Revealed - Session 8 - Joshua Gruber

What if the name of your city, your home, your inner life could be rewritten with one promise: The Lord is there? In this closing session of our Names of God study, we step into Ezekiel’s world—exile, rubble, and everything in between—to discover why Jehovah Shammah still lands like hope for people navigating wilderness seasons of their own.

We trace Ezekiel’s startling prophetic sign-acts and sweeping visions: the chariot-throne where God’s glory lifts from a corrupted temple, the valley where dry bones rattle back into living community, and the new sanctuary from which a river flows outward, deepening and healing the land as it goes. These scenes expose the sobering reason God’s presence once departed—idols dragged into holy courts—and they reveal the fierce mercy that follows: restoration, renewal, and a people shaped again by grace. This isn’t dusty ancient history; it’s a blueprint for understanding how God rebuilds what exile and idolatry have broken.

Then comes the turn that reframes everything. Paul declares that we are now the temple of the living God. His presence is not confined behind curtains or limited to geography; it indwells ordinary people who welcome the Spirit. Together we explore what that means for daily choices, how to identify the subtle idols that quietly occupy the heart, and how to live as carriers of a river that brings life to dry places. From Daniel in the lions’ den to Stephen before the council, from the upper room to your morning commute, Jehovah Shammah means you are not abandoned, not unseen, and not powerless.

Throughout the session, we work through practical reflection prompts and cross-Scripture connections designed to help you host God’s presence with integrity, repentance, and joy. The promise that “the Lord is there” becomes not just a title for a future city but a present-tense reality for believers learning to walk with God in the ordinary and the overwhelming.

If you’ve felt spiritually displaced, stuck in a long night, or unsure where God has gone in the middle of your own story, this teaching invites you to pay attention again—to the God who restores, who returns, and who dwells with His people. Come see what it means to bear the name Jehovah Shammah over your life, your home, and your community.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Series Recap
• 1:40 The Names Of God Reviewed
• 3:35 Introducing Jehovah Shammah
• 4:34 Prayer And Posture Of Worship
• 5:40 Ezekiel’s Historical Context
• 7:10 Dramas Of Judgment And Sign Acts
• 10:20 The Vision Of Glory Departing
• 13:25 Idolatry And The Temple Profaned
• 16:20 Dry Bones And Rising Hope
• 19:10 The New Temple And Living River
• 21:20 The City Named The Lord Is There
• 22:40 From Building To People: You Are The Temple
• 25:20 Confronting Our Modern Idols
• 27:20 Closing Exhortation And Prayer

Transcript

Joshua Gruber: 0:05

My name is Josh. Privilege be honored to speak tonight. Um going through our reveal series that we've been going through. Many of you know we've been going through for the past seven weeks or so. How many of you have been to any of these sessions so far? Awesome. Wow. Bunch of you. All of them? Any anyone been come on. That's incredible. That's incredible. I love that. All of them. That's amazing. I love that. For those of you that haven't made it to all of them, I'm just gonna go ahead and give just a quick brief recap. We've been in a series called Revealed, which revealed the names of God revealed to us through the Old Testament. We started session one with Jehovah Jirah, the Lord our provider. That's found in Genesis 22, 14. Miss Patty Clemens led us that night, and it was just an awesome, awesome word brought by Miss Patty. Session two is Jehovah Rapha, the Lord our healer. And that's found in Exodus 15, 26, brought to us that night by Evan Assyema. I know he couldn't make it tonight, but also an amazing word. And I just want to I want to go ahead and say that for those of you that haven't been able to make it every night, myself included, it's on the podcast. TCC has a podcast, YouTube, and you can go back and listen to all of these. That's what I had to do because I wasn't able to make it. And I will tell you, I did listen to all of these and they've been phenomenal. Session three, Jehovah Nisi, the Lord our banner, found in Exodus 17, 15. And that night was taught by Miss Hannah Silverberg. It was an awesome, awesome session that night. Session four, Jehovah Rohi, the Lord our shepherd, found in Psalm 23.1. Mr. Brian Durfey gave us a very passionate, awesome, awesome session. Session five, Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our peace, found in Judges chapter 6, verse 24, brought to us by Rob Rupno. And uh man, that was just such a good one explaining how shalom is more than just a word, a greeting, a sweet little gesture, but the Lord our peace. It just means so much. Nothing missing, nothing broken was the main point he drove home. Um session six, excuse me, Jehovah M. Kadesh. Jehovah M. Kadesh, the Lord our sanctifier. That's found in Leviticus chapter 20, verses 7 through 8. And uh Matthew actually brought us the word. That was uh just an awesome lesson on sanctification, what sanctification is, what it means, and of course, who it comes from. Only the Lord, right? Session seven, Jehovah Sitkenu. Did I say that right, Pastor Neil? Okay. The Lord our righteousness, found in Jeremiah 23, verses 5 through 6. And that was brought to us by Noah's Scipel, and Noah brought us an awesome word. He he gave us the history, walked through many scriptures, and it was just it was so awesome. And tonight, tonight, we're gonna wrap up this series, session eight, Jehovah Shamma. Jehovah Shammah. Does anybody know what Jehovah Hashamah means? That's funny because I didn't either. I had no idea. I had no idea until this was presented before us, like some of the others before me that spoke said the same thing. I never heard of that. So I had to really dig deep. I had to do some studying. I had to really learn what Jehovah Hashamah meant. And what that means is the Lord is there. The Lord is there. And we're going to be speaking tonight out of Ezekiel chapter 48, verse 35. It's the very last chapter of Ezekiel, it's the very last verse. In fact, it's the very last sentence of that book. The Lord is there. And before we go any further, I'd like to pray. Heavenly Father, God, you are so good. You are so worthy. You are so holy. You are so righteous. And I pray, Lord, that you would just have your way tonight. I pray that your Holy Spirit would just take over. We set this time aside for you. I pray for open hearts and open ears in Jesus' name. And Lord, I ask that you would help me. God, as I speak, I pray that I would bring you glory. I pray that the words that come out of my mouth would be from your heart, from your word, that they would be accurate and just lift your name up. Because that's that's what this is all about. It's all about you. And God, I thank you that you are here. I thank you that you are Jehovah's Shamma. And Lord, you're the only one that truly matters. The only one in this room that truly, it's all about you. And so we just give this time to you right now, in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Awesome. So Ezekiel, I want to give a brief little history, little background of the prophet Ezekiel. For those of you, I'm sure probably just about everybody in this room knows about the prophet Ezekiel. So this will just be a recap. But Ezekiel obviously was a priest, a prophet, during a very interesting time, a crazy time for the Israelites, for the people, for God's people. In fact, they were a large group of the Israelites living in exile. They were taken from Jerusalem and brought to Babylon. And so Ezekiel was one of those, one of those living in exile. And he was given a very specific task from the Lord, actually, too, if you will, as far as the prophetic ministry goes. It was first a word of judgment over God's people. It was a word, it was very, very tough. And then it flips, and it's a word of encouragement, of hope, of restoration. And we'll get through there. And now Ezekiel, God gives Ezekiel many, many different ways of communicating the message that God is trying to say to his people. And it's a very unique, very dramatic way. Ezekiel gets many visions. He gets many visions, powerful, dramatic, very detailed visions. He gets told to do some kind of outlandish things, honestly. For example, the first thing he gets told to do is build a city out of bricks, like a model city, and to represent the siege that was going to happen from the surrounding enemy cities of Jerusalem, that they were going to come in and destroy Jerusalem and capture God's people. He was told to lay on his side for 390 days. 390 days. And then again on the other side for 40. And this represents the amount of years, the time frame of God's people and their disobedience and time stepping away from the Lord. He was told that he was going to have to make his bread out of a mixture, a combination of different grains and things that wouldn't have tasted good, and eat in very small rations. And this represented the types of food that the Israelites were going to be eating in exile from these enemy cities. And then also the small portions represented the famine that was going to be coming during this time of exile, the time where the Israelites were in Babylon. And he was told to cook his food a certain way. Some of you are chuckling because you know exactly what I'm talking about. God told Ezekiel, I want you to make your food, I want you to cook it over human dung. Hold the phone. Human feces. Okay. And he's like, okay, tie me up. I gotta lay on my side. That's fine. No big deal. Make a model city, no big deal, that's fine. And then when he said, You're gonna make your food over human feces, Ezekiel says, Hold the phone, God. He actually speaks up here. All the other stuff, he stays quiet. He speaks up. And he's like, wait a minute. Now I haven't defiled myself ever. Anything and everything that's ever gone into me has been clean. I've kept your word, I've kept your law. Why do you got to do this to me? And God says, okay, fine. We'll make it cow dung. You know, I mean, I guess that's better, right? Okay. So anyway, so he's got to cook this over cow dung, right? Another thing that God told Ezekiel that he was going to have to do was shave his head. And rem remember, Ezekiel's a priest, a prophet at this time. Prophets didn't, priests didn't shave. That was a no-no. And God's telling him, You're gonna you're gonna shave your head. And I want you to take a third of your hair, and I want you to chop it up with a sword. And you're gonna take another third and it's gonna be thrown into the fire. And I want you to take another third and let it be scattered in the wind. And I want you to take the final third and I want you to put it in your belt. And that was to represent that a third being chopped up, that some of God's people were gonna die by the sword. And some were gonna die by the fire. And some were just gonna be scattered. But the some that you're kind of talking about, that's a remnant. Those are my people. After all the destruction, after all the chaos, after all the crazy, I'm still, they're still gonna be my people. And of course, Ezekiel had tons of visions, right? These were physical acts. These were almost like, if you will, I don't want to degrade this because this came from God to Ezekiel, what he was supposed to do, but it's almost like street theater, right? These are the things that he had him literally act out. And there's there's many more. And I want to encourage you to get into the book of Ezekiel yourself and read this. It's really good because frankly, we just don't have time to go through every little thing tonight. But some of the visions, the very first, right off the bat in chapter one, it starts off with a vision that God gives Ezekiel, and it's the temple in Jerusalem. And in fact, it's this amazing, beautiful image, and Ezekiel describes it so beautifully, and it's like a human-like figure, not a human, but human-like, and just beautiful, gleaming with like a belt of fire. And he's sitting on a throne, and the throne is held up by these magnificent creatures. I mean, just there's four of them, four angels, okay? And they've got several sets of wings, two stretching out, touching each other, two to cover their body. And they had four faces, one like a human, one like a lion, one like an eagle, and then an ox. And there were wheels on the sides of these angels. And I'm just so you know, I'm paraphrasing, this is this is like this book condensed, just so you I'm sure you all know that already. But again, there's these wheels, and and Ezekiel explains these wheels as wheels within wheels, and on the wheels there were eyes, and wherever the spirit went, they went. And this was some would say like a chariot, okay? So we've got these four wheels, these four figures carrying this throne, and Ezekiel sees it leaving the temple, leaving Jerusalem. And that was obviously God's presence leaving Jerusalem. Leaving. God had had enough of Jerusalem, of his people turning their back on him. He had had enough of the idolatry, he had had enough again of them just blatantly turning their back. And Ezekiel, we can break this down into three parts, as I already began. The first part, judgment on Israel, and that's chapters four through twenty four. And then the second part is judgment on the surrounding nations. That's chapters 25 through 32. And then finally, the third part is hope and restoration. Hope and restoration. This is heavy, it starts off heavy, but it gets better. I promise. I promise. So Ezekiel has these visions and they're powerful, and there's more to it again. I'm just I'm just paraphrasing. But he has these visions and he sees God leaving. And at first he's kind of confused, but then it comes to him later that okay, God has left. His presence, his glory has left the temple. So what now? The people of Israel living in exile, God is telling Ezekiel, I need you to tell them these things. I need you to tell them about the doom that's coming, about the judgment that's coming, about my wrath, because I'm thoroughly ticked off. Thoroughly. And I need you to tell them, and guess what? They're not gonna listen to you. It's kind of like the call we have as parents. Hey, you got these little humans, and I need you to tell them things, and guess what? They're not gonna listen to you. Anyways, sorry, bad joke. But I love my kids, I really do, they're amazing. But regardless, they're not gonna listen to you, Ezekiel, because they didn't listen to me. And they haven't for quite some time now. And it's time, it's time for judgment. It's time for judgment. And so, Ezekiel, of course, he goes and he does all of these things. He's obedient, he follows the Lord's instructions, he does exactly verbatim what the Lord tells him to do, and of course, of course, Israel doesn't listen. While there are some living in Babylon, there were still some Israelites living in Jerusalem. And during the time that they were there, they were continuing to live in sin. Continue, they brought idols into the temple courthouse, into the courtyard. They brought it as far as into the temple itself. I mean, what a mockery. God won't be mocked. The Bible tells us that they brought these idols in to God's holy place, his temple, where he chose to set up and dwell, to tabernacle with his people. And they brought in these foreign gods, these foreign idols. So God had had enough. But again, like I said, that's that's not where it ends. That's not where it ends. It doesn't end in just doom and gloom and judgment. Now, about 25 years into the exile, sure enough, the Babylonians come back, they attack the city, and they destroy the temple. The temple is completely decimated, brought, just leveled, done, no more temple. And you could just imagine how God's people felt completely alone, forsaken, broken. God gives Ezekiel a vision. He takes him to this valley, and it's a bunch of dry bones, just a dry, desolate place, desert-like, and nothing but bones, just scattered. And he says, Ezekiel, can these bones live? I love Ezekiel's answer because he's you know God. Because you say no, God's gonna be like, oh yeah? Or if you say yes, he'll be like, oh yeah. So he just says, You know, you know God. You know the answer. Why you know? It's like Ezekiel, I want you to speak to these bones. I want you to speak to these dry bones. And sure enough, Ezekiel speaks the words of the Lord over those bones, and they start to move, and they start to shake, and they start to assemble. And God told him, You're gonna see muscle, and you're gonna see skin, and you're gonna see flesh, and you're gonna see those dry bones come back to life. And so Ezekiel is obedient and he speaks, and those bones start to come back to life. But now they're just kind of standing there, these almost zombie-like, just just bag of bones, just flesh and bones, standing there. And God says, I need you to speak to them. The breath, that same breath that I breathed into Adam and Eve in the garden, that breath of life. Speak that over them. And so he does, and sure enough, what was once dead, dry, desolate bones is now an army, ready for battle. And that's just a beautiful, beautiful picture of what God is doing this this whole time. It's these people who had turned their back on the Lord. Mind you, they turned their back, he never turned his. I think that's super important that we we grasp that. They turned their back, he never, he never turned his back on them. And he gave them warning after warning after warning, and they paid no attention. And so God did what he said he was gonna do, he followed through. But again, there's hope. There's always hope. The end of this story. The third part, hope and restoration, from chapters 33 to 38. Ezekiel has another vision, and this time, this time, it's of a new temple, and it's beautiful, and it's built, and he sees that same vision of that image, that person, that human-like thing on a throne coming back this time to the temple. And he comes back and he makes his home and he dwells there in the temple. And it goes on to say there's so many details to this. Again, we just can't get into it too much, but one I want to point out is that it talks about a river flowing from the temple in this vision. When God was seated back in his place, back in his throne, there was a river that started up water just flowing, and it got deeper and it got deeper, and it got wider, and it got Longer and on the sides of the river, life started springing up where it was once a desert and a desolated place, just completely ruined, brought to ruin, is now thriving and coming to life. Yet again, because our God takes what we think is dead, he takes what we think is gone, and he speaks or he breathes over it, and it can come back to life. And that's what he does for his people. That's what he did in Ezekiel. And in Ezekiel chapters, excuse me, Ezekiel chapter 48, verse 35. The second sentence, because again, there's so many details. And there it there's a lot there, and it's very important. I don't want to just skip over it as if it's not, but for time's sake, the very last sentence, and the name of the city from that time on shall be the Lord is there. So in a time where Israel, God's people, thought that God had forsaken them, thought that God was nowhere to be seen, he was there. He always has been. And the whole point of Jehovah's Shamma, the Lord is there. The whole point, it's the whole point of the gospel, really. It's about relationship. It's about relationship between this creator God and his creation. This righteous ruling king and his subjects. This amazing father and his children. It always has been from the very beginning, from the garden with Adam and Eve, where it all started. God walked with Adam and Eve. He walked with them. He was with them. The Lord was there. The Lord was with his people when they were fleeing from Egypt. And the temple then, the tabernacle then was mobile. It was a tent. But the Lord was there. He was with them. He was with them in the desert. He was with them in the good times. He was with them in the bad times. He was with Abraham. He was with Isaac, he was with Jacob. He was with David. When David was just a little shepherd boy out in the field, the Lord was there. When he was running for his life from King Saul in the caves, the Lord was there. When he was finally sitting on his throne, the Lord was there with him. The Lord was with Daniel in the den with those lions. He was there. He was with those three in the furnace. He was there. He was with all the other kings and all the other prophets and all the other judges all through the Old Testament. He was there. The Lord was there. And then in the New Testament, when Jesus steps on the scene, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. God incarnate in his son as a man dwelt with us. He was there. He was with his disciples. He was there in the upper room. The Lord was there when the spirit fell. And he told everyone, he said, I'm going to leave you, but I'm going to give you my spirit. And the Lord's there. And he was with Stephen, the first martyr, as Stephen was being stoned to death, and he looked up and the heavens opened up. The Lord was there. He was with Saul on the road to Damascus, where that amazing transformation happened. Where Saul became Paul. The Lord was there. And you see where I'm going with this? The Lord was there in the beginning. He'll be there at the end. And he's here now. And he's with you now. You see, in 1 Corinthians, if you have your Bibles, you can go ahead and turn there. I'll give you a second, because honestly, I need a second. 1 Corinthians 3.16 helps to tell you exactly where, right? 1 Corinthians 3.16. Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. Paul's talking to the church in Corinth, right? This is Paul's letter to the Corinthians. And I believe in this context, he's talking to the church as a whole. He's saying, You church, you are now the temple. You're where I dwell now. It's no longer a physical building, it's you. Because when Jesus stepped on the scene, he was the final sacrifice. We know this. He was it. There was no need for that anymore. Now you're it. In 2 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 16. Again, Paul writing to the Corinthians. Actually, sorry, I'm going to start in verse 14. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for that partnership has righteousness, or excuse me, for what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belil? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said, I will make my dwelling place among them, and I will walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst and separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing. Then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. It's powerful. That's powerful. We, church, we are that temple. We are now the dwelling place where God can live and walk among. That if if we are that temple, do we act like it? Do we act like the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Creator God, is is here on the daily? Do we live like that? Does the world see us as that? What idols have we brought in to this temple? What idols have we brought into the courts and into the temple ourselves? What needs to be rid? Gone. Destroyed. Something to think about. And if you're not sure, ask the Lord. Ask the Holy Spirit. He'll tell you. He'll reveal it to you. He'll show you what idols have gotten in the way of our relationship with Him. But don't forget, Jehovah Shama, the Lord is there. He's with you. He's with us. That's powerful. That's powerful. I'm going to end with this, with this prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, I just thank you. I thank you that you're there. God, I thank you that you are our provider. You are our peace. You are our healer. Our righteousness, our sanctification. And God, you are there. You are with us. From the very beginning to the very end, in everything in between, you desire to be with us. And that we are so grateful for, Lord. And Lord, I pray that we would act as your temple. That you would search our hearts, Lord. Search us, know us. Reveal to us what needs to leave. And help us, Lord. Help us be the light, be the soul that you've called us to be. Lord, we love you and we thank you. And we thank you for your word. God, I pray that we would continue to just dive into it, know it more. In Jesus' name. We thank you and we love you. Amen. Are you?