The Name of the Lord

“And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. And he said , I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said , I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious , and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy… And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation (Exd. 33:17-19; Exd. 34:5-7). What we see here is what God said it was, and that is his own proclamation of his own name. What that really means is that God was giving Moses a summation of what he is all about. So everything he told Moses he is, indeed is what he is [I think he said something like that to Moses earlier]. Seeing the scripture informs us clearly that God NEVER changes, we can be assured that he is still all of these things (Mal. 3:6; Jas. 1:17). Now someone will say, "But this is the new covenant, and we’re under grace now,” or something like that. But Jesus assured us that he and his Father are perfectly joined together in one mind and one accord in all things, so the new covenant certainly has not changed either God or his Son; of whom the scripture says, “being the brightness of his glory, and the EXPRESS IMAGE of his [the Father’s] person” (Jn. 10:30; Jn. 17:22; Heb. 1:3). That short explanation of God’s unchanging nature brings me to the point of this writing. Nobody who professes to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ will have absolutely any trouble at all saying a long, loud AAAAAMEN to the first several elements stipulated in God’s defining of his own name, meaning what he is about. But those last couple of things that he said will meet a very stiff resistance from MOST of today’s professing ‘Christians,’ howbeit in the guise of an abundance of love and kindness. I’m talking about the part that says, “and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.” Yeah, that part.

Now your real 'grace’ zealots will even say something like, “Well now, that’s talking about 'the world,’ not believers.” I’ve heard it all so many times that I couldn’t even hope to count them. But allow me to explain something here in a very simplistic and sensible manner. There is no such thing as mercy unless there is such a thing as judgment and wrath. The same as there is no such thing as short unless there is such a thing as tall. My friend, there simply is no such thing as blessing unless there is such a thing as cursing. If you don’t believe me then read Deuteronomy 28 [Oh yeah, I forgot; that’s the old testament God again. We’re serving that OTHER God, the new testament one.Yeah right]. I’ve got news for all the 'Christian love’ zealots, and that news is that GOD’S LOVE IS HOLY! Not only so, but God has graciously [as in 'grace’] made the way for you and I to be holy, that is unless his holy Spirit is a lying Spirit: “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” (I Pet. 1:15,16). I assure you that God still chastens disobedience, and contrary to so many Christian crusaders today, God still does not “clear the guilty.” Jesus made the way for us to be literally joined to him in “righteousness and true holiness,” and if we refuse that way or depart permanently from that way once we have begun in it, we WILL NOT be saved (Heb. 12:5-11; I Cor. 6:17; Eph. 4:24). That’s what the Bible says anyway: “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). The power of the holy Ghost which is received by faith through the Spirit baptism administered by Jesus, is what it takes to live free from sin in the HOLINESS of God’s HOLY Spirit (Acts 1:4,5,8; Rom. 6:3,4). In fact the Bible assures us that our penalty for failing to continue in the state of holiness, meaning freedom from sinning, will be much greater than the failure of old testament Israel for failing God’s commandments under the law: “He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy , who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified , an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?"

To be certain that God still brings judgment on his new testament believers for disobedience, that same passage continues with this: "For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people” (Heb. 10:28-30). Yes that means God’s own people, and it means his people of the new covenant whom the apostle was writing to, as the passage clearly states. So it is absolutely certain that God is still the God of love, and mercy, and forgiveness, and unfathomable kindness and grace. And it is every bit as certain that he has not changed in that he will “by no means clear the guilty,” meaning those who are in covenant with him. The reality is that the 'grace’ zealots who wave the 'love’ banner so high and want so badly to avoid any and all mention or acknowledgment of God’s judgment and wrath; actually know little to nothing of God’s love and his mercy. Reason being that they know little to nothing of his judgment against sin, and his coming wrath against all who refuse to forsake it entirely. Mercy and lovingkindness are for all who are willing to truly repent from and forsake sin, continually purifying their hearts by the power of God’s Spirit (Prov. 28:13; I Tim. 5:24; I Jn. 3:2,3). Make no mistake my friend, judgment and wrath is equally as certain for all who refuse to do so, or depart from doing so (Mat. 13:40,41,47-49; Jn. 15:5,6; Heb. 6:4-8). Therein is the reality of understanding and appreciating the true mercy and love of God that is in Jesus Christ toward all who believe and obey his will. THAT kind of love is coupled with the tempering of godly fear, the kind that the apostle was speaking of in this last passage that I will serve up today: “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:28,29). Amen.