Thou Shalt Not Misuse or Neglect the Name of God
We used to read the Ten Commandments, the Law of God, every Sunday morning at our local fellowship in California. Embedding God’s moral law into one’s thinking and into our worship heightens one’s sensitivities to the breach of it (Deut 5:6–21).
A social media meme set my spirit off in the wrong direction because of its unholy familiarization with what God wrote on stone tablets with His finger. Before I point my finger at well-meaning Christians employing a “punny” bromide, or worse, casting the first stone at them, I wish to reflect on how the Law of God helps expose how one breach of statutes leads to further transgressions.
In this particular case, the transgression is with the Third Commandment, “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain (Deut 5:11).” The meme has a hipster California Jesus saying to a small group, “So I was like, ‘I’m the Son of God’ and they were like, ‘No way’…and I was like ‘Yahweh.’”
Yahweh is the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is the God of Israel. He is the Most High God. If you read again the prohibition, notice the two upper case terms “LORD.” The whole Old Testament is filled with the name Yahweh. It is disguised in English translations as “LORD.” The reason is reverence for the name of God in obedience to the Third Commandment.
When I read my Hebrew Bible, I love seeing God’s name. It is everywhere. It is the Bible, so His name is always honored. It is glorious. It is not hidden for fear of misuse by the Gentiles. In the case of this unfortunate meme, the Gentiles, even Christians can treat the name of God with banality. We must be more careful. God’s name is precious to us. God’s name reveals His character. The fact that we know His name proves His grace in revealing it, and Himself, to us.
God is serious about His name and reputation, “’For from the rising of the sun, even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among the nations,’ says the Lord of hosts (Mal 3:11).” “Lord of hosts” is the title of the commander of armies of warring angels. That is not a trite title. His point is that He is not One to be messed with via character assassination.
The God of Islam has no name. He has the generic title “god” or “allah.” Hindu gods and goddesses have names, but they number like a telephone book for the entire population of the United States. Who could know more than a few of the most prominent names? The whole scheme is diluted by pure volume. Even prince Siddhartha is cloaked with the title, Buddha. And half of all Buddhists dispute whether he was a god or not. The point is that no religion in the world has one god, with a unique personal name that proves he or she is true.
Greek and Roman mythology did better at this aspect of spiritual orientation than the religions. Names of gods came with reputations. When one learned about a god, it was quickly noted that the gods were unstable. In fact, their passions made them more unreliable than most men.
With these foils in place, the God of the Bible shines forth with all of His glorious attributes, which reveal His perfection. Yahweh is Almighty. Yahweh is true. Yahweh is the one and only God. Yahweh is unchanging. Yahweh is ever-present. Yahweh is all-knowing. In addition, Yahweh is transcendent and imminent. He is above all, and yet, He is most intimate with His Creation. Each blade of grass grows by His grace. No sparrow falls from the sky without His knowing about it. Everything that eats food, gets its food from His gracious hand of provision. Should I continue? Do you have all eternity for me to write of His excellencies? Even then, I fear I might fail to capture the fullness of His glory! After all, He is beyond finding out.
In the Garden of Eden, Satan slandered Yahweh to Adam and Eve (Gen 3). The serpent attacked the character of God, especially in the realm of His goodness. God is good…all the time. In degrading the name of Yahweh, one must set someone or something else up as “God.” From the time of angry Cain’s refusal to conform to God’s law of sacrifice, man’s rebellion against Yahweh eventually leads to some form of idolatry.
This is the prohibition of God’s Second Commandment, “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD (Yahweh) your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments (Deut 5:8–10).” God is jealous for His name, and it matters to Him who or what we bow down to in worship.
Clearly, there are consequences for lovers and haters of God. We should be mindful of this chain. Devalue the name of God and the apostle Paul’s warning comes to fruition, “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures (Rom 1:21–23).”
Behind every idol is a demon posing as God (Rev 9:20). So here again is how we compound our iniquities. First, we hold a low view of God’s name (3rd commandment). Second, the void of God in our hearts drives us to idolatry (2nd commandment). Third, idolatry is worship of demons, and this breaks the First Commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me (Deut 5:7).” This gross accumulation of sins is exposed by knowing the commandments. It all started with a platitudinous use of God’s name.
Yahweh means, “I am.” It is the Hebrew verb “to be.” This is remarkable. On the one hand, it is the most common verb. On the other hand, it is the most exalted Name in the universe. Names often tell us something about the named person or thing. For the One true God to reveal Himself in this way suggests we should be on the lookout for Him at work in everything, everywhere. “I am_____(your need)__________,” go ahead, fill in the blank with some good thing. He is everything we need. Everything that is wrong is because His name is damned. If “I am” is damned, then we are left with nothing but need. Without God, the world is damned, and all we have to do is observe its machinations all around us.
Jesus Christ, during His earthly ministry, employed the use of God’s name in the progressive revelation of Himself. This is especially recorded in John’s Gospel, which was written so we would believe that Jesus is the Son of God. This was the point of the meme. As God’s Son, like our sons, Jesus carries the family name. God His Father, the great “I am,” sent His Son to reveal more of Himself to the people of Israel and the people of the world. When Jesus took the name “I am” for Himself, publicly, the Jews picked up stones to kill Him for blaspheming the name of God (Jn 8:58–59).
Ironically, the Jews had made an idol of God’s name in their zealous defense of it. This may be why we get LORD instead of Yahweh in our Bibles. How blessed we would be if someone in the Christian publishing industry would print a version of the Bible with God’s name in it. We love His name, and yet we hide it from readers of the Bible. Who more than the devil would love for people to not know God’s name? Fortunately, we did not make the same mistake with Jesus Christ in the New Testament.
In summary, we have seen two uses of God’s name by men. One use is cornball. One use is shrouded. Both of these are unsatisfactory. What must be recovered is our love for God’s name. We must love Him and desire to make His name great among the nations. The people of the world will continue to hate His name and make egregious profanity of it; but this is where our light shines before them. We are not ashamed of Jesus Christ, whose name translated means, “Yahweh Messiah saves.” The person and work of Christ reveals the character of His Father, to whom He was perfectly obedient and pleasing.
In conclusion, let us not make rhyming puns of God’s name. Instead, with the power of His Holy Spirit and with His love constraining us, may we proclaim Him to all Creation, that the world might know Him and His salvation. May we meditate on His Law, day and night, and may it cause us to love and exalt the name of our God, along with David, “Therefore I will give thanks to You, O Yahweh (LORD), among the nations, and I will sing praises to Your name (2 Sam 22:50).”
David E. Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
December 16, 2020
