A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME

A rose by any other name is still a rose, but calling a flower a rose does not a rose make.

As we look at the Names of God we can see who He is. Knowing Whom God is, and not just that there is a God is a big difference. Looking at His Names we see what He wants us to see, as He is the One that has given us those Names to call Him. Those Names ascribed to Him in the Bible are additional revelations of the who and what of God that we may know and relate to.

Psalm 138: 2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.

I will magnify His Word above ALL His Names. God’s Names does tell much about His person, but it is God’s Word that reveals God and His Name.

The list of Names starts in Genesis and ends in Revelation. In fact the only book in the Bible that does not use the Name of God is Esther.

Jehovah—Yahweh…a reference to the Lordship of God, salvation

Jehovah-Maccaddeshem…The Lord thy sanctifier

Jehovah-Rohi…The Lord my Shepherd

Jehovah-Shammah…The Lord is present

Jehovah-Rapha…The Lord our healer

Jehovah-Tsidkenu…The Lord our righteousness

I could stop right there, most of us are familiar with these Names. Let’s take a look at some of the meaning of the Words that God has chosen as His Names.

He is our salvation; The Bible says there is only one way to Heaven. Jesus said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me." (John 14:6) "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9) Salvation being saved from something, such as suffering or the punishment of sin - also called deliverance; being saved for something, such as an afterlife or participating in the Reign of God - also called redemption.

He is our Sanctifier. One who sanctifies, or makes holy; specifically, the Holy Spirit.

He is our Shepherd. First we will look at a shepherd in the fields. A shepherd is one who takes care of sheep, usually in flocks in the fields. The duty of shepherds was to keep their flock intact and protect it from wolves and other predators. Jesus is called Good Shepherd. Many Biblical heroes were shepherds, among them the Old Testament prophet Amos, who was a shepherd in the rugged area around Tekoa, as well as the patriarchs Abraham and Jacob, the twelve tribes, the prophet Moses, and King David. In the New Testament angels announced the birth of Jesus to shepherds. The Great Shepherd encompasses many ideas, including God's care for his people, His discipline to correct the wandering sheep, as well as the tendency of humans to put themselves into danger's way and their inability to guide and take care of themselves apart from the direct power and leading of God.

Who is Present. Yes, He is present, right here right now in our life’s, doing and being all the other names that he has given us.

The Lord our Healer. A healer is someone who intends to aid recovery from ill health. The word healer is derived from the old English hælan”make whole, sound and well.” Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

These are two of my all time favorite scriptures. It does not say we will be healed, it does not say next month we will be healed, it says by His stripes we were healed. Now to me that means that when He paid for my sins He also took care of healing for my body. So if I ask the Lord into my life He comes, and with Him comes healing. It is finished.

He is our Righteousness, the judicial act of God, by which He pardons all the sins of those who believe in Christ, and accounts, accepts, and treats them as righteous in the eye of the law, i.e., as conformed to all its demands. In addition to the pardon (q.v.) of sin, justification declares that all the claims of the law are satisfied in respect of the justified. It is the act of a judge and not of a sovereign. The law is not relaxed or set-aside, but is declared to be fulfilled in the strictest sense; and so the person justified is declared to be entitled to all the advantages and rewards arising from perfect obedience to the law (Romans 5:1-10). It proceeds on the imputing or crediting to the believer by God himself of the perfect righteousness, active and passive, of his Representative and Surety, Jesus Christ (Romans 10:3-9). Justification is not the forgiveness of a man without righteousness, but a declaration that he possesses a righteousness which perfectly and for ever satisfies the law, namely, Christ's righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 4:6-8). The sole condition on which this righteousness is imputed or credited to the believer is faith in or on the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is called a "condition," not because it possesses any merit, but only because it is the instrument, the only instrument by which the soul appropriates or apprehends Christ and his righteousness (Romans 1:17; 3:25, 26; 4:20, 22; Philippians 3:8-11; Galatians 2:16). The act of faith which thus secures our justification secures also at the same time our sanctification (q.v.); and thus the doctrine of justification by faith does not lead to licentiousness (Romans 6:2-7

Thanks to Easton’s Dictionary for the definition of Righteousness. We will continue to look at more of His Names in the future.

God Bless,
rECj/LJG