Living Before God Our Father

16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” 17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

JEHOVAH-JIREH (PROVIDER); JEHOVAH-ROPHE (HEALER); JEHOVAH NISSI (BANNER); JEHOVAH-M’KADDESH (SANCTIFIER)

JEHOVAH-SHALOM

In Judges 6:24, we find the name Jehovah-shalom: “Then Gideon built an altar unto Jehovah and called it Jehovah-shalom,” which means Jehovah is peace.

Jehovah in His person is perfect peace. He must be if He is to be the source of peace to mankind. He is grieved at the sin and corruption of the world, which He had pronounced at creation to be “good.” He is stirred to wrath at the evil of the wicked. He is not indifferent to the sorrows and needs of the race as well as of His people. “I have surely seen the affliction of my people … I know their sorrow” (Exodus 3:7); and Isaiah tells us, “In all their affliction he was afflicted” (63:9). In Judges 10:16, when Israel had again fallen into sin after Gideon’s time, we read, “His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.” Yet none of these things disturb His peace in the sense that they can destroy or unsteady the perfect balance of His divine nature. He could never give others a peace that passes understanding if He were not perfect, unfailing peace Himself. Here is our hope and assurance.

But He is the source of peace in His attitude toward us. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith Jehovah, thoughts of peace, and not of evil” (Jeremiah 29:11). And through Isaiah, He speaks to His people: “O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! Then had thy peace been like a river and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea” (48:18). Nothing is more clearly indicated in the Scriptures than that His desires toward all mankind, especially His people, are desires of good. He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked but only that he turn from his evil way and live (Ezekiel 33:11). To this end, the Scriptures are full of the promise and purpose of peace. “If ye walk in my statutes … and do them … I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land” (Leviticus 26:3,6). “The Lord will bless his people with peace,” says David (Psalm 29:11). “Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us,” says Isaiah (26:12). Speaking of a future glory of Jerusalem, Isaiah continues: “For thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river” (66:12). The blessing of peace forms the apex of the great high priestly benediction commanded by the Triune Jehovah when He commanded Aaron and his sons to bless the children of Israel: “Jehovah lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace” (Num 6:24-26).

JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU

The name Jehovah-Tsidkenu means Jehovah our righteousness. It appears in Jeremiah’s prophecy of a “righteous Branch” and a “King” who is to appear, “and this is his name whereby he shall be called, Jehovah our Righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:5,6).

The word ‎tsidkenu ‎is derived from ‎tsedek‎—righteousness. It was meant originally to be stiff or straight. There is undoubtedly no more significant word in the Old Testament. Anyone with an English word cannot adequately translate the Hebrew word. It signifies God’s dealings with men under the ideas of righteousness, justification, and acquittal.

It is applied to the outward obligations and relationships of men. The Book of Leviticus, where Jehovah is revealed as M’Kaddesh who sanctifies and demands sanctification of life, Leviticus, which shows the basis of approach and manner of worship, also reveals the standards of right and just relationships among men. “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment … in weight, or in measure. Just balances, just weights … shall ye have: I am Jehovah your God. . .” (Leviticus 19:35,36). In Deuteronomy 25:15, such a righteous practice is one of the conditions of prosperity and staying in their land.

JEHOVAH-ROHI

The name Jehovah-rohi means Jehovah, my Shepherd. It is that most precious designation of Jehovah which begins the Twenty-third Psalm, where it is translated, “The Lord is my shepherd.” Perhaps it is not so specifically a name of Jehovah as the other names we have studied. Still, no designation of Jehovah has brought more comfort to the heart or sounded sweeter to the ears of the saints of both Old and New Testaments, ancient and modern, than this beautiful expression.

The primary meaning of this word is to feed or lead to pasture, as a shepherd does his flock, and thus it is frequently used. The story of Joseph in Egypt opens with Joseph “feeding the flock with his brethren” (Genesis 37:2). In Egypt, his brethren answer Pharaoh’s inquiry by saying: “Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and also our fathers … thy servants have no pasture for their flocks” (Genesis 47:3,4). “David went and returned from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem” (1 Samuel 17:15).

JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH

And the name of the city from that day shall be, “Jehovah-Shammah” The Lord is there. (Ezekiel 48:35). Of course, this is speaking of Jerusalem, established in righteousness because of the righteous One. Supporting scriptures: Jeremiah 23:6; 33:16.

The meaning of the name Jehovah-Shammah is Jehovah is there. In the light of its setting and significance, it is a most fitting name to climax the Old Testament revelation of God.

By His various compound names, Jehovah had revealed Himself in the power and majesty and glory of His person and as meeting every need of that man whom He had made in His image and for His glory.

His name Elohim revealed Him not only as Creator and Ruler but as covenanting to preserve His Creation. The name Jehovah revealed Him in a special relationship to man. Since that name indicates absolute self-existence, and therefore One who is infinite and eternal, it could be shown only to creatures who could apprehend and appreciate the infinite and eternal. And since the name Jehovah sets God forth in His moral and spiritual attributes, the special relationship between Him and the crowning work of His Creation, the man created in His image, was a moral and spiritual one. That moral and spiritual relationship was broken by man’s disobedience and sin and fall.

After that, the names of God compounded with His name Jehovah, reveal Him as providing redemption for fallen, sinful man, and depicting every aspect of that great transaction of redemption by which man is fully restored to God—healing, victory, peace, sanctification, justification, preservation, care, and guidance.

Jehovah-Shammah is the promise and pledge of the completion of that purpose in man’s final rest and glory, for man’s end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. For, as Paul says, “Whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them he also glorified” (Romans 8:30), a past tense, but speaking the language of eternity.

We find our way back to 1 Peter 1:17 “And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear.” This fear is not scary but a special kind of fear. It is a “reverential fear,” a holy fear, and you could say a highest and most respected fear.

Jesus put it this way in Luke 12:4-7, “And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.  5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has the power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!”

Notice that the Father has the power to destroy, but verse 6-7 informs us of His true heart, “Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God.  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” You are the most valuable of all His creation.

Here are ten things to consider:

1. Because God is with you
2. Because God stills the storms with a whisper
3. Because with God, nothing is impossible
4. Because the God that created Heaven and Earth values you
5. Because God has a plan for you
6. Because God is holding your hand. He will help you.
7. Because He loves you
8. Because God is a God of mercy
9. Because He promised to sustain you.
10. Last, because no matter what you’re going through, God promised to work all things for the Good for those that love Him.

Do you love God, and do you fear God? Will you embrace Him as your Eternal Father? Will you live holy and in reverential fear before Him by the power of His Holy Spirit as a son and a daughter of the Living God?

Remember: Verse 18-19 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.