April 8, 2017 - The Third Commandment

The Third Commandment

Frequently you hear today “Oh my G-d” or “OMG.”  You will hear people say, “I swear to G-d that it’s true!”  When I was young, maybe 5, I imitated a boy I heard in a movie that repeatedly said “Golly Gee!”  I did not know that Gee was a substitute for Jesus.  Even something as seemingly trivial as calling God “the man upstairs” was taught me as wrong.  Honestly, I found these sentences difficult to write.  This is not an outdated idea that I was taught, but an age-old call for us to be reverent.

The Third Commandment is about reverence.  It reads as follows:

“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone blameless who misuses his name.”

Using God’s name in a degrading or disrespectful manner shows what our relationship to him is like.  If I talk about my Father or Mother behind their backs in a disrespectful manner, it shows my relationship with them is not good.  This commandment expresses to others and to God how we feel about him.  

The Hebrew word that is translated here as “misuse” had also been translated as deceit, deception, falsity, vanity, malice, and emptiness.  The last one seems to hit me the hardest.  Imagine speaking of God with emptiness, as if He is not here, or doesn’t matter.

How should we speak about God?  Here are a few verses that exemplify right speech:

Acts 17:28, “For in Him we live and move and have our being.”  We are created in His image and He wants that to be how we speak.

Psalm 104:1, “Bless the Lord, O my soul!  O Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed in splendor and majesty.” 

Psalm 33:8, “Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him.”

As I am writing this, I am becoming conscious of my disrespect of God.  I am like many who say I know Him, yet I don’t fully understand the immensity of just who He is.  Job came to the point of realizing he didn’t really know God.  In Job 42:5 he said, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.”  Many, like me and Job, carelessly assume we know Him and have an acceptable relationship with Him.

There is a song I love called “I Can Only Imagine.”  It talks about what it will be like when we meet Jesus face to face.  One line goes like this “Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall?”  Yet Isaiah, Philippians, and Romans say that “every knee shall bow.”  In Revelation 7:11 it says that the angels, four living creatures, and elders all fell prostrate before God.  These are ones who see God every day and they fall prostrate!  I know I won’t stand.  I imagine I will fall on my face and say, “O woe is me!” 

If most Christians understood what the name Jesus Christ means, they would not abuse the name or use it with emptiness. 

Jesus is the Romanized version of the name Joshua or Yeshua.  Yeshua is a combination of two Hebrew words.  The beginning is Yeho or the abbreviation of the tetragrammaton, or God’s four-letter name, most often translated as Yahweh in English.  The end is the word “yasha” or save, deliver, rescue.  Basically, Jesus then means “God Saves.”  When you see the words save, deliver, rescue, or salvation in the Old Testament, you are seeing a version of the word “yeshua.”  Jesus' name fills the Old Testament.

Christ comes from the Greek word “christos” which is the translation of the Hebrew word “Mashiach,” or “messiah.”  Both words mean anointed.  Historically priests and kings were anointed.  The current pope was anointed upon assuming the Papal Throne.  Queen Elizabeth was anointed during her coronation.  David refused to kill Saul, because he had been anointed king (1 Samuel 24:6).  Christ is the anointed one.  He is portrayed in numerous places as both priest and king.  Would we show disrespect to the Pope or Queen Elizabeth if we happened to meet them?  I doubt it.  Then why any less to Christ?

Let’s put the two names together.  Jesus Christ, the God who saves, the anointed priest and king.

Behavior is as important as our attitude and speech.  Notice what Paul says in Romans 2:21-24:

“You, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself?  You who preach against stealing, do you steal?  You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?  You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?  You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?  As it is written: God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

Let’s stop blaming others for their sins, when we are the ones who cause unbelievers to hate God.

Wow, such a powerful little commandment, yet so weighty.  A commandment often ignored, but one we break with regularity.  I am humbled writing this.