We need to Know God not only in His Power but also Personally as Jehovah, Our God

God desires that His people know Him, and in Ezekiel the phrase “know that I am Jehovah” is mentioned at least sixty-four times; Him being God implies His power and His relationship with creatures, and Him being Jehovah denotes His relationship with man.

Many things had to happen to the people of Israel so that they would know that God is Jehovah, that He wants to have a personal relationship with His people. Both in His judgement and in His recovery, God does many things and arranges many situations for His people to know that He is Jehovah their God.

Throughout the Bible God wants His people, those whom He has called out from among the nations to be His own people, to know that He is Jehovah their God.

However, we may read the Bible and not be impressed with this fact; we may superficially read how God says, “that you may know that I am Jehovah” and simply glance over….this week we want to focus on these five simple yet very profound words, “know that I am Jehovah” and see what do they mean and how do they apply to our Christian experience.

God is Making Himself Known to us Personally, Through the Church, and Eventually to All the People

In the book of Exodus you could say that there are three main stages in which God makes Himself known: first He made Himself known as Jehovah to Moses, His servant, then through Moses He made Himself known to His people, and then He was manifested to Pharaoh and to all the people of Egypt.

The first time God made Himself known as Jehovah was in Exo. 4, when He appeared to Moses in the wilderness in the midst of a burning thornbush. It was then that God identified Himself as the God of his fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

Moses asked God to tell him what should he say to God’s people when they ask of His name, and then God said, I am who I am…I am has sent me to you. This is how God revealed Himself to Moses, in a personal and intimate way, as the God of his fathers, the I AM.

One day the Lord will come to us as the living word and, with no explanation, reason, or answer, He will simply tell us, I AM. I am Jehovah. You need to meet Me, know Me, and recognize me as the I AM.

Secondly, God revealed made Himself known through Moses to the children of Israel (Exo. 4-6). He wants to make Himself known to His people as Jehovah their God who brought them out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

The result of we as God’s people seeing God as Jehovah, our God, is that we can only worship Him; we worship Him as the I AM.

Thirdly, Jehovah made Himself known to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians. God made Moses as the “acting God” (Moses was as God to Aaron, and Aaron spoke for Moses, who spoke for God), and Pharaoh was the representative of Satan.

Throughout the first few chapters in Exodus there was a direct confrontation between God and Satan, that is, Moses and Pharaoh; God repeatedly said, Let My people go! God in His sovereignty and wisdom chose to make Himself known to His enemy and to all the unbelievers represented by the Egyptians.

Pharaoh asked, Who is Jehovah? I don’t know Him. But after God dealt with Pharaoh, the Egyptians, and the land of Egypt, all Egypt knew who Jehovah is.

Even when Pharaoh let Israel go, and then changed his mind, chased after them, and caught up to them at the Red Sea, God manifested Himself as the One who raised up Pharaoh so that He may be glorified in the way He deals with him.

These are the three stages of knowing God as Jehovah: first He is making Himself known to us personally, then He makes Himself known to us through the church, and when the church is built up sufficiently, He will exercise sovereignty through the church so that eventually all the people on earth will know that God is Jehovah, the I AM.

A day is coming when there will no longer be any atheists; their power and wit will be gone, and the Lord will subdue them by manifesting Himself as the I AM. Hallelujah!

Lord, we want to know You as Jehovah, the God who is the I AM. Reveal Yourself to us. Manifest Yourself to us, Your people. We want to have a personal, intimate, and affectionate relationship with You in spirit. May we really know and see who You are. May we learn to worship You and know You. Lord, make Yourself known to us through the church. May Your being and Your actions be clearly seen and expressed in the church. Build up the church, Lord, so that You may be manifested through the church with authority to all the nations and to Satan. May the day come when the whole earth be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah!

“God” implies His Power and Relationship with Creatures, “Jehovah” denotes God having a Relationship with Man

It is very interesting to see how the Bible speaks of God; when God created all things, His name was not Jesus or Jehovah but Elohim, God; Elohim is the name of God in relation to creation (Gen. 1:1).

However, after God created man, He started to be called Jehovah or Jehovah God; Jehovah is the name of God in relation to man (Gen. 2:4; Isa. 1:2, 4). By the very nature and character of God’s name – Jehovah – God wants to have a relationship with you and me to fulfill His purpose.

The name God – Elohim – means “the strong and mighty One”; this name refers to God’s creation of all things and of His relationship with creation. When most people say they believe in God, they have in mind some kind of power that created everything – they think of God as “God” and not as “Jehovah”.

God implies God’s power and His relationship with creatures; Jehovah God denotes God having a relationship with man.

There are a few verses in the Old Testament that put “God” and “Jehovah” together to show how what the difference between God and Jehovah is.

In Gen. 7:16 it says, And those who went in, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and Jehovah shut the door behind him. God commanded all creatures to go into the ark two by two, male and female, but it was Jehovah who shut the ark. God is the One who commanded – and all creatures obeyed; Jehovah is the One who cared for Noah and his family, so He shut the door.

In 1 Sam. 17:46 David said, On this day Jehovah will deliver you up into my hand, and I will strike you and remove your head from you. And I will give the corpses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of heaven and to the animals of the earth on this day. And all the earth will know that there is a God in Israel.

David had a personal relationship with Jehovah, and he knew Him and loved Him; therefore, he was assured to say that Jehovah (the God with whom he had a relationship with) would deliver Goliath (the giant) into his hand. This was so that everyone – all the Philistines and all the people of Israel and all the earth – would know that there’s a God in Israel.

Jehovah speaks of a relationship with those who are close to God, while God speaks of a relationship with ordinary men, in which He reveals His power to men.

“And when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, This is the king of Israel. And they surrounded him to fight, and Jehoshaphat cried out. And Jehovah helped him, and God diverted them from him” (2 Chron. 18:31).

Jehovah helped Jehoshaphat – because he was close and intimate with God, and God was the One who diverted the enemies from him. God is a common name, and Jehovah is the name of intimacy and love; God is the name of God in His creation and power, but Jehovah is His name in His relationship with man.

In our Christian life a lot of things happen to us, and many times we may wonder, WHY me? Why do all these things happen to me? The goal is clear: to have an intimacy and love with Jehovah God, our God, beyond anything that we may have ever imagined.

What we are headed towards is sweetness, endearment, tenderness, affection, provision, protection, supply, care, and much intimacy and love with Jehovah God. Jehovah God is not only the One who is powerful but also the One who draws near to man (see Gen. 2:4, 8, 15-16, 18-19, 21-22).

Right now, He wants to draw near to us. May we sense in our spirit His nearness and dearness.

Lord, thank You for coming to us not only as God the Creator in Your power and majesty but also as Jehovah who wants to have a relationship with us. We want to know You not only as the Almighty God the Creator but also as Jehovah, the One whom we love and are intimately related and connected to. Lord, we draw near to You so that You may draw near to us. Cause us to sense in our spirit Your nearness and dearness. Strengthen our personal, private, spiritual relationship with You. May You be our God and may we be Your people forever!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 9, pp. 263-274, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Ezekiel (2), msg. 3 (week 15 in the HWMR), “Know That I Am Jehovah”.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # But for me, I will wait on Jehovah; / I will look for the God of my strength; / In the darkness Jehovah will shine like a light; / Let my enemies no more rejoice. / For I fall, but then I will rise up; / Praise the Lord, Who’s the strength of my heart; / So for me, I will wait on the Lord Jesus Christ; / And in Christ I will rise up again. (Scripture song)
  # For you are a holy people / To Jehovah your God; / It is you whom Jehovah your God has / Chosen from among / All the peoples which are upon / The face of the earth / To be a people / For His personal treasure. (Scripture song OT)
  # Elohim, Jehovah, strong and mighty One, / Self-existing, ever, and eternal One; / Elohim, Jehovah, Who fulfills God’s plan, / All that He has promised to man. / “You will know that I am Jehovah,” / Great I Am, we worship You. (Song on who God is)