See Also Related Articles:
|
|
|
STUDY ARTICLE 23
“Let Your Name Be Sanctified”
“O Jehovah, your name endures forever.”—PS. 135:13.
SONG 10 Praise Jehovah Our God!
PREVIEW*
1-2. What subjects fascinate Jehovah’s Witnesses?
The issues can be various, but among the most important are the sovereignty of God and the sanctification of his Name, because these two issues deserve our respect and attention.
Talking about these issues should be paramount for every Christian because of the importance for us to cleanse Jehovah\’s name of all the shame that Satan has cast against him and to demonstrate by our conduct that Jehovah\’s way of ruling is the best.
3. What does the name Jehovah include?
3 Jehovah\’s name encompasses everything that has to do with our God, including also the way in which he rules and exercises his authority as sovereign in the universe.
ANSWERS BASED ON THE BOX
The box talks about how the question of the sanctification of Jehovah\’s name can be separated into two questions; Is Jehovah really the best Sovereign or Ruler we can have? And will there be intelligent beings who are upright, that is, who loyally defend the holy name of God and serve him out of love? Answering these questions will strengthen our conviction to help restore and defend the sanctification of Jehovah\’s name.
We all have a vitally important issue before us: the sanctification of Jehovah\’s name (Ezek. 36:23; Matt. 6: 9). Is he who bears the name Jehovah really holy, good, just, and loving in all he does? This issue is multi-faceted. Since Satan led a rebellion against God\’s authority, this question must be answered: Is Jehovah really the best Sovereign or Ruler we can have? And since Adam, Eve, many of their descendants and even some angels joined the rebellion, this other question must be answered: Will there be intelligent beings who are of integrity, that is, who faithfully defend the holy name of God and serve him out of love? This last facet took on special relevance in the time of Job (Job 2: 3, 4; 27: 5).—See the box “Facets of a Great Issue.
4. How does Psalm 135:13 describe God’s name, and what questions will we answer in this article?
4 According to the text, reading the name of God lasts forever, that is, it is unique and special. Human beings are of interest and importance to our name and the reputation it has in others. If this is so between simple human beings, it is certainly more true in relation to the Creator of the universe. Just as Jehovah at the time decided to make his name known to human beings, now he wants us to know it deeply and to know how we can contribute to its sanctification.
4. b) What questions will we answer in this article?
In this article we will analyze, what makes it so important? What was the first attack that was launched against this name? What does God do to sanctify it? And how can we help defend it?
THE IMPORTANCE OF A NAME
5. What might we wonder about when considering the sanctifying of God’s name?
5 Because the word sanctify means to make something holy, clean or pure, we can ask ourselves the question: Is Jehovah\’s name not holy, clean and pure? and Why is it necessary to sanctify it?
Something that will help us understand why the name of Jehovah if it is holy needs to be sanctified is the following example. Let\’s think of an edible product, this is a good product, a quality product. However, the competition begins to get false news arguing that this product is harmful to health. Although the product is not harmful to health, what you need to do is go out and defend the quality of this product in front of all the people who heard and believed the lies. In the same way the name of God although it is holy, needs to be sanctified and defended in front of all the people who have heard or believed the lies that Satan the devil has spread. This will be explained in more detail later in the article.
6. What makes a name valuable?
6 A name is more than just a bunch of letters or a mixture of sounds. Include what others think about the person with that name, that is, their reputation.
A good name, or a good reputation, is so valuable that in some countries it is legally protected against slander. This reminds us of an old saying: “A name is to be chosen rather than abundant riches; favor is better than silver and gold ”.
There is no doubt that Jehovah God put in man the desire to name things. In the creation story, one of the first things Adam is reported to have done was to name the animals.
In the times of the Israelites, names were not just labels, names had meaning. For example, Isaac\’s name meant “Laughter,” which was reminiscent of the laughter that occurred between his elderly parents when they originally heard that they were to have a child. Esau\’s name meant \”Hairy,\” and it described a physical characteristic.
Even today we follow the custom of giving names to people and it would be difficult to imagine how we could live without names.
We can conclude that names are important to God, and he put in man the desire to identify people and things by names. But above any other name, the one that should matter most to us is that of our Great God Jehovah
7. How have people attacked God’s name?
7 Since the beginning of creation in the Garden of Eden, humans and spirit beings have attempted to taint Jehovah\’s name by attacking his reputation. People attack God\’s name by telling lies about him, thus attacking his reputation and therefore also staining his Name
HOW THE NAME WAS FIRST SLANDERED
8. What did Adam and Eve know, and what questions arise?
8 By looking around and seeing the beautiful garden in which they lived and the perfect match that Jehovah had given them, Adam and Eve could come to know for themselves the beautiful qualities of Jehovah, that is, they could come to know everything that was encompassed the name of Jehovah.
Adam and Eve knew the name of Jehovah and also other truths that are very important about him, such as that he was the creator and that he gave them life, as well as a beautiful paradise in which to live and a perfect match.
Without a doubt Adam and Eve were able to know the personality of Jehovah God first hand. From what they saw in their own remarkably adaptable bodies, for each new animal, each different plant, flower, and tree, and each field and forest that man saw, they had every reason to admire Jehovah\’s wisdom and come to know everything. what his name implied. (Gen. 1:26-28; 2:18)
8. b) What questions arise?
Two questions arise: first, would they continue to meditate on all that Jehovah had done for them, second, would they continue to strengthen the love and gratitude they felt for him?
9. According to Genesis 2:16, 17 and 3:1-5, what did Jehovah tell the first couple, and how did Satan twist the truth?
9 Read Genesis 2:16, 17 and 3:1-5.
According to the texts read, Jehovah told Adam and Eve that they could eat from all the trees in the garden except for the tree of knowledge of good and bad, because the day they ate it they were going to die, however satan distorted the truth by ask him a question that questioned Jehovah\’s generosity.
When Satan approached Eve through the serpent\’s words, he was challenging Jehovah, implying that Jehovah was withholding something from the woman without any rights. With this he made Eve believe that she would be free and independent of God. Thus this evil celestial creature rose above God in the eyes of Eve and became her god. With his actions he placed man and woman under his leadership and control.
With this command that God gave Adam, he was not taking away their freedom to do whatever they wanted, that is, he was not taking away their free will. Having the right to decide what one wants to do is not the same as having the right to decide what is right and what is wrong. Adam and Eve were free to decide whether or not to obey God. However, only Jehovah has the right to decide what is right and what is wrong. This is what \”the tree of the knowledge of good and bad\” that was in the garden of Eden symbolized.
Satan threw a poisoned question full of lies to Eve: \”Did God really tell you that you can\’t eat from all the trees in the garden?\” With this he implied that God was not generous. And so he managed to sow doubts in Eve because she wondered if God was denying her something good. (Gen. 2:9)
10. How did Satan directly slander God’s name, and with what effect?
10 Satan directly launched a slander against the name of God, because with what he said he implied that Jehovah was a liar as a result satan became the devil and Eve disobeyed God by eating the fruit that he had forbidden, and then also giving it to Adam.
From before this event in the garden of Eden, Satan\’s heart was completely estranged from its Creator, since his words constituted a clear contradiction of what God had said and a slander against Him. He did not accuse God of having been unconsciously wrong, but to deliberately misrepresent things at your convenience. With the words: \”By no means will they die\”, he managed to make Eve forget the clear rules of God which she knew very well and instead believe in the lies of the devil. (1 Tim. 2:14)
Satan\’s lies led Eve to disobey God and eat the fruit that He had forbidden her. Then she gave Adam the fruit, so Satan made the first human beings disobedient to their creator.
satan got Eve to focus her attention on the tree and the fruit, and not on her relationship with her heavenly Father, who had given her everything she had. Sadly, Eve ate the fruit, thus demonstrating that Jehovah was not the most important being in her life.—Gen. 3:6.
11. What could our first parents have done, but what did they fail to do?
11 Adam and Eve could have shown love, loyalty and obedience in defending Jehovah\’s name, no doubt Jehovah would have rejoiced.
They must have defended Jehovah\’s name. They could have said something like the following: “How dare you speak ill of him? Leave me alone!\”. With these words, Adam and Eve would have shown loyal love for their creator, and Jehovah would have been delighted to hear them defend her against Satan.
He must have reacted with complete disgust and righteous indignation at questioning God\’s law. Eve should never have looked at the tree as something desirable, instead she should have seen the opportunity she had in front of her to show that even though we are human beings we can rejoice our Creator, because because of the love we have for him we can resist his trials and temptations.
Taking an example, how would we feel if a loved one we trust, a stranger accused of having lied to us? It would certainly annoy us so much that we would respond in an authoritative way. Eva\’s reaction should have been similar but it wasn\’t. After all, who was the serpent to question the justice of God and the word of her husband? She was nobody, Jehovah had given them everything, instead this snake was a simple stranger and her word had no value. As a lesson we are left with that we must always pay attention to who or what we are listening to and whether this is positive or negative for our relationship with Jehovah.
As if that were not enough, Eva, apart from paying attention to a complete stranger who spoke negative things about her Creator, also ignored the principle of headship. Eve should have consulted with Adam before making any decisions. (Prov. 27:11).
12. How did Satan sow doubts in the mind of Eve, and what did Adam and Eve fail to do?
12 By attacking Jehovah\’s reputation, satan wanted to make Eve doubt that Jehovah was a good Father. A good father always wants the best for his children so when satan told Eve that her Father was lying to her at his convenience, Eve began to trust more in the words of a serpent and allowed sin to be born in her heart and in your mind.
Adam and Eve did not defend Jehovah\’s name, rather Eve made herself the first human idolater by lusting after the forbidden fruit, and this wrong desire led her to disobey God\’s command. Adam also became guilty of idolatry by allowing a selfish desire to rival his love for Jehovah and subsequently disobeying the Creator.
We must all be very alert to the tactics that satan uses to make us doubt, among these are discouragement, the occult, adultery, fornication, selfishness and many more. Unlike Eva, we must remain alert and vigilant of the possible places where we can be more vulnerable, be it work, school or non-believing family members.
As a conclusion to this subtopic we can highlight an important lesson. Any pretense of independence from Jehovah God is sheer folly; But those who have true wisdom put their faith in Jehovah and his Word, and do not trust their own knowledge. We must continue to strive to defend from others, and from our own inclination to sin, the great name of our God Jehovah.
JEHOVAH SANCTIFIES HIS NAME
13. How does Ezekiel 36:23 highlight the core message of the Bible?
13 It highlights the main message by mentioning that Jehovah\’s intention is to sanctify his name because of being desecrated, in fact, the main message of the Bible can be summarized this way, through the Kingdom in the hands of his son Jehovah sanctifies his name and restore peace and justice to the land. (Gen. 3:15)
The central theme of the Bible revolves around the Kingdom of God and how this government will cleanse the name of the Almighty. In fact, the book of Ezekiel underlines this idea by mentioning 4 times the expression: \”The nations will have to know that I am Jehovah.\” Mankind will be left with no alternative: they will simply “have to know” that he is Jehovah. In other words, the actions that God is going to take will force all nations to recognize that he is who he claims to be: Jehovah, the Sovereign Lord whose name represents all that is holy, pure, and clean.—Read Ezekiel 36:23.
14. How has Jehovah’s response to the rebellion in Eden sanctified his name?
14 Jehovah could have ended the rebellion of the garden at that moment, because as we know he is an almighty God, however he did not do it and that is how he has sanctified his name by handling the situation with wisdom, patience and justice and above all by giving clear evidence of his immense love.
Jehovah knew and knows that he has to respond to Satan\’s rebellion, but he has not been carried away by emotions. You have reacted in a calculated and very appropriate way. He has been \”slow to anger\” and has handled Satan\’s rebellion fairly. Why? Because he does not want anyone to be destroyed, but \”everyone to achieve repentance.\” A sign of the great love that Jehovah has for humanity as he continues to give time to all those who have fallen victim to the lies of Satan (Ps. 78:40).
Jehovah\’s example teaches us that we should not make decisions in a hurry, but rather measure words and think carefully before doing or saying something. When we have to decide on an important matter, let us take the time to think and ask Jehovah for wisdom to do or say the right thing. If we act while upset, emotions are likely to control us. That is why many of us regret having said or done something without thinking. (1 John 4:8)
Satan lied to Eve about Jehovah, and over the centuries the Devil has continued to slander God (See paragraphs 9-10, 15)*
15. How is Satan slandering God’s name today, and with what effect?
15 Satan continues to slander the name of Jehovah by trying to make people doubt the power of justice, wisdom and love of God and as a result we have, that there are people who do not believe in Jehovah and if they do believe that his standards are unfair and restrictive, even the idea is promoted that Jehovah is a cruel God who burns people in hell.
Satan, the master of deception, \”has blinded the minds of unbelievers.\” For thousands of years he has succeeded in shaping the minds of most people to adopt the attitudes and opinions that he promotes. To the point where \”the whole world is under his power\” because those who believe his calumnies reject Jehovah\’s just authority.
Even satan not only tries to confuse people who do not yet know Jehovah, he also tries to confuse us who already have knowledge of him. Satan tries to sow in us ideas such as that God is so demanding that nothing that his servants do can satisfy him or that God does not care if we are good people. Let\’s completely reject those ideas and stay away from those who promote them.
We could practically say that the devil has been very successful in slandering the name of Jehovah since, as 1 John 5:19 says, \”The whole world is under the power of the evil one.\” And it is that in reality there are only two sides, to be with Jehovah or to be against him and only about 9 million people have sided with Jehovah and are striving to worship Jehovah and defend his name from the slanders of your enemy.
ILLUSTRATION
A snake curled up in a tree. Series of images. Eve offers Adam the forbidden fruit. A religious leader gives a sermon with a cross in one hand and a Bible in the other. Behind him are silhouettes of people burning in the middle of a fire. A teacher points to a diagram on human evolution with a skull in his hand. Satan lied to Eve about Jehovah, and throughout history he has continued to slander God.
YOUR ROLE IN THE GREAT ISSUE
16. What can you do that Adam and Eve failed to do?
16 Unlike Adam and Eve, we can defend the holiness of Jehovah, his justice and his love, in addition we also show that we want him to be our ruler and we make known to other people that his government is the only really just one and that it will bring peace and happiness to all his creation.
Today our God, Jehovah, is blasphemed in various ways. It is claimed that he does not exist, that he is part of a Trinity, that he haunts people forever in hell, that his attempts to convert the world are weak, that he does not care about mankind, etc. We demonstrate our loyalty to Jehovah when we come to his defense and prove that he does exist; that he is a wise, just, omnipotent and loving God; who has set a time for all matters, and who will eventually put an end to all evil and transform the earth into a paradise. (Ecclesiastes 3: 1) A practical way in which we can make this defense of Jehovah\’s name is through our example, if our conduct is good we will be demonstrating the positive effects that knowing Jehovah\’s name has.—Ps. 37:9, 37; 146:5, 6, 10.
17. How did Jesus make his Father’s name known?
17 Jesus could limit himself to making his father\’s name known only by using it, however he also did it by teaching how Jehovah really is, he helped people to know that Jehovah is reasonable, loving and compassionate patient, in addition he perfectly limited the qualities of his father in his daily life.
In John 17:26 when Jesus Christ expresses “I have made your name known to them” he did not refer only to the pronunciation of the divine name. A famous biblical commentator said the following: “The word name [in John 17] includes the attributes, or character of God. Jesus had made known his character, his law, his will, his plan of mercy. Or in other words, God had revealed to them. \” Thanks to this that Jesus Christ did here on earth, he was able to confidently say \”He who has seen me has seen the Father also\” (John 14: 9).—John 14:9.
18. How can we overturn lies and slander about Jehovah?
18 We do it by imitating Jesus as Jesus did, we must share what we know about Jehovah, thus releasing erroneous ideas that are had about him, and showing how loving and kind he is, it is also necessary to imitate Jehovah, we are imperfect But above all, we can strive to maintain integrity.
One way we can defend the sovereignty and name of our God Jehovah is through preaching. Through this we can eliminate false beliefs that satan has spread from Jehovah and spread the truths of our God Jehovah. When we strive to be good preachers of his message, we rejoice his heart and thwart the Devil\’s plans. (Eph. 5:1, 2)
Just as creation says a lot about Jehovah\’s name without uttering a word, our conduct can also help us defend Jehovah\’s sovereignty and name. If our daily conduct glorifies the God we worship, then we will help to overthrow the lies that satan has spread on Him and we will be like a lamp that from on high directs people to the safe haven offered by Jehovah.
The note refers to a clarification of beliefs. In the years 1965 and 1995 the Awake and Watchtower magazines had made it clear that it was wrong to ask in prayer for the vindication of Jehovah\’s name. However, a deeper study made the faithful and prudent slave see that this belief must change.—Job 27:5.
19. How does Isaiah 63:7 help us to see what the main purpose of our teaching should be?
19 According to this text the main objective is to sanctify the name of Jehovah, by talking about the attractive qualities of him and all the personality behind his name, this will lead people to love and be loyal to our father Jehovah.
As Isaiah 63: 7 says, we want to help good-hearted people to love and be loyal to our Father, and we will only achieve this by teaching them the attractive qualities and personality of our God Jehovah.
Many times when a politician is in the campaign, he not only talks about what he is going to do or the way he will govern or the laws that he will apply, but also talks about the person he is, his qualities and his actions past, because this shows a more complete picture of him, although many things they say are pure lies. However, we must do something similar in our Bible courses, we must talk to people not only about God\’s laws but also about his attractive qualities, in this way it will be more likely that people will come to love Jehovah and want to be loyal to him.
ILLUSTRATION
In the image we can see how a brother is spending time during his Bible study to teach the student the personality of Jehovah. We can see in the brother\’s face the joy that gives him the power to tell his student of such beautiful qualities. This is important as it will help the student to get a more vivid picture of Jehovah and see him as a real Being to love. (Read Isaiah 63:7.)
20. What will we consider in the following article?
20 In the next Article we will answer, How can we ensure that our conduct and our teaching honor God\’s name and help people to draw closer to him.
-
How do we know that the sanctification of Jehovah’s name is vitally important?
-
Because Jehovah\’s name encompasses many things, including his reputation and his way of ruling. And from the beginning of humanity to the present day the name of Jehovah or his reputation has been attacked, that is why talking about issues related to the sanctification of his name is as important to us as his servants.Because the name of Jehovah encompasses everything that has to do with our God including his way of ruling, therefore, if we say that the most important thing is to clear the name of God, we are also saying that we must show that the way of ruling of Jehovah is the best.We all know that Jehovah\’s name is unique and special, but Satan has stained God\’s personal name and reputation, he has launched lies and slanders against Jehovah and many people have believed them and rejected Jehovah\’s just authority, that is why it is important to sanctification of his name.
-
-
Why does something as holy as God’s name need to be sanctified?
-
Because of the lies that satan and his followers have spread about Jehovah\’s name. Due to these lies, many people have come to have a distorted idea about Jehovah, therefore it is necessary to sanctify Jehovah\’s name, so that as many people come to know the beautiful qualities of our God.Because satan began his attack on Jehovah\’s name, trying to get Eve to doubt that he was a good father, then he accused Jehovah of being a liar, which caused her and Adam to rebel against their father, and throughout human history He has continued to taint Jehovah\’s name by promoting his lies and ideas, but Jehovah our Holy God will not indefinitely tolerate this reproach and at Armageddon he will completely cleanse his Name before all creation.
-
What role can you play in sanctifying Jehovah’s name?
Jehovah has allowed us humans to help sanctify his name, that is why each of us has the opportunity to defend the truth, defend that Jehovah is holy, just, good and loving, and thus demonstrate that only He can rule us, because being the Creator only he can bring us true peace, happiness and justice.
Each of us has the opportunity to defend the Holy name of Jehovah, we do it by teaching people about the beautiful quality that Jehovah possesses and clarifying the misconceptions they have about him, also our actions and our integrity help to Sanctify your name.
SONG 2 Jehovah Is Your Name
What important issue is facing all intelligent creation? What makes that issue so vital, and what role do we play in settling it? Understanding the answers to those and related questions will help us to strengthen our relationship with Jehovah.
On occasion our publications have taught that Jehovah’s name does not need to be vindicated because no one has called into question his right to bear that name. However, a clarified understanding was presented at the 2017 annual meeting. The chairman stated: “Simply put, it’s not wrong to say that we pray for the vindication of Jehovah’s name because his reputation certainly needs to be exonerated.”—See the January 2018 program on jw.org®. Look under LIBRARY > JW BROADCASTING®.
PICTURE DESCRIPTION: The Devil slandered God, telling Eve that God is a liar. Over the centuries, Satan has promoted false ideas, such as the teaching that God is cruel and that He did not create humans.
PICTURE DESCRIPTION: As he conducts a Bible study, a brother emphasizes God’s personality.
MeekSpaceNG 