Exodus 20:7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.”
There they were, a holy convocation of people whom God had assembled by the strength of His hand. Israel had been released from their four hundred years of captivity and the reason given was that they might worship the Lord. The Lord had brought them to His holy mountain and there at the summit He met Moses. Dark and foreboding was His presence, the fear of the Lord must have been quite tangible to the people below. In a demonstration of His power and holiness God gave Moses a law that transgressed time and eternity. The Moral law revealed God Himself, His standard of holiness, His perfection, His judgement of sin and rebellion, and it showed a path to God that required more than mere human will to accomplish.
What the people witnessed that day was beyond their understanding, all they knew is that they were not worthy.
Exodus 20:18-19 “Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”
Moses brought to them the law that God had forged with His finger, a holy standard etched in stone to be followed implicitly. Each point of the law is as vital as the next, each point revealing a mandate that became impossible to follow.
Embedded within the Moral law is the commandment regarding God’s name. The description seems clear and yet the implications are profound, the more we understand the depth of God’s name, the more we realize how broad the command reaches.
Leviticus 19:12 “You must not swear falsely by My name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.”
How vast is the name of God. The times in history when God expressed His name became demonstrations of God’s revealed nature.
To Moses He declared….“ I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘ I AM has sent me to you.’”(Ex.3:14)
To John He revealed….”I Am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.”(Rev. 1:8)
To Isaiah…He is the King and Redeemer of Israel.(Is. 44:6),
To Jeremiah…He is the Balm of Gilead.(Jer. 8:22)
To Daniel…He is the Ancient of Days(Dan.7:9-11)
We could go on and on in the ways that God has revealed His names to His people.
Solomon knew Him as the Chief among ten thousand(Song.5:10), and Zechariah as the Branch(Zech.3:8) and Companion of God(Zech.13:7). To Paul He is revealed as the Last Adam((1 Cor.15:45), the Beloved(Eph.1:6), the Author(Heb.12:2), the Apostle(Heb.3:1), and the Anchor(Heb.6:19). The names and titles go on and on.
The mandate is clear, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain”. For those who violate this command, a death sentence is pronounced. Not a physical death but a spiritual death that reveals the measure of their offense. God’s name is Holy, it is to be revered, and for those who misplace their devotion, they trample continuously the revelation of God’s glory.
Leviticus 24:16 “Whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.”
The implications for the children of Israel was to literally take the blasphemer out and stone them to death. The process was not only a reminder that Israel was under God’s law, but the spiritual parallel of blasphemy has extended to all of the earth.
To break God’s law is to sin against God.(1 John 3:4). Sin is an offense against God’s name, against His position, against His glory, and against His people. Sin evokes God’s judgement and He promises that He will by no means acquit the guilty.(Ex.23:7)
What shall we do? If we think we have been absolved of guilt, we need only look deeper into the law and understand how we have blasphemed God’s name.
Revealing God’s Name
Romans 2:24 “For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
When believers who are called by His name act contrary to God’s holiness, they blaspheme God’s name among the world. What the world sees is an aberration of God’s revealed nature that doesn’t coincide with God’s declared nature. The people of God are to be holy as He is holy for a reason….they are to be Christ to the world.
2 Timothy 2:19 “Nevertheless, God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord must turn away from iniquity.”
The sanctifying work of the Spirit leads God’s people in holiness, revealing Christ in them to the world. When believers act hateful, selfish, or when they lust and steal and dishonor others, they act contrary to God’s revealed name.
Believers are under the provision of grace, given through Christ by the blood in which He offered for sin. They are forgiven for their lack of discretion, but they lose their testimony when they lack the moral integrity to live by the holiness in which they profess.
James 2:5-7 “Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?”
The mandate for God’s people is clear….live like Jesus because you represent His holiness.
Speaking God’s Name
There is the element of representing God’s name unfaithfully, and there is the act of reproaching God’s name by how we speak.
2 Kings 19:22 ‘Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised yourvoice, And lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.”
How quickly do people use God’s name as a swear word, like an exclamation of disdain they trample His holy name by taking it in vain. Each careless word becomes an indictment against their rebellious hearts.
Why is God’s name so holy? Why should it be revered among the people?
Leviticus 20:26 “You are to be holy to Me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be My own.”
The Lord is Holy because He stands alone as God. There is no other. God’s people are called by His name, therefore they are made holy by their association with Him. Because God’s people know Him, they are given the privilege of walking with Him, and seeing His works unveiled in their lives. As believers walk with Him in obedience, knowledge of God’s holiness is revealed further.
Isaiah 29:23 “For when he sees his children around him, the work of My hands, they will honor My name, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and they will stand in awe of the God of Israel.”
One day, God’s people will see Him in all His glory, they will stand before His throne and worship Him. For all those who have trampled God’s name and made it worthless, God will exalt His name in judgement.
Ezekiel 39:7-8 “And my holy name I will make known in the midst of my people Israel, and I will not let my holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel. Behold, it is coming and it will be brought about, declares the Lord GOD. That is the day of which I have spoken.”
To take God’s name in vain is revealed by the Hebrew word Shav, which is to render it falsely or useless. To blaspheme God’s name is to misrepresent His personhood in a false manner. When muslims declare Jesus as only a prophet, they falsely proclaim God. When mormons deny God’s triune nature, they blaspheme His name or when they say Jesus is the brother of Satan they falsely proclaim His revelation. Jehovah’s witnesses deny God when they claim He was Michael the archangel or if someone declares Buddha as God, they misrepresent God with a man. When people make up a god and declare him as sovereign, they falsely place an idol in God’s place.
Blaspheming God denies who He has declared Himself to be. It denies God’s works, it denies His power, and it denies Him the reverence that He is due.
How will God’s people revere His name throughout eternity?
Psalm 145:20-21 “The Lord preserves all who love Him,
But all the wicked He will destroy.
My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord,
And all flesh shall bless His holy name
Forever and ever.”
For those who know Him, they love to worship Him. Bearing God’s name is a great responsibility and it is worthwhile to consider how to live as believers. That the world may know.
U.T. 