Trusting the Ten #3: Honor God's Name

"You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.”—Exodus 20:7

This is the third of the Ten Commandments. In our world today, God’s name is used as an expression, a cliché, or worst of all, as profanity. His name is not revered or venerated, but transferred to the common usage of life devoid of meaning, except, that is, to denote anger or disgust. His name is disconnected from His person, presence and power. But it has not always been so. We get a picture of what God’s name means and signifies in Exodus 3.

Moses had been in the wilderness when he came upon a bush with a flame of fire in it. The flame burned, but the bush was not consumed. God called out to Moses from the bush, saying, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” He went on to describe who He was to Moses and then commissioned him for the task of leading the Israelites out of slavery. Moses requested to know God’s name in order to answer those who might want to know why Moses was the one chosen to lead the people under such oppression and by what authority he came. God responds, “I AM WHO I AM.” It literally is “YHWH,” which scholars have translated as Yahweh. The name means“to be.” It denotes God’s self-existence (He has no creator), ability to sustain creation, immutability (His unchangeableness) and spiritual nature. There is no possible way to describe God, which is why we are given His name as “to be.” Another way to put it is simply “He is.” He is indescribable and incomprehensible. He has no beginning and no ending. He knows all, sees all, is everywhere, and is all-powerful. The only term left that could possibly begin to capture His magnificence is: He is. His name conveys that and is deserving of reverence and veneration, honor and holiness.

The name of God was so sacred that orthodox Jews would never pronounce it, and when they were transcribing the Scriptures and came to God’s name, they would put their pen down, bathe, change their clothes, and then use a pen that had never been used before to write the name. It was to be honored, revered, and treated as holy. Sadly, we have all forgotten that type of reverence today.

The name of God continues on in the New Testament in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15) and the exact imprint of His nature (Hebrews 1:3). When Jesus was accused of misinterpreting God’s Word by proclaiming to exist before Abraham, He said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am"—John 8:58. He was establishing Himself as the exact image of God.

How do we honor God’s name? We honor God’s name by not using it flippantly or haphazardly. This means we must never use it as profanity, in anger, as an expression, or as an oath. We use it carefully, knowing who the God is whom it belongs to and conducting ourselves in reverential awe, knowing that God’s name as revealed in Christ is the name above all names,  

“so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”—Philippians 2:10-11. 

Amen.