LifeWay Bible Studies for Life Series for December 2: Yahweh, our God

LifeWay Bible Studies for Life Series for December 2: Yahweh, our God focuses on Exodus 6:2-8; 15:1-3, 11-13.

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Others tend to become what we call them. That is what makes names, even our names, very important. The names we call ourselves and allow others to call us, tend to shape our character as much as they express it.

In most cases, our parents gave us the names they did because those names either expressed some connection to family, a special dream for us or their deep affection for us. It might be interesting to ask the members of a Sunday school class to share what is unique about their names or how they came by their names and what they mean.

In the book of Exodus, however, we discover no one gave God a name. The name of God, Yahweh, is the name God chose for God. This is an important distinction because that fact alone reminds us that God pre-existed humanity. God has told us what the name of God means. God stands alone.  Though this is God’s creation, God stands apart from all that is created. God always has been what makes God unique from everything and everyone who exists.

We are warned in the Ten Commandments not to take that name in vain, to use it cheaply or without reverence. It not only is a sacred name, how we choose to speak it eventually will shape what we believe about God. Because God is the source of our being, if we cheapen God’s name, we cheapen our own lives. If God’s name is not sacred to us, in time, our own lives will lose their sacredness to ourselves and to others. If we curse another, we curse one who was created by the same God we worship. We cheapen the work of God in our cursing of others to our own detriment.  

In celebrating our belief in the uniqueness of our God, Yahweh, we need not do so by belittling the faith of others who believe differently. We don’t strengthen our faith by attempting to diminish the faith of others. Just as God’s unique name, representing God’s character, stands on its own, so does our faith. Our faith is what it is regardless of the faith of others. In many ways, when we show respect to others who believe differently, we open doors to evangelism by simply standing with confidence in the faith that is ours without having to disparage anyone else’s faith.

As God is beginning to lead the children of Israel to discover their calling and purpose, God first declares God will be known as Yahweh, the God of promise, of purpose and of fulfilled commitment.

It is important for New Testament people not to lose touch with their Old Testament roots. It is in the Old Testament we discover a rich history of God making promises—covenants—that eventually are fulfilled. It is in the history of God’s name and God’s fulfilled promises that we find hope for our lives. We can know the God who has promised to redeem us will, in fact, do so because this is the way of God as demonstrated in the history of God’s people. It is the very nature of God, as expressed in the name of God, to keep the promises made with God’s people.  

There is no other name like God’s name, Yahweh. It is a name that declares the uniqueness of God, God’s holiness, the fact that God stands above, beyond. That God is the creator of all that is, the sustainer and the redeemer.

It also is worth noting that though God is holy and separate, God gave us a name by which to call God. In other words, God is not distant and removed. God has given a word by which we are to address the holy.


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In a sense, setting the stage for what will later happen in Christ, God is making it known the holy intends to be among us, with us, a part of us. Christ will later refer to himself as “I Am.” In so doing, God, in Christ, is making it known that what is truly holy is not removed from our daily existence. The initiator of all that is, the Great I Am wishes to move and live among us (John 1). This is the heart of the Christmas story, the commitment of God to enter into God’s own creation in a personal way.

It’s so very important for believers to remember that as God promised to deliver the children of Israel from slavery and then did so, we have a model of the way God is with the children of God. God promised to deliver the Israelites. God delivered the Israelites. In Christ, God has promised to deliver us from death.  God will deliver us from death. God lives out the meaning of God’s transcendent name and holiness by keeping God’s promises to the children of God.

The way of God in history, based on the name of God, is our hope for today and tomorrow. At this season of Advent, just a few short days from Christmas, it is very important to go back and rehearse the history of the One whose birth we celebrate. In celebrating that history, we celebrate our future.


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