His name is His presence

This is my study of the phrase “My name,” continued. I am not going to use all the verses in which God uses that phrase, but will choose a few on which to comment.

­­­24 An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you.

Exodus 20:24  New King James Version)

My understanding of this verse is that when God places His name in a location, on a people, or on a person, His presence is there. His name is His presence. He promises His name, His presence, to His people.

  

20 “Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.

21 Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him.

22 But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

Exodus 23:20-22 (New King James Version)

In these verses, God is taking a little side-trip from explaining the many sacrificial laws to reiterate His promise to guide His people.

Look at the word, Angel. Strong’s commentary calls this a theophanic angel, meaning a divine appearance to man, or appearing to man as a god. God’s people are cautioned to obey Him (the Angel), and not provoke Him, because He will not forgive them. In some verses, the word Angel appears to refer to Yeshua, as in the time when Jacob struggled with the Angel, but this Angel will not pardon transgressions, making me think this Angel is not Yeshua. However, the fact that the Angel is often no less than God is something to be aware of as we study Scripture.

“My name is in Him (the Angel).” God’s presence is in the Angel. Looking forward to the following verse, not only was His name in the Angel, it was on the children of Israel. His presence was there. Just as He prepared a place for the children of Israel, Yeshua promised to prepare a place for us (John 14:1-3), and He promised His presence in us.

22 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

23 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel.      Say to them:

24 “The LORD bless you and keep you;

25 The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you;

26 The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”’

27 “So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.”

Numbers 6:26-27 (New King James Version)

God told Aaron and his sons to put His name on the children of Israel. Apparently this priestly blessing was given in a kind of ordination service. I would love to have seen exactly how it was done. Was it a private ceremony done in the tabernacle, where Aaron and his sons symbolically held the people before God? The priests were to speak these words to the people, so it would have been a public ceremony, and that His name, LORD – YHWH, would have been proclaimed before them. They all knew exactly what His name was, and that’s the way God meant it to be.