The Name Above All Names
Ezekiel 20:39-44
July 19-20, 2026
Let's open our Bibles, if you would, to Ezekiel 20. Ezekiel 20, we'll be in verse 39, and the title of our message, 'The Name Above All Names.' Let's pray and then receive from God's Word together. Lord, we are so thankful because we know that you pour out your grace through your Word. You pour out your heart through your Word, and that you send it in power by your Holy Spirit to stir us up in our faith and to draw us to you in revival. God, meet us now in this place and pour out your Spirit of life upon us, we pray in Jesus' name. Everyone said? Amen.
The great theme of Ezekiel 20 is that God does not treat Israel according to what they deserve, but according to His great name. This is a wonderful truth because it's true for us today as well. Oh, are we so thankful that God does not treat us as we deserve, but that He treats us according to His great name. Amen. Let's give a little praise. Amen. Amen. The backstory is that the elders of Israel come to Ezekiel. They're there in Babylon. They're in exile. They come to Ezekiel to inquire of the Lord, which is a common thing. They had something they wanted to ask of God, and so they come to the prophet to inquire of the Lord.
God's response, however, no doubt, was unsettling. "You come to inquire of me? As I live," declares the Lord God, "I will not be inquired of by you." "Will you judge them, O Son of Man? Make them know the abominations of their fathers." He's leading them somewhere, and somewhere glorious. Before this is done, He's going to lead them to a glorious understanding. First, He reminds them of the tragic disobedience and rebellion in the long and troubled history of Israel.
Over and over, as He recounts the history of Israel, wave upon wave in their history, though they were hard-hearted and rebellious, He shows them that every point along the way, God had mercy. Not because they deserved it, far from it. God had mercy because of His great name. The name of the Lord has far greater significance than most people understand or appreciate. This is a chapter where the greatness of that name stands high and above throughout the history of Israel. There's great depth contained in that name, and it will deepen your faith to understand what is contained in that name, which is above every other name.
"What's in a name?" As the saying goes. That saying was made immortal by William Shakespeare, who, of course, wrote Romeo and Juliet. The story, of course, is that Romeo and Juliet fell madly in love at first sight. The problem was that they came from feuding enemy families. Romeo was a Montague, Juliet was a Capulet. Shakespeare means to convey the thought that the name of things is irrelevant. "What's in a name?" Juliet says.
"That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet." What she means by this is, why do you have to be that name? Why do you have to be a Montague? It's only because of that name I'm supposed to be your enemy. "O, your name." She says, "O Romeo, doff thy name, Romeo, and for that name which is no part of thee, take all myself."
I did not miss my calling as a Shakespearean actor, as you can tell. It's an interesting thing. "What's in a name?" Shakespeare says, "Nothing's in a name." God says, "Oh, you are quite wrong." The name of the Lord contains the nature and character of God Himself. God's glory is contained in His name. Remember when we described recently that when Moses said to God, "Show me your glory," God said, "No man can see the fullness of my glory and live," but that He would put him in the cleft of the rock and that His glory would pass by. He says, "I will make all my goodness pass by, and I will proclaim my name before you." This is the revealing of glory.
It makes one wonder, what about your name? What's contained in your name? It's an interesting question. If people were to think of you, and let's say that they were going to describe you with one word, when they think of your name, what's the one word that they think? Wouldn't it be wonderful if they thought of your name and they recognized a quality of God's heart upon you? Grace, mercy, kindness, because God's name, we carry God's name.
When you were born, you had no say in the matter of your name. Parents choose a name for their children for different reasons. Some are named after the father or a mother or a relative. In biblical times, parents would sometimes name a child for something they did. For example, when Jacob and Esau were born, Esau was born first, and he was covered in red hair. His parents said, "Oh, look at that. He's covered in hair. Let's call him Hairy," which is true.
Then Jacob was born second. When he was born, he had the hold of his brother Esau's heel. His parents said, "Oh, would you look at that? He is so cute. He has the hold of his brother's heel. I know. Let's call him Heelsnatcher." The problem, of course, is that Heelsnatcher can also mean one who is conniving, one who trips up another by his manipulation. That's exactly who Jacob became, such that God had to change his name.
It's an interesting study through the Scriptures to see that the meaning of names and that those fulfilled the meaning of their name. It contains their character, their nature. In the name of Jesus, if you name the name of Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, you carry that name. May you be known by that name. God's name is the glory and the honor and the power in the name of the Lord. It's like Proverbs 18:10. The name of the Lord is a strong tower, and the righteous run into it and are saved. The name of the Lord has power, the name of the Lord.
In modern Israel today, Jews refer to God as Hashem. It means "the name". When they think of God, when they refer to God, they refer to Him as "the name" because the Jews traditionally avoid saying His name, considering it too holy to be on human lips. Such that they call Him "the name". Interestingly, Jesus gave a more intimate understanding of relationship to the Lord.
The disciples, they saw the relationship that Jesus had to God. They saw that He would regularly get alone and pray. They saw that relationship, and they saw His prayers. They said, "Teach us that. Teach us how to pray." Jesus says, "When you pray, you say, 'My Father.'" Much more intimate understanding. "My Father." Abba, actually. It's the most intimate way to refer to a papa. Abba. He says, when you pray, you say, "My Father--" Notice, "My Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
In Ezekiel 20, God uses the power of His name to reveal His heart toward them. There's much for them to understand about that name. There's much for us to understand because it's an aspect of revival. Let's read it. We're in verse 39. Of course, as I've mentioned, we'll cover the other verses around this at our Wednesday verse-by-verse, chapter-by-chapter study. We'll begin in verse 39. "As for you, O House of Israel, thus says the Lord God." Interesting what He says. "Go. Serve everyone his idols." Really? We'll get this. We'll understand this.
I. Learning to Listen is Spiritual Maturity
"Go," he says, "serve everyone his idols. Later on you will surely listen to me. My holy name you will profane no longer with your gifts and with your idols. For on my holy mountain, on the high mountain of Israel, declares the Lord God, there the whole House of Israel, all of them will serve me in the land. There I will accept them, and I will seek your contributions and the choices of your gifts with all your holy things. For you will be a soothing aroma, and I shall accept you when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered.
I will prove myself holy among you in the sight of the nations. You will know that I am the Lord when I bring you into that land of Israel, that land which I swore to give to your forefathers. There you will remember--" This is interesting. "In that day--" when there is this revival, when there is this restoring, "then you will remember your ways and your deeds with which you have defiled yourself?" In other words, you're going to look back, and you're going to see it different. "You will loathe yourselves in your own sight for all the evil things that you've done."
A. Carry His name with honor
Now, this is good. We'll get to this. "Then you will know that I am the Lord when I have dealt with you for my name's sake and not according to the evil ways or according to your corrupt deeds, O House of Israel, declares the Lord God." These are the verses that we want to look at. So much that God would reveal to us. I want to begin really with this understanding of verse 39, that learning to listen is spiritual maturity itself. As for you, He's bringing them to the point. Then when there's this revival, when there is this restoring, you will learn to listen to me.
Interestingly, notice how He begins. He says, "Go and serve everyone your idols." That's it. Really? God says, "Go, serve everyone his idols." You know it's never good when God gives someone over to their fleshly nature. It's like in Romans 1. He gave them over to the lust of their flesh. It's never good. When that happens, it's for the purpose of getting a person to the end of it. In other words, persons got to come to the end of themselves. One way or another, they got to come to the end of this thing. What follows when God says, then, if you really want it that bad, then go and serve it. What follows is a harsh, harsh result. Sin becomes the taskmaster.
Instead of the Holy Spirit restraining and resisting, He removes that restraint, and what follows is a crash. The hardened heart hardens further. Then it's for the purpose of that restoring, "For then you will come to that place where you will learn to listen to me." Learning to listen is true spiritual maturity. I like to say it's calculus for the soul. It's the spiritual advancement of spiritual maturity. I used to teach a class every summer on parenting, and in that class I would say, a child does not come out of the womb with the ability to listen. Every parent knows this. No, listening must be learned, and it's a very important life skill, by the way.
If a child cannot learn to listen, they will have trouble all their lives. It is a tremendously important understanding of life. I would say to the parents, let's say of four and five-year-olds, I would say, "Does your child know calculus?" He's four, he's five. "No, of course they don't know calculus." I say, "Does that make you angry?" "No, of course not." They've got to learn two plus two, and then they've got to move on to gradually harder things. That doesn't make me angry. Then we say, "Then, why does it make you angry when they don't listen?" It's also mastery of the soul.
In fact, I said, "Let me give you an illustration. Parents, how many have mastered listening to God yourself? Raise your hand." Nobody raises their hand. I've been doing that for years. I have yet to have anybody raise their hand. "I have mastered listening to God." Because it's such an important point, we emphasize, where does that come from? It is spiritual maturity itself, and it comes from giving weight to His Word. It comes from understanding that His Word has authority in your life, that God's Word has weight and authority.
I was thinking of an illustration. It's like teaching teenagers how to drive. Here's what I mean. By the way, I have taught six teenagers how to drive. I have been in counseling ever since. Before we even start, I have a speech. It's my standard speech. She, he, in the driver's seat, I'm in the passenger's seat. Before we even start the car, I say my speech. "I'm going to now give you the one rule that rules all other rules. This is the most important rule of all, it's this. You must do exactly as I say when I say it. If you do not do exactly what I say when I say it, your driving career is over."
Exactly right. Because if you don't, this thing is going to end in a crash. This is the importance of listening. If you don't listen to God, it's going to crash your life. Put weight to His Word. You listen when you put weight to His Words. He says to them, in this is part of the revival. When I bring you to that place, when you put weight to His Word because the consequences of it are real, that's what got them into this. You will learn to listen. It comes to that spiritual point of maturity. Then He says, and then you will carry His name with honor.
Notice verse 39. "In my holy name, you will profane no longer with these gifts to these idols." They were a nation set apart from all nations. They carried His name. He says, "I put my name there. I put my name. Of all the cities of the world, I put my name in one city, the name Jerusalem. I put my name on that land, and I put my name on this people. You carry my name." By the way, we carry His name, the name of the Lord Jesus we carry. He says to them, "When you offer offerings to Molech or Ashtarim or Baal, while carrying my name, you are profaning my name." He wants them to understand the importance of honoring His name. Which is why when they came to the land, back to the land, they changed such that they called Him 'the name'.
You are carrying that name. In fact, Exodus 20:7, part of the commandments, He says, "Do not take the Lord's name in vain." Now, many people, when they hear that, they think God says, "Don't use God's name as a cuss word," which is, of course, true, but it means much more than that. The understanding is actually deeper than that. In Hebrew, that phrase literally is translated, "Do not carry the name of the Lord in vain." You carry the name of the Lord. Don't carry it in vain. Don't carry it in emptiness. You carry it with weight. Vain, vanity means empty. You carry that weight of glory. You carry it gloriously, that name. You carry that name.
The name of the Lord means something powerful. Do not act worldly when you're carrying the name. We used to sing a song, "Your name is like honey on my lips." That's how you carry His name. You speak His name with honor. It's the world that likes to defame His name. They use His name like a cuss word. You notice when they hit their thumb on the hammer, they don't say, "Oh, Buddha." No. They want to defame that name. They use the name like a curse word. "Oh, Jesus Christ."
Those who bear that name carry His name with honor. "Your name is like honey on my lips." When Moses stood before the burning bush there in the mountain and asked God, "What is your name?" He gave him His personal name. You have a name, a personal name. God has a personal name. His name is Yahweh, Jehovah. My name is Richard. His name is Jehovah. That's His personal name. Names have meaning. It means 'I am'. It means more. It means it's a personal name. It means all that I am, I am to you. It means everything that is in my name, I want and mean for that to be unto you, because you are called by that glorious name.
When God says His name is holy, it means His name is set apart. The word holy in Hebrew means set apart. It's high above all other names. I treat you according to that name. That name, which is high above all other names, I treat you by that name. All that I will be to you, if you could only understand the meaning of the name. Jesus, by the way, it says, is given a name that is above every other name. That at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Let's give the Lord praise. Amen.
B. God restores to that which is high and holy
Many years ago we used to sing a song when I was a young man, maybe some of you remember it. Some of you saints will remember. "Jesus, your name is power." It's like Jesus, your name. Every line of the song. "Jesus, your name is might, and Jesus, your name will break every stronghold. Jesus, your name is life." Every word speaks of the glory of the name. That's what He wants them to understand.
Then in that name, He says, "I'm going to restore to that which is high and holy, not just save you out of the trouble. Yes. You need saving out of the trouble, and I'll do that, but I'll do more than that. Notice verse 40, "On my holy mountain, on the high mountain of Israel, the whole House of Israel will serve me there in the land. God's going to restore all that was lost, but He's going to restore to the high and holy in the heart." I'm going to rescue. I'm going to save. I'm going to get you out of this trouble, but I'm going to restore a spiritual awakening.
The problem was, what got them into this mess was there was no spiritual life. This is true today. There's no spiritual life. It'll lead you into tremendous destruction and trouble. When God restores, He intends to rebuild the soul with a spiritual awakening, that the soul would be filled by the Holy Spirit of the Living God. We need today to be filled with the Holy Spirit of the Living God. Be ye filled with the Spirit. The Spirit of the Living God is that presence of God residing in glory upon the soul. That will keep you from falling into the pit again. For Israel, it was the promise of returning to the land.
Oh, they wanted to return to the land. God says, "I'll return you to the land, but I'm also going to return you to me." Reminds me of this when Moses came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand. I mentioned this recently. Remember the story? He was up in the mountain for 40 days. The people grew impatient because Moses had been gone quite some time. They said there, "Make us a god." They took the golden rings and such and fashioned the calf. Then he says the people gave offerings to this golden calf thing, and then they rose up to play. It got out of hand. It became a party, they were dancing, and it got bad.
Moses, coming down from the mountain, Joshua is with him, and Joshua says, "There is the sound of war in the camp." Moses says, "That is not the sound of triumph, and that is not the cry of defeat. That's the sound of singing I hear. There is a party. That's Led Zeppelin and Mick Jagger. That's what I'm hearing." Then, when he saw the people dancing before the golden calf, he became so angry he shattered the tablets at the foot of the mountain. Now, afterward, the Lord spoke to Moses and said, "Depart, go up from here, you and the people, and go to the land flowing with milk and honey. I will not go in your midst, lest I destroy them all along the way."
All right. Exodus 33:15, Moses replied, "If your presence does not go with us, do not lead us from this place. We don't want to go anywhere unless your presence goes with us." Moses is saying, "I don't want the land without you in it. I don't want the milk. I don't want the honey. I don't want any of it unless you are in the presence of it. It's your presence that I cherish above all else." Psalm 73:25, "Whom have I in heaven, but you? Besides you, I desire nothing in this earth. There is nothing on this earth that compares with thee." God is saying, "Oh, if you could only understand how precious, how valuable it is that I am with you."
I say to you, it's the greatest thing of the Bible from beginning to end, that God desires to be Emmanuel, God with us, and in beautiful fellowship together. In the garden, Adam walked with God in the cool of the evening. They had beautiful fellowship together, and then sin broke the fellowship. The story of God and man is the story of God redeeming man out of that sin and restoring that fellowship of being Emmanuel, God with us. If you could only understand that, it is the most precious aspect. God is with us. Oh, it's help, it's hope. "I'll walk with you even when you struggle with yourself. I'll walk with you on this journey. I'll bring you to a point, an understanding of glory. I am with you. I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you."
I was thinking of an illustration. It's like this. When our daughter Nicole was killed, we adopted her daughter Avia. Avia was seven years old when we adopted her. I tell you, it was such a tragedy for a seven-year-old girl. You can imagine, she struggled with it so, so much. Shortly after she came to live with us, she came up to me at one point, and she said, "I don't feel like I belong here. I feel like I'm supposed to be somewhere else." Of course, she was longing for mom. She was longing for a home. We understood all of that.
Then she said, "I don't feel like I belong here. I feel like I have to run away from home." I said, "I understand, and it's okay. You can run away from home, but it's not safe out there. If you're going to run away, then I should run away with you. We should do this together." She said, "I'll pack some things." She went and got her school backpack, put some things in it, a blanket, and she went and got some stuff to eat, fruit snacks, candy. She came downstairs with her cute little helmet strapped under her chin, wearing her cute little pink coat, two bags, and says, "I'm ready, Grandpa." I said, "I'll take one bag." She got on her scooter. I got on mine, and we left.
We ran away from home. We went a few blocks. It was dark out. It was cold. We stopped. She said, "Let's have dinner." I was thankful that she brought my dinner as well. We had a fruit snack together. Then she said, "Let's find a place to sleep." We should find a place that's safe. I found an intersection with light and some grass. She pulled down her little blanket, laid it on the ground, and laid down. She said, "Do you want to lay down, Grandpa?" I said, "No, no, I'll stand watch." She laid there for a few minutes. Then she said, "Let's go home, Grandpa. We can run away another day."
I said, "Yes, that's good. Anytime you want to run away, you let me know, and we'll run away together because I never want you to be alone." Something broke through that day, something of deeper understanding. He will never leave me. We're going to walk this thing together. To me, this is God's heart. If you can only understand this, "I will never leave you, I'll never forsake you. Even if you're struggling within yourself, I will walk with you until you come to the end of this thing. I'll never leave you."
II. You will Become a Soothing Aroma
Then He brings him to this, and then it will bring such a wonderful transformation that you will become a soothing aroma to the Lord. Oh, that's different. Verse 42, a soothing aroma. "As a soothing aroma I will accept you when I bring you out from the peoples where you've been scattered, and bring you into this land." A soothing aroma is a beautiful picture, a reminder of the sacrificial smoke that would arise from the offerings to God in the temple. Oh, it smelled so good. It smelled so wonderful. It's like when someone is barbecuing steak or something and everything, "Oh, it's so good." It's a fragrance, aroma, like, "Oh, it's so good."
It's like it represents how good and how pleasant it is when the heart is right with God and this beautiful fellowship together. This is different. A new heart. He says, "I'm going to give you a new heart and a new spirit that's going to be distinctly different than that rebellious, hard-hearted, obstinate nature that you had when you left the city. You're going to come back such that there's a soothing aroma, something wonderful."
The old nature is ugly. The old nature stinketh. The new nature is spiritual awakening and is sweet to God. It's sweet, by the way, to those around you as well. It's a beautiful aroma. The beautiful soul is sweet to the Lord, and to everyone around you. We love the worship song that we sing. The chorus goes, "Day and night, night and day, let incense rise." He just repeats it over and over, "Day and night, night and day, let incense rise." Incense is the wonderful fragrance of the prayers of the saints. That's what it represents.
A. Be a sweet fragrance to God
Oh, it's sweet fragrance to the Lord. How beautiful it is when there's a restoring, when relationship is right. Oh, such a beautiful fragrance unto the Lord. That's what he's telling us. Be that sweet fragrance unto God. It represents the love, the worship, the prayers. Something's right. Something's beautiful now. It's like Ephesians 5:1&2. "Walk in love." God is love. When you walk with God, you are transformed by it such that you walk in that love. People can see it. It's beautiful. It's sweet. It's a wonderful aroma. As Christ loved you, walk in that love.
He gave Himself up for us as an offering and sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. What He did for us was a fragrant aroma to the Lord. Then Paul writes, and you are that fragrance of Christ, he writes to the Church of Corinth. "You are a sweet aroma." When God is moving in your life, and people see it, wouldn't it be wonderful if people can recognize God did that? Something's different about you. This wonderful, this whatever is happening in your life is quite amazing, quite beautiful. I remember who you once were. You're different.
It's like Matthew 5:16. "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they see your good works, your life now, and they glorify your Father who is in heaven." Something's different. I remember who you were. Something's different. It's like Acts 4:13. "Now, as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed but began to recognize them as having been with Jesus."
B. God deals with us according to His name
Look at this. It's a testimony itself if someone looks at your life and recognizes that you have been with Jesus. Then he says, in the grand finale of it, God deals with us according to His great name. What's interesting, he actually builds up to it in a way that's at first startling, but you see he's doing something wonderful. He foretells that when they come to this time of awakening, transformation, that it will open their eyes. That a fog that once blinded their eyes will no longer be a veil over their heart, and they will see sin differently than they've ever seen it before.
He says, you'll look back, and you'll see it. It's there in verse 43. There, when I do all this wonder, when I do this, transform and restore to that which is beautiful, there you will remember your ways and your deeds, how you defiled yourself. He says, and you'll loathe yourselves in your own sight. Now, this is bringing them to someplace good. Now they see. They couldn't see it before. That's what sin does. Sin blinds the eyes. Sin is like a fog over the soul. You can't see it. I tell you, people that are bound in sin, they cannot see it.
They're quite blind. In this revival, in this restoring, in this transformation, in this spiritual awakening, eyes are opened, and you see sin like you've never seen it before. Now you see it in all its ugliness. Now you're like, "I can't believe I would do that. Oh, I'm so ashamed. I'm so ashamed of what I did," because you see it now. You didn't see it before. Now you do, and now you are ashamed. It's a sorrow that's good because it makes you appreciate God's grace all the more.
It makes you appreciate that God deals with you not according to what you deserve, but God deals with us according to His great name, according to His mercy, according to His grace, according to His kindness. Now you see it in light of His glory, and you see your sin, and there it makes you appreciate God all the more. Then you will know that I am the Lord when you see that I deal with you according to my great name. That's the beautiful grace. When you truly see what God has done, you want to honor that name because you see it. Your name is holy. Your name brings light. Jesus, your name above every other. Jesus, your name is life.
Let's pray. Lord, we are so, so thankful for the greatness of that name that you did not treat us according to what we deserve, but you treat us according to your great name. It makes us want to honor you and to love you, for we see now what our old life was, and it makes us appreciate afresh and anew what you are doing in our lives. By your grace, by your kindness, be high and lifted up in this place because we've opened our eyes, and we love you for all that you've done.
Church, as we're praying, how many would say to the Lord today, "I am so thankful that God does not treat me as I deserve to be treated, but rather He treats me according to that great name?" Would you just raise your hand as a way of saying, "God, I am so thankful that you treat me by that great name." We give you honor and glory for it all. Be glorified in this place. Pour out your Holy Spirit of life, and be high and lifted up because you are worthy of it all. God, we want our prayers, our worship, our heart to be a sweet aroma to you. You are worthy of it all. We honor you now in Jesus' name. Everyone said-- Can you give God praise and glory and honor? Amen.