Crystallization-Study of Ezekiel (2)
Message Three
“Know That I Am Jehovah”
Scripture Reading: Ezek. 36:11, 23, 38; 37:6, 13-14, 28; 38:23; 39:6-7, 22, 28
I. Elohim is the name of God in relation to creation; Jehovah is the name of God in relation to man—Gen. 1:1; 2:4; Isa. 1:2, 4:
A. The name God—Elohim—means “the strong and mighty One”; this name refers to God’s relationship with creation.
B. God implies God’s power and His relationship with creatures; Jehovah God denotes God having a relationship with man:
1. God is the common name, and Jehovah is the name of intimacy and love.
2. Jehovah God is not only the One who is powerful but also the One who draws near to man—Gen. 2:4, 8, 15-16, 18-19, 21-22.
II. Jehovah means “I am who I am,” indicating that Jehovah is the self-existing and ever-existing eternal One, the One who was in the past, who is in the present, and who will be in the future forever—Exo. 3:14; Rev. 1:4:
A. The divine title I Am indicates that, as the self-existing One, God depends on nothing apart from Himself—Exo. 3:14:
1. The term self-existing refers to something that exists of or by itself without beginning.
2. God, the I Am, is self-existing, having no beginning.
B. The term ever-existing refers to something that exists forever; God exists forever, eternally, without ending.
C. Jehovah is the only One who is—Heb. 11:6:
1. This unique One who has being is the great “To Be”; the verb to be can be applied only to God and not to us.
2. Everything will cease to be, but God will ever continue to be; He, the I Am, is the great To Be.
3. God is the universal To Be, the genuine being; only God is I Am—only He has being.
III. El Shaddai is God’s name for supply and promise; Jehovah is God’s name for existence and fulfillment—Gen. 17:1; 28:3; 35:11; Exo. 3:14; 6:6-8:
A. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob experienced God as El Shaddai, but they did not experience Him as Jehovah, for they died in faith without receiving the fulfillment of God’s promise regarding the good land—Heb. 11:13; cf. Gen. 15:13-16.
B. In Exodus 6:6-8 God came not to promise something to Moses but to fulfill the promise that He had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; thus, He came to Moses not as El Shaddai but as Jehovah, the One who is and who will fulfill all that He has promised.
C. Because Jehovah exists eternally and because He is the reality of the verb to be, He will fulfill whatever He has spoken.
D. In the Lord’s recovery today, we are not in the stage of promise but in the stage of fulfillment; we are experiencing God not only as El Shaddai but also as Jehovah, the great I Am.
IV. Jehovah—the self-existing and ever-existing One—is the Triune God; He is the unique God, yet He is triune—3:6, 14-16; Mal. 2:10; 1 Cor. 8:4, 6; 2 Cor. 13:14; Matt. 28:19:
A. Jehovah is the God of three persons—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; this implies that He is the Triune God—Exo. 3:14-16.
B. “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” is Jehovah Elohim, the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—v. 15; Matt. 28:19:
1. The God of Abraham signifies God the Father who calls man, justifies man, and equips man to live by faith and to live in fellowship with Him—Gen. 12:1; 15:6; chs. 17—18; 19:29; 21:1-13; 22:1-18.
2. The God of Isaac signifies God the Son who blesses man with the inheritance of all His riches, with a life of the enjoyment of His abundance, and with a life in peace—25:5; 26:3-4, 12-33.
3. The God of Jacob signifies God the Spirit who works in all things for the good of His lovers, transforms man, and makes man mature in the divine life—27:41; 28:1—35:10.
C. Jehovah—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—is the God of resurrection, the resurrecting Triune God—Exo. 4:5; Matt. 22:31-32.
V. The Gospel of John reveals that Jesus is the great I Am—8:24, 28, 58; 18:4-8:
A. Jesus is not merely a man—He is I Am—8:24.
B. The name Jesus means “Jehovah the Savior” or “the salvation of Jehovah”—Matt. 1:21:
1. The name Jesus includes the name Jehovah, which means “I am who I am”—Exo. 3:14.
2. Jesus is Jehovah becoming our Savior and our salvation—Rom. 10:12-13; 5:10; cf. Phil. 1:19.
C. The fact that Jesus is the great I Am implies that He is the eternal One—John 8:58:
1. Jesus is Jehovah, the I Am; His name is I Am—vv. 24, 28.
2. The One who was arrested in the garden was not merely a Nazarene; this One was the great I Am, the infinite, eternal God; the One who was arrested was Jehovah God—18:4-8.
3. Jesus is the self-existing and ever-existing God; He is the complete God, the Triune God—14:9-10, 16-18.
D. As the I Am, Christ is everything to us for our experience and enjoyment; His being I Am means “I am whatever you need”—6:35; 8:12; 10:11; 11:25; 14:6:
1. The length, breadth, height, and depth of the name Jehovah are sufficient to include everything; whatever we need—all spiritual realities—can be added in faith to I Am.
2. In Exodus 3:14 God said only that He is, without saying what He is; this allows those who believe in Him to add what they need and then experience Him as that reality—John 8:32.
3. The Lord Jesus is the reality because He is the I Am—14:6; 8:32, 36:
a. When the Lord as the I Am comes into us as life, He shines within us as light, and this light brings the divine element of reality into us—1:4; 8:12.
b. The reality that sets us free is the I Am; the eternal To Be sets us free—vv. 32, 36, 58.
VI. “Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to Him, for he who comes forward to God must believe that He is”—Heb. 11:6:
A. God requires us to believe that He is:
1. Only God is; nothing else is.
2. God is because He is real; all things created by Him are not real—Eccl. 1:2.
3. Apart from God, all else is nothing; He is the only One who is, the only One who has the reality of being—Isa. 40:1-18.
B. Faith is to believe that God is—Heb. 11:6:
1. Faith joins us to God, the only One who is—John 14:1.
2. To believe that God is, is the only way, the unique way, to make God happy, to be well pleasing to Him—Heb. 11:6.
VII. Eventually, all will know that God is Jehovah—Ezek. 36:11, 23, 38; 37:6, 13-14, 28; 38:23; 39:6-7, 22, 28:
A. “You will know that I am Jehovah, when I open your graves and bring you up out of your graves, O My people”—37:13.
B. “I will make known My holy name in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not allow My holy name to be profaned anymore. Then the nations will know that I am Jehovah, the Holy One in Israel”—39:7.
C. “Before Abraham came into being, I am”—John 8:58.