Look at the language use to describe the Name in Isaiah 30:27. Behold, the Name of the Lord comes from afar. Looks like we’re getting language that makes the Name sound like a person. In blazing wrath with a heavy burden, his lips. The Name has lips? This language is speaking about the Name as though the Name is a person, because God is a person. How else could we talk about him. Lips full of fear, tongue like a devouring fire. Look at how the Name is used in Psalm 20:1,7. May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble, may the Name of the God of Jacob protect you. Some trust in chariots, some in horses, we trust in the Name of the Lord our God. Who’s name is that, it’s the same person. It’s a reference to him, to his presence, his person.
Let’s look at Exodus 23:20-21 and say that when God says to Moses, look, I got a trip for you. I’m going to send you to a land of milk and honey. I know you’re a little scared, but I’ll be with you. I’m going to send an Angel with you and I just want you to know that when you look at that Angel. When you see him out there, my Name is in him. My presence, my essence, who and what I am is in that Angel. That’s me out there. So certain Gentiles were noticing this, how this idea of Two Powers in Heaven was a part of Judaism in antiquity and it became a heresy. Identifying these two issues, the phrase Angel of the Lord and Angel of Yahweh and then this phrasing referred to as the Name. Passages in the Old Testament sounded to the ear like the God of Israel was two figures. But we got this Godhead idea and let’s just say that Two Powers in Heaven is bad and we will just do away with it. We want everybody in our community to know we don’t want to think that way, that’s not who we are. You can’t be that, you got to be a Christian.
God has a fundamental problem. God actually has two problems. One problem is if I come to people the way I really am, they’ll die. That just defeats the whole purpose, because I can’t really have a conversation if people are just going to start dropping dead. The other problem is, even if they didn’t drop dead, since I don’t have a body, how will they know I’m there. This is why God chooses to appear in ways that can be discerned with the human senses. So that you know he’s there and you’re not really getting the full him, because if you did, you’d drop over dead.
So it’s flame, it’s clouds and often it’s a human, it’s human form, it’s this messenger, it’s this Angel, that’s how you know God is there. It’s so that you don’t drop over dead, we’re safe. God solved both problems, I’m there and you ain’t going to die. God has to be veiled in some way. Like in Exodus 3:1-5, this passage is about Moses going to see the burning bush. An Angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a blazing fire out of the bush. He gazed and there was a bush all of flame, but the bush was not consumed, he goes to check this out. When Yahweh saw what he was doing. Clearly there are two characters in the bush. The Angel is in the bush, but so is Yahweh, they are both in the bush.
2 Samuel 6:1-2, David gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. and David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale-judah to bring up from there the Ark of God, which is called the Name who is the Lord God of Hosts. The Ark was called the Name? Why would the Ark be associated with the very presence of God, because that’s where the high priest met him once a year. They associated that object with the very divine presence, because that’s where the divine presence sat. The foot stool, the throne, all this language, that’s where he was. So they could look at the object, the presence is there. Some trust in chariots, some in horses, we trust in the Name of the Lord our God. Who’s name is that, it’s the same person. It’s a reference to him, to his presence, his person, not just four consonants. Hey, the four consonants are going to protect me. If that’s what you’re thinking, then you’ve just turned the person of Yahweh into some sort of incantation. It’s not four consonant, it’s a person.
Let’s look at Exodus 23:20-21 and say that when God says to Moses, look, I got a trip for you. I’m going to send you to a land of milk and honey. I know you’re a little scared, but I’ll be with you. I’m going to send an Angel with you and I just want you to know that when you look at that Angel. When you see him out there, my Name is in him. My presence, my essence, who and what I am is in that Angel. That’s me out there. So certain Gentiles were noticing this, how this idea of Two Powers in Heaven was a part of Judaism in antiquity and it became a heresy. Identifying these two issues, the phrase Angel of the Lord and Angel of Yahweh and then this phrasing referred to as the Name. Passages in the Old Testament sounded to the ear like the God of Israel was two figures. But we got this Godhead idea and let’s just say that Two Powers in Heaven is bad and we will just do away with it. We want everybody in our community to know we don’t want to think that way, that’s not who we are. You can’t be that, you got to be a Christian.
God has a fundamental problem. God actually has two problems. One problem is if I come to people the way I really am, they’ll die. That just defeats the whole purpose, because I can’t really have a conversation if people are just going to start dropping dead. The other problem is, even if they didn’t drop dead, since I don’t have a body, how will they know I’m there. This is why God chooses to appear in ways that can be discerned with the human senses. So that you know he’s there and you’re not really getting the full him, because if you did, you’d drop over dead.
So it’s flame, it’s clouds and often it’s a human, it’s human form, it’s this messenger, it’s this Angel, that’s how you know God is there. It’s so that you don’t drop over dead, we’re safe. God solved both problems, I’m there and you ain’t going to die. God has to be veiled in some way. Like in Exodus 3:1-5, this passage is about Moses going to see the burning bush. An Angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a blazing fire out of the bush. He gazed and there was a bush all of flame, but the bush was not consumed, he goes to check this out. When Yahweh saw what he was doing. Clearly there are two characters in the bush. The Angel is in the bush, but so is Yahweh, they are both in the bush.
2 Samuel 6:1-2, David gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. and David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale-judah to bring up from there the Ark of God, which is called the Name who is the Lord God of Hosts. The Ark was called the Name? Why would the Ark be associated with the very presence of God, because that’s where the high priest met him once a year. They associated that object with the very divine presence, because that’s where the divine presence sat. The foot stool, the throne, all this language, that’s where he was. So they could look at the object, the presence is there. Some trust in chariots, some in horses, we trust in the Name of the Lord our God. Who’s name is that, it’s the same person. It’s a reference to him, to his presence, his person, not just four consonants. Hey, the four consonants are going to protect me. If that’s what you’re thinking, then you’ve just turned the person of Yahweh into some sort of incantation. It’s not four consonant, it’s a person.
