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In the sacred pages of the Bible, God reveals himself through a multitude of names, each carrying profound significance and revealing a facet of his character and nature. These names are more than mere titles; they are gateways to understanding the very nature of the Almighty. Each name carries profound meaning, offering insight into God’s character, love, and purpose for his people.
Delve into the significance and power behind names like Yahweh Tsebaoth, Yahweh Shalom, El Roi, and others to discover how they reveal God’s unwavering presence in your life.
Learn how you can personally connect with God by meditating on his various names, deepening your faith, and enriching your spiritual journey. Explore how these names can transform your prayers and worship, allowing you to draw closer to the One who knows you by name.
I
can always tell how well someone knows
me by how they pronounce my name.
My name is Meaghan, but much of
my life I've been called Megan.
I remember the morning of
my high school graduation.
There was a brunch for the seniors
with the entire faculty of this
really small private school
that I had a scholarship to.
And I had been at that school
for years, but I never really
felt like I belonged there.
I didn't feel wealthy enough,
smart enough, enough enough.
I struggled trying to find my place.
And that morning, I went up to the
headmaster of the school, the one
who's going to be calling us up for our
diplomas, and who could never remember who
I was, and I asked, What's my name, Mr.
Leavenworth?
Because when he did remember it,
he never pronounced it correctly.
And it mattered to me, especially
on that day, that he said, But he
confidently replied, And I walked
away feeling that I was known.
But, when he called my name, two
hours later, he loudly proclaimed,
And everyone who knew me and loved
me, they flinched a little bit.
Although that wasn't as bad as
a close relative who called me
Megan and told her dying day.
She just couldn't understand why
my parents would choose such a
complicated name, and so she took
it upon herself to change it.
So, what's in a name?
Well, it's a name.
Quite a lot actually, and not just
in biblical times, although we're
going to unpack that later on.
Names are important to us
now, in modern culture.
My previous pastor and spiritual
father always told me a name is the
most personal thing anyone owns.
And in 1961, Gordon Alport, who's
one of the founders of personality
psychology, he wrote this.
The most important anchorage
to our self identity throughout
life remains our own name.
Our names are an important
part of our identity.
If someone can't be bothered to
remember another person's name,
to a certain extent, they're
communicating with someone else.
You aren't important
enough to be remembered.
We are embarking on this journey
to discover some of the names of
God, because they are important
enough to be remembered.
Now, not important to God, although I
do think it pleases him when we seek
to know him more, but important to us.
We won't be learning names to call on as
some sort of magical formula with God.
For as theologian Millard Erickson
has written, God, is an end in
himself, not a means to an end.
He is a value to us for what he is in
himself, not merely for what he does.
We're going to begin by looking at a
biblical account, which Interestingly
enough, doesn't reveal a name of God.
But I think it's important to
understand why you and I are
seeking to know God's names.
Why are we here?
Let's come to this
process with authenticity.
Let's bring our own baggage and
Start to unpack it by examining false
beliefs and maybe sneaky lies that
we've woven into our view of God.
Because the future passages that we'll
be studying together reveal a name
of God through a personal encounter.
And that's my deepest desire
for us, a personal encounter.
This is, this is not for us to
be able to know some of God's
names, but to experience God in
the revelation of those names.
Because knowing them isn't meant
to be transactional, just a bunch
of names we call on because we
think they'll get us something.
I would love for us to know, really know,
that His names are powerful whenever
they are uttered by men and women who
are exercising their faith in Him.
And so, the passage we're starting
with today uncovers a lack of faith.
Even though it was professed,
it wasn't lived out.
What was said and what was done,
it wasn't, it didn't line up.
So, we begin together in Genesis 32.
Now, his story begins back in Genesis 25.
So, as you turn to Genesis
32, let me fill you in.
Jacob's father is Isaac,
whose father is Abraham.
And they are known as the
patriarchs, the fathers of our faith.
But the family dysfunction was real.
It ran deep and Jacob didn't escape it.
Rebekah is Jacob's mother
and Esau his twin brother.
And when Rebekah was pregnant
with these twins, God said
this to her in Genesis 25, 23.
He said, Are in your womb, and two people
shall be separated from your body and
one will be stronger than the other,
and the older shall serve the younger.
So Esau was born first, and
his name literally means.
Harry, can you guess why Genesis
25 25 says that he came forth red
all over like a Harry garment,
but Jacob was hot on his heels?
Literally, verse 26 tells us that he came
forth with his hand holding onto Esau's
Heel, so his name was called Jacob.
Well, Esau was named for a physical trait.
Jacob's name means supplanter.
Or one who usurps or deceiver.
And these speak more to his character.
And to that, I say, Rebecca,
what were you thinking?
In his book, Names of God.
Nathan Stone shares this insight.
In ancient cultures, names often
did more than merely connect
one to a family heritage.
Names were imbued with power.
To know someone's name was to enjoy
special access and special knowledge
because names were often thought to
reflect a person's character or destiny.
Destiny.
Now, in Genesis 27, we learn that
Jacob Deceiver, usurper, worked with
his mom to deceive his father and
usurp his older brother's blessing.
But I don't want us to frame this account
through the lens of family dynamics
and dysfunction and sibling rivalry.
All those things are true, but the
thing beneath the thing is Jacob's
disbelief in God's ability and
willingness to give him the blessing
he promised before Jacob was even born.
Jacob spent his life hurting
everyone around him, scheming and
stealing blessings and abundance from
others because he didn't trust God.
And this is where we
find him in Genesis 32.
Now there is a lot that happens
between Genesis 27 and 32, and
some of it will be unpacked in the
upcoming soul work for this week,
so you're not gonna wanna miss it.
But here's what we need to know.
Right now, Jacob is coming face to
face with who he is, and his reckoning
will be found in some wrestling.
Jacob had been running from relational
devastation with his brother Esau,
and they were about to meet again.
And as we've learned, identity and
birthright and family dynamics were
all wrapped up in this conflict.
And Jacob, rightfully feared
for his life in this meeting.
So we're going to pick up this account
in Genesis 32 verses 9 through 12.
O God of my father Abraham, and God of
my father Isaac, O Lord, who didst say
to me, Return to your country and to
your relatives, and I will prosper you.
I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness,
and of all the faithfulness, which
thou hast shown me, thy servant.
For with my staff only I
crossed this Jordan, and now
I have become two companies.
Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of
my brother, from the hand of Esau,
for I fear him, lest he come and
attack me, the mothers with children.
For thou didst say, I will surely
prosper you, and make your descendants
as the sand of the sea, which
cannot be numbered for multitude.
You see, Jacob calls
out to God and asks him.
asked to be delivered from Esau's hand.
He admits his need, acknowledges
God's kindness and faithfulness,
and reminds God what he told Jacob.
Beautiful, right?
But Jacob is still Jacob.
And he decides to hedge his bets.
In verses 13 through 23, that
describes his efforts to once again
take things into his own hands.
So he sends servants ahead with
generous gifts for Esau, gift after
gift after gift, and then he splits
his family into two camps to separate
them, to up the chances of survival
for at least some of his loved ones.
So in essence, he was saying, I
trust you God, but just in case.
So the night before the brothers were
to meet again and Jacob would be faced
with the consequences of his deceit.
After he sends his family off to
protect them, Jacob finds himself alone
and in a wrestling match with God.
Fighting for a blessing just as
he sought significance when he
tricked his brother years before.
So Genesis 32, 24 through 27 reads, be.
Then Jacob was left alone, and a man
wrestled with him until daybreak.
And when he saw that he had
not prevailed against him, he
touched the socket of his thigh.
So the socket of Jacob's thigh was
dislocated while he wrestled with him.
And then he said, Let me go,
for the dawn is breaking.
But he said, I will not let
you go unless you bless me.
And so he said to him, What is your name?
And he said, Jacob.
A few things to keep in mind.
Because we're told that this encounter
went on until daybreak, we know that
this wrestling happened in the dark.
Doesn't that track?
Doesn't most of our wrestling
with God happen in the dark?
The darkness of our sin or the
darkness of circumstances we
don't understand or can't control.
The Bible Knowledge Commentary
for the Old Testament says this,
The fact that the fight lasted
until daybreak is significant.
The darkness symbolized Jacob's situation.
Fear and uncertainty seized him.
That made me think of something
I read in one of my favorite
books called Holy Vulnerability.
The author wrote, Sin, shame,
and anxiety all can be signs that
we're grasping for control, where
control belongs to God alone.
Jacob had been trying
to control everything.
His circumstances, his
relationships, God's blessing.
He had been living out the truth
of his name for a long time.
And after this incident,
This epic wrestling match.
God asked him, What is your name?
And Jacob told him.
Now God already knew, but Jacob needed to
acknowledge the truth about who he was.
He had to reveal his true nature.
The heel catcher,
Now, from reading the text, it may seem
like Jacob would have won the physical
wrestling match, that it was a low
blow to punch him where he was punched.
And, our translation reads pretty
tame compared to what happened.
Because I think of the outside of
the hip when I read that passage.
But, it actually was
the inside of his thigh.
So let's think about that.
If the core image of blessing is to be
fruitful and multiply, then this injury
affected the source of that blessing.
Because Jacob wouldn't receive
God's blessing God's way.
God wounds him in the place where
Jacob was generating his own blessings.
The Bible Project has an
interesting take on this encounter.
It says, if every plot conflict is the
story of how an irresistible force meets
an immovable object, then the irresistible
force here is God's desire to bless.
And the immovable object is
human stupidity, selfishness,
self autonomy, and folly.
God had been trying to bless Jacob,
and Jacob had been fighting it.
So what does God do?
Well, God wounds Jacob in a way
that reminds him that the only
blessing worth having comes from him.
And in this wounding, There is
actually a blessing, the beautiful
blessing of being renamed by God.
So we're going to pick it up again in
verse 27 and continue on this time.
So he said to him, what is your name?
And he said, Said Jacob, and he said,
your name will no longer be Jacob,
but Israel for you have striven
with God and with men and prevailed.
Jacob, the one whose name meant
supplanter, someone or something
taking the place of another as through
force, scheming, strategy, or the
like, became Israel, wrestler with God.
And some commentaries believe that
Israel actually translates to God fights.
Jacob was seen and known by God up close
and personal, warts and all, and his name
now reflected his relationship to God,
not others or his own shortcomings or sin.
And while that's profound,
the most compelling part to me
is what happened after that.
Right after God renames him,
verse 29 tells us that Jacob
asked, What is your name?
And I love that, because when we realize
our identity is found in him, our soul's
response is to want to know him more,
to focus on him, and not ourselves.
I didn't answer him, though.
In this account, God
doesn't reveal a name.
But Jacob's blessing was in the
asking, in the wrestling, in
bringing his full self, owning his
past, but believing for his future.
And that's what I hope for us.
So we're going to wrap up our time
together looking at a passage in Matthew.
Matthew 16 verses 13 through 15 is
a well known passage, and it says
this, Now when Jesus came into the
district of Caesarei Philippi, he
began asking his disciples, saying,
Who do people say the Son of Man is?
And they said, Some say John the
Baptist, and others Elijah, but still
others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.
But he said to them, who do you say I am?
So let's stop for a moment and
ask ourselves that question.
Who do we say Jesus is?
Would our lives back up what we say?
Just as Jacob asked
God, what is your name?
Jesus asks us, who do you say I am?
And our answer matters.
It certainly mattered to Peter, so
let's pick it back up in verse 16.
Matthew 16, 16 through 18 says this, And
Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God.
And Jesus answered and said to him,
Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because
flesh and blood did not reveal this to
you, but my Father who is in heaven.
And I also see.
say to you that you are Peter and upon
this rock I will build my church and the
gates of Hades shall not overpower it.
When Jesus asked Simon,
who do you say I am?
He answered the Christ.
In Greek, that word is Christos and
my Greek Hebrew study Bible has one
definition of Christos as this, a name
applied to others acting as redeemers.
Essentially, Simon said to Jesus, You
are Redeemer, son of the living God.
Now, he couldn't have known the full
extent of who Jesus is, can any of us?
But Simon, Simon knew Jesus personally.
He had an authentic response to
Jesus question, Who do you say I am?
And because of that, he was changed.
Because he knew Jesus as
Redeemer, Simon became Peter and
was used to build his church.
Warts and all.
Like Jacob, Peter had
his struggles with faith.
and doubt, identity, and control.
But both, both men sought God, and
in seeking him they were changed.
Jacob, the usurper, became Israel.
God fights for me.
Simon, which meant the one who
hears God, became the one who saw
him, and was chosen to be the rock
on which the church was built.
So in light of all this, let's, let's
bring who we are to this process,
the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Let's wrestle for the blessing,
fully understanding that His names
aren't something to know, but
are a way for Him to be known.
These names we'll be studying reveal
who He is and define who we are.
We can be called redeemed
only because He is Redeemer.
We can be called His children
because He is Abba, our Father.
I am seen because he is El Royi,
the one who sees me, and I am
saved because he is Savior.
And when we find ourselves wrestling
with circumstances or identity or
any number of things, we can pause
to recall another wrestling match
and ask God, What is your name?
And maybe, maybe hear him
whisper, Who do you say I am?
Yahweh Sabayoth, that he is the
God of angel armies, and we can
be still and let him fight for us.
Yahweh Shalom reminds us that He is peace.
Yahweh Nisi reminds us that He is our
banner, and because of His provision and
protection, His banner over us is love.
Those are some of the names that
we'll be learning together that
are just a drop in the bucket of
names revealed in the Old Testament.
Lord, Savior, King are
a few found in the new.
So what's in a name?
A lot.
Irish tradition would tell you
that Meaghan means strong one.
And it means pearl in the Welsh.
Experience tells me that if you call me
Meaghan, you don't know me very well.
But his word tells me that he is God,
and in and through Jesus, I am his.
And so, so are you.
Just as Simon and Jacob found new
identities through their pursuit of
God's name, you and I will find more
and more confidence in who we are.
Our God knows our names.
And over the course of the next
few sessions, you and I will grow
closer to him as he reveals himself
to us through some of his names.
Let's pray.
God, we look forward with eager
anticipation, all that you have for us.
May we not seek information, Lord,
but may we seek transformation.
May we seek you and the revelation
of these names, and may we be
changed from the inside out.
You are good, Lord.
Jesus, your name is above all names.
May we live lives that reflect that.
Amen.
So I want to encourage you to
make sure that you spend your time
throughout the week in the soul work.
That's where we're going to
be connecting this information
to our hearts and our minds.
That's where transformation
occurs and I can't wait.
I'll see you next week.
I