Know the LORD is LORD

Throughout the Bible and specifically in the prophetic books including the Psalms, there is a statement from the LORD that is repeated several times: “Then you will know that I am the LORD” (Ezekiel 25:7), or “They will know that I am the LORD…” (Ezekiel 25:17). The book of Ezekiel certainly did not escape this fact. As God spoke to the prophet Ezekiel, He constantly reminded Ezekiel that the nations that He is bringing judgement upon will know that He is the LORD. Whenever God spoke in this manner, it was often in correlation to a punishment He was about to enact on a rebellious nation. This statement was even addressed to the people of Israel when God spoke of brining calamity upon them because of their iniquities, sins and disobedience towards Him. Having heard it again and again, I wondered what the statement meant and what the LORD meant by that. After all, after punishing the culprit nations, it never seemed the people finally “knew” the LORD was LORD or at the very least understood who God was. For us reading the word today, what should we understand from such a statement? In this post, I will attempt to shed light on this statement based on inferences I made from the word. My hope is that this deepens your understanding of the LORD.

Whenever God sent His messengers to His people or to nations, it was always to warn them of the judgment upon their heads in the hope that they will repent and turn away from their sinful deeds. Through His prophets, God was letting His people know that they were in the wrong, that they were walking in disobedience and that it was predominantly against Him. God’s prophets were signs to the people as to what was coming to them and what the LORD would do. These prophets never spoke just once or twice but multiple times using different terms or even stories. In fact, when you hear how God spoke of the sin of Israel, you see clearly how offensive He viewed the sin. For example, He described the relationship that Israel and Judah had with other nations as prostitution. It is a relationship of one giving herself away for sexual pleasures to many partners. In this context, Israel (northern kingdom) and Judah, the unfaithful sisters were the prostitutes who gave themselves away to other partners by covenanting with nations the LORD had told them not to covenant with in the likes of Egypt, Assyria and Ammon. The situation of the two kingdoms impersonated by the sisters is so dire that the LORD is shocked that the younger sister (Judah) would continue in her older sister (Israel)’s tracks even after seeing how the LORD rejected her. Indeed, the LORD was repugned by the fact that Israel played the whore while she was the LORD’s and lusted after her lovers (Ezekiel 23:5). The language the LORD uses in this chapter of Ezekiel cannot be mistaken, it is as raw as it gets and depicts the heart of GOD in this matter. Truly, our relationship with the LORD is a sacred covenant, equalled to a marriage. When we come to accept Jesus Christ as our LORD and saviour, we enter into a marital covenant with the LORD of Hosts and we give Him our allegiance and pledge our faithfulness to Him. Unfortunately, we seldom see our personal relationship with the LORD as a marital one where we ought to be faithful. If we did, we would not take God lightly at His words. When the Jealous Husband decides to finally act because of the consequences of our unfaithfulness just like in the case of the two unfaithful sisters, we should not be surprised. Indeed, His actions simply prove His love and His righteousness. However, before judging, He warns us to return to Him and only when we rebel against Him does He act. When He acts, the goal is so that we would know that He is the LORD. In our knowing that the LORD is LORD, we are humbled. This is the revelation I got from this statement. To know that the LORD is the LORD is to be humbled, that is to see yourself as who you really are and to see God as who He truly is. Ironically, it seems judgement does that well for us. Indeed, when we are in control, we cannot see God as who He is truly. No wonder, in Psalm 46 we are called to be still. In this stillness, we are able to relinquish whatever form of control we thought we had, we let go of any pride we had and see the salvation of the LORD which does not depend on us. To know that the LORD is LORD is to be brought to your knee where you are powerless and unable to do anything. Only in such a position are we able to know the LORD in His proper state. This tells me that in the day when Christ return, we will see that the LORD is the LORD forever. It will be plain, and no one will be able to miss this truth. No longer will we strive to do things in our own strength, no longer will we spit in the face of the LORD or mock His Holy Name. These stupidities will cease when the LORD Jesus returns for good. In the meantime, our call is to repent and humble ourselves before the LORD and if we fail to do that, His judgement will bring us to that realization. No wonder, at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10-11). His name is a judgement to those who are rebellious and salvation to those who are humble.

In closing, it is important to understand that even for us Christians who are following Jesus Christ, humility is our portion, it is our posture before a Holy God. This is the posture that we should have when interacting with our Husband. To know that the LORD is LORD is to be humbled before the LORD. Let us strive to remain humble rather than letting the LORD humble us through judgement. May we be people who are quick to repent and return to the LORD, may we be like the Psalmist who welcomes rebuke and strike from a righteous man saying: “Let a righteous man strike me – it is a kindness; let him rebuke me – it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it.” (Psalm 141:5). It may be painful to be corrected and humiliating, but it is more pleasant because when we heed to such words of correction, we are escaping hell. May the LORD build us into people who are flesh killers and not flesh lovers. Amen.