The Names of God Lesson 11 - Fairhaven Baptist Church

The Names of God

Lesson 11

Jehovah Shammah (The Lord is There)

Text: Ezekiel 48:35

Intro: Tonight, we are in our 11^th lesson, and out final lesson of the names of God. We may take a couple of weeks to look at the New testament names of Jesus, just for a little break. But, tonight will be our last of these. Tonight, I chose a single verse for our passage, and the reason I did so is simple. In order to read it in context, it would take a lot of reading, So I would suggest everyone read, well I could say the entire book of Ezekiel, and that would be good, but just to get the context of the verse, 47:13-48:35 and this will lay out the borders of the New City.

As for the rest of it, I want to take a bit, and look at the events leading up to this, and then make application of what it should mean to us.

Background.
1. Ezekiel, the Prophet of God,
  1. May God Strengthen Him,
    1. His name means that, may God strengthen him, and with good reason.
    2. His Message was hard.
      - The Book of Ezekiel gives 7 visions,
      - and is broken into three themes:
        
        Judgment on Israel,
        
        Judgment on Other Nations,
        
        Restoration and future Blessings of Israel,
    3. His opening vision is about the destruction of Israel and the temple,
      - It begins with God riding on a chariot pulled by 4 living creatures,
      - it is full of eyes,
      - And the Lord Commission Ezekiel to be a watchman over Israel and to warn them of coming judgment,
        
        one of the messages God gives to Israel is a message that has been given many times before and after. Perhaps not in the Scriptures directly, but definitively in principles.
      - The Lord tells Ezekiel to open his mouth and speak, not to be rebellious like the Nation had been, but then he says…
        
        Ezekiel 3:7 “But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.”
        
        essentially the same thing was told to Samuel, wen the Lord told him, the people have not rejected you, they have rejected me (I Samuel 8:7)
        
        and we are told the same thing today, we are told there will be those that mock, ridicule, laugh, reject, but there will be some that will hear.
        
        Results are not our division, we are watchmen, and are to warn the people.
    4. Israel should have never been able to say they didn’t know, there was plenty of warning of what was going to happen.
  2. God removing His Glory,
    1. As we read through ch.10 through about chapter 14, what we see when the Lord comes down is the removal of His glory form the temple, form Jerusalem, and from Israel.
      - Ezekiel 10:5 “And the sound of the cherubims’ wings was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when he speaketh ”
        
        all of this was taking place right in front of the people, the priest, yet no one seemed to even notice.
      - It makes you think of Sampson when the spirit of the Lord left him,
        
        Judges 16:20 “And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.”
    2. Ezekiel 10:18 “Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims. ”
    3. Ezekiel 11:23 “And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.”
      - incidentally this mountain is the mount of olives.
    4. The reason the people did not notice was they were consumed with idol worship.
      - The people had adopted the practices of pagan religions that they allowed to be entertained in Israel.
        
        Even to the point of making sacrifices in the temple of snakes and other abominations.
    5. So God moved His presence from them, and allowed the Babylonian empire to come in and take them slaves.
  3. The Future revealed to Ezekiel,
    1. 14 years after they went into slavery, another vision came to Ezekiel.
      - The Lord took Ezekiel to a high mountain to overlook Jerusalem, and showed him a city that would be built.
        
        This city would be so large that the borders of Israel could not contain it,
        
        It would house the “3^rd temple”
        
        It would be in this temple the glory of the Lord would return to, and never leave.
        
        Of course this is speaking of the millennium kingdom, and the new Jerusalem.
      - The details of this was city would cover 9 chapters.
      - The land mass of the city will cover about twice the land mass of Judah.
      - See Psalm 46:5&6 (the city of God)
    2. where the Nation rejected Ezekiel’s first prophecy, they were eager to receive the last one.
      - We never believe something bad will happening while we are experiencing blessings, and everything is going good.
        
        And just as it was for Israel, often times God must allow bad things to happen to us in order to get our attention.
        
        But then they were looking for God.
The Meaning,
1. God is There,
  1. The Name of the City,
    1. This was the name given to New Jerusalem,
      - Charles Spurgeon – “It is esteemed by the prophet to be the highest blessing that could come upon a city that it’s name should be, Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is there”
    2. but this is not just referring to a place,
      - after all, how can we say God is there, but not here?
        
        God is all present,
      - the idea is that God will be present, and noticeably present.
        
        I have often used…
        
        Mark 2:1 “And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house.”
        
        to make the point that when God is present, then people know it.
Application,
1. What does it mean to us, to Know that God is Present with us?
  1. In Our Spiritual Lives?
    1. Do We Seek the Lord as if He is There,
      - waiting for us to engage Him in conversation?
      - Desiring for Him to teach us Spiritual truth?
      - Trusting Him in our times of turbulence?
    2. If we acknowledged the the Lord was with us in our Spiritual Lives at all times, How would our Spiritual life change?
      - Our bible reading? Our prayer lives? Our Personal witness?
    3. What about….
  2. In Our Physical Lives?
    1. If Jesus was in the flesh following us around, would our actions change?
      - Would our conversation? Would our destinations? Would our company?
      - Would we go to the same place, see the same people, talk the same way, and do the same things?
    2. The truth of the mater is, that God is with us?
    3. Hebrews 13:5 “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”
    4. Matthew 28:19&20 “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”