What's In A Name

If my people, who are called by my name... (2 Chronicles 7:14)

The life of the prophet Hosea was an allegory--or at least the part during his courtship, marriage, and the naming of his three children.  See, God told Hosea to marry an unfaithful woman.  This was symbolic of the relationship that God had with his people Israel, who had gone after other gods.  It could also be applied to our own lives--"We love him (Jesus) because he first loved us." (I John 4:19).  Many sermons can be written about this relationship.  But today I want to talk about the children.

Hosea's first son was to be named "Jezreel", which means "scattered".  God promised to scatter the children of Israel far from their homeland, and from each other, because of their unfaithfulness to Him.  This was likely less of a punishment, and more about reaping what you sow.  What I mean is, if they wanted to reject the God of Abraham and follow the gods of other Canaanite peoples, then God would reject them, and drive them out of the land He had given to Abraham, and let the people live in exile among the Canaanite people.  They would not be accepted among the Canaanite peoples; in fact, they would be enslaved.  But hey, at least they wouldn't be living among the people of the God they rejected, or in the cities with a history of God-fearing people, ancestors that left a legacy of serving the one and only true God.

This was not God's choice.  Let me repeat:  God did not want this for His children.  Look at what Jesus said in Luke 13:34

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often have I longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

In fact, the last part of Hosea's first chapter describes how the people of Israel and Judah would be reunited, and the day of Jezreel, that is, the day of scattering, would be a great day--for on that day, all people would be able to know God personally.

Hosea's daughter was born, and God commanded that she be given the name "Lo-Ruhamah", which means "Not Loved".  Can you imagine going through life with the name Not Loved?  This goes against our very nature; we are all programmed with a desire to love and to be loved.  Yet this poor girl's name would forever be Not Loved.

Then, Hosea's third child was born, a son.  God commanded that he be given the name "Lo-Ammi", which means "Not My People".  Again, God was using Hosea's children to make a point with the people of Israel.

I know that at times, I have wished for a different name.  My name is unusual, and for the first eighteen years of my life, I went by a nickname.  But when people ask about my name, I can usually tell them about my family history, and the story of how I received the names that were given to me by my parents.  Imagine, then, the children of Hosea being asked about their names.  "Hey, Scattered.  Come here.  How in the world did you get that name?  Not Loved--girl, why would your mama let you be given that name?  Not My People--dude, where did that even come from?"  I can just imagine them rolling their eyes, and saying, "Like, Dad was just having a bad decade, right? He was just using us to make a point.  And every time we asked him about it, he blamed God, you know?"

God did give them names to prove a point, but there was also a promise.  "Yet the Israelites will be like the sands on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted.  In the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'Sons of the Living God.'...Say of your brothers, '(You are) My People'  and of your sisters, '(You are) My Loved Ones'." (Hosea 1:10, 2:1)

Fast forward to the ministry of Jesus.  Near the end of his ministry on earth, he was praying for his followers, the ones he had discipled and the ones that they would teach (and so on, and so on, including even you and me!).  Here is what he said:

All I have is yours, and all you have is mine.  And glory has come to me through them (the disciples).  I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you.  Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name--the name you gave me--so that they may be one as we are one.  While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me.  None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction, so that Scripture would be fulfilled....My prayer is not for them alone.  I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.  May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one." --John 17:10-12, 20-22

Do you realize what a privilege it is to be one of God's children?  To be able to recite the Lord's Prayer, which begins "Our Father", implies that we have been adopted as heirs to the kingdom of God. "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!" (1 John 3:1).  If we are in God's family, then we are entitled to all the rights and privileges of children of God:

• We have the power and the prestige of the "family name." 
• We have the responsibility to conduct ourselves as He would have us live, or be subject to His discipline.
• We have a unique position spiritually: the Holy Spirit is in us, we are in Christ, and Christ is in God.  Therefore we have the protection that the name affords, so that nothing that comes against us shall stand.

If you go to a website like ancestry.com, you may be able to trace your family's roots back to its country of origin.  You may be descended from royalty, or from peasants, or even from prisoners, thieves and murderers. You may call this your heritage.  But as children of God, our heritage is the Blood of the Lamb, and our beginnings were from the Creator Himself, when He spoke into the darkness and said, "Let there be Light!"

If you are prone to look at baby books and find out what your name means, you may find that the name your parents gave you has nothing to do with who you are.  My son is called Phillip, which means "Lover of Horses."  To my knowledge, he has never ridden a horse in his life.  My daughter is called Jocelynn, a name meaning "of the Germanic tribe of the Gauts."  Again, to my knowledge, we are not descended from that tribe.  But if you hold fast to the name of Jesus, and are called Christian, then you are associated with "A name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:10-11).