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. (Exodus 20:7 NASB)

Introduction

We live in a society where names don’t necessarily mean anything. So in Kath and Kim, their daughter is called Eponee-Rae, probably because it is unusual, or because they like the sound of the name. Names for us are arbitrary sounds that we attach to people. Often we like or don’t like a name because of what we associate with it. That’s why it is so hard for school teachers to choose names for their kids, because they're thinking of the naughty brat in their class called Joshua, or Matthew, or Brendan. Well, you can fill the gap.

God's Personal Name in the Old Testament

Now, God has a personal name. God is what he is, just like I’m a human, but my name is Matt Olliffe. God is God. That is the being he is. But the God who reveals himself to men and women also reveals his name, in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. And the name of God is not just pretty sounds and syllables that give us nice feelings when we say them, although that is relevant, as we shall see. The name of God actually tells us what God is like. The name of God teaches us deep and intimate truths about God.

Well, what therefore is God’s name? That is the question Moses asked God. What is your name? And Moses was told his name?

Then Moses said to God, "Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I shall say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you.' Now they may say to me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them?" And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" And God, furthermore, said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations. (Exodus 3:13-15 NASB)

Now at first glance, this looks like a non-answer. But God does indeed reveal himself to Moses with this explanation of his name. It might seem a bit like, if my son asks me what I am doing and I say, "I’m doing what I’m doing. I’m doing what I want." And no doubt he would be frustrated. "I know that, but Dad, what are you doing?" But actually we learn a lot about God’s name here. We learn that his Old Covenant name is Yahweh. Whenever you see capital L O R D in your English bibles, that stands for God’s personal name in the Old Testament, YHWH. This follows an ancient convention that Yahweh’s name be read out as ‘Lord’. Yahweh is the same God who spoke with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And he is who he is.

In other words, God is saying, "I determine who I am. No one else names me or determines who I am. And Moses, if you want to know me, you go and do what I say, and watch what I do. Then you will get to know me and understand who I am."

So Yahweh’s very name is really an invitation to personal relationship, just like when my son asks, "Dad what are you doing?", and I say, "I’m doing what I’m doing. Come and see, and watch and you will learn." If I say this, I’m not fobbing him off, am I? So in God's explanation of his name here, there is an invitation to watch and come to God and learn what he is like from his actions.

But after Moses has watched God for a while, and had seen him in action, God gives him another revelation of his name. It’s in Exodus 33 and 34. It’s a fuller, richer, deeper explanation of God’s name, because YHWH has shown many more of his acts to Moses by that stage. For this later and more full revelation is given after God has now rescued his people from slavery, after they have been brought out of Egypt and seen the mighty acts of God, and the people of Israel have heard God's voice from the mountain. They have seen his amazing actions, and so Moses says to God, "Since you’ve been so kind, show me your glory. Show me yourself what your like, in all your splendour. I want to know you intimately." (see Exodus 33:19-23). And God says in response to Moses, "Sorry. Moses, you can’t see my face and live. So I will put you in a cleft in a rock, and I will show you my back. But I will proclaim my name". So Exodus 33:19:

[I] will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion." (Exodus 33:19 NASB)

In other words, God is free and sovereign. God will show himself to who he wants. So God put Moses in the cleft of the rock and then God revealed his name, the meaning of his name.

⁶ And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, ⁷ maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation." (Exodus 34:6-7 NIV)

God reveals his name, that is, his character. This is the sort of God God is. He is bearing his heart on his sleeve. And what sort of God is he? He forgives wickedness, rebellion and sin, because he is compassionate and gracious. Yet he punishes wickedness, rebellion and sin, because he doesn’t leave the guilty unpunished. So God is both a forgiving yet punishing God. He is overwhelmingly more forgiving and merciful than punishing, and he much more wanting to give us grace than justice, just as 1000 generations are more than four. Mercy triumphs over judgment with God. But both justice and mercy, both forgiveness and punishment, make up God’s character.

So the very name of God, Yahweh, the God who forgives yet punishes, leaves us with a problem. How can God be both of these things at once? How can God forgive my wickedness, rebellion and sin, and yet not leave me unpunished for my wickedness, rebellion, and sin? Doesn’t forgiveness mean not punishing my wickedness, rebellion and sin? And in the Old Covenant, this paradox, this conundrum, continues unresolved until the New Covenant, for it finds resolution in the New Covenant, the New Testament. That’s why we needed a New Covenant, and that is what God does: he makes a New Covenant and he reveals a new name, a New Covenant name. for himself.

God's Personal Name in the New Testament

God’s fullest revelation of himself comes not to Moses on Mt Sinai but in the person of Jesus Christ in history and in the pages of the New Testament. With the coming of Jesus comes a new name for the same God.

¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20 NIV)

The resurrected Jesus’ 'great commission' to the disciples reveals a new name for God. This is the same God, Yahweh who revealed himself in the Old Testament, but he reveals a new name, more revealing name of himself. For the name of God reveals the character of God. There is one God, for there is only one name. That’s why Jesus says ‘the name’ singular, instead of ‘names’ plural. But there is a plurality within God, for there are three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And the three persons in unity are identified with the one God, Yahweh, God as he revealed himself in the Old Testament.

Jesus reveals that God is Trinity. As it was in the Old Testament, so it is in the New Testament: God’s nature is expressed in God’s name, and this time he reveals one God existing as three distinct persons.

The Father, who relates to his Son, Jesus Christ, as his Father, also relates to us through adoption and the new birth as Father, because everyone who trusts Jesus is adopted as a son of God the Father. And the Son, Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, the unique and only beloved Son of the Father, always was, always existed, and is eternal like the Father, yet when the time was right, he condescended to become a human like us and for us to save us. Out of his love for us, Jesus became like us in every way, except of course for our sin. And the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, who 'proceeds from both the Father and the Son’, the Risen Jesus sends him from the Father upon all who call on the name of Jesus.

And it is in the events of the New Testament, that this one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, reveals how God is be both forgiving and merciful. The New Testament reveals how YHWH the Triune God is the forgiving yet punishing God. Let me read Romans 3:25-26.

God presented him [Jesus] as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished – he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:25-26 NIV)

Just as God revealed his name on Mount Sinai, so God reveals his name on Mount Jerusalem. God once more bears his heart on his sleeve, because there God publicly displayed Jesus as a sacrifice. Jesus, lifted high up on a cross, a beaten, battered and bleeding man, was held up as a bloodied mess for the world to see. He is the sacrifice by which God forgives yet punishes.

Is God, YHWH, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the God who punishes sin? Yes. For Jesus was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, and the punishment that brought us peace was upon him. (Isaiah 53:5) But is God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the God who forgives wickedness, rebellion and sin? Yes. Jesus Christ the Son, by the eternal Holy Spirit, offered himself and his sacrificial death up to his Father (Hebrews 9:14). So now in the event of the cross we see how God both forgives us yet punishes our sins.

There is a new saving name, the name of Jesus Christ. He is in very nature and essence God and one with the Father. Yet he was made really and truly human and so is also one with us. And so died for us, a terrible death on the cross, where he was punished in our place, so we could be forgiven.

God exalted him [Jesus Christ] to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

Jesus is the name above all names. His name means salvation. Jesus (or Joshua – it is the same name) means, ‘God saves’. Jesus by name, Jesus by nature. That’s what he did. Before he started his work of salvation, the angel said of him:

[…you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’ (Matthew 1:21 NIV)

And after he finished his work of salvation, Peter said of him:

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12 NIV)

And gentlemen, if we take the name ‘Christian’, we take on his name.

We bear his precious name before the watching and judging world.

So we return to the third commandment at the top of our sheets.

"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. (Exodus 20:7 NASB)

So we return to the third commandment at the top of our sheets.

"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. (Exodus 20:7 NASB)

What does this mean, to take the Lord’s name in vain.

Well, we know that now it is the name of Jesus Christ, of Father Son and Holy Spirit, as well as YHWH, that we must honour.

So this points first of all to our words.

We must not be like the world that does not know God.

Like the winners of prizes on Radio or TV to say ‘Oh my God’.

Not ‘Thank you God’, -- because that would be bringing God into it.

But ‘Oh my God’.

For us, this should not be.

Worse still is the frequent blaspheming of Jesus’s name.

Movies, Radio, TV, playground and lunchroom all have it.

Taking ‘Jesus’ as a swear word.

Or doing this for a joke.

What an offence to the one who rules the universe and died for us.

Of course, they wouldn’t do it of ‘Mohammad’ or ‘Allah’.

But they do it to the creator and sustainer of the universe.

And it also points to swearing oaths.

I’m not talking about in court, taking your oath on the bible – that’s different.

I’m talking about the folly of saying ‘I swear to God’ in our every day relationships.

You hear people do it.

And almost always sinful, even if what they are saying is true.

And how much worse if they are lying.

But for us, we need to make our yes, yes, and our no, no.

We need to be people of our word, regardless of whether we say, ‘I promise’ or ‘I swear’.

But this is only the tip of the ice berg.

These are only the most superficial applications.

Because at it’s essence, the third command says:

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