Having seen, then, that creation and the law reveal God to be judge and ourselves worthy of judgment, we are without hope. In both nature and the law, we have found no good news—only bad news.
I think it's important enough to say it again: the revelation of God provided by nature and our conscience is not good news for us. It offers no security and no consolation: the law is inflexible. Even those who are motivated to please God are bereft. They have no recourse but to cast themselves on God's mercy.
Now, then, once more, the ten-word summary of the gospel: God revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
I want to take a moment to look at the name of God. It sets the theme for the next posts nicely, and I think it will help develop some undergirding supports in the Old Testament.
There is a key phrase involved in the revelation of God that we can highlight throughout the Old Testament: "X shall know that I am the LORD." I think perhaps our familiarity with the statement costs us a bit in understanding it, because this is not merely a phrase that says, "You'll know that I'm God," or "You'll know that I'm in charge." It is also not a bare statement of the sovereignty of God. It is rather a statement of distinction: you will know that I am the LORD, and not some other god; you will know that I am the LORD, and that there are no other gods but me; you will know that I am the LORD, and that this is my character. In other words, I will be revealed to you as I am.
The first time that God is revealed by his covenant name is Exodus 3:14: "And 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."'" This covenant name is shortened to the tetragrammaton, usually rendered "LORD" in most everyone's Bible and anglicized in a few places as Jehovah or Yahweh. God marks this as a special occurrence in history: "I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty {{ Heb. El Shaddai }}, but by my name the LORD {{ Heb. YHWH }} I did not make myself known to them" (Ex 6:3). (It is worth pointing out that El was a common name for God and apparently did not connote a specifically Jewish notion of God.)
This at first glance seems like a rather pointless observation, but it's a continuing theme in Exodus and the rest of the Old Testament. Pharaoh says, for example, "Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD" (Ex 5:2). This would quickly change. Two pertinent references follow almost immediately in Exodus 7: "The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt..." (7:5), and, "By this you {{ Pharaoh }} shall know that I am the LORD: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood" (7:17).
God is, in other words, being revealed to Egypt by his judgments against her and her gods. "Who is the LORD," Pharaoh asks. He is the one who judges your idolatry—an idolatry it must be noted that is focused very much on worshiping the creature rather than the Creator. (We may follow this in Romans one. While I'm developing this specifically and purposefully from the Old Testament, we shouldn't miss that this idea receives due exposure in the New Testament.)
The phrase "X shall know that I am the LORD" appears many, many times in the Old Testament and in a variety of situations. What follows is a brief list:
- to speak of deliverance and redemption (Ex 6:7, 10:2, 29:46; Nu 15:41; De 5:6; 1Ki 20:13,28; Ps 81:10; Is 43:3,11, 44:24, 48:17, 49:23,26, 60:62; Ez 12:16, 16:62, 20:5,42–44, 28:24,26, 29:16,21, 34:24–30, 36:11,38, 37:1–14, 39:28; Ho 12:9, 13:4; Jo 2:27, 3:17; Zec 10:6)
- to declare judgment on Israel's enemies (Ex 7:5,17, 10:2, 12:12, 14:4,18; 1Ki 20:28; Is 49:26; Ez 25 against Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia 26 against Tyre, 28:22,23 against Sidon, 28:26, 29:6,9, ch30, 32:15 against Egypt, 35 against Edom/Seir)
- to declare judgment on Israel, and reveal himself by judgment (Ex 16:12; Ez 5:13–17, 6:7–14, 7:4,9,27, 11:10–12, 12:15–20, 15:7, 20:26,38, 21:5, 22:16,22, 23:49, 24:14,24–27, 33:29, 39:6)
- to declare judgment on Israel's allies (Ez 17:21,24)
- to declare judgment on Israel's enemies' allies (Ez 30:8)
- to declare judgment on the false prophets (Ez 13:9–23; 14:8)
- to distinguish God from idols (Exodus in many cases; injunctions in Leviticus; Ju 6:10; Is 42:8, 45:5–7)
- to confirm God's sovereignty, including his role as Creator (Is 43:15, 44:24, 45:5–7,18, 51:15)
- to distinguish Israel from her enemies (Ex 8:22)
- to distinguish Israel as a covenant people (Is 42:6, 44:5; 16:62)
- to confirm the giving of the law (most uses in Leviticus, esp. 22:31; Ez 20:7–20)
- to demonstrate Israel's total dependence on God (De 29:6)
- to reveal God to the nations (Ez 36:23,36, 37:28, 38:23)
- to reveal God to Israel by his actions among the Gentiles (Ez 39:22)
This was not a quick list to assemble and explains some of the delay in writing this.
There are a few observations I'd make here. First, that God is revealed by his direct actions in the lives of those he discloses himself to. Second, nearly all of these actions are related to judgment (if they are not judgment themselves, they follow on the heels of his judgment). Third, they are concerned with eliminating any notion of alternatives to God: there is a sense in here of ignorant worship, as when the Israelites worship the golden calf and name it Jehovah (Ex 32:5). Their history is littered with examples of profaning the name of the LORD—that is, by misrepresenting the character of God.
This revelation of God is freighted almost always with judgment in the Old Testament. The promises of redemption and salvation are connected most often with the return of Israel to the land from which they were driven. Driven, it must be said, in judgment for their sins. The very notion of God's salvation, as I've noted before, is rooted in his judgment. He is powerful to save because he also is powerful to judge.
The character of God revealed in these statements is one of otherness, separation, and judgment. Only after he judges is it possible for him to restore, redeem, and deliver.
I don't want to conclude this without noting that this particular theme of the Old Testament (knowing that Jehovah is God—cf. 1Ki 18:21) is again a theme of the separateness of God. In his revelation to his people in the Law, he demonstrates to them that he is not reachable. The people persist in worshiping a god of their own devising, that is, in pursuing idols and calling them by the hallowed name of the Lord.
The themes of deliverance promise hope, though, in the face of this judgment, a restoration of the relationship between God and his people, and the promise of a changed character.
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