WHAT'S IN A NAME?

When our first child was born, my wife, Terry, and I had not yet been converted to Christianity.  We were both very young, having been married the summer after we graduated from high school.  On the night that Terry went into labor we were still unclear about what we were going to name our new child.  At that time, there were no ultrasound images to reveal the gender of the child, and the fathers were not allowed in the labor or delivery room to support their wives.  So, I was delegated to a waiting room and anxious to hear any news of what was happening with my wife.  As I waited, I picked up a Reader's Digest condensed book that contained the story of Christopher Columbus' life and the discovery of the New World.  When the nurse came to inform me that I was the father of a healthy baby boy, I was overjoyed, and couldn't wait to see my new son and his mama.  While Terry and I were admiring our boy, it suddenly came to me what we should call him Christopher.  Of course I was influenced by the book I was reading, but the name seemed perfect, and Terry agreed.

 

About a year and a half after Chris was born, he became very sick and couldn't keep anything in his stomach.  He was running a high fever also, and was becoming dehydrated rapidly.  We had our family doctor check him, and he admitted him into the hospital immediately.  While there, he continued to go downhill; and we became very concerned for him.  An old friend of ours had a sister who he said believed in the power of prayer, and she had seen people healed as a result of her prayers. Terry called our friend and asked if he would contact his sister for us and have her pray for Chris.  We came very close to losing our son during that period, but we believe it was the prayers that ultimately brought about his recovery.  This episode marked the beginning of our search for Christ, and within a couple of months, Terry and I both had been born again.

 

At some point, I had looked up the meaning of the name "Christopher," and was surprised to find that it meant "Christ bearer."  Truly, this little boy was the means that God used to bring us to Christ.  The choice of his name never seemed coincidental after that.

 

Names in the Bible are often very significant.  The most significant names of all, however, are the name of God and that of His Son.The name "Jesus" in the Greek language (from which our English versions of the New Testament are translated), is the same as the name "Joshua" in the original Hebrew language (which the Old Testament is translated from).  The meaning of these names is therefore the same, which is, "Jehovah is salvation."  "Christ," on the other hand, simply means "anointed," as does "Messiah." This wasa designator added to the Lord's name to separate Him from any other Joshua or Jesus of His day.  Jesus Christ, Jesus the Christ, or Jesus the Messiah, just meant "Jesus the Anointed." 

 

There is nothing coincidental about Jesus' name.  The meaning of His name reveals the very essence of the gospel.  It speaks to the heart of the Christian faith.  The thought that Jehovah (God) is salvation is foreign to any other religion.  Other religions require their adherents to perform many rituals and works in order to attain salvation.  Christianity rejects all of man's efforts to "measure up," and, instead, substitutes the life of Christ as the means to achieve salvation and righteousness.  Itdoesn’t even have anything to do with mytrying to be righteous with God's help. It’s all about God through Christ Jesus becomingmy salvation.  “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; He also is become my salvation.” (Isaiah 12:2).The distinction lies in the trying as opposed to the being.  Trying puts the emphasis on my ability to serve, while beingis only dependant on my believing.Trying implies some dubious results because it is still based on my performance - maybe I will succeed, and maybe I won't.  If God is my salvation, though, I either believe it, or I don't.  Salvation is, after all, the act of being saved.  It is letting God work in us to achieve His righteousness.  If we could manage it ourselves, then a savior is unnecessary. God gave Israel the Law, along with hundreds of years to practice it.  They failed miserably time and time again.  In the fullness of time, He sent His Son to reveal the path of salvation and they rejected Him as their Savior in favor of the same old thing that hadn’t worked for them yet.

 

Jesus said, "Why callest thou Me good?  There is none good but One, that is, God." (Mark 10:18).Even the Savior realized that all His goodness issued from His heavenly Father.  He said, "The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do,"and "I can of Mine own self do nothing."(John 5:19,30).His power came from being one with the Father.  Our power comes from being one with Christ.  We are told in Philippians that “…it is God who is at work within you, giving you the will and the power to achieve his purpose.” (Philippians 2:13 Philips).

 

The principle of God being our salvation is abundant throughout scripture.  Consider these verses:

 

·        "The LORD is my strength and song, and He is become my salvation." (Exodus 15:2).

·        "He also shall be my salvation."(Job 13:16).

·        "The LORD is my light and my salvation."(Psalm 27:1).

·        "He only is my rock and my salvation." (Psalm 62:2).

·        "In God is my salvation and my glory." (Psalm 62:7).

·        "I will praise thee: for Thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation."(Psalm 118:21).

 

Is it any wonder that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that He is Lord of lords, and King of kings?  The Prophet declared that men would call Him Wonderful, Councilor, Prince of Peace, the Mighty God, and Immanuel (God with us).When Peter and John encountered the lame man at the gate of the temple, Peter said to him, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.”  Later, Peter explained the power behind the miracle by saying, “His [Jesus’] name through faith in His name hath made this man strong [or whole].”  We, too, can rise up by faith in the mighty name of Jesus and overcome everything that would defeat us.  We can be made strong and whole when we learn to call on the name of the Lord in faith!

 

"And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is His name? what shall I say unto them?And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is My name for ever, and this is My memorial unto all generations."(Exodus 3:13-15).

 

When Moses encountered God on the backside of the wilderness of Sinai, he asked Him what name he should use when the children of Israel asked who had sent him to them.  The name by which God referred to Himself was, in the Hebrew,"hayaw," I AM THAT I AM.  This name has been interpreted in various ways such as "I am what I am," "I will be what I will be," "I am Who I am," and "I am He that is."Regardless of how scholars choose to literally translate God's name, the meaning behind it is clear.  God is!  He has always existed, and He will always be.  He lives in a timeless eternity where hours, minutes, and seconds are irrelevant, and where days and millennia are the same.  Because He has no beginning and no ending, it is enough to know that He is.  Later, we find the introduction of the name "Yahweh," or "Jehovah," which means "the existing One."

 

The name I AM suggests that God is a God of the present.  He operates in the here and now, "For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."  (2 Corinthians 6:2)  We humans are too often consumed by the past and petrified by the future.  We let past experience dictate present action - or reaction.  We become crippled in life because we can't let go of a slight, a mistreatment, a heartache, or an abuse.  By doing so we think that we are hurting the ones who have harmed us when, in reality, we are only hurting ourselves.  Christ tells us to forgive others: not to excuse their wrong, but in order to heal our spirit.We must overcome evil with good, not be overcome by the evil ourselves.  Holding on to the past is one of the surest ways to miss God in the present.And, contrary to conventional thinking, experience does not equal wisdom; wisdom comes from an intimate relationship with the One Who is wisdom.

 

Our past also influences our future.  Many folks miss God's leading today because they have experienced failure or ridicule in the past, and are afraid to step out lest they fail again.  They are crippled by the seeming uncertainties of the future.  They allow the "what ifs" to force them into inaction, "If I do this, what if this or that happens?"  Others are so busy making plans and goals for the future that they have trouble hearing from God today because His plans might just interfere with theirs.  Funny isn't it.  We spend so much of our lives in the past and the future that we miss God in the now. 

 

Jesus shocked and angered the Jews of His time by identifying Himself with the Father when He said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I Am."  (John 8:58)  In this He revealed His timelessness and oneness with God.  He was not bound by the limits of a fleshly body, but was truly without beginning and without end.  His time on earth was just a pilgrimage: abiding for a time in a “tent” of flesh and blood until His Father’s purpose was fulfilled and He could sit down at His right hand.  He is therefore an ever present help in time of trouble.  Jesus amplified His position as the I AM with seven great I AM revelations - He said I AMthe Bread of Life, I AM the Light of the Word, I AM the Door, I AM the Good Shepherd, I AM the Way, the Truth, the Life, I AM the Resurrection & the Life, and I AM the True Vine. (John 6:35; 8:12; 10:9,11; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1,5)  Isn't it time that we quit living in the past, fearing the future, and missing the present?  Instead, let's learn to live in victory and harmony in the present with the great I AM!

I AM

 

I was regretting the past
And fearing the future...
Suddenly my Lord was speaking:
“MY NAME IS I AM.” He paused.

I waited. He continued,
“When you live in the past,
With its mistakes and regrets,
It is hard. I am not there.
My name is not I was.

“When you live in the future,
with its problems and fears,
it is hard. I am not there.
My name is not I will be.

“When you live in this moment,
It is not hard.
I am here.
My name is I am.”

-Helen Mallicoat