The Lord

Introduction

I have an odd name. Dana is not a name most often associated with men. My mother was particularly enamored of a movie star from her era named Dana Andrews. Thus, my name. She thought him handsome and winsome and so I was given that name. I am disappointed in my father for not suggesting something different. The fact that Dana Andrews died from the effects of alcoholism is not something I am especially proud of either. My brother, who has a normal masculine name, reminded me with some frequency when we were growing up that my name was a girl’s name and that I would be better served in life by using my middle name—Clark. That didn’t seem any better in my estimation. So my brother just called me “Corky” for a time. He grew weary of my not responding to his made up nickname and eventually went back to my given name, although he more often than not just said “hey” than used my name.

In recent years, my name seems to have become very confusing to people. It is not unusual in filling out some type of paperwork that the person will take the form, look at it, and ask me in a very kind way why I used my wife’s name. Telemarketers call the house and ask for Ms. Dana Baldwin. Barbara hangs up on them. I am proud of her. There have been times at restaurants I use my last name or if I am in a real playful mood I will use a name that is perceived as masculine—like Mike, or Randy. The only problem is I have to remember the name I used and then there is a twinge of guilt for claiming a name that is not my own. I am often conflicted.

The most fun I have had with name came when I first started teaching at FHU. I started as an adjunct instructor in the Master’s program in counseling which means you get paid a little for doing a lot. It was early in my career. The classroom where the class was to meet had not been unlocked yet and as I and the students gathered outside the classroom waiting for someone with a key to appear, I just became a fly on the wall. The students assumed I was another student. I listened with rapt fascination as students asked one another if they knew anything about this Dr. Baldwin. Who is she? What did she look like? Had anyone heard what kind of teacher she is? Many expressed hope that she wouldn’t be too hard. That was fun. Names mean something and today we will look at God’s name.

God’s Name

When God meets Moses for the second time on Mt. Sinai, he calls himself a special name. It is a name that we are uncertain of its pronunciation but we have become comfortable with a particular way of speaking it: “Yahweh.” It is God’s name that he uses about himself. In your Bibles in the OT, this special name is signified by capitalizing all the letters of the word LORD. Any time you see the word LORD with all capitals then you know that it is God’s special name for himself—Yahweh. This name for God is found more times in the OT than any other name. Over 6,800 times this special name is used for God. So what does it mean? Let’s go back to the first time that Moses heard this name.

In Exodus 3, Moses is in Midian. You will recall he killed an Egyptian who was beating one of the Israelite slaves. His deed discovered, Moses fled Egypt to escape death. Taking up residence in Midian, Moses marries and becomes a shepherd. One day while tending sheep of his father-in-law, he sees a bush burning which was never consumed by the fire. Investigating, Moses meets Yahweh there. And God calls him to be his leader for his people. In verse 13, Moses in trying to find a reason not to be God’s leader asks, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of our fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

And God answers “I AM WHO I AM.” What does that mean? You may have a footnote that says “I will be what I will be.” That really clears things up. One writer says it means “I ever shall be the same that I am today.” I think we are getting closer. But it isn’t just a proper name. God goes on in verse 15 saying that he has been existing for generations. That inherent within his name is a generational connection that goes back over 400 years.

What would you say this name means? Let me suggest three things for you to consider. Before we get into those three things let’s think about this underlying truth—whatever we may say about this name is not adequate to encapsulate the true meaning. Our human words are inadequate to capture the fullness and depth of this name.

Implications

First, the name means God exists. He is living. When Moses went to the people to explain who he had talked to, he was coming with this idea in mind—the God who sent me is not a dead god. He is a living God. This means he has the power to do something. The existence of God is debated. So many want proof that God exists in order to confirm it. There are those who have read so much that they doubt the existence of God. There are those who have more faith in the non-existence of God than in the existence of God. But vast majority of us believe in the existence of God. Here is the issue: Do our lives reflect that we believe in the existence of God? God tells Moses to say to the people that I AM has spoken. The one who exists has spoken. The one who has been speaking to generations long before the current one.

Some say they believe that God exists and act like he doesn’t. Some say God exists and then try to prove that they are self-sufficient. Some say God exists and do not pray. Some say God exists and then hurry about their day living by earthly wisdom of getting ahead, getting all you can. Some say God exists and allow filth to enter their minds through pornography and movies. Some say God exists and believe themselves to be defeated when something goes wrong without thinking how God might be at work.

What difference does God’s existence make to you? Moses knew that this God who appeared to him in a burning bush and on a mountain existed. His name told him that was true. He spoke to this God.

Second, the name means there is no creator for God. The name says that God has always been. He is eternal. He had no beginning and he has no end. We all have beginnings. We all have the genetic make-up of our parents and grandparents as foundational building blocks of every cell in our body. But God has no spiritual genetic material. He is the originator of genetic material but nothing produced him. As a child, I tried to get my mind around this concept. It had nothing to do with doubting the immortal nature of God; it had everything to do with nothing else in this world compared. So I kept asking the question “Where does God come from?” And no one could tell me. Teachers and parents kept telling me that God was eternal—had no beginning or end, but I needed to know. And then one day about age 10 I read Habakkuk 3:3, “God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth.” Habakkuk is praying that Israel will once again be filled with the understanding about the nature of God. Teman and Paran both refer to the area of Mount Sinai. Habakkuk 3:6 says God’s ways are eternal.

There is no creator for God. He existed before he spoke to Moses and he exists generation after generation. This brings confidence to us. We have a span of 70 years and then another generation exists. But while humans’ time line is divided into segments, God’s time line is continuous—without beginning and without end.

What does this mean for us? It means that we place our trust in one who sees the entirety of life not just our segment. There are several fascinating and mind-boggling threads that demonstrate this in scripture. Let me show you one briefly.

In Exodus 17:8ff, Israel has come out of Egypt and they are attacked by the Amalekites. Although Israel wins that battle, a promise is made in Exodus 17:16 that God will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation.

Forty years later, Israel is getting ready to cross the Jordan and enter the promised land. Moses in his final sermon says in Deuteronomy 25:17-19 that the people are not to forget what the Amalekites did to them when they came out of Egypt. The day is coming when you will have a time of rest and God will then tell you to blot out the Amalekites.

In 1 Samuel 15, Saul is told by God to completely annihilate the Amalekites. This is some 500 years after Moses told them this day would come. But we know the story that Saul did not follow through. So what was the consequence? Esther. Haman is an Agagite which means he is a descendant of an Amalekite king. Some 500 years after Saul’s disobedience, an Amalekite tries to destroy all Jewish people in one day. But God is victorious.

Here is the point: We are so stuck in our segment of life that we fail to see the sovereignty of God from generation to generation. He is eternal and not bound by time as we are.

Third, this name means that God does not change. His eternal nature also demonstrates that his character is the same from generation to generation. Go back to how the prophets throughout the generations used this text from Exodus 34. They used it because they knew God’s nature did not change. They counted on the consistency of God’s character to remind the people. Jonah’s disappointment and anger toward God is based upon his knowing that God never changes. How we view God affects how we think and live. God in his name reveals his very nature and character—he is loving, forgiving, merciful, and compassionate and just. God is complete. He is self-dependent. He needs nothing but supplies all that a person might need.

What does this mean? It means that God is not fickle. We get caught off guard by events and circumstances. The person who gets laid off today didn’t know it was coming yesterday. His future is uncertain. But God is never caught off guard. Do you think God understands how computers work? Do you think he slapped his spiritual forehead and said to all the angels “I never saw that coming”? Do you think when you have an event that tests you and makes you wonder if God is present that God is sitting on his throne thinking “what next? I don’t know what I am going to do”?

Do you think when you sin, that God says to his angels “I know I talked about this forgiveness stuff but that was based on what he had done. If I had known that he was going to do this big thing…”?

When God says he forgives, you can count on it. Because God never changes. When you are caught off guard by the events of life, God isn’t. He saw it before you were born. When you are uncertain about your future, God already knows where you are going to be next week, next year, and five years from now.

When God met Moses on Mount Sinai, Moses bowed down and worshiped him. But something else happened to Moses. According to Exodus 34:30, when Moses came down from the mountain, his face was radiant. So radiant that the people were afraid to come near to him. In other words, it was obvious that Moses had been with God and that Yahweh changed him. But Moses’ physical change was temporary. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 3 that his radiant face dulled over time. Moses met the Lord and his face changed. But it was temporary. But for us with unveiled faces, Paul says that we meet the Lord and we are being transformed into his likeness because of the work of the Spirit in our lives. Here’s the thing: The LORD, Yahweh, has always been and always will be; he does not change. If we are walking with him then our lives are to be a greater reflection of his glory. We are to shine like God in this world. We are to reveal his character and his nature. Israel knew when Moses had been with God. This world knows when we have been with God—if our lives reflect his glory.

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