❖ Video
❖ Audio (Message)
Jesus Is The Name Of The Lord
(Psalm 124)
Andy Nagahara
Today’s text is Psalm 124. I am going to talk today about three of the most striking statements in this psalm. Firstly, I will read up to verse 5.
1. If the LORD had not been on our side (1-5)
0 A song of ascents. Of David.
1 If the LORD had not been on our side–
let Israel say–
2 if the LORD had not been on our side
when men attacked us,
3 when their anger flared against us,
they would have swallowed us alive;
4 the flood would have engulfed us,
the torrent would have swept over us,
5 the raging waters
would have swept us away.
The first thing to keep in mind is “If the Lord were not on our side”. The origin of the memory of the people of Israel as a nation is the event called “Exodus,” which is recorded in the second book of the Old Testament, “Exodus.” This is an event in which God led the people who were suffering in slavery in Egypt to escape and to the promised land of Canaan.
If you are not familiar with it, I recommend reading the book of Exodus or watching the movie “The Ten Commandments” which was made 70 years ago but is still sold and distributed today. This event is thought to have occurred between the 1500s and 1200s BC, although there are various theories and that the range is a little wide.
From what we have just read, we can clearly see that this event was preserved in the memory of the people until the time of the psalmist. And it has remained so in the time of Jesus and even to this day. The common understanding that “If God had not extended a helping hand, our people would have been destroyed at that time” gave the Israelites hope no matter how difficult the times. The experience of Exodus was the basis for their confidence that God would not abandon them as their Lord. Just as the psalmist calls on the Israelites to ‘speak now(let Israel say)’, I would like you all to consider the words ‘If the Lord had not been on our side’ and the words that follow. And I want you to remember that from time to time. This is because even though we receive God’s great blessings, we easily get used to the fact that we have them and forget about them. And if we forget, we may end up trampling on that blessing.
As soon as the Israelites began their journey to escape from Egypt, they hated the hardships of the journey and started to complain that, “we would have been better off in Egypt, even if we were slaves, we wouldn’t have had to worry about food.” (Exodus 16:3) In the subsequent history of the Israelites, by forgetting their blessings, they experienced unnecessary suffering, and their politics and religion became corrupt. Jesus came to this world at such a time.
God’s grace is just like the air. People can’t live without it, but for many people, it’s something they take for granted and don’t even realize it. It is made up of various gases and maintains the perfect balance for creation to live. No, to be more precise, I might have to say that it was “maintained.” This is because humankind has destroyed this balance in its pursuit of greater wealth.
Finally, only recently have people realized that what they’ve been doing to prosper is actually causing bigger problems, and they’re starting to change direction.
If we do not receive God’s grace with gratitude every day, it will not become ours. As a result, our souls become hungry and thirsty. Worship is a time to remember this grace. It is also a time when we hear God speaking to us and respond to him by saying that we will walk in the way he has prepared for us. God’s grace is not a thing of the past. We receive this blessing yesterday, today, and forevermore with gratitude, and we move forward based on it.
2. The snare has been broken, and we have escaped (6,7)
6 Praise be to the LORD, who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird out of the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken, and we have escaped.
This part describes what the Lord, who has been on their side, has done for them. It was like ‘setting free a small bird caught in a netted trap by breaking its net’. The net for them was slavery in Egypt. When God saw that the Israelites could not escape even if they wanted to, he created chaos in Egypt like tearing a net and caused them to escape.
Do you have the feeling that the Lord has set you free from some kind of captivity or restrictions? It is also a question of what “Egypt” meant to each one of us. It may have been a specific difficult situation, or it may have been a psychological problem. Some people came to know Jesus when they faced relationship problems, while others met Jesus when they were struggling to find meaning in life. Some have come to know Jesus in the suffering of illness. “Egypt” for us has many faces. And its essence is what is called “sin” in the Bible.
The Exodus was an event in which God rescued the Israelites from real suffering, but it did not mean that the country of Egypt or its rulers were particularly evil. Do you know why the Israelites were in Egypt? The story of how this happened is described in the section from chapter 37 of Genesis, the book before Exodus in the Old Testament and the first book of the entire Bible. In that part, it is written why the number of Jews increased in Egypt and they were forced to live in a slave-like condition. The history of the Israelites living in Egypt begins with Joseph, a descendant of Abraham, who was unwillingly sold to Egypt and who, through his outstanding leadership, saved Egypt from famine and earned respect. However, as time passed, the Israelites who had prospered in Egypt eventually fell into a state of slavery.
Humans continue to fight over land, which brings wealth. Even if they are descendants of relatives of people who saved them from famine long ago, if they become powerful enough to threaten the majority there, they will be eliminated. It’s probably still happening everywhere in the world. What causes this kind of thing is the “sin” that resides in the human heart.
The apostle Paul makes it clear in his letter to the believers in Rome that we have all been slaves to sin. Sin in the Bible is a state of mind that turns its back on God, and is selfish and self-centered. It’s not God-centered, it’s self-centered. Generally speaking, a “sin” is a violation of the law. It is harming society, harming others, and taking lives. There are probably very few who hurt someone because they like to. Most people would not want to annoy or hurt others, much less take their lives. However, it is our nature to turn a blind eye to the pain of others when we think of our own benefit.
Yet it is more than just a personal matter. We cannot blame only the individual for the actions of those who are stuck in a life of hardship and take food home from supermarkets and convenience stores. The sin nature of a person is combined with the sin nature of many others to create a distressing crime that torments people as a social sin over which they have no control.
In order to free us from this nasty web of sin, God has broken the net. That is the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a chance to turn once more to God, to whom we had turned our backs. The cross promises us that ‘the wages of sin has been paid and we are no longer condemned’ and the resurrection promises us that ‘we are no longer ruled by sin, but can begin life with the risen Lord’.
3. The name of the LORD (8)
8 Our help is in the name of the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
The last point I would like to focus on is “the name of the Lord.”
Up to this point, the song has been about being rescued from captivity because the Lord was on our side, and that because the Lord is on our side, we are protected in our steps and can live in anticipation of the future, but the psalm closes with this concluding phrase: “His help is in the name of the Lord, the God who made heaven and earth”. But why is it expressed as “Help is in the name of the Lord” instead of “Help comes from the Lord”? And what does “the name of the Lord” refer to? There are two points. One is what the Lord’s name actually is, and the other is why the expression ‘the Lord’s name’ is used.
First, let’s think about God’s name. Do you know God’s name? The words “name of the Lord”, “name of God” and “His name” appear in the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, in about 200 places in total, but the most important name itself is hardly found in either the Japanese or English Bibles. One of the few exceptions is Genesis 22:14 in the Japan Bible Society Interconfessional Version (also the New Interconfessional Translation) that we use. Here, the translation is “Yahweh Il’eh” where most other Bibles translate “Adonai Il’eh, (English) “The LORD will provide”, and this “Yahweh (יהוה)” is God’s name. There are many passages in the original language where the word Yahweh (יהוה) is used, but except for this exception, the Japan Bible Society Interconfessional Version, like other translations, replaces the word with ‘Lord’. This is because they followed the Jewish rule of replacing Yahweh with Adonai (my Lord). I think the reason for the exception passage in the Inter confessional Version was because it was a place name. This (not uttering God’s name) is considered to be a response to the commandment in the Ten Commandments, which states, ‘You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God’.
The meaning of Yahweh is “I am”, and in Exodus 3:14, God answers Moses’ question by saying “I AM WHO I AM.” is recorded.
Now, let’s consider why we use the expression “the name of the Lord.” We tend to think of “names” simply as markers to distinguish one person from another, but the “names” used in the Bible have more meaning than that. In the Bible, a “name” represents a person’s true identity. So when we say ‘God’s name’, this is not just God’s ‘name’, but it also represents what God is like. God’s name represents the invisible presence of God.
Finally, I would like to conclude by telling you that for us, the Lord is Jesus. The name Jesus is the Greek pronunciation of Yehoshua (short form Joshua), which means “Yahweh is salvation.” And, Christ means the anointed (sanctified) one, that is, the Messiah. Christ in Jesus Christ is not his last name, but Jesus Christ, which means Jesus the Savior. Jesus was a common name, just as there are many people named Joshua in the Bible. But Jesus also said this about himself. This is John 8:55-59.
55 Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”
57 “You are not yet fifty years old,” the Jews said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”
58 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” 59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
This is exactly what Jesus is saying, “My name is God who has been called by you, ‘I am’”, so it is no wonder that the Jews were furious. The name of Jesus that we believe is the final form of God’s name. Jesus is the one who frees us from the web of sin and guides us along our journey.
(Prayer)
Dear God, we bless your name.
If You had not saved us, we would have failed to receive Your grace.
In a world where the power of sin still afflicts people, we are grateful from the bottom of our hearts for being able to believe in your name and follow you.
We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Summary
Names are not only used to identify one another, but also to express the reality of the thing. The name that God announced to Moses, Yahweh = “I am,” was the only hope for the Israelites, who continued to walk believing in the invisible God. However, by coming into this world as Jesus, God revealed himself as the one who saves and guides not only Israel but all people. The name of Jesus Christ is the final form of God’s name. We declare, “The name of the Lord is Jesus.”
For Discussion
- How would you be living today if you did not know the Lord?
- What net were you caught in?