YHWH Yeshu’ Athai

Names of God – part 48:

The LORD God of Salvation

YHWH is God’s actual name which he revealed to Moses from the burning bush, it implies the personal nature of God.

The second part of the name here is how God relates to us:

Salvation is one of those words we do not hear much, if at all, outside churches. But the concept is simple. A person who is struggling to swim and gets rescued by the lifeguards has been saved. Salvation is about being saved. The lifeguard is the means of the swimmer’s salvation. The lifeguard is the swimmer’s saviour. There is no separate spiritual meaning to salvation, it is the means by which our lives are saved.

The lyricist of Psalm 88 used it in this way:

O Lord, God of my salvation,
I cry out day and night before you.
Psalm 88:1 ESVUK

Psalm 88 is the cry of a person in trouble. Unlike other Psalms where the Psalmist asks God for help, here there is no “I called the LORD and he delivered me” conclusion. The end of the Psalm talks of the Psalmist being alone, deserted by his friends. Psalm 88 is a very dark Psalm: It shows that we can call out to God in our darkest times. This is not a song of praise to a God who has saved, it is a desperate cry of someone in trouble to a God who can save. It is a prayer of last resort when everything has failed.

The name of Jesus means Salvation. He is given that name because he will save the people from their sins. In the same ways that a lifeguard is there to save people from drowning, Jesus came to save people from their own sins, from themselves. He did this by taking their sins on himself and dying for all of mankind. Whilst dying on the cross Jesus cried out to God his Father, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me.” Jesus cried out to God when abandoned by all.

So when we are in trouble, we can call out to Jesus, he knows our dark times as he too had dark times. Call to Jesus, he is able to meet you in dark times.