"Your name, O Lord, endures forever; and your memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations." (Psalm 135:13)
That God's name endures forever, needs no argument for anyone who believes that there is a God. His name is Jehovah, the One who is and the One who will be. When Moses wished a name to take with him as evidence that he had been authorized to bring Israel out of Egypt, the Lord said to him, "I AM that I AM: and He said, Thus shall you say unto the children of Israel, I AM has sent me unto you." (Exodus 3:14)
And then, after showing that as I AM He was the same God that the fathers had known Him to be, He added, "This is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations." (Exodus 3:15)
God IS. That is His name. The words I AM that I AM, which God gives as His name, are exactly the same as Jehovah. He is, and therefore He has been and will be. All time, past, present, and future, is present to Him. Eternity is always now. Because God is, therefore everything else is.
God's name is in Christ, for the only begotten Son had it by inheritance; and: "He is before all things, and in Him all things consist." (Colossians 1:17,RV)
His name itself implies that He is Creator. The memorial of God must necessarily be something that tends to keep His name and character in mind. "The Lord is good: sing praises unto His name; for it is pleasant. ... For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did He in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places. He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightnings for the rain; He brings the wind out of His treasuries." (Psalm 135:3,5-7)
Note that this language occurs only a little before the statement that the Lord's name endures for ever, and His memorial unto all generations. "Your name, O Lord, endures forever; and your memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations." (Psalm 135:13)
The fact that the Lord is Creator is that which distinguishes Him from all false, pretended gods. It is that which shows Him to be God. It is therefore really His name. "The Lord is the true God, He is the living God, and an everlasting King. ... The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens by His discretion. When He utters His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightnings with rain, and brings forth the wind out of His treasures." (Jeremiah 10:10-13)
Note the similarity of language to that of the psalm from which we have quoted. God is known by His works. "That which may be known of God is manifest [even unto the most benighted heathen]; for God has showed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even His everlasting power and Divinity; so that they are without excuse." (Romans 1:19-20)
His memorial therefore is in reality His works. He would have His people declare unto their children "His strength, and the wonderful works that He has done. ... That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should rise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments." (Psalm 78:4,6-7)
It is necessary to keep the works of God in mind, for by them we gain the victory over sin. "You, Lord, have made me glad through your work: I will triumph in the works of your hands." (Psalm 92:4)
The reason why there is so much sin in the world is that men do not think upon the works of God's hands. If they would consider His great works, they would be filled with a sense of their own insignificance, and of their dependence upon His might, "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man, that You are mindful of him? and the son of man, that You visit him?" (Psalm 8:3-4) and would yield themselves to Him, for Him to guide and keep them in His ways.
Because men are so prone to forget the works of God, so apt to become absorbed in themselves so as not to see the things that are before their eyes, God has made a memorial for His wonderful works. "The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is honorable and glorious; and His righteousness endures for ever. He has made His wonderful works to be remembered: the Lord is gracious and full of compassion." (Psalm 111:2-4)
This last verse, "He has made His wonderful works to be remembered," is literally, "He has made a memorial for His wonderful works."
One translation has it, "He has appointed a memorial for His wonderful works," and another, "He has provided that His wonderful work should be remembered."
He has not only set His works before the eyes of all people, even performing them before their eyes, but in order that there might not be a shadow of an excuse for forgetting Him, He has above all made a memorial for His works,--something that if kept, cannot fail to fix the attention of men to what He has done for them in His mercy and compassion. What is this memorial? Here are His own words: "Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them." (Ezekiel 20:12) "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall you labor, and do all your work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God: in it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." (Exodus 20:8-11)
This is the Lord's memorial, which shall endure. If the Sabbath of the Lord, the seventh day of the week, the only day that God has ever given to commemorate His wonderful works, had always been kept, there would never have been a heathen on the face of the earth. "Be still, and know that I am God," (Psalm 46:10) says the Lord. In the rush of business, men forget everything but themselves. They act as though there were no God, and their existence depended wholly on themselves.
This would not be the case if they had regular periods for meditating on the works of the Lord, remembering that He alone is great, and that everything exists in Him. This would keep them humble, and through the week they would labor with reference to Him, and not as though the world belonged to them, and depended upon them. In all their ways they would acknowledge Him, and He would direct their paths. "In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." (Proverbs 3:6)
The Sabbath stillness is the time for men to acquire that knowledge of God which will keep them sensible of their dependence on Him through all the other days. His memorial endures through all generations. Let us ever keep it, as a precious reminder of Him who has put His own life into His works for our sakes, so that we may also endure throughout eternity.--Present Truth, October 19, 1899--Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons--Psalm 135:3-7,13.