SO, WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Did you ever have the experience of the Holy Spirit urging you to read a certain passage of scripture, only you didn’t want to do it? Of course, obedience leads to blessing, but there is something in our stubborn flesh that resists. One morning some years ago, I had that experience. As I sat over my cup of tea thinking of what I would LIKE to read, somewhere in the back of my mind I heard “read Genesis”. It’s not that I don’t like Genesis, in fact, the more times I read it the more precious it becomes. But at the time, I didn’t enjoy it because of the “begats”. Those names seem to go on and on, name after name that no one can pronounce and none of them sparked an interest in my mind. It reminded me of a long tunnel full of rocks! But I took a deep breath, opened my Bible to page one and dove in on a familiar trail… “In the beginning…”

At Genesis 4:31, “…then men began to call upon the name of the Lord”, I was stopped in my tracks. (Whew! Just before the begats!”) My head popped up out of that tunnel and I had a sudden need to know more. NOW men began to call on His name? Who had they called on before? And, what does it mean to “call” on His name? In the Hebrew dictionary I found the first answser, to call (qara) upon the Lord means to meet face to face. The literal meaning is to accost, but it implies a very personal, connected encounter. Did the fall break the connection with the Lord that Adam had in the garden? Had Adam failed to know God on a personal level?

Looking at Genesis chapters 1 and 2, I found that Elohim and Adonai Elohim were the only names used for God. That name implied referring to a distant, relatively impersonal being. So what changed? First, the fall and banishment from Eden, then the loss of two sons must have been devastating for Adam and Eve, knowing that Cain killed Abel and then Cain was sent away by God to wander in the earth as a nomad. I can see how it would be hard to get close to God. But then Seth was born and Adam and Eve must have realized that even in their fallen state God could bless them and restore what was lost. It seems that this event opened the door for a much more intimate relationship with their Creator. They began to use God’s personal name, Yehovah or Yehweh (that’s another ferret trail)! The picture would be like calling a distant dignitary by his title… Mr. Mayor. But once a personal relationship is established and you get to know this person intimately by spending time with him, you call him by His given name. It is a sign of close, personal connection. Just think of it, God, the Creator of the universe, so loved this fallen man that He began to reveal His heart and nature to him in such a personal way that men could call Him by name. Woop! Little ferret dance, here… 

Stop! Another ferret question… What IS in a name? I was off and running again with a need to know. Because naming was important to God, it was important to me. Right there in Genesis chapter 1, I saw it! God began to name his creation as soon as it was made. He called the light day and the darkness He called night. He called the firmament heaven and the dry land He called earth. In Psalms we see that God named all the stars and He remembers them! Right? He created and then He named. In fact, after creating His man, He called Him Adam and declared that he would have dominion and authority over all living things on the earth. He placed his man in the garden and Adam’s first job was to name everything. Why did He call man, Adam, and why was naming the first act after creation? See how this ferret thing works? One tunnel leads to another!
Now I am running through writings on the psychology of naming! To name something is to take authority and ownership over it. We name our kids and our pets (definitely not our neighbor’s pets and kids!) because we are taking authority and ownership over them. Thus, God insisted that Adam name all creatures on the earth since He gave him dominion and authority over them. (Side trail! Did you know that we call each other names in an attempt to “lord” ourselves over another or to put ourselves in a higher place of authority? No wonder we say name calling is a “put down”. Hum! )

A name embodies character, nature and reputation. It includes all that a person is, does and has. Let’s look at the name of the first man. When God named him ADAM and it wasn’t just an appellation. The Hebrew meaning of ADAM is mankind. Why is that? Well, the Hebrew name is a play on words. Aw dawm’ (Hebrew pronunciation) means red or ruddy clay. The word doma or dom, which is in the word Adam, means blood. So here is the picture… a ruddy clay vessel containing blood. That describes all of mankind! Another reason his name was “mankind” is that he had the seed of all the generations of humanity in his loins, male and female. And the last reason for naming him Adam, or Mankind, was that God was taking authority over all humanity as a Father takes authority over His children. Cool, huh?

Back into the Old Testament and now, I was looking for God’s personal names. I discovered that every time He blessed His people in some way He would reveal another part of His nature in His name. My favorites are: Yehweh Nissi – The God of our deliverance and victory, Yehweh Jireh – The God of our prosperity, Yehweh Rophe – The God of our healing, Yehweh Shalom – The God of our complete peace, everything set right with nothing missing and nothing broken. What an awesome picture of the God we serve! He IS all things to us.

I kept running until I bumped into Psalm 91:14-16 and I almost did a double back flip as I popped up out of that tunnel! Talk about a “twist and shout” celebration dance! Woohoo! Oh my… let me explain. Check this out:

Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore I will
deliver him: I will set him on high because he hath KNOWN
MY NAME. He shall call on me and I will answer him in
trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him. With long life
will I satisfy him and SHOW HIM MY SALVATION.

Are you ready???? In Hebrew the word for salvation is YESHUA! In the Greek that is JESUS! Down into my lexicon I went, looking for “Yeshua”. I discovered an amazing treasure! “Ye” is a short form of God, and “shua”, the root word, means DELIVERED, DEFENDED, PROTECTED, VICTORIOUS, PROSPERED, HEALED AND SET AT ONE WITH NOTHING MISSING AND NOTHING BROKEN, COMPLETE PEACE!!! Do you see it? Every name that God had revealed to His covenant people was in the name of Jesus! He was pointing them to Messiah long before the Word was made flesh. Chair dance!!!

In the middle of my celebration, the thought came… “find the ten commandments”. What? The thought hung in my mind so I checked out Exodus 20. In verse 7, there it was …”Thou shalt not take the NAME of the Lord thy God in vain.” Hum! I went to the lexicon to find “in vain”. My basic understanding was confirmed which was not to use His name in an evil or destructive way. BUT… there was more. It also means in a useless, powerless or careless manner. OMG! The Holy Spirit showed me the thousands of prayers I had concluded with “in Jesus’ name, Amen.” I was, carelessly and uselessly using His name as a punctuation mark at the end of my prayers! I hadn’t discerned the true meaning of His name and what that name meant to the strength of my prayers. I had been missing out on the power and the increased faith that comes with the knowledge of His name! Bummer! 

[Note: God wasn’t looking for an apology here! No! He wanted to change the way I think! He wanted to take me from where I was to a higher understanding and a more powerful walk with Him. That’s true of all our missteps. ]

Now the quest was to find out how to use Jesus’ name in the right way. Jesus had a lot to say about it, actually. I found a key verse in John 14:12-14 (The Amplified Bible):

“I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly
believes in Me, he will himself be able to do the things that I
do; and even greater things than these, because I go to the Father.
And I will do [I myself will grant] whatever you ask in My Name
[as representing all that I AM]. So that the Father may be
glorified and extolled in (through) the Son. [Yes] I will grant
[I Myself will do for you] whatever you shall ask in My Name [as
representing all that I AM].”

Sometimes the smallest words are the most powerful. The word “in” actually means “WITHIN”. So Jesus was saying everything that is within His name He will do for us if we ask Him! Whoa! He has given us power of attorney to withdraw, from within His name, all the blessings that represent who HE IS. Another important little word is “ask”. In my Lexicon, the Greek, means to make a demand of something due, to call for, require, demand as a right or privilege. So, because we are the body of Christ in the earth, we have the right to call for these blessings in our prayers. We don’t have to beg and hope for the best. Everything within His name is freely given to us. Happy Dance!!!! Woop, Woop!!!

Although references to His name are numerous in the New Testament, I want to share this one because it speaks to our confidence in prayer. I John 5:13-15 says:

“These things have I written to you that BELIEVE ON
THE NAME of the Son of God; that you may know that you
have eternal life, and that you may believe on THE NAME OF THE SON OF GOD. And this is the confidence that we have,
in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will,
He hears us; And if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we
ask, we know that we have the petitions we ask of Him.”

Do you ever wonder what God’s will is in your circumstances? Well, it’s in His name!!! Whatsoever is in His name, He has provided for us. John says that knowing His name gives us the confidence to ask, believing we will receive whatever is in His name. Jesus, Himself promised to do those things for us if we ask Him. OMG! Now, that’s a treasure worth the ferret trip! God desires to have the opportunity to SHOW US HIS YESHUA! AMEN!!!! Woop, woop! Ferret dance! 