Amen. Please turn your Bibles today to Exodus chapter 3. We'll read together from the verse number 1. Exodus chapter 3 and the verse number 1. Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, And he led the flock to the backside of the desert and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush. And he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, here am I. And he said, draw not nigh hither. Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon they stand is holy ground. Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy father, and the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people, which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land onto good land and a large, onto land flowing with milk and honey, onto the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come unto me, and I have also seen the oppression with the Egyptians oppressed them. Come now, therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. And Moses said unto God, Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? And he said, Certainly I will be with thee, and this shall be a token unto thee that I have sent thee. When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain. And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them that God of your fathers hath sent me unto you, and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I am that I am. And he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you. God said, moreover unto Moses, and thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me unto you. This is my name forever. And this is my memorial. unto all generations. Amen. May God encourage our hearts in his word again today for his name's sake. We are here around this table with a very simple task to perform and a command to obey. We are here to remember the Lord. And we're here, of course, not simply to recall certain facts. Again, sometimes we have this word, remember, and the idea we recall things that we knew before. We bring things back to our minds in the sense of remembrance. But of course, the term really asks us and calls us to bring Christ to our minds. Yes, there's going to be recall involved in that, but it has that active task of bringing Christ to the forefront of our minds as we come to receive the elements together. It's a call to reflect upon Him, to consider Him, to think upon Him. And to do this, we of course must use the Scriptures. Again, there has been a well-settled convention that before the people of God would come to receive the elements, that the Word of God is preached, preached by way of preparation. Again, back in the Scottish traditions of Presbyterianism, there'd be week-long times where quarterly they'd have the Lord's Table, and there'd be times of Bible teaching and preparation to receive the elements. And in some ways we continue that concept as we bring a word to your attention each time we come to the table. It is to bring Christ to the forefront of our minds. You see, our thoughts of Christ must be scriptural. We're not here to imagine or to conjecture as to what may be true about the Lord Jesus. We must ensure that our thoughts of Jesus are those that are revealed to us in the Word of God. Words of revelation, not thoughts of imagination. And I thought as we really embark upon a new year of studies around the table, I thought it'd be edifying to consider the names of the Lord. If we are to remember the Lord, it is good to consider the name with he is known. The names of our God. Now I'm thinking here particularly in terms of the, I suppose what we might call the compound names of God given to the Lord in the Old Testament. The Jehovah names of God. Again, you've got Jehovah-Jireh, Jehovah-Nissi, Jehovah-Rav, Jehovah-Rapha, you know the various terms. You'll be aware of those names over the years. And so month by month, I want to go through some of these names together. But really draw your attention as to how these names help us to remember the Lord Jesus. To see Him in these names that we remember Him as we take the elements together. There is so much in these names that will help us to remember and to trust Christ as we take the elements together month by month. Again, I said these names are words of revelation. Again, even as it says here in Exodus chapter 3, this is my name forever and this is my memorial. Again, this idea of a name that would bring things to the mind of the people of God to remember the truths regarding the nature, the attributes, the character, and the works of the Lord. Hence, it's useful for us here. But first we need to consider the name Jehovah itself. Before we think of the compounds, today I want to look at the name Jehovah itself. Again, it was first used in Genesis 2, verse number four, at least first recorded in our Bibles, Genesis 2, verse four. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God, Jehovah Elohim, the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. The Lord. Again, this is the God of the Bible, but it's the God of eternity, the God of creation, the only one true and living God, whose personal name, the name by which he is known, is this name, Jehovah. Of course, the name first Jews in Genesis chapter 2 is famously used here in Exodus chapter 3 as Moses asks, who shall I say is sending me? What shall I say unto him? Verse number 13, what is his name? And God said to Moses, I am that I am. And again, it is generally the thinking that the language used there is a derivation from which the name Jehovah comes. First used in creation, famously used in Exodus chapter three, and fearfully used by the people of God in the Old Testament scripture. And even today, Jews today still will fearlessly or fearfully use this name or not use it at all. It's a name not spoken. Again, that was the traditions and there was certainly an element of superstition in that. There was a fear of taking the name of God and then being put to death by using that name wrongly. And so what happened over the time is that the name Jehovah was recorded in what was known as the Tetragrammaton, four letters, Y, H, B, C, and D. W or V, depending, there's various thoughts on that. And H, so four letters that were used, four consonants that were used in the Hebrew language. And the exact pronunciation is obscure. Again, because the Jews were so fearful in taking this name in vain, they never said it audibly. So what happened in convention then later on when they are again recording the scriptures and a group called the Masorettes are beginning to write down and pass on and copy the Hebrew. They began to use a form of pointing to give us help with the vowels. So Hebrew is a language of consonants. And the pronunciation was passed on. And so what happened is when they were copying the scriptures, and it's the Bible text that we use for our own translation now, they began to put points underneath and above the various consonants. And those points signified certain vowel signs, A, E, I, O, U. They were marked by these points on above and beyond or above and below the consonants. So what they did with Jehovah, this Tetragrammaton, is that when the Lord's name came alongside with the word itself being used, they would point it with the vowels of Adonai. And that's where the word Jehovah then came. The vowel sounds were the vowels of Adonai, and that became the term that was used. There were other times, and those times when the Lord, the word Jehovah is used alongside Adonai, that they pointed the word Jehovah, they give the vowel sounds of the word Elohim. And so you get two different Hebrew words connected, both displaying the word Jehovah in our Bibles. And the authorized version has given us a very helpful way of distinguishing the two. If you see the word Lord, L-O-R-D, in capitals in your authorized version, you will know this. That is the word Jehovah with the H ending. If you see God, G-O-D, capitalized in your authorized version, about 300 times that happens. That's the word Jehovah with the I-H ending. Okay, so you'll see that. You go through your Bible, you'll see capital G-O-D. Well, that's Jehovah with the I ending. Lord, L-O-R-D with the capitals, that's Jehovah. Almost always the case. And that's the way the authorized versions helped us to display this name. But it also reminds us of the honor and the dignity and the reverence with which this name was used. And we're coming to remember the Lord around this table. Even the very name that we use for the Lord, properly understood was held with great reverence. Well, we've become so callous, haven't we? And so familiar with people taking the Lord's name in vain, using the swear word callously. Of course, I trust as God's people, we are better than that by the grace of God. We would not use the name of the Lord in some sort of swearing context, but at the same point, we must remember when we come to this table, we must come with profound reverence. We do believe we can take the name of God upon our lips. We believe that as part of the liberty and the freedom of the children of God, God has given us his name where he is known. And we are to use that, we are to say, this is who our God is. But we must do so great reverence. And so you come to think about the Lord, we are here to remember the Lord Jesus. And there's two things I want to establish today. First of all, I want to establish that Jesus is Jehovah. And then secondly, I want to note what is true of Jehovah is therefore true of Jesus. And so what about this fact that Jesus is indeed Jehovah? Jesus, Jehovah. Now, this is just to really annoy. When the Russellites would come to your door, I would always deliberately use the term Jehovah Jesus. And that used to, you could see their face getting so red. They resisted vehemently the idea that Jesus was Jehovah in the Old Testament. But He is. As the eternal Son of God, what you see of Jehovah in the Old Testament is true of the Son of God in incarnate form, who is given then in the New Testament in the name of Jesus. So if you think of the various ways, I'm going to give you three textual witnesses for this. But of course, having said that, never forget, particularly the book of John. with the use of the I am's in John's gospel. I am the good shepherd. I am the bread of life. All of those I am's are in John chapter three. Before Abraham was, I am. All of those I am's are pointing back to Exodus chapter three. Jesus takes to himself this concept of the self-sufficiency of the eternal God. He is the eternal present tense. He is the great I am. But you have, again, three particular references, and I'm going to just read two to you, and then we'll look at one together. Isaiah 6, verse 3. And one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, L-O-R-D. The whole earth is full of his glory. That's taken by John in John chapter 12. These things said Isaiah when he saw his glory and speck of him. Here with John recording the fact that Isaiah, when he saw the glory of God, he saw the glory of Jesus in pre-incarnate form. Then you've got Isaiah chapter 8, verses 13 and 14. The stone of stumbling and of course used by Peter in 1 Peter 2 regarding he who was elect of God precious, namely the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah 6, 3, Isaiah 8, 13. There's more, I just picked three. But when you turn your attention to Psalm 102. Again, there are others we could have chosen. It's just a selection, not random, but a selection. The Lord's glorious scene. The Lord's messianic identity in chapter 8 of Isaiah. These terms that are again denoting that Jesus is indeed Jehovah. And then Isaiah chapter, sorry, Psalm 19, sorry, try again. Psalm 102 verse 19, where it says, The Lord behold the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoner, to list those that are appointed to death. And then it continues, and we're gonna read it all to verse number 25. Of old hath thou laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure. Thou art the seed. Verse number 27, thy years have no end. And that Psalm is then taken by the writer to the Hebrews in chapter one of Hebrews, in reference to the glory and the exaltation of none other than Jesus, the Christ of God. The New Testament is very, very clear that Jesus is indeed identified with Jehovah. The eternality of the Son, the equality of the Son with the Father is proven by this. Jesus is indeed Jehovah incarnate. And so we come to worship Him, we glorify His name in that regard, we take His name with profound reverence. And if Jehovah Jesus is indeed true, then we are going to be very careful how we name His name. So if that is the case, again much more we could say regarding that, then it's true secondly that what is true of Jehovah is therefore true of Jesus. Now you will say, well that means that Jesus is God, and you'd be right. The identity of Jehovah with Jesus is one of the strongest proofs in the Bible for the deity of Jesus Christ. And so therefore, everything that's true of God is true of Jesus. It goes without saying. If he is co-eternal, co-equal, then all that is true of God is true of the Lord Jesus Christ. But I want to think more narrowly here. I want to think particularly what the name Jehovah reveals about God. So here, we're not going to do the whole doctrine of God in the next five minutes. But what is true of Jehovah particularly that then must also be true of the Lord Jesus? And then why is that helpful for us to come around the table? Well, two words just to help you think this out. Jehovah points to the independence of God and the involvement of God. independence. We used Exodus chapter 3 back in our studies in the doctrine of God to prove God's essential being, his self-sufficiency and his independence. As I said, back in Exodus chapter 3, the people of Israel, the Old Testament people of God, they identified the name Jehovah with this verb to be, the form here, the verb to live or to be translated for us in our authorized version, I am that I am. The Lord has In the eternal present tense, not so much I was, though he was, but continually as the I am, it speaks of the independence of the Lord. As Isaiah puts it, hast thou not known, hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, L-O-R-D, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary. The Lord has independent power. He doesn't need the power of others. It is the Lord's power that he grants to us, and we have the power that comes from the Lord. But God himself made the world and all things therein. And as Paul would preach in Athens and Mars Hill in Acts 17, he is the Lord of heaven and earth. He dwelt not in temples made with hands, neither is worship with men's hands, as though he needed anything. seeing giveth to all life and breath and all things. So what does this have to say to us right here and now, the independence of Jesus? Well, I remind you that Christ as the Lord, he came into this world to save us, to bleed and to die for our sins. Not out of some internal necessity, that in some way he's improved by such an act. He's eternally self-sufficient and independent. And so he comes as Jehovah Jesus out of free love to display his love to a world and to a creation that we would see the glory of the love of the triune God. And yet in his humanity, he humbles himself. The independent God becomes dependent upon his mother. In union with his humanity, with his deity, he becomes dependent upon the power of the Holy Spirit, even dependent upon angels in the gardens to strengthen him. Wondrous, selfless love shown to us by Jehovah Jesus, the eternal, independent God humbles himself to be our Savior. Jehovah, independent, but also involved When you look at the word Jehovah, you see the involvement of God in this world. You see him making covenant. Chapter 2, verse number 4, And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. Exodus 2, verse 24. And then back over in chapter 3, verse number 6, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Going back to verse 24, this is reference to the covenant that God made. Jehovah is God's personal name. But as such, it is the name of Israel's God. Who is your God, Israel? Our God is Jehovah. He is the God that made covenant with us. Of course, there is no other God. But in the minds of the nations, they all had their own God. Who's Israel's God? He's the God of all nations. And his name is Jehovah. One writer says this, The Hebrews singled out Jehovah for reverence because his God's proper name comes from the verb to be. Accordingly, God's proper name signifies his abiding self-existence. He denotes himself as the one who is in the first person I am. Thus, God's personal denotation highlights that He is self-existent, ever-existent, eternal, and immutable. Thus, His self-existence and permanent existence undergird His ability faithfully to keep His promises. Because He is the eternal, ever-present God who has strengthened Himself, He is able to keep His promises. And thus the word Jehovah is closely connected to God keeping covenant. Deuteronomy 7 verse 9, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and observe his commandments. He makes covenant, this God's involved, makes covenant, he's the God that conducts himself, he sees. Chapter 2, verse 25, God had respect unto them. He saw them in their affliction. He's the God that sends. Chapter 3, verse number 14, he sends, I am, hath sent me unto you. Verse number 17, he saves, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt. This God is a God who is not distant. He's the eternal God, the creator of the heavens and the earth. And yet he involves himself with men. Praise God he comes in the person of Jesus Christ. And in Christ we find again this beautiful unity between the covenant and the conduct of the triune God. Jesus is the surety of a better testament. He's the faithful one who keeps covenant, the covenant that he's part of, even in promising to bring or to give himself a ransom for many. He's the mediator of a better covenant, the blood of the everlasting covenant. Christ is the faithful Jehovah, the covenant keeping God. We are remembering Him today. When you come to see the elements and take them into yourself and receive Christ again, you're remembering Jehovah Jesus, the one who kept covenant and willingly gave himself to die upon the tree. Who even now is the one who sees us. He's the Bishop of our souls. He sees us even now. He's the one who continues to send. He gives gifts to his church, apostles and pastors. He's the one who saves. His name is Jesus. He saves us from our sins. You see, there's so much to learn when you recognize Jesus is indeed Jehovah incarnate. There's so much to learn and to remember. But let me encourage you particularly at this time, remember that you're taking the blood of the everlasting covenant. That's what you're doing at this point. Again, not in some Roman literal sense, but truly and spiritually, you're taking that which symbolizes the blood of the covenant. The covenant made by Jehovah, wonderfully, graciously with sinful men, that we indeed might live, not in ourselves, but in him. His name means the one who ever lives. and we live in our union with him.