I adjusted the last post, Lesson 3, to make a couple of things more clear. You might want to compare them, there are differences.

The Lessons of History Series #3 Adjusted

Knowing The Names Of God

If you do not know your history, you are doomed/sure to repeat it. History is life’s DNA.

We learned that 20-20 hindsight is like using a back-azimuth. They, 20-20 hindsight and back-azimuths, are so that we can make corrective actions/readings now.

In the first lesson we prepared the ground for the foundation, then we poured the foundation.

Remember, we are working on the Masterpiece, the canvas/tapestry/puzzle of your Mind and Heart. Create the Masterpiece of all times. This Masterpiece is fluid, living, active and ever improving. Ultimately, we find that this Masterpiece is of Jesus/His facets, the ones He places in us so that He can shine His light through us into a lost and dying world.

So, I discussed my Personal Rules For Biblical Interpretation.

Then, the foundation of a house as a reflection of it’s maker. For this task we looked at the foundational characteristics of God. To know history, your need to know the author. God-Jesus. the “I AM.”

Thus, a study of the names of God is very instructional.

The book “Names Of God” by; Nathan Stone, is a great read and was a part of the impetus for this study.

El – used 250 times – God – Omnipotent – Mighty – Strong – Prominent – Num 23:22

Elohim’ – used 2,570 times – plural form – God Almighty – creative – Omnipotent – governing power – Sovereign – used exclusively in Genesis chapter 1 before others are used.

Jeho’vah – YHWH or Yahweh – used 6,823 times – LORD – the One who actively participates –

the Self-Existent One – the possessor of essential life – Deut 10:17 Jehovah your Elohim is El.

comming from the root – havah – to be, being. also, chavah – to live, life

In the Hebrew the name starts as YHWH, some translate that as Yahweh, others as Jehovah which is pronounced as Yaho’vah. Thus the ones who claim God name is exclusively Jehovah fails to understand even the pronunciation of their chosen name or the use of its intended meaning.

Adonai‘  – plural-possessive – Lord – God Almighty – God who is Master – Owner – Master

El-Shaddai’ –  Almighty God – All-Sufficient One – The Breasted-One – The One Who Cares For You – The One Who Nourishes You – The All-Bountiful One – The One Who Blesses You Abundantly

Jehovah-roi/Yahweh-roi – Literally “You-Are-The-God-Who-Sees.”  This name comes from Gen 16:13. Sarai starts being mean to her maid servant Hagar, so Hagar runs away into the Wilderness of Shur to a place where God provides her a spring of water. God tells her she is pregnant with Ishmael and that she is to return and subject herself to Sarai. Because God looked upon her travail she called Him Jehovah-roi/Yahweh-roi. Also, she had seen God/Jesus and lived.

Jeho’vah-jir’eh/Yahweh-jir’eh – Literally, appear to see, or, seeing – He shall be seen – The One Who Provides Himself a Sacrifice, who substitutes Himself for us – I see the face of God and what He will do for me. This story is in Gen 22. God tells Abraham to take Isaac, the son of promise, up to MountMoriah and sacrifice him. Abraham tells Isaac that God will provide for himself a sacrifice, or will provide Himself a sacrifice. God provides a ram to sacrifice, and Abraham calls the place “Jehovah-jireh”, The NKJV translates it “The-LORD-Will-Provide”, but literally it is “YHWH Yireh”. Thus we have “The Yahweh/Jehovah who is seen providing Himself.” This is substantiated by the fact that God did just that when He sacrifices Jesus on the same spot thousands of years later, Calvary is a Mount Moriah.  Jn 8:56 Tells us that Abraham saw the day Jesus would do this and rejoiced.

Gen 22:14 KJV says: “And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.” So Abraham was saying in modern terms, “I have seen the face of God and God will provide Himself to be a sacrifice in our place on this mountain.” God made a way of escape.

Jehovah-ro’phe/Yahewh-ro’phe – Yahweh heals – The God Who Heals Us, who cures us, who restores us. He is the physician. This story comes from Ex 15. The children of Israel had just escaped Egypt and traveled three days into the Wilderness of Shur and were getting thirsty. They came to Marah, not Moriah, and the water was too bitter to drink so they complained and God shows Moses a tree to throw into the water which made the water sweet. So God calls Himself “The-Yahweh-Who-Heals-You” to contrast what He had done to the Egyptians with water. Think in the physical and the spiritual sense. Jesus fulfils this when He heals us from our sins on the cross. The tree thrown into the waters(life) is the cross, and He healed us there of our sins which are bitter.

The Wilderness of Shur is first mentioned when Hagar is pregnant with Ishmael and she runs away from Sarai to this place and the water is fine. The next place is to say that Abraham traveled to here and then Ishmael lived there until his death. Now, at this point, the water has turned bitter. Sarai takes matters into her own hands to produce a “son of promise” and ends up creating bitterness. Ishmael then makes life bitter for the real “son of promise” Isaac. The Amalekites live in this wilderness and later Saul would disobey God and not utterly destroy them. God had told Saul to utterly destroy the Amalekites because of what they had done here in Ex 17 and Deut 25:17 and 1 Sam 15 Thus the kingdom was taken from Saul who disobeyed God and given to David who would obey God. Saul then leaves this scene and goes to Gibeah, his home, where later a great evil would occur and the Benjamites would be almost utterly destroyed. Disobedience leads to bitterness and destruction and is sin. Jesus, who would obey God, then turns the bitterness into sweetness by being obedient unto the cross and taking away the sins of the world. Remove sin completely or it will be your downfall. Saul did not repent like David did and in the end it was Saul’s end as it is an Amalekite who claimed to have put the final sword into Saul. 2 Sam 1:8

Jehovah-nissi/Yahweh-nissi – God is my Banner – God is my Standard – God is present – The God who leads us. This name comes from Ex 17. Moses calls God, “The-LORD-Is-My-Banner,” because the children of Israel had questioned whether or not God was with them because they did not find water for a few days. Also, the Amalekites came and cowardly attacked the Israelites, so Moses tells Joshua to take some men and go beat the Amalekites. As the battle is joined, as long as Moses’ hands were lifted up with the “Rod of God” in them, the Israelites won. If he let his hands down, Amalek would start winning. Thus, Moses’ hands were held up by helpers and they won the battle. The “Rod of God” was the banner. Jesus is the “Rod of God.” Psm 110:2, Isa 9:4, 11:1,4  Jesus was held up on the cross so that we could win against sin(Amalek). Interestingly, Amalek is still around attacking Christians today. They just have different names like the ACLU and Atheists for separation of church and state. If Christians today would just hold up the banner of Jesus by being like Jesus, obedient to God, we would still be winning the battle today. Moses did not turn the other cheek, he took the battle to them and won. Also, it is possible that the people living in the Gaza Strip are also descendants of Amalek. Today they are shooting rockets into Israel from Gaza constantly. Is it possible that had they been wiped out that this might not be happening today? Do not play footsy with the enemy or they will come back to haunt you over and over again. If you do not remove sin completely it will make you sick spiritually and eventually, probably, make you spiritually dead.

Jehovah-M’Kad’desh/Yahweh-M’Kad’desh – The Holy One – the God who sanctifies us. I, God, sanctify you, “make you holy”. This means to “set apart.” This name comes from Lev 20:6-8. God calls Himself the one who sanctifies you to make you holy. The basis of this name comes from God declaring that anyone who offers their child to Molech shall be put to death as they would become profane. God also adds people who turn to mediums and familiar spirits. Remember Saul did this after the kingdom was taken from him by God. Balaam also turned to consulting spirits after being rejected by God after the incident at Baal of Peor. The very next verse after Lev 20:8 continues the concept of holiness and says the anyone who curses their father or mother is also to be put to death because God is holy and cannot abide with such an unholy act. Notice what Jesus said to the Pharisees on this matter; Mark 7:9-13 They held to the traditions of men and rejected the commandment of God by not caring for their father or mother because they claimed their property was dedicated to God (Corbin). In this the Pharisees caused people to become unholy and disobedient to God through their traditions and rules. Therefore, God rejected this people. Therefore, He gave Himself to another people who He sanctifies-makes holy.

Jehovah-shalom’/Yahweh-shalom – God is Peace – Jesus, the prince of peace Isa 9:6 – He (Jesus) gave Himself for our peace on the cross by removing our sin if we receive His peace(life). This name comes from Judges 6:24. Gideon is threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites who are oppressing the children of Israel when the Angel of the Lord (Jesus) appears and calls him a mighty man of valor. Gideon has a hard time believing his ears and questioned Jesus about how this was possible. He is told that he will defeat the Midianites as one man. Gideon puts out fleeces and God proves Himself to Gideon. Yahweh/Jehovah declares peace to Gideon and tells him not to fear and that he would not die. Gideon perceives he has talked to God and builds an alter to God in that place and calls it Jehovah-is-Peace, Jehovah-Shalom. God tells Gideon to destroy the alter of Baal and he does. Then a battle ensues between Gideons’ people and the Midianites and Amalekites. Gideon uses 300 men to destroy an army as numerous as locusts and the sands of the sea. The battle was the Lords and He delivered. God used this event to restore the Israelites after 7 years of punishment. Thus we see that God restored the Israelites to peace. This name shows us that not only is God Peace but that He is the bringer of peace that restores us and that is what Jesus did on the cross. Rom 5:1-11 Obedience to God will put us in the position to be full of His peace. Know God intimately and you will have peace. Peace is internal and can be eternal.

Jehovah-tsidkenu/Yahweh-tsidkenu – God is Righteous – God our righteousness – Righteousness is obtained through justification. Justification comes through Jesus. Another translation implies, to tip the scales in favor of.  This name comes to us from Jeremiah 23:5-6. The time is just before the Babylonian captivity of 605 BC. Jeremiah prophesies that Nebuchadnezzar will take Judah away captive just as the Assyrians had done to Israel just 115 years before. That they would be captive for 70 years as punishment and correction for their disobedience to God who is Righteous. To accomplish this justification, God would have to make a way to tip the scales in Israels’ favor because there is no way for man to become righteous on his own. Thus, God would raise up a branch of David who would be righteous (Jesus). In His day Judah would be saved and He would bring righteousness through His justification. This foretold that Jesus would do this on the cross and He would set up His kingdom that would have no end. God states that Jesus is to be called by this name, Jehovah-tsidkenu (The-Lord-Is-Our-Righteousness). God is Righteous and He cannot tolerate unrighteousness. This is the reason God was not going to go with the children of Israel through the desert. God had to make a way for them to survive His Holy Righteousness, thus He made the pillar of fire and the cloud and put Moses in-between Israel and Himself. It is for this reason that we need Jesus “in us” because He is our righteousness, and it is Jesus who justifies us to God. He alone is worthy.

I moved Jehovah-rohi/Yahewh-rohi to be after shammah because the wording is different from the other Jehovah/Yahwehs.

Jehovah-shammah/Yahweh-shammah – The God who is Present – the God who is here – The God who is there – This name comes from Ezekiel 48:35. Ezekiel finishes his visions with one that sees the restoration of Jerusalem and Israel in the millennial kingdom. Thus God called His city, Jerusalem, “The-Lord-Is-There.” Jehovah/Yahweh-shammah.

This points to the fact that Jesus will dwell there in His city, the New Jerusalem. But not just then but now as the point is that Jesus is here in us. Right now Jesus dwells in us and we in him when we are obedient to God. Thus we are representative of New Jerusalem now.

Jehovah-rohi/Yahweh-rohi – The Lord is my Shepherd – The One Who Leads us – This name comes from the 23 Psalm. It is different from the others in that it is a sentence and not a name. It is just as legitimate as the others but is just a little different. It also did not come up in the order in the Bible as the others did. I am personally putting it here because it shows the intimacy of relationship that the other names can bring, just like the shepherds’ relationship with his sheep.  The Lord is my shepherd is translated from Jehovah-rohi/Yahweh-rohi. It is the Almighty who leads us on home. This Psalm shows us the intimacy between the shepherd and their sheep. To be in Gods’ presence continually over time develops this intimacy. The sheep that hangout with the shepherd know His voice and follow Him. All others die. Thus, we need Jesus’ life in us and we in Him so that He can calls us and we can hear and know Him and we can follow Him home (heaven). Jesus is the Great Shepherd who gently and with longsuffering leads us (His sheep) on home.

Another reason for moving this is because “rohi” doubles with “nissi” and “shammah”. Nissi shows that God is the banner and standard which we follow as does rohi which shows us the shepherd we follow. Shammah shows the presence of God as does the rohi, shepherd, that is present with the sheep.

When you put the Jehovah/Yahweh names in order you see, like with history, a piece of lifes’ DNA. God sees us in our depraved and desperate state (roi). Thus, He provides us a way (jireh) to be healed/restored (rophe) if we follow Him (nissi) in His holiness (M’kaddesh). If we do this, He gives us peace (shalom) and righteousness (tsidkenu) and leads us (rohi) home (shammah).

So, how is this a piece of lifes’ DNA? This is a lesson of history. This is how the Creator of all things actively participates in the lives of His people. The name Yahweh/Jehovah denotes an actively participating God who cares for His creation/people. We see it in how He saw the children of Israel in Egypt, made a way of escape, healed them, lead them, cleansed them, brought them into peace and righteousness by being present to lead them to the promised land.

We see it again in 539 BC. God saw the travail of His people in Babylon. He made a way by providing Cyrus to free them and restore them to their land. He provided leaders such as Ezra, Nehemiah and Zerubbabel who rebuilt the Holy Temple so that the sacrifices could be made to give them peace and righteousness and is present to lead them to their life in the Holy Land.

Jesus repeated this with His life here as the Son of Man. God saw our depraved lives without Him. He provided Himself as the sacrifice for us. In doing this He heals and restores us and leads us in Holy paths of peace and righteousness by being present as a shepherd who leads those who are obedient to Heaven.

We see it in our lives now. God saw us and loved us with an everlasting love. Thus, He laid down His life a living sacrifice to make a way of salvation for us. He lived a perfect life as an example to show us the way the truth and the life. He, in us, makes us Holy and gives us peace if we obey the righteous commandments. He, the Holy One who is present to lead us in all that we do if we follow Him. If we do as He says we will have heaven in our hearts now and He will lead us home to Heaven soon.

In this lesson we should gain or have confidence in God that He will act this way toward us always. It also proves that the Bible is for real and is the Way, the Truth, and Life. History proves this if we but know it. How many times must God prove Himself to us before we believe with our whole heart?