The Names of God - Yahweh-Shammah

Introduction

Proverbs 18:10 says, “The name of the Lord is a strong fortress; the godly run to him and are safe.”  God’s names reveal His character and help us to know Him.  Today, I want to consider the name Yahweh-Shammah, which means the Lord is there. We will see it is a name for God and also for a great city that Christians hope to inhabit one day.

Ezekiel was a prophet of Israel that lived in captivity in the time of the Babylonian Empire. Babylonia conquered Jerusalem and set up a puppet government that promised to be loyal to Babylonia. Then, Babylonia took several important people captive as hostages back to Babylonia. Ezekiel was among the captives. A few years later, Jerusalem rebelled and Babylonia returned to reconquer and destroy the city. When Ezekiel and the Israelite captives in Babylon heard the news of Jerusalem's destruction, they were devastated. But God gave them a vision through Ezekiel. God said Jerusalem and the temple had been destroyed because of Israel's sin of idolatry. However, God was going to one day build a new eternal city and temple and Israel's heritage and way of life will be built into the very walls of the city.

Ezekiel 48:30-35
³⁰ “These will be the exits to the city: On the north wall, which is 1 1⁄2 miles long, ³¹ there will be three gates, each one named after a tribe of Israel. The first will be named for Reuben, the second for Judah, and the third for Levi. ³² On the east wall, also 1 1⁄2 miles long, the gates will be named for Joseph, Benjamin, and Dan. ³³ The south wall, also 1 1⁄2 miles long, will have gates named for Simeon, Issachar, and Zebulun. ³⁴ And on the west wall, also 1 1⁄2 miles long, the gates will be named for Gad, Asher, and Naphtali.

³⁵ “The distance around the entire city will be 6 miles. And from that day the name of the city will be ‘The Lord Is There.’”

Slide – Yahweh-Shammah
The New Living Translation translates the Hebrew Name for God and the eternal city as "The Lord Is There".  The original Hebrew word was Yahweh-Shammah.  Yahweh means "I Am" or "I Am Who I Am".  Usually, this is translated into English as LORD with all capital letter to indicate the original word was Yahweh.  Lord is decent translation; it captures something of the original meaning.  A lord is sovereign.  You can't tell a lord what to do; the lord tells you what to do.  God (Yahweh) is Lord of all.  He is sovereign over everything.  He is who He is.  We can't control or manipulate Him.

Shammah means There.  Ezekiel 48:35 is the only time Shammah is used in the entire Bible.  

Yahweh-Shammah is the last word of the last sentence of the last chapter of Ezekiel.  The Prophet ends his vision of God’s restoration of the broken dreams of God’s people with this hope:  “Something new is coming.  I know our homes have been destroyed.  Our culture is demolished.  Our city and temple are gone and we are prisoners in a foreign land.  But One Day the Lord will build a new city and it’s eternal name will be “The Lord is There.”

Do you know the Lord is there?
Do you know the Lord is there?  Some people struggle to know the Lord is there.  Thy think of God as an old man in the sky, or a distant deity, or some ethereal energy or spiritual force.  However, the Bible repeatedly tells stories that reveal God is real, tangible, and personable. 

God spoke to the prophets.  God was a friend to Abraham. Genesis says God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden during the cool of the day.

If that weren’t enough, God took the form of a man and came down to earth.  He was born as a baby named Jesus.  We read how Jesus was dedicated at the Temple.  Luke tells us about a time when Jesus got separated from his parents during a trip when he was 12.  The Gospels tell so many amazing stories about Jesus’ miracles and teachings, but it is also clear that, in Jesus, God is a man with flesh and blood who gets thirsty and hungry and who, in the end, even bleeds and dies.

So God is real and He is there.  God is not something vague or far off or impersonal. He is there.

God is there when a baby is born and a new life comes into the world.
God it there with the mother as she struggles through the pain of childbirth.
God is there with the father who can't do anything but watch and pray as the woman he loves gives birth.
God is there when your kids go back to school in uncertain times and with the teachers trying to educate them and keep them safe.
God is there when a young couple gets married or when a person struggles to remain single.
God is there when you start a new job—with the uncertainties and the hopes for the future.
God is there when you lose a child and you feel like your heart is utterly broken and you don't knwo how you can go on.
God is there when someone betrays you or when you are the betrayer.
God is there loving you even when you are being disciplined.  He was with the Israelites consoling and encouraging them with a new vision--even as they learned their homeland had been destroyed.
God is there when we celebrate, when we laugh, when we cry, when we live, and when we die.

Ezekiel and his people were devastated when the temple was destroyed.  For them in their time, the temple was where God lived.  The temple gave the people access to God’s presence.  The temple’s destruction meant they no longer had a place to be in God’s presence.  However, Ezekiel shared a vision for a new city called, Yahweh-Shammah, “The Lord Is There”.

Jesus came to start building that city in our hearts.  Do you remember how Jesus once told the religious leaders, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19).  The people thought he was crazy.  It had taken them 46 years to build the Temple.  However, Jesus wasn’t talking about a physical temple.  Jesus was talking about His body, which the Bible says was crucified and buried in a tomb and rose back to life on the third day.

This is part of a New Covenant God made with people.  If you repent of your sins and turn to God as your Lord, He forgives your sins and He is there for you.  In fact, His Holy Spirit lives in your heart!

You don’t have to travel to Jerusalem and seek God’s presence in some ancient temple.  God is right here, right now.  1 Peter 2:4-5a says, “⁴ You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor.  ⁵ And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple.”

When Christians gather together, we form a spiritual temple where God is present.  Isn’t that amazing!  Remember how the presence of God filled the two holy places in the Old Testament.  First, there was the Tabernacle in Exodus.  As the Israelites were living in tents traveling from Egypt through the wilderness to the Promised Land, God also lived in a tent called the Tabernacle.  It was the Israelites first Holy Place to worship in the presence of God.  The presence of God was revealed through a pillar of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night.  Later, when the Israelites were settled in the Promised Land, King Solomon built the first temple and dedicated it to the Lord as the holy place where people worshiped in the presence of the Lord.  And the Lord revealed His glorious presence to the people through a great cloud of smoke that filled the temple.  Then we fast forward to the New Testament, to the book of Acts in the second chapter.  Jesus' disciples are gathered together in an upper room and the sound of a mighty rushing wind filled the place as the Holy Spirit filled the believers and it was as if tongues of fire were dancing above each disciple's head.  It was just like in the Old Testament stories, except this time the presence of God did not inhabit a building; God filled people who believed in Jesus!  Christians are no the temple of God!

What’s more, Ephesians tell us the church is the body of Christ.  When we put our faith in Jesus, we are His body and His temple and the Lord is there.

A Future Hope
We still long for a day when all that is wrong with the world will be made right.  That Day is coming.  It is closer today than it was yesterday.  Jesus promised He would return One Day to separate the sheep from the goats and the wheat from the weeds--His faithful from the unfaithful.  That Day is coming and no one knows the day or the hour, so we have to always be ready.

One Day, God will make a New Heaven and a New Earth where everything is the way it was meant to be.  In that day, we will live together in the City of God on Earth.  Picking up on the vision God revealed to Ezekiel, the Revelation of John describes the New City named “God is There.”

Revelation 21:1-4
¹ Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. ² And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

³ I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. ⁴ He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

Holy Communion
Whenever we celebrate the sacrament of Holy Communion, it reminds us of what Jesus did to reconcile us to God.  It also reminds us of His presence with us now.  Finally, it reminds us of our role to be the Body of Christ in this broken world until He returns.

Homecoming - In Remembrance

Introduction

Recently, I had the honor of preaching the homecoming service for one of my former churches. If you are not familiar with the tradition of a church homecoming, let me briefly explain. Homecoming is an annual service where former church members "come home" and celebrate the heritage of the church. It's sort of like a family reunion, but for churches. Homecoming often includes a special meal after the service with everyone bringing a dish to contribute. It's a very joyous celebration. You should attend one sometime and see.

It is also customary to invite a former pastor of the church as the guest speaker for homecoming. I was honored to return as the homecoming speaker for Mt Zion United Methodist Church in Smarr, GA--a church I served from 2005-2010. I used the occasion to talk about the purpose of life. I have edited my remarks to share with you on my blog today. Perhaps this message might be meaningful for you.

In Remembrance

In my last sermon at the end of my tenure as pastor at Mt Zion I told you I would no longer be your pastor, but I would always be your friend.  I said, “You might not see me in person, but I will always be somewhere watching you from afar, holding you in prayer, and I will be one of your greatest cheerleaders.”  I am so grateful for tools like Facebook that make it possible to see pictures and snippets of the happenings in Smarr, Georgia.

Memories from Mt Zion

It would take a whole book to share all the memories I have of Mt Zion UMC, but here are just a few of them. Probably my first memory of is how, before I had even served one day their pastor of some folks from Mt Zion came with Eddie and Kathy Rowland to Athens, GA to attend my consecration service through the North Georgia Annual Conference of the UMC at the Classic Center. It meant a lot to have them there cheering for me.

My wife and I were so young back then and our kids were so little. It was a challenge to raise a family and also have a wife that worked and me working full-time as a pastor and also still completing the extensive requirements for full ordination through the UMC.  Thankfully, we had a loving church that adopted our kids as their own.  Eddie and Lillian Bowden and Elvis and Augustine Hammersley were especially helpful babysitting our kids any time we needed help. (And we needed it a lot!) My youngest, Abigail, was less than 3 years old at the time. She can't remember these special people, but they are in her DNA. The person she and all my children are today was informed by these special people and everyone at Mt Zion.

I remember how I might drop the kids off with them and then go teach Tang Soo Do in the fellowship hall.  The church embraced my Christian martial arts program.  Many took part in one way or another, but Rusty Vullo was the most dedicated to the program. It took 5 years, but Rusty made it all the way to black belt. I’ll never forget promoting Rusty to black belt and washing his feet and telling him to symbolically do the same for others.

I remember how the church would all come together to serve food at the Meadows Gun Club and at the Forsythia Festival.  It was so hot with the grill going in the middle of summer.  Thankfully, there would be 10-15 ice cream churns going in the kitchen to make homemade ice cream to sell. There was nothing like that homemade ice cream while we were under the covered tent grilling hotdogs and hamburgers and serving people with a smile.  It gave us a chance to be out in the community giving great service while also earning money for ministry.

I remember getting my very first deer out at Sara and Coolidge Gasset’s place and I remember hunting with Eddie Rowland and Red Ezelle and Rusty Vullo.

I remember how the church was growing and we wanted to start a new Sunday School class, but there weren’t any more rooms.  The class would have to meet either in the bathroom or the Pastor’s office! So the church told me I should stop having an office in the church building and just do my work at the parsonage so they could convert my church office into a Sunday school room.

I remember having prayer meetings every week and usually it was just me and Suzy Newman.  We faithfully prayed for your needs every week and she always came.  One week, I was running a little late. Actually, I was running right on time because I knew it took exactly 10 minutes to drive from the parsonage in Forsyth to the church down highway 41. Unfortunately, I was going to be late because I was stuck behind a slow driver. I was fuming the whole way because they were going too slow and I couldn't go around them. They were in front of me the entire drive. Then they turned and went across the railroad tracks and turned into the church parking lot, and it was Suzy Newman!

I remember staying up all night long with the Relay for Life team and it was so fun/meaningful. They would dress up as the charactersf from Gilligan's Island or as a football team or something else and cheer people walking on the track at Mary Person High School to raise money to fight cancer.

I remember the church paying off the land across the street and then having a note burning ceremony to celebrate. Then they had the idea to build a pavilion, ball fields, and a walking track on the land--something good for the church and a resource for the whole community.  I remember everyone working together to build it--installing lights and plumbing and doors.  And of course, I remember when we all got together to play softball, I was amazed at the athletic abilities of Katie Rowland, Adair Woodward, and Madison Darden and others who were travel softball players.

I remember all the mission work with Mt Zion.  Helping with the refugees from Hurricane Katrina and again when tornadoes ripped through Macon.  I remember working with Habitat for Humanity and also Kingdom Builders.  I remember how I called up John DeGroat once and asked if he could lead a team to repair an extremely old and run down house in Forsyth and how he did it while our church partnered with several other churches in our area to repair a number of houses for people in great need. I remember painting a house with a team of youth while they laughed and helped a family while serving Jesus. Most of those kids are grown up with kids of their own now.

I remember one time for Trunk or Treat, my wife and I dressed up as Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton.  When I got to church, Connie Ham didn’t recognize me. She came up to me and welcomed me to the church. It was hilarious, but also gratifying to know that she was so dedicated to welcoming strangers to our church.

I remember some of the great ones who have since gone on to glory--Jim Wright, Garnett Woodward, Hank Stevens, Elvis and Augustine Hammersley, Gail King, Tom Branch, Jim Ham, Eddie Bowden, and Rosemary Evans.

When I’m online and I see the Mt Zion's contemporary worship service called The Mount, I remember how we started having a once a month contemporary service (before we even had Grace Pavilion) and Ashley and Allison and I would sing and we had others too--like Chip Bell and Steven Swain and Jeff Dean.

I remember how we first started hiring some extra staff because we needed more help to do all the ministry Jesus was giving us.  First, we hired Jeff Dean as our youth minister. Later, we hired David Walker as our administrative assistant.

I remember how we once received a very large donation that enabled us to start a Hardship Assistance Program during the 2008 recession.  That program was the inspiration for a similar program we just started a few months ago at my current church a program we call Operation Mercy Drops.

One of my last and favorite memories from my time at Mt Zion happened right at the end of my time there. Me and three others from the church (David Walker, Paul Walls, and Tyler Allen) joined with members of four other church in our district to go on a mission trip to Guatemala. We ran a week long dental clinic and also helped build a church in a remote village. That was a wonderful experience I will never forget.

It's Not About Us

It was not all good memories.  We had problems to overcome too.  There were some sad times as well.  And there were probably some at the church who were not always pleased with my ministry or leadership.  That’s ok.  We don’t do what we do so people will like us.  We do it in remembrance of Christ.  That’s something we always have to stay focused on as Christians.  

Honestly, it’s hard for church people not to worry about what people think of them--whether they like them or not.  Maybe it’s even harder for pastors.  You see, we want people to like us.  Everyone probably wants people to like them (to some degree), but church people really want people to like them.  Church people tend to be the kind of folks who want to do the right thing.  We try and it feels good when people look up to us as good people.  And preachers tend to be at the head of that list.  The admiration of our peers is one of the perks of being a preacher.  People respect you.  Church people look up to you.  Community leaders listen to you and invite you to pray or speak at civic events.  It makes you feel important.

Homecoming is a great time for fond memories.  We remember all the good times and don’t think much about the bad times or disappointments or disagreements.  Sometimes people even idolize their pastor and put you up on a pedestal, though we are never worthy of the way some people see us.  However, if I’m being totally honest, it feels good to be the “good guy”, to be the “hero”, the honorary guest, or to have people’s respect and admiration.  Am I making any sense?

The problem is, sometimes following Christ means saying things or doing things that people won’t like.  Maybe it even puts you at odds with the culture around you--especially if society is moving farther away from God’s values.  So Christians have got to get over this infatuation with being “people pleasers”.  It’s ok to be a likeable person, but that can’t be our most important goal. 

This life isn't even about us anyway.  We humans are so self centered.  Do you think you are on this earth for your own sake?  You may never have questioned that.  Or if you have thought about it, you may not have gotten to the core of it.  When we are being most noble, we may have thought “Well, sure, it’s not about me as an individual.  It’s about us as a community of people.”  And so maybe we think it’s more about the greater good than the good of just one individual.  However, I think that misses the mark too.  Is life really about people and what’s best for humanity?  Or is Life’s Purpose even greater?  What about creation, the animals, the environment?  Are these secondary?  What about God Himself?  Is this life we live together and your individual life about something more than just what’s good for people?  This is a question of great consequence, because it may determine everything about the way you live the precious years God gives you.

Jesus gave us a clue about the purpose of life when he instituted the Lord’s Supper.  In this meal, he took ordinary elements from everyday life--bread and wine, things that were consumed at nearly every meal in New Testament times.  Jesus used these ordinary elements for an extraordinary purpose--to symbolize how His body would be given and His blood would be shed for us and the whole world.  And Jesus ordered that we should celebrate this sacred meal often as a way to remember…  Him.  The Apostle Paul recalls what Jesus said that fateful night he was betrayed and arrested.

1 Corinthians 11:23-25

23 For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread 24 and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.”

In Remembrance of Christ

When I think of all the memories we made together at Mt Zion, I remember it was all about Christ.  It wasn’t about me.  It wasn’t about you either.  All the wonderful things we shared, the laughter, the joy, the connection, it was all possible because of the common connection we have with Jesus.  If Christ had not allowed himself to be broken and poured out, nothing would unite us.  We would not be one body.  We would be a bunch of individuals chasing our own individual dreams and selfish ambitions.  But Jesus came along and said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24).  And He said, “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.” (Mark 8:35).  So the Christian is the person who lives out the words of Galatians 2:20, where Paul said, “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”

No friends, all the memories we have are only possible as a subcategory of THE GREAT MEMORY--the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  And the more we accept this and live this, the greater, more meaningful and memorable are our lives.  

You see.  It’s all about Him.  The Life we live is not about us--not as individuals and not even as humanity as a whole.  Humanity was made by God for God’s glory.  In His incredible grace, God blesses us with deep meaningful relationships and experiences in this life.  But even if He didn’t, it would still be all about Him.  We were created for a relationship with God.  

Unfortunately, we often turn our attention to a relationship with others--other people, other things, even other gods.  We may even selfishly put our main attention on ourselves.  And when these other things become the main focus of life, you know what we call it?  We call that idolatry.  It is the chief sin that leads to all the other sins in life.  It is the very reason that Jesus had to die in agony on the cross.

So, God in His gracious, unexplainable, unconditional love came to our broken world and lived as one of us in Jesus Christ.  And to show us His love and plan for our salvation, He said to His Disciples (and us) “This is my body given for you and this is my blood… Do this in remembrance of me.”

Invitation

So, I’d like to invite you to think on these things today--and especially when we celebrate the sacred meal of Holy Communion, in remembrance of The One who made it possible for us to know and love each other now and for all eternity.

 

The Names of God - Yahweh-Sabaoth

Introduction
God has sent the Babylonian army to conquer Jerusalem in the 6th century BC because of Jerusalem's sin and idolatry.  While the city was under siege, God was telling Jeremiah to prophesy against Jerusalem  and tell them they would be conquered and they shouldn't resist the Babylonians, but needed to repent of their sin.  The leaders of Jerusalem were plotting to murder Jeremiah to silence him.  Jeremiah felt overwhelmed, outnumbered, and personally under siege.  His cry to God for help reveals one of God's names.

Jeremiah 11:20
²⁰ O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, you make righteous judgments,
 and you examine the deepest thoughts and secrets.
Let me see your vengeance against them,    for I have committed my cause to you.

Yahweh-Sabaoth
We are studying the names of God.  Every name reveals part of God infinite character.  God reveals the names His people need to hear.  It may not be a name people want to hear; but it is a name people need to hear.  Today, the name of God we consider is Yahweh-Sabaoth – the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

This past week, my nephew, Ben, graduated from Army Infantry School.  My little nephew has grown up and become a soldier.   I could definitely tell a difference in him.  There’s something about the way he carries himself.  He’s a young man now and a soldier.  I’m proud of him and glad there are well-trained soldiers like Ben Owens protecting our country.  It was neat to walk the infantry museum with him at Fort Benning and have him show me the weapons in the exhibit and have him talk to me about how he learned to use them.

Ben also talked about his infantry division and how it was organized.  There are 10 soldiers in his squad. 2 or more squads makes up a platoon.  3-5 platoons makes up a company.  4-6 companies makes a battalion.  2-5 Battalions makes a brigade.  3 or more brigades makes a Division.  Ben is in the 25^th Infantry Division, which is somewhere between 10,000-15,000 soldiers.  Can you imagine how intimidating it would be to be in the presence of a 10-15 thousand soldiers?

One of God’s many names is Yahweh-Sabaoth—the Lord of Heaven’s armies.  If you would find 10-15 thousand human soldiers a overwhelming, imagine the hosts of Heaven’s armies.  Note: Yahweh is not just the Lord of Heaven’s Army (singular).  He is Lord of heaven’s Armies (plural).  Look up at the stars in the night sky.  Can you count them?  Neither can you can’t the hosts of Heaven’s armies at God’s disposal; and each soldier in God’s army is a mighty angel.

Now, with that in mind, let us consider the familiar passage we read at Christmas time. 

Luke 2:8-14
⁸ That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. ⁹ Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, ¹⁰ but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. ¹¹ The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! ¹² And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

¹³ Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in highest heaven,
    and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”

 

You Want To Be On The Winning Side
It’s no wonder the Angel had to reassure the shepherds saying, “Fear not!”  If you saw the angelic armies of heaven appear in the skies with the radiance of God surrounding them, you would be afraid too.  Especially when you realize you are a sinner and the world all around you is full of sin and has rebelled against God.  These shepherds were probably thinking: “This is it—the day of reckoning where God finally comes to hold us all accountable! We're doomed!”  

So the angel had to reassure the shepherd (and us).  “Don’t be afraid!   I bring you Good News!”  In other words, “This is a good thing.  Jesus is coming to give you another chance.  He’s not coming to judge you or destroy you (though that’s what you deserve).  Jesus comes in peace.  He’s here to save you.  He’s here to give you another chance.”

And so Jesus came preaching: “Repent!  For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.  It’s right here.  It’s about to break in and take over.  This is your last chance to get right with God and recognize Him as Yahweh—the true and eternal Lord of all!”  And some did accept Jesus message.  And some did not.  Those who rejected him, crucified him.  They figured, “If we kill God’s Son, we can take over this Kingdom and be our own lords and not have to answer to God anymore.”  Do you think that will work?  No.  Of course not. Yahweh is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!

 

As sweet as the Christmas story is, I don’t want you to miss a very important theme.  Heaven’s armies have us surrounded.  Think of this world as a walled city and Heaven’s Armies have us surrounded.  There’s no escape.  God sent His Son, Jesus, as a peaceful emissary.  Yahweh knows we’ve all been lied to.  The evil rulers of this world don’t want us to know the Truth.  They don’t want us to know God is Holy and Just and True.  They’ll tell you anything to get you to turn away from the King of kings and Lord of lords.  They want you to forget Him altogether so you only trust them. 

Even when the Lord of Heaven’s Armies is standing right outside the walls ready to knock them down and recapture this rebellious world, the rulers of this world will say, “There is no God!  That’s just a bunch of outdated, superstitious nonsense!  The Bible is full of lies and bigotry and racism and homophobia!”  And the evil rulers of this world would have you believe that by denying the God who made you and turning your back on His way of living that you will end up on the right side of history.

 

A lot of people say they want to be on the right side of history.  I’d rather be on the winning side that the right side of history.  My mission in life is to draw people closer to God with every breath and step I take.  Yahweh is my Lord.  I want to live out His values—even if they are values that current or future generations mock as stupid, outdated, or even evil.  The Truth is, wicked people will always call the pure, holy ways of a pure holy God evil or outdated.  I don’t mind if I’m on the wrong side of history if history is written by ungodly people.  What really matters to me is what God thinks.  Yahweh is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.  He is going to defeat the forces of evil.  I want to be on God’s side—the winning side.

 

In the meantime, for a while at least, we might feel a lot like the prophet Jeremiah.  Remember Jeremiah lived in Jerusalem.  God told Jeremiah God was sending the Babylonian army to capture Jerusalem because Jerusalem had turned their back on Yahweh, their Lord.  They had forsaken their vows to serve the Lord their God.  God was coming to destroy Jerusalem and take the people into captivity to punish them.  God sent Jeremiah to warn them and call them to repent, but the people didn’t want to hear it.  It put Jeremiah in a very bad position:  Speak God’s truth and live for God and have the people hate you and persecute you or go along with the people and be destroyed by God.

 

Today our choice is similar.  It may feel like the world around us has already won, because everyone seems to reject God and His holy ways.  That’s only because we live inside a besieged city.  Outside these walls, the hosts of heaven’s armies have gathered to surround us.  They are waiting for Yahweh-Sabaoth, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, to give them the word.  The moment He gives the signal, the trumpets will sound and the walls that separate our corrupt world from the glory of Heaven will come crashing down.  The Lord Jesus will come again just as He promised and this time Jesus won’t come as a baby in a manger.  He will come as a conquering King and those He finds who have been faithful will be rewarded.  Those who lived in rebellion will be punished.  The Bible tells us there will be a new heaven and a new earth.  There will be a new history written too—a history written in the Lamb’s Book of Life that records those who were faithful and followed Jesus as Lord.  Those who followed the ways of the evil world will be cast away into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 

Invitation
Jesus's consistent message was Matthew 3:2 - “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”  So I want you to think and pray really hard and decided today: who's side are you on?  I pray you will repent of your sin and turn to Yahweh-Sabaoth through Jesus Christ His Son.

 

The Names of God - Yahweh-Rapha

Introduction
As we continue through our message series about the biblical names of God, we come today to the name Yahweh Rapha, which means “The Lord who heals.”  As we begin, I want to turn your thoughts to the idea of healing.  What does it mean to be healed? Is there something for which you need healing?

In our modern world, we tend to separate physical, spiritual, and mental healing.  Somehow, we’ve come to believe they are three separate spheres.  Even though we appreciate the interconnectedness of the mind, body, and soul, we still treat them as three separate and practically unrelated parts of a person’s life.  Doctors work primarily to heal the body with little or no concern for spiritual matters. Pastor’s focus on saving souls, but do little to address physical health.  And we still haven’t figured out mental health is inseparable from physical and spiritual health.

Modern people arrogantly believe we are better informed about everything than people in past ages.  However, the ancients were not ignorant of the interconnectedness of mental, spiritual, and physical healing.  In fact, they would not even describe them as interconnected because they would not even conceive of them as separate issues. What was true then is true now.  Healing—true healing—is encompasses every aspect of life--een extending beyon the individual person to the community and even creation.

We can sense the wholistic healing power of God in the Exodus story.  God delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.  He convinced Pharaoh to let God's people go free and God lead them to freedom through the Red Sea.  However, just because the Israelites were no longer in physical bondage doesn’t mean they were free in their own hearts and minds.  Their people had spent 400 years as slaves in Egypt.  One does not simply stop thinking like a slave overnight.  It requires healing and that healing may take generations to take full effect.

Exodus 15:22-26
²² Then Moses led the people of Israel away from the Red Sea, and they moved out into the desert of Shur. They traveled in this desert for three days without finding any water. ²³ When they came to the oasis of Marah, the water was too bitter to drink. So they called the place Marah (which means “bitter”).

²⁴ Then the people complained and turned against Moses. “What are we going to drink?” they demanded. ²⁵ So Moses cried out to the Lord for help, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. Moses threw it into the water, and this made the water good to drink.

It was there at Marah that the Lord set before them the following decree as a standard to test their faithfulness to him. ²⁶ He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the Lord who heals you.”

Jehovah-Rafa/Yahweh-Rafa
The Hebrew name of God is hidden in this passage.  I don’t know why they didn’t list it as they have in the previous passages we’ve read in this series.  To see the name, you have to look at the original Hebrew where God’s name in the text is Yahweh Rafa.  Some may pronounce it Jehovah, but most scholars agree Yahweh was the original pronunciation until the middle ages when people wanting to refrain from saying or writing God's proper name used the vowels from AdOnAI (the Hebrew word for Lord) with the Ancient Hebrew YHWH (or JHVH).  This produced Jehovah.  

Also, the second part of the name Rafa or Rapha can also be spelled/pronounced variously as Rafa, Rapha, Rophe, or Ropha.  The letters/sounds P and F are closely related and shift over time and in different regions in human language.  For instance in English we say "Father"; in Spanish they say "Padre"; and Germans say "Vater".  So Rafa could have been pronounced a variety of ways.

Ok, enough of the nerd stuff.  What does this have to do with healing?

Rafa means healing.  In the ancient, biblical sense it wasn’t just medical healing.  It was an all-encompassing, wholistic healing of every part of a person’s being.  And not just a personal healing, it was a healing for the whole community and even the whole world.  You may recall from the creation story in Genesis that all of creation was corrupted when Adam and Eve first sinned.  Our sin doesn't just effect us; it effects others and even creation.  Therefore, all creation needs healing.  Yahweh (the Existent One, the Great I Am) said, “I am the Lord who heals you.”

God wanted to heal the Israelites.  He wanted to change their thinking from slaves who lived with a scarcity mentality—just trying to survive day by day, hour by hour—to a people who trusted God completely and knew, in His love, they had nothing to fear.  He wanted them to know in their heart they were royalty and priests with the holy task of showing God to the whole world.

We see the Israelites' sickness in their spasmodic thinking.  Just three days after Yahweh miraculously parted the Red Sea and they walked across on dry land, the Israelites have lost faith and are complaining about the bitter water they’ve found at the oasis in Marah.  These people have a long road to find healing.

So God gave them many rules and traditions to guide them toward a wholistic healing where they finally accepted and trusted Yahweh as their creator and Lord.  These rules, which we call the Old Testament Law would also set Israel apart as a peculiar people who would represent God to the whole world—because God’s desire is that every nation and all people (even all of creation) would know Him and find healing and wholeness and deliverance from slavery to sin.

Yahweh provided for the physical needs of His people.  He showed Moses a piece of wood to throw into the bitter spring at Marah and it made the water good to drink.  Some translations say it was a tree, but the original Hebrew literally means a piece of wood.  It cold have been a branch or a stick; that makes more sense than throwing a tree into the water.  The wording is vague.  There was a very famous piece of wood Moses is known for carrying.  I like to think God told Moses to use his staff he to make the water of Marah sweet.  It was the same staff God turned into a snake to show Pharaoh God is more powerful than the Egyptian gods.  It was the same piece of wood Moses raised to part the Red Sea.  I I can imagine God answering Moses' cry for help about the bitter water by saying, “Hey, remember this?  Remember this simple piece of wood I used to do all those other miraculous things to save your skin?  Use it to make the water sweet!”  

How quickly people forget God's providence—even when we've been through something tremendous.  Traditions help us to remember and celebrate.  They can help us heal.  This past Sunday, Robert and Melissa Starling placed flowers in the sanctuary of my church.  It was a special occasion for their family.  You see, July 18th is the birthday of their son Harrison.  Harrison was born healthy but developed a virus within a couple of hours of birth and got terribly sick.  He did about a week later.  It was a terrible loss, as you can imagine.  However, God used that situation.  My wife was a nurse who took care of Harrison in the NICU.  And I hear that some friends of mine from Atlanta had a grandson in the NICU and wen to pray for hi and his family, and it turned out it was the same family my wife was caring for.  We prayed for healing, but it didn't come in the way we expected.  Harrison went Home to be with the Lord in Heaven.  And it took many years for Robert and Melissa to heal from losing their son (they are still healing).  But one way they have been healing is to place flowers on Harrison's grave every year on his birthday.  However, this year, the Starling family placed them in the sanctuary of my church because they joined as members of our church.  They were not attending church before Harrison's death.  But now, Melissa has transferred to my church and Robert has professed his faith in Jesus and been baptized along with their two sons who will be growing up learning about Jesus.  God has taken all these broken pieces and arranged them together into a beautiful mosaic of healing.  

Healing Isn’t Always Easy
Healing and growth aren’t always easy.  Sometimes they hurt.  Kelly and I listen to an amazing podcast by Radiolab about how a baby first starts to breathe.[i]

A baby spends 9 months inside the womb. 
Until the moment of birth, the baby gets all it’s blood through it’s umbilical cord.  So that useless scar everyone has on the belly that seems so useless, used to be one of the most important areas of your body.  Through it, the baby receives all the nurishment and oxygen it needs to live.  

Ababy can’t breathe because it’s living under water of the womb.  Their lungs are useless.
Then at the moment of birth, the lungs have to fire up and get to work.  There’s a door in the wall of the heart—between the left and right side of the heart.  In adults, the door is completely walled off, but it's open in unborn babies because the lungs aren’t working and the blood flows to the umbilical chord.  At the moment of birth, the door in the babies heart closes so the blood and oxygen stops flowing through their belly button and starts going through the lungs to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide.  When a baby is born, it is wet and feels cold for the very first time in it’s life. It’s quite a shock to go from the perfect temperature of mother's womb to the cold light of day in the real world.  When that cold air hits the baby’s skin, the skin sends little signals to the baby’s breathing center in the nervous system and BOOM! the baby starts breathing and the door in the heart closes and the blood begins to flow to the lungs and the baby has a heart and respiratory system just like every other human being on earth.  It’s just one of a million of God’s amazing miracles that happens in our first moments of life, but as you can imagine, it’s incredibly shocking and painful for the baby.  Why do you think they come out crying?  Fortunately, that pain serves a purpose.  It’s vital.  Otherwise, we would all be flopping around like a fish out of water trying to breath through our belly buttons!

Healing and growth aren’t always easy.  Sometimes it’s very uncomfortable or just plain hurts.  I want you to know that you don’t go through that pain alone.  God goes through it with you.  Think about the Israelites wandering through the desert.  People sometimes think it was cruel for God to make them wander there for 40 years before entering the Promise Land.  Do you think they were going through that wilderness alone?  No.  God was right there with them.  He told them to build a tabernacle, a tent in which God would live with them.  God could have been in the glory of Heaven, but He chose to wander through the desert with a bunch of whiny, rebellious, sinful former slaves for 40 years.  He was with them.

When you are going through whatever painful suffering and healing you must face, remember God left the glory of Heaven to live among us in our broken world and even suffered the agony of dying on the cross in order to heal you and our whole world.  And God is with you in your pain now because He is Yahweh Rafa—the Lord who heals.  The healing of Yahweh is complete and wholistic.  It covers you from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet.  It penetrates to the very center of your soul and extends out to your family, to your community, and to the whole world.  Think of it, when you get your life right with God through Jesus, it effects stars that are trillions of light years away.  Furthermore, it’s not a temporary healing—as all physical healing is in this life.  God’s healing is eternal and leads to eternal life where there will be no more sickness or sorrow or suffering or death.

Along the way, God may give you some rules and traditions to follow.  These are not meant to restrict us from enjoyment, but are merely the roadmap to the perfect place we want to be--the place of healing and wholeness.  God knows how we should live because He designed us and every part of creation.  God heals us on every level of our being when we follow His perfect plan for life through Hus Son, Jesus the Christ.

Yahweh Rafa says, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the Lord who heals you.”

Invitation
So, I want to invite you to pray for God's healing—a healing that encompasses every aspect of your life and ultimately leads to eternal life with God as Lord.  

Are you weary from weary and carrying a heavy burden?
Do you need to forgive or be forgiven?
Pray to Yahweh-Rafa, the Lord who heals you.

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[i] https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/breath