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We live in a day and age where, I believe, more than ever before the name of the Lord is under all sorts of attacks. People blaspheme and swear by the name of the Lord, they use it in vain, they treat it with such a disdain that belittles the majesty of our God. What explains this inclination of the modern world? What is the root cause of the numerous attacks on the name of our Holy God? So many are prone to dishonouring the name of the Lord because of the wrong view they have of God. They have a high estimate of themselves and a low view of God, and thus they treat his name with contempt. That is to say, the fact that they do not reverence the name of the Lord is a clear manifestation of the disdain and hostility they have toward his person: they hate God, they reject Him and trample his name because they esteem Him not. As Paul writes in Romans 1:21, “although they [know] God, they [do] not glorify Him as God, nor [are] thankful, but [become] futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts [are] darkened.”
If you honour the Lord with your heart, your mouth cannot utter blaspheme against Him. If you revere the Lord, you will not use his name in vain or treat it with disdain. For what comes out of every man is the fruit of what is rooted in his heart; it is that which his heart is full of that spills out in the form of words, deeds, thoughts and actions. A heart without Light is a perverse and rebellious heart, a heart whose god is its natural desires – it hates the One True and Living God and acts as an agent of Satan to dishonour God and his Truth.
The Lord is holy and so is his name. And every attack on the name of the Lord is an attack on his person; it overlooks his holiness, disapproves of who God says He is, thus making God a liar; it hinders the truth, i.e. the Word of God. Sadly, many people today treat the name of the Lord cavalierly, with no reverence at all. The way they treat it is not any different from the way they treat any other name under heaven. However, it must be noted that the name of the Lord, unlike the name each human being receives at birth or bears in life, must be revered, because of who God is. For any attack on his name is an attack on his person. And so the Lord declares in Leviticus 19:12, “You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.”
God is different from all other beings that exist – the latter are all created by God; they are sustained and preserved by Him. The Lord introduces Himself to us as "I AM". Thus declares the Lord to Moses in Exodus 3:14 when He was sending Moses to Egypt to lead his people out of slavery, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” Revelation 1:8 reads, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
God is the Ancient of Days, the Alpha and the Omega, the Redeemer, the Creator of all things, the Beginning and the End, the Provider, the God Almighty, the King. He is the LORD our God. The name of the LORD is holy and must be greatly honoured and adored. God’s name alone is to be glorified and praised. Those who hold a thing or a person in high esteem rather than the name of the Lord dishonour the Lord to whom all glory belongs. All worship, praise and honour belong to the Lord; we must all glorify Him, for He alone is God. Thus says the LORD in Isaiah 42:8, “I alone am the LORD your God. No other god may share my glory; I will not let idols share my praise.”
All glory belongs to Him alone, for the Lord alone is God, the Supreme Being, the Revealer of all truth, the Source of all life, the Provider, the Sustainer, the Redeemer and the Judge of all. He is the only necessary and self-existent being, self-sufficient and wholly other. Thus declares the Lord in Isaiah 45:5, “I am the Lord, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me.” Therefore, all knee must bow at the mention of the name of the Lord and all lips must extoll it with great reverence to the praise of his glory.
The name of the Lord should not be dishonoured. For likewise everything else that pertains to his person, the Lord’s name is holy, and thus must be hallowed. The name of the Lord succinctly defines his nature; it is the revelation of his attributes, the revelation of who He is. God is not like man; his very name puts Him in a separate category, a category that is different and distinct from the realm of all created beings. God alone is holy, eternal, sovereign, immutable, loving, gracious, merciful, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, faithful, righteous and good. Thus declares the Lord in Exodus 34:6-7, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
One of the most notorious forms of attacks on the name of the Lord today comes from Charismatics and Pentecostals. The false preachers and so-called prophets and apostles of these movements, who are in fact agents of Satan, ascribe to themselves supernatural gifts such as: the apostolic gift, the gift of healing, working miracles, prophecy, speaking in tongues. They make claims of signs, wonders and supernatural experiences like trips to Heaven and encounters with the Lord; they elevate themselves and usurp the authority of the Lord by ascribing to themselves divine prerogatives. These agents of Satan preach something other than the Gospel and devise all kinds of craftiness to deceive many souls. Yet they have the audacity to attribute their evil schemes to the Holy Spirit; they portray the Spirit of God as the author of their craftiness. This is an utter blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, a sin that can never be forgiven by the Lord. For thus says the Lord, “he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation” (Mark 3:29).
As a holy and righteous God, the Lord does not hold guiltless those who blaspheme his holy and awesome name, those who take it in vain. Exodus 20:7 reads, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.” The Lord does not tolerate those who dishonour his name. For instance, during Israel’s exodus, the son of a woman named Shelomith of the tribe of Dan was put to death at the command of the Lord because he had blasphemed the name of the Lord. As we can read in Leviticus 24:14, the Lord says to Moses, “Take outside the camp him who has cursed; then let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him.” Thus the blasphemer was stoned to death. And the Lord also commanded Moses, “Then you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. And whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him, the stranger as well as him who is born in the land. When he blasphemes the name of the Lord, he shall be put to death” (v. 15-16).
The Lord upholds his name with great honour and does not permit anyone to trample it underfoot. He always sees to it that the integrity of his name is preserved. Therefore, even when we are unfaithful, the Lord always remains faithful; He does not break his promises, He does not violate his Word. We see this for example with God’s covenant people – throughout her history, Israel was unfaithful to the Lord, but the Lord continued to preserve her. Many times the Lord deferred his anger against Israel and did not destroy her people, though they deserved death; instead of wrath and destruction, the Lord showed mercy to Israel, and He has also promised to redeem her despite her unfaithfulness and iniquities.
However, it must be noted that in many instances in the OT, the Lord tells the people of Israel that his acts of compassion toward them were for the sake of his holy name and glory. In other words, God’s purpose in showing compassion to Israel was to vindicate his holy name, so that the nations would know that the Lord alone is God, and that He alone reigns sovereignly. For Israel’s conquerors had always had the delusion that they were able to conquer her because their gods were more powerful than the Lord God of Israel. Isaiah 48:9-11 for example reads, “For my name's sake I defer my anger; for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.” So the only explanation to Israel’s continuous preservation and restoration by the Lord was God’s desire to display and to preserve the integrity of his name, so that his holy name would not be defamed through the utter decimation of his people, but glorified.
In the day of Ezekiel, when the people of Israel were sent into exile because of their iniquities and unfaithfulness to the Lord, they profaned the name of the Lord in the nations where the Lord had scattered them, “in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land” (cf. Ezekiel 36:20). They thought the Lord was unable, like the gods of the nations, to protect and save his people, and this brought disgrace upon his great name. In order to vindicate the holiness of his name, the Lord then promised to deliver Israel from captivity, to restore its people to their own land and to redeem them, thus keeping his inviolate Word.
The restoration of Israel to her own land by the Lord was to result in other nations knowing that the Lord alone is God. And this would cause the nations to stop their blasphemy against Him, and to stop giving his glory to their false gods. Thus declares the Lord in v.22-23, “I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came. “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.”
V. 24-28, declares the Lord, “I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.” Here also like in Isaiah, the Lord tells Israel in v. 32 “Not for your sake do I do this,” says the Lord God, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!”
We must therefore understand that the Lord highly esteems his name and does not like having his glory stolen from Him. For this reason, He does not tolerate those who treat his holy name with disdain. And as a holy and righteous God, He does not leave unpunished those who dishonour his holy name, those who use his name in vain, or swear by his name. Deuteronomy 5:11 reads, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.” 28:58-61reads, “If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, then the Lord will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting. And He will bring upon you again all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. Every sickness also and every affliction that is not recorded in the book of this law, the Lord will bring upon you, until you are destroyed.” Verse 66, “Your life will always be in danger. Day and night you will be filled with terror, and you will live in constant fear of death.” Although this warning is addressed to the people of Israel in the Old Testament, it is universal, it applies to all people of all generations; no human being is exempt from it. Anyone who dishonours the name of the Lord will suffer the consequences.
Though the well-known forms of attacks on the name of the Lord happen when people use their mouths or any form of media to utter blasphemy against Him, or when they use his name in vain, it must be noted that many professing Christians also dishonour the great name of our Lord God by the way they live. They profess to be Christians but live in the flesh; they love the world and submit themselves to its standards. In fact, they are of the world. If you belong to Christ, you must not love the world, you must not love the flesh, you must not be controlled by the flesh. Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation; he is dead to self, to sin, to the flesh and to the world. And so Paul writes in 2 Timothy 2:19, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity”, for the way we live as Christians brings either exaltation or dishonour to the name of our Lord.
Already in the OT the Lord says to Israel, “You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord” (Leviticus 18:21). Just like the people of Israel profaned the name of the Lord by breaking this command (cf. 2 Kings 21), anyone who professes Christ with his mouth, but whose heart is far from the Lord, disgraces his name; anyone who claims to be a Christian but walks according to the flesh, loves the world and follows the world dishonours the great name of our Lord.
The name of the Lord must be revered because of who He is – He is the Saviour and God. Jesus Christ is Lord, our righteousness, our Great High-Priest, “the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace” (cf. Isaiah 9:6). Philippians 2:9-11 reads, “God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
We must hallow the name of the Lord in our heart, and our own actions and life should be a reflection of his character, a testimony to the newness of life we share with Christ our Lord and Saviour, in such a way that when people look at us they see Christ, they see the brilliant change in personality and our conformity to Christ, and are thus led to praise his name. In our life in union with Christ, the old self must be no more; we must put on the new self that reflects Christ and bears witness to our Lord and Saviour, for who He is and for what He has done.
Anyone who does not glorify the name of the Lord makes himself an enemy of God, anyone who does not exalt the name of the Lord is damned. For the sake of his great name the Lord God Almighty will pour out his wrath upon the sons of disobedience, those who do not uphold his great name with awe. Those who speak evil against God, those who disobey Him and dishonour his name store up for themselves wrath for the Day of Judgement. In that day, God in his righteous indignation will destroy them; He will send a burning wind on those who dishonour Him with their abominations and blaspheme his holy name. As it is written, the Lord is coming “to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him” (Jude 1:15). But of those who fear the Lord and esteem his name, the Lord says, “They shall be mine,” says the Lord of hosts, “On the day that I make them my jewels. And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him” (Malachi 3:17).
Are you one of those who do not reverence the name of the Most High? I urge you today to turn away from your evil ways. Repent of your sins and seek God’s forgiveness. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, trust yourself to his name; He is the name that saves, the Way to eternal glory, the only name under heaven that God has given and by which we must be saved. Christ is the means by which the sins of those who forsake their evil ways and turn to God in repentance and faith are forgiven. Salvation is found exclusively in the name of Jesus. It is written, “The name of the LORD is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe” (Proverbs 18:10). Acts 4:12 reads, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” We are justified by God's grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. So I urge you to revere the name of the Lord, seek his tender mercies and righteousness. For you do not possess any righteousness on your own. Lay down your pride and humble yourself before the Holy One, lest the Lord crush you in righteous indignation. Do not let your flesh control you! “For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life” (Galatians 6:8). Turn from your evil ways today, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will escape the wrath that is to come.
Christ is the Lord of our salvation, our righteousness. In Him alone we have life, in Him alone we have forgiveness of sin. Christ is the ransom for the sins of those who repent of their sins and put their trust in Him. He died as our substitute on Calvary. “God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Those who honour his name, those who trust themselves to the name of Christ will escape the wrath that is to come. For it is written, “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him” (Malachi 3:17-18).
Those who do not reverence the name of the Lord but dishonour Him will die in their sins and face eternal disgrace. Anyone who tramples underfoot the awesome and holy name of Christ will be devoured by God’s righteous and holy wrath. The author of Hebrews reminds us that, “Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses” (Hebrews 10:28). If then the Lord did not hesitate to destroy those who trampled the Mosaic Law, what will He do to those who turn their back on his Son, those who spurn the perfect Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, and blaspheme his name and the Spirit of grace? As the writer of Hebrews asks in v. 29, “Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?”
The day is coming when the Lord, clothed in the garments of vengeance, will come in a blazing fire to take revenge on his foes, on those who dishonour his Spirit and spurn his Son. And far greater shall be their punishment compared to that inflicted upon those who broke the Law of Moses. I urge anyone who treats the name of the Lord with disdain to examine his ways, to turn to the Lord in repentance and obedience, to trust in the Lord and seek forgiveness in his name lest the Lord cover Himself in anger, pursue them and slay them without mercy. For they have trampled underfoot his holy name, spurned his Son and dishonoured his Spirit; for they have not given Him the glory due his name.