Author: Author | 3/19/2017 9:49:50 PM
Jehovah-Shammah
"The Lord Who is Present"
And the name of the city from that time will be: THE LORD IS THERE
[Hebrew: "Jehovah-Shammah"] Ezekial 17:8-16
The whole idea of the future life in God's eternal presence is often pictured in the Bible as a city. The passage cited above is an example of this. Another example is Psalm 46:4, "There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the most high." (Jerusalem had no river. This is an ideal, heavenly Jerusalem.)
In Hebrews 11:10, we are told that Abraham, the spiritual Father of all who are in the faith, was "...looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God." In verses 13-16, we are told, concerning these Old Testament saints, "All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. They admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth."
The passage goes on to say, "People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.... they were longing for a better country - a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.'
The essential feature of the future eternity:
Hebrews 12:22 says, "But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven."
But the important point to which we need to pay special. attention is what makes this heavenly city "a better country" and a "joyful assembly." It is the fact that God is there and that His people will be with Him. The most sublime expression of this is in Revelation 21:1-3.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband."
Then, the most significant aspect of the city is mentioned: And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.'
It is difficult to miss the emphasis. The ultimate goal of God's great plan of the ages is that a company of people who have been redeemed from the fallen human race will one day be reconciled to Him and enjoy the glorious blessedness of His immediate presence along with the angels of God.
The uniqueness and glory of Israel's religion:
The uniqueness and glory of Israel's religion as contrasted with the religions of the surrounding nations was the manifest presence of a holy God. From the very beginning of His dealings with Israel in the Old Testament, God emphasized the fact of His presence being with them, and their chief leaders recognized the importance and significance of this.
In Exodus 23:20 God told Moses, when he began to lead the people of Israel out into the wilderness toward the promised land: "See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared." In Isaiah 63:9, this angel is referred to as "the angel of his presence." This is the same angel which appeared to Moses in the burning bush and announced Himself as the "I am that I am," i.e. Jehovah Himself (Exodus 3:2 & 14-15).
Recognizing the great importance of God being with his people, after the sin of the people of Israel at Mt. Sinai, Moses pleaded with the Lord to continue with his people in spite of their provocation. In Exodus 33:14-16, God replied to Moses, "My presence will go with you ..." Moses said, "If your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. How will anyone know you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?" (Exodus 33:15-16)
Both the tabernacle and the Temple were the place of His abode and His visible manifestation in Israel. Everything about them was highly typical of God's presence and glory. In Exodus 40:34-38, we are told that as soon as the tabernacle in the wilderness was completed and dedicated, the glory of Jehovah's presence filled it, and that the cloud of Jehovah was upon the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in the cloud by night. This was the manifestation of God's presence, we are told (v.38) in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.
In II Chronicles 7:1-3, when the Temple was completed, we are told that at the end of Solomon's prayer of dedication, fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifices on the altar, "and the glory of the LORD filled the house. And the priests could not enter into the house of the LORD because the glory of the LORD had filled it." Psalm 46 is a great Psalm describing the confidence Israel experienced when she relied upon and trusted in the power of God's presence. His presence was a guaranteed protection against all the disasters of this world.
A Greater fulfillment of God's presence:
It is important to realize that, as spectacular as it was, the Old Testament manifestation of God's presence in the tabernacle and the Temple was not the greatest fulfillment of God's presence. In I Kings 8:27, when the Old Testament Temple was completed, King Solomon made this significant remark: But will God really dwell on the earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built."
Hebrews 9:23-24, in the New Testament, makes it clear that the Old Testament tabernacle and the Temple were only types and shadows which were figures of the true, they were only the pattern of things in the heavens. We have already noted that the greatest fulfillment will come when God dwells with men in the heavenly city, the new Jerusalem (Revelation 21). However, there is also a sense in which this presence of God is fulfilled in Christians, in whom God dwells as living Temples.
In the fourteenth chapter of John's gospel, the Lord Jesus was preparing His disciples for His departure. He told them that He would never leave them alone in this world as orphans. He began to teach them, even before He left this earth in His human body and before the Holy Spirit was given, that He and the Father would come and dwell with them through the agency of the Holy Spirit.
In I Corinthians 3:16, the Apostle Paul said to the Corinthian Christians, "Know ye not that ye are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you." In II Corinthians 6:16 Paul told these same Christians, "What agreement hath a temple of God with idols? ... For ye are a temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." Finally, Ephesians 2:19-22 is a wonderful passage which also describes the Church as a whole as the dwelling place of God on earth.
The application of this truth in our own lives:
It is of the utmost importance that we should grasp the essential truth God seeks to reveal to us in this name, Jehovah-Shammah. It seems that He wants us to be filled with the assurance of His presence. The Psalmist said,"...in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore" (Psalm 16:11). Nehemiah comments on this joy, which comes from being in God's presence:" ...the joy of the Lord is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10). In other words, the assurance that God is with us fills us with joy and confidence as we live down below in this world.
The Apostle Peter speaks of the "exceedingly great and precious promises" God has given us to help us "escape the corruption that is in the world which is caused by sinful desires" (II Peter 1:34). Many of these promises from God have to do with the guarantee of His presence with us: "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world," (Matthew 28:20); "1 will never leave you or forsake you," (Hebrews 13:5); "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me," (Psalm 23:4); cf. also Isaiah 41:10; 43:1-5; Psalm 46:1-3; etc.
We must hold fast to the promise the Lord Jesus made to His disciples in John 14:1-3. He told them before He left them that He was going to prepare a place for them and that He would come again to receive them unto Himself so that they might be with Him. We must assure our hearts that the Father will indeed answer the prayer of Jesus in John 17:24 - "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory."