Jehovah/יהוה: Briefly (sermon)

Central Park: Burnaby

Grace Baptist Church January 24 2016

This is a sermon I have linked in regards to the biblical names of God.

Jehovah

(YHWH)

יהוה The Tetragrammaton

Cited from sermon notes from Michael Phillips

It is Yahweh or as our older Bibles sometimes spell it, Jehovah. 

THE MEANING 

Scholars do not agree on the exact meaning of this name, but they all agree that its most important appearance is Exodus 6:3, where God appears to Moses in the burning bush- I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and Jacob, as 'God Almighty', but by my name YAHWEH, I was not known to them. (In many of our Bibles, YAHWEH is translated LORD in all capitals. But the Hebrew is YAHWEH or Jehovah). 

The verse is somewhat peculiar because, in fact, the name YAHWEH appears many times in history before the burning bush, as early as Genesis 2:4. The fathers, therefore, did know this name. And so, what did God mean? He meant that, while they knew the name, YAHWEH, they did not know its full significance. But, on the return of Moses to Egypt, the Exodus, and the events that followed, they would know the true meaning of the name.

Cited

What is it? 

It is God the Loyal! The Lord who keeps His Word! The One who makes Good on His promises! Included in this name is a sense of God's nearness. The Promise-Keeping God does not make good on His Word from afar-like a rich uncle wiring you money from Asia-but does it in person, face-to-face. 

This is seen at the Burning Bush. Yawheh didn't give Moses his assignment from Heaven, but on earth, a few feet away from the man, it seems. The same is true when He gave Israel His Law. And especially, when- The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. The Loyal God is a personal God, the Lord who draws near to us to prove His trustworthiness.

Cited

The name appears more than 5,000 times in the Old Testament, and is usually translated LORD (in all capitals). Not even the more generic Elohim (or, 'God') occurs as often. This means He wants us to know Him by His more personal name. Not that He cares which word we use, but that we think of Him as He reveals Himself to us. And this means, in the first place, as Yahweh, the trustworthy God who comes near to meet our needs. 

Sometimes the name is attached to other words, to show us how faithful the Lord is.

There are compound names which include Yahweh and Phillips mentions four in his sermon notes, see sermon link at top of entry...

Cited

This is important to us because there's a New Testament word for 'Joshua', and you know it, of course: Jesus. Why was our Lord given this name instead of some other? Because that's what He would be, God's Savior- He shall save His people from their sins.

The God-given name of God the Son, as incarnate, Jesus (Christ equals anointed, messiah) is therefore directly relevant to his mission. He is God saved as anointed, God saved as messiah.

STRONG, J. (1890)(1986) Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Burlington, Welch Publishing Company.

Strong page 722: Jehovah 3068 in Hebrew

Strong page 824: Lord also 3068 in Hebrew

Strong page 728: Jesus 2424 in Greek

Strong page 62: 3068 in Hebrew יהוה

Strong page 48: 2424 in Greek Ιησούς

Strong page 63: 3091 in Hebrew, there is more than one Hebrew rendering, two here