Call on the Name of The LORD :: 1 Kings 17:17-24

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Then the woman said to Elijah, ‘Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the Word of YHWH in your mouth is truth’ (v 24).

[Prayer]

Lord God, Heavenly Father, bless Your Word wherever it is proclaimed. Make it a word of power and peace to convert those not yet your own and to confirm those who have come to saving faith. May Your Word pass from ear to heart, and heart to lip, and lip to life that, it may achieve the purpose for which you give it, through Jesus Christ, your son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

[Catechism]

Last week we focused on the first commandment, the one of the heart: You shall have no other gods before [above or in addition to YHWH]. This week we turn to the second commandment, which our Large Catechism says leads us forward and directs us to the mouth and tongue of God: You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God.

Please turn now to page 323 in your service book, and let’s remember what this means. 

As the head of the household should teach them in a simple way to his household: What does the Second Commandment mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks. 

[Introduction]

Elijah has just raised the widow of Zarephath’s young son from the dead through dedicated prayer. While stretching himself out over the boy three times, he was led forward to call on the name of God ... and not just any God ... but YHWH himself. With his plea, he said, YHWH, my God, please return this boy’s very life to him (v 21). And it came to be.

3.

The Israelites were quite legalistic in the way they applied the Second Commandment. They were so concerned about the guilt they would bring upon themselves by taking God’s name in vain that they came up with what they thought was a simple solution to keep them from breaking the commandment ... They taught themselves never to speak the name of God. ... Ever. Even when they saw the name YHWH in scripture, they substituted his name with the title Lord. 

The name of the Lord in the Hebrew Old Testament is Yahweh (יְהֹוָה). It is not Jehovah. The word Jehovah originated with medieval Christians who combined the Hebrew consonants for God’s name (יהוה) with the vowel sounds of the Hebrew word for “My Lord” (אֲדֹנָי). Beginning in the 14th century, almost all English Bibles translations replaced God’s name ... YHWH (יְהֹוָה) ... with the word LORD. Whenever you see the word Lord or God spelled out in uppercase letters, you should know that is where the name of God ... YHWH (יְהֹוָה) ... appears. 

It’s hard to misuse the name of God while actually reading scripture. But we most certainly can and do misuse the name of God apart from that devotional exercise. 

We can do that by using God or Jesus in reaction to anger, shock, or humor. We can do that by despising something God made holy ... by using God’s name jokingly. We can do that by trying to manipulate people by claiming that God told you to do something or say something ... by swearing to God to back up a lie ... by not keeping a promise made in his name ... by calling yourself a Christian but deliberately disobeying his commands ... or even, by ignoring his call. You can also do that by despising your neighbor ... by teaching false doctrine ... and by covering up a sinful life.

And we should remind ourselves, we are all Christians. We all share the name of God. We have been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. We have all been called into fellowship with one another in his name. When we refuse fellowship with one another, we substitute our own rigid preferences for the true character of God. When we live lives other than by what God’s Word teaches, we profane the name of God among us (SC III 4).

Instead as the preacher of Hebrews proclaims, Let us consider how to encourage one another in love and good works, not abandoning our own meeting together (Hb 10:24-25). Don’t let a day pass without intentionally thanking God and praising his name. Pray daily for God to open your eyes to the needs of others. Pray that he would soften your heart for your brothers and sisters. Pray for courage to actively represent him. And when asked, don’t simply say you will pray, but stop whatever you are doing, and pray then and there. 

You can see then how Luther’s explanation is quite right when he teaches us that we must not “curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie, or deceive by God’s name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.” As the prophets, psalmists, epistles, and our Lord himself says, everyone who calls on the name of YHWH will be saved (Joel 2:32). The Lord is near to all who call on him ... in truth (Ps 145:18). Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus (Col 3:17). ... because ... If you ask anything in his name, he will do it (Jn 14:14). “Indeed,” Luther concludes, “many terrible and shocking disasters would fall upon us if God did not preserve us by our calling upon his name” (LC I 2:72). 

2.

Perhaps that is why the poor widow’s son died, and why God sent Elijah to the widow to feed her his bread of life and to raise her son from the dead. Through his sojourn to Zarephath, Elijah provides us with the ultimate example of a true prophet keeping the Second Commandment. He does not use God’s name for personal gain. He does not use it as a magical incantation. The word of YHWH in his mouth is truth ... that is, it’s free of deceit and in accord with God’s will. 

We began hearing this last week when Elijah met the widow for the first time. As you should remember, this all happened in the midst of a great drought that began shortly after the evil King Ahab took the throne in the Northern Kingdom. First, Elijah was sent to a river east of the Jordan, where he was fed by ravens (17:3). Then the word of YHWH told him to go to Zarephath (17:9). There, he met this widow as she was gathering sticks to make her last supper. But with the Word of the Lord, the bowl of flour [was] spent, and the jar of oil [was not] lacking (v14). 

That’s where today’s reading begins. Now it happened after these things that the widow’s son became severely sick and died, and the widow began accusing Elijah for this because he reminded her of her iniquity, her immoral life (v 17-18). 

So Elijah turned to the only source of life we know ... the maker of heaven and earth. After taking the boy to the upper room where he slept, Elijah stretched himself out over him three times ... pleading in prayer ... calling on the name of the LORD. And God heard his plea and gave the boy new life. Elijah then took the boy and brought him down from the upper room of the house, and gave him to his mother, and Elijah said, ‘See, your son lives.’ Then the woman said to Elijah, ‘Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of YHWH in your mouth is truth’ (v 19-24).

1.

Calling on God’s name ... which again is YHWH ... is nothing more than an expression of faith. As you all know so well ... Faith comes from hearing and hearing through the Gospel that is preached (Rm 10:17). Elijah preached that Gospel, and the woman expressed her faith. 

The greatest outward worship is the preaching in the name of the Lord who saves. That would be Jesus, whose name means YHWH saves. The greatest inward worship is believing in the name of Jesus, who is God with us. The way we worship simply reflects who and what we have faith in. We have faith in the name of the LORD.

So listen to the preaching of the cross and empty tomb. Listen for the Gospel ... of how Jesus, the only son of his mother, took our great sickness ... that is, our iniquity ... away from us ... of how Jesus carried that sin ... your sickness ... to the cross, where he bore our great suffering and where he died. And because he himself was in fact sinless, God raised him from the dead on the Third Day, and He promises to raise all of us who believe that this word of YHWH is truth (1 Jn 5:13). 

You who are baptized have been given a new name, which is Christian, and a new lease on life in Christ to proclaim his name every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. And God blesses you for it. Now we are always enabled to join the Psalmist, saying, I will extol you, O LORD ... or we could say, YHWH ... for you have lifted me up, and have not let my foes rejoice over me. O LORD, my God, I cried out to you and you healed me. O LORD, you have brought up my soul from the grave. You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit (Ps 30:1-3 NKJV). 

[Conclusion]

Though you have never seen your Savior stretch himself over a dead child and call out to the Father, you have something the widow didn’t yet have ... the empty tomb. You have seen, in the pages of Scripture, True God and True Man go to the grave and rise on the third day. And you have heard the word of the LORD in this pulpit, you have been washed in the waters of Holy Baptism, and you can receive in your mouth the Lord’s communion ... knowing all of it is truth.

That word did not stop with Elijah, and it should not stop with you from calling on the name of the LORD. It is meant to move from ear to heart, from heart to lip, from lip to life so that you will call upon his name. saying Hallelujah! He is risen! ... In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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