Baruch Ha Shem Adonai!
(Blessed be the Name of the Lord!)
(Blessed be the Name of the Lord!)
This is the eleventh in The CRIB's presentation of the Twelve Jewels of God ... a look at the wonderful, powerful, inspirational names of God.
The name before us is Jehovah Shammah, "The Lord is There"; it relates to a millennial promise of God ... to a future, earthly Jerusalem ... one in which the King of kings rules for a thousand years.
Again the name appears only once in the Old Testament:
I would have preferred to have retained the original Hebrew: יהוה שמה, Yahweh (Jehovah) Shammah.
Some say the name alludes to the shechinah glory, or the visible manifestation of the Divine Presence. The shechinah was present in the first temple, but not in the second.
Ezekiel tells us the Divine Presence will be in the city of which he speaks and will be there so fully and so powerfully the city requires a name change. We belive it is so the very name, Jehovah Shammah, will remind all mankind of the preeminent, transcendent, and glorious God who habitates this city.
Regarding our text [Ezekiel 48:35], Jerome said:
The shechinah glory, once present in the tabernacle and the temple, had departed Israel, it would not return in the same form according to the prophet.
If the believer is ever to understand Jehovah Shammah, he must understand:
Those who don't take to this truth lose out on the hope that comes with it.
Are we to say the valley is too deep to travel, the mountain is too high to climb, and then lament the LORD's absence when we need Him most? Yet He has promised, to abide there in us and in our midst even to the end of the age
How are we to deal with these mountains, these valleys? Absent God we cannot! When the LORD gives you a mountain high or a valley deep, you best have a strong hand to hold on to!
OLD TESTAMENT MARKERS
When the Israelites were being held in captivity [Jeremiah 29:1], they discovered their imprisonment would last seven decades - 70 years. The prophet Ezekiel told them the shechinah had departed from the temple in Jerusalem [Ezekiel 10 and 11] and they grieved deeply for the future of Israel.
I've always wondered what they expected when they behaved the way they did, did they expect El Elyon to not keep His word, to break His promises?
Well the last verse of Ezekiel gave them hope and subsequently gives us hope:
In biblical thought a new name means a new characteristic or character to correspond to it. The presence of the Lord God of Israel will be the chief glory of Jerusalem ... millennially and eternally. In fact, we are told that there will be no sun in the eternal Jerusalem for the Son of God will provide it light.
Jehovah Shammah has a message for the multitudes:The name before us is Jehovah Shammah, "The Lord is There"; it relates to a millennial promise of God ... to a future, earthly Jerusalem ... one in which the King of kings rules for a thousand years.
Again the name appears only once in the Old Testament:
The name of the city from that day shall be, "The Lord is There."But the theology developed from the name permeates the entire testament. After all, the names of God are indicative of His nature and attributes; these latter being everywhere present in the first 39 books of Scripture.Ezekiel 48:35
I would have preferred to have retained the original Hebrew: יהוה שמה, Yahweh (Jehovah) Shammah.
Some say the name alludes to the shechinah glory, or the visible manifestation of the Divine Presence. The shechinah was present in the first temple, but not in the second.
Ezekiel tells us the Divine Presence will be in the city of which he speaks and will be there so fully and so powerfully the city requires a name change. We belive it is so the very name, Jehovah Shammah, will remind all mankind of the preeminent, transcendent, and glorious God who habitates this city.
Regarding our text [Ezekiel 48:35], Jerome said:
The name of the city shall be no longer Jerusalem (“the vision of peace”), but Adonai-shama (“the Lord is there”) [rather, Jehovah-shammah, “Jehovah is there”], because Yahweh will never again withdraw from it, as He once withdrew, but will hold it as His everlasting possession.Two points are implied by the prophet -
1. That, when the Jews are restored, they will rebuild the temple, and divide the land as God has directed.Can we not believe that Ezekiel, by the superintendence of the Holy Spirit, not only points to the return of the Israelites from their captivity and what was to befall them prior to the Second Advent; but also to the spread of the Gospel in the earth and certainly the miraculous final conversion of the tribes of Israel by the preaching of that Gospel.
2. That God has another temple, another holy city, another Promised Land, in view; the promised land of Immanuel [God with us], the city of the New Jerusalem, the final temple [1 Peter 2:5], and the Christian Church -- which is the house of the living God [1 Timothy 3:15], in which the presence of Christ will be found forever [Revelation 22:3-5].
The shechinah glory, once present in the tabernacle and the temple, had departed Israel, it would not return in the same form according to the prophet.
Yet Ezekiel, in his visions, sees a temple reconstructed to present again the divine glory, a vision fulfilled in Emmanuel (“God with us”), who tabernacled among men. [John 1:14; compare Revelation 21:2-3, Barnes, loc. cit.]
If the believer is ever to understand Jehovah Shammah, he must understand:
1. the reality of being built up into a new temple made with living stonesWhat is so difficult here. The LORD is there, He is present in this new temple city, His presence manifested in it, literally.
2. the very real reality that Christ truly and literally indwells every believer.
Those who don't take to this truth lose out on the hope that comes with it.
Are we to say the valley is too deep to travel, the mountain is too high to climb, and then lament the LORD's absence when we need Him most? Yet He has promised, to abide there in us and in our midst even to the end of the age
How are we to deal with these mountains, these valleys? Absent God we cannot! When the LORD gives you a mountain high or a valley deep, you best have a strong hand to hold on to!
OLD TESTAMENT MARKERS
When the Israelites were being held in captivity [Jeremiah 29:1], they discovered their imprisonment would last seven decades - 70 years. The prophet Ezekiel told them the shechinah had departed from the temple in Jerusalem [Ezekiel 10 and 11] and they grieved deeply for the future of Israel.
I've always wondered what they expected when they behaved the way they did, did they expect El Elyon to not keep His word, to break His promises?
Well the last verse of Ezekiel gave them hope and subsequently gives us hope:
... the name of the city from that day shall be, 'The LORD is there."This final verse of the book provides the destiny and the destination of Israel's history.
In biblical thought a new name means a new characteristic or character to correspond to it. The presence of the Lord God of Israel will be the chief glory of Jerusalem ... millennially and eternally. In fact, we are told that there will be no sun in the eternal Jerusalem for the Son of God will provide it light.
God is in the midst of her, she will not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.Psalm 46:5
"For I," declares the LORD, "will be a wall of fire around her, and I will be the glory in her midst."The Targum has,Zechariah 2:5
"the name of the city which is separated from the day, the Lord will cause his Shechaniah to dwell there.'' [Gill, loc. cit.]And a city of such great stature will surely have a banner:
Moses built an altar and named it The LORD is My Banner. (Jehovah Nissi - The Lord My Banner)Exodus 17:15
At that time they will call Jerusalem "The Throne of the LORD," and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of the LORD; nor will they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart.NEW TESTAMENT MARKERSJeremiah 3:17
In The Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says,
Where two or three are gathered in My name there I shall be also.In The Gospel of John, Jesus is explaining His (the True Vine) and our (disciples) relationship to His Father (the vinedresser),
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.As Jesus prepares to depart for heaven He delivers what we call the Great Commission and closes with this,John 15:4
I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
If you seek Me, you'll find Me in your midst, for I dwell in My Temple, in My Kingdom, and My Son is the Temple and the Kingdom, where He is I shall be also ... behold -The Word took on flesh and dwells in your midst; you are living stones being built up into the Temple of God.
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