Thinking About The Name
The reputation of God
A person cannot believe the gospel until they believe God is who He says He is.
So, Who is He?
Let’s think about it.
Malachi 3:16 “Then they that feared the LORD spake OFTEN one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the LORD, and that THOUGHT upon His name.”
Please notice:
Often.
The Audience.
Remembrance.
Writing a journal as a gift for us.
Given to those who honored the LORD.
Thinking and speaking 🗣️ His name.
What we think 💭 becomes ink ✍️.
Let’s just write one page in your heavenly journal 📔 by pondering the name of God.
For or against?
Acts 26:9 “I [Paul] verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things CONTRARY to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.”
Amos 4:13 “For, lo, He that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is His name.”
We tend to forget our:
Mountain 🏔️ maker
Wind whisperer
Thought 💭 reader & foreteller
Light controller
The Yᵊhōvâ
The 'ĕlōhî of hosts: He Who goes forth, the Chief Leader of an organized army in massive warfare
We do good to stir up our hearts and minds in remembering Who He is.
Jeremiah 23:27 “Which think to cause my people to *forget My name* by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten My name for Baal.”
The best events and relationships naturally fade away. Except we pause to celebrate.
Here in the verse above, God did not appreciate those who intentionally hatched a plot designed to push the memory of God and His reputation … OUT of the hearts and minds of God’s people.
How?
By their dreams … spreading around God-forgetting dreams with neighbors, with intent to dispel the proper mindset: stayed upon God.
What sort of dreams would do this?
Mystical dreams.
God-reducing dreams.
Self-elevating dreams.
Their dreams.
Not God’s dreams.
Dreams they tell everyone.
Something more exciting than the name of God.
Images of vanity feeding our minds with God-replacement therapy. 📲
What do we think about?
What do we allow our mind to dream of? What do we tell people? What overflows out of us?
Thinking happens all the time.
All we are responsible for is guiding. Guiding those thoughts 💭 toward some focal point.
For a space, just taste the reputation of God.
Who is He really?
How does He operate?
What does God think about?
God thinks He’s been here since before the beginning.
1. Beginning
Hebrews 7:3 “Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually. Now consider how great this man was, …”
In the Beginning God.
Self-declared.
Running unopposed.
Just shows up.
Right from the jump.
He’s the Initiator.
God is the great Starter.
Revelation 1:8 “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.”
Hebrews 12:2 “Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith …”
He’s the Finish Line 🏁 and the Starting Bell 🔔.
In the beginning God …
2. Created
Saw the need and took the lead.
Stepped onto the scene and started making motions.
From nothing, envisioned everything.
Creatio ex nihilo (Latin for "creation out of nothing") explains that matter is not eternal, but had to be created by some divine, creative Being.
In contrast to Ex nihilo nihil fit or “nothing comes from nothing”, which presumes all things were formed from … preexisting things. 🤣 Implying … “things are eternal” and do not need an eternal Being as their cause or sustainer.
Creatio ex nihilo means out of nothing: (from the Exni … Hilio) something.
We can barely imagine nothingness.
Our great God generated all-ness from nothingness.
What is this Name?
What is the reputation of God?
He is the Beginning
He Created all things
Cannot describe the process better than God does:
Genesis 1:21 “And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth …”
Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.”
Psalm 89:12 “The north and the south Thou hast created them”
Psalm 104:30 “Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created: and Thou renewest the face of the earth.”
Isaiah 40:26 “Lift up your eyes on high, and behold Who hath created these things [stars], … that bringeth out their host by number: He calleth them all by names by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power; not one faileth.”
Isaiah 42:5 “Thus saith God the LORD, He that created the heavens, and stretched them out; He that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; He that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein”
Isaiah 43:1 “But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine.”
Isaiah 43:7 “Even every one that is called by My Name: for I have created him for My glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.”
Isaiah 45:12 “I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even My hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.”
Isaiah 45:18 “For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.”
The name of our God:
The Beginning
The only wise God
The Maker of all people on purpose
Would you like a God?
Tried, and got tired of being your own god?
Here’s one candidate to consider:
Two ingredients to His name so far:
Time
A God Who claims time is no big deal; One existing outside the confines of time: seeing all of time in one frame 🖼️ … simultaneously. Talk about data processing capacity. Timeless. From before the beginning.
Creator
Once we allow Him to be our Maker, then more things make sense.
Nothing about God must make sense, by the way. “Making sense” to humans is not a prerequisite to Godhood.
We have space for just one more concept, considering all the vast array of Who God is.
We should be closely identified with His identity.
Revelation 22:4 “And they [we, you and me] shall see His face; and His Name shall be in their foreheads.”
That’s closely identifying with the identity of God! Forehead … IN their forehead. The 🆔 stamp of God implanted — emblazoned — glowing forth from INSIDE our foreheads. First thing most notable about our face is the big billboard up top. “His Name Here.”
See His face …
His Name on our face.
Revelation 22:4 “And they shall see His face; and His Name shall be in their foreheads.”
Transfer of face.
The devil is a dork.
All he can do is copycat.
Zero originality.
The mark of the beast is a hollow, shadow substitute for the pure identity of God being infused into the personhood of our bodies and into our souls.
God places His name INTO each of those … each of us who … (are in this verse):
Revelation 15:2 “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory OVER the beast, and OVER his image, and OVER his mark, and OVER the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.”
Revelation 14:1 “And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father's name written in their foreheads.”
Your affiliation is abundantly obvious.
You are wearing now the full jersey gear of your chosen team.
Just gets more obvious toward the end.
Their team … is over there.
Clearly different.
Revelation 17:5 “And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”
Huge forehead.
Broadcasting boldly.
I, we want to be identified as the exact opposite of that. Whatever that label is, give me the opposite!
Mystery means hidden, secret, not obvious to the understanding yet.
Replace that mess with: being out in the open, broadcast, bright, revealed, super-ultra clarity. Surround-sound ultra 4K iMAX immersive experience identity emblazoned with the active calling and name of my Father!
I am on team Jesus!
My forehead glows: Holy.
God moved inside.
Fire from on high.
“Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the Dayspring from on high hath visited us,” Luke 1:78.
Strong evidence remains that we have been visited, and in-dwelt. Something different about that guy or lady.
The glow from within.
The Name which saturates our being til we be soaked in the name of our God!
Or at least tap the heart 💜 icon below ⬇️.