Dear People Who Keep Company With God,
In the spiritual realm, names are very significant. They describe the character and nature of a person or place. Oftentimes in the Bible, names changed when a significant spiritual event occurs. For instance, Canaan became Israel when the Hebrews entered the Promised Land (Jos. 6:25). Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter after he had received a revelation of who Christ was (Matt. 16:18). Saul became Paul after being commissioned by the Holy Spirit and the Church at Antioch (Acts. 13:9). And there was Jacob’s profound encounter by the banks of Jabbok where he received a new name and much more (Gen. 32:28). A new name always leads to so much more.
Names are so important in the spiritual realm that we are told if we had a choice between receiving a name or becoming very rich, choose the name (Prov. 22:1). This is not about our reputation, although it could include that, it is much greater. It is the core of who God created us to be, it is our truest and finest identity that shapes and determines the course of our lives.
I think it is revealing that the first thing Jacob did after he received his new name was ask the Lord for His name (Gen. 32:29). This is one of the things a new name leads us into, a desire to know on a deeper level the only one who can truly name us. About 20 years earlier Jacob had a powerful encounter with the Lord. He experienced heaven on earth. His response was asking God to be with him and if He would, then Jacob would accept Him as his God (Gen. 28:17-22). This time, because Jacob had received his true identity from God his response was to know the Lord.
Another thing I find revealing was the way the Lord answered Jacob about His name. “Why is it that you ask about My name?” (Gen. 32:29) This happened at least one other time in Scripture and it gives some insight as to why the Lord answered in this way. Manoah, the father of Sampson was speaking with the Angel of the Lord concerning Sampson. After some conversation Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, “What is Your name…?” And the Angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?” (Judges 13:17).
Some of the meanings of the word wonderful are unheard of, mysterious, inexplicable, inexpressible, unutterable, unspeakable and indescribable. The Angel of the Lord was saying why ask for My name seeing it is inexpressible and cannot be understood by you.
We have a poster in our prayer room at church that has many of the names of Jesus on it. I have spent hours looking at that poster and mediating on the different names. I realized each name is like picture that reveals something about Jesus. If you think of a kitty cat you get a picture based on that name. If you think of a lion you get a much different picture. Jesus was not called the kitty cat of the tribe of Judah. That does not work, but the Lion of the tribe of Judah gives us a much better picture of the nature and character of the Lord, however that does not fully describe Him. He was also called the Lamb of God, and as powerful as that name is, and it is really powerful, it is still not enough. There is no one name given that could ever fully describe Him.
Regardless of whether we understand His name or not we can have faith in His name (Acts 3:16). So when we pray to the Father in Jesus name, it is not a formula. We are coming before the Father because of what Jesus did for us at the Cross. We are walking right into the holy of holies and up to the throne of grace with boldness because of the blood of Christ and we are able to receive all the mercy and grace needed for whatever we face (Heb. 4:16, 10:19).
Many Blessings, BW