Partake in the Name

In thinking about this, I wonder why we don’t seek the Living Bread every day?  For when we partake in Him, the donuts of distraction can be quickly forgotten.  

Currently, we are all watching a world eat bread filled with hatred rather than from the Leaven of Life.  Protesters seeking to annihilate the extermination of others breaks my soul. Greed, corruption, and power with the willingness to partake in lawlessness are not of YHWH and this too weighs heavily on me.  Oh, how soon will our Messiah return?  May it be quick.

Over the years, there have been many discussions over The Name of YHWH.  Some choose to focus on the pronouncement or the spelling, though I tend to focus on the nature of His Name.  What does His Name do and what does it represent? What is the Message of His Name? If we take the time to look a bit more deeply at the Scriptures, I believe we will see that His Name is a heartfelt presence that changes the tide of a person’s faith.  His Name works to save, something we need to partake in right now!

YHWH Himself is wanting us to understand His Name for He states, “I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.” Ezekiel 36:21

When reading Chapters 34-36 in the book of Ezekiel, YHWH portrays a consistent picture of wanting the world to know that He is the King and there is no other.  So how will He do this?  Is He referring to pronunciation, or does He want us to partake of Him?  

YHWH reminds us to not take His Name in vain for He will not leave those who do so unpunished–those who take His Name in Vain. (Exodus 20:7) But when we consider the meaning of “vain,” it does not refer to pronunciation but instead refers to a belief.  I will choose to believe in the power of His Name or I will disregard His command and choose to apply His Name as ineffective, useless, empty, or idle. 

I would like us to consider during these times of upheaval, that we must call on the Name of Yahweh to not only deliver but for us to believe in a name that is not idle.  For if we don’t believe, we will break His every command and find ourselves to be without Him as our source of strength.  In essence, our punishment would be a loss of hope, when we deny His Name.

Ezekiel points to the magnificent action of Yahweh to the governmental mountains who have profaned His Name by not calling on Him.  According to Ezekiel, “The Name” is not resting on a shelf of inaction to be discussed as mouth candy.  Nor can mankind comprehend His Name.  Instead, His Name is purposeful, meaningful, and full of action; directed entirely by Him.  

“Therefore, say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “It is not for your sake, house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went.  And I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord,” declares the Lord God, “when I show Myself holy among you in their sight. Ezekiel 36:22-23 

To understand the above text, we have to go back to Chapter 34, where Ezekiel is told to prophesy against the “shepherds of Israel.”  Why?  Because it was and is the shepherds who helped to lead Israel astray.  They didn’t feed or care for their flock but chose to feed themselves.  In essence, they are the reason for scattering Israel.

“Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should the shepherds not feed the flock? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock . . . with force and with violence you have dominated them. They scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every animal of the field and scattered.” Ezekiel 34: 2-5

But if we read further, we find the glory of The Name, reminding us who is in charge.   The following statements are from the One who stretches out His Hand in Chapter 36:

I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the lands

I will bring you into your own land.

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean

I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.

I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

I will put My Spirit within you and bring it about that you walk in My statutes, and are careful and follow My ordinances.

You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people.

I will be your God.

I will save you from all your uncleanness.

I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring a famine on you.

I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations.

I am not doing this for your sake,” declares the Lord God; “let that be known to you. Be ashamed and humiliated for your ways, house of Israel!”

I cleanse you from all your wrongdoings.

I will populate the cities, and the places of ruins will be rebuilt.

The nations around you that are left will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolated.

I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it.

I will let the house of Israel ask Me to do for them:

I will increase their people like a flock.

Then they will know that I Am YHWH!!!

The above statements remind us of Yah’s first command, “I AM the One who brought you out of Egypt (bondage), you shall have no other gods before Me.” And from here, Yahweh goes further for us not to take His name in vain, for if we consider His Name idle or empty, we would be profaning His Name with unbelief.  Instead, we need to partake or consume His bread as a source of strength in these end of days.

This past week, I was in Idaho teaching over 150 young people to sing.  I was amazed at how many of them had exceptional voices, but at the start of the week, when asked to use their voices, they were extremely shy and unable to convey music.  Generally, their biggest obstacle to overcome was the fear of making a mistake.  But to produce a final product, fear must be put aside so a song can become a message.  Thank goodness, many of them were open to learning and immediately started to trust instruction and the method of vocal enrichment. What was their result?  They began to sing.  The transformation was truly inspirational. 

What would have happened, if these kids had viewed my words of instruction as worthless?  What if they had disregarded my name and chose to not listen?  I’m guessing that they would have missed out on a blessing, causing them to sing a meaningless message.  Did some of these students mispronounce my name?  Yes.  But those same people let the message of my instruction resonate with them, which caused their actions and messages to change for the better.  In short, they knew my name by believing in what I could offer them.