Many
people say it is not necessary to find out and call on the true Name of G-d,
because, whatever name we use, G-d will know it is He we are addressing our
prayers to. How about you – would you rather be called by your own name or
something else?
Let
us take a mundane example. Say you put up a business and hired some people. At
first they called you “boss,” but, being a friendly person, you told them to
just call you “Robert,” your actual name. Most cheerfully complied, but some
persisted in calling you “boss.” As the business grew, you appointed managers,
who were also called “boss” by their subordinates. Sometimes, you and a manager
would be talking about something and somebody would come along and say, “Hey,
Boss!” and both of you would turn to look. The employee would say, “Oh, not
you, I mean him.” Another employee would call you “Albert,” instead of
“Robert.” How would you feel?
Names have meanings. In Biblical
times the name given to a newborn child was typically about the circumstances
surrounding its birth or a prophecy that foretold the character, mission,
destiny, or events that would mark the person’s life. Needless to say, if the
names of those Biblical characters were important, the importance of the
Creator’s Name is inestimably far greater.
One
highly important reason G-d revealed His personal Name to men is for us not to
confuse Him with false gods. “I am the L-RD:
that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to
graven images” (Isa 42:8).
Sound waves and frequencies.
Jewish
sages taught that the letters of the Hebrew alphabet each have their own
distinctive values and qualities. Letters are sounded through vibrations made
with the vocal chords, lips, tongue, teeth, throat, nasal cavity, lungs. Sound travels
in waves, with varying wavelengths and frequencies. Thus, every letter and
every word made up of a certain combination of letters have their own unique
vibrations. So, too, names, which are words.
Every
name therefore is one of a kind. The personal Name of G-d, with its own unique
set of wavelengths and frequencies, is the one that resonates in perfect
harmony with His Being. By revealing His sacred Name to men, the L-RD has given
us, as it were, His direct line, much like the numbers of a telephone. He has
taught us how to precisely tune in to His personal frequency. When we use a
common word or a different name to call on G-d, we are tuning in to a different
frequency and, thus, could be communicating with an entity entirely different entity
from the one true G-d.
The
“Book of Life.”
If you do not value the Name of G-d,
He may not value yours, either. G-d has special books wherein your very own
name may be written. “Then they that
feared the L-RD spake often one to another: and the L-RD hearkened, and heard
it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the L-RD,
and that thought upon his name” (Mal 3:16). That “book of remembrance” is
called the “Book of Life” in the New Testament. “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before G-d; and the books
were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the
dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according
to their works” (Rev 20:12). If your name has been written in the Book of
Life, a place is reserved for you for an infinite holiday in the Kingdom of Heaven
The
bookings, though, are not confirmed; they can be canceled by the Proprietor. “He that overcometh, the same shall be
clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of
life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels” (Rev
3:5). “And there shall in no wise enter into it any
thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie:
but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life” (Rev 21:27 ). If your name is removed from the
Book of Life, you can look forward to a sure future of nothing but fries and
toast. “And whosoever was not found
written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Rev 20:15 ).
See
how important names can be?
Christ taught the
Name
Christ taught His disciples to
honor the Father’s holy Name. “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art
in heaven, Hallowed be thy name..." (Matt
6:9).
He said, “I am come in my Father's name” (John 5:43), because on top of
being the Father’s representative on earth, He literally has the Father’s Name
as part of His own personal Name (to be discussed later).
Christ taught the Name to His
disciples. "I
have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world:
thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word… And I
have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith
thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them" (John 17:6,26).
Blessings of the
Name
G-d
made promises for those who will know and call on His holy Name. “Our help is in the name of the L-RD, who
made heaven and earth” (Ps 124:8). He will not abandon believers who come
to Him for help. “And they that know thy
name will put their trust in thee: for thou, L-RD, hast not forsaken them that
seek thee” (Ps 9:10). Calling on His true Name is comparable to being
enclosed by the thick walls of an impregnable fortress. “The name of the L-RD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it,
and is safe” (Prov 18:10).
Honors,
long life, salvation.
G-d promises to answer and grant
protection, honors, long life, and salvation to those who will call on His
Name. “Because he hath set his love upon
me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known
my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in
trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him,
and shew him my salvation” (Ps 91:14-16).
His
Name can save the faithful, even from the brink of death. “The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon
me: I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of the L-RD; O L-RD,
I beseech thee, deliver my soul. Gracious is the L-RD, and righteous; yea, our
G-d is merciful. The L-RD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he
helped me. Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the L-RD hath dealt bountifully
with thee. For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears,
and my feet from falling. I will walk before the L-RD in the land of the living”
(Ps 116:3-9).
End-time survival. Come the wars and disasters
prophesied in the Bible, G-d’s Name will save the faithful from destruction. “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever
shall call on the name of the L-RD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in
Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the L-RD hath said, and in the remnant whom
the L-RD shall call” (Joel 2:32). Even if mankind is decimated, those who invoke
His true Name will survive. “And it shall come to pass, that in all the
land, saith the L-rd, two parts
therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I
will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is
refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I
will hear them: I will say, It
is my people: and they shall say, The L-RD is my G-d”
(Zech 13:8-9).
Sadly,
G-d’s promises exclude the wretched multitudes who do not know or neglect to
call on His Name. “Pour out thy fury upon
the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy
name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and
have made his habitation desolate” (Jer 10:25).
(Excerpted
from Chapter 10, The Personal Names of God, of THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth
by M.M. Tauson)
