Hello Beloved,
As we have taken this journey together in our discussion of God and His being, we have considered topics regarding God’s essence, the concept of the Trinity, and the various attributes that characterize God and His being. Now, we are moving to a new topic of interest, the names of God. You have probably heard the old saying, “What’s in a name?” Well, this statement originated in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare wrote, “What’s in a name? that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” In this statement, Juliet is communicating that the only thing that hinders her from seeing Romeo is his name, Montague. Romeo is who he is. Juliet is saying that the stigma behind the name is not consistent with Romeo’s identity. However, in contrast, the names of God are very important because they tell us exactly who He is in relation to who we are. Let’s break down some of the concepts that surround the importance of God’s names before we jump into their descriptions next year.
We know that a name distinguishes one person from another. From our history, we can discern that names reveal something about a person or thing, at least when it comes to one’s origin. For instance, family names like Smith, Tanner, and Fisher indicated past vocations for specific families. Can you guess the vocations of these three names? The names of cities like Grand Rapids, Big Spring, or Sweet Water also reveal information about a specific location. The names of scientific instruments like microscope, computer, or even voltmeter help us to understand the functionality of these objects. Sometimes things do not equate with their name, which usually causes us to snicker. For instance, it was the Enlightenment thinker, Voltaire, who stated that the kingdom in the middle ages called the Holy Roman Empire was “neither Holy nor Roman, nor an Empire.” I always get a chuckle out of that statement. Or what about oxymorons like “act naturally,” “jumbo shrimp,” “original copy,” “bittersweet,” or “Microsoft words.” All these names cause us to ponder because a name is supposed to communicate something about the object, and conflicting information is not expected when considering why something is named that way it is.
Bible names have great significance. Consider Nabal, whose name means fool, or consider Jesus, as savior, because he came to save His people from their sin. The names of God are very significant as they reveal more of His nature and character, especially in how he relates to humanity. The attributes of God help us to understand what God is like, but His names also accomplish this purpose. It is also important to understand that these names are not mere titles assigned by men but descriptions from God regarding Himself. Every name of God that is used in a specific text of Scripture has a particular meaning for that context, and it reveals how God, in regard to His unchanging character, is active in the affairs of men.
As we finish this introduction to the names of God, I end with a somewhat humorous story about the importance of names. When the 1960s ended, San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district reverted to high rent, and many hippies moved down the coast to Santa Cruz. They had children and got married, too, though in no particular sequence. But they didn't name their children Melissa or Brett. People in the mountains around Santa Cruz grew accustomed to their children playing Frisbee with little Time Warp or Spring Fever. And eventually Moonbeam, Earth, Love and Precious Promise all ended up in public school.
That's when the kindergarten teachers first met Fruit Stand. Every fall, according to tradition, parents bravely apply name tags to their children, kiss them good-bye and send them off to school on the bus. So it was for Fruit Stand. The teachers thought the boy's name was odd, but they tried to make the best of it.
"Would you like to play with the blocks, Fruit Stand?" they offered. And later, "Fruit Stand, how about a snack?" He accepted hesitantly. By the end of the day, his name didn't seem much odder than Heather's or Sun Ray's.
At dismissal time, the teachers led the children out to the buses. "Fruit Stand, do you know which one is your bus?"
He didn't answer. That wasn't strange. He hadn't answered them all day. Lots of children are shy on the first day of school. It didn't matter. The teachers had instructed the parents to write the names of their children's bus stops on the reverse side of their name tags. The teacher simply turned over the tag. There, neatly printed, was the word "Anthony." (Luanne Oleas in Salinas, Calif., Reader's Digest.)
Until next time this is Pastor Daniel writing, “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.”
*Material for this newsletter article are taken from the notes of Jim Smith, Professor of Bible and Theology at Brookes Bible College.