The Third Commandment
Exodus 20:7 (ESV)
7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
The Heidelberg Catechism Lord’s Day 36
99. Q. What is required in the third commandment?
A. We are not to blaspheme or to abuse the name of God by cursing, 1 perjury, 2 or unnecessary oaths, 3 nor to share in such horrible sins by being silent bystanders. 4 Rather, we must use the holy name of God only with fear and reverence, 5 so that we may rightly confess him, 6 call upon him, 7 and praise him in all our words and works. 8
1.Lev 24:10-17.
2.Lev 19:12.
3.Mt 5:37; Jas 5:12.
4.Lev 5:1; Prov 29:24.
5.Ps 99:1-5; Is 45:23; Jer 4:2.
6.Mt 10:32, 33; Rom 10:9, 10.
7.Ps 50:14, 15; 1 Tim 2:8.
8.Rom 2:24; Col 3:17; 1 Tim 6:1.
The Lord’s Holy Name-
We said last time that the first two commandments have to do with worship. Because there are no other Gods, then we must worship the true God appropriately. We cannot fashion a god and bow down to it thinking that is appropriate.
The 3rd Commandment too has worship in mind. Here we must use God’s holy name with reverence and awe. It is by His name that we know Him. We must use His name correctly because it is through His name, we know Him rightly.
If we do not know God correctly and accurately then we cannot worship Him rightly. God’s name is Holy.
The word vain here in the 3rd Commandment in Hebrew means to rush. It’s used for a rushing wind, a strong wind, perhaps even a tornado. Like the rushing wind leaves destruction so to when we use God’s name without proper care and reverence and truthfulness, we can also leave destruction behind.
God’s name is not just El Shaddai, Yahweh or Kurios but His name is His character who God is in all His attributes and glory.
The Third Commandment tells us we are not to use the Lord’s name in vain…
We have seen from the Heidelberg Catechism that we are not to…curse, perjure ourselves, abuse His name nor take unnecessary oaths. All these are ways God’s name is taken in vain. To speak of God that is contrary to His character is to take His name in vain. To misrepresent God is to take His name in vain.
Through God’s Word we discover His name/character.
1. God’s Name(s) Rich in Meaning
God has multiple names…
We have names…first, middle, last these names set us apart. They differentiate us from other people. God has no other people to differentiate Himself from. So, His name(s) are different. His names disclose His character…
ELOHIM [el-oh-heem]: God “Creator, Mighty and Strong” (Genesis 17:7; Jeremiah 31:33) – the plural form of Eloah, which accommodates the doctrine of the Trinity. From the Bible’s first sentence, the superlative nature of God’s power is evident as God (Elohim) speaks the world into existence (Genesis 1:1).
YAHWEH-JIREH [yah-way-ji-reh]: “The Lord Will Provide” (Genesis 22:14) – the name memorialized by Abraham when God provided the ram to be sacrificed in place of Isaac.
YAHWEH-RAPHA [yah-way-raw-faw]: “The Lord Who Heals” (Exodus 15:26) – “I am Jehovah who heals you” both in body and soul. In body, by preserving from and curing diseases, and in soul, by pardoning iniquities.
When God worked in the lives of His people, He either gave Himself another name of the people gave Him another name. Jesus made these names known therefore disclosing who God is, namely, His power and goodness etc.
So, to use His name(s) in vain is to misrepresent God so that others will not know Him properly.
Every time I stand up here, I am concerned to not say something that is unbiblical which would misrepresent God. That would use His name in vain. His name must be used with reverence and awe.
God’s Name, God Almighty Elohim is His name. He is the God who has power and authority.
2. God Has Revealed His Name(s) Progressively
Exodus 3:13–15 (ESV)
13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
Then as we read through the Book of Exodus and get to Chapter 6, God introduces another name to His people…
Exodus 6:3 (ESV)
3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them.
Here is the Name Yahweh, the Lord. This name, Yahweh, is the covenant name of God. Here by this name, He is the God who personally, dynamically, and faithfully is present with His people to fulfill the covenant. Yahweh is the God who keeps His promise to Abraham and the rest of the Patriarchs. He is the God who provides the Savior for us. He is the provider.
So, we see there is a progression of God showing us who He is by His name.
Exodus 20:1–2 (ESV)
20 And God spoke all these words, saying,
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
El Shaddai Yahweh Deliverer.
Then further on in redemptive history…
Exodus 34:5–7 (ESV)
5 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
As you read the Bible you discover that God reveals more of His Character and Attributes to us through His name(s).
Let’s look to Jesus as a wonderful example of how He kept God’s name pure. Beloved, here is a shining example of how Jesus kept the Law of God for us…
3. Jesus Kept God’s Name Holy
John 17:1–26 (ESV)
17 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
Jesus kept God’s name holy and made God’s name known to all He came in contact with. He manifested God’s name to the people and when we read the Bible, He manifests God’s name to us. He makes His character known as we watch Jesus.
How did Jesus do this? He has shown us the Father. When you read in the Bible about Jesus and discover how He loved and spoke etc this is exactly what the Father looks like in character and love.
John 14:8–10 (ESV)
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
Jesus has kept God’s name holy for us because we have failed to do so…
This command tells us that we are to be purposeful when we speak about God. We are to speak with meaning and not rashly or without thinking. We are to be reverent and what we say about God must be truthful.
We have all sinned in this regard.
We have a Savior who…
26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
Jesus has fulfilled the 3rd Commandment on our behalf and in doing so has shown us the Father truthfully and clearly.
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