Longing for the Vindication of God's Name

A. I had been watching from on high this groundhog invading my garden. I am the owner of that garden. You have been destroying my garden. You act like the garden is yours. I will punt you out of my garden to show you that I am who I said I am.
B. Ezekiel 36:22-28
1. YHWH’s Name is Holy––it is different and other than
2. Within His story, YHWH attached certain things to His Name in order to show His glory
3. Many of these things are not representing Him correctly––not bringing Him glory
4. Because of this incorrect representation, the wrong conclusions are being drawn about YHWH and Who He is (The Holiness of His Name has come into question)
a. i.e. God chose Israel and they failed; the church is the new Israel. Make no mistake, this is a vindication of YHWH’s Name issue

5. YHWH will act for the sake of restoring the Holiness of His Name
6. YHWH vindicating His name means redeeming/vindicating the things that are attached to His name in order to regain the glory they are intended to give Him
7. In doing so the Sanctification of YHWH’s Name within His created framework will be restored to bring Him the glory due His name
C. “I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another… Isaiah 42:8
D. “Now I will arise,” says the LORD, “Now I will be exalted, now I will be lifted up. Isaiah 33:10

A. Vindicate: show or prove to be right, reasonable, or justified: more sober views were vindicated by events.
1. “You were right.”
B. YHWH’s vindication hinges upon the events by which He is shown to be right.
1. The idea encapsulated in a song: Revelation 15:8 And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations!
2. Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, His work is perfect…
a. God will show in the sight of the entire earth that His work is flawless

A. What does it mean, it practical terms, for the earth to be full of the knowledge of YHWH?
1. YHWH getting glory within the framework He created for His glory.
B. The framework He created to explain how He desires to get glory is the Law and the Prophets… The New Testament explains this is the case, and Revelation show shows us how it’s all going to go down.
1. Matthew 5:17“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18“For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
2. Essentially these ideas boil down to everything that YHWH has said, every word that is inherently attached to Him, has a future climax and consummation when He alone is found to be true. The end result is that everyone on the earth possesses this knowledge about HIM, as experiential knowledge, as we behold Him actually fulfill every single word He has spoken, and this vindicates His holy name, showing Him to truly be other than.
3. Jeremiah 31:31 They will not teach again, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD
4. The exhilaration of what we experience in the age to comets likely singularly hinged upon YHWH finally getting to be all of who He is with resurrected people. He’s just going to be Himself, and we will finally be ourselves…

A. YHWH’s name is attached to things that He intends to get glory from
1. Lebron James: Bronny James
2. Everything that He intends to get glory from will be restored to its proper place of giving Him glory

A. God spoke and the heavens and earth were created so His vindication involves the heavens and the earth doing what He originally intended them to do
1. Psalm 19:1 The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
B. Man was created by God in the image of God as the representative of God’s glory
1. 1 Corinthians 11:7 A man, you see, should not cover his head since it is the image and glory of God that he reflects. As for the woman it is the glory of the man that she reflects

A. Israel was entrusted with the oracles of YHWH (Rom. 3:2) – They were the only people given His words and He wanted them to give them to other people:
1. Deuteronomy 4 Calling
2. Isaiah 44:23 Shout for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done it! Shout joyfully, you lower parts of the earth; Break forth into a shout of joy, you mountains, O forest, and every tree in it; For the LORD has redeemed Jacob And in Israel He shows forth His glory.
3. Mini-Cities at lego land in England
a. “But where is Israel?

b. “It doesn’t bother me at all actually”
c. “But Moshiach will come and rebuild Jerusalem and restore the earth from Zion”
d. “But it will be nothing like this.”
e. Zechariah 8:3 “Thus says the LORD, ‘I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.’

A. By, to, for, from and through Yeshua the Messiah
B. Col. 1:15-20 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for through him were created all things in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible. Whether thrones, or dominions or rulers or authorities, in the case of all things it is
through him and for him that they have been created. He is before all things, and all things through him hold together in their assigned place. He is the head of his body, the assembly; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, and so, just as planned, has become supreme
in every respect. For in his Son God gladly chose to have His full nature dwell, and through him to reconcile the whole creation to himself, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross––through him, whether the things on the earth, or the things in the heavens.
C. YHWH being vindicated is the consummate answer to Pilate’s ominous question at the crucifixion:
What is truth? And the Man who stood before Him will stand before the whole earth and say “I will show you.”
D. We are talking about a real timeframe where Jesus steps back into the space of this earth in a very dramatic way to be the agent approved by the Father to confirm His words and restore His glory.
1. Revelation 19:13 He was wearing a cloak soaked with blood, and His title was ‘The Word of God.’
E. Think about what He will be like, and how expansive the glory will be when we behold Him as the word of God in the flesh, fulfilling every word He spoke in the Scriptures. This is something we have only read about, but with resurrected eyes we will see Him do this.

A. The Holy Spirit will be vindicated as the very breath of YHWH. His gifts will be vindicated as they become the new norm of the resurrection. His power to overcome sin will be vindicated as He puts the law in our hearts so that we no longer transgress. He will vindicate the First Commandment by enabling us to actually love YHWH with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength! And our hearts will burn within us

A. Repent because the time is near…
1. Mark 1:15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
B. Pray The Lord’s Prayer
1. Matthew 6:9 BHT …this is how you are to pray: Our Father in the heavens, may the holiness of your great name be vindicated.
a. May the day come when you get the glory you deserve!
C. Pray in a way that strengthens our hearts in this hope so that we stand firm!

1. Psalm 119:49 Remember the word to Your servant, In which You have made me hope.
2. 119:81 My soul languishes for Your salvation; I wait for Your word.
3. 119:42 So I will have an answer for him who reproaches me, For I trust in Your word.
a. God has caused men to hope in His words. It strengthens the mind and heart to actually take time to think about what it will be like when He fulfills everything He has said.
D. Worship in Spirit and Truth
1. 1 Chronicles 16:8-36
a. Praise and worship now are built upon the caveat of hope that one day God will get ALL the glory for every single thing He has done.
E. Exhort One another regarding these things
1. 1 Thessalonians 4 :18 So then, constantly exhort and console one another with these words.
2. God intends the idea of His own vindication to be a powerful hope and anchor ungirding how we live.
F. Walk in Sobriety Carrying the Fear of the Lord
1. The time before these events is so deceptive we should not view ourselves out of the scenario of falling away or being deceived.
2. Jacob’s Trouble is not something we can put a handle on. It is not a my car broke down, what do I do scenario. We do not have a relatable context to such trial and the hour is late.
3. Luke 21: we must watch and pray to stand before the Son of Man
4. Letting this immense hope be the plumb line that helps us see all things in correct perspective, driving us to pray and be sober, and consecrate ourselves in greater measure to the work of the Gospel so that after having preached we would not be disqualified.
G. Walk in Joy of This Future Hope
1. Nehemiah – the joy of the Lord is your strength
2. We need the joy the Lord in living in the reality of this hope
3. Our hope is to rebuild the city of Jerusalem for the Great King of Israel. We can live in this joy currently and while the sweat covers our brow, we smile and are reminded of the day when we will lift the stones of that city into place without breaking a sweat