Memorial

The Name of God

We have come together today to honor our Lord’s command: do this in remem­brance of me. In the bread and the cup we bring to mind his loving service to God and to us, binding us together with the Father in this new covenant. And we remember our own helplessness against sin and death, and the Father’s love in giving his beloved son for our salvation.

Remembering Christ and the Father have always been essential to living accept­ably before God. Even long before Christ gave us this meal, the Father made sure His people would remember His covenant and His care for them. Time and again He sent His servants the prophets, telling the people to remember His law and to turn back to the ways He had set before them. Indeed, every time they heard His prophets speak his name, it was to be a reminder.

In Exodus 3, we have the record of God’s encounter with Moses at the Burning Bush.

“And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The 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. And God said moreover unto Moses, 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, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations” (Exod 3:13-15).

The very name by which the Father was called was meant as a memorial. Linguists and theologians have argued about what the name means. The general under­standing in our own community is that the name also means “He-Who-Will-Be” and refers to all the ways He has shown and would show himself in His dealings with Israel.

And people have argued over how to pronounce the memorial name of God. This can be an interesting, even stimulating study; but ultimately we will probably have to wait for the resurrection to learn the answer. I won’t claim to know just how Israel of spoke the name of God; but I will suggest that people who spend a lot of time arguing about it have missed the key point: it is a memorial.

And what is it that the name of God is meant to bring to mind? Of course, it is about the way he delivered his people out of Egypt, as it is written: “The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.”

But it is surely not coincidence that God took the name “He-Who-Will-Be” and so often reminds His people: Ani’ Yahweh Elohim – I am He-Who-Will-Be God. This is surely a reminder of His covenant with them and with Abraham their father. Look in Genesis 17. Here is the account of God’s confirming His covenant with Abraham, and showing him that the provision of the flesh is not his provision: but that God Himself is Abraham’s reward. And in the course of this instruction God says:

“And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations” (Gen 17:7-9).

The Covenant

He then goes on to decree circumcision as the sign of that covenant. But its key provision is stated twice:“I will be their God.” He is very clear that this covenant would persist “throughout their generations.” He wants His people always to re­member, throughout their generations, that it is He who will be their God.

And not only the covenant with Abraham: Moses also carefully commanded the people to remember the covenant God made with them at Sinai, and to teach their children so they would not forget. And, though they sometimes let the memory grow dim, “He-Who-Will-Be Their God” kept reminding them about the covenant, through saviors and through prophets and through judgments, throughout their generations.

They understood the significance of the promise. If the Living God will forever be their God, then the nation itself will survive all His judgments, and all the enmity of the world. Psalm 102 says this very directly:

“My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass. But thou, O LoRD, shalt endure for ever; and thy remembrance unto all genera­tions. Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come” (Psa 102:11-13.)

And again,

“The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee” (Psa 102:28).

A great many in old Israel understood that the promise was not only for the nation as a whole. Moses and Caleb, David and Solomon all refer to our Father as Yahweh — “He-Who-Will-Be” my God. They remembered not only that God had made His covenant with Israel at Sinai, but also with Abraham, one man. So He cares not only for the people as a whole, but most particularly for each of His holy people, every one of you, individually. This can be a hard point to grasp, since we know that we ourselves are not capable of personally knowing, much less caring about, every one of God’s people. But we are capable of knowing and loving everyone in this room. And the Father is much greater than we are. He cares for you.

“Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever” (Psa 30:11-12).

It is a remarkable fact of history that of all the gods worshipped at the time of Abraham and even since, only our God is still regarded as the God of any people. It has been over three thousand years! The gods of Egypt and Babylonia, of Phoe­nicia and of Greece, are strictly the stuff of legend and myth. But this same God who promised to be the God of Abraham’s seed in all their generations is to this day regarded — in all seriousness — as the God of Israel.

Binyamin Netanyahu

On January 27 of this year (2010) Binyamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, delivered an important speech at Auschwitz, on the 65th anniversary of the day the Red Army captured that death camp and showed the world what had happened there. There are a couple of things worth quoting from that speech.

“The voices of millions of my people gassed, burned and killed in a thou­sand different ways rise out of this cursed ground. In the final moment of their lives, many whispered or cried out the timeless words of our ancient people: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.’ Perhaps a few used their final breath to chant another age-old prayer: ‘Remember what Amalek did to you. Never forget!’ ”

And,

“The Jewish people rose from ashes and destruction, from a terrible pain that can never be healed. Armed with the Jewish spirit, the justice of man, and the vision of the prophets, we sprouted new branches and grew deep roots. Dry bones became covered with flesh, a spirit filled them, and they lived and stood on their own feet.”

As Ezekiel prophesized:

“Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel” (Ezek 37:11-12).

Both of these points are really important. In the world today the Bible is widely regarded as quaint: fine literature to be sure, but not to be taken seriously as a guide to practical matters. And here we have the political leader of a nation declaring to the world that Bible prophecy has been fulfilled — the valley of dry bones — and proclaiming Biblical principle — remember what Amalek did — as a basis for his foreign policy. We note that Mr. Netanyahu nowhere mentioned God in all his speech — and observant Jews often refuse even to use the word “God” and absolutely will not speak His name. Given his position and history, it’s hard to tell whether Mr. Netanyahu regards the Scriptures as holy writ or simply as the legacy of his nation. Even so, it is notable that by His Word, the God of Israel is still directing the affairs of His people. So even though because of superstition they do not use the Memorial Name of God, they still remember Him; and He is still their God.

Over three thousand years have passed since God promised Abraham that He would be God to His seed throughout their generations. And even in this gen­eration, He is at work among them. The day is yet to come, when the promises to Abraham will be fulfilled, when he himself will possess the land, and will be a blessing to all nations, and when all his seed will know and recognize the greatness of God’s power and care. But while the seed of Abraham still await the fulfillment of the promise, they do remember.

But the promise of the Father is also ours, the heirs of Abraham by faith. And we have this also, the promised Seed of Abraham, our Lord Jesus the Anointed.

We have here a simple meal: bread and wine. Where the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob gave His name as a memorial, our Lord Jesus gave us this as his memo­rial. And his promise is similar: I will always be with you, I will never abandon you. The promise is for each of us as much as it is for all of us: our Lord keeps his memory alive in congregations like this one throughout the world; and he reminds each of us that each of his little ones is precious. And so we remember him.