THE NAME OF GOD

Many times I listened to sermons of pastors or read books that are meant to enlighten us about Jesus and the role he played in the revelation of God to men, but I always seem to come away feeling disappointed.  I realize that one cannot preach or teach on something that they themselves do not fully understand and probably no one truly fully understands the intimate relationship between Jesus and God.  But this is not an excuse for us to not search scripture for the fullness of truth on the matter.

In some cases the further we develop our knowledge the better our understanding becomes, but sometimes the more knowledgeable we become the less that we truly understand.  In my own personal search for truth I thought it might be better to try to understand Jesus from the point of view of a contemporary Jew who made up Jesus’ intimate audience.  What would a Jew think about Jesus when he said the things he said about himself?  What would they think when he performed miracles and even forgave sins?  Now I’m not talking here about the self-righteous Jews called Pharisees, but about those who really wanted to follow Jesus and understand him.  I think that if we can get into their mindset of such a person, we will able to understand Jesus’ relationship with God in a much deeper, meaningful manner than using old theological terms that were developed much later by those trying to justify their spiritual understanding with philosophers.

To begin our study we accept that God has always revealed himself to man from the moment of creation.  Even creation itself is an act of revelation.  But what is important here is not a general knowledge of God, but an intimate one.  When God wanted to reveal himself personally he did so using the name “Yahweh.”  Some of you may better recognize this name in another form “Jehovah.”  Most theologians today believe that Yahweh is a more accurate translation of the name of God so I’ll stick with that one.  Many Bible editors chose to use LORD in all uppercase as a substitute for God’s name to avoid controversy.  You can, however, find Jehovah used in the American Standard Version. The main point that I want to make here is that there was an actual name associated to God.

If we take the time to study how God revealed himself using this name, we can see that there was a progressive development that took place according to the scriptures of the Old Testament. These names reveal some very interesting qualities of God. Some revelations of God under this name are Provider, Healer, Banner, Sanctifier, Peace, Righteousness, Shepherd, Presence, and LORD of Hosts.

So, the Jews during the time of Christ were very much aware of the importance of God’s name and what it revealed.  Once we understand this we can see how through this name God developed a profile of himself that was to be later fulfilled in his revelation of Christ. 

The final revelation of God’s name is found in the name JESUS, which means “Yahweh (Jehovah) Our Salvation.”  So in the person of Christ we have the culmination of all the previous qualities of God revealed in his name fulfilled in the final revelation of Yahweh as Jesus. 

Why is this important and what can we gain from this understanding?  It is important because it teaches us that the name of Jesus is a derivation of the name Yahweh (Jehovah) and therefore, the name of Jesus must be given the same respect and authority as the name Yahweh.  We can see this when we read through the New Testament and observe how the disciples used the name Jesus with that same authority as well as how the Pharisees negatively reacted when the disciples called upon the name of Jesus for healing and salvation.

  Romans 10:13 (KJV)
¹³  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Interestingly, we can see this exact same verse applied in the Old Testament to the name Yahweh:

Joel 2:32 (NKJV)
³²  And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD (Yahweh) Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the LORD has said, Among the remnant whom the LORD calls.

It is very clear that Joel’s prophecy predicted a time when people would call upon God’s name for salvation.  And according to Peter there is only one name, Jesus, that has the authority to save.

Acts 4:10-12 (KJV)
¹² “. . . .for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

And if you are not convinced by those verses compare Isaiah 45 to Philippians 2

Isaiah 45:22-23 (KJV)
²²  Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
²³  I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

Philippians 2:10-11 (KJV)
¹⁰  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
¹¹  And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

What we can gain from this is an understanding that God has become all things to us.  When we call upon the name Jesus we are calling upon God in the form of the most intimate revelation of him that exists.

Because of the unity of the name of God between Yahweh and Jesus the identity of Jesus cannot be separated from God himself nor can God be separated from Jesus.  This means that the God of the Old Testament is not a different God in any sense, but an unfinished revelation that would finally be fulfilled in the birth and death of Jesus.  So now you know why the name of Jesus was so very important to Peter, Paul, John, and the rest of the disciples.  I hope that now it will be more important and meaningful to you as well.