The third commandment of God shows how is the name of God. The name of God is great, sacred, and above all name. The name of God is Holy.
The Third Commandment of God-The Name of God Is Holy
” You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him innocent who taketh his name in vain. ” (Exodus 20: 7).
This command not only condemns false oaths and vulgar oaths, but also the use of the name of God made lightly and without taking into account the frightening significance attached to it. It is dishonoring the Highest to repeat his name unthinkingly in ordinary conversation at all times or to bring it as a witness for trivial matters. ” His name is holy and dreadful.” Everyone should make the majesty, purity, and holiness of God an object of meditation, to the point that, penetrated by the sentiment of his noble character, his holy name is never pronounced that with deep reverence. […]
We Are Called to Glorify and Sanctify the Name of God
Also, when we go through the waters of baptism (immersion), in faith to the Son of God, we become ” child of God.” We now belong to the heavenly family. We bear in Jesus Christ the name of God. As a member of God’s family, we commit ourselves to defend His Name and watch over His Image. We make the commitment through baptism to lead a new life to glorify the name of our Heavenly Father.
In this sense, to take the name of God in vain consists in calling us sons and daughters of God and yet continue to lead our old life. It means carrying that sacred name without experiencing real change. As a result, this is tantamount to taking the name of a family without actually belonging to that family.
We Have to Live by Our Commitment to the Word of God
The third commandment of God shows how is the name of God. The name of God is great, sacred, and above all name. What will you say then of the name of God? When we do not live by our commitment to the word of God, we give a bad image of God. We drag his name in the mud. The Bible is addressed to people who do this by declaring that ” the name of God is an object of blasphemy among the Gentiles because of you ” (Romans 2:24).
We, therefore, give a bad image of God when we trivially use his holy name or when we use it in a vulgar or obscene way. In doing this, we tell the world that the name of God is not sacred and that it does not matter to us.
It would be even worse to use his terrible and holy name to tell falsities or not to keep a promise we made on his behalf.
Woe to those who use the name of God to enrich themselves illicitly – or to conceal by their appearance their evil lives and the evil works that they commit in secret – or to deceive the vigilance of others – or even to lead others in error, to destruction. […]. Because by doing so, they are breaking (disobeying) the third commandment of God.
” Do not use my name anyhow. I, the Lord, your God, convict anyone who uses my name in any way. ” Exodus 20: 7 (Word of Life Version).
Respect in the Use of God’s Name
Sin has so tarnished the image of God in us and our conception of God in our minds to such an extent that men lose sight of the holiness, grandeur, power, and majesty of the name of God’s name. May the whole world know: ” His name is holy and fearful.” Psalms 111: 9.
The name of God must also be respected; you must never pronounce it lightly. Even in prayer, one must be able to use one’s name while also avoiding not declaring it unnecessarily …
Let’s take as an example, the form and the substance of an administrative or professional letter … How the name of the recipient is mentioned. In this sense, is not prayer a letter addressed to God, who is the supreme and the sovereign? Some Christians use neglected and disrespectful expressions in their prayers that offend the Lord’s Spirit of Love and cause these prayers to be rejected by heaven.
His Name Is Holy and Dreadful
I repeat yet: ” His name is holy and dreadful.” The names and qualifiers of God should never be spoken lightly. Through prayer, we enter the audience hall of the, and it is filled with a holy fear that we must present ourselves before him. The angels veil their face in his presence; the cherubim and seraphim, holy and resplendent, approach his throne in an attitude of profound respect. Therefore, who are sinners, should we not approach our Lord and Creator with religious reverence and worship?
Those who have made a covenant with God have made the commitment to speak of Him in the most respectful and reverential way. Oaths and all words of promises dishonor God. The LORD sees, the LORD hears, and he will not take the guilty one for innocent. He does not want us to make fun of him. Those who utter the name of the Lord in vain will find that it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the Almighty.
It is a dishonor to God to repeat his name thoughtlessly in ordinary conversation at all times or to take it as a witness for trivial matters.
The Third Commandment of God Teaches Us
The third commandment of God teaches us, If we respect God, we will not use his name as a joke. We must not swear, especially in the name of God.
How many believers have an imperfect notion of the holiness of God! As they take the name of the Lord in vain, without realizing that it is from God, from the great and terrible God they speak! One commandment among the 10 (Ten) does not defend us this: ” Do not use my name anyhow. I, the Lord your God, convict anyone who uses my name in any way. ” (Exodus 20: 7).
Holy, tremendous, and fearful is our God, so is his name! Let us remember that ” In the assembly of angels, all tremble with fear before God, He is more terrible than all those around him.” (Psalms 89: 8).
Woe to those who take the name of God to deceive, steal, defraud! Woe to him who dirties the name of God or because of which the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles!
When we say that we are children of God, we must also have respect for his name, honor and sanctify his name by our conduct, as an ambassador of Christ!
I urge you to read the following article always related to the Ten Commandments, just by clicking on this link: God’s fourth commandment – The Sabbath of the Lord.