e are especially addressing those who are not yet certain whether the God they invoke and pray to is, indeed, the God in the Bible. This is your chance to find out if the God that you are serving is the God whom the Bible introduces.
Many existing religious denominations today call their gods by different names. Some call the Father, “Jehovah,” while the others call Him “Allah”. There are also groups that call Him Jesus, who is the embodiment of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
In our previous topic we mentioned that the name of a person may either explain an incident in his past, like the names Moses and Isaac, or it may describe his physical appearance, like the name Esau, using the Bible as basis. Now, we will focus on the name of the God in the Bible. What is His name? Who named Him? Hopefully, this is a good chance to study and learn about the name of God.
Undoubtedly, God has His name. And as our Almighty God, He is introducing to us, through the Bible, His names. As we all know, human beings, as well as the other creatures, have names. People have given them names. In fact, it was Adam who named the animals and the fowls brought to him by God after His creation in the Garden of Eden.
Genesis 2:19 (KJV) says—
“And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.”
In other words, whatsoever Adam called every living creature, this became its name. Meaning, it was a man who named every living creature on earth. And it is also a practice today that man gives names to places and to his fellowman.
Sometimes, names are based on incidents or events. Jacob, for instance, named a famous place in the Bible when he slept and dreamt of a stairway going up to heaven. When he woke up, he gave a name to that place. That is written in
Genesis 28:19—
“And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.”
There was a city that was called Luz. After what Jacob experienced, he changed its name to Bethel. And Bethel is a famous city in our time. The point is: man names places. Man also names things, events, and other creations. Now, if you are going to biblically study names, God also names. God named the stars in heaven.
Psalms 147:4 (KJV) says—
“He telleth number of the stars; He calleth them all by their names.”
That is amazing! According to scientists, a galaxy may contain billions of stars, and there are billions of galaxies in the universe. And the Bible tells us that God tells the number of the stars, although it is impossible for humans to count the stars in all the galaxies that exist now.
With regard to God’s name, is it possible to ask, “Who gave Him a name?” There are religious leaders who have given God a name, which to say the very least, is very unbecoming—a creature giving name to the Creator—and that is what the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the other Bible translators have done. They have given God a name, and they make other people believe and accept the names that they have invented. But, biblically speaking, who can possibly name God?
Isaiah 63:16 (KJV) says—
“Doubtless thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer; Thy name is from everlasting.”
God has His name from everlasting. Therefore, we must not presume that any human being has the right to give God a name because His name is from everlasting. And who could possibly give God a name? Of course, there has been no other being who had existed from everlasting, except God. Therefore, it is but right for God to give a name to Himself. In fact, He had declared to Moses His everlasting name in
Exodus 3:14—
“And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said, “Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, the Lord of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is My name forever, and this is My memorial unto all generations.”
His name is from everlasting, and it will endure until forever. Therefore, biblically speaking, God has a name which is everlasting. The question now is: What is His name? Do we have any idea? The Bible gives us of so many names by which God is called. He taught His name to His servants even during the time of the patriarchs and the Israelites. In fact, in the Bible, God is called in different names. Let us try to go over the possible names that could be used in addressing the God of the Bible. Others may find them absurd or illogical, but they are biblical nonetheless. One of the intriguing names of God is in
Exodus 34:14—
“For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”
“Jealous” is a name of God. The name “Jealous” is an awesome, respectable name that is being attributed to the Almighty God. It was emphatically written, “The Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” Another is in
Deuteronomy 28:58 (KJV). It says—
“If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD.”
