says that whoever believes on Him (i.e. those that receive the gift), would not perish but have eternal life. So, the gift of Jesus entailed salvation from death and salvation unto eternal life. I’ll tell you—this was a gift that we might not have known that we needed, but the Father did—and it was exceedingly abundantly above all we could have thought to have asked for. Amen. 

 
But this good news gets even “gooder” as we understand that the giving of His only begotten Son on the day that we traditionally celebrate as Christmas, God also freely gave us all things. Romans 8:32 says that if God did not withhold His Son from us, but freely gave Him to us, how shall He not with Him freely give us all things? In other words, with Jesus comes every other good and perfect gift of God! I would say it this way: Jesus is God’s gift wrapped under the tree. He is the gift. But when you unwrap Him, you find everything else that pertains to life and godliness! In Him, lies all the good and perfect gifts of the Father that we need and desire.
 
As I considered these things this week, I was reminded of that oh so powerful Scripture in James 1:17 that says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
 
You see, Jesus was certainly that good and perfect gift given to us by our good, good Heavenly Father, but every other good and perfect gift in our lives has also come down from Him. He, in His unchanging nature of light, love, and life, consistently gives things that benefit and bless us. This is just who He is.
 
So, Jesus is that good and perfect gift given to us by the Father, but again, He was given for us! Therefore, we are the reason for the season and the object of God’s love.
 
This is why we tend to think of this verse as a Christmas passage because it predicts the birth of Jesus. And it certainly deserves a spot in our Christmas readings. However, the promise of this verse goes far beyond that. It’s a promise that God will restore his people and give them back a kingdom – this time, a kingdom that will be forever. Isaiah dives further into that in the coming words … 
 
THE KING’S DOMINION
Isaiah further describes this coming Messiah, saying, “The government will be upon His shoulder …” What this is speaking of is that He will be a king, the King of kings in fact.
If you recall in Matthew 2:2, we see how the wise men who came from the east asked, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” So even from His birth, those who were enlightened knew that He was born to be King.
The word for “government” here describes the rule or dominion. So it might be better translated as the rule will rest on His shoulders. And this is a lavish title that paints a picture. Obviously, the Holy Spirit doesn’t mean that the dominion will literally be on His shoulders; but rather that He will be the One holding it up.  
You see, these kinds of lavish titles were common for kings to be given at this time. But what’s interesting is that His titles are going to get more and more elaborate. What Isaiah is doing is showing that this Child will be of God Himself. 
Then Isaiah said that the government would be upon His shoulder. In other words, He will bear the right and responsibility to rule and have dominion over God’s kingdom. First must come the breaking of the yoke and staff off our “shoulders” (See verse 4). Then we are translated into His kingdom (Compare Colossians 1:13) where His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Why? Because we are yoked together with Him now and He bears the full weight of that yoke for us on His shoulders.
 
If we look ahead into verse 7, we see more about the King’s kingdom as Isaiah goes on to describe the Messiah’s reign …
 
Next, he says, “Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end” (continuation of the reference to Jesus being the Prince of Peace). In other words, His kingdom shall be in a perpetual state of growth and increase. It will begin growing when He comes and it will never stop increasing throughout all eternity (Compare Daniel 2:35&44), like the leaven that infiltrated the three measures of meal and the mustard seed that grew into a large tree. The kingdom of God is characterized by growth – more specifically perpetual growth for all eternity.
 
Then these powerful words are followed by – “Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever.”
 
You see, God promised David that he would never lack someone to sit upon his throne after him. Of course, we know that Jesus was the ultimate fulfillment of this being the seed of David when He was handed over the rule to God’s kingdom. And Jesus is seated upon His throne and He will never be succeeded… His reign is eternal! (See First Kings 8:25 / Second Samuel 7:12-13).
 
The word “order” means “to prepare it or make it ready” and the word “establish” means “to sustain it or hold it up.” So this means that Christ was going to prepare David’s kingdom and hold it together after that. He will do this “with judgment and justice,” or more literally “with justice and righteousness.” God’s Word says that His throne is established upon righteousness and justice. It says that the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy. What this phrase is basically saying is that the Messiah is going to take the throne of David and start ruling with justice and righteousness and continue to rule in righteousness and justice.
 
A major point of emphasis throughout God’s Word concerning His kingdom is that it will be forever and ever and ever. This is said here when Isaiah is quoted as saying, “…from that time forward, even forever.” God wants us to be fully established in the fact that the kingdom we are citizens of is not limited to this temporal life, but is eternal. It will never end and will last for all eternity! With strong consolation like this, how much should we be seeking first the things that pertain to His kingdom while on the earth?
 
But what I wanted you to see through this is that it was clearly prophesied that Jesus would be the King over His Father’s kingdom and that this kingdom would rule and reign forever.
 
HIS NAME WILL BE CALLED
 
But let’s go back to Isaiah 9:6 and look at what the Holy Spirit prophesied that the Messiah’s kingdom would be characterized by …
 
In fact, Isaiah 9:6 teaches us a little bit more about His Name, specifically telling us what “His Name will be called” – that is, His character and person. Jamison Fausset Brown’s commentary translates this phrase as – ‘His essential characteristics shall be…’
And the very first thing we see that the King will be called is – “Wonderful.”
 
Now as we saw in Judges 13:18, this was what the Angel of the LORD (which we learned was the preincarnate Lord Jesus Christ) answered Samson’s father with when he asked what His name was. The LORD responded with – “Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?" 
 
Now this word for “wonderful” is most often used in connection with miracles, signs, and wonders. And truly Jesus Christ’s essential characteristics are miraculous and full of wonders, right? His entrance into this physical world was a miracle in itself (i.e. an immaculate conception through a virgin). His ministry on the earth was also marked with miracles, signs, and wonders. And His resurrection was the culmination of His life being “full of wonders.”
 
So it should not surprise us that the Lord Jesus’ Name would be “full of wonders” as His life from beginning to end was characterized by signs & wonders.
 
The next way Jesus would be characterized is as the “Counselor” …
 
Some believe Isaiah’s intent was to say that He would be “the wonderful counselor” instead of both of these words being two different descriptions (compare 28:29). And I’m sure His counsel is wonderful, but let’s just focus here on what the “counselor” part means. 
 
The reference to Him being a Counselor denotes His ability to give sound wisdom, direction, and guidance as the ruler of His people. Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit being “another parakletos” and one way of translating that is “another of the same kind of counselor” signifying that He was His disciple’s counselor first.
 
So this describes a king that is wise. This would cause most Israelites to think of King Solomon, the wisest person to ever live. But this King is far wiser than even Solomon, and he will lead his people with wise counsel that will not lead them astray. 
I’ll tell you – if you ever need direction, wisdom, or guidance, He’s Your Man! There is no man or woman on this planet who can offer the same counsel that the Counselor can – and one of the main ways that the Christ does this for us today is through the other Counselor, the Mighty Holy Spirit. Yes, the Holy Spirit has been sent to dwell inside of us, filling us with inexhaustible knowledge, revelation, and wisdom.
 
Next, we see the Lord Jesus called “Mighty God.”
 
Isaiah here is telling his readers that this king would not just be a man. No, He was a part of the Godhead as this was a very obvious reference to His divinity. So while other kings might have some of the attributes in this list, they would not have this one.
 
But Isaiah did not just call Him “God” He described Him as the “Mighty God.” This word “Mighty” was a word used to describe a warrior, king, or hero. It is a reference to Jesus Christ – the Word who was and is and forevermore will be God – coming to the earth as a man in order to be our hero and deliverer us from this kingdom of darkness. 
 
So this king will be divine and will be mighty to save his people. 
Next, we see Jesus described as the “Everlasting Father.”
Now this is not attributing Jesus to being both the Son and the Father because they are distinct entities in the Trinity. These words “everlasting Father” literally describe the “Father of eternity.” Thus “the Father of eternity” describes Him as being “the originator of the age to come” or “the Author of eternal life” or “or the source of the eternal kingdom which shall never end.”
So this king’s reign will never end, but what’s more incredible is how he will rule. He is our father. In other words, he’s not going to rule by demanding subservience; rather he will rule as a loving and caring father. 
 
And finally, we come to probably the most well-known phrase in Isaiah 9:6 – the Prince of Peace.
 
The common interpretation that the Jewish people had of this phrase was that the Messiah would put an end to all conflict and wars when He came. Of course, it is understandable why they believed this because there were other prophecies that referred to the Messiah’s reign being a reign of peace and tranquility. But, although these prophecies will be fulfilled in the millennium reign of the Christ, the peace that He first came to bring was peace between God and man (which will be followed by peace between man and man)
 
If you recall, this gospel of peace was what was proclaimed at Jesus’ birth in Luke 2:14 when the angels appeared to the shepherds singing, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” What were they declaring? It was that with the birth of the Messiah, God has sent the Way for peace between He and mankind! Glory to God in the highest indeed!
 
So this is one of Jesus’ main names because it’s what He came to do, bring peace. This peace isn’t just peace on earth, but also peace between us and God. This king is the ultimate peacemaker. 
Therefore, Isaiah 9:6-7 reminds us of who Jesus is and what He came to do. Like I said, when these words were written God’s people were in a dark season. This verse is a promise that God was coming to rescue them. 
The same is true for us today. Jesus entered into this world as a child to pursue you and I. Isaiah 9:6 shows us that God is wise, He is mighty, He’s our father, and He is bringing peace to us. When the storms of life come this is a verse we should cling to. God is with us, and He will provide for us. 
Isaiah concluded by saying- “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” All of this about the Messianic rule over God’s kingdom is a product of God’s intense, heartfelt desire. In other words, God really wanted to do this. Yes, He really wants to bring light into our darkness! Yes, He is zealous for bringing us peace and being our hero!  
So if God was this zealous about doing this for us, how much more should we be zealous in walking in this?     
Church, Jesus is the Name above all names! He is our Savior and, in this salvation is everything that pertains to life and godliness. Yes, in this salvation package is every good and perfect gift. So we might say that every other Name of God and all that God revealed Himself to be through these Names is contained in the Name of Jehovah Jesus.

As we started out learning in this series, Jesus evidently thought the Names of God were important because He taught His disciples to pray by first “hallowing” God’s Names.
 
We learned that this means to honor and make holy His Names in our sight as we approach Him in prayer. Evidently, this is key for our prayers being effective, but why? It’s because by first hallowing His Name, we will go into our prayer times full of faith, confidence, and persuasion knowing who we are directing our prayers towards. No, there will not be that unbelief that questions if God is hearing us or if He will grant us our requests. We will know who He is and will have the full assurance of faith that gets the best results in prayer.
 
And let me remind you that knowing who He is, is much more important to Him than knowing the technicalities of His various Names, like being able to rattle them off or how to pronounce them. I would much rather you know me as the person I truly am than just knowing what my name is.
 
You see, there’s a lot of people out there who know who I am and know what I do (meaning, they know my name and that I’m the pastor of this church). But guess what? Most of these people don’t really know me. They don’t know what I’m into, what makes me tick, what I like to do for fun, etc. Even a lot of people that have come to church here for years don’t really know me. Sure, they know what I do and how I do it. But it’s like the children of Israel – the Scriptures teach us that they knew His acts, but Moses actually knew His ways. And why did Moses know His ways? It was because He took the time to get to know the LORD and He revealed Himself to Moses.
 
That’s what we need to do, saints! We don’t need to go about this the way the majority of the church has. No, we need to pursue the knowledge of God, desiring to see Him for who He is in truth, and let Him reveal His true self to us through His Names.
 
So we have covered most of His Names over the past several months, and last week we looked at what is probably one of the most well-known Names He has – Jehovah Shalom.
 
We learned that while the word shalom is generally defined as “peace,” it means so much more: It describes safety & welfare like in the areas of health or prosperity, and at its root, this word describes “completeness, soundness, welfare, safety, and quietness. So we learned that the word shalom seems to best be described as “wholeness.”
 
Essentially, we learned that this word which describes being whole, complete, or sound is similar to what we see in the New Testament Greek word for “saved” – the word sozo.
 
You see, while “saved” is that general one-word definition for sozo, that word doesn’t totally describe what it means. Sozo describes being made whole, being healed, delivered, set free, etc. So I see shalom as the Old Testament counterpart to our New Testament word for salvation because both of these terms have one-word definitions that most people use that do not fully encapsulate their meanings. Not to mention, their meanings are extremely similar because they both describe being made whole, complete, and safe & sound.
 
I like one definition I’ve heard that describes shalom: It’s this – Shalom is nothing missing and nothing broken. In other words, because it describes being complete, whole, and sound, there’s no room for anything to be missing, incomplete, or broken. Glory!
 
So we learned that if the LORD’s Name is Jehovah Shalom, then this making things whole, complete, and sound, with nothing missing and nothing broken is a part of His nature! “Shalom” is who He is – the One who causes completeness, wholeness, safety. He is the God of peace – peace from war, peace from turmoil, and peace from strife, etc. Yes, He is the Prince of peace, peace being the fruit of who He is.
 
So with the presence of the God of peace comes the presence of the peace of God – peace both on the inside and on the outside. Therefore, Jehovah Shalom obviously desires for us to have nothing missing and nothing broken in every area of our lives including our souls. And that’s exactly where this peace begins – in our heart, soul, and mind. Once we experience peace in there, finding peace on the outside becomes a lot easier.
 
But it’s important to understand that this is His heart and who He is, church! He is shalom. He wants us whole. He wants us at rest. He wants us complete, sound, and entire – both on the inside and on the outside. He is our God of Peace, Jehovah Shalom!      
 
VICTORY OVER THE AMALEKITES
 
Now the next Name of God that I want us to look at this week is technically the last covenant keeping, Jehovah Name – Jehovah Nissi. I will have one other very special Name that we will cover next week, but this is the last Jehovah Name of God on our list to cover.
 
Jehovah Nissi surfaces in Exodus chapter 17 in a powerful story that Pastor Robert referred to last week at the beginning of our service. Let’s look at it …
 
Exodus chapter 17 picks up the story of the Israelites shortly after they left their Egyptian bondage and were traveling to the land of Canaan under the leadership of Moses. While they were camped at a place called Rephidim, they were attacked by the Amalekites.
 
Now it is important to understand that when Israel faced the Amalekites in battle here, that it wasn’t with an experienced & trained army. No, it was as a tribe of herdsmen escaping slavery in Egypt and travelling uncertainly to a promised land they hadn’t seen in over four hundred years. They travelled with women, children, and herds, not with horses, chariots, and an abundance of weapons. So they were basically trespassers travelling through the lands of fierce fighting peoples.
 
But they were traveling with something else, something else that no other nation on earth had – the very presence of God. So Israel did not fight its battles alone. No matter how inexperienced or overmatched they were, they were never the underdogs. No matter how desperate they felt, they were never at a loss. Amen!
 
So Moses put Joshua in charge of leading the Israelite army, charging him to choose some men to go and fight Amalek and his people. Moses said, “I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.” That was the battle-plan.
 
Now the rod that Moses was referring to was the rod that he had used at God’s direction to work miracles—including parting the Red Sea so the Israelites could escape the Egyptians, and also bringing water from a rock to quench their thirst in the wilderness, a miracle that had just happened before this situation in Rephidim. It was called the Rod of God.
 
When the armies met in battle, Moses, along with his helpers, Aaron and Hur, was standing on a nearby hill holding high the rod of God in his hand. And the Bible tells us that as long as he held the rod up, Israel prevailed. However, as the day wore on, Moses got tired, and understandably so. You see, he was not a spring chicken anymore and as the battle continued to wear on, his arms dropped to his side. When this happened, the Amalekites rallied and began to prevail over the Israelites.
 
So when Aaron and Hur realized what was happening, they came to Moses’s side, dragging a small boulder close for him to sit on and each took an arm and raised them again over the battle. As they did this, the Israelites started winning the battle again. All day long Aaron and Hur stood on each side of Moses, holding up his hands with the rod held high, and God gave Israel the victory over their enemies.
 
Yes, the people of Israel prevailed in battle that day. It was a day to remember, for it was the day God first showed them as a nation that He fought for them, that He led them into battle, that He protected and conquered on their behalf, and that He was their banner.
 
 
 
 
WHAT IS A BANNER?
 
So at the close of the battle, Exodus 17:14 says that the LORD told Moses to “Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” So “Moses built an altar and called its name, The-Lord-Is-My-Banner” (Exodus 17:15).
 
So when Moses names the altar, “Jehovah Nissi – The LORD is my banner,” what was He saying?
 
By building this altar and calling it “Jehovah Nissi,” Moses was showing that he recognized the Lord as the source of their victory. By building an altar, Moses was also creating a place of remembrance and celebrating what God had done. It was an expression of gratitude for God’s victory over the enemy.
 
Yes, I believe He was referring to what wrought the victory they experienced that day – Moses arms lifting up the rod of God. Yes, during the battle, the miracle-working rod of God was like a banner flying over their army, identifying them as God’s people who were depending on Him for victory. It represented God’s power working on their behalf as it being lifted up caused them to prevail. So Moses’ staff served as a banner of sorts.
 
I like the Spirit Filled Life Bible’s explanation of this in its note for Exodus 17:15 – “A banner is the pole like standard beneath which armies or communities rallied. When lifted up, it called the people together for battle, for meeting, or for instruction. This phrase also could have been a battle cry. Erecting an altar was Moses recognition of the presence of God. At this altar, he was honoring God as the giver of victory over the Amalekites.”
 
You see, the first point in this commentary is technically what a banner is. Here, we see it described as a “pole like standard.” The Hebrew word itself describes something lifted up like a standard, signal, signal pole, or a sign. So we might say a banner could be a flag, a sail, or a sign. In this case, it was Moses’ staff.
 
Now if we consider how banners are used, I believe it will begin to reveal some of what this title means.
 
You see, we use banners for several reasons. These reasons are, but are not limited to:

1. To celebrate and honor

 
Sometimes we hang banners from the rafters of arenas honoring champions. They are also raised to honor soldiers returning from war. They adorn public places to celebrate occasions or people who deserve honor.

1. To remember and commemorate

 
Towns all over America raise banners on certain holidays every year to commemorate something dear to them – maybe it’s a patron, a hero, a tradition, or a special day.

1. To label or identify

 
Banners announce names and images which people can recognize from a great distance. Sometimes, they show the location and identity of a business or event so people can navigate to it.

1. To announce or declare

 
Banners are also used to announce important events or to simply make people aware of a product.
 
So no matter what the purpose is of the banner, they are meant to be visible. In other words, they are meant to be seen, unmistakable, and unignorable. Yes, they are attention grabbers.
 
This reminds me of what the LORD ministered to me one time about the Truth itself. He told me that the truth is “that which is not hidden, which makes God known.” And when He said that to me, He began revealing to me how Jesus, who is most certainly the Truth, fits this description. He also showed me how the Word, which is also called the Truth, fits this bill. And also how the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, has an assignment to do the same thing.
 
So all of the things we call the Truth are not meant to hide anything about the truth. Yes, they all make God known like “banners” make things visible and known.
 
Now banners are also not just for those who see them; they are also for those who raise them. In other words, they are to draw people to whatever they are advertising. They are an invitation to that person’s gathering place.
 
So when Moses built the altar and called it, “The LORD is my banner,” he was creating a place of remembrance and an advertisement & celebration of the LORD’s victory over the Amalekites. It was a declaration not just of who God is and what He has done, but of who they were as His people.
 
ANY MORE BANNERS?
 
God is called Jehovah Nissi – “God Is My Banner” – only in Exodus 17:15, but elsewhere in the Bible His “banner” is an illustration of His protection and salvation.
 
Let’s look at a few Scriptures that refer to this:
 
Psalm 20:5 says, “We will rejoice in your salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners!”
 
Psalm 60:4-5 says, “You have given a banner to those who fear You, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah. That Your beloved may be delivered, save with Your right hand, and hear me.”
 
So I want you to notice that the Psalmists were tying together salvation & deliverance with their banners.
 
Speaking of the Messiah who was to come, Isaiah prophesied, “And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people … He will set up a banner for the nations” (Isaiah 11:10, 12).
 
So Jesus Himself is prophesied to be our Banner – which we have beautifully illustrated through the Cross.
 
Do you remember how Jesus said, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself” (See John 12:32)? Well, we know that He is referring to being lifted up from the earth on a wooden Cross, right? When He was lifted up, He became God’s banner of salvation!
 
In fact, the first time the Hebrew word nissi itself is used is in Numbers chapter 21 in the story of the bronze serpent set on the pole that was used to save the people who were bit by the snakes. Well, in verses 8 & 9 the word that is used for “pole” there is where we get nissi from.
 
Now we know that this bronze serpent was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ because in John 3:14-15 He said, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
 
So the Lord was telling us here that just as Moses raised up that pole and put the bronze serpent on it, He was going to be lifted up on that Cross. Therefore, the same way the children of Israel were told to set their eyes on that snake on the pole in order to live, we too must set our eyes on what Jesus did for us on the Cross in order to have eternal life.
 
So, Jesus is ultimately our banner of salvation & deliverance! So this is how He is Jehovah Nissi to us today – by the victory we’ve received in Christ Jesus.
 
WHO ARE OUR AMALEKITES?
 
So yes, Moses built an altar and named it Jehovah Nissi, but did you know that the Bible tells us exactly why he did this? We know it is for remembrance, but verse 16 tells us the exact reason.
 
Exodus 17:16 says, “for he said, ‘Because the Lord has sworn: the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.’”
 
It’s important to know what it was about these various “ites” that the LORD had such a problem with.
 
The New Testament teaches us how all of these things that were written beforehand are for our instruction and were types & shadows of the spiritual realities that you and I walk in today. Therefore, all of these various “ites” represented the same enemies that you and I face today.
 
So what about the Amalekites? Who were they and what did they represent? Well, Amalek was a descendent of Ham. You remember him, right? He was one of the three sons of Noah – the one who dishonored his father’s nakedness. If you ever have a hard time remembering which one of Shem, Ham, and Japheth was the dishonorable son, just remember which one was the “ham” of the bunch.
 
Not only that, but Amalek was the grandson of Esau, who went on to live in Canaan and obviously where the Canaanites (another bad group of “ites”) came from. And I don’t think I need to tell you that Esau too was a “ham” himself. But in honor of Thanksgiving being this week, let’s call him “the turkey.”
 
So Amalek hailed from a bunch of “Hams & Turkeys,” amen?
 
Now why do I make this point? It’s to show you that the Amalekites hail from a line of those who, while being birthed by godly characters like Noah & Isaac, deviated from righteousness and godliness and chose the sinful route.
 
Where do you suppose they got that from? From the original sinner, of course – that is, Lucifer.
 
You see, Lucifer was the devil’s name before he became Satan. So I see the Amalekites as being a good description of the “devilites” and the “demonites.” Yes, the Amalekites were those who turned from the ways of God and became a cursed people like the devil did himself. 
 
And this is very important for our story because it shows us what this story means for us: While we don’t have a threat of going to war with the Amalekites today, we are at war with the one they represent – the kingdom of darkness.
 
This is why the LORD said this warfare with the Amalekites would be from one generation to another. It’s because it didn’t end with this one victory. No, the ones that the Amalekites represented would be a thorn on this earth for many generations to come – that is, the devil.
 
And the Gospel is this – that through our Banner of Victory, the Lord Jesus Christ, God has granted us this victory over our Amalekites. Amen!
 
So let’s look at some New Testament “Banners” that show us how the LORD has promised us victory over our “Amalekites,” the kingdom of darkness.
 
OUR BANNERS OF TRIUMPH
 
In Colossians 2:15, Paul says, “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”
 
Now this verse describes what Jesus did when He was resurrected on the third day. When He was made alive after spending three days and three nights in the pit of hell, Jesus plundered the enemy’s camp – totally defeating him. Amen!
 
What did this look like, you ask? Well, let’s look at the words the apostle Paul used in this verse…
 
Notice the first two words in this awesome verse – “Having disarmed”.
 
Now this isn’t something Jesus is going to do; this is something He has already done- “having disarmed!” Amen! You see, one major mentality that we need to have regarding this is we are not fighting to get victory; we are fighting from a place of victory. Amen?
 
The word “disarmed” describes “stripping the garments and/or armor off.” This word was used to depict the stripping of the enemy’s weaponry and artillery and leaving him without any weapons with which to retaliate with. One scholar even noted that this word describes “stripping to the point of complete nakedness.” The King James Version translates this word as “spoiled” which would describe Jesus as taking the possessions of the principalities and powers.
 
Therefore, all of this means that when Jesus was resurrected, He totally whipped and stripped the enemy and left them with nothing. He took all of their armor away from them! This gives new meaning to the Old Testament verse that says, “No weapon formed against you will prosper,” doesn’t it (See Isaiah 54:16-17)? So since under the New Covenant, Satan has been stripped of his weapons that he used to keep us in bondage before Jesus came, now no weapon can even be formed against us because he doesn’t have any weapons anymore! Amen! 
 
So how could he ever defeat us if he doesn’t even have any weapons left? The only way he can, is if he can convince us that he’s got an effective weapon against us. The only way he can win is if he can get us to give up, thinking he’s won. No, saints, the only effective weapon that he can form against us now is the illusion that he even has an effective weapon! In other words, his only effective weapon now is deception!
 
It is like someone who robs a bank with his pointed finger in his pocket. If that robber convinces the bank employees that what he is pointing at them is a real gun, then he can cause them to give him all the money. But if they know that he does not really have a weapon, then they will not give him squat! Amen? 
 
Now there are two other beloved Scriptures of mine that further verify this victory Christ has won for us …
 
In Second Corinthians 2:14 the apostle Paul said, “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ…” 
 
So we see here that the Holy Spirit promised us that God always leads us in triumph. No, not sometimes, not when God wills to, not when we’ve been good. No, God always leads us in triumph. So the next time the devil comes to your front porch and tells you, “Not this time!” you just respond with one simple word- “Always!” Amen! He always leads me in triumph!
 
Now the word “triumph” that is used here and also in Colossians 2:15 in an interesting word: It describes a victory parade for a conquering army and its leader.
 
Let’s look at the rest of Colossians 2:15 …
 
The words “public spectacle” come from two different Greek words: The first is deigmatidzo and it means “to display, to exhibit; to expose to public disgrace.” This word was used to denote “the display of captives, weaponry, and trophies that were seized during war on foreign soil.”
 
You see, in those times, when the war was over and the battle was won, the victorious king would return home and “display” the treasures, trophies, weaponry, and even the captives that he had seized during his conquest.
 
So after Jesus stripped the enemy of all their garments and weapons, leaving them totally naked, He exposed their pitiful condition for all the hosts of heaven to see. He forever has “exhibited” them and “put them to an open shame.” Amen!
 
This is why God prophesied that there would come a time when we would “look upon, gaze at and consider” satan and say, “Is this the one who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world a wilderness and destroyed its cities?” It’s going to be amazing to us when we will be able to see him for who he really is. We will be so awestruck that we will gaze upon him and ponder how in the world that he ever “shook kingdoms, destroyed cities, made the earth tremble, and made the world a wilderness.” It will not only be amazing, but it will also be very disappointing to realize that he did all of this by lies – which are his only weapon!
 
The second word used for “public spectacle” is parresia which describes “boldness, confidence, openness.”
 
So by adding this word, Paul was showing us that this grand celebration was no quiet affair either! On the contrary, Jesus “boldly, confidently, and loudly” exposed His disarmed and defeated foe. He completely humiliated the enemy when He exhibited him as defeated for all the world to see. Jesus rubbed his nose in it in a not-so quiet way! Amen!  
 
And that is where the word “triumphing” comes in that we already briefly defined in Second Corinthians 2:14 … 
 
The word “triumphing” comes from the Greek word triambeuo and referred to a “Roman triumph” which was basically “a glorious triumphal parade.” This was the triumphal procession (or parade) that the conquering leader would lead back into his kingdom after defeating his enemy. Do you reckon there were any banners being used during this celebration of victory?  
 
But notice that Paul said here, “Thanks be unto God who always leads us in triumph.”
 
So now we can see that those principalities and powers that Jesus whipped and stripped were not the only ones that He led in that triumphant parade of victory; Paul was illustrating to us here that we were also being lead in this victory parade! Glory to God!
 
No, Paul was not saying that we were in the same boat as the kingdom of darkness; he was saying that we are the soldiers that accompany Jesus after He spoiled the principalities and powers and led them in this parade that was humiliating for them but joyous for us. Amen! Again, we partake in His victory without ever having to fight in the battle! We just get to be a part of the festivities!
 
But I want to show you one more Banner Scripture that illustrates to us the glorious victory that Jesus Christ has won for us …
 
In First Corinthians 15:57, the apostle Paul says, “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
 
So, again, we always triumph in Christ. Why? Because He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Saints, we already have the victory in every trial and tribulation that comes our way through the works of our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen!
 
So in light of all of these exceedingly great and precious promises, what is our responsibility? If Jesus has already won the battle for us, what part do we play in experiencing this victory?
 
Well, first of all, look at what verse 58 says here in this passage of Scripture. Paul goes on to say, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable …”
 
So what he was saying was, “Therefore (in light of this victory Jesus gave us) be sturdy and immovable”. The devil will always turn up the pressure on us but all we are to do is stand and resist his pressure to give up. The only way the devil can defeat us is if he can make us stop standing our ground and quit.
 
That’s why in the early church “patience” was the most the most desired virtue. The word translated “patience” meant “staying under power”. In other words, it was the power to stay under Satan’s pressure without moving. The early church had an extreme amount of pressure on them to deny Jesus, but they knew if they had “the queen of all virtues” (what they called “patience”) they would win one way or the other.
 
But through First Corinthians 15:57 and Second Corinthians 2:14, what do we see that our response should be in light of this victory and triumph that we have? What do both of these verses start with? They both start with “thanks be to God.”
 
So our response to trials and tribulations that come our way should be what? “Thanks be to God who always leads me in triumph and who always gives me victory!” In other words, our job is to thank God for the banner of victory that He has already provided. Amen!
 
Keeping our focus on all that we have to be thankful for will keep that spirit of discontentment and discouragement under our feet where it belongs. Thanksgiving always precedes victory (kind of like Thanksgiving precedes Christmas)!     
 
CONCLUSION
 
So God is our banner because of the saving power that He has shown in our lives. He is the One who always causes us to triumph and gives us the victory! Yes, in Him, we are more than conquerors like the Israelites were in that day!
 
Therefore, because of this salvation & deliverance, we diffuse the fragrance of His knowledge in every place we go. Yes, our lives are like a banner that both celebrates and honors Him. Through our testimony, we remember & commemorate what He has done for us. The LORD our banner testifies of the goodness, faithfulness, and mercy that He has graced us with.
 
Likewise, we are to be like His flags that represent & identify Him to others. Yes, He gives us a new identity, and our signet is “His children and His kings & priests.” But the ultimate privilege we have is to “announce” Him and His salvation to this dark & perverse generation.
 
So we make Him visible and show the beauty of His transforming work. Church, God is our banner because all of this is an invitation, a summons, and a drawing to any who would believe and become a part of His victory! Amen!

Church, knowing & understanding the Names of God is one of the most noble tasks we can have because as we learn to hallow His Name, we come to know & understand Him, which is the chiefest of things one can do.
 
I for one want to come to know God more intimately and personally. I want to know Him in truth and have no false notions about who He is. And knowing His Names is a way to make sure that we have clear understanding of who He is as these various Names reveal to us His character and nature.
 
You see, while our names might not tell others a lot about who we are as people, God’s Names do. Yes, when we see Him as Jehovah Rapha, we know that healing is one of His primary interests. When we see Him as Jehovah M’Kaddesh, we know that He is in the sanctifying business. When we see Him as Jehovah Rohi, we know that His mode of operation is of a shepherd. And like we learned last week, when we see Him as Jehovah Tsidkenu, we know that He Himself is righteous and He delights in making others righteous. 
 
So we have come to recognize Yahweh and Yeshua as our healer and provider, as the shepherd of His hosts, as One who sanctifies and makes righteous, as the faithful, present One, etc.
 
And let me remind you that knowing who He is, is much more important to Him than knowing the technicalities of His various Names like being able to rattle them off or how to pronounce them. I would much rather you know me as the person I truly am than just knowing what my name is.
 
You see, there’s a lot of people out there who know who I am and know what I do (meaning, they know my name and that I’m the pastor of this church). But guess what? Most of these people don’t really know me. They don’t know what I’m into, what makes me tick, what I like to do for fun, etc. Even a lot of people that have come to church here for years don’t really know me. Sure, they know what I do and how I do it. But it’s like the children of Israel – the Scriptures teach us that they knew His acts, but Moses actually knew His ways. And why did Moses know His ways? It was because He took the time to get to know the LORD and He revealed Himself to Moses.
 
That’s what we need to do, saints! We need to take the time to get to know Him by inquiring of Him and praying over His Names.       
 
JEHOVAH SHALOM’S ORIGIN
 
Now this next Name of God I want look at is probably one of the most well-known Names He has – Jehovah Shalom.
 
One of the reasons it is more well-known is because the term shalom itself is very common. But even though we might be more familiar with this word, that doesn’t necessarily mean that we have the correct understanding of its meaning. And that’s what we are going to learn today as we study “Jehovah Shalom.”
 
Now this Name of God is first used by Gideon when the Angel of the Lord appeared to him at Ophrah in Judges chapter 6 … 
 
In the days of Gideon, the children of Israel were living in a constant state of fear and trepidation because of the Midianites. The Midianites, a once defeated enemy, had reemerged from the East and began plundering Israel which caused the Israelites to live in hiding, dwelling in dens, caves, and strongholds in the mountains (See verse 1).
 
You see, the Midianites would reap, destroy, and plunder every time the Israelites sowed, and this resulted in Israel becoming “greatly impoverished” (See verse 6) and to live in fear. So because of their predicament, they cried to God for help, and He sent them a prophet who reminded them that their own disobedience had caused their current troubles.
 
So it is important to realize that their plight was not because God was testing them or even because the devil was attacking them. No, this was self-induced – for verse 1 shows us that the children of Israel (yet again) did evil in the sight of the Lord which resulted in them being delivered over to the Midianites for these 7 years.
 
I say this to say that everything we will be learning today about God’s Name is not what the LORD was planning on doing for those who deserved it. No, it was to those who had brought this on themselves. And this is something that I believe we would do good to understand – that not all of our trials & tribulations are unjust. Yet, in the LORD’s great faithfulness, He promises to give us shalom.
 
So the Lord did not just leave them with – “Hey, it’s all your fault, you know?” No, He also sent them Gideon – a man who was not immune from this fear and non-peaceful state himself:
 
We find Gideon in verse 11 threshing his father’s wheat in the winepress “in order to hide it from the Midianites.” So Gideon was not threshing the wheat in the proper place, but in a private & unsuspecting corner because he too feared the Midianites.
 
So Gideon was just like the rest of the Israelites, but notice how the LORD refers to him in verse 12 – “The Angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, ‘The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor.’”
 
What an interesting way to refer to a man who was hiding in a winepress for fear of the Midianites. But as we see time and time again, the LORD likes to call those things that be not as though they were and called Gideon here what He knew he was to become.
 
Now in verse 13, Gideon was perplexed as to why, if the LORD was still with them, they had all of these things happen to them. But the LORD never acknowledged this; instead He “turned to him and said, ‘Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?’” (verse 14).
 
But even though the LORD commissioned Gideon to save Israel, he felt weak, frail, and incapable. However, his uncertainty and fear were dispelled by the promise God made to him of “I will be with you” (Judges 6:16).
 
Then, to confirm the identity of the LORD, Gideon asked for a sign. When he witnessed the food he prepared for the angel miraculously consumed by fire, Gideon was filled with even greater fear. He had seen the Angel of the Lord face to face! The immediate response from the LORD was: “Peace be to you. Do not fear, you shall not die” (Judges 6:23).
 
As a result of these words, Gideon’s heart was infused with confidence and courage. We might say, He experienced peace in the truest sense. And then the next thing we see is Gideon building an altar at Ophrah of the Abiezrites and named it “The Lord is Peace” or “Jehovah Shalom,” a tribute and reminder of the Lord’s provision and promise of peace.
 
So now he could confront the enemy and undertake these great exploits for God. His encounter with the God of Peace had taught him that he was not alone and that the LORD would be with Him against the Midianites. Yes, the day he set out to wage war against a numerically superior enemy, Gideon enjoyed the peace of God.
 
Church, we too can experience this shalom, not just after the enemies are defeated and the circumstances have changed, but like Gideon here, we can build our own altars of knowing God as Jehovah Shalom before our enemies seem defeated.
 
Therefore, peace is not just the absence of our Midianites; it is the presence of the One in the midst of our Midianites. Let me say it this way – peace is not the absence of problems; it’s the presence of the answer to every problem. This is why Paul speaks of this peace as that which “passes understanding” because it is present in the midst of our den of lions to give us rest in the middle of the storms of life. Amen!
 
So no matter what situation we find ourselves in or what circumstances we are experiencing, He wants to reveal Himself to us like He did to Gideon – as Jehovah Shalom.
 
SHALOM!
 
Now let’s look at this very common and recognizable Hebrew word shalom in detail …
 
I say it’s more recognizable to most people because the word shalom is probably a word that you’ve heard before. For most of us, we’ve generally heard it used as a Jewish greeting. We here in America might greet one another with a “Hi” or “Hello,” but with some Jewish people, they like to greet with this word “Shalom” – wishing peace to the person they are acknowledging.
 
But while the word shalom is generally defined as “peace,” it means so much more. So let me give you some definitions of this popular Hebrew word.
 
Strong’s defines shalom as to be safe or to be well. It describes it as welfare like health or prosperity. And at its root, this word describes “completeness, soundness, welfare, safety, and quietness because the root word, salem, describes being whole or entire. So the word shalom seems to best be described as “wholeness.”
 
Now why is this important to understand? It’s because this word shalom which describes being whole, complete, or sound is essentially what we see in the New Testament Greek word for “saved” – the word sozo.
 
You know, we spent time here defining this word for “saved,” and while that is the general one-word definition for sozo, that word doesn’t totally describe what it means. Sozo describes being made whole, being healed, delivered, set free, etc.
 
So I see shalom as the Old Testament counterpart to our New Testament word for salvation because both of these terms have one word definitions that most people use that do not fully encapsulate their meanings. Not to mention, their meanings are extremely similar because they both describe being made whole, complete, and safe & sound.
 
I like one definition I’ve heard that describes shalom: It’s this – Shalom is nothing missing and nothing broken. In other words, because it describes being complete, whole, and sound, there’s no room for anything being missing, incomplete, or broken. Glory!
 
THE GOD OF PEACE
 
So if the LORD’s Name is Jehovah Shalom, then this making things whole, complete, and sound, with nothing missing and nothing broken is a part of His nature! “Shalom” is who He is – the One who causes completeness, wholeness, safety. He is the God of peace – peace from war, peace from turmoil, and peace from strife, etc. He is the ultimate Peacemaker – which is why, when we too are peacemakers, we are called children of God.
 
In fact, we see “peace” described as one of the fruit of the Spirit, right? Well, the fruit of the Spirit are not just what God wants us to produce; they are what God Himself produces. Yes, they are called the fruit of the Spirit for a reason – because they are the Holy Spirit’s fruit. This means that they are a part of His nature and what He Himself is like. Therefore, peace is one of the Godhead’s core virtues that He possesses.
 
But the fact remains, this is who our God is. He is this God of Peace, no matter how broken and unhealthy things seem to be in our lives, and no matter how much anxiety and fear are pervading us. Shalom is who He is, saints!
 
In the New Testament, we see the Lord often referred to as this – the God of Peace. So this shows us that even from the New Covenant perspective, God was known as being associated with this peace well beyond the Book of Judges.
 
In one of these instances, the apostle Paul said, “The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:9).
 
The context of this verse is that of peace: Paul had just shown us how a believer can walk in peace no matter the circumstance. He said to rejoice always (4:4). Then he told them to not be anxious about anything, but to pray about everything while being thankful (4:6-7). And just before our verse, he said to think only on certain things (4:8).

So this leads us to the ninth verse where the apostle Paul brought them back to simply doing the things they learned from him and saw from his behavior. And if we would just do what he said and did, the “God of peace” would be with us.
 
In Romans 15:33, Paul prayed the same things – “Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.”
 
So, what did Paul mean by praying the God of peace would be with them? And what did he mean when he said that the God of peace will be with us if we do these things (Philippians 4:9)? Didn’t the Lord promise to never leave us nor forsake us? Didn’t He promise that He would be with us, even to the end of the world? Sure, He did! He was, is, and evermore shall be “Jehovah Shammah,” right?
 
So, why did Paul say that God will be with us if we do the things that He both taught and demonstrated in his life? That seems contrary to these other Scriptures that teach us that God is with us simply because of who we are, not because of what we do, right?
 
But we must understand that there is a difference between God being with us spiritually and Him being with us experientially (i.e. tangibly in the physical realm around us). God most certainly is with us all the time positionally—in the spiritual sense—but we also have the ability to have Him be manifested in our lives in an experiential and tangible way.
 
But we need to understand that us physically experiencing Him is not automatic. If it were, we would all be experiencing it—for God is no respecter of persons. No, in my experience, only a few believers consistently carry the presence of the Lord with them in their everyday lives. But this is a blessed place to live, saints—where His presence is experienced, felt, and tasted. Amen!
 
But the apostle of faith had a specific fruit of God’s tangible presence in mind here. Mind you, the context of all that he was teaching in Philippians 4:6-9 revolved around peace. So, it can be surmised that he is concluding his instructions on walking in the peace of God by saying “the God of peace will be with you,” right? Therefore, it is clear to me why Paul referred to God as “the God of peace” here: Again, it was because the subject up to this point in Philippians chapter four is the peace of God.
 
Now here is a powerful truth: The fruit of having the God of peace manifested in our lives is having the peace of God manifested in our lives! In other words, when we live in the presence of the God of peace, we will live in the presence of the peace of God. So, when we have peace, we’ve experienced a piece of God. Hallelujah! That is what the Holy Spirit had in mind as He inspired this truth to be recorded!
 
Therefore, the examples that the apostle Paul gave through his words and deeds are how we can experience more of the God of peace in our lives which, in turn, causes us to experience more of the peace of God in our lives. Peace is the manifest presence of the God of peace.
 
This is important to understand, saints – that peace is the manifest presence of God. This is why time spent in the presence of God is so important – because it yields peace!
 
ANTI-PEACE
 
Now, on the contrary, strife is the manifest presence of the devil. But when you have the peace of God all around you, that’s proof that you have God all around you. Fear and strife are the devil personified, while love, joy and peace are the Lord personified! 
 
So if the presence of the devil is strife, confusion, and basically anything that is “anti-peace,” then we are to resist it!
 
You see, if we look over at James 3:16, you will find a truth about strife that should cause you to avoid it like the plague it is. It says, “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.”
 
This verse tells us that where you find these little foxes of “envy and strife” you will find disharmony, confusion, and also every evil work. And notice that James doesn’t just say some evil works, but he says every evil work. Some examples of “evil works” are sickness, disease, infirmities, poverty and lack. Basically an evil work would be considered anything and everything that has come into this world as a result of sin & the curse and what the devil uses to steal, kill, and destroy.
 
So this means that when we allow these “little foxes” such as strife to come into our lives, it packs its bags full of all these evil works and brings them with him. This would be similar to how, in the natural, these little foxes might bring certain diseases with them. Friends, this is what Ephesians 4:27 means when it says that we can “give place to the devil” in our lives. Why? Because when you give these little foxes place in your hearts, they spread their diseases.
 
You see, there are many believers out there who love Jesus and serve Him faithfully but have allowed these little foxes into their homes. As a result, they are struggling against some of these “evil works” and do not understand why they are experiencing such difficult circumstances in their lives. And while we do need to understand that all difficulties we encounter are not necessarily a result of someone yielding to these “little sins,” the fact remains that some of them can be. 
 
This is why the apostle Paul exhorted the church of Colossae with the following words – “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.” (Colossians 3:15). What he was telling them was that because we are called to being one body of Christ, we have to let peace rule in our hearts – that is, let peace call the shots, not strife, contention, and division.
 
You see, church, as First Corinthians 14:33 teaches us – God is not a God of confusion but of peace. So if there’s confusion and a lack of peace, then God ain’t in it. No, if there is confusion present, then it’s because the God of peace is not present. Jehovah Shalom produces the exact opposite of confusion.
 
SHALOM ON THE INSIDE & THE OUTSIDE
 
So when it comes to this peace that God is and desires to give, where does He desire to impact us? 

I ask this question because there are certain ways that we tend to think of peace. For example, for most of us here in the United States, when we think of peace, we first think of that inner tranquility and peaceful state that frees us from anxiety, fear, etc. But how many of you know that this is not all that peace describes? Sure, it includes having peace on the inside (that is, in our soul, mind, etc.), but the peace that Jehovah Shalom provides is also peace on the outside. So it’s not one or the other, but rather, it’s having peace in both our inner life and our outward life.  
 
As we’ve seen already, shalom describes wholeness, soundness, and completion, and it implies having nothing missing and nothing broken. Therefore, we are not just talking about that inward, tranquil state of the soul; we are also referring to peace in every area of our lives from our relationships, our finances, and our health.
 
This peace on the outside might also be how we use it when it comes to wars & conflicts. So peace on the outside might be peace from war. But as we’ve seen, peace describes having anything in our lives made complete, whole, or sound. That could be our physical bodies, our bank accounts, our relationships, and the list could go on and on.
 
Let me show you a few Scriptures where the God of Peace is referred to as doing such:
 
One that we ought to be very familiar with as we spent months camping on it earlier this year is First Thessalonians 5:23. If you recall, this verse says, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
 
So notice that He is called the God of Peace, and what He is specifically stated to do is to sanctify us “completely” and that our “whole” spirit, soul, and body would be preserved blameless. What we see here is exactly what peace is stated to do – make everything “complete & whole.” And here it’s describing not just things on the inside of us like our spirit & soul; it includes our bodies as well.
 
Second Thessalonians 3:16 says, “Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all.”
 
So here the apostle Paul said that our Lord of Peace will give us peace always and in every way. That sounds to me like the peace He is affording us includes any parameter of time and every circumstance of life. Amen!
 
Hebrews 13:20-21 says, “Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
 
Again, we see our God of peace making us “complete,” but this time, it is in every good work to do His will. So this is obviously talking about more than just spiritual & soulish things. This is talking about having “peace” in every good work.  
 
Finally, Romans 16:20 says, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.”
 
Here the peace that God provides is said to crush Satan under our feet shortly. This is an obvious reference to the decimation of the devil and the kingdom of darkness when Jesus returns and puts His enemy under His feet.
 
Therefore, peace here describes an end to the battle between good & evil. It describes something similar to what we would describe as a people or place having peace because there is absence of war. And this is certainly something that peace produces – from total absence of warring & fighting to the end to all of the curse on the earth.
 
So all of this comprises what we’ve seen in all of God’s Names – Him being our Healer, our Provider, our Sanctifier, our Righteousness, etc. All of these Names describe shalom in the various areas of our life.
 
But I think we do well to spend some time talking about Him being Jehovah Shalom on the inside of us …
 
You know, there is a serious need for having peace in our hearts. If you’ve ever experienced this peace that I speak of, you know that it is one of the best feelings we can experience and one that money cannot buy.  
 
Well, as we’ve made the point of already, this shalom comes as a result of the presence of the Prince of Peace. I like to say it this way – the peace of God comes from the presence of the God of peace. So if we want to have peace on the inside, it can only come by the LORD taking up habitation in our heart.
 
Now that isn’t all there is to walking in God’s shalom. The Scriptures teach us about ways that you and I can tap into peace and a lot of these revolve around what we focus on and fill our minds with.
 
Philippians 4:6-7 teaches us how the peace of God will guard our hearts & minds and that is through us learning to cast all of those cares upon Him in prayer. Yes, by being thankful and taking everything to Him in prayer, we can experience more shalom in our lives.
 
But this ultimately revolves around the way we think. This is why Philippians 4:8 goes on to describe only thinking on things that yield peace. Saints, you show me a person who is filled with doubt, anxiety, fear, and turmoil and I’ll show you a person who has stinkin’ thinkin’. In other words, there is no one out there who mainly thinks on things that are true, lovely, noble, of good report, etc. that are riddled with negative emotions. Sure, there might be someone who is not mentally well, but even they are not thinking right, which yields the negative emotions.
 
I’m here to tell you, saints, where the mind goes, the man will follow. Yes, whatever we focus on in our hearts & minds is what will be produced in our souls. And I’m not necessarily referring to our lives replicating what we are specifically thinking on. That can certainly happen.
 
But let me give you a good example of what I’m talking about that most people struggle with:
 
Most people have no joy, are depressed, and have zero peace because their minds are always focused on themselves. Yes, they only think about things which concern themselves and you know this because this is all they talk about – themselves. It’s “me” in the morning, “myself” in the afternoon, and “I” in the evening. So many people spend all of their day thinking only on things which concern themselves, ranging from how they feel, what people aren’t doing for them, how they can be happy, etc., etc., etc. And I don’t think I need to tell you that this will only produce a fallen countenance. Why? Because we are not designed to have our minds full of ourselves. The LORD has designed us to be considering others and thinking about how we can love and bless them. Amen?
 
Let’s look at a verse that is a great example of how shalom comes into our inner lives…
 
Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”
 
The fact the Bible says that He (the “You” here is Him), will keep us in perfect peace. Isn’t that what Philippians 4:7 says – that the peace of God will guard our hearts & minds in Christ Jesus? That means that it’s the peace itself, or rather the peace Himself, that will keep us in peace. But not just peace; perfect peace! And guess what Hebrew word Isaiah uses here – It’s shalom! But not shalom and some other word; He says, “shalom shalom” – thus the reason it’s translated as “perfect peace.”
 
So this isn’t just any old completeness, soundness, or wholeness; this is a complete, sound, and whole kind of completeness, soundness, and wholeness! Amen!
 
So how will the LORD of Peace be able to keep us in this perfect peace? It’s when those who trust in Him keep their mind stayed on Him!
 
You see, church, the key to having this peace is keeping our minds focused on the LORD. The Scriptures repeat this truth time and time again. Even in the New Testament, we are taught that to be spiritually minded is life and peace (Romans 8:6).
 
So if we are experiencing this shalom, we can conclude that we have evidently been keeping our minds stayed on the LORD and have been spiritually minded. On the flipside, if we are riddled with anxiety, fear, etc., then that means we haven’t been doing this. 
 
So Jehovah Shalom obviously desires for us to have nothing missing and nothing broken in every area of lives including our souls. And that’s exactly where this peace begins – in our heart, soul, and mind. Once we experience peace in there, finding peace on the outside becomes easier.
 
But it’s important to understand that this is His heart and who He is, church! He is shalom. He wants us whole. He wants us at rest. He wants us complete, sound, and entire – both on the inside and on the outside. He is our God of Peace, Jehovah Shalom!      

REVIEW
 
So we have been studying the Names of God for a few months now and we are doing this not just to be able to win a theological argument and to be able to impress God or others with our knowledge. No, we are studying God’s Names in order to truly “hallow” who He is. That means that we are attempting to make who He is more holy in our eyes.
 
And for what purpose? Why is it important to have hearts that both understand and glorify His Names? It is to know Him better and have more confidence when we approach Him!
 
It’s all about knowing God, church, and no, not just knowing about Him, but knowing Him personally & intimately.
 
So that is what we have been doing – coming to know our God more so that our prayer lives can blossom and our walk with Him can go to a different level.
 
So we came to first know God as Elohim – the All-Powerful, All-Knowing Sovereign Creator who rules over all, and who is the judge over all His creation.
 
Then we looked at a few of Elohim’s descriptors –  El Shaddai, El Elyon, and El Roi. These three Names show us God as the All-Sufficient One, the Most-High God, and the All-Seeing Creator.  
 
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 far, we have learned about six of His “Jehovah Names.” These Names are:  

1. Jehovah Shammah –The LORD is There.
2. Jehovah Rapha – The LORD is (our) Healer.
3. Jehovah M’Kaddesh – The LORD is (our) Sanctifier.
4. Jehovah Sabaoth – The LORD of Hosts.
5. Jehovah Rohi – The LORD is (our) Shepherd.

 
Most recently, we looked at the Name, Jehovah Jireh – the LORD our provider.


We looked at the story where this Name came from – where the LORD told Abraham to go sacrifice Isaac in Genesis chapter 22 – and a couple of our biggest takeaways were how the Lord’s nature is to be a provider and how that provision comes into our lives.
 
First of all, we learned how the LORD being called our provider should not surprise us because, in our lives, who is supposed to be the provider for us according to the flesh? It’s our earthly fathers. This is meant to be our first exposure to what provision is supposed to look like.
 
And then, after we leave our father and become one flesh with another, who is generally meant to be the provider in that next relationship? The husband. And aren’t we called the Bride of Christ? Therefore, we are married to the LORD as His body, and we can expect that same “Jireh” tendency in our covenant with Him.
 
So if the LORD is called our Heavenly Father and our Husband, then you will not meet a better provider than Him! Yes, God knows how to provide for His children and His bride. He delights in providing for His creation. He loves being the source of any and all provision – of course, first spiritually, but also in the physical realm.
 
Now like I said, another big point that was made last week is how the LORD does indeed provide, and we saw how this provision came to Abraham for several reasons:
 
Number one, he was willing to do what the LORD was asking Him to do. He didn’t hesitate. He didn’t balk. No, he rose early in the morning and went where God told him to, which is a big point in God’s provision.
 
He also believed God’s Word: We saw how from Hebrews 11:17-19 he was holding fast to God’s Word that in Isaac, his seed would be called – meaning, He believed the LORD would provide a solution. We saw that this was why Abraham said to his servants that he and Isaac would come back to them when they went up the mount together that God showed him. 
 
Then we saw how Abraham spoke out his faith further to Isaac when he said that the LORD would provide for Himself the necessary sacrifice – showing us that its important to use your words to activate the faith for God’s provision.
 
And finally, we saw how where the LORD told Abraham to go had everything to do with the provision being present because the mountain that God showed Him already contained the ram that would wind up being the sacrifice. Therefore, the pro-vision – the ability to see the need beforehand – was already at the place God showed Abraham to go to. Therefore, his provision was where he was supposed to be, not necessarily where he was.
 
Church, Jehovah Jireh is who He is. The LORD desires to provide for you. In fact, He has already made that provision. All you need to do is find out where He wants you and simply believe that He is who He has said He is. Amen!
 
JEHOVAH TSIDKENU
 
Now the next Name of God that I would like us to cover is one that is written all over your Bible – Jehovah Tsidkenu – describing the LORD our Righteousness.
 
No, this Name of God is not a phrase that you’ll find in more than a couple of places, but what I am referring to as being all throughout the Scriptures is the concept of righteousness. Yes, the term “righteousness” most certainly is a word that is laced throughout our Bibles in both the Old and New Testament.
 
You see, righteousness was what the LORD was constantly having to correct Israel about through His prophets – their inability to do what was right in God’s sight. And it was what the LORD came to restore to us through the Lord Jesus Christ and was a hot topic throughout His epistles to the church. So from beginning to end, we see righteousness as a word that is used over and over. Therefore, because the Lord speaks so much about it throughout His Word, we can see that it is in His heart in abundance – for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
 
But even though God speaks much about righteousness in His Word, there are only two uses of this Name “Jehovah Tsidkenu” in the Bible, and they are both in the Book of Jeremiah. So let’s look at both of these instances because we don’t just want to study what this Name means; we also want to look at the historical and Biblical context that this Name of God was given in.
 
The first time Jeremiah speaks of Jehovah Tsidkenu is in Jeremiah 23:5-6 when the LORD said, “Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, that I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
 
Now it’s important to understand that Jeremiah was the LORD’s prophet during a very difficult time in Israel’s history. He was the man of God that both warned Israel of what was to come and also witnessed the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonian empire as well as the destruction of the Solomon’s Temple. This was the period known as the “Babylonian captivity”, when the Israelites were exiled into Babylon.
 
So Jeremiah was prophesying here to a people who were being carried away into bondage that there would be a restoration of Jerusalem through the reign of a righteous king, which I’m sure provided Israel with hope even in the midst of their difficult circumstances.
 
The second time the Name “Jehovah Tsidkenu” appears is ten chapters later where Jeremiah again makes the reference to the restoration of Israel:
 
Jeremiah 33:14-16 says, “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah: In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David a Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which she will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
 
So the LORD basically repeats Himself here to remind His chosen people of what He was promising to do for them.
 
Church, I don’t know if we fully realize how important it is to have truths repeated to us like this. If Jeremiah’s listeners were anything like us, they probably had forgotten what the LORD had said a couple of chapters after he said them, much less ten chapters later. Therefore, the LORD repeating things to us is most certainly necessary.
 
And here’s a good word of wisdom for us: When the LORD repeats things to us, they are truths that we need to pay special attention to. And this truth of the Branch of Righteousness who was to come is certainly the Truth that we need to hear.  
 
You see, what Jeremiah was ultimately prophesying about is this day & age that you and I are blessed to be a part of – the new and better covenant of the Christ. Therefore, when the LORD is called here – Jehovah Tsidkenu – THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS – it is the Lord Jesus Christ who is being prophesied about. So, Jesus is both the LORD of righteousness and the LORD our righteousness.
 
This is important to understand because oftentimes the Jews were looking for an earthly Messiah when it came to the bondage they found themselves in. Yes, they were looking for some sort of a king to save them from various forms of oppression they incurred. During Jesus’ day, it was their Roman oppression, and during Jeremiah’s day, it was their Babylonian oppression.
 
Yes, Israel had been through a variety of captivities – all self-induced, mind you: They had been enslaved by the Egyptians, conquered by the Babylonians, governed by the Persians and then by the Greeks, and finally, they were conquered by the Romans.
 
So by the time of Christ, there were many movements pushing for an overthrow of their latest oppressors, and they looked towards the Messiah as prophesied in the Scriptures to come and deliver them from their worldly oppressors.
 
This is where Jesus did not meet the expectations of many of the Jewish people. Instead of leading them in a political revolution, He repeatedly explained that his kingdom was “not of this world”, and that the real enemy he came to deliver them from was sin and their slavery to the devil. In other words, he was not aimed merely at their freedom from Roman rule, but at the freedom of all human beings from the tyranny of sin and death. Therefore, in the freedom that Christ brings, we can become truly righteous. And it is only through Jesus, the Savior of the world, who makes this righteousness possible. That is why he is our righteousness and why Jeremiah calls him “Jehovah Tsidkenu.”
 
Now it is important to understand that God does care about the natural oppression that people face. It’s certainly not that He turns a blind eye to it. There is just something that is more important – and that is the spiritual oppression that people are under. Therefore, their Messiah came to first deliver God’s people from their spiritual bondage to sin and not to the physical bondage they were in. 
 
We do know that the LORD does indeed care about righteousness being executed on the physically oppressed because of how He constantly corrected His people about this very thing. Yes, we see Him oftentimes referring to the virtues of righteousness and justice in regard to what He expected His people to do for the poor, the widows, the orphans, their servants, etc. So it is clear that the LORD’s pet peeve was injustice towards those in need.
 
So yes, our righteous LORD certainly cares about us practicing righteousness on the oppressed and needy. He has done this for us numerous times and He expects us to do the same for others. 
 
So for this to be repeated in Jeremiah’s Book and also to be a reoccurring theme in the rest of the Prophets, it must be a big part of God’s nature and Name because He is the LORD of righteousness.    
 
WHAT IS RIGHTEOUSNESS?
So what exactly is “righteousness”? I don’t want to just assume everyone knows this term, but want it to be clearly understood.
 
Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines “righteousness” as so – Purity of heart and rectitude of life; conformity of heart and life to the divine law. Righteousness as used in Scripture and theology, in which it is chiefly used, is nearly equivalent to holiness, comprehending holy principles and affections of heart, and conformity of life to the divine law. It includes all we call justice, honesty and virtue, with holy affections; in short, it is true religion.
 
Now that’s about how clear righteousness is to a lot of people. Not only that, but that definition makes me realize that not only is it hard to comprehend, it’s hard to apprehend as well!
 
So let me dummy it down for you: The term righteousness is just a religious cliché. But it’s really very simple – this term really just means “rightness,” that is, being right and doing right. And when I say, “being right,” I’m not referring to being right in our opinion or our doctrine. No, this refers to being right in God’s sight.   
 
This is why a good layman’s definition of righteousness is simply, “right standing with God.” Righteousness is the condition of being in right relationship with the Lord. So essentially being righteous is being considered righteous by God and therefore, our relationship with Him is “right” where it needs to be.
 
Now another term that you’ll see used to describe this righteousness is justification or being justified. I like a play on words that I’ve heard used before – it’s “just-if-I’d (never sinned).” And that’s exactly what righteousness is – It’s being justified in the eyes of God to where, when He looks at me, He does not look at all of my mistakes and shortcomings. He sees me “just if I’d never even had those mistakes or shortcomings.” 
 
A rather comical story along these lines that I’ve heard my father in the faith tell before is when he had a job developing pictures in a photography studio. People would come into the studio to look at their proofs and say things like, “This picture doesn’t do me justice.” I never had the nerve to say this, but I often thought, “You don’t need justice, you need mercy.” LOL!
 
And thanks be to God that all of us who once deserved justice for the things we had done have received mercy instead. That’s what righteousness is.
 
So again, righteousness can simply be defined as “rightness.” I like to define it as so – righteousness is who or what is right in God’s sight and in agreement with His standards. And when you look at the various Scriptural examples of what the LORD calls “righteous and righteousness,” you’ll find that it is taking someone who is in a less fortunate position and elevating them up out of it. This can be meeting the needs of the poor, healing the sick, or providing for the orphan or widow. 
 
So again, in the Old Testament, when we see so much about the LORD correcting His chosen people about it, what we are seeing is God admonishing the Jews for not doing the “right” thing. And in the New Testament, when we see so much about righteousness being what God freely makes all of His children, what we are seeing is the LORD bringing His people into right standing with Him once again.
 
So righteousness is both what we do and what we are. I call this positional righteousness and practical righteousness. Positionally speaking, we have been made right through the blood of Jesus and, practically speaking, we are also called to do what is right through the help of the Holy Spirt.  
 
So when God is called the LORD our righteousness, what that means is that He is the LORD of rightness. He is the One who delights in making people right and in agreement with His standards, and He is the One who desires right to be done for people who need help. This is His Name – Jehovah Tsidkenu.
 
THE PROSECUTING ATTORNEY
 
Now it’s important to understand that while God has His own Names, the devil has his names too. And these names that he is given in the Scriptures likewise teach about who he is and what he does.
 
You see, one of the devil’s proper names – “Satan” – literally describes an “adversary” or “opponent.” So when Lucifer rebelled against God and tried to take His spot, he became known as Satan – the adversary or opponent of God. He is the great adversary of all that is of God. Anything that God has authored or is doing, he will be right there to oppose it – and that includes us.
 
In First Peter 5:8, he is specifically called our “adversary.” In this word lies a key to understanding one of his weapons that he loves to use against us.
 
You see, this word comes from the Greek word antidikos and literally describes “an opponent in a court of justice.” In other words, the devil is “the prosecuting attorney.” This word antidikos comes from the word anti meaning “against” and the word dikos where the word “righteousness” is derived from. Therefore, this title of “adversary” describes Satan as being the one who is “against righteousness.”
 
We see this characteristic of Satan play out in several places in the Scriptures:
 
We see it first in the Book of Job (Job 1:6-12) where Satan comes to present himself before God regularly to bring accusations against people because he is the accuser of the brethren. But we also need to understand that not only does he accuse us before God, day and night, but he also will accuse us directly both day and night. In other words, one of his primary devices that he uses against us is condemnation!
 
Another example of this is found in Zechariah 3:1-5 where we see how the high priest, Joshua, was standing before the Angel of the Lord and how Satan was standing at his right hand to oppose him. 
 
In this story, we see the devil standing there again at Joshua’s right hand like a prosecuting attorney. It is because this is his nature – to stand before our God both day and night in order to bring accusations against us.
 
Saints, this is what the enemy does – He accuses! He lives to uncover our flaws, reveal our mistakes and expose our weaknesses. When we miss it in an area, he is sure to bring a case against us in an attempt to condemn us.          
 
Yes, the devil is constantly trying to make us feel guilty and worthy of punishment. The word “condemn” in the dictionary is defined as “to deem unfit for use” in reference to a building being condemned. And this is what the enemy desires to accomplish—to convince us that we are unfit to be used by God.
 
So if this is what the devil spends all his time doing, you can bet the bank that God is doing the opposite!
 
THE ADVOCATE
 
The apostle Paul makes this point in Romans 8:33-34 when he asked the questions: “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect?” and “Who is he who condemns?” That is clearly the accuser of the brethren, that prosecuting attorney himself, church!
 
Then Paul goes on to answer those questions by essentially saying, “It ain’t God doing that!” No, he says God is the One who justifies! In other words, God is not the condemner; God is the justifier! Yes, and Jesus is the One ever living to make intercession for us.
 
Just as it was with Joshua, the high priest – our Angel of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, responds to Satan’s accusations against us with, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” (Zechariah 3:2)
 
Now for the rest of the story… Zechariah 3:3-5 goes on to say, “Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel. Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, ‘Take away the filthy garments from him.’ And to him He said, ‘See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.’ And I said, ‘Let them put a clean turban on his head.’ So they put a clean turban on his head, and they put the clothes on him. And the Angel of the Lord stood by.”
 
This is a beautiful picture of what the Lord has done to our filthy garments – that is, our filthy rags of unrighteousness. He has taken our filth from us! He has removed our iniquity and clothed us with His rich robe of righteousness! Amen!
 
So the truth is that we have an advocate (i.e., a defense attorney) with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous (First John 2:1) and that makes the LORD the One who fights for our righteousness!
 
You see, First John 2:1 teaches us some invaluable truths about the nature of the LORD of righteousness:
 
Notice first that the apostle John said, “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin …”
 
So what was it that John wrote in his epistle? It was LOVE and it was TRUTH. But oh so many feel that sharing about God’s great love will only drive one more into sin. This was not at all John’s intention. He said here that he wrote the things he did so that his readers would not sin. But here is the part that GRACE imparts – “… And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” 
 
Notice Jesus Christ is called “the righteous” here. That’s describing His nature as that of righteousness. But His point here is that if we do miss it, sinning and falling short of the glory of God, righteous Jesus is there to advocate for us with the Father.
 
The word “advocate” comes from the Greek word parakletos which describes one called alongside of us. It was a term used to describe a legal counselor who would plead another’s cause before a judge. And this likely describes what we are told in Zechariah 3:5 when it says, “And the angel of the LORD stood by.”
 
Isn’t this also the way Jesus described the Holy Spirit to us as well – as One called alongside to be our helper? That means that the Holy Spirit, likewise, is not a condemner. Sure, He will show us when we miss it and lead us from sin, but His nature is to be our defense attorney.
 
Now we have this little saying in the world about playing “devil’s advocate.” And while I understand this just describes someone who pretends, in an argument or discussion, to be against an idea or plan that a lot of people support, in order to make people discuss and consider it in more detail, I don’t like to use it. Why? Because the terms “devil” and “advocate” shouldn’t be used in the same sentence, as the devil is the exact opposite of an advocate.
 
So we can clearly see that both Jesus and the Holy Spirit are on the side of righteousness. And if they both are, then you can be sure the Father is too! Yes, the Godhead is on our side – Jesus being our Great High Priest who ever lives to make intercession for us!
 
And the truth is if He be for us who can be against us (See Romans 8:31)? In other words, if He, being the greatest defense attorney ever, is on our side then who can successfully win a case against us!?! Romans 8:32 implies that if God gave His only begotten Son for us then how could we believe that He wouldn’t forgive us of individual sins after we have been saved. If God was merciful to us when we were His enemies, how much more will He show us mercy now that we are His children? (Romans 5:9-10)
 
So again, in Romans 8:33, the apostle Paul asks the question— “Who shall bring a charge (or, accusation) against God’s elect (i.e., favorite, picked out, the one God voted for)?” He answers his own question by saying, “It is God who justifies!” In other words, “The LORD is the One busy making people right before Him!”
 
You see, God is the One who declares people innocent and righteous! Again, in Romans 8:34 he asks that other question— “Who is he who condemns?” And again, He answers his own question by saying, “It is Christ who died…” That simply means that Christ took all of our condemnation and died in our place! Praise God! But thank God, He didn’t stay in the tomb! Paul went on to explain— “…and furthermore is also risen.” Romans 4:25 says that He was raised for our justification.
 
You see, it would not have been good enough for Jesus to just die for our sins. He also needed to be raised so that we could be justified with Him. So, Paul told us that He was not only raised from the dead, but He was also raised to the right hand of God, which is the ultimate place of power and authority.
 
I think the next phrase is so awesome! Not only did Jesus die for us, not only was He raised from the dead for us, and not only was He raised up to the right hand of God for us. On top of all that, He is the one “who also makes intercession for us!” You see, Jesus is not the one bringing accusations and condemning us! He is the one standing between us and the Father, defending us as our Advocate and Intercessor! The devil is the prosecuting attorney, but Jesus is the defense attorney, which is essentially what an advocate is!   
 
You see, church, Jesus says to all of us what He said to the woman caught in adultery— “Where are those accusers of yours?... Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more” (John 8:10-11).
 
So, if Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8), then He is saying that to all of us today— “Neither do I condemn you!” Yes, the only time He will ever cast judgment on anyone is on that Great Judgment Day, when those who did not believed on Him will be condemned. But until then, He says “Neither do I condemn you” yesterday, today and forever. Amen!

REVIEW
 
What is eternal life? Jesus revealed to us in John 17:3 that eternal life is all about knowing God and Himself. So this is what it is all about – knowing the LORD personally, intimately, and experientially.
 
No, it’s not about religious practices and keeping a bunch of commandments. Eternal life is a relationship, not a religion. Therefore, knowing God is the goal and the bullseye of Christianity.
 
And what better way is there to come to know God but by hallowing His various Names? Yes, these Names of God reveal to us His nature, character, and person. So if you want to truly come to know God, you need to know His Names as they describe Him to a T.
 
So we’ve come to know God first as Elohim – the All-Powerful, All-Knowing Sovereign Creator who rules over all, and is the judge over all His creation.
 
Then we looked at a few of Elohim’s descriptors –  El Shaddai, El Elyon, and El Roi. These three show us God as the All-Sufficient One, the Most-High God, and the All-Seeing Creator.   
 
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) how He began to reveal Himself more specifically to His chosen people and answer that question – Who is He?
 
So we then learned about names such as:

1. Jehovah Shammah –The LORD is There.
2. Jehovah Rapha – The LORD is (our) Healer.
3. Jehovah M’Kaddesh – The LORD is (our) Sanctifier.
4. Jehovah Sabaoth – The LORD (of) Hosts.
5. Jehovah Rohi – The LORD is (our) Shepherd.

 
In this last name we covered, we learned that Yahweh is the epitome of a Shepherd in that He leads, knows, cares for, and tends to His sheep. Even Jesus said of Himself – “I AM the Good Shepherd.”
 
We learned how Jehovah Rohi specifically “feeds” His sheep first, showing us that God’s nature is to be sure to teach us His Word, giving us the spiritual nourishment that His sheep need. He then “keeps” His sheep, revealing to us that His tendency is to guard and protect His sheep. We even saw that Jehovah Rohi could be translated that the LORD is our Pastor – showing us that He is the Chief Shepherd over His flock.
 
There were lots of good things that we came to “appreciate” about our Shepherd last week.
 
JEHOVAH JIREH
 
Now this week, we are going to cover one of the most well-known Names of God that we have in the Scriptures – Jehovah Jireh. And not only is it one of the most well-known Names God is given, it was one of the first Jehovah Names that appeared in the Scriptures.
 
We see this Name mentioned in Genesis chapter 22, in the very familiar story of Abraham and his son, Isaac. So let me give you the backstory in case you are unaware of some of its details …
 
In Genesis 22, we read the story of Abraham being commanded by God to take his son Isaac to Mount Moriah and sacrifice him. Isaac, of course, was the son of promise, a miraculous gift from God when Abraham and Sarah were old. He was the promised child whom God had said that He would make into a great nation. Might we say, he was God’s “provision”? Absolutely! God provided for them a son, giving both Abraham and Sarah the desire of their hearts when everything in the natural said it couldn’t be done.  However, there came a testing time for Abraham and his provision. And that’s where we pick up this event – in Genesis 22:1.
 
We are told at the beginning of Genesis 22:1 – “Now it came to pass after these things …”
 
Now when you see a phrase like this, what you should immediately be asking is — What were the things that happened before what we are about to read? The reason being is because oftentimes this phrase lets us know that what is about to happen is tied together with the events that happened prior.
 
So what was it that happened in Genesis chapter 21?
 
Well, at the beginning of the chapter, Isaac was born, God fulfilling His promise to Abraham & Sarah. This is definitely important regarding what we will be covering in Genesis chapter 22.
 
Then we have the situation where, when Isaac was being weaned, that Ishmael mocked him and subsequently Hagar and Ishmael were sent away from Abraham’s tent. This, likewise, will become a big part of our story that we are covering today.
 
Then finally, we see how Abraham made a covenant with Abimelach – all of this culminating in Abraham planting a tamarisk tree in Beersheeba and there calling on the name of the LORD.
 
I’ll tell you, church, calling on the name of the Lord is a big part of what we are covering in this series. And Abraham was showing us here how even he knew the importance of knowing & calling on God’s Names when it comes to walking by faith.
 
Then Genesis 22:1 goes on to say – “… that God tested Abraham, and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’
 
Here we see that God decided to “test” Abraham: Now this is a sticky topic. Does God test people and, if so, how does He do it? But before I answer that question, I want you to notice what happened when God called out to Abraham: Abraham responded with, “Here I am.”
 
Now this is not the only time the Bible tells us of a time where God called someone’s name, and they responded with these words. Why is this important? It’s because I think it’s important that we are there when God comes calling. Now I understand we might be physically present, but having the ability to hear Him and being willing to be present when He calls our name is a whole different story.
 
So I say that to say, that we need to always be present in the moment where God might be speaking to us and be willing to “wait” on the Lord (that is, be His servants ready to serve Him in whatever way He so desires).
 
But back to this idea of God testing Abraham: The first thing we need to understand is that there is a difference between God “testing” His people and Him “tempting” His people. The Scriptures are clear that God does not tempt us with evil (James 1:13).
 
You see, what was happening with the recipients of James’ letter when he said this is that they were under intense persecution as being Jewish believers. Families were being divided and they were being forced to leave their homes, jobs, etc. (See James 1:1). Therefore, because of this pressure that was being put on them, they were being tempted to sin and depart from the faith. So James was quick to let them know that God was not the author of these terrible things that they were enduring, Him being the author only of good & perfect gifts (See James 1:17).
 
So no, God does not bring harmful & destructive things upon us that tempt us with doing evil like sinning and turning away from God. That should be obvious. However, “testing” is somewhat different:
 
Just consider this situation with Abraham. He was being given a choice, wasn’t he? He was able to choose whether he would obey God or not, whether he would do what his flesh wanted or whether he would do what he knew God was directing him to do. And that is something that God might do with you and I.
 
You see, Jesus taught us to take up our cross and follow Him. Why would He tell us to do this if it were automatic or easy? No, it’s not something the LORD will force on us. So all of these people that say that the unfortunate things that have come upon them such as physical afflictions and other forms of tragedy are just their cross to bear are incorrect. No, a cross is a choice. Jesus had the option to choose to carry His Cross. Therefore, if we cannot take up or lay down the adversity that comes into our life, it is NOT (and I repeat, is NOT) our cross.
 
However, we might be presented with a choice that will test our loyalty to God, like will we do what we know is right or will we choose to do what is easy and convenient. And those kinds of things are sometimes tests that will show both God and us what is in our hearts. No, this choice won’t necessarily have a bearing on whether we go to heaven or not, but it may determine our usability to God and how much He can trust us with in the future.
 
And in the case of Abraham, his passing of the test unlocked a tremendous blessing on the human race …
 
Notice the rest of verse 2 – “… Then He said, ‘Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.’”
 
You see, I personally believe that if Abraham would have failed this test, God’s hands would have been tied as to being able to do the exact same thing that Abraham was being asked to do.
 
Church, God believes in the concept of covenant. He is faithful to His Word and how He has set things up. So since the LORD gave this planet to mankind and gave us dominion, He needs us to do the right thing with this authority we’ve been delegated.
 
So when the LORD established a covenant with this man of His choosing, Abraham, He needed Abraham to first be willing to do the exact thing that God would have to do to redeem the human race – be willing to sacrifice his son. And because Abraham was willing to follow through with it, the LORD was able to follow through with it Himself.
 
Then the next thing we read in verse 3 is – “So Abraham rose early in the morning …”
 
So, Abraham promptly obeyed, didn’t he? He did not hesitate to do this difficult thing that the LORD asked him to do, but rose early in the morning to follow God’s instructions. But while we like to view this situation through our eyes, I do not believe Abraham labored over this like most people would. No, he was willing to sacrifice Isaac “by faith”— meaning, he was not grieving over doing it. He wasn’t vexed by all the emotions that one might think would accompany sacrificing their own child. No, Abraham was a believer, being called “faithful Abraham” in the Book of Galatians.
 
And the reason I can say this with such confidence is because Hebrews 11:17-19 reveals to us that Abraham acted in faith believing that God would raise Isaac from the dead.
 
You see, Abraham had a promise from God. The LORD told him what Hebrews 11:18 says – that “In Isaac, your seed shall be called” (Genesis 21:12).
 
Now this quote came from the time when Sarah saw Ishmael laughing at and mocking Isaac at the time when Abraham threw a great feast for Isaac on the day he was weaned. So when Sarah told Abraham to cast out the bondwoman and her son because Ishmael would not be heir with her son, Isaac, Abraham was very upset. You see, he obviously loved both his sons and did not want to lose Ishmael. But that is when God said these words to Abraham that “in Isaac, your seed shall be called.” What this meant was that Isaac was the only one meant to be his heir. In other words, Abraham’s name & lineage was to be passed on through Isaac.
 
So then, after the LORD told Abraham this, we see one chapter later God testing Abraham.
 
Now think about that – if the LORD told Abraham that in Isaac, his seed shall be called, why would God then terminate Isaac’s life? That wouldn’t make any sense unless you believed God didn’t mean what He said. But if you do believe that the LORD will do what He said and isn’t changing His mind or not holding true to His Word, then what’s the only conclusion you can have when He tells you to go sacrifice your son? It’s either that He isn’t really going to make you do it when you get there or that, as Hebrews 11:19 says, that God will raise Isaac back up from the dead if you do have to go through with it.
 
So the reason that I believe that Abraham concluded that God was going to raise Isaac from the dead on that mountain is because he didn’t have a reference point of God not following through with His instructions. So if God told him to go to a mountain he was going to show him and sacrifice Isaac, that was likely what was going to happen. Therefore, the only way to reconcile what God had said to him earlier with what He was asking him to do now was a resurrection! Amen!
 
Now think about that – Isn’t that tremendous faith? I mean, I doubt Abraham had ever heard of someone being raised from the dead, much less witnessed it first-hand. Yet, he believed it was going to happen here. And all because He had a WORD from God that “In Isaac, your seed shall be called.”
 
Now why do I place such emphasis on this? It’s because what we are about to learn about Jehovah Jireh and how God being a Provider has everything to do with what we believe. Yes, taking God at His Word and putting faith in what He has said is what set Abraham up for God’s provision on this day. And I can promise you that today, that if we are going to see more of Jehovah Jireh in our life, then we are going to have to do the same. Amen?
 
So like we said, Abraham rose early in the morning and took a couple of his men with him as well as Isaac and some wood for the sacrifice. Verses 4-5 pick up with this – “Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, ‘Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.’”
 
Notice that it was on the third day when Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place where the sacrifice was to be made afar off. Significant events tend towards happening on third days, huh?
 
And notice that we are told here that he “saw the place afar off.” What place? The mountain that He spoke about showing Abraham in verse 2. So what this means is that the LORD had a specific mountain for this sacrifice to take place on. And we will learn later in this message why this is so important.
 
But notice what Abraham said to his helpers – “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”
 
Wait, what? And WE will come back to you? Most read this that Abraham said this because he didn’t want his helpers to know what he was about to do, but I don’t believe this is why Abraham said this. I believe he said they were both coming back because of what we know He believed based on Hebrews chapter 11 – that God was going to raise Isaac from the dead after he sacrificed him!
 
Then we read in verses 6-8 – “So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, ‘My father!’ And he said, ‘Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?’ And Abraham said, ‘My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.’ So the two of them went together.”  
 
Church, this is where we first have the principle of God’s Name of Jehovah Jireh mentioned in the Scriptures – in these words Abraham spoke to Isaac that God will “provide” for Himself the lamb!
 
HE WILL SEE TO IT
 
Now we commonly know the Hebrew word for “provide” as jireh, but when you look it up, we “see” something a little different …
 
You see, this word comes from the Hebrew verb, ra’a, which literally means to see, look, or understand. So you might be wondering, what does God seeing have to do with Him providing? Well, some interpret this “the LORD seeing” as the LORD will see to it – meaning, He sees our situation and the need and, therefore, “sees to it” to meet that need and provide for us in our situation.
 
In fact, our own word “provide,” comes from the Latin word meaning, “to see before” (pro meaning before and videre meaning to see). So like we say that we will see to a matter; possibly this expression hits the nail on the head. Our Heavenly Father sees our need, and with divine foresight of love prepares the supply. He sees to a need to supply it; and in the seeing he is seen, in the providing he manifests himself.
 
This becomes apparent in the story of Abraham and Isaac because, how many of you know, the ram that was caught in the thickets didn’t just miraculously appear there at the last second? No, that ram was provided well before the need ever manifested itself when God led it to be in that specific place at that specific time. It’s possible that the ram had begun its journey up the other side of the mountain at the same time that Abraham & Isaac began ascending it on their side.
 
Well, is this not what the Scriptures teach us about the Lamb of God – that He was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world? (First Peter 1:20, Revelation 13:8, & Ephesians 1:4). In these verses, we are taught that Jesus was that “Passover Lamb” that was selected before the actual time of the sacrifice. Likewise, Jesus was that Ram that was picked out to be the provision for Abraham & Isaac.
 
So Yahweh saw before …  
 
So, for God to see is for God to provide, as He does not just sit back idly when there is a need present before Him. Like he told us through James, if we “see” a person naked and destitute of daily food, we are to provide them with the things they are lacking (James 2:15-16).
 
Therefore, the Name of God, Jehovah Jireh, literally describes God’s nature of being our provider. And this should not surprise us because, in our lives, who is supposed to be the provider for us according to the flesh? It’s our earthly fathers. This is meant to be our first exposure to what provision is supposed to look like.
 
And then after we leave our father and become one flesh with another, who is generally meant to be the provider in that next relationship? The husband. And aren’t we called the Bride of Christ? Therefore, we are married to the LORD as His body, and we can expect that same “Jireh” tendency in our covenant with Him.
 
So if the LORD is called our Heavenly Father and our Husband, then you will not meet a better provider than Him! Yes, God knows how to provide for His children and His bride. He delights in providing for His creation. He loves being the source of any and all provision.
 
Of course, this begins with Jesus, that Lamb of God who is the sacrifice for our sins. But it includes anything & everything that we need that pertains to both life and godliness.
 
We see in the Scriptures that He desires to provide us with all of our need (Philippians 4:19) such as the food we eat and the clothing we wear (Matthew 6:33). He even wants to provide us with more than just our own basic necessities; He will provide an abundance so that we can give into every good work (Second Corinthians 9:8). Not only that, but He even delights in providing us with the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4) and giving His children good gifts when we ask Him (Matthew 7:11). And this provision of good gifts isn’t just acceptable things; its good things that go beyond what we could have ever asked or imagined (Ephesians 3:20).
 
I could go on and on with verses of the things God will provide for His people. But just know that the list has no end. It’s basically whatever we need, want or desire – that He will provide. If it’s wisdom we need, its wisdom He will provide (James 1:5). If it’s finances we desire, its finances He will provide. If it’s healing we want, its healing He will provide. There are no limits. Everything applies. The only thing God is not willing to provide are things that include sin and death. But outside of that, all things are game.   
 
HOW WE KNOW GOD IS A PROVIDER
 
Now we will get back to how the LORD provided for Abraham & Isaac in this situation, but I did want to pick up in our story and see how it exactly played out …
 
So then at the end of verse 8, we are told that the two of them went “together” up the mountain. To me, this is a significant phrase because it shows not just that they went but how they went – “together.”
 
You see, Jesus willingly went to the Cross for us. Yes, He was the Lamb who delighted to do the will of His Father – only doing what He saw His Father doing and saying what He saw His Father saying. They did all things TOGETHER, and that includes the Cross. 
 
Genesis 22:9 goes on to say, “Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.”
 
Again, all of this is descriptive of the place where Jesus was crucified – the name of that place was Golgotha, and on that mount, the LORD placed the “wood” in order, the middle Cross being reserved for His only Son. Then he “bound” Jesus, His Son, and laid Him on the altar, upon the Cross.
 
Then notice what happened next …
 
In verses 10-11, we read – “And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ So he said, ‘Here I am.’”
 
Again, we see that when the LORD called Abraham’s name that he heard Him and responded with – “Here I am” – showing us that Abraham was always there when God was wanting to talk to him.
 
So here we see Abraham’s willingness to follow through with the sacrificing of His son, Isaac. But when Abraham got to that point where he took the knife to slay his son, the Angel of the Lord calls out to him, stopping him. And we see that it was only a test, as the Angel of the Lord speaks these words to him in verse 12 – “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
 
So the test was complete, and Abraham passed with flying colors! And like I said earlier, this did something for all of us because now God was going to be able to return the favor for all of Abraham’s seed …
 
Now one would think that God already knew that Abraham feared Him, right? He knows all things, doesn’t He? Well, of course He does. But this teaches us that God does pay attention to our works and us doing something with what we believe. Likewise, Jesus’ work on the Cross should mean something to us as well!
 
You see, by Abraham not withholding His only begotten son, it proved to God that Abraham feared Him. Well, just as it was said that the Angel of the Lord knew that Abraham feared God because He did not withhold His son, His only son, from Him, likewise we should know that God loves us since He did not withhold His Son, His only begotten Son from us. Again, Jesus’ death on the Cross is the only proof you and I need that God loves us! Amen.
 
You see, the LORD did not withhold His Son, His only Begotten Son, from us! He willingly offered up the Lord Jesus for us, and guess what? That likewise ought to do the same thing for us that Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son did for God.
 
Again, He said, “for now I know that you fear God” because of Abraham’s willingness to offer up Isaac. Well, God’s willingness to offer up Jesus doesn’t let us know that God fears us, but it certainly should let us know that He LOVES us. Amen?
 
You see, the Scriptures teach us that Jesus’ death on the Cross IS THE MANIFESTATION of God’s love for us (See First John 4:9). In other words, we don’t need any more proof that God loves us than Him being willing to sacrifice His Son for us.  
 
But the wonderful truth is that if He loved us enough to give us Jesus; He loves us enough to freely give us all things! Sounds like a Scripture to me …
 
Romans 8:32 is such a powerful verse that reveals to us what our Heavenly Father did for us through the giving of His Only Begotten Son. In it, the apostle Paul says, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”
 
You see, we can be convinced that God is for us (See verse 31) because He did not spare His own Son for us. In other words, because God sent His Son, Jesus, to the Cross for us, we can be completely convinced that the love that inspired Him to do this for us, will freely “provide” for us anything else we need.
 
It would be like you desperately needing a blood transfusion, and the only person’s blood that would save you was my son, Levi’s. Well, if I were to sacrifice his life, shedding his blood, so that you could live through his blood, then do you really think I would not give you something else much less valuable if you needed it? Of course, I would! Why? Because if I was willing to give you my best, why would I not give you the less? Therefore, we can be completely convinced that God will heal us, meet our financial needs, and do anything else we need in our lives because, through His love for us, He has given us His very best. This proves God’s love for us.
 
So, what I believe the Holy Spirit wants us to understand is that the provision of Jesus is God’s manifestation of love. We need look no further than Jesus to know and believe that He loves us unconditionally. We need to not base God’s love for us on our circumstances. Just as we should not be moved by what we see, hear, or feel—only by what we believe—likewise, we should not let ourselves be moved off of our faith in God’s love by what we see, hear, or feel. We must simply believe He loves us because the Bible tells us so! Just like this simple childlike faith in the rest of God’s promises is what brings their manifestation to pass in our life, faith in His love is what yields a greater manifestation of that love in our lives. Amen?
 
OUR PROVISION IS THERE
 
So after the Angel of the LORD told Abraham this, notice what happened next …
 
Genesis 22:13 says, “Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.”
 
Now the provision was seen! Abraham already had seen that the LORD would provide through the eyes of faith, but now we have the substance of his faith – the ram caught in a thicket by its horns. This was what Jehovah provided – the substitute sacrifice!
 
So when we are introduced to the LORD our Provider in the following verse, it’s important to understand that this is not in the context of the various forms of provision that we generally might think of like groceries, an automobile, a spouse, money, etc. No, the provision God made here was LIFE – more specifically, a life for a life. Yes, what the LORD provided here was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns – the substitute sacrifice for Isaac, His only son (See Genesis 22:13).
 
Now this story is so very clear as to what we know the LORD has done for us: Of course, we know that Abraham and his only son, Isaac here typify Father God and His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, Jesus was a miraculous conception (i.e. a virgin birth) just like Isaac’s birth was also a miracle. Isaac was beloved of his father just as Jesus was loved by His Father. Abraham was told that all nations would be blessed by his seed. Well, that certainly has happened through our Heavenly Father’s seed, right?
 
So yes, there is so much that parallels Isaac and Jesus. Therefore, this specific instance is clearly showing us how God was willing to offer up His Only Begotten Son as a sacrifice for us. However, the story shows us how God provided Abraham with a substitute sacrifice for Isaac. So now our story shifts from Isaac being a type of Christ to the Ram that was provided being a type of Christ – showing us how when we were the ones who should have been sacrificed because it was our sin that made a sacrifice even necessary, God provided for Himself a sacrifice to atone for our sin. Amen!
 
So there are so many types & shadows here that point us to the Lord Jesus Christ and how God provided us with His life so that our lives could be spared.   
 
And then we come to the verse where we get this beloved Name of God from – Genesis 22:14. It says, “And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, ‘In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.’”
 
So once Abraham had this wonderful experience of God’s miraculous provision, he decided to name the place, the mountain that this miracle occurred on. He called it “The-LORD-Will-Provide” – that is, Jehovah Jireh.
 
But what I think many miss about this story is that this provision had every bit as much to do with where it occurred as to how it occurred.
 
If you recall, the LORD told Abraham at the beginning to “go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you” (verse 2). So first of all, he wasn’t to go to just any land; he was to go to the land of Moriah. And there, the LORD told him that He would tell Abraham which one of the mountains to offer the sacrifice on.
 
Verse 3 goes on to tell us that Abaham did exactly what God told him to do by going “to the place of which God had told him.”
 
Then in verse 4 we are told – “Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.” So somehow, Abraham knew that this specific place was the spot the LORD was showing him.
 
And even one more time, just before Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac, we are told in verse 9 – “Then they came to the place of which God had told him.”
 
So I want you to notice how many times we are being told in this chapter about the place where this sacrifice was going to occur and how it was not just anywhere Abraham decided to go, but was a specific place of God’s choosing.
 
Why do you suppose we have such an emphasis placed on this part of the story? Well, I believe it was because when it comes to God’s provision, we can’t just expect it to be just anywhere we go. God’s provision is always in the place we are supposed to be.
 
You see, what was the provision in Abraham’s situation? It was the Ram, right? Well, what if Abraham would have gone to another mountain of his choosing and only partially obeyed God? Well, that Ram wouldn’t have been there. So the provision was where Abraham was - where the LORD showed Him to be.
 
We have a great illustration of this in the game of football: A quarterback doesn’t throw the ball where the receiver is; he throws it where he is supposed to be. And just as it is with passes thrown to a receiver, God never throws the provision where we are; He throws it where we are supposed to be!
 
You see, in order to receive God’s best, we need to be where God told us to be. And a big key to running the right routes is knowing the playbook – the Word of God.
 
One of our best examples of this is found in First Kings 17:2-7 – “Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.’ So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook. And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.”
 
Again, we see that the LORD will lead us to the place called “there” and that’s where our provision is. God did not send Elijah’s provision to where he was; He sent it to the place He was supposed to be. 
 
This was a good combination of natural provision (the brook) mixed with supernatural provision (the ravens). Then notice that the brook dried up – showing us that the natural provisions are capable of drying up. This is why we don’t put trust in those things.
 
Being in our place called there does not guarantee us not going through adversity. Therefore, the adversity should not lead us out of our place. Only the Word of the Lord does that (see verse 8).
 
 
You see, what if Abraham would have received these instructions from the LORD and decided to not even go to the land of Moriah, but to stay close to home? What if he would have gone into this land, but rejected the mountain that the LORD showed him, saying, “I don’t like the color of the pews on that mountain,” “I don’t like the music on that mount,” “the people on that mountain don’t respect me,” etc. etc. etc.
 
I’ll tell you, saints, this is much more of an epidemic in the Body of Christ than most realize. I fear that over half of the Christian population doesn’t go and stay in the place where the LORD has directed them. This includes everything from marriages, jobs, churches, friendships, etc. And what they fail to understand is that those places are where their provision is. It’s where Jehovah Jireh has ordained to take care of their needs. But we “wander” around our mountains looking for our provision when it is where we are supposed to be. It’s been well-said that the grass is not necessarily greener on the other side. But the devil would love to have us chasing our provision, thinking its always in doing this differently or chasing after this.
 
Church, the LORD is a provider. There is no doubt about this. He desires to provide us with everything we need spiritually & physically. But there is something to be said for being in the position to receive that provision. And a lot of times that has everything to do with being in the right place at the right time, with being obedient to do whatever the LORD tells you to do, and with believing His Word above all else. This is how we can know the LORD as our Jehovah Jireh. Amen.

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.

REVIEW
 
So we have been studying the Names of God for a couple of months now, and we are approaching this study with how knowing & understanding His Names has so much to do with how His people approach Him.
 
We have entitled this series “Hallowed Be Your Name” because this is how the Lord Jesus taught His disciples how to approach their Heavenly Father in prayer. So we learned that this is evidently one of the most important ways to come to know Him, through His Names.
 
And the reason for this is because, 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 forever more shall be. In other words, His Names reveal to us who He is at His core, what His nature is, and what we can count on Him always being.
 
So while we began with the more general term for “God” (the Hebrew word Elohim), we saw that it’s important that we allow the Lord to take us beyond just simply knowing Him as the Creator, the All-Powerful, Sovereign One that the general population knows Him as. So, we moved on to seeing His primary Name – Yahweh – and how this Name reveals Him as the Existing One and as more relational than most see Him. 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 transliterated 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 the first “Jehovah” Name of God that we looked at was Jehovah Shammah, which means “The LORD is there” and thus denotes – Yahweh is present. So we saw that this Name of Yahweh reveals God’s nature to always be there and present with His people. We then looked at a lot of Scriptures that echo this part of His Person where we learned that God is our ever-present help in a time of need and that He has promised to never leave or forsake us. Yes, God is faithful – God the Father always being the same, Jesus always being true, and the Holy Spirit always being there.
Then we looked at another Name of Jehovah – the Name Jehovah Rapha – and we learned that this describes the LORD as the One who heals and wants His people healthy. We looked at a ton of Scriptures that reveal God’s heart to heal His people and be our Great Physician. So as I said, God’s in the healing business and He’s not planning on going out of business anytime soon! He was the children of Israel’s healer yesterday, He is the church’s healer today, and He will always be the One who heals His people tomorrow. 
 
Then last week, we looked at the Name of God – Jehovah M’Kaddesh – and we learned how this describes the LORD who sanctifies. This means that the LORD is the One who consecrates, dedicates, hallows (sound familiar?) or makes holy. In the simplest terms, it means to separate or set apart something to make it different and special.  
 
We looked at how God has “set apart” certain things like this such as

1. The Bible, calling it the Holy Bible in that it is a special Book that is unlike any other book.
2. The Sabbath, making it holy in that it is a special day set apart to God and unlike any other day of week.
3. The tithe, saying it is a special form of giving to the Lord because He said it is His.

 
I could go on and on with these examples, but the fact is, when God sets something apart, that makes it holy to Him and it is indeed special in His eyes. And we saw how that includes us because of the myriad of Scriptures in the New Testament that calls the church, a body of “saints.” So we looked at several verses that shows us how in Christ, we have been sanctified through the Holy Spirit, revealing to us that Jehovah M’Kaddesh is still all about making things holy.
 
JEHOVAH SABAOTH
 
Now the next “Jehovah” name of God that I want us to look at is probably one of the most often used ones – Jehovah Sabaoth (Saab-A-Oth)
 
This Name occurs more than 270 times in the Old Testament! Wow, that’s a lot of times for God to be called this, isn’t it? And you might be wondering – If this Name of His is used this many times in the Bible, how have I missed it? Well, that’s probably because what you’ve been seeing is the translation of it – Lord of hosts. Yes, when you see God referred to as the Lord of hosts, that is almost always a translation “Jehovah Sabaoth.”  
 
You see, the Hebrew word, sabaoth, literally describes a “host” or “multitude.” So when we put Yahweh together with Sabaoth, we get “The LORD is (In this case, the Lord of) hosts or a multitude.”
 
Various translations handle Jehovah Saboath in different ways: The NIV translates the name as “Lord Almighty.” The NLT has “the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” The NASB has the broader translation of the “Lord of armies.” And the NET has the even broader “Lord who rules over all.” All of these translations reflect the truth that the host or multitudes that He is over is a part of His might, His army, and what He rules through.
 
So let’s get a little more specific with this word “sabaoth” and answer the question – Who is this “host” that He is Lord of?
 
Well, the first thing that’s important to understand about the word “sabaoth” is that it’s most often used as a military term. Now it is by far translated “hosts” the most in the original King James Version, but it is also translated as “war” (41x), army (29x), battle (5x), and also as warfare, soldiers, etc. So we can clearly see that the majority of the times it is used, it is describing an army of some kind.
 
Now sometimes it is used to refer to an army of men (See First Samuel 17:45; Isaiah 13:4) and other times it is used to describe an army of angels or other heavenly hosts (See Psalm 148:2; First Kings 22:19). But sometimes it is just used to refer to the innumerable stars in the night sky (See Psalm 33:6; 103:20, 21).
 
But the important thing to understand about this Name for God is that whether it is referring to armies of men, multitudes of angels, or a host of stars, Jehovah Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts, is the One who creates, calls, and commissions these people and things both on earth and in heaven. Yes, He is the Lord over these multitudes, both organizing and leading them.
 
Now the first time Jehovah Sabaoth appears in the Bible is in First Samuel 1:3 when we are told that Hannah’s husband, Elkanah, went up from his city annually to worship and sacrifice to the “Lord of hosts” in Shiloh. And then, verse 11 goes on to describe how childless Hannah, who wanted a son so badly and earnestly prayed that the Lord would grant her the desire of her heart. This verse says, “She made a vow and said, ‘O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life’.”
 
Now it is of great interest to me as to why these verses are the first time we see the phrase “the Lord of hosts” used: Perhaps its because this is how Samuel, the likely author of this Book of the Bible, saw the LORD. Maybe it’s because the Holy Spirit who inspired the author to call the LORD this was wanting us to see how the Lord’s kingdom operates.
 
I believe the latter is most likely: You see, the Books of First and Second Samuel are what chronicle a different season for Israel – the time where God began bringing more structure to His chosen people by giving them their heart’s desire for a king and establishing His kingdom, first through Saul, but mainly through David and his sons.
 
So the “Sabaoth,” the hosts or multitudes, that the LORD is Lord of could be a reference to His kingdom that He is establishing through his first couple of kings. Which teaches us something important …
 
Just as Samuel was given to the Lord by His mother, Hannah, in exchange for the blessing of giving her a son, the Lord of hosts looks for a people, whether that be a king or a priest, a prophet or just a regular man or woman, to be Lord over and who will do His will. We will get into this more momentarily.
 
Let’s now look at some of these other instances of “Lord of hosts” in the Scriptures to gain a clearer picture of those God is organizing or sending to fight for Him.
 
The first time we see the word sabaoth used by itself is in in the account of creation in Genesis 2:1. This verse says, “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished.”
 
So “host” here is not used to describe any particular people, but of all of the “things” God created. So we can see that host is not always referring to entities, but sometimes to other created things like stars, trees, animals, etc. 
 
In First Samuel 17:45, it is in this Name that the young David took up Goliath’s arrogant challenge: This verse says, “Then David said to the Philistine, ‘You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.’”
 
Notice in this verse that David said he was coming at the giant in this specific name, Jehovah Sabaoth. And then he goes on to specifically describe who the Lord of hosts is – the God of the armies of Israel. So again we see the tie in of the word Sabaoth and armies, and we see that the army of Israel is the specific host David was referring to.   
 
Later on in David’s life, we see how Jehovah Sabaoth blessed Him and was backing him: “So David went on and became great, and the Lord of hosts was with him.” (First Chronicles 11:9). So because the LORD of hosts was backing Him, it increased David’s influence and the ground he was taking through God’s anointing.
 
Psalm 46:7 says something similar: It says, “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah” So because the Lord of hosts is with us, we don’t have to fear. We know we will be protected.
 
Psalm 103:20-21 shows us who these hosts are that are fighting for us: These verses say, “Bless the Lord, you His angels, Who excel in strength, who do His word, Heeding the voice of His word. Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, You ministers of His, who do His pleasure.” So in these verses, we certainly see the LORD of hosts as the Lord over the heavenly hosts who excel in strength, do His word, and minister on His behalf, doing His pleasure. Hebrews 1:14 describes this host of angels as “ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation.”
 
So the host of angels, His ministers who do His pleasure, are sent forth to minister for us who have inherited salvation! Yes, they are watching over us to fight for and defend the children of God. Amen!
 
Now this name of God, the LORD of hosts, occurs mostly in the Prophets, especially in those speaking about the failure of Israel. It appears nearly 80 times in Jeremiah, 14 times in the 2 short chapters of Haggai, nearly 50 times in Zechariah, and 25 times in Malachi.
 
One of my favorites is found in Zechariah 4:6 where the LORD told Zerubbabel – “ ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.”
 
What the Lord was telling this man who had a tall task ahead of him to rebuild Jerusalem and its temple was that it wasn’t going to be by his “might” (that is, his collective strength of man-power, etc.) or by his “power” (that is, his own individual strength of his intellect and personal abilities), but it was going to be by the Spirit of God. And then by adding, “says the Lord of hosts,” I hear the LORD telling Zerubbabel – “But by My might and by My power because I AM the LORD of hosts!”
 
Finally, Malachi 3:17 (a verse I quoted last week) says, “ ‘They shall be Mine,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘On the day that I make them My jewels.’ ”
 
This verse is obviously prophesying our Day when Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection will make us children of God, His pearls of great price and hidden treasures. And I also believe that we today are part of the “hosts” that He is Lord of.
 
SEEING THE LORD OF HOSTS
 
So who are the hosts over whom the Lord has authority? We’ve seen that His hosts involve all of His creation like the multitudes of stars in the heavens, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, etc. Yes, all of God’s creation is a part of His hosts and He will use them as necessary to see His kingdom come and will be done.
 
But it doesn’t stop there: We’ve seen that His hosts also include those in heaven like His angels and other spiritual beings surrounding His throne and inhabiting heaven. Therefore, Jehovah Sabaoth uses all of His spiritual hosts to accomplish His purposes as well. This is threaded throughout the Scriptures.    
 
But His hosts are not just spiritual entities. We’ve seen how His hosts are also described as His physical hosts such as the armies of Israel that He leads into battle and other armies of the nations He musters against His enemies.
 
I wonder how much our perspective would change if we saw this Name of God the way it is in truth. It would probably be like going from being Elijah’s servant in Second Kings chapter 6 who only saw the king’s horses and chariots surrounding the city to being Elijah who saw the horses and chariots of fire that the LORD of hosts had surrounding the mountain. His servant was freaking out because he could only see the “hosts” that were against them while Elijah was at peace because he saw the “hosts” who were more in numbers and strength and were there to protect them.
 
Yes, church, God’s people are always transformed when we recognize Jehovah-Sabaoth. It’s all a matter of perspective. It is a simple saying, yet there is a great deal of truth to it – small God, big problems: big God, small problems.
 
THE HOST ABOVE ALL HOSTS
 
Now I believe that there is some light we can gain about this Name of God by looking at how we primarily use the word “host” today.
 
So in our modern-day society, how do we primarily use the word “host”? It is used to describe “a person who receives or entertains guests socially, commercially, or officially” (Webster’s Dictionary). In layman’s terms, a host is someone who invites a person or people to maybe a party at their home, a meeting at their place of business, etc.
 
So the Lord is the Lord of Hosts – meaning, the Lord is all about Hosting. We see this throughout the Lord’s parables as He is described as a Man who threw a great dinner and invited many (See Luke 14:15-24), as the Father throwing a party in his house for His servants & sons (See Luke 15:22-27), etc. The LORD is the best host, and He sure knows how to throw a party!
 
But my point from these examples is that the LORD is obviously all about inviting others to be a part of what He is doing. Yes, He loves congregations! He delights in assemblies! He rejoices in family! Why? Because Love doesn’t like doing things alone. It loves to involve others – to bless them and let them be a part of something special.
 
Well, God, who is Love, is no different. The Lord of hosts obviously doesn’t just work alone. I think I’ve had this incorrect imagery of God – that since He doesn’t need anyone else to get things done, being the Almighty, All-Powerful Being that He is, that He doesn’t use anyone else. But how many of you know that’s not how the Lord of hosts operates? No, He uses others for His kingdom’s purposes.
 
For example, there are multiple verses that show us that when the Lord had enemies to defeat, that He would send angels to do His bidding. Oftentimes, He even used angels to deliver His Word to people. Did He have to do things this way? Couldn’t He simply move His pinky finger and defeat His enemies here on the earth? Couldn’t He just speak audibly to those He had a message for? Why use angels for these things? Well, I don’t believe it’s because He has to use angels. Rather, I believe it’s because He chooses to do things this way.
 
You see, there is a great misconception out there as to how the Lord operates: Consider the example of us as His creation and how He uses human beings. There is a very popular theology out there called the Sovereignty of God, and a big part of this doctrine teaches that God is in control and does whatever He wants to do. So if something happens to us, it was because God permitted it to happen for His purposes. This belief system goes as far as saying that everything – good or bad – that comes into our lives is a part of God’s sovereign plan.
 
Church, these things are simply not so. No, some things happen because the Lord has given man authority to do something about it and we didn’t. Yes, even evil is accomplished on this planet, not because God is allowing it, but because we yield ourselves to the flesh, sin, and satan. This is all part of God’s design when He created the heavens & the earth. He gave us dominion over His creation and told man to rule over this world that the Lord had given Him.
 
Psalm 115:16 says, “The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’s; But the earth He has given to the children of men.”
 
So the earth is ours, not His – all because He chose to give it to us. Yes, ultimately, He is the owner of His creation, but He has essentially leased out this planet to mankind. Therefore, it is our responsibility to guard our garden, taking care of it both naturally and spiritually.
 
So I say all of this to say that God has chosen to not do it Himself, but to delegate His authority to us to handle. And this couldn’t be more true for the host that the Lord has redeemed, saved, and sanctified – the church of the Lord Jesus, the body of Christ. Yes, we are Christ’s representatives here on the earth, His delegated ambassadors called to occupy till He comes.
 
That certainly does not mean that He doesn’t use the hosts of heaven like angels to do things, but if you study the New Testament, you’ll find how the church is meant to work together with the armies of angels that God gives us to guard and protect us.
 
But one of the primary ways that God uses His “hosts” to get the job done is through unity. Yes, it’s through the body of Christ working together. Yes, it’s through His church being fitly joined together. This is what releases the power of heaven’s hosts to do the most damage to the kingdom of darkness.
 
Let me give you some examples from both the Old and New Testament to show how this works …
 
THE POWER OF UNITY
 
Psalm 133 says, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, Running down on the beard, The beard of Aaron, Running down on the edge of his garments. It is like the dew of Hermon, Descending upon the mountains of Zion; For there the Lord commanded the blessing-- Life forevermore.”
 
Friends, this psalm is prophetically declaring that there is a corporate anointing for the body of Christ, and when we dwell together in unity – forgetting our cultural differences, putting aside our doctrinal differences, and laying down our pride and insecurities – for one common purpose and one common goal, that it is a good and pleasant thing! When we join together as the body of Christ, that oil of the Holy Spirit can then flow from one part to the next, from the top of the head down the edge of the garments. This is what happens when our Host has an assembling of His hosts!
 
So it is no wonder why Satan fights unity so much, right? It is because He fears the corporate anointing and he is afraid of a body of believers who might join together with one common goal. This is why you see church splits. This is why you see division in the community. And this is why you see such an escalation of divorce. It is because his number one goal is to divide! For a house divided against itself cannot stand.
 
Do you remember when Jesus was accused of casting out demons by Beelzebub? What was His response? He said that Satan cannot cast out Satan, for a house divided against itself cannot stand. In other words, you even see order in Satan’s camp. It is not perfect chaos. He has systematic order in his kingdom because he knows the power of operating in this way. Ephesians 6:12 shows us how, in his kingdom, he has ranks of demons: First, there are the principalities. Under them, there are the powers (or, authorities). Then comes the rulers of the darkness of this age and then the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Friends, he has order and each demon in his kingdom works according to their assignment and their position. 
 
Let’s turn over to Genesis chapter 11 and see an example of how Satan inspired an event called the Tower of Babel…
 
In Genesis chapter 11, we see the story of man called Nimrod and this man had a plan. He and his people decided they wanted to make a name for themselves. So they planned to build a tower that would reach to the heavens lest they be scattered across the earth. Well, God saw what they purposed in their heart to do and came down and divided their language because He said in verse 6, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.” That is a powerful statement! God basically said something similar that came out of the mouth of Jesus when He said that nothing shall be impossible for us. And why was there the prospect of this people accomplishing anything and nothing being impossible for them to do? It was because they were one! It was because all had one language! It was because they had tapped into a spiritual law that when a people become one and they pursue a common goal - with one mind, one mouth, and in one accord - nothing shall be impossible for them.
 
So if this is a true principle for Satan and the ungodly, how much more do you reckon this will work for the body of Christ!?! I guarantee you that if it works for them tenfold; it will work for us a hundredfold!
 
And, as a matter of fact, we’ve already seen it work in the Book of Acts! Turn over to chapter two…
 
Acts 2:1-3 says, “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord and in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues (that’s the only thing you will ever find divided in God’s kingdom), and one sat upon each of them. And then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
 
Friends, this is Psalm 133 fulfilled! When they gathered together in that upper room in one accord, the Holy Spirit – the Anointing Himself – came upon each one of this royal priesthood and took ordinary men and women and made them extraordinary! That oil was poured out on them and was mixed with those tongues of fire, and they became the light of the world. Hallelujah! They became that golden lampstand filled with oil and with fire at the wick to burn bright in this dark and perverse generation. But how did it all start? As they were in one place and in one accord!
 
Yes, saints, this is when the church was truly empowered and commissioned. It’s when it became the Lord’s army, His hosts that were capable of turning the world right-side up! It was, is, and evermore shall be the heart of Jehovah Sabaoth, our Lord Jesus Christ – to have a unified body that is one even as He and the Father are One. 
 
Lord, may these lamps burn bright for your glory! May these churches be golden lampstands in this community! May we be the lights of Middle Georgia! 

REVIEW
 
Church, it’s all about knowing Him! This is the simplicity of Christianity and if our pursuits in the faith are not wrapped up in this one thing, we might just be practicing religion and missing the boat.  
 
God has always just wanted to have a relationship with His creation. It is not about following a bunch of rules or just being good, moral people. There’s nothing wrong with some of those things, but at the foundation of our faith is the knowledge of God – that is, knowing Him personally & intimately and enjoying good fellowship with Him.
 
And I have come to find that one of the most meaningful ways of coming to know the LORD better is by studying His Names, because the name of a person represents their character, personality, and behavior. So if I want to know Him, then learning who He is becomes paramount.
 
So we started off looking at His first, general Name for “God”— the name Elohim – which is generally the first way we all come to know Him – as the all-powerful, sovereign, creator of the heavens and the earth whom we must give an account to in the future as our Ruler and Judge. However, we ought not stop there as so many of God’s children do.
 
We need to come to know ALL of His Names in order to have the complete picture of who He is revealed to us. So that’s why God revealed Himself to Moses and the children of Israel in a much more elaborate and detailed way than He did with the Patriarchs – So they could fully KNOW Him.
 
So this is where His Name Yahweh/Jehovah came in: The LORD said He wanted Israel to know Him this way. And that’s my desire as well!
 
So what we are spending the majority of our time doing in this series is focusing on the covenant-keeping, Jehovah names of God in the Old Testament – the Names He revealed Himself by to Israel. These are those Yahweh/Jehovah names of God that further amplify what our God is, was, and ever more shall be, our Lord who always keeps His covenant, and who will do what He promised for those He is in relationship with.
 
So the first “Jehovah” Name of God that we looked at was Jehovah Shammah, which is what the LORD revealed Himself as in Ezekiel 48:35.  
 
We learned that Jehovah Shammah means “The LORD is there” and thus denotes – Yahweh is present. So we saw that this Name of Yahweh reveals God’s nature to always be there and present with His people.
 
So we looked at a lot of Scriptures that echo this part of His Person where we learned that God is our ever-present help in a time of need and that He has promised to never leave or forsake us.
 
You see, church, God’s character is that of faithfulness, and being faithful means you are consistently there for the one’s you love. So the LORD’s nature is to always be present and there for us, the objects of His love. Which He took to another level under this new and better covenant that we have with Him because now Christ is in us, being with us even to the ends of the earth, and the Holy Spirit lives in the temple of our body to abide with us forever.
 
So Jehovah Shammah – the LORD is there and present – is most certainly a part of God’s nature and character from the beginning of the Bible to the end of it. 
 
Then last week, we looked at the Name He revealed to the children of Israel in Exodus 15:26, the Name Jehovah Rapha.
 
We saw that this Name literally described the LORD as the One who heals or make healthful – which is certainly a part of God’s nature when you consider the plethora of Scriptures that talk about God’s will to heal His people, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament.
 
But we also saw how “rapha” describes curing, mending, or repairing, and it was even the word used to describe a physician or doctor. So not only could we say that the LORD is our Healer, but we could say that the LORD is our Doctor! Yes, even Jesus was referred to as a Physician during His ministry – because He was doing what Jehovah Rapha does – healing, mending, curing, and repairing.
 
So we walked through the example of going to our doctors, and the process of getting help from them, because the LORD showed us that there are a lot of parallels there to how we receive from our Great Physician.
 
If you missed that, go back and listen to that study on the LORD being our healer because that is really important to Him – that He be your Divine Physician, and that you be made healed & whole.  Yes, God’s in the healing business and He’s not planning on going out of business anytime soon!
 
 
 
JEHOVAH M’KADDESH
 
Now the next Name of Yahweh that I want us to look at is His Name “Jehovah M’Kaddesh.”
 
This particular Name of God is used not once but twice in the Old Testament – both in Exodus 31:13 and Leviticus 20:8. We will look at both of these in a moment, but first, let’s look at what Jehovah M’Kaddesh actually means …
 
Of course, Jehovah comes from God’s Name of Yahweh, and as we’ve seen, it describes the Great I Am. So it means that the LORD IS this or the Lord IS that. Here, it means that the LORD IS He who “sanctifies.”
 
Now invariably you’ve heard the words “sanctify” or “sanctification” if you’ve been going to church for any length of time. Unfortunately, even though we are using Biblical words and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that, many church going people do not know what these words mean. So let’s define what it means to sanctify someone and thus learn what sanctification is.
 
The Hebrew word M’Kaddesh means to consecrate, to dedicate, to hallow (sound familiar?) or to make holy. In the simplest terms, to sanctify means “to separate or set apart.” So “sanctification” describes the act of consecrating, dedicating, making holy, and setting something apart – thus making it different and special.  
 
Now let’s take a look at the two times Jehovah M’Kaddesh is used because I believe these two examples help us to understand sanctification better …
 
The first time it was used is when the Lord spoke to Moses, giving him the Sabbath law for His people. And in Exodus 31:13, He said, “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you.” So here we see that the LORD was saying that the keeping of His various Sabbaths was meant to be sign between Him and His people and that they would know that He is Jehovah M’Kaddesh … 
 
Now I think it is interesting that the LORD gave them this Name regarding them keeping the Sabbath. What does the Sabbath have to do with the LORD sanctifying His people?
 
Well, the Sabbath itself was blessed and sanctified, wasn’t it? Genesis 2:3 says, “Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”
 
So the LORD set this particular day apart. Doing what? Making it a “special” day, unlike the other six days of the week.
 
So in Exodus 31:13, I believe it relates to how their keeping the Sabbath made them different and special. Yes, that was not a normal way that the world did things. The world certainly doesn’t practice a Day of Rest where it rests from its labor and recognizes the One True & Living God for the abundance of everything He has blessed them with. Heck, no!
 
Well, the Sabbath made Israel special. It set them apart. It let the world know and was a sign that the LORD had dedicated and consecrated them as His own special people. Amen?
 
Now you’ll hear this as a common theme today, but it is important to understand that it is God doing this setting apart here in Exodus 31:13. The children of Israel did not first dedicate, consecrate, or separate themselves. It was God who did it to them.
 
Why is this important to understand? It’s because far too many of us, when we think of this idea of sanctification, think that this is what we do. WE set ourselves apart to the Lord. WE dedicate ourselves to Him. WE consecrate our lives to Him. And yes, these things are important things for us to do, but we ought not get the cart in front of the horse. What do I mean by that? I mean that when you study “sanctification,” God is the One who does it to us first, and then and only then, are we able to do it unto Him.
 
So in our first example, God calls Himself Jehovah M’Kaddesh. He is the One who set His people apart through the Sabbath because the Sabbath itself was a special day that the Lord set apart in the beginning.
 
Now in our other example of this Name of God, we do see the Lord telling His people to sanctify themselves, with the context being that the LORD was warning His people to not commit harlotry with the false of gods of the land.
 
In Leviticus 20:7 He says, “Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God.” Then He tells them in verse 8 – “And you shall keep My statutes, and perform them: I am the Lord who sanctifies you.”
 
The idea of them being consecrated and set apart to Him in these verses was referring to not committing idolatry – which ultimately was viewed by God as spiritual prostitution.

So again, it’s about relationship with the Lord, and the fact that He has already sanctified His people shows that He, the Holy One, has set them apart for Himself, and therefore was dedicating Himself to them. Now, He is expecting His sanctified people to be holy and set themselves apart for Him.
 
So again, it starts with Jehovah M’Kaddesh being the LORD who sanctifies us and then ought to be reflected in our lives as well by us staying consecrated to Him. Amen? 
 
 
 
WHO IS THE SANCTIFIER?
 
So since the LORD is our Jehovah M’Kaddesh, the LORD who sanctifies, it is clear that God first does this work of sanctification in things. Let me give you a few verses that teach us this …
 
In the Old Testament, the LORD oftentimes reminded Israel that they were His own special people, His treasures that He had picked out for Himself. While these verses don’t specifically refer to “sanctification,” they imply it – for the LORD’s calling them out to be His own special treasure reveals God setting them apart for Him.
 
But when turning to the New Testament, we see how what Jehovah M’Kaddesh originally did for Israel has also been done for all who put their trust in Jesus Christ, His Son.
 
First Peter 2:9-10 say, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”
 
Again, this beautiful passage of Scripture clearly shows us that the sanctifying work that the LORD did for the children of Israel has been done for the Gentiles who are in Christ. Yes, we are now a chosen generation, His own elect! We are His royal priesthood, being His kings and priests! We are His holy nation, being made citizens of the kingdom of God! We are His own special people, His hidden treasure and pearls of great price!
 
Let’s look at some more Scriptures in the New Testament that show us this sanctifying work that He has done in us … 
 
Acts 26:18 – “to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.”
 
In recounting his testimony, the apostle Paul described what would happen for those who are converted. And among all of the things, he ends with those who are sanctified by faith in Me – showing us that this setting apart takes place as we believe on Jesus.
 
First Corinthians 1:2 – “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:”
 
So the apostle Paul refers to the Church at Corinth as those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus – not will be set apart, but ARE this way. Why? Because they are in Christ Jesus.
 
And that’s why He goes on to call them saints (a point we will revisit here shortly) …
 
First Corinthians 1:30 – “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption …”
 
Notice that Paul says here that Jesus became for us these things – righteousness, redemption, and sanctification. So it’s not you becoming sanctified for Him; He became that sanctification on our behalf.
 
First Corinthians 6:11 – “And such were some of you. (fornicators, adulterers, thieves, drunkards, etc. See verses 9-10) But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”
 
So this verse implies that while we once were sinners – practicing all of these abominable things – since then, we were washed, justified, and sanctified – meaning, we were set apart when we were born again.
 
The Book of Hebrews likes to refer to this concept of sanctification …
 
Hebrews 13:12 – “Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.”
 
Hebrews 10:14 – “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”
 
Hebrews 2:11 – “For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,”
 
So how does this “sanctification” work? Sure, we’ve seen that it happens as we believe on Christ, but it happens through the Holy Spirit. Check out these verses …
 
Second Thessalonians 2:13 – “But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth,”
 
First Peter 1:1-2 – “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:”
 
These verses show us that we become God’s elect / chosen ones in and through sanctification by the Spirit – meaning, it’s by the Holy Spirit’s work that this sanctification occurs.
 
So it is clear that Jehovah M’Kaddesh has accomplished this “sanctification” for all those who believe on His Son. Yes, sanctification comes by faith and is a product of a work of the Holy Spirit in us, not the other way around.
 
However, like we’ve touched on already, there is a responsibility of us living sanctified lives too. Yes, the Lord desires our walks to reflect what has taken place in us through Christ. And this goes for everything that Jesus has done for us: The Lord wants us to live righteous lives because we’ve been made righteous. He wants us to love because we’ve already been loved. He desires for us to live holy because He has already made us holy.
 
And while we are on the subject of sanctification, I want to remind you of what part of our definition was for sanctify – it also meant “to make holy.” So the LORD is the One who sanctifies and makes holy. This is why I can say He has already made us holy.  
 
Now when you hear the truth that He has already made us holy, is that tough to swallow? I know a lot of us have been taught differently – that we are the ones responsible for making ourselves holy. But what we are learning today is that God is Jehovah M’Kaddesh – the One who sanctifies us and makes us holy.
 
Let’s look back at the Old Testament and then ahead to the New Testament and see how the same thing that God did for Israel then is what He has done for His church now …
 
A HOLY PEOPLE
 
Let’s begin in the Book of Deuteronomy, particularly, Deuteronomy 7:6-8. I want us to look first in this passage of Scripture because I believe God’s heart in choosing the people of Israel to be His own, chosen people mirrors what God did for us in Christ Jesus. 
 
In these verses, God began to say to the children of Israel— “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth…”
 
Now, first of all, when He began by describing them as a “holy” people to Himself, we need to understand that He was not using this term “holy” like we do today. No, He was not saying that they were perfect, blameless, or flawless. The children of Israel were far from that! No, what he was saying is that they were different “to the Lord your God”—meaning, they were not like the other nations, but were special, different, and precious to Him.
 
For example, oftentimes in the Old Testament, you would see the Lord say that certain items like things in the Tabernacle, etc. were “holy” unto Him. He called the tithe as holy unto Him, so what that meant was that particular kind of giving was different, special and precious to the LORD.
 
Another good example is how the Word of God is called “The Holy Bible.” What that means is that it is a special Book, and not to be considered like just any other book out there. It’s different in that it is inspired by God and ought to be precious to us. Likewise, Israel is called God’s own special people and precious to Him. We see this in the rest of verse 6 when He said, “…the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.”
 
Now can you imagine how this must have made Israel feel? “We are special to God! We are His favorites among all the peoples on the face of the earth!” But this was obviously not because they deserved it either. God set them apart for Himself before all of their mistakes and flaws, and why? This verse says it was because He “chose” to choose them.
 
Notice what the Lord went on to say in verses 7-8— “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”
 
You see, there are two very important things to understand in these two verses about God sanctifying Israel:

1. He said that He did not set His love on them or choose them because of how mighty and strong they were in terms of numbers. What this is saying is that the Lord does not choose people because they are strong, smart, talented, or worthy of being chosen in any way. No, He actually delights in choosing the weak, the poor, the dishonored, etc. In other words, one is not chosen because they are sufficient in themselves or because of their own abilities and work. It is all by His grace, and as He goes on to say, because of His love.
2. But He also said that He chose them because He was keeping His promise which He made to their fathers. In other words, the Lord is a covenant keeping God. If He swore an oath to someone, He will keep it no matter what. And the great news for us is that Father God’s covenant is now with His Son! So, now God will keep the covenant that He swore to His Son! Glory and hallelujah!

 
But here is another good example of how “holy” can also mean to be different and special: First Thessalonians 5:26 says to greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. Now how many of you know that you are not to go around kissing other Christians like you would kiss your wife!?! You better not come to this church kissing on people like you kiss your spouse. No, a holy kiss would obviously be both a pure and a different kind of kiss—meaning, it’s not like other kisses out there while at the same time being void of any impure motives.
 
Well, just like we have a “Holy Bible” and “holy kisses”—which are precious and pure things—God’s church is said to be holy and without blame before Him in love. That means that He views us, spiritually speaking, as “infallible, without error, precious and prized.” Yes, we are different, His own peculiar treasure, that is passionately loved by our Creator!    
 
Church, I believe this is the way the apostle Paul used this term “holy” in Ephesians 1:4 when he said that God chose us in Him “that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.”
 
Now when we look at the terminology here, we can read it as saying that Jesus chose us in Christ so that someday we should become holy and without blame before God. But that is not what Paul was saying here. He was saying that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world so that we should, at the moment we receive Him, be holy and without blame before God. In other words, in Christ Jesus, we are holy and without blame at the moment we are born again and remain that way as we remain in Him. Amen! 
 
And notice how this verse says that we are holy and without blame before Him: You see, we might have a different opinion of ourselves, and others might have different opinions of us, but it’s not anyone else’s opinion that is important; it is God’s opinion that truly matters. And if He views us as “holy” (i.e. special, precious, different, and prized) and “blameless” (We will look at this in a moment) then that’s the way we are. Period. Amen?
 
SAINTS!
 
Now one of the ways that you know how someone views you is by how they refer to you. And when we look in the mirror of this new covenant that you and I are in with God, we see a term that is commonly used to refer to us—the word “saints.”
 
Of course, this term is used when someone like the apostle Paul was referring to one of his churches, but again, we need to take these references like “beloved, saints, etc.” like God is talking to us, as all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and these men were moved by the Holy Spirit to write the things they did. Therefore, when we see that we, as a body of believers, are referred to as “saints,” then I take that as how my Heavenly Father sees me.   
 
In fact, I have found that we as the body of Christ are referred to as “saints” over 50 times in the New Testament! (See Romans 1:7, 8:27, 12:13, 15:25-26,31, 16:2,15; First Corinthians 1:2, 6:1,2, 14:33, 16:1,15; Second Corinthians 1:1, 8:4, 9:1,12, 13:13; Ephesians 1:1, 1:15,18, 2:19, 3:8, 3:18, 4:12, 5:3, 6:18; Philippians 1:1, 4:21-22; Colossians 1:2,4,12,26; First Thessalonians 5:27; Second Thessalonians 1:10; First Timothy 5:10; Philemon 5,7; Hebrews 6:10, 13:24; Jude 3,14; Revelation 5:8, 8:3-4, 13:7,10, 14:12, 15:3, 16:6, 17:6, 18:24, 19:8, 20:9). That’s a lot! In fact, it is used many more times than the term “Christians, believers, etc.”—any of these other titles that we give ourselves today as followers of Christ. So, apparently, this is one of the predominant ways God sees us. Glory!
 
You know, the way that we generally use the term “saints” today is to either refer to old Christians or dead ones. That’s right—we like to call the elderly Christians who have lived somewhat “holy” lives this, and some also like to refer to the renowned Christians who did great things many generations ago this way too. But again, the Bible doesn’t share these same sentiments. Like we said, it refers to every born-again believer this way time and time again in the New Testament.
 
Now someone might then gravitate towards watering down the meaning of the word “saint” when they see it refers to every Christian, but it does essentially mean what we have believed it to mean. It comes from the Greek word hagios which literally means “holy ones.”
 
In fact, this word hagios is the very same word used to describe God’s “holy” law (See Romans 7:12), the “holy” apostles and prophets (See Ephesians 3:5), the “Holy” Scriptures (See Romans 1:2), the “Holy” Spirit (Romans 5:5), the “Holy One,” Jesus Christ Himself (See First John 2:20 & Revelation 3:7), and, yes, the Lord God Almighty Himself who has the hosts of heaven constantly declaring that He is “Holy, holy, holy!” So, do you know what that means? It means if we are His holy ones, then we are in the same boat with the rest of these other Most Holy things! 
 
Romans 11:16 gives us this same principle: “if the root is holy, then so are the branches.” We might say that, according to Jesus’ word in John chapter 15, if the Vine is holy, then the branches are truly holy as well!
 
Now I understand that there are those out there who might say, “Well, don’t the Scriptures say that we are to be holy even as He is holy? (See First Peter 1:16) Yes, but the context here specifically refers to being holy in all our conduct, and we need to understand that there is a big difference between our “who” and our “do.” No, I am not talking about your hairdo, but about your actions, conduct, etc. So, yes, there is a difference between who you are and what you do.
 
Speaking of hairdos, this is one of the very things some church people think makes someone holy—how they wear their hair. They take Scriptures like First Peter 3:1-6 and say, “See there, if you are going to be holy, then you can’t be fixin’ your hair, wearing jewelry or nice clothes.” No, no, no. That’s not Peter’s point here. He was not saying that a Christian should not wear nice clothes, put on jewelry, or wear makeup. Listen, if an old barn needs painting, paint it, bless God! Just don’t make your outward man your priority. So, what Peter was teaching them was that we shouldn’t “merely” be concerned with adorning our outward man—for its beauty is fleeting—but we should give our attention to what we are wearing on the inside for that is what is very precious in the sight of God. And I’ll tell you, the hidden man of our heart is what is important! It is to God and ought to be to us as well!
 
So, should we walk in holiness? Absolutely! We need to live lives that correspond with who we are in the spirit and reflect our holiness for all the world to see. What we should avoid, however, is basing our holiness on our actions. We are not holy because of what we do; we are holy because of what Christ has done. 
 
Let’s look at another verse in this Mirror that reflects the same truth, just in a different way:
 
 
 
WITHOUT SPOT OR WRINKLE
 
In the Book of Colossians, which is a mirror book to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Paul says, “And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight - if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I Paul, became a minister.” (Colossians 1:21-23). What a powerful passage of Scriptures!
 
Now when Paul begins with the words “And you,” what he is doing is continuing along the lines of what he said in the prior verse about Jesus making peace through His blood and reconciling the world unto Himself. So, a good paraphrase of these truths might be: “Not only has God reconciled all things back unto Himself through Jesus Christ, He also has reconciled all of mankind that receive His Son Jesus Christ to Himself.” Glory to Jesus! This will become important when it comes to what he said next …
 
Paul goes on to say, “And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works.” Notice that this says we “who once were.” That’s a far cry from “who now are.” But it sure doesn’t feel this way sometimes, does it? Sometimes those “wicked works” can leave us feeling in our minds like we are alienated from and enemies of God, can’t they? Yes, when we miss it and fall short of God’s glory, we are left feeling “alienated,” which literally means “to be excluded, separated, or foreign to.” This means that His life can feel “foreign” to us. Not only that, but we can even feel like God is hostile towards us.  
 
But I want you to notice where the core-root of this alienation from and hostility towards God was located— “in your mind.” In other words, what we experienced was a result of the way we were thinking and what we believed in our heart. So, what this means is that if it was our “stinking thinking” that led us away from God in the first place, then the renewing of our minds must be part of the process of restoring us back to God. In other words, if this alienation began in our minds, it is possible that we can continue to experience alienation in our flesh & soul until our thinking changes.
 
And I am telling you the truth, the majority of Christians who have been fully reconciled to God do not sense or experience that reconciliation, and they live their entire lives feeling like God is way up there somewhere and they are stuck way down here all alone. This ought not to be so, church! This verse goes on to say, “yet now He has reconciled.” Not, “yet in the future He will reconcile,” but “now He has reconciled.” Therefore, all who have put their faith in Christ have been and currently are reconciled unto God! Glory!
 
Once you renew your mind to that truth—when you own it as yours—then say goodbye to feeling like you are alienated from God and His enemy! Praise God! You will experience that peace that comes through His reconciliation!
 
Then notice the glorious truths of verse 22— “in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, blameless, and above reproach in His sight…” So, Jesus offered up His life as a sacrifice for our sins in order to present us to God like an offering that is holy, blameless, and above reproach in the sight of God!
 
Now we’ve already touched on this word “holy,” but let’s look at the other terms used to describe our reconciled condition in Christ …
 
The word “blameless” refers to being “faultless & without blemish”—like the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament were to be without blemish. In fact, this word “blameless” is the same word used in 1 Peter 1:19 to describe Jesus as the Lamb “without blemish” and without spot. Therefore, we have been presented to the Father like pure and spotless lambs because we are in the Lamb of God who is pure and spotless! That means we have no spots, no wrinkles, and are presented that way to our Holy Husband (Compare with Ephesians 5:26-27).
 
Notice the next words— “above reproach.” This literally means “not called in” (i.e. “not called to account”). This phrase describes being totally free from any charge being on our account. You see, not only are we made without blemish, but all the charges that we previously had on our account have been washed away in the blood of Christ! Glory! But wait, it gets even better …
 
Paul goes to say that we are holy, blameless, and above reproach “in His sight.” This is the same “sight” that all things are naked and open to the eyes of (See Hebrews 4:13). The Greek word for “sight” literally means “to look down it,” denoting a deep inspection and a penetrating gaze. You see, God has so thoroughly cleansed us, made us blameless, and erased the charges we once had, that not even God’s most thorough and penetrating inspection can detect a flaw in our newly recreated spirit! Glory!
 
Again, the picture that Paul is painting here in verse 22 is of God’s most desirable offering under the Old Testament. He began by showing how Jesus—who truly was the perfect sacrifice—died for us so that He could present us—who were imperfect in ourselves—as “holy, blameless, and above reproach in the sight of God.” Yes, Jesus Christ—the Lamb of God who is without blemish and without spot—suffered in our place—so that we could become His perfect and holy people, that even under the most complete and thorough inspection of God Himself would be found to be perfect and complete before Him! Glory to God!
 
Church, we must set these truths ever before us and proclaim them in the face of all temptations to believe otherwise. Yes, when our flesh, our own heart, or the devil tries to tell us that we are impure, unclean, or not special, it is then that we need to proclaim that we are “Holy!” When our mind or the enemy tries to tell us that we are to be blamed, it is then that we must proclaim that we are “blameless.” When any of these things try to bring an accusation of something we may have done, it is then that we must proclaim that we are “without reproach.” Yes, we can declare today and everyday that we are sanctified because He is the LORD our SANCTIFIER! Amen!      

REVIEW
 
Hallowed be His Name! That’s exactly what we’ve been doing over the past month where we have been specifically focusing on the Names of God in an attempt to get to know Him better.
 
You see, as we made the point of in the beginning of this series, in Bible times, a person’s name told you a lot about that person.  Oftentimes, people were named things that the one naming them desired to see in their lives or what God specifically was prophesying that they would become. So a name represented the person’s character, person, and behavior. Likewise, God’s Names specifically reveal to us His person, character, and attributes.  
 
So, if you and I want to come to know God better, studying His Names is a great way to do so. And what will this produce? It will yield more confidence, assurance, and boldness in how we approach God and do things in His Name.
 
So, we started off looking at His first, general Name for “God”— the name Elohim. This describes God as the all-powerful, sovereign, creator of the heavens and the earth whom we must give an account to in the future as our Ruler and Judge. This is a good, healthy way to know God initially. However, we ought not stop there as so many of God’s children do.
 
We need to come to know ALL of His Names in order to have the complete picture of who He is revealed to us. And we then started looking at how “God” was more than just the all-powerful One but that He is the One who is Most High, All-Seeing, and our All-Sufficiency – three of those “El” names of Elohim.
 
But what I wanted to spend the majority of the time doing in this series is focusing on the covenant-keeping, Jehovah names of God in the Old Testament – the Names He revealed Himself by to Israel. In my opinion, these names show us very clearly what the LORD has promised to be to us, His covenant people.
 
Speaking of LORD, we spent a week talking about this term because all of these other names stem from it – the Name Yahweh. And we learned how this Name is the relational Name of God.   
 
You see, it’s all about relationship with Yahweh. In fact, this name of His is a very relational name as it’s used when God gets involved with His creation and shows us His redeeming power. Yes, Yahweh is God’s covenant keeping name and what He “exists” to do on our behalf.
 
I intentionally used the word “exist” there because, at its root, Yahweh means “to be.” We learned that this is why, when Moses asked God to give him His name, that He said to tell the children of Israel that “I Am Who I Am” had sent him to them. So Yahweh’s full meaning is – “The One who was, who is, and who is to come” – which is what Jesus revealed Himself as to the apostle John (Revelation 1:8).
 
But we also learned that Yahweh was the name that God had intended to reveal Himself as to the children of Israel – a name that was not fully realized by even Abraham and the rest of the patriarchs (See Exodus 6:1-8). In other words, Yahweh/Jehovah was going to be the name that God was going to use to further expound on His nature & character through the covenant He would establish with Israel.
       
Which leads us to what we began looking at last week – the Yahweh/Jehovah names of God that further amplify what our God is, was, and ever more shall be, our Lord who always keeps His covenant, and who will do what He promised for those He is in relationship with.
 
Yes, these names are the fulfillment of what God meant in Exodus chapter 6 when he said that He was going to reveal His name as Yahweh to His people and they would REALLY come to know Him in a way that the patriarchs never did. Thereby, Israel would be able to obtain the promises that escaped the patriarchs.
 
Now as I said last week, I am going to use the name Jehovah for all of these names because that is how I learned them as an English-speaking American, but you are free to substitute Yahweh for Jehovah on each of these names if you so desire. 
 
So last week, we began with the name God revealed Himself through in Ezekiel 48:35 – Jehovah Shammah.   
 
We learned that Jehovah Shammah means “The LORD is there” and thus denotes – Yahweh is present. So we saw that this Name of Yahweh reveals God’s nature to always be there and present with His people.
 
So we looked at a lot of Scriptures that echo this part of His Person where we learned that God is our ever-present help in a time of need and that He has promised to never leave or forsake us.
 
You see, church, God’s character is that of faithfulness, and being faithful means you are consistently there for the one’s you love. So the LORD’s nature is to always be present and there for us, the objects of His love. Which He took to another level under this new and better covenant that we have with Him because now Christ is in us.
We saw this illustrated in the first verse of the Bible that Shammah was used in when Genesis 2:8 says, “The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.”
 
The picture that was painted here is of God planting a garden and then placing the man whom he created “there” (i.e. Shammah). So when you and I were saved, a garden was planted in us – our old, stony heart was taken out and new, soft, cultivated spirit was placed in us. Then the “Man” was put in THERE. That’s the Lord Jesus Christ, the Last Adam. Glory!
 
So if Christ abides within us, then you and I can’t have the Lord any more “there” than that, amen? Likewise, the Holy Spirit has filled our temples if we’ve received Him. So that’s another member of the Godhead “present” and He was promised to abide with us forever. Amen! 
 
But oh, how often do God’s people feel like God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit have left them and forsaken them? It’s more than it ought to be – because if we’ve got these exceedingly great and precious promises of Him always being with us, why would we let the way we feel get in the way of what He has promised?  
 
Yes, saints, God is with us and will never not be – all because He is Jehovah Shammah and He always will be present, whether we feel Him or not.
 
THE ORIGIN OF RAPHA
 
Now the next name of God that I would like us to look at is probably one of the most well-known “Jehovah names” of God – the Name “Jehovah Rapha.” Not that it’s meaning is embraced and esteemed by the majority of the Lord’s church in terms of believing in and trusting Him for it, but this name is certainly more commonly recognized than the LORD’s other names.
 
This Name of God is mentioned first in Exodus 15:26. Let me give you just a little background of it …
 
Immediately following the miracle at the Red Sea where God parted the waters, the children of Israel passed through it on dry ground, and the pursuing Pharoah was drowned in it, the LORD brought them into the Wilderness of Shur. So after three days of wandering in this wilderness, the Israelites were in desperate need of water. Then they discovered a river called Marah, but its waters were too “bitter” to drink.
 
Interestingly enough, the word used for “bitter” here was also used to describe the attitude of bitterness. So to me, this describes the “attitude” we should have toward bitterness – that we should never drink of it like we would never drink of bitter waters like Marah.
 
You see, church, there are certain vices like bitterness, unforgiveness, offense, etc. that we need to have zero tolerance towards. In fact, these little foxes are what will spoil our vines the most (Song of Solomon 2:15). So I hold to the standard that I have zero tolerance of these particular sins just like I would stealing, killing, adultery, etc.
 
So as the children of Israel complained against Moses for leading them out into the wilderness with nothing to drink, he cried out to the Lord and the Lord showed him a tree – and not just any tree, but this was a special tree that provide the cure/remedy for the water’s bitterness. (Is the Lord talking to anybody in this place today?)
 
So when Moses cast that particular tree into the waters of Marah, we are told that the bitter waters were made “sweet”—that is, good and pleasurable.   
 
So following this miracle, we are told that God made a statute and an ordinance for them after testing them there. And so then we come to Exodus 15:26 where He declared Himself as Jehovah Rapha to His people …
 
He said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.” (Exodus 15:26)
 
This promise was obviously a gesture of assurance from God to the children of Israel – calling it a statute and an ordinance – who had witnessed the plagues that God had released over all of Egypt prior to their release from slavery. However, the timing and connection here to the bitter waters of Marah being made sweet by the tree is what is interesting to me – for this seems to just come out of the blue.
 
But I don’t think that’s the case – I believe the waters being “healed, cured, and remedied” is the cause for our introduction to Jehovah Rapha because this is what Rapha describes. Let me explain …
 
I AM YOUR HEALER
 
So before we get into anything else, let’s look at this name God gave Himself at the end of Exodus 15:26 – Jehovah Rapha. 
 
Now the Hebrew word “rapha” literally describes to heal or make healthful, but it also describes curing, mending, or repairing.
 
But again, let me remind you that the name/term “Jehovah” has come from the Hebrew word Yahweh and at its core, Yahweh describes the One that “Be.” We learned that this is why, when Moses asked God to give him His name that He said to tell the children of Israel that “I Am Who I Am” had sent him to them. So Yahweh’s full meaning is – “The One who was and who will be. Therefore, He is the One who IS.
 
Therefore, when we have these names of God that begin with Yahweh/Jehovah, they were prefaced with – “The LORD is ….”
 
That means that like when “Shammah” was added on, God’s Name is – “The LORD IS There.” So here when “Rapha” is included, the LORD’s name is – “The LORD IS Healer.” Yes, He’s the One who Cures, Mends, Repairs, Makes Whole, and HEALS!
 
And if you’ve spent any time objectively studying the Scriptures, you’ll see that this is most certainly who He was, is, and evermore shall be – The LORD our Healer!
 
Let’s look at some of the Scriptures that clearly reveal God to us as our Healer …
 
Now like it was with Jehovah Shammah where we saw that there are boo coo’s of Scripture that echo God’s Name of “I AM THERE,” there are also a whole lot of Scriptures that echo Jehovah Rapha. And this shouldn’t surprise us – for if these are His Names, then they are core characteristics of His divine nature and, therefore, will be laced throughout the Scriptures. Amen?  
 
So let’s take a look at some of the verses that describe God as the LORD our Healer, beginning in the Old Testament …
 
ü  Exodus 23:25 – “So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you. No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.”
 
ü  Deuteronomy 7:15 – “And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and will afflict you with none of the terrible diseases of Egypt which you have known, but will lay them on all those who hate you.”
 
ü  Psalm 103:3 – “Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases,”
 
ü  Psalm 107:19-20 – “Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.”
 
ü  Psalm 147:3 – “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
 
ü  Isaiah 53:4-5 – “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.”
 
ü  Jeremiah 17:14 – “Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, for You are my praise.”
 
ü  Jeremiah 30:17 – “For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds,’ says the Lord …”
 
So Yahweh was certainly a Healer in the Old Testament, but what about the New Testament?


Well, Jesus was sent to us as the “express image of God” (Hebrews 1:3). He said that if we have seen Him, we have seen the Father (John 14:9). Why? Because the Son came to declare Him when no man can see God on their own (John 1:18).
 
So I say all of this to say, if we want to learn about God’s “Name” then just look at Jesus because His works reveal to us the true nature of God.
 
Now in Jesus ministry, we have a lot along the lines of Him being a Healer …
 
ü  Matthew 4:23 – “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.”
 
ü  Matthew 9:35 – “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.”
 
ü  Matthew 10:1 – “And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.”
 
ü  Mark 16:17-18 – “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name … they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
 
ü  Acts 10:38 – “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”
 
Then toward the end of the New Testament, we have one of my personal favorite verses that reveals God’s desire for us to live healthy lives …
 
ü  3 John 2 – “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.”
 
So through all of these verses, it is crystal clear that the LORD is our Healer! Amen? Yes, He was in the healing business in the Old Testament. And is in the healing business in the New Testament. And guess what? He always will be in the healing business. Yes, He has always been in the healing business and He’s not going out of business anytime soon! Amen!
 
THE LORD OUR PHYSICIAN
 
But when it comes to the Hebrew word “rapha,” there is something about this word that I believe is extremely important to note: Next to be translated as “heal” in the original King James Version, the second most used translation of this word rapha is the term “physician.”
 
In fact, when we look at how “rapha” is defined, we can see how a physician or doctor could come from it – for the word means to heal or make healthful, and also included to mend, repair, and cure – all of which are things that someone from the medical community have devoted their lives to do. Amen!
 
One example with this word “rapha” is used in the Old Testament, where there was a specific connection being made between a person’s disease and how they went about being healed: This was the story of King Asa in Second Chronicles 16:12 where we are told – “And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe, yet in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians.”
 
The word used for “physicians” at the end of this verse is the Hebrew word “rapha.” So what do we see happening here in this story? We see the Scriptures giving us a warning that when it comes to healing, it’s important to our Great Physician that we seek Him first for it.
 
I’d compare it to this – Say you have a doctor already, but then when you have an issue, you go to another doctor. Well, if your doctor learned that you did that, it might be little offensive to them, right?
 
You see, the LORD does not want us turning to anything or anyone above Him, and this certainly applies to the needs we have in our lives like healing. He wants to be our source! He desires for us to seek Him first, not second, third, fourth, etc. This is important to our Great Physician. 
 
Now don’t hear what I’m not saying: The Lord is not against us going to doctors, having surgeries, or taking medicine. In fact, sometimes He will lead one to do these things. Why? Because both our Great Physician and the physicians of this world are fighting the same battle. My point is simply that when it comes to the care for our bodies, the Lord wants us to turn to Him first and see how He wants us to handle it – all because again, He is our Great Physician.
 
So this is why you probably have heard God referred to as our Great Physician. This comes from Jesus’ words – both when He said that those who are sick are the ones in need of a physician, obviously referring to Himself (See Luke 5:31), and also when others would quote the proverb to Him, “Physician, heal yourself!” So Jesus was obviously referred to as a Physician (See Luke 4:23).
 
Now I’d like to walk us through the example we have in this world of going to our doctors and the process of getting help from them because the LORD has shown me that there are a lot of parallels there to how we receive from Him.  
 
You see, if God is our Great Physician, the true expert in this profession of health and healing, then it would behoove us to go to our “Doc” and let Him lead us into our healing. Amen?
 
So let’s look at this natural example of us going to our physicians and the steps that are taken to help lead us into healing …
 
STEP #1 – GOING TO THE DOCTOR
 
So what’s the first thing that we have to do to allow our physicians to help us with our health? Well, I think the obvious answer to that is you have got to go to them!
 
You see, so many people don’t ever make appointments to see their doctor until it’s an absolute emergency. But wisdom would be to prepare for healing before there’s ever an issue, right?
 
So getting in the presence of the physician is obviously the first step. Likewise, getting in the presence of our Great Physician is a vital part of receiving His healing.
 
You see, there are a lot of us Christians who go to God with the same frequency that we go to the doctor – meaning, sure, we go to Him when there’s an emergency, but other than that, we rarely seek the Lord. How many of you know that shouldn’t be the case? We don’t need to just seek God when we are in tough spots. We ought to seek God and come to Him regularly.
 
Now I can give you plenty of Scripture on the need for us to come to the Lord …
 
For one, on almost every healing that Jesus performed during His ministry and that was recorded in the Gospels, the sick & infirm came to Him. Of course, there are times where someone came on behalf of the sick like say the Centurion with his servant and Jairus with his daughter, but the fact is, the person with the authority in that household came to the Great Physician. There were a couple of instances where Jesus seemed to initiate the healing/miracle, but the vast majority of people who got healed in Jesus’ ministry had to come to Him to initiate it themselves. And the good news is that every person we see that came to Him in faith got what they came for!
 
Now we might have to make an appointment with our doctors here on the earth, but none of these folks did. They just oftentimes showed up at Jesus’ office and barged in. So it’s obvious that our Great Physicians policy is “No appointments necessary!” Yes, come as you are, says the Lord! As Isaiah 55:1 says, “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.” So not only is the Lord saying that no appointment is necessary, but He also says that He’s not expecting payment either. Just simply draw near to Him and He will draw near to you. He doesn’t need us to clean our act up; He just needs us to repent – which is to turn unto Him and away from anything that is contrary to Him. Amen!  
 
So simply going to the doctor is the first step to receiving the help we need. Perhaps this is why we see passages of Scripture like the 91st Psalm, that promise Him delivering us from the perilous pestilence and taking away the plague from our dwelling, starting off with dwelling in the secret place of the Most High and abiding under the shadow of Shaddai. It’s because living in Jehovah Rapha’s presence will do nothing but help yield healing in our lives.
 
Psalm 91:1 reads: “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” So what this verse is saying is that it is the one who dwells in the secret place of the Most High (El Elyon) that shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty (El Shaddai) and thus receive Elohim and Yahweh’s promise of provision and protection, including healing. 
 
You know, that wise saying – “You become like who you hang around” – certainly applies to God as well. Yes, just maintaining a good, healthy relationship with Him and staying close to Him will yield the fruit of His Name more times than not. For example, if God is a blessing, then hanging out with Him will produce blessing in our lives. Likewise, if God is a Healer, then sticking around Him will produce healing in our lives as well. Amen?
 
So hopefully you can see just how important getting in the presence of the Physician is. Oftentimes, just getting to the Door is the first step. 
 
STEP #2 – SPEAK THE TRUTH
 
But like it is with us going to the Doctor, that’s usually not enough. When you’re there, there are other things that must be done to get the help that you need …
 
Now this part needs to be said – What is usually the first thing we have to do when we get to the doctor’s office? WAIT! Yeah, you might have to wait for an amount of time that your flesh ain’t too comfortable with.
 
And sometimes it feels that way when spending time with the LORD. Yes, we might have to wait on the Lord, and do it when it doesn’t feel like He is there with us.
 
But what have we learned already? He’s always there! So you got to do it by faith sometimes and wait for the manifestation of His presence. Wait on the Lord, I say.
 
Now once your name gets called in the waiting room, the next thing you have to do is ultra important: When one of the doctor’s techs or nurses come into the room and start asking you all of their questions, you have to be honest and disclose everything!
 
Yes, when we go to the doctor, the first thing they usually do is ask us some questions by doing an assessment and then the doctor themselves will ask you certain questions when they see you. Well, if you don’t give them all the information and disclose all your symptoms, history, etc. it’s going to be more difficult for them to diagnose your problem.
 
So how does this relate to us with our Great Physician? Well, you have to be truthful with Him. You can’t hide things (not that you could ever hide anything from Him anyway).
 
Did you know that sometimes healing simply comes as you are willing to be transparent? I have personally experienced how, as being the “preacher,” that people try to hide their weaknesses, faults and shortcomings from me. They will hide their cigarettes when I approach them. They will clean up their language when I am around them. But what we need to understand is that if we are not willing to put our struggles & weaknesses on the table, then the Lord is going to have a harder time taking them from us. We must walk in truth and transparency – being willing to acknowledge and deal with our stuff in order to have it eradicated from our lives.
 
This certainly applies to the Lord – our Physician and Counselor. He wants us to walk in the truth with Him, to be open and transparent.
 
STEP #3 – LETTING THEM RUN DIAGNOSTICS
 
Another thing that happens as we go to the doctor and they do their assessment is that after they gather their information, they oftentimes will do diagnostic tests – that is, they will do labs, x-rays, ultrasounds, etc.
 
And why do they do this? It’s because there are a lot of things that cannot be determined with the naked eye. They have to go deeper and find out what is going on beneath the surface to be able to nail down what the real problems are.
 
Well, how does this relate to the Lord, our Great Physician? It’s simple – the Lord obviously sees deeper than we can. He is said to be the One whom no creature is hidden from His sight, but that all things are naked and open to Him (See Hebrews 4:13). Yes, His Word is able to cut deep down and discern the thoughts and intents of our hearts (See verse 12).
 
So my point is that our Physician knows how to run some diagnostics. He knows better than anyone what is our true condition deep down in our hearts. Therefore, He always comes to the correct conclusion when it comes to the root causes of all of our infirmities and also knows the correct course of action.
 
And this is why we need to go to our Divine Physician first – because even our best doctors can’t see everything. Yes, they can miss it. God, on the other hand, knows what the root cause of everything and sometimes the physical problems we have are a result of spiritual issues. Therefore, going to Him and letting Him look deep into our lives is critical, as He is omniscient.
 
Now that leads me to the next thing …
 
STEP #4 – BEING REFERRED TO A SPECIALIST
 
One of the things that happens when we visit our doctor is that, based on the issue that we are having, he or she will have to direct us to a specialist. Like for example – if our primary care physician sees that our issues are likely heart related, they might refer us to a heart specialist (i.e. a cardiologist). If our doctor believes that our physical symptoms are being caused by neurological issues, they will refer us to a neurologist. You get the point.
 
So I say this to say that when we go to the Lord, our Great Physician, there is a chance He might “lead” you to go this person or that person to get the help you need. That might be you going to your pastor. It could be you going to a particular meeting where your answers lie. It could be listening to a certain teaching that contains your answer. The possibilities are endless. My point is that sometimes the Lord will “refer” you to something or someone else that might specialize in the issues you are having, and you and I need to be open to that.
 
It's not that the Lord doesn’t have all the answers and can’t give them to you, but you’ve got to understand something – It’s not always about what He can do; it’s really about what we can receive. And that certainly relates to healing.
 
The bottom line is the Lord wants us well, so if we are going to best receive by having a certain person speak truth into our lives, then He will lead you to that. We just have to remain open.  
 
STEP #5 – FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS & FILLING THE PRESCRIPTION
 
Then finally, one of the most important things that one must do is that, when the doctor gives you instructions, you gotta do what he or she says and not despise the counsel the doctor gives you!
 
You see, sometimes our physicians might tell us that we need to shed some of that excess weight through exercise. Sometimes they might tell us to make some dietary adjustments by eating more of this or less of that. And sometimes (which today seems more like most of the time) they will prescribe you with medicine of some kind.
 
And I understand – when it comes to our natural doctors, we might not trust their instructions. We might be leery of the medications they are prescribing to us. But when it comes to our Great Physician, you can and should always trust His prescriptions.
 
For example, He might prescribe you some “Psalmex” – saying, “Take Psalm 91 and call me in the morning!” He might call you in some “Romanol” and have you taking a concentrated dose of your righteousness in Christ. He might have you taking some “Philippian” and focusing on your joy levels.   
 
There are a lot of options and direction He might take to cure your particular ailment, but this is why its important to get in His presence and let Him give you the proper diagnosis.
 
This is what I like to call taking God’s “medicine,” which actually has a Scriptural basis.
 
So, let’s turn in our Bibles over to Proverbs 4:20-23 where Solomon writes – “My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.”
 
Notice, first of all, that Solomon is referring to His sons (and daughters) by saying, “My son…”
 
Now, although Solomon was the man who penned this, we know that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. Therefore, this is God communicating with us, His sons and daughters. So, let’s read this that way—not just as black letters on white pages but as it is in truth, God speaking to us His children.
 
Now we also made the point last week that exhortations like these to give attention to His Words, etc. are done solely in love just like we tell our children things like - “Now make sure you brush your teeth, take your vitamins, etc.” Now why do you tell them things like that? Because you understand things they don’t yet - that doing certain things are for their own good and you are trying to make their lives more healthy and prosperous. Amen?
 
Well, this is why God tells you things too. Jesus said that if we being evil know how to give good gifts (including instruction) to our children, how much more does our Father in heaven know how to give good gifts (including instruction) to His children? Amen! Yes, saints, God is not trying to get something through you; He is trying to get something to you. He loves you so much that He gives you specific instructions like this to make your life better. Thank you, Lord!
 
Now notice down in verse 22 that HE (the Holy Spirit through Solomon) says, “For they (They what? They—His Words and His sayings) are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.”
 
But I want you to notice that the latter part of verse 22 does not say that God’s Word is “healing” for all our flesh. No, it says that His Words are “health” to all our flesh. In fact, the Hebrew word used for “health” here describes “medicine.” Yes, if you look in the margin of your Bible, you will see that the word “health” literally describes “medicine.” This word comes from the Hebrew word “marpe” which is defined as “restoration of health, remedy, cure, medicine.” This word occurs 13 times in the Old Testament, coming from our word “rapha” (the verb) which, like we said, means to heal, cure, or repair.
 
So, what this Scripture is stating is that God’s Word is medicine, a remedy and a cure to all of our flesh! Amen!
 
Now it is important to understand that medicine does not always produce an instant cure. Sometimes you have to take it for days before it takes effect. Well, God’s Word is like that. But here is the great part: It will work every time because it is a spiritual law and His Word is packed full of life and healing remedies, like a capsule or pill has contained within it what you need to be healed.
 
Now let me say that if God’s “Words and Sayings” will heal you and bring health to your body, then how could it not be God’s will for everyone to be healed? Let me ask it this way, if God told us here how to get health to all our flesh, then shouldn’t this be clear that God’s will is to heal? Someone will say, “How does this prove to us that it is God’s will to heal, Trey?” Well, aren’t God’s Words for everybody? Would you say that it is not God’s will for you receive any of His Words? Of course not! If anyone said that you would call them a heretic, right? No, friends, God tells us how to receive health and healing to all our flesh and it is through receiving His Words. So if His Words are for everyone, then healing and health must be for everyone, for His Word is life to those who find them and health to all their flesh. Amen! On top of that, why would God tell you how to get something like life and health and it not be His will for you? No, if He tells you how to get it, then it most certainly is to be “gotten.” Amen!
 
Now we are not just talking about healing verses in the Bible. This Scripture does not specifically say that His promises of healing are health to all our flesh. No, all of God’s Word is life to those who find it and health to all our flesh.
 
For example, God’s Word is food for our spirit, and just like we do not have to know what the molecular structure of a piece of corn or the complete makeup of a grain of wheat, we can still partake of it and receive all the benefits. In other words, you don’t have to know everything about what you put in your body—whether it be what you drink or what you eat and even the medicine that you take. All you have to do is take it, and it will perform what it is programmed to perform.
 
Brother Kenneth E. Hagin used to say that when he was a little boy, he used to wonder how a brown cow could eat green grass and produce white milk which when churned became yellow butter; but all the time, while he was trying to figure it out, he was enjoying the butter and drinking the milk. Hallelujah!
 
Friends, just put God’s Word in you. You don’t have to understand it all. You don’t have to have a theological degree and understand the original Greek and Hebrew. Just take God’s Word—take it at face value and let His medicine become health to all your flesh! Amen!
 
 
 
So if God’s Words and Sayings are medicine to all our flesh, then do you reckon God has a prescribed formula of how to take His medicine? In other words, if His Word is our medicine, then does God’s Word also give us directions on how to take it?
 
You see, our Great Physician has given us a prescription - which is an instruction written that authorizes us to be provided a medicine or treatment. Well, that would most certainly be God’s Word: It contains the prescription that authorizes you and I to obtain His medicine. Hallelujah! So we already have the prescription! It’s waiting at the pharmacy, with our name on it! Our health insurance—the stripes of Jesus—have already paid for our prescription. Amen! No, in God’s kingdom, there is no co-pay. There is no deductible that needs to be met. It’s already been paid for 100% by our Great Physician!
 
So it’s not God’s fault if we aren’t taking our medicine - He’s already made available what to take and He’s already paid for it! So there are no more excuses. We don’t have to wait for the gifts of the Spirit to be in operation to receive healing and health. C’mon somebody!
 
All we have to do is follow His directions for taking His medicine, and those directions are listed right here, in Proverbs 4:20-21. Yes, God’s directions for taking His medicine – which is health to all our flesh – are listed here in Proverbs 4:20-21. Amen!
 
Yes, these verses contain the directions for taking God’s medicine so that it can take full effect in our body! Amen!
 
First, we need to give our full attention to His Words—that is, using both our ears and our eyes. Second, we need to incline our ears to His Words—that is, putting ourselves in the best position to hear. Third, we need to keep God’s Words ever before our eyes by meditating on them day and night. And, last but not least, by following these first three directions – His Words will enter into the midst of our heart. Then it is our job to keep them there. And we do this through giving even the more earnest heed to the things we have heard. Amen! 
 
If you follow these four directions that are on God’s medicine bottle, it will be impossible for any sickness, weakness, disease, etc. to remain in your body - because this is some potent medicine! It will work for everyone – regardless of who you are or what you’ve done. Amen!
 
Again, if you, following these specific directions, will take enough of God’s Word for long enough, you will be healed! Amen and amen! 
 
Church, this is the prescribed formula that our Great Physician has given to us that works every single, solitary time. But we first have to go to Him. We have to wait on the Lord in His presence. Then we need to be honest and transparent, and then let Him examine us. After that, if He sends you to a certain “specialist,” by all means go! And finally, if He calls you in some specific meds, take them. God’s way is always perfect, saints! You’ll never find a better Physician than Him.