The Law of God, The Third Commandment

The Law of God 03
The 3rd Commandment

Ex 20:2-7
    2    I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of
    bondage.
    3    Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
    4    Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven
    above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
    5    Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous
    God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them
    that hate me;
    6    And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
    7    Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him
    guiltless that taketh his name in vain. KJV

Introduction:
Today we come to look at the third commandment which, as the commentators rightly point out, is to be
taken with the first two and considered a part of the same line of thought. Even though these are three
separate ideas in one way: thou shalt have no gods before me, though shalt not make unto thee any graven
image, thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, there is a th3eme that binds them together.
There are things concerning God which are never to be done. Seen that way, the third
commandment must be seen and taken as a part of that larger idea and law.

This command prohibits all use of the name of God for vain and unworthy purposes and includes not only
false swearing (Lev 19:12) which profanes the name of God but also trivial swearing and every use of the
name of God in the service of untruth or lying, for denunciations, witchcraft or any kind of seeking to
conjure or cast spells, in general any use of the name of God for any other purpose than to glorify Him in
worship or teach some truth concerning Him that proceeds from a sincere and believing heart.

To be clear, when a person takes the witness stand and swears to tell the truth, “so help me God,” and then
proceeds to lie or give false information that person has violated the third commandment. Calling down
condemnation or damnation upon some person or object with the name of God attached is likewise a
violation. So, is any use of the name of God in any system of worship that is false, that affirms as truth what
the scriptures deny or denies as truth the core doctrines of scripture.

In fact, if you think about it, that which Jesus taught us concerning prayer affirms in the opening phrase the
positive of which this commandment is the negative.

   Matt 6:7-13
             7    But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall
          be heard for their much speaking.
             8    Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of,
          before ye ask him.
             9    After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy
          name.
             10    Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
             11    Give us this day our daily bread.
             12    And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
             13    And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the
          power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. KJV

But how many times have we said those words without any comprehension of what we are saying? In
doing so, we violate the specific command that Jesus gave in v.7, “use not vain repetitions.” What He
meant was the reciting of formulas and words as prayers without comprehension of what we are saying,
simply thinking that the sound being made would gain the attention of God.

‘Hallowed’ is a verb form of the noun, ‘holy.’ This prayer is a request to God that He cause His ‘name’
to be seen as holy or sacred to us. At the very beginning of our prayers, if we hold this one to be the
sanctioned model, there is to be a calling of ourselves to attention that God is holy and those things
pertaining to Him, especially His name, which identifies His Person, are to be considered so incredibly
special that we would not dare to handle them in any careless way.

The concept of ‘sacred’ as pertaining to the things of God, to the name of God, to the Person of God
Himself, is a concept that has, to a great degree, been lost to our culture, except in one particular way. In
all reality, we consider our selves to be sacred. We have certain inviolable rights that no one is to mess
with or seek to take from us. If a person so much as touches us without permission, there are laws to
prosecute him for assault upon our person. Even the policeman is not to put his hands on us, detain us,
enter our house, or inconvenience us in any way without significant and provable cause. We are sacred!
We are special and are to be treated as such. No one is to walk on our property, take our possessions,
abuse our persons in any way, even with words. No one is to communicate to others things concerning
us that are not true. Our doctor, our lawyer, our accountant, and our pastor are bound by expectations
and even laws to reveal nothing about us to others without our permission.

In ancient times many of these presumed ‘rights’ were not even thought of as being so, but there were
sacred things. The temple mount was sacred. Those who entered the courtyard were expected to wash
themselves and none who were actively involved in wicked activity were welcome to be there. It was a
place of worship, a place of repentance, a place where sin was called to remembrance and mercy was
sought from God. Those who were not priests had limits on how far they could advance toward the temple
and none of the devices used in the temple services could be touched by them. One of the kings of Judah
was once stricken with leprosy for daring to enter the temple and offer incense upon the incense altar that
stood before the veil. Everything was special and only to be touched by certain persons. Then, there was
the Holy of Holies, the inner room of the temple, separated from the rest of the sanctuary by an enormous
thick veil. Into it only one man in Israel would enter, the High Priest, and he could only do it on one day
of the year and that only after having gone through a rigorous cleansing process himself and offering a
sacrifice for his own sins. With all of that the people always worried that God might strike him dead, so
sacred was the place. This was the place where the glorious manifestation of God, the Shekinah, dwelt
and manifested Himself to the High Priest on that special Day of Atonement as a brilliant light over the
Mercy Seat, the covering of the Ark of the Covenant. These things were sacred!  

But we have lost that notion. For many years, dating back to the early centuries of the Church, the
sanctuary where the people of God met was considered a special place. People were expected to behave
themselves differently when they entered it and special rules enforced this expectation. It was a place set
apart to God and nothing coarse or common was to be done there. For the most part this concept has
been totally lost in our culture. But we have been careful to keep the principles of our sacred selves
intact.  

It is this very thing of the Sacred Self that presents a problem and a hindrance to us when called upon to
consider someone else, or things pertaining to him, to be SACRED. Even the posture of prayer modeled
for us in scripture is a struggle for us. They bowed themselves to the ground face forward into the dirt when
confronted with the Person of God. We often pride ourselves in bowing to no one.  

But the Name of God is to be held Sacred. It is a special and holy thing, not to be used in any false or
vain way but always with honor, respect, devotion, faith and, thus, in Truth.  

It should be obvious to everyone who has any familiarity with scripture at all that the whole issue
of the Name of God is a special subject, and one that is somewhat foreign to us.

We spoke in December concerning Christ on the issue of names and the meaning of names. The name of
a person was considered an expression of who he was, therefore, when the angel came to Joseph to reveal
to him what was going on with Mary, he specified that the child was to be named Jesus, ‘for He shall save
His people from their sins.’  

The Name of God was something very special to the Jewish people because God Himself had revealed
it to them and because He had made it Sacred. Wrath, Judgment, and Certain Destruction were promised
to those who violated this command of God. “for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh
his name in vain.”

God revealed Himself under a number of names to the ancient Israelites, each of which showed some
portion of His Person. The root word for ‘God’ in the Hebrew is the simple word ‘El’ but it appears in
a number of different configurations revealing something special about Him. ‘El-Shaddai’ is ‘God
Almighty.’ ‘El-ohim’ is God written in the plural form pointing to the Trinity that would ultimately be
revealed. ‘Adonai’ is the word for ‘Lord’ or ‘King’ reminding the Jews of His authority. And then there
is that strange and mysterious name that we do no actually know how to pronounce that God revealed to
Moses, and through him to Israel, from the burning bush.

   Ex 3:13-14
             13    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?
             14    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. KJV

This is that name which appears in the Authorized Version of the Bible as ‘Jehovah’ but we actually do
not know how Moses or the Israelites pronounced it. Here is what one commentator said about that:

    “There came a time, perhaps about 300 B.C., when the Jews, owing to a. their reverence
    for God, b. their interpretation of Lev.24:16, and c. their resulting fear of becoming guilty
    of the sin of desecration, ceased to pronounce this name.” (New Testament Commentary,
    William Hendriksen, Matthew 6:9c)

   Lev 24:16
             16    And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all
          the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land,
          when he blasphemeth the name of the LORD, shall be put to death. KJV

This fear of blasphemy was a function of the fact that they held both Jehovah and His Name to be Sacred.
One function of holding things sacred is a fear of defiling or corrupting them in one’s mind or in one’s
practice. Think about it, the world does not know how to pronounce the most sacred name of God
because of the zeal of the Jews to hold it sacred.

It is just as well. Humanity had done a fine job at desecrating all of the names of God that they do know.
I am satisfied that this one is safe from blasphemous tongues.

Reverence for God, fear of blasphemy, and a sense of the sacredness of His Name led the Jews to lose
the pronunciation of it. I am told that the scribes, when they were copying the scriptures, had a special quill
that they used for nothing but to write this name and that when the scriptures were read in public and the
name we associate with Jehovah appeared in scripture, the reader would substitute Adonai so as not to
speak that Special Name and blaspheme. Why would he blaspheme by saying it? If his heart was not
right, if he had committed some sin for which he had not been able to get to Jerusalem and offer sacrifice,
for some sin of ignorance, if he had inadvertently touched an unclean thing...the list was long.

Now one might make the case, or at least consider the possibility, that the Jews went too far, that there is
no need to be so careful about a word. But I would suggest to you that our world is far too careless, even
that part of it that identifies itself as ‘Christian.’  

We are surrounded by a continual and endless barrage of blasphemy from the ungodly music of the popular
culture to the blasphemously arranged and performed supposed ‘praise songs’ that are sung in churches
flying under the Christian banner. Television and the airways are filled with people supposedly speaking
in the name of God and proclaiming the most incredible and blasphemous doctrines. And, those who
would declare truth, who would proclaim what God has declared, who would call men out for sin and call
upon them to repent are being suppressed as much as governments and these self-appointed Regulators
of speech are able.

A trial just ended in England in which a preacher was accused of breaking the law by calling Islam an
idolatrous and false religion. I have recently read of pastors being prosecuted in Canada for preaching that
homosexuality is a sin. Listen to me, to refuse to proclaim a biblical truth out of fear of what man might do
is itself taking the name of God in vain. The man, the preacher, claims to be a spokesman for God but then
refuses to hold Him sacred and declare what He has revealed to be true. One cannot Hallow His Name
and keep quiet on those issues that He has called us to speak out about.

   Gal 5:19-21
             19    Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication,
          uncleanness, lasciviousness,
             20    Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
             21    Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before,
          as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the
          kingdom of God. KJV

It is blasphemous to leave this out of our message, just as it is to leave out:
   The Deity of Christ
   The Blood Atonement
   The Resurrection
   The Great Judgment
   Hell
   Jesus Christ as the Single and Only Savior and the Only Way to God
   Repentance from sin

We hold these truths as sacred because we hold God to be sacred and because we hold His Name to be
sacred we hold His truths in the same way.

But, at the end of the day, the issue of sacredness is an issue of the heart.  

Blasphemy is a behavior but it is rooted in a heart that simply does not love God. Holding God and His
Name as sacred is an attitude and behavior of a heart that has been overwhelmed by His grace and
regenerated by His Spirit.

Think about it, we have a national symbol that many of us sort of hold in a sacred way, our flag. Up until
a few years ago it was a crime to desecrate our flag because it not only is a symbol of our country but of
everything that our country stands for, the lives and sacrifices that have been given to make it and keep it
free. But no one who was not born here and/or does not understand and appreciate what it stands for can
possibly hold that flag in a special place in his heart.

In a similar but much more profound way, no one can hold the Name of God as sacred except those who
have been born into His Kingdom by His Grace. Every one of them has come to terms with the reality of
their sins, of their just condemnation before God, and of the fact that Hell is the appropriate judgment for
their crimes. But they have been granted life, faith, and repentance by God’s grace. They who once were
in darkness are now children of light. They were once captives to their sins but the Son of God has made
them free and now they are free indeed. The dread of death has been taken away for they know that ‘to
be absent from the body is to the present with the Lord.’

Such a person has come to a place of profound gratitude and humble worship. The Name of the One
Who redeemed them by His Own Blood on the Cross is precious and so special to them that they would
never intentionally take it lightly or in vain.

Hallowing the Name of God is a function of worship and worship that is accepted by God can only
offered by one who has been born from above.

So, how does one ‘hallow,’ hold as sacred, the Name of God?

Let us consider a couple of ideas before we come to our conclusion.

    1.    Would you deface your father’s tombstone?

I feel certain that no one here would spray graffiti on his/her father’s grave marker. Why not? It is just a
hunk of granite, a rock, maybe a very expensive rock but granite nonetheless.

But it is not just a rock is it? It marks the place where someone unimaginably precious to you is buried.
You know that his spirit is gone and he is never was there but you love him so much that you would never
do anything to mar his grave. Why? Because you love a piece of rock? No, it is because that piece of
stone is an emblem of one who was and is very special to you. So, in a sense, you hold it as sacred.

God’s Name is a verbal or written emblem of Him.  

    2.    Christians and Pagans handle the concept of sacred in very different ways.

    For the purpose of this segment of the discussion, ‘Christian’ will mean only those who are true
    believers, who have repented of their sins and given themselves in true and complete faith/trust to
    Jesus Christ.

Pagans, all of them, even the ones who claim to be ‘Christian’ hold things as sacred in one of two ways,
either:

          (1)    In fear of Deity, thinking He might severely judge them for offending Him...

(Breaking one of the rules, spitting too close to his sanctuary, wearing a hat, or not wearing one, having a
piano, or not having one, etc. etc. etc.)

Or...
          (2)    Seeking to gain something from him.

“God will bless you if you do this religious thing” (usually having something to do with money).  

That is it. Pagans deal with sacred either from fear or from greed, what specific actions will cause what
specific impact on heir own lives. It is essentially holding the self as sacred not deity.

Christians, on the other hand, deal with the idea of sacred with a view to their love for God and factoring
in what He has done for them.
   - He saw them in their sins and took pity on them,
   - He sent His Son to actually bear their sins and satisfy Perfect Justice concerning them,
   - Christ died, was buried, rose again and ascended with them in Union with Himself to the Father,
          - Then, at a moment in time, He interrupted their lives, revealed their sins, granted them faith and
          repentance...And New Life,
   - He took them out of the pit and set them upon the road to heaven,
   - And, since that very moment, He has been continually gracious, kind, and longsuffering to them.

God’s people love Him and that is the basis of their desire to Hallow, hold as sacred, His Name. The
True Christian would sooner trash the graves of 1000 of his ancestors than blaspheme the Name of the
Living God. The children of God love Him.

Written as a positive statement, the Third Commandment says:
   Thou shalt Hallow and hold as Sacred the Name of the Lord Thy God.

 There really does not seem to be any middle ground. If a person is not holding God, His Name, His
Word, His Son, His Revelation, and His Church as sacred, Hallowed, then he is, in some construction,
blaspheming Him and rebelling against His Law, the 3rd Commandment in particular.

So, is God’s Name sacred to you? We are not even talking about that name that the Jews would not
pronounce but any audible or written expression that designates the Person of the Triune God. If the Name
of God is not sacred to you, chances are He is not either... And that is a real problem that you must fix
quickly... It is almost too late right now.