Yahweh Shammah

God’s Names reveal His nature and character. He know Him through His Names. Two primary names in Hebrew are ELOHIM = God (the Powerful Creator), the Name by which He is known generally. YHWH = Jehovah or Yahweh =Lord =“I AM”= “I AM that I AM, I will be who I will be” = the eternal unchanging One, ‘Always’, the One who is faithful to keep His covenant Word. This is His personal Covenant Name, by which He reveals Himself more intimately to His Covenant people who know Him.

In a Blood Covenant, the parties give themselves to each other and the Lord gives Himself to us fully. The 8 Jehovah compound Covenant Names (Jehovah Jireh, Nissi etc) reveal in more detail who He is eternally to us in the Covenant- the 8 areas of the Covenant. When He says ‘ I AM (always) YOUR HEALER (Jehovah Rophe), He is declaring His Covenant commitment to us to be our Healer. When He says: “I AM your RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Jehovah Tsidkenu), He is not just revealing Himself (.as in: “I am RIGHTEOUS”, but who He is to us (how He gives Himself to us) through our Covenant union: “I AM YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” He makes us Righteous (Healed) with His Righteousness (Health). We are PARTAKERS of the DIVINE NATURE! As we look at each Name in turn, we will to come to know Him and receive His covenant provision in each area of our life. If we know Him through these Names and confess who He is to us, we ‘ll know the fullness of the Covenant.

In the OT, each name was revealed in a context, through a story that reveals the content and meaning of each Name. It appears in a situation that forms a Type or Shadow of the fulfilment in Christ. We’ll see that through Christ God is all these things to us in the Blood of the New Covenant. John’s Gospel records that when Jesus came, He claimed to be the fulfilment of all these Names. He records the 8 ‘I AM’ claims of Jesus corresponding to the 8 Names. ‘Jesus’ = JAH-SHUA’ = the Lord is my Salvation.’ (Salvation is a big word that includes the manifestation of all the Names in/to us).

For example, when Jesus said: ‘I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD’, He was claiming: “I AM Jehovah ROHI!” “I am the Lord and the Covenant is fulfilled in Me through My Blood. If you believe in Me, then I will be that to you.” John also records how he confirmed each ‘I AM’ claim with a supernatural sign.

The first Name we will look at is actually the last in the O.T, as it represents the climax of God’s purpose for us. It is in the last verse of Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 48:35: “and the name of the city (Jerusalem) from that day shall be: ‘THE LORD IS THERE’ = JEHOVAH SHAMMAH.” ‘Shammah’ = ‘the overflowing Presence of God.’ The setting is the whole of Ezekiel  (especially ch 40-48) which is about the Temple. Starting with the Tabernacle and Solomon’s Temple, where God’s glory lived. Tabernacle = ‘dwelling place’ of God’s glory. ‘Shekinah’ = the glory of God dwelling with man. God was teaching man about TEMPLE, for His ultimate purpose is for man to be His Temple, so that God would dwell in man!:

“Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.... But I saw no Temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb (and us in Him) are its Temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.” (Rev 21:3,22,23).

God was showing He wanted to live in man, whose tripartite nature (spirit, soul, body) was mirrrored in the design of all Temples. When the Temple was dedicated by blood sacrifices, the glory of God came and dwelt in the holy of holies (Exodus 29:42-46,40:34-38, 1Kings 8, 2Chron 5) and when the priests praised God of covenant-love, the glory was released so they could not stand.

The Old Covenant Temples were only imperfect shadows of the New Temple of New Creation Man, since animal blood could not properly deal with man’s sin, which prevented the indweilling of God. Israel’s sin meant the glory departed resulting in the Temple being destroyed, seen by Ezekiel ch9-11. But God also revealed a coming New Covenant to Ezekiel in which God’s Spirit would indwell man (Ezekiel 36:26,27).

Moreover, in Ezekiel 40-48, God showed Ezekiel the greatest of all physical Temples (the future Millennial Temple) which will be the best picture of the ultimate Temple (Bride) because it is the place of His Throne, nothing unclean enters it and the glory of God will dwell there and never leave it (Ezekiel 43).

Ezekiel 47:1-9 tells us that Rivers of Living Water flow out of this Temple. This shows that a Temple of God does not just contain the Presence of God, but should be full to overflowing with His life. This glorious Millennial City of Jerusalem with the Temple at its heart is a type of God’s people indwelt by God and its name (description) is ‘JEHOVAH SHAMMAH’ This is all a picture of what God wants to be to us in the New Covenant, filled with His glory, with rivers of living water flowing out of our inner being, so that we too will be called Jehovah Shammah: ‘God Presence of is in him and flowing out of him.’ If we are filled with Him we’ll be called Shammah!

The Fulfilment came in Jesus Christ, the Prototype Temple of God, Jehovah Shammmah in the flesh! “The Word became flesh and dwelt (literally, tabernacled) among us, and we beheld His glory” (John 1:14).

This tells us He was born at the Feast of Tabernacles, which commemorates YHWH SHAMMAH. Jesus spoke of Himself as the true Temple (John 2:19-21, 4:20-24) . He was filled with the Spirit and glory of God (John 1:32; Luke 4:18; Matthew17:2). At His final Feast of Tabernacles Jesus claimed to be Jehovah Shammah, the One who would cause those who believe in Him to have the OVERFLOWING PRESENCE of God filling their lives:

“On the last day, that great Day of the Feast (when the water was poured out at the altar), Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:37-39).

Clearly, the blessing of Jehovah Shammah comes to us only through Christ’s death (blood) and resurrection. Also at this Feast (when the great Temple lights lit up the whole city), Jesus made His ‘I AM’ claim: “I AM THE LIGHT of the world (‘I am Jehovah Shammah, as the light shines out of the Temple, so God’s Light/Presence shines out of Me’). He who follows (believes in) Me shall not walk in darkness, but have (within them as a possession) the LIGHT of LIFE (the Lord will fill them with His overflowing Presence and glory - Jehovah Shammah will be fulfilled in them” (John 8:12).  

Through Christ and the New Covenant in His Blood, the Lord is now available to us as Jehovah Shammah (the Lord our Overflowing Presence). We are now Temples of the Holy-Spirit, whom Jesus has given to us to indwell us forever (John 14:16,17,26), so that others will say: The Lord is with them!

Ephesians 2:20-22: "in Christ the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a Holy Temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”

1Corinthians 3:16: "Do you not know that you are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?"

1Corinthians 6:19,20: “Or do you not know that your body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price (of Blood).”

2Corinthians 6:16: “For you are the Temple of the living God. As God has said:
“I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

Through the Blood, we have a covenant right to be filled with the Spirit! (Ephesians 5:18, Revelation 21:6, 22:17, John 4:10, 7:37-39). Jesus has poured out the Holy-Spirit abundantly upon all believers (Acts 1:4,5,8; 2:1-4,32-39). So you can now come to Jesus and receive (drink in) the Spirit. Be filled!