YAHWEH SHAMMAH – THE LORD IS THERE

God revealed Himself to His people through His names, symbolizing who He was in their human experiences. To Abraham He was Yahweh Jireh, the God who provides, to Gideon, Yahweh Shalom, the Lord is Peace and to David, Yahweh Rohi, the Lord his Shepherd, but to His redeemed people He would be Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is There. This is one of the most beautiful of His names because it expresses the greatest desire of His heart.

From Ezekiel 40 to 48, the prophet was taken in the spirit to see Jerusalem, which God is building for His people when He finally wraps everything up, destroys evil and restores His creation to its original purpose. Ezekiel watched as an angel measured the city and glimpsed its beauty and perfection.

God also told him the name of the city – Yahweh-Shammah.

The distance all around will be 18,000 cubits.
“And the name of the city from that time on will be:
THE LORD IS THERE. ” Ezekiel 48:35

Jerusalem was the capital city of Israel, symbolic of God’s people and His presence among them. The temple was in Jerusalem, the gathering place for the people to celebrate God’s feasts seven times a year, God’s goodness in providing for them, to anticipate the coming of their Messiah and to worship God with their sacrifices and offerings.

Jerusalem had taken a pounding from their enemies because of their idolatry and their social injustice and oppression of the poor. Ezekiel had seen God’s glory leave the temple, as though God were saying that He was finished with them (Ezekiel 8-10). In Isaiah 54:11-17 God comforts His people and reassures them that, after the devastation of war and exile, He would rebuild the city with jewels and precious stones instead of stones and bricks and that the city would be repopulated with restored families.

In Revelation 21, the city reappears, this time in all its splendor, its walls built of precious stones and its gates of pearls and shining with God’s glory. While John gazes on the beauty of the city he hears a voice saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them.” It’s almost as though God heaves a big sigh of relief because He has finally reached the goal He set out to achieve in Genesis 1:27, that He and mankind would live together in a perfect love-relationship forever.

John’s tour-guide angel also measured the city. Like Ezekiel’s city, the new Jerusalem is a perfect square. John explains that this city is actually the Lamb’s bride; strange symbolism but it tells us that God’s biggest dream will be fulfilled when Jesus finally marries us and we become one with Him forever. He will live in His people and we in Him in a perfect eternal union.

But God is also Yahweh Shammah now, the God who is there when we are lonely, when we are grieving, when we feel hopeless, when we need forgiveness, when we feel insecure or anxious or afraid. He is as close to us as the air we breathe. Jesus came to earth as Emmanuel, God with us and He promised to be with us always, even to the end of this age after which we will be with Him forever..