Jehovah Shammah

So thankful for this afternoon the Lord has given to us. As you can tell, I talked to Sunnychan Friday night. He told me that his voice is gone. I never knew that this was infectious, but starting Saturday morning, maybe out of sympathy towards him, I started losing my voice too. So, when I came to the meeting yesterday, he was almost hanging on by a thread, and when Pastor asked me to pray, I was like oh no. I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to do anything yesterday, and then the prayer, by God’s grace, happened. And then this morning, it got to be progressively worse than yesterday, so I need your prayer. As you were all shouting and screaming and worshiping, I could not do it because I had to save my voice to try to get through this sermon and the Lord’s table this afternoon. But thank God, and I know that God will strengthen, and I trust in the Lord as I preach from God’s word this afternoon.

So glad to have Dr. James George with us. So glad, thankful that you taught our Sunday school class this afternoon. It was such a blessing in our life as IPC General Secretary, and we are so privileged to have him worship with us this afternoon. So grateful for God’s blessings upon all of your lives, and we have so much to be thankful for, which we’ll be talking about at the end of our service. But God was so gracious to us in our weekend meetings. What a powerful move of God, and what a testimony that we heard, not only from all of you but people who are watching around the world, about the goodness of God and the miraculous way in which we were able to celebrate.

But what God reminded me so powerfully even last night, as I was thinking about this weekend, is this: If you prayed a lot in the last few months for God to provide, you need to pray more in the days ahead. If God has given us this beautiful building, we need to be humble more than ever before. This is just the start. We should never become conceited, we should never become proud, we should never think that we have arrived. The enemy is going to work very much over time in the weeks and months ahead. Any time you have victory that is given by God to God’s people, the enemy does not like it. When he sees us celebrating, when he sees us giving glory to God, the enemy does not like it. But our God who is with us is greater than the enemy, and so God’s people need to have humbleness more than ever before, humility before the Lord, by fasting and prayer, and really seeking the face of God should be the hallmark of our church. Whether we have a building or not, we should be more humble. The more God blesses us, the more God expands our boundaries, the more God pours out blessings, our hearts should be humble before him. Don’t ever think you have arrived somewhere. We only arrive when we reach Heaven’s Shores. Until then, Christian Life is one of struggle, Christian Life should be one of humility, Christian Life should be one of receiving daily provisions and bread from the Lord above every single day. So I pray that all of us, from the top to the bottom, from the pastors instituted from the pulpit all the way to the youngest child, will be filled with humility and hunger for more of God, even more in the days to come.

We’ve been preaching for the last three weeks. I mean, had the privilege of preaching through the names of God, this series “I AM”. We’ve gone through a long list, next week, God willing, we will end this series. Let me go through this list very quickly. I won’t go into descriptions of it, as I’ve done a couple of weeks ago. We talked about the fact that our God is Elohim. We talked about the fact that our God is Adonai. We talked about the fact that our God is an almighty God, El Shaddai. We talk about the fact that our God is Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals us. Then we talked about the fact that God is Jehovah Nissi, the Lord who is the banner over our lives. We talked about the fact that Jehovah Jireh, the Lord who is our provider. We talked about the fact that our God is El Kana, a jealous God who deserves and demands worship from us, for our own benefit. We talked about the fact our God is Yahweh, The Great I Am of the Old Testament. Sam talked about the fact that our God is Abba Father, a God that we can cry to and come near to at any moment in our life. A couple of weeks ago, we talked about the fact that our God is the Good Shepherd of our life. Last week, we talked about the fact that our God is Jehovah Mechadesh, the God who sanctifies us.

And now we come to the penultimate sermon in this series, and we turn our Bibles to the last verse in the Book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel 48:35. You probably know where Daniel is, go just one book before then, and you will find the Book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel 48:35. Here is how God’s word ends in this beautiful book, The Book of Ezekiel. It reads like this, “The distance all around will be 18,000 cubits, and the name of the city from that time on will be ‘The Lord is there.’” The name of the city from that time on will be The Lord is there. From that, we get the word name of God we’re focusing on today, Jehovah Shammah, the Lord who is there. Jehovah Shammah, the Lord who is there. In Hebrew, this is the way it reads. It says, “The distance all around will be 18,000 cubits, and then it’s the name of the city that from that time on will be Jehovah Shammah, the Lord who is there.” This is the only time in God’s word that this name is given to us, Jehovah Shammah, the Lord who is There.

One of the great themes of the Book of Ezekiel is the glory of God. In fact, as you go through the Book of Ezekiel, that is the emphasis of the writing of Ezekiel. For those of you who don’t know who Ezekiel is, Ezekiel is a prophet that God used mightily to minister to the people who were taken as exiles to Babylon. Ezekiel was carried away into captivity 11 years before the fall of Jerusalem, during the second wave of the exiles being taken to Babylon, is when Ezekiel was taken as a captive to Babylon. And it is for the next 20 years, as he was in captivity, Ezekiel ministered and prophesied among the exiles who were taken as exiles. And you know, Daniel gets a lot of credit, Daniel gets a lot of spotlight, especially because of the dramatic stories that we read and learn from Daniel, and Daniel’s ministry was much longer than the prophetic ministry of Ezekiel, but his ministry was also a vital one.

20 years into captivity in Babylon, the people thought there was time to return back to Jerusalem. They had forgotten the words of God about being in captivity for 70 years, so 20 years into it, they’re thinking, oh it’s time for us to go back to Jerusalem. You know what the message of Ezekiel is? That you are in the mess that you’re in because the glory of God has departed from the presence of God’s people, and it is not time for you to return to Jerusalem yet, but rather it is time for you to return to the Lord first before He will bring you back to Jerusalem. The people are so eager to get back to their homeland, but Ezekiel’s message is this, you are only God’s people as long as God is in the midst of you. What makes you different is not the temple in Jerusalem. What makes you different is not the majesty of Jerusalem. What makes you different, you’re not the houses you build, or the things that you have, what makes you different and special in all the world is the fact that you get to have the glory of God in the midst of you.

If you were to take the book of Ezekiel and divide it into three parts, it is this: the first one, the first section, he reminds them why they are in the mess that they’re in, because they departed from the Lord, the glory of God departed from them, and because of that, they fell into the hands of the enemies. The second section in the Book of Ezekiel is God’s prophetic word towards the Pagan kingdoms around the people of Israel, thinking that they had done something great in attacking Israel. He is reminding them that because of their sins, they also, one by one, specifically, very specific prophecies, will fall under the judgment of God.

The last section of the Book of Ezekiel is this: he is looking forward to a time when the glory will come back again, and that’s how the Book of Ezekiel ends. And that’s why it’s reminding us that in that city where God is coming, the Lord will be there. That’s what will make it special. How did the glory of God depart from the nation of Israel? You know, when you read the book of Ezekiel, it is so dramatically given to us as the glory of God departs from the midst of God’s people. One of the things that I want you to understand this afternoon is that in the life of a church, in the life of a nation, in our lives, in family life, often the glory of God departs from it, sometimes not in an instant. It is a gradual process, and that’s why sometimes it is difficult for us to realize that God has gone away from it. In fact, there are a lot of churches around where they don’t even realize that God is not even there because it didn’t happen over one weekend. It didn’t happen over one month. It didn’t happen over one year. It was a gradual process where God slowly moved away from the midst of it.

Look at the passages in God’s word, Ezekiel 10:4. Ezekiel prophesied and said this: “Then the glory of the Lord rose from above the cherubim.” So remember, where the cherubim is? The cherubim is in the holy of holies. It is where the Ark of the Covenant is. These are the wings being the angels on top of the ark. That is where the mercy seat is. That is where the glory of God would descend as a high priest would offer the sacrifice before God. Look what happened in Ezekiel 10:4. The glory of the Lord started lifting up from the cherubim, and it started moving to the threshold of the temple. So now, the glory of God that is in the middle of the temple, where it’s supposed to be, has started to lift up again, and it’s moving to the outward sections of the temple. The people are still worshiping, and look what happens. Even with the glory of God being in the threshold of the temple, the cloud is still able to fill the temple, and the court was full of the radiance of the glory of the Lord. 

So even though the glory of God has now left the place where it’s supposed to be and moved to the threshold of the temple because the people are starting to fall away from God, even then, the radiance of God’s glory is still filling it. Continuing on, same chapter, verses 18 and 19, the glory of God, unfortunately, after a while – we don’t know how much time lapses – does not stop at the threshold of the temple. “Then the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim.” And then it is something else. “While I watched, the cherubim spread their wings.” These cherubim are supposed to be there forever, but look what is happening to them. “They spread their wings, and they rose from the ground, and as they went, the wheels went with them, and they stopped at the entrance of the East Gate of the Lord’s House, and the glory of the god of Israel was above them.”

So you see what is happening here. At first, it started on the cherubim, right? The cherubim, and the glory of God moved to the threshold of the temple. By the time you come to verses 18 and 19 of the same chapter, the glory of God that was now at the threshold of the temple is finally found at the east gate, at the entrance to the temple. It is getting farther and farther away from the people of God. When the glory of God was at the threshold of the temple, when people went to worship, they experienced it. Now at the East Gate, the glory of God, mercifully, is still over the people of Israel. But read on in the Book of Ezekiel, and you come to chapter 11:22-23. Look what happened then: “Then the cherubim, with the wheels beside them, spread their wings, and the glory of the god of Israel was above them. The glory of the Lord went up from within the city and stopped above the mountain east of it.”

Look at the steps we’ve taken. The glory of God departed from the midst of the temple, went to the threshold of the temple, from the threshold of the temple it went to the East Gate, it stopped, and it was probably waiting to see if the people would repent and come back to the Lord. They did not, so the glory of God kept on moving. It moved, finally ended up on the mountain that is east of the city, Mount of Olives is thought to be this mountain that is mentioned in Ezekiel 11:22-23. When this happened, God’s presence was gone from the midst of God’s people. You know what happens when God’s glory and God’s presence is gone from the midst of God’s people? God’s protection and provision also departs alongside it. And because of that, they are taken as captives to Babylon. They are taken as exiles to a faraway land. Why? It all started with disobeying the commandments of God and causing the glory of God to depart from the midst of God’s people.

The glory of the Lord departed from the midst of God’s people gradually, resulting in the ruin and decline. And all of us that are here this afternoon also should be asking the question: Is the presence of God, the glory of God, in my life, in my church’s life, in my family’s life? Has it departed, and I haven’t even realized it? Has it gone to the outer courtyard? Has it gone to my yard? Has it gone away from my city? Has it gone away from my country? I am still crying out, but the glory of God and the presence of God is no longer there. It’s a dangerous place to be, and that’s exactly what happened in the life of the people of Israel. We fast forward many few years, and God would once again desire to bring His glory to His people, but this time He would do it in the most dramatic way possible. He would send His Son into this world, and His Son will walk among the people of God. But these people, with hearts that are eyes that are blind, hearts that are hardened, ears they could not hear, could not behold the glory of the God Himself who was walking among them.

In the Old Testament, the glory of God was the presence of God spiritually that descended upon the people of God. But in the New Testament, in the time of Jesus, God is physically walking among them. They go to the temple, they offer the sacrifice, not realizing that the God of the universe is right beside them. They ridicule Him, they call Him a blasphemer, they call Him all kinds of names, and they fail to see the God Himself walking among them. And He would go to that Temple, and He would go, and as you know, two thousand years ago, through that Eastern Gate that I mentioned where the glory of God had stopped, we believe, and there is not much clear evidence in God’s word, but history tells us this, that Jesus Christ entered into Jerusalem for the final time through the Eastern Gate on Palm Sunday. He would walk through the gates of Eastern Gate, and they would sing Hosanna to Him on that day because He was a righteous King coming to Jerusalem. But a few hours later, they will once again desert Him, they will once again reject Him, and not acknowledge Him to be who He is, and they will crucify Him. They would take Him outside of the city gates, and they would kill Him. But that was God’s plan, and the plan of God for our redemption and our forgiveness. After He had resurrected from the dead, and after spending 40 days on this Earth teaching them various things and appearing to them on various occasions, when you come to the book of Acts 1:11, Luke tells us this: “Men of Galilee,” that said, as He was teaching them, the Bible says He was taken up into heaven. From that same mountain, remember where the glory of God had stopped in the Book of Ezekiel? From there, God Himself is now ascending into heaven. The glory of God, God Himself is once again leaving His people. You know why? Because they did not accept Him, and they rejected Him, and they crucified Him.

But all is not lost. As they were looking up to the sky, the Bible says two men dressed in white appeared to them and they told them, “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? The same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.” This is such a sad sight. Here is God Himself in the midst of God’s people, but they do not recognize Him, they do not accept Him. So, God is now again going back to His heavenly abode, but all is not lost. The promise of God is this: I will come back again to the same mountain, in the same way that you have seen Me go into heaven. Luke tells us this happened on a mountain in the vicinity of Bethany, that would fit Mount of Olives. But look, in Acts 1:12, gives us a clear idea of which mountain He was talking about. “Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city.” So we clearly know from which mountain He ascended into heaven.

Why is that significant? Look at Zechariah 14:4. The prophet Zechariah prophesied many hundred years before Jesus ascended from the Mount of Olives. “Oh on that day,” he’s talking about a day that is still in the future, that we are looking forward to, “His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives.” Oh, remember the words of the men of Galilee, and they came to him and said, “In the same way that you saw Him taken up into heaven, He will come back again on the same mountain.” That is not by accident. Zechariah had prophesied about it: “His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.” That is a prophetic word of God.

But why is that so significant? That He is coming back to this mountain, and why is it so significant that in the early passages, the Book of Ezekiel, the glory of God stopped at the East Gate, and see if the people would turn back to him. Look at Ezekiel 43:1-2, you will see why the East Gate is so important: “Then the man brought me to the gate facing east, and I saw the glory of the Lord of Israel coming from the east.” Zechariah sees Jesus coming back, his feet touching Mount Olive, splitting it apart into two. Ezekiel, in a separate vision, does not see the feet on top of Mount Olives, but you know what he sees? He sees the glory of God coming back to the city of God again, from the east. This all describes the same thing. You know why? When Jesus enters the city again, right? It’s the rightful owner of that city. The glory of God that departed from Jerusalem thousands of years ago will one day come back again to that very city again.

And look at the way the Bible describes the one who will come towards that East Gate: “Or his voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with His glory.” I want you to imagine this for a second. Here is Jesus walking towards the Eastern Gate. The Bible says the glory of God is coming back to the city. As He speaks, the voice is like rushing waters, and not only that, the glory of the one who is coming back to that city is so beautiful that the whole land is filled with the radiance of His glory. You come to verses 4 and 5 of the same chapter, the word of God says this: “The glory of the Lord entered the temple through the gate facing east. Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of God once again is now filling the temple” because the God of glory had returned to Jerusalem and entered into the temple as the God of the universe.

Today, this gate, the Eastern Gate, through which the Lord Jesus Christ entered into, was destroyed, thought to be in conquest of Jerusalem, but it was rebuilt in AD 520. For many many years, it was under the control of the Muslims. They also had in their belief that Jesus of Nazareth, they believed to be the Messiah, will one day come back to the Eastern Gate. But they also wanted to prevent a false Jewish Messiah or the Antichrist from coming to the same gate. So you know what they did in 1512? The emperor Suleiman sealed the gate forever. And not only he did something else, he built a cemetery right in front of the gate to prevent any Jewish person from walking through the gate. But I’m here to tell you, even today, if you go to Jerusalem, you will see the Eastern Gate completely shut and closed. But the Bible says there’s a day that is coming when no cemetery could prevent that gate from being opened. When the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords come back upon Mount of Olives, and he will make his trek all throughout that land that he walked, and he will come to the Eastern Gate, and the doors of the Eastern Gate will be rightfully open.

And then we will read this, is a picture of the Eastern Gate as of today. You can see all the shrubs growing in front of it, you can see the cemetery there to prevent anyone from opening that gate. But when the King of Kings come, that gate will be opened again, and the prophetic word that we read about in Psalm 24:9-10 will be fulfilled ever and ever: “Lift up your heads, you gates, lift them up, you ancient gates, that the king of glory may come in. Who is He, this king of glory? The Lord Almighty, He is the king of glory.” Aren’t you marveling this afternoon when you think about the fact that God is using Pagan religions and Pagan Kings to prevent any false Messiah from entering Jerusalem through the Eastern Gate? God is using worldly kingdoms, God is using Pagan religions and Pagan Kings to preserve the gate for the rightful owner to walk through it again. That is the Messiah coming back to establish His thousand-year reign in Jerusalem. And then the Bible says in that city, where God will reign, even as He reigns with His people, New Jerusalem, for all eternity, oh God will be there. Jehovah Shammah, the God who is going to be in the midst of God’s people.

In Ezekiel 43:6-7, while the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me from inside the temple. He said, “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet. This is where I will live among the Israelites forever.” Jesus went up, Jesus will come back again, but once He comes back again, He will never depart, and He will be in the midst of His people forever. Jehovah Shammah, and the name of the city will not be Jerusalem anymore. It will be “The Lord who is There.” That will be the identity of that city.

Why is it important to us living in the 21st century today that we know a God who is Jehovah Shammah? It is wonderful to talk about prophetic words and about the distant hope that God has promised to us as God’s people, that one day we will live with God, that Jesus will come back again, He will reign, and He will make all things right. But today, in your life, why is it important that we have a God who is there? The Bible tells us so many beautiful verses. Lack of time, let me point to a few of them. One is Psalm 46:1. We call it all the time, but I want you to pay attention to that one, the first part of the second sentence. He says, “God is our refuge and strength,” but look at the next words, we often read it, it says, “an ever-present help in times of trouble.” You know what the word ‘ever-present’ means? Is always there. He is always there. There’s not a single moment of your life when He is not there.

In Hebrews 4, after telling us that He is the faithful high priest who can easily identify with us because He has suffered just like we suffer on Earth, yet without sin, the writer of the book of Hebrews says, in your time of need, at any moment, you can go to Him, and you will get the mercy and grace that you’re looking for. Why? The God of mercy and the God of grace is always there. How are you able to find mercy and grace? Because He never slumbers, He never sleeps, He never takes a day off. In any moment of any time, in any season of life, all the mercy that you need, all the grace that you need, He will provide you. He is always there. There is no one like Him. Don’t ever think that human beings will always be there for you. Don’t do that, you’ll be disappointed by people. I’m not saying that people always disappoint, but often they do. Even your husband may not always be there for you, your wife may not always be there for you, your parents may not always be there for you. But I only know one person who I can say with complete confidence who will always be there, and that is the God Jehovah Shammah, who is always there. That’s why we put our trust in Him.

Look at that same Psalm, in Psalm 46:7, the psalmist writes, “The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” What comfort that brings. In the passage that we read this afternoon, Psalm 42:8, look at God’s word, “By day the Lord directs His love, at night His song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life.” A day, His love, at night, His song. Everything is covered by the God who is always there. So, what is our confidence? The same Psalm, verse two and three, “We will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.” There are all bad things, but as children of God, we can say, we will not fear because Jehovah Shammah, the God who will one day dwell with us forever, is here today, in the now, providing you with all the grace and the help that you need.

I’ll close with this. I’ve shared this story with you. It’s an illustrator, shared with you probably many years ago. It comes from the Native American culture. They have a very unique practice for training young soldiers. On the night of a boy’s 13th birthday, he’ll usually be placed in a dense forest to spend the entire night alone. Until then, he had never been away from the security of the family and tribe. But on this night, what they do is they blindfold him, and he’s taken miles away. Just reading about it is kind of scary. When he takes off the blindfold, he is in the middle of thick woods by himself all night long. Every time a twig snapped, he probably visualized a wild animal ready to pounce. Every time an animal howled, he imagined a wolf leaping out of the darkness. Every time the wind blew, he wondered what more sinister sound it masked. No doubt it was a terrifying night for many. After what seemed like an eternity, the first rays of sunlight entered the interior of the forest. Looking around, the boy saw flowers, trees, and the outline of the path. Then to his utter astonishment, he also is able to behold the figure of a man standing just a few feet away, armed with a bow and arrow. It was the boy’s father. He had been there all night long. But they never tell the boy that the father is there. They’re trying to make him strong and not afraid of the darkness. But you know where the father is? The father is right there with a bow and the arrow. That child, in the middle of the night, all that he sees is the darkness, all that he sees is his circumstance around him, where he cannot even see his own reflection, or even the hand in front of his face. But not far away from him is a father, ready to protect him and watch over him, even though he cannot see the father.

In your life, in my life, when we are in the midst of a dense forest, the darkness of the night, it might seem like you’re all alone. It might seem like no one cares. It might seem like there’s no one really looking out for you. Yes, we all have gone through that. But I want to tell you, your God is Jehovah Shammah, the Lord who is there. And the one who promised, “I am with you always, till the end of the age,” is the promise that we have in God’s word. So even when you cannot see Him, He is working. Even when you don’t feel it, He is working because He is the way maker. He is the miracle worker. He is a God who is always there. Put your hope and trust in Him and Him alone.

Heavenly Father, we thank you that You are Jehovah Shammah, the Lord who will be with us forever. But even today, O God, You are here, moving in our lives, moving in our midst, moving all around us. We thank you that You never forsake us, that You never leave us. Help us to find comfort in You and You alone. Also, Lord, I pray that our hearts will be filled with hope, even this afternoon, when we think about the glorious coming of You, that is not far away, when You will come again, and You will establish Your throne among your people, never to depart from them again. Oh, what glorious hope You have given us. We will look at Your countenance, and we will worship You face to face, in the beauty of Your holiness. We cannot wait for that day. And I pray that by Your spirit, You will prepare every heart to wait in an anxious expectation of the soon-coming King. Thank you, Lord, for this time. It’s the name of the Lord Jesus that we pray for. Amen.