Pointing to Jesus

Ezekiel 48:35b – And the name of the city from that time on shall be, The Lord Is There.”

Jehovah Shammah is another one of God’s names, and it means, The Lord Is There. The city he is referring to in Ezekiel 48:35 is Jerusalem. At the time this verse was written, Ezekiel was a prophet to the Jews who were exiled in Babylon. It was a prophetic vision God gave Ezekiel at a time when Jerusalem was in ruins and the Jews felt forsaken by God. The prophecy was intended to give the Jews hope that although they were in captivity, and the reason why they were in captivity was because they disobeyed God, He had not forgotten about them.  God let the Jews know,  through Ezekiel, that Jerusalem would be rebuilt and God would dwell there.

In the beginning of the book of Ezekiel, God had Ezekiel prophecy to the exiles that because they had forgotten God and done detestable things, and had defiled his Holy name, God’s presence had left the temple, the city and the people. Ezekiel 48:35 is the last chapter and last verse of Ezekiel, and it talks about God’s presence coming back. God wanted them to come back to Him as well and live holy lives in obedience to Him.

This verse in Ezekiel is connected with Revelation 21:3, which is talking about the new heaven and new earth- the new Jerusalem where God dwells among his people. Revelation 21:3- And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

God’s presence is always with us. Another one of God’s names is Emmanuel- God with us. God is also omnipresent, which means He is always present. When we have given our lives to Him and  live in obedience to Him and His Word, He dwells in us. Exodus 26:1-13 talks about the blessings of obedience. Verse 11 says, “I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you.”

We look foward to heaven and the new Jerusalem where God will dwell among us and everything will be perfect, but even though we live in an imperfect world right now, we can still have God’s presence dwell in us by the Holy Spirit. God requires obedience from us. He knew we could not even desire to be obedient on our own,  so He left us the Holy Spirit, who, among many other things, helps us be obedient to God. Not perfect, but as much as we can, follow His commands and do what He says in His Word- the Bible.

To know that God is Jehovah Shammah should give us assurance that God is always present with us and a hope that when we die, if we have accepted Him into our hearts and lives, He will dwell among us in the new Jerusalem- the new heaven and new earth as well and we will dwell with Him forever.

Many blessings,

Desiree