Family Talk - Why The Lord Has Different Names

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WHY THE LORD HAS DIFFERENT NAMES

The Rev. Roy Franson

Reading: Exodus 3:13-17; Doctrine of the Lord 22

One of the important things to remember when we read and study the stories in the Lord's Word is that although the Lord is called by a many different names, He is One Lord. The reason why He is called by so many different names is because He does so many different things. The Lord, as you know, made all things; He made, or created, all the stars and the planets, all trees and flowers, all animals and all people. And because the Lord made or created all things and beings, He is called THE CREATOR.

But when the Lord had created all things in heaven and on earth, many things had to be done - things which the Lord continues to do each moment, each day, each year and always, to preserve and keep all things and beings as He had made them. There is no end to all these things, so, you see, there is really no end to all the names the Lord could be called.

The most holy name by which the Lord was known to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and to their descendants, was JEHOVAH. This name really means that the Lord alone is. Nothing would exist unless He was, and is, and always will be. And because He alone is, this most holy name of the Lord means that there can be no other God, for there cannot be more than One God who alone is. This is why the Lord called Himself "I AM" when He commanded Moses to bring the children of Israel out of the slavery of Egypt and take them back to their promised land (see Exodus 3:14).

When Jacob blessed his twelve sons before he died he called the Lord "SHILOH". The name "Shiloh" comes from a Hebrew word meaning peace. And to be blessed in the name of the Lord is to receive the peace of heaven - the peace which the Lord alone can give.

When the prophet Isaiah foretold of the Lord's coming, or birth, into the world, he spoke of Him, among other things, as our "EVERLASTING FATHER". The Lord cares for all His people as a father cares for his children. In this world there will come a time when your earthly father no longer needs to care for you. But the Lord is our Everlasting Father, and to all eternity each and everyone of us needs His care, His love, and His guidance.

When the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her that she should give birth to a son, she was also told to give Him the name, JESUS. The reason the Lord was called Jesus when He was born among people was because the important thing He came to do on earth was to save the world. He came to teach people how they could be saved from their sins. And the name Jesus means Savior.

We can find many other names of the Lord in His Word, and the wonderful thing is that when we know what the name means, we already know something about what the Lord is teaching us in that particular story. If His name is JESUS in the story then we know that that particular story will teach us something about His power to save us, or what we must do in order to be saved from our sins. If His name is LORD in the story, then we know that that particular story will tell us something about His great love.

Sometimes a story will have two names of the Lord at once. For example, in giving the Ten Commandments to Moses, the Lord said, "I am the LORD your GOD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt". (Exodus 20:2). Whenever we read a story in which the Lord is called by two names, we can learn something about how the Lord is always keeping things that belong to one another together. We can learn about the wonderful ways in which He always seeks to bring all people to Himself and make them happy. And, of course, from those stories we can also learn something about what we must do to live together with our friends in a state of happiness and mutual love.

The more we learn about the Lord and about the names by which He is called in the Word, the better we can come to understand His great love and wisdom. And the better we understand His love and wisdom, and seek to live according to His Commandments, the closer we will be to Him and become happy in His heaven.

Amen. 

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