Worship

13th Sunday after Pentecost                         August 23, 2026
Exodus 34:5-9                                               Pastor Wolfe

(YHWH) The Name above All Names

In our sermon two weeks ago, we were looking at the prophet Elijah in his moment of darkest doubt. Do you remember? As he lamented over his persecution and fear, God revealed himself to Elijah not in fire or earthquake or storm, but in the quiet word of God. Do you remember where that happened? It was at Mt. Sinai, and I mentioned at the time that it might have been in the very cave where Moses saw God because that cave in 1 Kings was referred to as “the” cave and not just “a” cave. It’s interesting, if not certain.

Well, fast forward a week after that sermon and I’m starting to look at this week’s lessons and lo and behold…God puts that very account of Moses I referred to in front of us as one of our readings. The account we’re looking at from Exodus 34 happened about 500 years before Elijah’s experience, but both men find comfort in God’s presence on the same mountain, if not the same cave. And where two weeks ago we focused on God’s quiet promises overcoming our doubts, today we join Moses in celebrating something equally comforting. We know God’s name – the Name that is above all names.

Now, it didn’t show up in the bulletin because Microsoft doesn’t apparently know how to handle Hebrew fonts, so I’ve got it up on the screen. Because nobody really needs to know Hebrew, but the name of God? That’s special and worth knowing. It’s four letters in Hebrew, YHWH, you read if from right to left. This is a name considered so holy that Jewish scribes in history and most Jews today won’t even pronounce it. Instead of the grammatically correct Yahweh, they combine the consonants here with vowels from another word for God to come up with “YeHoVaH,” or “Jehovah” in English. In our NIV English translations, you’ll recognize this special name for God by the world “LORD” written in all capitals.

It’s a name with significant meaning. Moses first heard this special name of God in the burning bush. There God had told him that he should tell the people of Israel that “I AM” had sent him to deliver them out of Egypt. That’s what this name literally means. God’s name is just the Hebrew word “I AM”. Think about that for a moment. God’s very name reveals his eternal nature to us. There was never and will never be a time when he wasn’t. Time itself doesn’t mean anything to him because he’s above it, beyond it, outside of it. For God there is no difference in the moment he said, “Let there be light” to “It is finished” to “I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” No difference between the timing of the fall into sin and the return of Christ at the end. I personally find the eternity of God immensely comforting – nothing I ever face will be a surprise to him, even if it is a surprise to me.

But now, back on this mountain again, God explains his name a little more. Not just what he is, but who he is. These are some of the greatest words of all Scripture because they tell us just what kind of a God we worship. “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”

This is a God of power. Of seriousness. A God of holiness who shines in perfect justice, tolerating no sin. But above all, a God of love. Think of what each of these phrases means for mere mortals, sinners like us. The LORD is “compassionate and gracious.” I need that kind of God. You need that kind of God. Imagine a God who would look down at creation with an uncompassionate eye. One who sees the darkness and the damage and remains unmoved. This week I finally saw The Odyssey movie in the theater. The false gods of the Greeks were this kind of God. Imperfect themselves. Jealous. Vindictive. Human.

But our God, the true God? Instead of destroying the sinful world after Adam & Eve’s disastrous choice, he promised a Savior who would undo the pain and destruction we bring to the world. Grace is defined as “undeserved love”. Compassion as “recognizing the suffering of others.” And the LORD, the God whose name is above all other names is both.

In his grace, he is “slow to anger.” We need that too, don’t we? Imagine if God were not slow to anger. If his wrath were justly poured out at the moment of our sin, there would be none left. The description of punishing the children for the sins of their parents shows the seriousness of sin. In Ezekiel 18, God twice tells us, “The one who sins is the one who will die.” God’s punishment of the children isn’t to pay for the parents’ sin– it’s that the parents’ sins are often picked up and carried forward by the children on their own. We see it in parents who lose themselves to drugs or alcohol, and the children who are plagued by the same. The father whose eyes linger on pornography or wasteful images too often passes that lust to his sins. The mother for whom worship is a second concern at best will too often find her daughters away from the Lord on Sunday mornings too.

And so all the more a blessing it is to see the LORD slow to anger. He showed his slowness to Israel as he patiently sent prophet after prophet. As he remained faithful to them even as they prostituted themselves with false idols and worldly pursuits. Yes, slowness to anger doesn’t mean no anger. And eventually judgment came to Israel. But as he promised, he always preserved a remnant, whether it was 8 in the Great Flood, 7000 at the time of Elijah, or millions today.

And that remnant knows that the LORD does indeed “forgive our wickedness, rebellion, and sin.” This compassionate and gracious God didn’t just watch as the world sank into darkness, he acted. He took on humanity’s frailty so that he could die the just death our sins deserved. He willingly became the atoning sacrifice that saves us from our disobedience to such a loving God in heaven. And the Son who did the work of dying, who won the victory by rising – God gave him the name above all names. Because Jesus himself, together with the Father and the Spirit, is the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God.

You see, I think we regularly find comfort in hearing how well God knows us. He knows the number of hairs on our head. He holds us in the palm of our hands. One of my favorite VBS songs of all time was titled “He knows my name.” What we forget is how comforting it is to know God as well as we do. Some of you have heard this story before, but it’s worth sharing for those who haven’t. In my first couple years of ministry, once a year I got to fill in at an area Lutheran high school once a year to cover for the campus pastor while he ran a track tournament. And that meant I got to teach Christianity 101. The first year I taught there were four girls in the class. A lifelong believer from Germany, a newer Christian from one of the former Soviet bloc nations, and two atheist girls from Japan.

My assignment was to go through the Lord’s Prayer. You know, from Our Father in heaven all the way through Amen. We didn’t get past “Our Father.” And I know what you’re thinking – it wasn’t because I talked a lot. In fact, I said almost nothing. I think I started the discussion by asking what difference it makes that God wants us to know him as a loving Father. One of the atheist girls asked more about it and for the next half hour I sat back and watched two high school believers share their faith and their comfort in God’s love with their classmates that only knew him as a terrifying judge.

That’s what Moses was reminded of on Mt. Sinai, and what we remember again today. Christianity isn’t about rules or rituals. It’s not about what we can’t do or must do. It’s about seeing this God of grace pass in front of us with nail-scarred hands. It’s about seeing him pick us up out of the darkness in faith. It’s hearing his promises that he is always with us now on earth, and that he will bring us to be always with him in heaven. This is the God who shows love to countless thousands, millions, billions.

And we know His name. As our other readings said, we confess this name with our hearts and our mouths so that others might see him and praise his name as well. Moses’ reaction is interesting here. In awe he immediately bowed down to the ground and worshipped. He prayed for forgiveness for himself and his people. If you read carefully, you’ll see that in that moment of fully knowing God, he doesn’t say LORD with capital letters. He addresses God as sir, or sire. In knowing God more fully, he recognized his own sin more clearly.

I think this is the final blessing to take from this account. The better we know God through studying and hearing his Word, the more grateful we become. Our weaknesses become apparent, but so does God’s strength. Our sins become more known to us, but so does our Savior’s payment for them. And those are the truths that set us free from guilt and shame and burden as we recognize the key to heaven isn’t in clearing our name, but calling upon his, the Name that is over all names. May the LORD bless us and keep us ever in his name. Amen.