What Is In A Name?

Many parents, most in fact choose the name of their baby based on what sounds cute, pretty or feminine, if the baby is a girl - or if a boy they want something that sounds masculine and solid. However, in Bible language name always means character. Names were not given arbitrarily there, as with us, but were always given with reference to the character or work of the person named.

Therefore, when the children of Israel asked, “What is his name?” they meant, “Who and what is this God of whom you speak? What is His character; what are His attributes; what does He do? In short, what sort of a being is He?”

Our peace and comfort is only to be found in the sort of God we have. Therefore, we must from the start find out what His name is, or, in other words, what is His character-in short, what sort of a God He is.

In Psalms it says,“They that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.” It also says, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it and is safe.” “They that know thy name will put their trust in thee.” How could they do anything else? Because in knowing His name they know His character and His nature, that He is a God whom it is safe to trust to the uttermost. A large part of our unrest and pain comes simply from the fact that we do not yet know His name.

So the biggest question for all of us is, “What is his name?” Yahweh Himself answered this question when He said - "I Am that I Am".

In the Gospel of John Yah'shua adopts this name of “I Am” as His own. When the Jews were questioning His authority, He said to them: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was I am.” And in the Book of Revelation : “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

But is this all His name implies, simply “I am”? I am what?-we ask. What does this “I am” include?

These simple words, I Am, express eternity and unchangeableness of existence, which is the very first element necessary in a God who is to be depended upon. No dependence could be placed by any one of us upon a changeable God. He must be the same yesterday, today, and forever, if we are to have any peace or comfort.

I believe the name "I Am" includes everything the human heart longs for and needs. This unfinished name of God is a fulfullment of everything we need. And actually, the whole Bible tells us what it means.

Every attribute of Yahweh, every revelation, every proof, every declaration, every assertion and every manifestation of His character, of His undying love, of His watchful care, of His purposes of tender mercy, of His loving kindness-all are the filling out of this unfinished “I am.”

Yahweh tells us all through the Bible what He is. “I am,” He says, “all that my people need”: “I am their strength”; “I am their wisdom”; “I am their righteousness”; “I am their peace”; “I am their salvation”; “I am their life”; “I am their all in all.”

This unfinished name, therefore, is the most comforting name our hearts can know, because it allows us to add to it, without any limitation, whatever our need be, and even “exceeding abundantly” beyond all that we can ask or think.

But if our hearts are full of our own “I ams” we will have no ears to hear His freeing and life-giving “I am.” We may say, “ But I am so weak,” or “I am so foolish,” or “I am so good-for-nothing,” or “I am so helpless”; but in doing so, we entirely ignore the blank check of Yahweh’s magnificent “I am,” which authorizes us to draw upon Him for our every need.

Our only hope is to know Yah'shua. Not just accept Him as our Saviour, but to really know the great "I Am" and all that that intails. It would be hard for us to know His name and not know that we can trust Him. A trustworthy person commands trust; not in the sense of ordering people to trust him, but by irresistibly winning their trust by his trustworthiness.

What our Lord declares is eternally true, “ if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.” When you know Him, Yah'shua is absolutely irresistible. You can no more help trusting Him than you can help breathing.

We may know many things about Him, but that is very different from knowing Him Himself, as He really is in nature and character. Other people may have told us of His visible acts, but from these we get often very wrong impressions of His true character. And for those, like myself, who were raised in satanic, abusive homes and therefore have been lied to their entire lives about about Yahweh, it is most important to understand and know the truth of who and what He truly is.

Many of us have seen Him as the cause of our pain, or as a stern Judge and hard Taskmaster that we have feared, even while we tried to follow Him. But all of that will disappear, and be replaced by the love of Yahweh, which is revealed to us in "the face of His Son, Yah'shua" - the one and only true God who cares for us as He cares for the sparrows, and for the flowers of the field, and who tells us that He numbers even the hairs of our head.

If we have approached Yahweh with mistrust of His feelings toward us; if our life has been poisoned by fear; if unworthy thoughts of His character and will have filled our hearts with doubts of His goodness; if we have pictured Him as an unjust, self-seeking tyrant; if, in short, we have imagined Him in any way other than that which has been revealed to us in “the face of Yah'shua,” we must go back in all simplicity of heart to the records of His life, lived in human guise among men, and must bring our misconceptions to the cross and invite His Holy Spirit to expose and shatter all the lies and then reveal to us the true nature and character of Yahweh.

We may not voice our doubts, however many of us ignore Yah'shua’s testimony and choose instead to listen to our own doubting hearts, which tells us it is impossible that Yahweh could care for us, or be tender toward our weakness and foolishness, or stand ready to forgive our sins.

And yet as we read His Word, we hear over and over Yahweh saying, “I am rest for the weary; I am peace for the storm-tossed; I am strength for the strengthless; I am wisdom for the foolish; I am righteousness for the sinful; I am all that the neediest soul on earth can want; I am exceeding abundantly, beyond all you can ask or think.

I encourage you all to not only read through His Word that so plainly reveals who Yahweh is but to also take what for some may seem like a giant leap of faith and throw all your doubts, fears and questions at His feet. He is not afraid of our honesty. He longs to lavish us with all that He is. He longs to open our eyes and hearts to the truth of His love toward us. And He longs to reveal His true nature and character to us, so that we will indeed and firmly know that He is the only one true God that we may trust to the uttermost.

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