The Church of Almighty God | The significance of God taking the name Jehovah in the Age of Law

2. What is the relationship between every stage of God’s work and His name?

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(1) The significance of God taking the name Jehovah in the Age of Law

Bible Verses for Reference:

“And God said moreover to Moses, Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, the LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial to all generations” (Exo 3:15).

Relevant Words of God:

“Jehovah” is the name that I took during My work in Israel, and it means the God of the Israelites (God’s chosen people) who can take pity on man, curse man, and guide the life of man. It means the God who possesses great power and is full of wisdom. … That is to say, only Jehovah is the God of the chosen people of Israel, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of Moses, and the God of all the people of Israel. And so in the current age, all the Israelites apart from the tribe of Judah worship Jehovah. They make sacrifices to Him on the altar, and serve Him wearing priests’ robes in the temple. What they hope for is the reappearance of Jehovah. … The name Jehovah is a particular name for the people of Israel who lived under the law. In each age and each stage of work, My name is not baseless, but holds representative significance: Each name represents one age. “Jehovah” represents the Age of Law, and is the honorific for the God worshiped by the people of Israel.

from “The Savior Has Already Returned Upon a ‘White Cloud’” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

During the Age of Law, the work of guiding mankind was done under the name of Jehovah, and the first stage of work was carried out on earth. The work of this stage was to build the temple and the altar, and to use the law to guide the people of Israel and work among them. By guiding the people of Israel, He established a base for His work on earth. From this base, He expanded His work beyond Israel, which is to say that, starting from Israel, He extended His work outward, so that later generations gradually came to know that Jehovah was God, and that Jehovah had created the heavens and earth and all things, had made all creatures. He spread His work through the people of Israel. The land of Israel was the first holy place of Jehovah’s work on earth, and God’s earliest work on earth was throughout the land of Israel. That was the work of the Age of Law.

from “The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

During the Age of Law, Jehovah laid down many commandments for Moses to pass on to the Israelites who followed him out of Egypt. Jehovah gave these commandments to the Israelites, which were unrelated to the Egyptians, and they were meant to restrain the Israelites, and were His requirements for them. Whether one observed the Sabbath, whether one respected one’s parents, whether one worshiped idols, and so forth, these were the principles by which one was judged sinful or righteous. Whether one was struck by Jehovah’s fire, or stoned to death, or received Jehovah’s blessing, was determined according to whether one obeyed these commandments. Those who did not observe the Sabbath were stoned to death. Those priests who did not observe the Sabbath were smitten by Jehovah’s fire. Those who did not respect their parents were also stoned to death. This was all commended by Jehovah. Jehovah established His commandments and laws so that as He led their lives, the people would listen to and obey His word and not rebel against Him. He used these laws to control the newborn human race, to lay the foundation for His work to come. And so, because of the work that Jehovah did, the first age was called the Age of Law.

from “The Work in the Age of Law” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

The people in Israel all called Jehovah their Lord. At the time, they considered Him the head of their family, and the whole of Israel became a great family in which everyone worshiped their Lord Jehovah. The Spirit of Jehovah often appeared to them, and He spoke and uttered His voice to them, and used a pillar of cloud and sound to guide their lives. At that time, the Spirit provided His guidance in Israel directly, speaking and uttering His voice to the people, and they beheld the clouds and heard the peals of thunder, and in this way He guided their lives for several thousands of years. Thus, only the people of Israel have always worshiped Jehovah.

from “The Vision of God’s Work (2)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

His work and words in Israel guided the lives of all the people across the land, showing them that Jehovah was not only able to blow breath into man, so that he had His life, and was resurrected from the dust and made a creature of God, but could also scorch mankind with flames, and curse mankind, using His rod to govern mankind. So, too, did they see that Jehovah could guide man’s life on earth, and speak and work among them by day and by night. He did the work only so that His creatures might know that man came from dust picked up by Him, that man was made by Him. Furthermore, the work He began in Israel was meant so that other peoples and nations (who in fact were not separate from Israel, but had branched off from the Israelites, yet were still descended from Adam and Eve) might receive the gospel of Jehovah from Israel, so that all creatures in the universe would revere Him and hold Him to be great.

from “The Work in the Age of Law” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

The name Jehovah cannot represent all of the disposition of God. The fact that He carried out work in the Age of Law does not prove that God can only be God under the law. Jehovah set forth laws for man and handed down commandments, asking man to build the temple and altars; the work He did represents only the Age of Law. The work He did does not prove that God is the God who asks man to keep the law, the God in the temple, or the God before the altar. This cannot be said. The work under the law can only represent one age.

from “The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

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