SS - The NAME of the LORD Our God

Introduction

This Morning, turn with me to Matt. 1 & Psalm 20.

As you know, we are getting ready to celebrate, and call to remembrance -

What took place over 2,000 years ago in a little manger located in Bethlehem AROUND the end of December.

And while we are all exuberant with the festivities, feasts, and faithfulness to church at Christmas time -

THERE IS SO MUCH MORE IMPORTANT THAN JUST THE CELEBRATION OF THE INFANT BABY JESUS INTO THIS WORLD!

Try to catch the gravity of what the Word of God has to say about the little Baby Jesus, born at Christmas time -

Matthew 1:21 - “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”

Truthfully, what I want to bring out this morning - is the ESSENCE of THAT NAME, WHICH IS ABOVE EVERY NAME!

From Matthew’s Gospel, we have come to learn what the name Jesus means, “JEHOVAH SAVES”.

My question to you this morning, as we ponder that special time that we celebrate every single year - at this time -

We look forward to the presents that are exchanged -

We anticipate the love that is found in the homes of our loved ones -

And we prepare so much for the time of feasting around the dinner table

YES! The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ physically into this world IS so special, as we have come to know - He was born to die!

But - when have you EVER stopped to simply think of THAT Name, that we call Him by!

Turn over to Psalm 20 in your Bibles -

This is a psalm that David, as a WARRIOR, penned BEFORE going into battle -

Expressing his deep faith in the Lord!

As we read through this very illustrative psalm, take care to note the MANY references to Almighty God -

Take care to see just what is stated throughout these verses, that David was careful to pen about God -

For you will come to see just a small glimpse into the IMPORTANCE of THAT NAME!

Psalm 20 - “To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; The name of the God of Jacob defend thee; Send thee help from the sanctuary, And strengthen thee out of Zion; Remember all thy offerings, And accept thy burnt sacrifice; Selah. Grant thee according to thine own heart, And fulfil all thy counsel. We will rejoice in thy salvation, And in the name of our God we will set up our banners: The LORD fulfil all thy petitions. Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; He will hear him from his holy heaven With the saving strength of his right hand. Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: But we will remember the name of the LORD our God. They are brought down and fallen: But we are risen, and stand upright. Save, LORD: Let the king hear us when we call.”

When the day of hardship, adversity, or in David’s time of battle to come -

The question MUST be asked - “WHERE is your faith?”

David tries to rationalize in verse 7 -

That some have placed their faith, their trust, in chariots -

In this day and time, the war chariot - as simple in construction as it was

Was quite the vehicle for distributing fear and terror to the opposing forces!

Nothing could be more terrifying to an enemy than a horse driven carriage, yielding one to three skilled infantry soldiers carrying swords, bows, and spears!

As a result, terror was common due to men being mowed down like half-dead grass!

Others placed their trust and hopes in horses -

One who sits atop a horse could be given some advantages in battle over the heads of those upon the ground!

Striking downward upon a lesser valiant foe, and speed acrued from riding atop of the horse, proved to be most advantageous and sought after.

And retreating, to save your life, was much more advantageous upon the power legs of a horse, than by mere mortal running!

YES! There were those earthly nations who would place their faith and hope in the prowess of chariots and horses - BUT DAVID, EXHORTED TO PLACE THEIR FAITH IN THE NAME OF THE LORD OUR GOD - JEHOVAH ELOHIM!

THE POINT TO MAKE IS - THERE IS GREAT COMFORT TAKEN FROM THE NAMES BY WHICH WE KNOW ALMIGHTY GOD!

As we have stated before, from the likes of the Apostle Paul, that he truly wanted to know the LORD all the more and more!

And our Heavenly Father thus reveals Himself to us through the names that He attributes to Himself.

So - when we speak the most precious of names - God, Lord, LORD -

What do they truly mean, and how do they play a part in your life?

The answer is found in truly knowing Him, personally!

You see, you can say that you know Him in some sort of way, and NOT REALLY KNOW MUCH of Him at all!

Just like there are those who say that they know Bob Hardman!

Just by mere confession that they have heard me preach, they could attest to say that they know Bob Hardman.

BUT - there are those who know me more, than by just what they have heard me preach!

These may have become priviliged to know such things as -

My address, and maybe have been to my home!

These may know the names of my wife and children.

These may know the color of my hair, and where it has exactly turned loose!

There are those who MIGHT know me so well to know my eye color, and can guess pretty close to my weight!

But there are those, who are CLOSER TO ME, that know me MUCH BETTER than these that I was just referencing!

My wife, and even my children, know me BETTER than I even know my own self!

She knows what excites me -

She knows what my favorite meal constitutes -

She knows what my hobbies are -

She essentially knows me better than anyone else!

When we speak of knowing God, we sometimes are merely speculating that we know Him - just by means of trusting Him for salvation!

Dr. Clarence Sexton says, “When we declare the name of the Lord, we are declaring all that He is, represented to us in the names attributed to Him in His Word.”

We are NOT going to acutely delve into every name of God and what it means!

Take for instance, some of the name attributed to Almighty God -

El-Shaddai - Hebrew for “God Almighty, or Almighty God”, as seen in Gen. 17:1, 2.

Adonai - or, “Lord, Owner or Master”. Commenced in Gen. 15:2 when Abram addresses the LORD, as Adonai, or Master. This name is seen over 300 times in the O.T.

JEHOVAH- jireh - “God WILL Provide”. Taken from Mt. Moriah between Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22:14.

JEHOVAH-rophe - “God heals”. Taken, from Exodus 15 - after the Red Sea crossing, and while situated in the wilderness, the Children of Israel became embittered with no water. They found water at Marah which were bitter, they complained and God told Moses to cast a particular tree into the waters that made them sweet. It is God that has the power to heal as JEHOVAH-rophe, and is attributed 60-70 times in the Old Testament.

JEHOVAH-nissi - “JEHOVAH my banner”. Taken shortly, Exo. 17:15, after Marah at Rephidim with Amalek. A banner then is NOT what we think of today, as a stretched out material fabric. This could have been a pole extended upwards, but was significant of total dependence upon God for His power and the victory.

JEHOVAH-M’Kaddesh - taken from Leviticus 20:7 - “Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the Lord your God.”

Therefore JEHOVAH-M’Kaddesh means “JEHOVAH who sanctifies”.

JEHOVAH-shalom - "JEHOVAH our peace”, taken from Judges 6:23–24 - “And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die. Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah-shalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites.”

JEHOVAH-tsidkenu - taken from Jer. 23:5, 6 - “JEHOVAH - our Righteousness”. Jeremiah prophesied of a Righteous Branch and King who is to appear, & this is His name to be called!

JEHOVAH-rohi - “JEHOVAH, my Shepherd” - Psalm 23:1 - “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”

JEHOVAH-shammah - “The LORD is there”, taken from the prophetical scene given unto Ezekiel in Ezekiel 48:35 -“It was round about eighteen thousand measures: and the name of the city from that day shall be, The Lord is there.”

Go back to our text verse in Psalm 20:1 - “The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; The name of the God of Jacob defend thee;”

The [capitol] L-O-R-D, written in this manner is translated from the Hebrew name, “JEHOVAH”. - turn back to Exodus 3.

The great Bible commentator and author explains the origin and meaning of the name JEHOVAH -

“As the Creator of man it was necessary for God to acquire a name by which man could address Him. Revealing Himself to man, He proclaimed the great name so awesome to the ancient Jew - Jehovah, so merciful and gracious. The origin and meaning of this greatest name of God is expressed by Moses in Exodus 3:13–15 -

“And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.”

God is alway the same, as expressed in testimony, found in Malachi 3:6 - “For I am the LORD, I change not”.

And He is unchanged and unchangeable, or immutable, in His covenant relationship and ever faithful in the fulfilment of His promises.

JEHOVAH means, ‘I will be that I will be’, and therefore represents His constancy.”

Maybe you have heard it expressed this way - JEHOVAH God is the self-existent One.

So, David uses the name LORD, or JEHOVAH - the self-existent One; but in Psa. 20:7, David uses that name LORD in conjunction with the name, God.

Psalm 20:7 - “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: But we will remember the name of the LORD our God.”

David exclaimed the remembrance to God’s people of just WHO their trust should be in - JEHOVAH - ELOHIM.

Elohim is plurality of greatness. It is a term suggesting the Trinity, and the evidence of plural powers such as were responsible at Creation in Genesis 1:1 - “In the beginning (ELOHIM) God (THE FATHER, GOD THE SON, GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT) God created the heaven and the earth.”

Hence, the can see the gravity and importance to the names of Almighty God.

When we read Psalm 20 - as we prefaced earlier, as a psalm from the Warrior-king David -

In these FIRST five verses, we can hear the voice of the people declaring, “The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble”.

What words of endearment to this noble king David leading his army into battle!

Psalm 20:1 - “The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; The name of the God of Jacob defend thee;”

When they went into battle, they faced many a seemingly innumerable foe with strong weapons like chariots and horses.

But God’s people reminded David, “When we go into battle, our banner will simply be the name of “our God”.

We WILL face all our enemies in the name of our LORD God, JEHOVAH-ELOHIM!

YES~! We will take swords, spears, and shields; but our trust is solely in the Self-Existent One - JEHOVAH!

And that can be proven, by going back to the Valley of Elah, where a famous confrontation took place!

Goliath of Gath came with sword, speer, and shield -

1 Samuel 17:45 - “Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts (JEHOVAH), the God (ELOHIM) of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.”

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen - there is SOMETHING about THAT Name!

NOTICE - Our Warfare.