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By Fred R. Coulter
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I want to review about the spelling for Yahweh and Elohim. Yahweh comes from the Hebrew that is spelled: Y-H-V-H. In Hebrew they don't have any vowels as we do. They have what are called vowel points. If there is a little dot at a certain place on a letter, then you pronounce it one way. If the dot is at another place, or a couple of other dots associated with it, then you pronounce it a different way. That's why to have the true pronunciation of Yahweh, you don't know whether it is the correct pronunciation or not. It is spelled/pronounced:
- Yah-wah (long 'a')
- Yah-weh (long 'e')
- Yah-wah (short 'a')
- Yah (short 'a')
and even a very short abbreviation of that:
- Yo
Anyone who wants to make something out of the sacred names of God: every time you watch a western movie and the cavalry starts out and they go 'Yo!' you can technically say they're taking God's name in vain. It shows how some of these things can get carried away to horrible extremes. When you see the words spelled:
Spelling & Translation:
- L-O-R-D—Yahweh
- G-o-d—Elohim
- L-o-r-d—Adonai, which means Lord or Master
- L-O-R-D G-o-d—generally Yahweh Elohim
- L-o-r-d G-O-D—generally Adonai Yahweh
As we covered in Yahweh #1 of this series, Yahweh is the expression of the quality of God's relationship and we ended up showing some of the weakness that God has:
- Sin hurts God!
- Our sins hurt God!
- God is affected by whether we accept Him or reject Him!
Strange as that may seem, God is affected by whether we accept Him or reject Him.
Yahweh is the 'truth-requiring' and 'truth-seeking' God! What does He want from us? We're going to also see the other aspect of Yahweh: He accepts repentance and change! As He is hurt and does not like to see the wicked hurt, when the wicked repent and change then God is pleased.
Psalm 51 shows the repentance of David. Remember, here is the judgment because of Bathsheba and here's the repentance:
Psalm 51:6: "Behold, You desire Truth in the inward parts..." That's what makes God pleased and happy in the quality of the relationship. Truth comes from God, and if you have the Truth in the inward parts then you have Truth from God. You're living that Truth!
Human nature, because of 'the law of sin and death,' is deceitful above all things. What a tremendous and wonderful thing it is to have Truth in the inward parts, to have Truth in your heart. Let that lead you and guide you! That's pleasing to God.
Here's what the truth-seeking God—the righteous God—requires. He requires righteousness!He is the One Who gives the standard of righteousness. He is the One Who has given the Ten Commandments and says, 'You shall not!' We have seen this in other parts of the Bible. Joshua is admonishing the people, especially the tribe of Manasseh, saying:
Joshua 22:5: "Only, diligently take heed to do the commandment and the Law which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you..."
God's Judgment:
We find that very similar to Deut. 28; 10; 6 and Lev. 26. Of course, there is what the Hebrews/Jews call the 'shema': Hear, Oh Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and being. That is defining a standard, a quality of conduct. Once God defines it, and once God sets it, then God must also judge it!
"...to love the LORD your God..." (v 5). Remember: Elohim is constantly loving regardless of the situation, but Yahweh loves in quality! In other words, if you keep the commandments of God, if you do those things that are right and pleasing in His eyes and love God, He loves you! If you don't, God hates you—as we saw with Esau, as we saw with the sinners—but in that hating, what does God want the sinner to do? He wants the sinner to change and to repent!
"...and to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments, and to cleave to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul" (v 5). Go back to Deut. 4-7. The reason God wants that is so that He can do good. God wants to do 'good.' In doing the 'good,' there are conditions for it.
- Yahweh sets the conditions!
- Yahweh is the One Who is demanding!
In Psalm 11 we find some more about Yahweh—the LORD—and how He views things, people: the righteous and the wicked. Sometimes we've been told that if you have anger or if you are upset because of what the wicked do, then 'you don't have love, because God is love.' This is not so! We've seen how God can get angry, and even we get angry when wickedness takes place.
Psalm 11:1: "In the LORD [Yahweh] I have taken refuge; how then can you say to me, 'Flee like a bird to your mountain'? For lo, the wicked bend their bow; they make ready their arrow on the string, so that they may secretly shoot at the upright in heart" (vs 1-2). This is exactly what Satan is doing. He's sitting there with the arrow ready to go. Doesn't it say in Eph. 6 that we may be able to thrust off the fiery darts of the wicked? Satan is there ready to go after people.
Verse 3: "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? The LORD is in His Holy temple; the LORD'S throne is in heaven [Yahweh]. His eyes behold; His searching gaze tests the children of men. The LORD tries the righteous..." (vs 3-5). Believe me, God is going to try us.
- What is God going to try us on?
- What is God more concerned about than anything else?
We heard a sermon from a minister who left some years ago and he explained the situation with the organization he was with. It was quite interesting that a lady said that there was something missing. She mentioned, 'Even though I left a church, I still love God and keep His commandments.' That's the whole key. What is God going to try the righteous on?
- Do they love God with all their heart, mind, soul and being?
- Are they going to keep the commandments of God?
That's how God tries the righteous! In that, we have to have the righteousness of God.
"...but His soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence" (v 5). Here again, we have the God Who judges; the One Who hates evil!
Verse 6: "Upon the wicked He shall rain snares, fire and brimstone..." One thing I want to mention. You may have seen on the news about the ones who did the movies Poltergeist I & II. That's nothing but pure satanism. Both of the girls died unexpectedly of things that they should not have died from.
God is going to rain 'fire and brimstone,' as it were. He is going to judge the wicked! You would think, Why? Why this little girl? She's a sweet looking little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. At that age, she'd even given herself over to the devil. She could sit down and read a whole script once—a whole one-hour script, and memorize it with one reading. You don't do that with normal human intelligence. That has got to be God's judgment!
Look, for example, at all these people with the heavy metal rock music, how they die at a young age. I'm sure that's God's judgmenton them—dying! They die horrible and evil deaths, a horrible tempest!
"...and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup, for the LORD [Yahweh] is righteous, He loves righteousness... [quality of relationship] ...the upright will behold His face" (vs 6-7).
You can find this all the way through all the Prophets. There's even a place where God says, 'Oh, I am pressed with all your sins.' There's another place, in Isaiah[transcribers correction], where He says, 'You made Me serve with your iniquities.'
Amos 3:1: "Hear this word that the LORD [Yahweh] has spoken against you, children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, 'You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities'" (vs 1-2). Surely, God is going to punish! But He also:
- warns
- lets know
- is long-suffering
- is merciful
- is kind
- repents them of the evil
God doesn't enjoy it. God is not sitting up there in heaven waiting for someone to do something wrong so that He can zap them. God isn't that way at all. That's a very good review in history of the children of Israel and what they did in coming out of Egypt.
Psalm 105:1: "O give thanks unto the LORD! [Yahweh] Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the people. Sing to Him, sing praises unto Him; talk of all His wonderful works. Glory in His Holy name; let the heart of those who seek the LORD rejoice. Seek the LORD and His strength; seek His face evermore. Remember His marvelous works, which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth, O you seed of Abraham His servant, you children of Jacob His chosen. He is the LORD our God; His judgments are in all the earth" (vs 1-7). Whenever we see Yahweh, we have"
- righteousness and judgment
- mercy and kindness
- how He is going to judge
—especially when He comes into contact with the people that He's chosen.
He says, v 8: "He has remembered His covenant forever... [that's what Elohim has done] ...the word, which He commanded to a thousand generations, the covenant, which He made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac; and He confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant" (vs 8-10)—saying what He would do with the land, etc. Then He:
- brought them forth
- showed them all these things
- told them what it would be
- how it was going to be
We find that after all that God had done, the children of Israel still turned back on God.
Psalm 106:6: "We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly. Our fathers gave no thought to Your wonders in Egypt; they did not remember the multitude of Your mercies, but rebelled at the sea, even at the Red Sea. Nevertheless, He saved them for His name's sake, to make His mighty power known" (vs 6-8).
I want you to think about that for just a minute: "…for His name's sake…" Sometimes God does things just to uphold His name. That's something to think about. Not because we deserve it, but because God has said what He is going to do and He will do it.
He took them through the Red Sea and so forth, v 19: "They made a calf in Horeb and worshiped the molten image. Thus they exchanged their glory into the likeness of an ox that eats grass. They forgot God their Savior, Who had done great things in Egypt, wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome things by the Red Sea. And He said that He would destroy them, if Moses His chosen one had not stood before Him in the breach, to turn away His wrath, so that He should not destroy them. And they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe His Word, but murmured in their tents, and did not hearken to the voice of the LORD" (vs 19-25). God has to judge!
Let's see how they did that. God has to judge! We are also going to see what happens when someone else comes along and tries to take advantage of that. They came back and gave the report how wonderful the land was.
Numbers 14:1: "And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried. And the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. And the whole congregation said to them, 'Oh that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or, Oh that we had died in the wilderness!'" (vs 1-2).
This is going to teach us one thing: If you have a difficulty understanding what God is doing—and maybe you have your own sense and your own problems mixed in it—don't come along and make some accusation against God. He just may take you up on it. God took them up on their accusation.
Verse 3: "'And why has the LORD brought us into this land to fall by the sword so that our wives and our children should be a prey? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?' And they said to one another, 'Let us make a leader, and let us return to Egypt'" (vs 3-4). Some strong, strong words!
Verse 5: "And Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those that searched the land, tore their clothes. And they spoke to all the company of the children of Israel saying, 'The land which we passed through to scout out is an exceedingly good land. If the LORD delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the LORD...'" (vs 5-9). If you rebel against Yahweh, He must judge!
"'...neither fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection has been removed from them, and the LORD is with us. Do not fear them. But all the congregation said to stone them with stones...." (vs 9-10).
This is a tough group. Anybody thinking of running for office? You want to run for senator or representative and say, 'I come in the banner of God to lead you in the way that you ought to go.' You'd barely get your first campaign speech out before they're ready to hunt you down.
"...And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel. And the LORD [Yahweh] said to Moses, 'How long will this people provoke Me? And how long will it be before they believe Me, for all the signs which I have shown among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and will disinherit them, and will make of you a greater nation and mightier than they'" (vs 10-12).
This is the second time that God said this to Moses. He said it to Moses before he came down off the mountain, when they were around there with the golden calf. God told Moses twice that He would do it.
Verse 13: "And Moses said to the LORD, [Yahweh] 'Then the Egyptians will hear, for You have brought up this people in Your might from among them. And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, LORD, [Yahweh] are among this people, Who is seen eye to eye. You are the LORD, [Yahweh] and Your cloud stands over them, and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night And will You kill this people as one man? Then the nations who have heard Your fame will speak, saying, "Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which He swore to them, therefore, He has slain them in the wilderness"'" (vs 13-16). That's some pretty tough reasoning on Moses' part. That's why it says: 'For My name's sake.' He didn't even do it for Moses. Moses intervened, but God did it for His own name's sake!
Verse 17: "'And now, I beseech You, let the power of my Lord... [Adonai, my Master] ...be great, according as You have spoken, saying, "The LORD [Yahweh] is long-suffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and fourth generation." I beseech You, pardon the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your mercy, and as You have forgiven this people from Egypt even until now.' And the LORD [Yahweh] said, 'I have pardoned according to your [Moses'] word'" (vs 17-20).
God is ready to forgive—isn't He? Would you be so willing to forgive if someone had provoked you to this provocation?
Verse 21: "But truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD [Yahweh]. Because all those men who have seen My glory and My miracles which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted Me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to My voice" (vs 21-22). Then, He said, 'I'm going to spare Joshua and Caleb.'
Verse 28: "Say to them, 'As I live,' says the LORD, 'as you have spoken in My ears, so I will do to you. Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness... [He must judge! There must be judgment!] ...and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against Me, you shall certainly not come into the land, which I swore to make you dwell in, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, which you said should be a prey, I will bring them in and they shall know the land, which you have despised. But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall feed in the wilderness forty years and bear your whoredoms until your dead carcasses have been consumed in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you searched the land—forty days—each day for a year you shall bear your iniquities, forty years; and you shall know My displeasure of this generation'" (vs 28-34).
- there is the sin
- there is the breach
- there is the intervention
Now that they've done this, have been this evil, they're out here and it looks like they're going to come into the land, Balak says, 'I'm going to curse them.
Balaam says, Numbers 23:19: "God is not a man that He should lie, neither the son of man that He should repent.…" What does it mean repentance? God does repent! It's a different kind of repentance. Once God has given a judgment, that's it!
"...Has He said, and shall He not do it? Or has He spoken, and shall He not fulfill it? Behold, I have received word to bless. And He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. He has not seen iniquity in Jacob..." (vs 19-21). I want you to see how God handles it within His people—within His family—in relationship to the rest of the world, even though He uses other people to do the correcting.
"...neither has He seen perverseness in Israel. The LORD [Yahweh] his God is with him, and the shout of a King among them. God brought them out of Egypt. He has, as it were, the strength of an ox. Surely, there is no enchantment against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel....'" (vs 21-23). God alone will correct His people. God alone will intervene and take care of them!
He may use people to do it. He may use instrumentalities to have it done; but when it comes—just like with the saints as we have in Rev. 12, where Satan is accusing the saints day and night before the throne of God—they are covered.
- There is no sin!
- There is no iniquity!
- God will judge within!
Even though God has to judge, to come in and lambaste and destroy—or whatever God has to do—Ezek. 18 tells us a lot about Yahweh and how He feels about it.
Ezekiel 18:19: "'Yet, you say, "Why? Does not the son bear the iniquity of the father?" When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes, and has done them, he shall surely live. The soul that sins, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, nor shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. But if the wicked will turn from all his sins, which he has committed, and keep all My statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. All his transgressions that he has done, they shall not be mentioned to him; in his righteousness that he has done he shall live. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?' says the Lord GOD [Adonai Yahweh]..." (vs 19-23). No, God doesn't. God hurts when the wicked are that way.
"...'Is it not pleasing, instead, that he should turn from his ways and live? But when the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked do, shall he live? All his righteousness that he has done shall not be remembered; because of his trespass that he has trespassed, and because of his sin that he has sinned, because of them he shall die'" (vs 23-24). God has to judge, but God doesn't enjoy it!
Verse 25: "'Yet, you say, "The way of the LORD is not fair." Hear now, O house of Israel: Is not My way fair? Are not your ways unfair? When a righteous one turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity and dies because of it; for his iniquity that he has done, he shall die. Again, when the wicked turns away from his wickedness that he has committed and does that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Because he carefully considers, and turns away from all his sins that he has committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. Yet, the house of Israel says, "The way of the LORD is not fair." O house of Israel, are not My ways fair? Are not your ways unfair? Thus I will judge you, O house of Israel, each one of you according to his ways,' says the Lord GOD. 'Repent, and turn from all your transgressions...'" (vs 25-30). In this case, it is Adonai Yahweh saying, 'Repent.'
"'...so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions by which you have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit; for why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no delight in the death of him who dies,' says the Lord GOD. 'Therefore, turn yourselves and live'" (vs 30-32). Quite a thing!
Here is another view of Israel, Hosea 11:1: "When Israel was a child, then I loved him and called My son out of Egypt. The more they called them, the more they went from them. They continued to sacrifice to the Baalim, and burn incense to graven images. Ephraim I also taught to walk; I took them on My arm. But they did not know that I healed them. I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love; and I was to them as those who take off the yoke on their jaws, and I gently gave food to him. He shall not return to the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king because they refused to return to Me" (vs 1-5). In other words, they didn't repent. Ezekiel said, 'Repent.' They didn't!
Verse 6: "And the sword shall remain on his cities, and shall destroy his branches, and devour them because of their own counsels. And My people are bent on backsliding from Me...." (vs 6-7). Just exactly like it is today. You can't even stand up and talk sense into anyone to stop doing the wickedness that they're doing. They are 'hell bent,' and that's a good word for it, on their backsliding.
"...Though they called to the Most High, none would at all exalt Him. How shall I give you up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver you, Israel? How shall I make you like Admah? How shall I set you as Zeboiim? My heart is turned within Me; My compassions are kindled together'" (vs 7-8). God is going through agony!
Think how He feels looking down on this great and wonderful nation and land that He created, made, gave and opened to the people—gave them every good thing. He's looking down and they are 'hell bent' in their own way and God is saying, 'Oh! I know I've got to do this. I'm over-burdened with what I've got to do.'
Verse 9: "'I will not carry out the heat of My anger; I will not return to destroy Ephraim... [God is going to be merciful] ...for I am God... [Elohim; loves forever; always] ...and not man, the Holy One in your midst; and I will not enter into the city. They shall walk after the LORD; [Yahweh] He shall roar like a lion. When He shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west. They shall tremble like a bird out of Egypt, and like a dove out of the land of Assyria. And I will place them in their houses,' says the LORD. 'Ephraim circles around Me with lying, and the house of Israel with deceit. And Judah is still wayward toward God, and toward the Holy One, Who is faithful'" (vs 9-12). That's at the time when Israel was cast out of the area of the tribes of the North.
Hosea 13:9: "O Israel, you have destroyed yourself; but in Me is your help."
Hosea 14:1: "O Israel, return to the LORD your God, for you have fallen because of your iniquity. Take with you words, and return to the LORD. Say to Him, 'Take away all our iniquity, and receive us graciously, that we may repay with the sacrifices of our lips. Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses. Nor shall we say any more to the work of our hands, "Our gods"—for in You the fatherless finds mercy'" (vs 1-3).
God says, v 4: "I will heal their backslidings; I will love them freely; for My anger has turned away from him."
'Oh, Ephraim, I love you. In spite of all the things I have to do to you, I love you.'
(go to next track)
God's [Yahweh's] Repentance
God says that He is not like a man that He should repent as a man. Yet, He does repent! There is a difference. The repenting of God is not that He has sinned. Men repent because of their sins; God repents because of having to bring the penalty! He doesn't like to see that.
Deuteronomy 32:36: "'For the LORD [Yahweh] shall judge His people; and He shall have compassion on His servants, for He sees that their power is gone, and only their imprisoned and abandoned remain. And He shall say, "Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted? Who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise up and help you; let it be your hiding place. See now that I, even I am He, and there is no god besides Me. I kill, and I make alive; I wound and I heal. Neither is there any that can deliver out of My hand, for I lift up My hand to heaven and say, 'I live forever! If I sharpen My glittering sword, and if My hand takes hold in judgment, I will give vengeance to My enemies and will reward those that hate Me. I will make My arrows drunk with blood, and My sword shall devour flesh, with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the hairy scalp of the enemy.'" Rejoice, O, nations, with His people; for He will avenge the blood of His servants, and will render vengeance to His foes and will be merciful to His land, to His people'" (vs 36-43).
When you look at the life that Jeremiah had from a practical point of view: he was a poor, lonely, miserable man.
- no one liked him
- no one cared for him
- no one wanted him around
Jeremiah 26:1: "In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the LORD, [Yahweh] saying." What happened when Josiah was king?
- he repented
- there was a great revival
- God blessed them
- Josiah did his foolish thing
- went off to battle when God said don't go
- he got shot with the arrow
- he died
Then, the lamentation of Jeremiah was brought, because this was the end.
Verse 2: "Thus says the LORD, [Yahweh] 'Stand in the court of the LORD'S [Yahweh's] house and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD'S [Yahweh's] house, all the words that I command you to speak to them; do not keep back a word.'"
Again, another account where Jeremiah had to go stand in the gate, Jeremiah 7:2, the LORD says: "Stand in the gate of the LORD'S house, and proclaim there this Word, and say, 'Hear the Word of the LORD, all Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.' Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Amend your ways and your doings...'" (vs 2-3). All the way through here, God kept telling them to repent, because God doesn't like the death of the wicked; God doesn't like to send them off.
"'...and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Do not trust in lying words, saying, "The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD are these." For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor; if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow...'" (vs 3-6). It sounds like they're reading the headlines of the paper today.
"'...and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your hurt; then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, forever and ever. Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know; and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, "We are delivered to do all these abominations"?'" (vs 6-10).
God says, Jeremiah 26:2: "...do not keep back a word. It may be that they will hearken, and each man turn from his evil way..." (vs 2-3). That's what God wants.
- Does God want the Tribulation to come on the world?
- No! God doesn't want the Tribulation to come on the world!
- Does He want to bring His wrath?
- No! He doesn't want to bring His wrath, but He's going to have to!
"…that I may repent of the evil which I plan to do to them because of the evil of their doings" (v 3). God doesn't delight in that. 'Give Me a chance to repent; give Me a chance to change My mind.' That's something!
Verse 4: "And you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD, "If you will not hearken to Me, to walk in My law which I have set before you, To hearken to the words of My servants the prophets whom I have been sending to you again and again, but you have not hearkened; then I will make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth"'" (vs 4-6)—and it is today!
- What is the biggest curse?
- How do you solve the problem in Israel and in Judah today?
- How do you solve that?
Verse 7: "So, the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD." It took more than just one day and it took more than just one saying. I imagine as they streamed into the temple area, the priest and the people would think, 'Oh, there's that Jeremiah again!'
Verse 8: "Now, it came to pass when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, 'You shall surely die!'" He is really alone at that point. A mob standing there, 'You're going to die!'
Verse 9: "'Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, "This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be wasted, without inhabitant"?' And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD." They said, 'This man is worthy to die!'
Verse 12: "Then Jeremiah spoke to all the rulers and to all the people, saying, 'The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard. Therefore, now make your ways and your doings good...'" (vs 12-13). Again, even when he's threatened with death, the prophet of the LORD [Yahweh], says: 'Repent! Change! Amend!'
"'...and obey the voice of the LORD your God. And the LORD will repent of the evil that He has pronounced against you'" (v 13). God's saying, 'I'm not coming here to condemn you just to condemn you. Just change your ways. Do what is right.' God will change His mind, repent!
This does a lot to take away the harsh, vengeful God of the Old Testament. When people say that, what are they looking at? They're looking at only what they want to look at. They're not looking at the whole picture. God is saying even through Jeremiah, 'I don't want to do this. Why don't you just change your ways?'
Verse 14: "As for me, behold, I am in your hand. Do with me as seems good and right in your eyes. But know for certain..." (vs 14-15). It took a lot of courage to say this. He said, 'If you want to kill me, go ahead and kill me.
But know for sure: "...that if you put me to death you shall surely bring innocent blood on yourselves, and on this city, and on its inhabitants. For truly the LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears" (vs 14-15). He finally pricked their hearts, just a touch.
Verse 16: "Then the rulers and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets, 'This man is not worthy to die; for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.'" So, they threw him in the sewer. Tough times!
Since God is no respecter of persons, how did God deal with the Gentiles? The same way! This is an indictment against Israel and all those who claim that they are God's people.
- Did Israel repent? No!
- Did Judah repent? No!
They knew:
- God called them
- God was their God
- Yahweh was their God
- He put His name there
- He put His temple there
- He gave them the priesthood
- He gave them all the blessings
Then when the prophets came to say, 'Turn from your evil way,' they either:
- killed them
- threw them in the sewer
- strung them up-side-down
Here's a prophet of the Lord—Jonah—who fled from his responsibility. Finally, God got him to go and had the fish vomit him up on dry land.
Jonah 3:1: "And the Word of the LORD [Yahweh]... [because Yahweh is judging] ...came to Jonah the second time, saying, 'Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out to it the proclamation that I am declaring to you' And Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the Word of the LORD. And Nineveh was a very great city of three days' journey across" (vs 1-3). It took three days to walk across it.
Verse 4: "And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried and said, 'Yet, forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown!'" That's just a summary of what He said. I don't know all the other words that he said.
Verse 5: "And the people of Nineveh believed God [Elohim]...." Here is God's love of all His creation—Elohim.
- even though they go astray
- even though they sin
- even though there's the breach
"...And they proclaimed a fast..." (v 5). That's more than the people of Israel did. They said, 'We're going to get this guy Jeremiah, and we're going to kill him. But the Ninevites believed God.
"...and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them" (vs 5). That's something when you think of it! The Israelites wouldn't do that. The Jews wouldn't do that, but the Ninevites did.
Verse 6: "For word came to the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne. And he laid aside his robe from him..." When a king lays aside his robe, he's setting aside his whole office. That's really something to think of. If you're king and you stand in your robes, you are king! When you take off those robes, you're taking off your authority. This is something!
"...and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.... [at least he had some heart] ...And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his great ones, saying, 'Do not let man or beast, herd or flock taste anything; do not let them feed, nor drink water. But let man and animal be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God. And let them each one turn from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands'" (vs 6-8). When you read the history of Nineveh, they were given over to every licentiousness, evil and filthy abomination under the sun.
Do you think the people of Israel would repent? No, they wouldn't! The Ninevites did because Jonah came in saying, 'In forty days Nineveh is going to be destroyed and you're going to be:
- killed
- slaughtered
- cut asunder
- your blood running in the streets
- your children crying
and God will not have any mercy on you. Repent of your ways!'
So, the king sent out a notice, v 8: "But let man and animal be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God. And let them each one turn from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who knows? God... [Elohim, Who always loves.] ...may repent, and He may have pity and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we do not perish'" (vs 8-9). Who will know? This is a mighty thing!
Verse 10: "And God [Elohim] saw their works that they turned from their evil way. And God [Elohim] repented of the evil that He had said He would do to them, and He did not do it." God does not want to bring the evil. Elohim does not delight, Yahweh does not delight in the death of the wicked, but that they turn from their ways. That's what God delights in. Nothing else!
Here's the first time that Moses pleaded for all the people (Exo. 32). I guess you know why Moses is what you would call a mighty man before God—not that he was like Nimrod who was a mighty hunter—but Moses was a mighty man before God because he was humble. Moses even caused God to repent by talking to Him (Num. 14). God had to do it twice—think about it! How easily is God moved with real repentance? Very easily!
After they made the altar, the golden calf and had their feast, Exodus 32:7: "And the LORD said to Moses, 'Go! Get you down, for your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.'" It's always interesting: it's your people when they're doing bad and it's My people when they're doing good.
Verse 8: "They have turned aside quickly out of the way, which I commanded them. They have made them a molten calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who have brought you up out of the land of Egypt.' And the LORD [Yahweh] said to Moses, 'I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. And now leave Me alone, so that My wrath may burn hot against them and that I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.' And Moses prayed to the LORD his God, and said, 'LORD, [Yahweh] why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak and say, "He brought them out with an evil intent, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth"? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against Your people'" (vs 8-12). That is something—isn't it? What did Moses say?
Verse 13: "Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel..." Moses is appealing to Yahweh Elohim. He said, 'Remember the covenant!' Yahweh Elohim is the covenant Lord!
"...Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them..." (v 13). He's talking mightily to God. Would you have the courage to talk to God like that? It's pretty mighty!
"'...I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.' And the LORD repented of the evil, which He spoke of doing to His people" (vs 13-14). That's something!
Moses asked God if he could see Him and he saw Him, Exodus 34:1: "And the LORD [Yahweh] said to Moses, 'Cut out two tablets of stone like the first ones. And I will write upon the tablets the words that were in the first tablets, which you broke. And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain,' And no man shall come up with you, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mountain. Also do not let the flocks nor herds feed before that mountain'" (vs 1-3). That's a lonely climb.
Verse 4: "And he cut out two tablets of stone like the first ones. And Moses rose up early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tablets of stone. And the LORD came down in the cloud, and stood with him there..." (vs 4-5). That would be an awesome thing.
It's one thing to be up on top of a mountain alone, looking out and seeing—that's quite an awesome feeling—but here you are, and you know all this has gone on. You have in your mind all the things that went on with the destroying of the people who worshipped the calves. Now you're going to go back up and you're going to have God write on these tables of stone that you've hewn out. You get up there, stand there and here comes God in the cloud, just like with the disciples when they were on the mount of Transfiguration.
"...and proclaimed the name of the LORD [Yahweh]. And the LORD [Yahweh] passed by before him and proclaimed, 'The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth'" (vs 5-6). That's what the name Yahweh means.
Verse 7: "'Keeping mercy to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but Who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, to the third and to the fourth generation.' And Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. And he said, 'If now I have found grace in Your sight, O LORD, I pray You, let my LORD go among us, although it is a stiff-necked people. And pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Your inheritance.' And He said, 'Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation. And all the people in whose midst you are shall see the work of the LORD, [Yahweh] for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. Observe that which I command you this day. Behold, I drive out before you the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the people of the land where you go...'" (vs 7-12). Then He goes on with other things and summarizes all the covenant again.
God is depicted by the name, 'Yahweh.' It shows the righteousness, the Truth, but it also shows the mercy and weakness of God. God does not enjoy the death of the wicked. God does not enjoy doing these things. It repents God when He does it!
You can reach God. Isn't it something to know? Now you know why Christ is a faithful High Priest. He's been tempted in every way that we have been, and we can come to God. I've never reasoned with God like this. That's tough reasoning, but that you can. You can have that hope, understanding and love that comes from God. You can appeal to Him. He will be merciful, gracious and long-suffering all the time.
Quite a wonderful side that is revealed in God through the name Yahweh!
All Scripture from The Holy Bible In Its Original Order, A Faithful Version by Fred R. Coulter.
Scriptural Reverences:
- Psalms 51:6
- Joshua 22:5
- Psalms 11:1-7
- Amos 3:1-2
- Psalms 105:1-10
- Psalms 106:6-8, 19-25
- Numbers 14:1-22, 28-34
- Numbers 23:19-23
- Ezekiel 18:19-32
- Hosea 11:1-12
- Hosea 13:9
- Hosea 14:1-4
- Deuteronomy 32:36-43
- Jeremiah 26:1-2
- Jeremiah 7:2-10
- Jeremiah 26: 2-9, 12-16
- Jonah 3:1-10
- Exodus 32:7-14
- Exodus 34:1-12
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
Deuteronomy 28; 10; 6
Leviticus 26
Deuteronomy 4; 5 ;7
Ephesians 6
Revelation 12
Also referenced: Sermon Series:
FRC:nfs
Transcribed: 01/20/14
Proofed: bo—2-11-14
