The Names Of God (3)
Categories: Bible Study Lessons Tags: Bible Lessons on God8) Jehovah-M’Kaddesh
The name “Jehovah-M’Kaddesh” is found in Leviticus 20:8. It means “Jehovah who sanctifies.” The term “sanctify” occurs frequently in the Old Testament. Its primary meaning is “to set apart” or “separate”. This idea is most nearly rendered by the words “sanctify” or “hallow”. The word “holy” stands for that which is “hallowed” or “set apart”. This word is used in the “setting apart” of persons. Individuals were “set apart” from birth or even before birth as in the case of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:5). The first born of Israel was “set apart” (Exodus 13:2). Upon the head of the high priest as the crowning mark of his high office was the perpetual sign of his “setting apart” to Jehovah (Exodus 28:36). Not only the priesthood was “set apart” but all the people were “sanctified” or “set apart” for service to Jehovah (Deuteronomy 7:6).
Today under the law of Christ (Romans 8:2; 1 Corinthians 9:21; Gal. 6:2; James 2:8), we as Christians are also “set apart” or “sanctified” on the basis of our redemption in Christ (Ephesians 1:7; Hebrews 10:10; Hebrews 13:12). This santification or “separateness of life” is accomplished by the Word of His truth (John 17:17). We are reminded in Galations 5:25 that our “santification” is not only with regard to our “position” in Jehovah (Gal. 3:26-29), but with regard to our “manner of life” (Romans 8:1-6; Gal. 5:16-26). “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification” (1 Thessalonians 4:3), the santification of the “whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
9) Jehovah-Shalom
The name “Jehovah-shalom” is found in Judges 6:24, “Then Gideon built an altar unto Jehovah and called it Jehovah-shalom” which means “Jehovah is peace.” The word “Shalom” is one of the most significant in the Old Testament, its various shades of meaning harmonizing with the doctrine of the atonement as the basis of peace with God (Romans 5:1-11; Ephesians 2:12-16). This “peace” was to be characteristic of the reign of the Messiah, the righteous Branch of David, of whom Solomon was typical, that Judah and Israel should dwell safely – “in peace” (Jeremiah 23:6). One of the great names of the Messiah was to be “The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6); and Jerusalem, the Messiah’s city, means “city of peace” or “possession of peace”. Under the Mosaical economy, the peace offering was one of the blood sacrifices of which the shed blood was the “atonement” on which “reconciliation” and “peace” were based (Leviticus 3; Leviticus 7:11-21). In the peace offering, this restoration of fellowship between God and man, broken by sin, but now atoned for by the shed blood, was indicated by the fact that both God and man, priest and people, partook of the offering. It is through Christ’s death and the shedding of His blood that we are reconciled to God (Romans 5:10; 2 Corinthians 5:14-21; Colossians 1:12-23). Through Christ, God’s children can now truly experience “peace with God” (Romans 5:1).
10) 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, the Lord [Jehovah-Tsidkenu] our Righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:5-6). The word “tsidkenu” is derived from “tsedek” – righteousness. It meant originally to be “stiff” or “straight”. It signifies God’s dealings with men under the ideas of righteousness, justification, and acquittal. In these three areas, Jesus is our “Jehovah-Tsidkenu” (Romans 4:20-25; Romans 5:1, Romans 8-10; Romans 8:31-34).
11) 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.” The primary meaning of the word “Ro’eh” is “to feed” or “lead to pasture,” as a shepherd does his flock. The story of Joseph in Egypt opens with Joseph “feeding the flock with his brethren” (Genesis 37:2). We read in Psalms 80:1, “Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock …” In the great chapter of comfort (Isaiah 40:1), the prophet says, “Behold Jehovah Elohim will come with a strong hand… He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young” (Isaiah 40:10-11). Ezekiel also gives us a beautiful picture of this relationship in Ezekiel 34:11-16, where after the indignation at the false shepherds (Ezekiel 34:1-10), Jehovah is presented as the Shepherd who will search his sheep and seek them out. He will feed them in a good pasture and make them to lie in a good fold. He “will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick” (Ezekiel 34:16).
In the New Testament, Christ is presented as “that great Shepherd of the sheep” (Hebrews 13:20). Some of the most beautiful and appealing of His parables and sayings have to do with this relationship to His redeemed. In Christ was fulfilled the word of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 34:11-16). Peter reminds us that we were going astray like sheep “but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls” (1 Peter 2:25).