How did you get your name?
Maybe you are named for a family member, or your mama came up with an unusual name for you.
When we were choosing names for our three boys, we wanted a Biblical name that carried strong, desirable characteristics. Parents usually take great care in choosing just the right name for their children.
People are even careful in deciding a name for their pets! The names carry connotations and associated traits so owners debate and choose carefully. Highly bred show dogs or racehorses carry names that show their linage.
Have you ever thought about the names of God? We say God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, the names of the Trinity. But there are more names for God to be found in the Bible that display his traits and characteristics. Let’s look at a few.
When God was sending Moses to the Pharaoh of Egypt to tell the powerful ruler to let the Jewish people, Moses’s people, go to freedom, Moses asked God who he should say sent him.
Good question.
God told him, “I AM WHO I AM.” Or said as YHWH or Yahweh (Exodus 3:14). This name denotes God’s everlasting being. God is always Himself in all His glory independent of everything. In Revelation 22:13, God says, “I am the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
As we read scripture of God’s relating to people, we find more names that describe Him and his actions.
When God was going to be born as Jesus to the Virgin Mary, Joseph was told the baby would be named Jesus. Isaiah 7:14 prophesied that Jesus would come as Immanuel, God with us! God in the flesh coming directly to us. He could be seen, heard, and be with us.
In John 8:12, we read that Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” His divinity is described as this powerful light that overcomes evil and darkness.
John 6:35 tells us Jesus said, “I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” Jesus is our spiritual food and sustains us. He can satisfy our hearts. He was given to us by God to teach, lead and save us.
Jesus is the Great Physician, as he healed the sick, lame, blind and diseased in His ministry. In His sacrifice for our sins, he allowed us a way to be healed spiritually! Matthew 11:5 tells us that “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear the dead are raised, and the a good news is preached to the poor.”
John 1:29 declares, “John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’”
There are at least 26 descriptive names for God in scripture that add to our understanding of Who He Is.
He is my Savior, my Lord, my friend, my companion, and my guide. ... And so much more.
What and who is God to you?
