What is a Name?

I admit it!  I am bad at remembering names.  The last three times I have had my dog groomed, I’ve had to ask the name of the groomer each time; I finally wrote it down!  I can visualize the face of a movie star, but more and more I can’t remember the name.  Sometimes, I will meet a new friend, but their name leaves me immediately.  I have trouble thinking of the name of former students or even teachers I worked with!  I don’t know if this is because I don’t listen or because I don’t concentrate.  My friend, Jeff, is so good at remembering names.  He once told me that he has a little game he plays to remember people by name.  That must be what I should do!

These thoughts, however, remind me that God knows ME, and each of us, by name, and He doesn’t forget!  Jeremiah 1:5 says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you”.  John 10:14, 15 says, “I am the good shepherd.  I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; I lay down my life for my sheep”.  John 10:3 says, “To him the gatekeeper opens.  The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out”.  Aren’t these verses a comfort to you?  God loves each of us personally and tenderly.  We matter to Him! 

God says in Isaiah 43, “But now thus says the Lord, He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel, ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.  For, I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior’”.  Psalm 91:14 says, “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name”. 

It is exciting to me is that MY NAME, as a follower of Jesus, is written in the Book of Life!  Romans 10:13 says, “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”.  Revelation 3:5 says, “The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life.  I will confess his name before my Father and before His angels”.    But in Revelation 20:15, a warning, “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire”.

But even more exciting is that the Bible tells us that the Christian will be given a NEW NAME in heaven, a new character that is patterned after that of God.  Often our names stand for our personality or character.  So we can think that a new name will mean a new character.  Isaiah 62:3, 4 says, “The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a NEW NAME that the mouth of the Lord will give.  You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God”.  Isaiah 65:15 says, “For the Lord God will call His servants by another name”.  In Revelation 2:17, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.  To him, who overcomes will be given some of the hidden manna to eat.  And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows except him who receives it”.  To those who overcome sin by God’s grace, there is the promise of a new name.  Praise Him!

-THERE’S A NEW NAME WRITTEN DOWN IN GLORY- I was once a sinner, but I came Pardon to receive from my Lord: This was freely given, and I found That He always kept His word.

Chorus: There’s a new name written down in glory, And it’s mine, O yes, it’s mine! And the white robed angels sing the story, “A sinner has come home.” For there’s a new name written down in glory, And it’s mine, O yes, it’s mine! With my sins forgiven I am bound for Heaven, Never more to roam.                                          -C. Austin Miles