Topics # 6 - Calling on Yahweh's EVERLASTING Name

Topic #6  Calling on Yahweh's EVERLASTNG Name  -  7 Days Devotion


Here is a summary of the 7 subheadings:

Click onto the following links for your daily devotions:

1.  6 Bible Statistics Graph- Importance of Yahweh's Everlasting Name

2.  Your Name, O YAHWEH is EVERLASTING

3.  Abraham calls on Yahweh's Everlasting Name

4.    Isaiah calls onYahweh's Everlasting Name

5.   Jeremiah calls on Yahweh’s Everlasting Name

6.  Habakkuk calls onYahweh’s Everlasting Name

7.  David Calls on Yahweh's Everlasting Name

Enjoy!

:)

Calling On Yahweh's EVERLASTING Name - 5

Subject:  Jeremiah calls on Yahweh’s Everlasting Name

Today we move on to the next servant of God who calls on God's Everlasting Name.

Lamentations 5:19

You, O Yahweh, abides forever; your throne from generation to generation.

Lamentation is written by the prophet Jeremiah in the aftermath of the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of Babylonians in 586 BC. The rebellious sins of Judah had brought a final end to Jerusalem. God's anger was exercised against His people and the city. God's people had been utterly rejected with the hope that they would wake up, like Jeremiah, to call upon Yahweh to turn His face to them in their repentance.

It is in face of degradation, humiliation and abandonment that Jeremiah calls on Yahweh's Everlasting Name with faith.  Can you feel the heartbeat of Jeremiah's faith?

Look at Jeremiah's abiding faith in God.  Even though he had seen the destruction of Jerusalem, witnessed the Israelites going off in exile to Babylon, preached to the faithless Israelites not heeding to his warning, realized the apparent failure of his preaching ministry in Jerusalem, Jeremiah continued to call on the Everlasting Name of Yahweh in faith. God was still reigning and He abides forever. There is hope in Everlasting Yahweh God even though the Israelites at that present moment was despised and cast down in a foreign land.

Many Israelites had already lost faith in Yahweh God and turned aside to worship the Babylonian gods in their exiles. They turned their eyes away from the eternal God to what they could see with their physical eyes for a quick temporary solution.

But Jeremiah had the confidence of faith in God in this enduring difficult circumstances. 

Most people would lose faith and hope in God because they could not mentally reconcile their suffering to their picture of God. They may consider God unjust or in the wrong for destroying Jerusalem, known as the city of God. 

But Jeremiah accepted the punishment of God's anger towards them and he understood why God had rejected Israel because of their sin.  There was still hope in the Everlasting God.  In calling upon Yahweh, Jeremiah longed to know how long God would forget Israel.  He begged God to turn back to Israel and restore her as of old.

Thus the book of Lamentations ended with these words of hope in Jeremiah's prayer:

Lamentations 5:19-22

You, O Yahweh, abides forever; Your throne is from generation to generation.

Wherefore do you forget us forever, And forsake us so long time?

Turn thou us to You, O Yahweh, and we shall be turned; Renew our days as of old.

But You have utterly rejected us; You are very wroth against us.

Our hope and faith is in our Everlasting Yahweh.  
O Yahweh, you abide forever.

:)

Calling On Yahweh's EVERLASTING Name - 3

SUBJECT:  Abraham calls on Yahweh's Everlasting Name

Abraham is a man of prayer.  

In the short narrative of Abraham’s life from Gen 12-25 (13 chapters), the author specifically mentions 3X about Abraham calling on the Name of God, Yahweh.  

Gen 12:8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to Yahweh and called upon the Name of Yahweh.


Gen 13:4  to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the Name of Yahweh.

Gen 21:33  Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba and there he called on the Name of Yahweh, the Everlasting God.

It’s not to say that Abraham only called on God’s Name three times in his life, but the repetitive mentioning of Abraham calling on God’s Name tells us that Abraham is a man in the habit of calling on Yahweh’s Name in prayer.  As Abraham continued to call on Yahweh's Name in prayer, his faith in Yahweh was developed and strengthened as the years went on.

No wonder Abraham is called the father of faith.  Faith indeed is strengthened in a close walk of calling on God’s Everlasting Name.  

Now, do you understand why you need to spend time in prayer?
Now, do you understand why you need to spend time to call on God's Name in prayer?

You need to have faith to call on God's Name, Yahweh.
You need to have faith to recognize the Everlasting Nature of God's Name. 


If you don't have faith, you will not spend time in prayer.

If you don't have faith, you will not bother to call on God's Name in prayer.

If you don't have faith, you will just treat God's Name like every other name and not see its EVERLASTING nature to call upon.

How did Abraham know God’s Name is Yahweh?

God had already revealed His Name to Abraham in Gen 15:3,  "I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.”

God directly revealed Himself to Abraham, "I am Yahweh".  Since then, Abraham continued to respond to Yahweh God by faith. 

By faith, He came to know God as everlasting God. In Genesis, we know that God reveals His everlasting covenant, everlasting promise to Abraham.  Not only that, God also reveals His everlasting Name to Abraham so that Abraham calls on the Everlasting Name of Yahweh.

Abraham always trusted and called on God’s everlasting Name, Yahweh. That's how He became a man of great faith. 

We, too, need faith to call on God’s Name, to trust in His everlasting Name, Yahweh.  

Calling On Yahweh's EVERLASTING Name - 1

Subject:  6 Bible Statistics Graph - Importance of Yahweh's EVERLASTING Name

In this coming week, we are going to start a new topic on Yahweh's Everlasting Name.  

• In Topic 4, we looked at "This is My Name FOREVER"
• In Topic 5, we looked at "Blessed be the Name of God FOREVER"
• For Topic 6, we will look at "Calling on Yahweh's EVERLASTING Name"

Hopefully in these 3 sequential series of Topics, you can see the importance of the 'eternal' nature of God's Name.  

Yahweh's Name is not like any name.  
Yahweh's Name is an Everlasting Name.  

When we call on God, we are calling on God's Everlasting Name.  

In the following days, we will see examples of prophets and men of God consciously calling on God's Name, paying special attention to the 'everlasting' nature of Yahweh.

For today, I will post 6 Bible statistics Graphs for you to have a general overview again on the significance of God's Name - Yahweh.

The following 6 sets of words are very important to our present study. From now on, whenever you come across these words in your Bible, highlight them.  You will find that you will see these words appearing on every page in your Bible.

After serving Yahweh God for 25 years, I have now come to realize the significance of the Name of God, Yahweh in the Bible.

Just looking at the following 6 statistics graph will give you a lot of insights about God's mind as He reveals His Name to you in the different books of the Old Testament.

1.  Yahweh - the most frequent noun in the Bible - 6828X

So far in our studies, we have seen that the word "Yahweh" is the most frequent noun in the Bible.  The main focus of the Bible is "Yahweh". 

We have seen that the most occurrence is in the Book of Psalms.  Then it is followed by the Book of Jeremiah.  Do you know why Jeremiah emphasizes on "Yahweh"?   Meditate on this. :)  

2.  I am Yahweh - 207X

Whenever God says something of great significance and requiring special attention, He reveals Himself as "I am Yahweh".  Can you feel the heart beat of God as to how much He wants us to know Him as Yahweh? 

Last year, when I discovered these words spoken by Yahweh God, "I am Yahweh", this revelation drew me to love Him and His Name more and more.  There are so many riches in this simple phrase.  We will need to spend a few weeks to study on this topic this year if God willing.

The most occurrence of this phrase is in Ezekiel.  Do you know why?  The rebellious Israelites in exiles were forgetting God's Name.  Ezekiel's message kept drawing them to remember "they will know that I am Yahweh."

Do you also notice that "I am Yahweh" occurs frequently in the Book of Leviticus. This should draw you all the more to study the book of Leviticus with new insights.  What we often thought was a boring book will turn out to be a very exciting book of God's revelation of His Name.

3.  Name of Yahweh - 87X

While "Yahweh" appears the most in the book of Psalm, the phrase "Name of Yahweh" occurs also the most in the book of Psalm.  Can you guess the reason why?

4.  My Name - 52X

Yahweh God sometimes puts emphasis on 'My Name' because He wants us to call on "His Name" and not just call on Lord or God in prayer. 

If you take time to look at all the references to "My Name", you will be able to see where God puts the significance regarding His own Name.  Again, if God willing, we will do an in-depth study on this in the future.

5.  My Holy Name - 10X

To emphasize the importance of the holiness of His Name, God specifically says "My Holy Name".

The most occurrence is found in the Book of Ezekiel as Ezekiel is dealing with the rebellious Israelites who had polluted themselves in grievous sins, so God is reminding of His holiness to draw them back to Yahweh God.

6.  Your Name - 94X

It is not surprising that "Your Name" has the most occurrence  in the book of Psalms.  While the psalmists often call on Yahweh in prayer, they are also concerned to pray to God concerning Yahweh's Name, thus "Your Name" is usually a focal point of their prayers.  

Do you ever pray to God about "Your Name . . ."?  In the Lord's prayer, Jesus instructs us to pray "Hallowed be Your Name."  



These statistics reveal to us the important emphasis God places on His Name.  When we enter into prayer, all the more, we must call on God's Name, Yahweh. This week we will call on God's Everlasting Name ever more deeply from our hearts.

:)

BLESSED be the Shem of Yahweh FOREVER – 24

Subject: To God be the Glory FOREVER! Amen

In the last 2 articles in Romans, we have looked at 2 doxology passages where "God is blessed forever, Amen."

There are 4 doxology passages in Romans where praise and glory is given to Yahweh God.



The 3rd doxology is found in Romans 11:36."For from him and through him and for him are all things. 
To him be the glory forever! Amen."


Who is the "him" referring to here?

We need to look at the context of the passage. 

3 verses earlier Paul speaks about God in Romans 11:33, "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!"

Yahweh God is the subject matter. 

• In fact, right at the beginning of the chapter, Paul mentions Elijah and how he appeals to God against Israel. 
• In reply, it was Yahweh God who said to Elijah, "“I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 

Throughout the entire chapter of Romans 11 where God is mentioned, Paul is referring to Yahweh God. 

• Paul is so filled with praises to Yahweh God because of His kindness of grafting in the Gentiles to salvation. 
• In the end, all Israel will be saved leading Paul to end the passage with a doxology glorifying Yahweh God, for from Him, and through Him and to Him are all things. To Yahweh God be glory for ever, Amen! 

In the next article, we will look at the 4th doxology passage in Romans. Can you guess where it is?

See you again tomorrow! 

BLESSED be the Shem of Yahweh FOREVER – 23

Subject: God who is over all be "Blessed Forever" Amen.

This article is going to be a bit long. I put this into 12 sequential points for easier reading. So take your time to slowly read this one through. 

In our last article, we looked at the first occurrence where Paul uses "Blessed Forever" in Romans. 

Today, we will look at the second occurrence – Romans 9:4-5.

"They are Israelites, and to them belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ. God who is over all be blessed forever. Amen."


1. This doxology in Romans 9:5 is found in the middle of Paul's lament and anguish for his kinsmen. 

He is expressing his heart's desire for his people to come to saving faith in Christ, yet they refused to do so inspite of all that God has blessed them with. As Paul lists out the privileges in Rom 9:4-5, out came his outburst of praise to God who is blessed forever for making all these promises possible.

2. The above text (Rom 9:4-5) is taken from the Revised Standard Version.  

   
    I chose this version because this translation is more clear and accurate. 


3. I am also including a picture of the Greek manuscript Codex Sinaiticus from AD 350 on Rom 9:5 so that you can see why there is a lot of confusion regarding the understanding of this text.





4. As you can see from the ancient manuscript, there is no punctuation marks in Romans 9:5. 

So the phrase that is in question is towards the end of Romans 9:5 – ὁ Χριστὸς τὸ κατὰ σάρκα ὁ ὢν ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸς εὐλογητὸς εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας.

5. If you put a comma between "κατὰ σάρκα" and "ὁ ὢν", the translation will be: 

"Christ according to the flesh who is over all, God blessed forever. 

Christ and God here are in the same sentence.

6. If you put a period between "κατὰ σάρκα" and "ὁ ὢν", the translation will be: 

Christ according to the flesh. God who is over all be blessed forever.

Christ and God here are separated to two different sentences.

7. Many people are confused about Romans 9:5, because a superficial reading of using the comma version gives the impression that Christ who is God be blessed forever.


8. Paul never equates Χριστὸς (Christ) with θεὸς (God).


9. In this series of 22 articles on "Blessing God's Name Forever", we have already seen the explicit truth that "blessed be" is always used with reference to Yahweh God in OT and NT. Yahweh God is always our sole object of praise and blessed forever, not Jesus.


10. We have also seen that Paul emphasizes that it is God who is 'blessed forever' in 2 other places in his writings: Rom 1:25 and 2 Cor 11:31.


11. In Romans 9:5, Yahweh God is again the object of praise. Jesus Christ is the cause of the praise but not the object. We must not mix the two together.


12. In the context of Romans 9, Paul is expressing his anguish that his fellow kinsmen do not even realize the great privileges the Israelites have from God. They have the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, the promises, the fathers and even Christ coming from among them — Wow… all these cause Paul to praise Yahweh God forevermore for the privileges given to the covenant people. It is Yahweh God who makes all this possible in Christ. 

Yahweh God, who is over all, be blessed forever. Amen!

BLESSED be the Shem of Yahweh FOREVER – 22

Subject: The Creator who is "Blessed Forever" Amen!

There are 2 places where Paul uses "blessed forever" in Romans. 


Today we will look at the first occurrence of "blessed forever" in Romans.

Romans 1:24- 25. "Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonouring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen."


1. This is a doxology. Doxo comes from the Greek word " δόξα" meaning 'glory'.

2. A doxology is a short praise glorifying God, often times ending with "Amen". We see this repeated pattern in the Old Testament where Psalmists and men of God would bless and glorify God at the end of their praises.

3. Who is "blessed forever" here in Romans 1:24-25? 

4. It is "the Creator" who is blessed forever.

5. Yahweh God is our Creator. He is the One worthy of our worship and praise, therefore we bless Him forever. Let us serve and worship our only Creator God Yahweh and not exchange the truth about God for a lie.


Yahweh God, our Creator, You are blessed forever! Amen.

BLESSED be the Shem of Yahweh FOREVER – 21

Subject: "God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ"

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." 1 Peter 1:3

These words are written by Peter, a disciple of Jesus. Like the apostle Paul, Peter begins his letter praising and blessing God.

1.  The phrase “God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” occurs 11X in the New Testament. 

2.  The New Testament apostles always make a clear distinction between God and Jesus Christ. 

What is the distinction?

1. Yahweh God is identified as the “God” of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2. Yahweh God is identified as “Father” of our Lord Jesus Christ.


The early church in the 1st Century worships God, Yahweh. 

• He is the merciful Father who gives us the new life in Christ. 
• He raised Jesus from the dead so that we can have a share in this living hope. 

• Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead himself.

• It was God who raised Him from the dead and then highly exalted him.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

BLESSED be the Shem of Yahweh FOREVER – 20

Subject: Blessed be the "God" and Father of our "Lord" Jesus Christ

"BLESSED be the "God" and Father of our "Lord" Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. " Ephesians 1:3 

• The focus of worship and praise is always Yahweh Father God in both the Old Testament and New Testament. 

• Here, it is Yahweh Father who is blessed and in turn, Yahweh God blesses us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. 

• The subject is Yahweh God.

We can take note of the following:

1. Yahweh is "God" and Father.
2. Jesus Christ is "Lord".


In the past, when I read the New Testament, I often intermixed the terms "God" and "Lord". Whenever I read, "Lord", I thought "Lord" is "God", and that "God" is "Lord".


We need to distinguish these terms "God" and "Lord". 
Do not intermix them to avoid confusion.

1.  Jesus was not born with this title "Lord". 

2.  Jesus was given the title "Lord" by Yahweh God. 

In Acts 2:36, "God has made him both "Lord" and "Christ", this Jesus whom you crucified.” 

Jesus fulfilled God's mission to be the Messiah, and that's why Yahweh God raised him up to become "Lord" (Philippians 2:9-11), to sit on His right hand in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:20).


Paul constantly makes this distinction: 
One God, the Father and one Lord, Jesus Christ.

In 1 Cor 8:6, it says: "there is but "one God", the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but "one Lord", Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live."

We worship and bless the one Yahweh God.

BLESSED be the Shem of Yahweh FOREVER – 19

Subject: Yahweh God is Blessed Forevermore

The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed FOREVERMORE, knows that I am not lying. 

2 Corinthians 11:31 

These words of Paul are almost in the form of an oath, a solemn appeal to God, who can testify to the truth of what Paul is saying to the Corinthian church.


We can take note of the following 3 points:

1. God is blessed. In the OT, Yahweh God is blessed all the time. We have seen this in the last 18 articles. 

2. Yahweh God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

3. Yahweh God is blessed FOREVERMORE. Blessing 

• Yahweh God is to continue from generations to generations. 
• Blessing Yahweh God did not stop in the OT times. 
• Paul continues to follow through on this important teaching in his generation. 
• We too must learn to bless Yahweh God so that our children can learn to love God and praise the Name of Yahweh.

BLESSED be the Shem of Yahweh FOREVER – 18

Subject: Paul blesses God

BLESSED be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort. 2 Cor 1:3


Paul begins his letter to the Corinthians by blessing Yahweh God. 

Who is the focus of attention in 2 Cor 1:3? 

• It is God, the Father of our Lord Jesus. 
• Notice the focus of worship is not on our Lord Jesus Christ. 
• The worship of praise is directed towards Yahweh God. 
• Yahweh God is the Father of mercies and comfort. 

Paul is drawing on an OT image of YAHWEH as FATHER expressed in Psalm 103:13-14, “As a FATHER has compassion on his children, so יהוה YAHWEH has compassion on those who fear Him."

Let us praise Father Yahweh who comforts us & strengthens us in all our troubles as we take part in the sufferings of Christ.

BLESSED be the Shem of Yahweh FOREVER – 17

Subject: Zechariah blesses Yahweh God of Israel

‘Blessing the Name of God' is also a major theme in the NT.

"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people." Luke 1:68 


These words were spoken by Zechariah when his son, John (the Baptist) was circumcised on the 8th day. As soon as Zechariah was able to speak, he praised God (Luke 1:64). He was filled with the Spirit of God and started prophesying in Luke 1:68 beginning with these words: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel …


In the NT, "Lord" can refer to Yahweh God, Jesus or to a human master. Most of the time "Lord" refers to Jesus. In Luke 1, Jesus has not yet been born, so the word “Lord” definitely refers to Yahweh God. 

“Blessed be Yahweh, God of Israel….” We have seen in the last 16 articles that men of God in OT constantly used this exact phrase to worship the One True God of Israel. God's Name is exalted through praise.


Zechariah is blessing Yahweh God of Israel, for God is visiting His people to redeem them through the Messiah. John the Baptist is to be the prophet of the Highest to go before the face of the “Lord” to prepare his ways (Luke 1:76). “Lord” here refers to Yahweh as this is a quotation from Isaiah 40:3, “Prepare the way of Yahweh”.


In the Greek NT, when "κύριος" Lord is used in quoting the OT, most of the time, the Hebrew has the text "יהוה" Yahweh. Therefore, we can read "Yahweh" in place of the word "Lord" in those occurrences.


Truly Yahweh God is praised and blessed. God is truly merciful in fulfilling His promise to raise up a horn of salvation in the person of Christ with John as the forerunner.

BLESSED be the Shem of Yahweh FOREVER – 16

Subject: Calling on YAHWEH who is worthy of PRAISE

"I called to YAHWEH, who is worthy of PRAISE, and I am saved from my enemies." Psalm 18:3

Last time, we saw that Job was under spiritual attack, and in his pain and sorrows, he called on Yahweh and blessed the Name of Yahweh. God is worthy of our praise on the basis of WHO He is, apart from blessings He bestows on us. This is the secret of Job's life in face of all his loss.

Psalm 18 is psalm of David. He too, like Job, recognizes that Yahweh God is worthy of praise. He called on the Name of Yahweh and praised Him to overcome spiritual battles. Yahweh God delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.


David is praising God in the middle of spiritual battles. Here is an important connection of calling on the Name of God and praising Yahweh's Name, especially under severe spiritual attacks. God responds. The enemy flees. God's Name is honored.

We are familiar with praising God when the music is on, when the drum is beating, when the pianist dances beautiful music on the piano, or when the singspiration leader leads us with singing. We seem to think that church worship is the best environment that is suitable to bless and praise God. Not so. Learn true spiritual meaning of praising God at all times, especially under the pressure of severe spiritual attacks,  because He is worthy of praise all the time.

BLESSED be the Shem of Yahweh FOREVER – 15

Subject: Job Blesses the Name of Yahweh

Job 1:21 “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away; Blessed be the Name of Yahweh.”

We are all very familiar with these words of Job. 

• Job is a person who knows Yahweh God. 
• "Yahweh" is repeated 3 times in this verse alone. 
• "Yahweh" gave. "Yahweh" has taken away. Blessed be the Name of "Yahweh".

Notice that Job blesses the Name of Yahweh in the midst of adversity. 

• In grief, Job's thoughts are on God's Name, and that the Name of Yahweh be praised. 
• We know how to praise God in times of joy and celebration. 
• But do we know how to praise God in times of sorrow and suffering?

When we suffer deep pain through difficult trials, the natural response would be anger, complaint and self-pity. We feel that praise is not suitable in such a circumstance. Our thoughts and minds dwell on our sufferings and not on Yahweh God.


Remember, God alone is worthy of praise all the time. Why? 

• Yahweh has not changed. 
• The only change is our circumstances. As in the case of Job, his situation was completely changed overnight and he lost almost everything. Job has every reason to be bitter and licking his wounds. Job has our total sympathy.

In our church, we have been studying the Book of Job in the last 3 months. We want to understand the the suffering of a righteous man. In our suffering, we need to perceive God’s work from beginning to end. Without God, all suffering is in vain. 


Job is actually under severe spiritual attacks. What is his secret to come through triumphantly in his despondency and intense suffering? He held on to God and he blessed the Name of Yahweh. Praising Yahweh is one of the keys to victory, to overcome Satan's attacks. Satan uses all kinds of attacks to stop God's children to praise God and to curse Him. Job's wife fell into this trap.

There are times when the spiritual oppression is so heavy that words become feeble in our prayers. Calling on Yahweh's Name and praising Him will help us soar above our suffering.

Don't think that we only praise in good times. Learn to praise all the more in times of deep suffering. Tears maybe flowing out in pain but when our hearts are filled with praise to Yahweh's Name, we find strength in His Name to overcome intense pain and sorrows.

Many spiritual battles are lost because of a lack of praise to God's Name. This is why it is very important for you to get to know God's Name, to call upon His Name, and to bless and praise the Name of Yahweh.

BLESSED be the Shem of Yahweh FOREVER – 13

Subject: Ezra blesses Yahweh, the great God

"And Ezra blessed Yahweh, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshiped Yahweh with their faces to the ground." Nehemiah 8:6 

There are so many spiritual lessons we can learn from Ezra, the scribe and priest. He rebuilt and restored the relationship of God's people to Yahweh. This is also our mission today.

Ezra returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity 13 years before Nehemiah. To rebuild God's people in Jerusalem, the first order of business is to make sure the people understand God's Law. 


Ezra gathered the people of God to read the Law of the covenant to them. 

• Before he began the reading, he led the Israelites in a short prayer ascribing blessing, honor and glory to Yahweh, the great God. 
• This procedure is very important to prepare the hearts of the people to receive the Law. 
• Notice the double intensity of the response: Amen, Amen. It's an expression of faith on the people's hearts to affirm that the great God be blessed. 
• With hands lifted up, heads bowed, they worshiped Yahweh with their faces to the ground to receive the Torah.

Today, we also must prepare our hearts in prayer and adoration as we hear the Word of God read and expounded. 

Reading of Scripture needs to play a primary role in our church worship. 


In the time of Ezra, people did not have their own personal copies of Torah, so they had to gather together to listen to the Torah read to them. Today, we take the Bible for granted for we have many personal copies of Scriptures. In our fast growing technologies, we do not even need to hold hard copies of the Bible anymore as we have many versions of the Scripture in digital format right at our finger tips. Everything is provided for us free and we do not know how to treasure the Scripture anymore.

We need both the reading of Scripture and the correct exposition of the Word of God in our churches today.

When I do my daily devotions, I often proceed in a quiet manner meditatively. I am now spending some time to worship and read out the portion of Scripture audibly in a reverent way. I find this very helpful to praise God and meditate more deeply on God's Word in my heart.