His Name Is A Strong Tower
“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” - Exodus 20:7
The name of God is not a trivial matter. It is not a punchline to make your jokes land harder, nor a curse to hurl when the car ahead cuts you off, nor a hollow filler to pad the silence when your tongue cannot bear stillness. The name of God is the weight of His glory compressed into syllables; it is the radiance of His character bound in sound. His name is His reputation, His essence, His power. It carries the thunder of Sinai and the tenderness of Calvary. It is not merely what we call Him—it is who He is. As Solomon declares, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it and is safe” (Proverbs 18:10). This means that not only God Himself, but His very name, is our refuge. His name is our fortress. His name is our security. Therefore, to take His name in vain is not a small slip of the tongue—it is treason against Heaven, a siege upon the very fortress built to shield your soul.
Think of a man in the financial world. If his name carries integrity—if he has proven faithful, diligent, and trustworthy—his name opens doors. He can buy homes, build businesses, and borrow capital because his name is good. His reputation is his currency. But when that name is marred by deceit, fraud, or scandal, the same name becomes poison. His credit collapses. His opportunities dry up. The signature that once secured him safety now seals his ruin.
So it is when the name of God is mishandled. His name is not a disposable sound in the syntax of your speech; it is the charter of Heaven, the signature that secures every covenant and underwrites the entire moral order of the cosmos. To misuse it is not a minor clerical error—it is spiritual fraud. When you lace your profanity with His holiness, you are embezzling His glory for your own vanity. When you invoke His majesty to endorse your lies, you are forging the divine signature to prop up deceit. When you wear His name publicly but deny Him privately, you are laundering wickedness through the currency of His righteousness. Every careless word becomes a forged check drawn against the infinite treasury of His honor. And with every misuse, you erode your own spiritual credit, collapsing the fortress meant to protect you. To take His name in vain is not merely to break a rule—it is to bankrupt your soul, to assault the strong tower that was built to be your refuge.
Have you treated the name of God as though it were casual—as though His glory could be tossed around in conversation like loose change? Have you ever laughed at His name to sound clever in a crowd, spending holiness for the cheap approval of men? Have you sworn by it to make your lies sound more believable, calling Heaven as witness to your deceit? Have you worn His name as a badge of identity while dragging it through the mud of compromise and hypocrisy? Then listen closely to the divine warning: “The Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain” (Exodus 20:7). The God whose name you have handled lightly will not treat your irreverence lightly. The Judge of all the earth will not allow His signature to be forged without consequence.
But do not imagine that this sin is limited to your speech. You take His name in vain every time you think He cannot forgive you for this sin or that one—which amounts to an accusation that His mercy is insufficient. You take His name in vain when you act like He does not see your sin—denying His omniscience. You take His name in vain when you doubt His love—defaming His maximal goodness. And you take His name in vain when you disbelieve or do not live by His promises—charging the God of truth with falsehood. Every unbelieving thought, every fearful suspicion, every despairing doubt is a silent blasphemy against the God of heaven. To take His name in vain is not merely to profane His title with your tongue—it is to misrepresent His character in your heart, and it is a grievous sin. A sin that God will not leave unpunished.
And if that were not bad enough, every time you profane God’s name, you weaken the walls of protection that could be shielding you. You strip off your armor that you will need in the thick of battle. You discard the only name under heaven that can save you (Acts 4:12). To despise His name is to despise Him and yourself, which is the most foolish activity you could ever participate in. To dishonor His name is to destroy your eternity and to dismantle your present hope.
The Third Commandment is not a law for linguists, as though God were merely policing syllables and sound waves. It is far more searching than a prohibition against saying “Oh my God,” “golly,” or “jeez.” To take His name is to bear it—to wear it publicly on your lips, your life, and your loyalties. When Israel stood trembling at Sinai, they took His name upon themselves as His covenant people. When you passed through the waters of baptism, you did the same, confessing that His name would mark you forever. To take His name in vain, then, is to live as if that covenant never happened—as if you were never drawn out of Egypt’s slavery, never washed clean in redemption’s flood, never summoned by grace into His household. It is not merely mispronouncing His name—it is misrepresenting His nature. It is living like a pagan while carrying the passport of Heaven.
So now I urge you—do not sit hardened beneath His Word. Do not muffle the Spirit’s conviction beneath layers of pride. Do not wait for some imagined tomorrow that may never come. Today—while it is still called today—repent. Confess the ways you have taken the holy name of God and treated it as common. Lay bare before Him your careless laughter, your hollow oaths, your wasted words, your postured worship, your hypocrisy that has dragged His name through the mud of your sin. Plead for mercy from the One whose name you have profaned, and find in Him the forgiveness that alone can cleanse your lips and renew your heart.
And then, come back to that strong tower. Return to the mighty fortress. Run into the name that was meant to save you, strengthen you, and protect you; not to be mocked by you. Reverence His name again. Hallow His name again. Lift it up above your own. For only in honoring His name will you find refuge. Only in exalting His name will you find peace. Only in the strong tower of His name will you find life everlasting.
