"3rd Commandment" LD 36 & Lev.24 This commandment has to do with the Glory of God!
1. He will NOT share His glory with any other and we must trust Him and Him alone FULLY!
2. He will not share His incomprehensibility and we may not malign His glory in a conception of Him.
3. His name IS HOLY. When you deal with His name(s) you are dealing with God in His person.
God is zealous of His names because they describe His virtues and holiness and when you touch His names you touch HIM! When one touches our name it affects us because it is related to our character (they are one in the same.) When God reveals Himself in His virtues or names you speak of His names as they are self revelations. You speak of His virtue and character as He has revealed Himself to us in that name. To use His name in vain is to use it without content as many do today in cursing, in swearing, and in perjury. You begin to see why this is such a heinous sin and God will deal accordingly the same as He is zealous of His names.
We have a great obligation in regards to this commandment. We become partakers of this sin if we stand by as God's name is maligned and taken in vain....and often do so to "protect" our own reputation. It is b silence and connivance that we partake in this sin. There are also other ways we all violate this commandment. We should be CONFESSING His names, and do we use His names thoughtlessly at times? In rote, without giving His name as second thought or with very little content in our hearts, our minds, and in our souls in regard to His names?! So often these things become part and parcel of our daily lives and infiltrate into our lives and living. Are we not prophets of God and shouldn't we be using His names upon our lips in worship, confession, and in praise?
Let us use these names in all manner of spiritual sobriety. We are thankful that we stand before God as justified and are sanctified by our Lord as we too are very guilty of this serious sin! We see God in all His power. In all his glory. And we will worship Him in the goriness of His names and will DEFEND the glory of God each and every day of our thankful lives.
A serious sin. How often do we not hear "Oh my God" in regards to daily things that have little or nothing to do with God, His kingdom, or His glory? Let us be sanctified in our talk, but also in our day to day walk. May you and I be faithful!