Jehovah-Shammah
Ezekiel 48:30-35: 30 “These will be the exits of the city: Beginning on the north side, which is 4,500 cubits long, 31 the gates of the city will be named after the tribes of Israel. The three gates on the north side will be the gate of Reuben, the gate of Judah and the gate of Levi.
32 “On the east side, which is 4,500 cubits long, will be three gates: the gate of Joseph, the gate of Benjamin and the gate of Dan. 33 “On the south side, which measures 4,500 cubits, will be three gates: the gate of Simeon, the gate of Issachar and the gate of Zebulun.34 “On the west side, which is 4,500 cubits long, will be three gates: the gate of Gad, the gate of Asher and the gate of Naphtali.35 “The distance all around will be 18,000 cubits.
“And the name of the city from that time on will be: the Lord is there.”
Today we come to the penultimate name we are going to look at in this series. True, this is the last compound-name of God in the Old Testament, but there is one more name found in the NT I want to look at next year.
Today it is the name Jehovah Shammah – The Lord is There.
Background!
The only time this name is used is in the passage we read earlier in Ezekiel. However, the concept that the Lord is Present with us or is located in a specific place is right throughout Scripture.
The name the “Lord is There”, means, the “Lord is There”, speaking about some location. And where is God in Ezekiel’s prophecy which we just read? He is in the city. What city? Jerusalem.
In chapter 40, we read that Ezekiel had a vision. It was in 574BC, in the 25th year of his exile, 14 years after the destruction of Jerusalem.
After Solomon’s reign, the nation of Israel had a family feud and split in two. They formed 2 kingdoms. The Northern kingdom was called Israel and the Southern Kingdom was called Judah. They lived separate lives. If you know your history, you’d know that the northern kingdom of Israel was overrun by the Assyrians in 723BC and that is the last we hear about the northern kingdom.
The Southern kingdom, Judah, was also invaded and carted off by Babylon, who had by this time overthrown the Assyrians Empire in the North. They invaded Judah in 607BC. Daniel was one of the men taken prisoner. They allowed the kings of Judah to continue to rule in the South, but only if they paid great taxes.
This happened for about 10 years until king Jehoiachin decided he didn’t like paying taxes and so stopped. So King Nebuchadnezzar from Babylon and invaded Jerusalem and hauled the king and a heap of other people off into slavery.
The prophet Ezekiel whose prophecy we are reading this morning was taken captive in this invasion. 10 years later in 587BC, Nebuchadnezzar was again upset at Judah and came down again and this time destroyed Jerusalem completely – the Temple as well.
Staged return:
Roughly 40 years or so later in 538BC, under reigns of the Persian kings Cyrus and Dariusa (Nebuchadnezzar is dead and Babylon has fallen to Persia) a group under the charge of Zerubbabel were allowed to return to Judah to build the Temple again.
Another group returned under Ezra in 458BC
Third group returned under Nehemiah in 445BC.
These last 2 groups helped to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Ezekiel’s vision occurred during the captivity in about 574BC and what he was shown was a Temple rebuilt and a city rebuilt.
Written at a time when the city of Jerusalem and the Temple within it were destroyed. The last 8 chapters of Ezekiel describe in intimate detail the dimensions and characteristics of the Temple and the city that would replace Jerusalem.
And the climax of his vision, the conclusion to his account was the statement that the city would be called the “Lord is There”.
No longer would the city be called Jerusalem – the city of peace, it would be called Jehovah Shammah – the Lord is There.
Has Father Abandoned Us?
When Solomon’s Temple was being dedicated, the Lord took up residence there 1 Ki 8:10-12: describes that event:
“When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the Temple of the LORD. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled his Temple. Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; I have indeed built a magnificent Temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever.”
God was there – in his Temple. But it was not the same as before the fall. There was no intimate fellowship as in the garden.
In addition to the nearness changing, the nature of our interaction also changed. Now he could only be approached through the priests. Only the High priest could enter the holy of holies and that was only on one special day.
No one could touch the Ark of the Covenant or dare to approach the place where God dwelt. There was no longer friendship, love and intimacy in the contact – there was fear, awe and respect.
Being in the presence of God meant coming into the Temple to offer sacrifices. God’s presence was still limited to holy of holies. And so the ordinary person could only approach God through the work of the High Priests.
When we come to Ezekiel, there is a problem though because the Temple had been destroyed in 586BC – that was 14 years before Ezekiel had this vision. The people reasoned that without a Temple, there was nowhere for God to dwell. Not only had they been dragged off into slavery, but their God has also been forced to leave because his dwelling place had been destroyed. Ezekiel had seen God’s glory leaving the Temple in a vision recorded in Ch. 10. What hope was there?
Now I know that you all know that God is not limited to time or space and so the destruction of the Temple didn’t really matter – God was with them whether they had the Temple or not. Right?
But hold on, a minute, this is condemning the Israelites too quickly. Without the Temple, they couldn’t offer the sacrifices demanded of them by God. Without the sacrifices, they couldn’t be forgiven.
And here is where God steps in graciously to encourage Ezekiel and those faithful ones in exile. He showed Ezekiel a vision of a new Jerusalem, a city with a glorious Temple in it where sacrificial system is reinstated. Ezekiel sees God’s glory return to take up residence in this Temple and the climax to his vision is that the “Lord is There”.
God’s presence would be absent for a time only.
But what happened in Judah to bring them to this place? (Ez. 44:4-8)
They lost the wonder of His majesty. They became more concerned with what God could do for them instead of what He could do through them.
They bought into the lie that in comparison to the pagans they weren’t that bad and that all the pagans were doing wasn’t so bad after all.
They mistakenly believed their outward religious expression was more important than the inward condition of their heart. They thought as long as they brought a sacrifice whether acceptable or unclean – that was enough.
History shows that the second Temple was rebuilt by Zerrubabel and Temple worship was restored. Though the Ark of the Covenant was never returned to the Temple, God’s people saw the Temple as the place where God was.
How does this relate to us today? Simple! The same God who wanted the Israelites to know His presence wants us to know His presence today.
How do I know this with certainty? Because God went to extraordinary lengths to be there for you and me and through Christ He has established a new Temple in you and me.
When Jesus died on the cross the veil, a heavy curtain nearly a metre thick, was torn from top to bottom – God was establishing a new Temple!
From that point on, New Testament Christians began to see the Temple differently. Yes it was still a house of Worship and a place of praise and God could be found there, but there was another Temple in which God took up residence.
Introduction over!
This is a problem for many people because they don’t know how to distinguish His presence.
Too many people are more concerned with being rightly religious than they are being rightly related.
We know how to have a weekly religious experience, but we struggle to have daily relationship with God. We enjoy the pomp and circumstance of tradition but we’re missing His mercies that are new every morning.
We prefer a civilized religion instead of a raw and uncensored relationship with God.
God WITH Us
Mt. 1:22-23: All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said trough the prophet: “the virgin will be with child and give birth to a son, and they will call him “Immanuel” – which means, “God with Us”
Jn. 1:14: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth!
Knowing our hopeless and sinful condition, God did the only thing that He could to redeem and restore His lost creation – he stepped out of heaven, humbling himself as a servant, and he confined Himself in flesh in the person of Jesus, and He died on a cruel cross as a worthy sacrifice to seek and to save the lost.
God came near to enter into here (heart).
God made His dwelling among us. With us that we might see the only begotten Son of God who takes away the sin of man and receive Him as God’s gift of salvation.
God IN Us
But it doesn’t stop there.
He no longer dwells in Temples made by hands
Acts 7:48: However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men.
For it’s not enough that God is with us – we must be with Him too. We have to receive the present of His presence and invite Him into our lives.
Jn. 1:12 (also Jn. 3:16): Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God!
Once God enters into our lives through the door of salvation, He takes up residence. We now are His Temple and His Spirit reigns within us.
1 Cor. 6:19-20: Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price…
Col.1:26-27: The mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory!
This means that wherever we go, He goes with us. Whatever we do, he does it with us. But He is no gené in a bottle. He convicts us. He leads, guides, and directs us. And we must tune our ears to His voice as we set our hearts and minds on things above.
God stepped out of eternity to step into our lives. God came near to be in here!
God THROUGH Us
But it doesn’t end there. God made His dwelling among us to redeem us, but also to empower is in the work of His kingdom.
We weren’t just saved from hell we were saved into a purposeful relationship with God. God has a plan for us.
In Matthew, Jesus said we’re to be salt and light and fishers of men (Matt. 5:13; Matt. 4:19). Our lives exist to accomplish the mission of the Master.
Ephesians 2:10: For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
This means that our lives exist to serve an eternal cause that is greater than us. We are here to represent Jesus to the world in word and in deed.
Our purpose is His mission – to seek and to save the lost. Our lives are to be about winning people to Jesus, growing them up in the faith, and then going with them as they are sent out into the world to tell more people of His great love.
Quote: According to the Puritans, “all professions are spiritual to the Christian, not because of the nature of the work but because of the presence of God.” …When a Christian – the temple of the Holy Spirit – walks into an office at IBM, IBM becomes a spiritual place.”
Tim Downs, Finding Common Ground (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), 170
When you go to work, are you there to serve your mission or the boss’s mission? You might make a contribution, but ultimately, you serve a higher purpose.
As Christians, we don’t serve our desires we serve His kingdom and righteousness.
Wrapping this up.
In meeting Jehovah Shammah, we find the God who is there – who is present in our lives to allow us to know Him, to grow in Him, and to show Him to others.
Reality is that you will never give away something you don’t really believe in. But that which you truly believe in, you will give your life for it.
God was with us to live in us to shine through us.
No comments:
Post a Comment