WHAT'S IN A NAME? JEHOVAH

WHAT'S IN A NAME? JEHOVAH (YAHWEH)

Why do I love looking at the names of God? Because they represent who He is and His characteristics. The first name we looked at was Elohim, which describes God as The Creator. He can create something out of nothing. The second name of God that we are going to look at is the name Jehovah.
Jehovah is one of the main names God uses for Himself. In fact, it is used as His name over 7,000 times in the scripture! The first time we see this name of God in scripture is in Genesis 2:4, "These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD (Jehovah) God (Elohim) made the earth and the heavens." There is actually another name here for God, Jehovah, in the Hebrew language that describes His names as YHWH. We added the vowels to say the name Yahweh, but we are just guessing at the pronunciation. We find out later in scripture that this is the PERSONAL name of God. If you were to ask me what my name is, I would tell you Lori. If you were to ask God what His name is, He would tell you Jehovah, Yahweh. In fact, even in today's society, the orthodox Jews will not say the name Jehovah or Yahweh because they believe it to be too reverent of a name. When reading scripture, they will substitute the name Jehovah with Lord. Whenever you read scripture with the name LORD all in capitals, what you are reading is the name Jehovah!
Even though we are given the name Jehovah in Genesis, it isn't until Exodus that we find out where God first gave His personal name out. We find it in Exodus chapter 3. This is the story of Moses. If you are not familiar with Moses' story, let me explain it to you. There was a terrible drought in the land that was threatening the small group of Israelites that had just been formed, first with Abraham, then Isaac and then Jacob. One of Jacob's sons, Joseph, was sold into slavery in Egypt by his brothers. Joseph went through slavery to end up in prison, but God had a purpose. God used Joseph to interrupt dreams for Pharaoh which ended up saving them from the drought because of that, Pharaoh ended up making Joseph second in charge of all the land of Egypt. Then God brought Joseph's brothers down to Egypt because they needed food. They were reunited with Joseph and Joseph brought them all down to Egypt to save them. There, the children of Israel grew in great numbers because God had promised to bless them. For 400 years they lived there and thrived. Eventually, the Egyptians forgot all about who Joseph was to them and the current Pharaoh looked at all these people that weren't Egyptians and got nervous that the Israelites could over take them. He wanted them to stop reproducing and made them slaves for the Egyptians. However, this did not stop the Israelites from multiply and being blessed. So then Pharaoh ordered the Egyptian midwives that delivered the Israelite babies to kill all the male born children. But the midwives realized the hand of God on the Israelites and would not do it. So then the Pharaoh started going in and killing all the children that were born to the Israelites. This is where we meet Moses. He was born and hidden by his mother so that no one knew he was there. When he was a little older and could stay as quiet, his mother made him a basket and put him in the river amongst the reeds. And wouldn't you know it? Moses happened to be in the river right as Pharaoh's daughter came down to it. And of course she heard the baby. And like most women, when she saw him, she fell in love and decided to keep him as her own son. This is how good God is, Moses' sister was there and was able to tell Pharaoh's daughter that she knew someone who could nurse the baby until he was weaned and Moses was able to be with his mother until he was old enough to go to the palace.
Moses grows up in opulence in the Pharaoh's house but he obviously knew that he was an Israelite. One day, he was walking by when he saw an Egyptian guard beating a fellow Israelite. He went over to intervene and ended up killing the Egyptian. Here he is, the grandson of the Pharaoh and he killed an Egyptian for the sake of an Israelite. He was in big trouble. So he fled Egypt and ended up in the desert of Midian, where he met his wife and became a shepherd for his father in law.
Can I stop right here and remind you that Moses went from the lap of luxury to the desert hills alone watching smelly sheep. This was in the middle of his life and I'm sure he was thinking that life really hadn't turned out as he expected. What he didn't realize was that he was about to meet God and God had a bigger plan and purpose for his life than sitting in a palace. In fact, this lowly job of shepherding sheep was going to come in quite handy when he had to shepherd the whole people of Israel! He was in training and he didn't even know it. Someone out there (me included) may feel like life hasn't turned out like we wanted and instead of the palace, we are in a hot desert watching sheep. Let me tell you that Jehovah is not done with your story! He is preparing you for what He has prepared for you! So do the mundane with purpose, knowing that what's to come is important!
Moses is out in the desert and he sees something interesting. There is a bush and it's burning. That is not usual for the desert. What is unusual is that the burning bush isn't burning up. Moses walks towards this anomaly and the bush calls out his name. (This is where I might need a fresh new pair of underwear.) Moses answers the bush and is told to take off his shoes because where he was standing was holy ground. It wasn't that the desert ground was holy, it was because Jehovah was there with him! *(side note- if something in your life that God is doing doesn't make sense to you, it could be because He is ready to reveal something new about Himself in your life that you've never seen before!)
After God explains to Moses that He wants Moses to go and rescue the people of Israel, Moses has a few problems with that. One being that he's going to show up and tell the Israelites to go with him, but he doesn't even know God's name. Exodus 3:14, "God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.'" This is translated to the verb "to be". It's an action. Greg described it one time as "I BE WHO I BE" - it's bad grammar but amazing theology! God is the self-sufficient, self-existent, all eternal God. He is in action in the present because He exists in the present. But it's so much more than that! Jehovah knows about where Moses is at right at that very time and He knows where Israel is. He knows where they've been and He knows where they are going. Jehovah gives His name to Moses so that He and the Israelites will know that He wants a PERSONAL relationship with them! Jehovah cares for them and He cares for you. What Jehovah wants more than anything is to have a personal relationship with you!
I can't help but think with Good Friday coming up about how God became personal with us as Jesus. Jesus becoming human was all about becoming personal with us.
Did you know that the only name of God that Jesus ever referred to Himself as was Jehovah? In John chapter 8, we see the Jewish people asking who Jesus thinks he is and if he thinks he is greater than Abraham. Jesus answers them in verse 58, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am (Jehovah)." If you don't think the Jewish people knew what he was talking about, in the next verse it says they picked up stones to kill him. Jesus is the great I AM and He wants a personal relationship with you. That is what Good Friday is all about. Jesus went to the cross and died so that you and I can have eternal life in heaven with Him if we accept Him to be our savior. So many people think that they can do "religion" their own way. But just as Moses was told to take off his sandals because he was standing on holy ground, so are there conditions to having a personal relationship with Jesus. He is the holy Jehovah. We need to come to Him and ask forgiveness of our sins and ask Him to be the LORD of our lives. Only by believing in Him and what He has done for us, by His death on the cross and resurrection from the dead, can we have eternal life in heaven with Him. There is no better time than now to receive Jesus as your Savior! Only in Him can we know that we have eternal life in heaven for our beautifully broken lives.