Hello I Love You…
Jehovah Shammah – Ezekiel 40:1-5 – 48:35
Intro: In our series on the God’s names we’ve discovered many truths about Him.
Elohim – The Eternal Creator who by Him all things have their being.
Adonai – The Ruler of all – nothing escapes Him or catches Him by surprise.
El Elyon – The Most High God – above Him there is no other god.
El Shaddai – The God who is able to nourish and satisfy – He is all you need.
Yahweh – The Great I am that I am – The self-existent One and giver of life.
Jehovah Jireh – The God who will provide – who delivers on His promises.
Jehovah Rophe – The God who heals and brings wholeness to your life.
Jehovah Nissi – The God who is my banner and gives me victory over my enemies.
Jehovah Tsidkenu – The God who is my righteousness – meeting my eternal need.
Jehovah Rohi – The God who is my Shepherd who leads and cares for me.
Note: As we’ve considered God’s name we’ve seen His magnificence. We’ve been introduced to the God who created us and desires to have a relationship w/ us. We’ve been forced to think rightly of Him.
Insert: There is nothing more frustrating than someone having a wrong impression of you. You get a bad rap b/c someone caught you at the wrong time on the wrong day and now your saddled w/ label that’s not true of you.
Trans: God gets a bad rap all of the time (the devil makes certain). God gets blamed for things He had nothing to do w/ leaving people w/ a wrong idea of who He is.
Story: When pastoring Riverside Church in NY, Harry Fosdick often counseled w/ students from Columbia University. One evening, a student told him that he could no longer believe in God. Dr. Fosdick asked the student to describe the God he didn’t believe in. When the student finished sketching his idea of God, Dr. Fosdick stated, “Well, we’re in the same boat. I don’t believe in that God either.”
Trans: The purpose of this series has been to introduce us to the truth of who God is. To take away the wrong impressions and to help us see who He is and how much He loves us. In particular, it’s important that we not miss the most vital truth – God wants us depend on Him alone. He wants us to know Him in the fullness of His being and to come into a relationship w/ Him in which we trust Him w/ our lives.
Trans: It goes back to the 1st Commandment. You shall have no other gods before you. God wants us to know Him and for nothing to come b/w us and Him.
Trans: Today we come to the last name we’re going to consider in this series - Jehovah Shammah – The Lord is THERE. (Text – Ez. 40:1-5, 43:1-9, 44:4-8, 48:35)
Note: As I looked up the meaning for this name I found the word for Shammah interesting – it means THERE. Profound isn’t it. The Ball is over there. Not here – there. The Lord is THERE means – He is present. That He is personal and can be experienced.
Insert: Have you experienced God’s presence? Have you known His closeness? I ask these questions b/c God wants us to know Him. He doesn’t want to be the God who is over there (point afar) – He wants to be the God who is in here (touch heart).
Insert: Playing hide-n-go seek w/ my daughters – They will hide and I will always go and find them, but when I hide, they often get distracted and forget to come and find me. Our God doesn’t play hide-n-seek w/ us – He is always there on the lookout for us.
Trans: This is a problem for many people b/c they don’t know how to distinguish His presence. I’m afraid too many people are more concerned w/ 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 w/ God. We enjoy the pomp and circumstance of tradition but we’re missing His mercies that are new every AM. We prefer a civilized religion instead of a raw and uncensored relationship w/ God.
Note: God is a stranger to many of us. When He knocks on the door of our lives we’re afraid to answer the door b/c we perceive Him to be a stranger. At best He’s an acquaintance and we choose not to answer the door b/c we are afraid He might ask us to do something for someone or something other than us. Sometimes I think the only way we might open the door is if God were Ed McMahon and the prize patrol.
Trans: When God shows up and knocks on the door of your life all he really wants is an authentic relationship w/ you! He wants you to know His presence not for a moment, but for a lifetime. He wants to be the God who is THERE – present in you.
Trans: As God’s presence relates to Ezekiel’s prophecy – it was 574 B.C., 14 years after the fall of Jerusalem – the Temple has been destroyed and God has been evicted from His holy place in the temple and from the hearts of His people.
History: After Solomon’s reign, the Israel had a family feud and split into two kingdoms. The Northern kingdom was Israel and the Southern Kingdom was called Judah. In 723 B.C. Israel was overrun by the Assyrians never to be heard from again. Around 607 B.C., Babylon invaded Judah. They allowed the Judah’s kings to continue to rule, but only if they paid great taxes. This happened for about 10 years until Jehoiachin decided to host the Jewish version of the Boston Tea Party and stopped paying taxes. In response, Nebuchadnezzar sacked Jerusalem and carted the king and his subjects off into slavery. It’s likely Ezekiel was taken captive in this invasion and that his vision occurred during the captivity. God revealed to him the rebuilding of the city. At the climax of his vision, he reported that the city would no longer be called Jerusalem – the city of peace, but Jehovah Shammah – the Lord is THERE.
Trans: To understand the significance of this name, you have to consider what this meant for the people. The Israelites believed God was a present God – He physically was THERE. Beginning in the Garden of Eden God was in a relationship w/ His creation. Gen 3. says, God walked thru the garden in the cool of the day w/ Adam and Eve. They had everything – security, love, acceptance, innocence, perfection and an intimate relationship w/ God. But their communion was destroyed by an act of rebellion forcing God to throw Adam and Eve out of his garden – out of his presence. God was still there in the world, but not like he had been in the Garden. In the Garden, God was THERE – right there – but after the fall – everything changed.
Note: The proximity of our contact changed. After the fall, the closest the Israelites came to dwelling w/ God was his presence in the tabernacle and temple. His presence was located in the Ark of the Covenant in the holy of holies. When Solomon’s temple was being dedicated, the Lord took up residence there.
Note: When the priests w/drew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. The priests couldn’t perform their service b/c of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple. Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said he would dwell in a dark cloud; I’ve indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell.
Note: God was there – in his temple. But it wasn’t like before the fall. There was no fellowship as in the garden and no relaxed walks in the cool of the day. Instead of God being there, He was over there – on the other side behind the curtain.
Note: The nature of the contact changed too. Instead of walking intimately w/ God, now He could only be approached through the priests. The High Priest was charged w/ entering the holy of holies to make atonement for sin for the ordinary person.
Trans: When we come to Ezekiel, there is a problem b/c the temple had been destroyed in due to Judah’s sin. The people reasoned that w/out a temple, there was nowhere for God to dwell. They had been dragged off into slavery, and God’s house destroyed.
Insert: But what happened in Judah to bring them to this place? (Ez. 44:4-8)
1 They lost the wonder of His majesty. They became more concerned w/ what God could do for them instead of what He could do through them. They put God in a box and actually thought they could keep Him there. It was like they had a Jeannie in a bottle – calling on Him only when they needed Him.
2 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.
3 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.
Note: Here is where God graciously steps in to encourage Ezekiel and those in exile. He showed Ezekiel a vision of a new Jerusalem, a city w/ a glorious temple where the sacrificial system is reinstated. Ezekiel saw God’s glory return to take up residence in this temple and the climax to his vision is that the “Lord is There”.
Trans: The question to us is 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 w/ certainty? B/c 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.
I God WITH Us
Verse: This happened so that what the Lord had spoken through the prophet came true: "The virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel," which means "God is w/ us." Mt. 1:22-23
Verse: The Word became human and lived among us. We saw his glory. It was the glory that the Father shares w/ his only Son, a glory full of kindness and truth. Jn. 1:14
Quote: It all happened in a moment, a most remarkable moment... The omnipotent in one instant, made himself breakable. He who had been spirit became pierceable. He who was larger than the universe became an embryo. And he who sustains the world w/ a word chose to be dependent upon the nourishment of a young girl… God as a fetus. Holiness sleeping in a womb. The creator of life being created. God was given eyebrows, elbows, two kidneys, and a spleen, He stretched out against the walls and floated in the amniotic fluids of His mother. God came near.
Why: 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 incarcerated 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.
Note: God came near (move hands from above to earth) to enter into here (point to 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.
II God IN Us
Trans: But it doesn’t stop there. For it’s not enough that God is w/ us – we must be w/ Him too. We have to receive the present of His presence and invite Him into our lives.
Verse: But as many as have received Him, to those who have believed in His name, He given them the right to be called the children of God. Jn. 1:12 (also Jn. 3:16)
Note: Once God enters into our lives through the door of salvation, He takes up residence. We now are His temple and His Spirit reigns w/in us.
Verse: Do you not know that you body is the temple of God who is in you and you are not your own. For you have been bought w/ a price, therefore glorify God w/ your mortal body. 1 Cr. 6:19-20
Verse: In the past God hid this mystery, but now he has revealed it to his people. God wanted his people throughout the world to know the glorious riches of this mystery –which is Christ living in you, giving you the hope of glory. Col.1:26-27
Note: This means that wherever we go, He goes w/ us. Whatever we do, he does it w/ us. But He is no Jeannie in a bottle. He is at war w/ the natural man struggling to perfect us in Christ. 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.
Note: God step out of eternity to step into your life. God came near to be in here!
III God THROUGH Us
Trans: 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.
Trans: We weren’t just saved from hell we were saved into a purposeful relationship w/ God. God has a plan for us. In Matthew, Jesus said we’re to be salt and light and fishers of men. Our lives exist to accomplish the mission of the Master.
Verse: We are ambassadors therefore on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 2 Cr. 5:20
Note: This means that our lives exist to serve an eternal cause that is greater than ourselves. 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 w/ them as they are sent out into the world to tell more people of His great love.
Note: 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.
Note: As Christians, we don’t serve our desires we serve His kingdom and righteousness.
Verse: Just as you have been approved by God entrusted w/ the gospel, not to please men, but to please God who knows your heart. 1 Th. 2:4
Story: One of my favorite stories is of a little boy who heard the preacher say that when a person is saved Jesus comes and lives inside of them. The mom looked at the boy to measure his response and noticed that he looked confused. As they were leaving church the boy turned to his mom and asked, “If Christ lives in you then shouldn’t He shine through you.”
Note: I like that. God came near to be present in our lives. The God who is THERE wants to shine through you so that other people might experience His grace and mercy.
Concl: 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.
