“Yahweh Shammah”—The Lord Is There

“The circumference of the city shall be 18,000 cubits.  And the name of the city from that time on shall be, ‘The Lord Is There’”-Ezekiel 48:35.  “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name ‘Immanuel’”(God with us)-Matthew 1:23. “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” –Matthew 18:20b.  “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” –Hebrews 13:5b.  “They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads” –Revelation 22:4 (ESV).

How many of us have said to a family member or friend, “I’m here for you”?  These words of reassurance indicate that we want to share in sorrow, the down times, the good times and be an encouragement to others.  One of the great “I Am” statements of Almighty God is “Yahweh Shammah,” Hebrew for “The Lord Is There.”  And God is always there, ready to hear our prayers, ready to lift and succor us, ready to be “”a very present help in trouble” and our light and guide along life’s way.  The verse from Ezekiel may need some clarification.  Ezekiel prophesied at a time of great confusion for the nation.  In 597 B. C., Judah’s king, Jehoiachin had been exiled to Babylon along with several thousand, among whom was the prophet Ezekiel. His message is one of judgment and condemnation but also of hope.  In chapters 40 through 48 he sees a vision of the restoration of the nation, a division of the land among the twelve tribes, the rebuilding of the temple, and the city of Jerusalem, the wall of which will stretch 18,000 cubits around the restored city.  But when it is rebuilt, it will have a new name:  “Yahweh (Jehovah) Shammah”—“God is there,” or God is with us.” When Mary was told she would bear the Messiah, the angel gave a name for him:  “Immanuel”(also spelled Emmanuel)—God with us.  As “God with us,” Jesus came to save the people from their sins.  When Jesus had finished His work for which He came to earth and was ready to ascend to the Father, He gave the disciples their working orders:  “Go and make disciples…teach, preach, baptize, teach them to observe all that I have commanded you.”  But then He gave a great promise:  “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world” (or the end of the age).  In our work for the Lord, He is there.  The writer of Hebrews reconfirmed the promise of Immanuel, God with us”  “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  And in telling about the New Jerusalem with the Bridegroom (Jesus) coming down from Heaven to receive His bride (the redeemed) unto Himself, John declared that we will see the face of the Lord and our names will be on His forehead.  He will be there; He will know us individually.

Almost, this characteristic of the Great I Am is beyond our finite comprehension.  Now we can see it as through a glass, darkly.  But in our hearts we know God made the provision for; He will never leave us desolate and alone.  “God is there!”  Bless His holy name!  Let’s review the nine “I Am” principles that help us to know and better understand how to relate to God our Creator and Redeemer:  (1)  “Yahweh Jireh”—the Lord will provide (Gen. 22:14); (2)  “Yahweh Rophe”—the Lord heals (Exodus 15:26); (3)  “Yahweh Nissi” –the Lord is our banner (Exodus 17:15); (4) “Yahweh M’Kaddesh” –the Lord sanctifies (Lev. 20:8); (5)  “Yahweh Shalom” –the Lord is our peace (Judges 6:24); (6)  “Yahweh Rohi” –the Lord is my shepherd (Psalm 23:1); (7)  “Yahweh Sabaoth—the Lord of hosts (Psalm 46:7); (8)  “Yahweh Tsidkenu”—the Lord our righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6); and (9) “Yahweh Shammah” –the Lord is there (Ezekiel 48:35).  We probably won’t remember the Hebrew terms for the Great I Am. But their English interpretations can be a constant reminder to us of how great our God is and how in His omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience He surrounds, loves, saves, leads, protects and sustains us! To God be the glory!

“Yahweh Sabaoth” –The Lord of Hosts

“The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.  Selah.” –Psalm 46:7.  “When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand.  And Joshua went to him and said to him, ‘Are you for us, or for our adversaries?’  And he said, ‘No, but I am commander of the army of the Lord.  Now I have come.’  And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, ‘What does my lord say to his servant?’ And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, ‘Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.’ And Joshua did so.” –Joshua 5:13-15.  “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse!  The One sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.”-Revelation 19:11 (ESV).

This “I Am” of the Lord allows us to consider God in the light of the battles He wages for us.  “The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; He utters His voice, the earth melts”--so wrote the Psalmist in 46:6.  The Hebrew ‘Sabaoth’ and the Greek ‘saba’ come from a military term.  The word in relationship to Almighty God appears about 280 times as part of a significant and exalted title for God.  “Who is the King of glory?  The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory!” (Psalm 24:10) the Psalmist asks an important question and answers it himself.  When Isaiah received his call to be a prophet, the seraphim he saw in the temple were proclaiming:  “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3).  Encountering the Lord of hosts made Isaiah cry out in repentance and adulation:  “And he said, ‘Woe is me!  For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isa. 6:5).  Before Joshua led the Israelite army in the battle of Jericho, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joshua to assure him that the hosts of the Lord’s army were with him.  It just took following the Lord’s command to march around the city seven days, and as the little chorus we learned as children states, “the walls came tumbling down.”  One of the most powerful accounts of the host of the Lord’s army is the account in Revelation of the Lord Himself riding on a white horse and returning to earth to judge and to make war.  This promise is yet to be fulfilled, but signs of His coming abound in our time.

The Lord of hosts fights our battles.  It’s not a matter of whether the Lord is on our side; rather we should be on the Lord’s side.  Not what I will but what He wills.  Think of Jesus on the cross as He bore the penalty for our sin and separation from God.  He could have called a host of angels to come to His rescue (ten thousand angels could have been at His beck and call).  But He bore the cross, enduring its shame, because He was here to fulfill His purpose in coming to earth.  At that agonizing, crucial moment, Jesus did not call upon the hosts of heaven to rescue Him.  When He returns, however, it will be in victory and power, and with a mighty demonstration of what ‘Yahweh Sabaoth’ really means: the Lord of hosts!  Praise be to God!

Be Still Before God

“Be still and know that I am God:  I will be exalted among the heathen; I will be exalted in the ear

-Psalm 46:10 (KJV)

Meister Eckhart stated, “There is nothing in all creation so like God as stillness.”  The stately truths of Psalm 46 begin:  “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea” (Psalm 46:1-2, KJV).

Throughout history God’s people have been admonished by spiritual leaders and the Word of God Himself to “Be still and know that I am God.  The Word of God tells us “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;  And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:11-12).  The time will come when everyone—believer and unbeliever—will bow and confess the Lord of glory.  If you doubt this truth, see a good concordance of the Bible and note the several places this truth is stated.

I want to be counted in that number who bow voluntarily and not among the agnostics and atheists, who, because of the hardness of their hearts, do not acknowledge God this side of eternity, and therefore (too late, too late!) will bow and declare and exalt His name.

We live in a fast-paced age.  Noise and clamor are on every hand.  Many entities vie for out attention.  Amidst it all comes a still small voice through the din and uproar of a world turned aside from God and His priorities.  That whisper is from the Holy Spirit, God with us, urging each person:  “Be sill…be still and know that I am God.” 

This morning as I was praying, studying and writing devotionals ahead, as I sometimes do, I received the news that my brother-in-law, Wade, had gone to be with the Lord in his sleep.  He had lived a full and, although sometimes hard, a good life, one in which he had served his fellowman as an expert builder/carpenter, had been a hero in General Patton’s army in World War II, had reared a good family of three Christian children, and had taken excellent care of his late wife who had been ill for a number of years.  In recent months, in his sometimes confusion, he had begged his children to take him home, not recognizing his own home as the place of his residence.  He was ready for the move from earth to heaven, and in the stillness of the night in his sleep on June 22, 2012 he made the transition from earth to heaven.  How beautiful to think that God said to him, “Come home, Wade.”  In stillness and in acknowledgement of God He works for good to them who love Him.  To God be the glory!

(Note:  This devotional, in slightly modified form, was published in Mountain Meditations, a compilation of devotionals by House of Prayer Church, Blairsville, GA, produced by Morris Printing, Kearney, NE, 2007, p. 207.

Used by permission, with addition of the last paragraph, written 06.22, 2012. –EDJ)