NAMES<\/em><\/strong>\u2026can tell so much about a person, thing, even an institution. It\u2019s your identity. Many have names with underlying meaning, even directing their life\u2019s destiny. It sets you apart from someone else. My first and middle name is Billy Cleveland. I was named after my maternal grandfather and the twenty-fourth U. S. President.<\/p>\n Our grandson, Luke, and his wife Meagan are expecting a baby girl in late April. Our first great grandchild! They have been researching names with all the family. It will be a joy to know her name.<\/p>\n In scripture, we see firsthand the importance of names and their lineage. The first human was named Adam, and he later names his wife, Woman, and then Eve\u2014\u2018the mother of all creation\u2019. God gave him the privilege of naming everything. Abram (high father, exalted father) was eventually renamed by God to Abraham, \u2018father of many nations\u2019 (Gen. 17.5). He is the father of our faith. Jacob became Israel. What do you think of when you hear the name David in scripture? A few come to mind\u2014shepherd, giant slayer, fugitive, king, adulterer and murderer, repentant, Psalmist, royal line of the Messiah. Finally, \u2018a man after God\u2019s own heart\u2019.<\/p>\n Moses asked God this question.\u00a0\u201cIf I come to the people of Israel and say to them, \u2018the God of your fathers has sent me to you,\u2019 and they ask me, \u2018What is his name?\u2019 what shall I say to them?\u201d God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM,\u201d<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(Ex. 3.13,14b ESV) Past, present and future. No distinction. He is before all time, and now and forever.<\/p>\n As we entered the Advent season, one thing has stood out to me more than all the rest. It is the name of the One we are worshipping and celebrating. After 400 years of silence by God, a young boy was born. Everyone in the village assumed he would be Zechariah Jr. But an angel of the Lord said to Zechariah, his name shall be John.\u00a0\u201cFor he will be great before the Lord\u2026 and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared\u201d<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(Lk. 1. 15-17 ESV).<\/p>\n And what is the name of this Lord? There are too many to enumerate here. But when Gabriel visited Mary and then Joseph, he made it clear his name would be\u00a0Jesus.\u00a0\u201cHe will be great and will be called the\u00a0Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end\u201d<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(Lk. 1. 32, 33 ESV).<\/p>\n Make no mistake; there is no other name close to it.\u00a0\u201cAnd there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved\u201d<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(Acts 4. 12 ESV). That promise is exclusive in every sense. But look at what will take place on That Day.\u00a0\u201cFor God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>(Phil 2. 9-11 ESV).<\/p>\n Isaiah prophesies long before Jesus was on earth. And the Spirit, through Isaiah, told them and us all we need to know about the man\/God whose name is Jesus.\u00a0\u201cFor to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called\u00a0Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.\u00a0Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>(Isa. 9. 6,7 ESV).<\/p>\n What a promise from this Jesus!\u00a0\u201cIf you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you\u201d<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(Jn. 15. 7 ESV). So ask we shall!<\/p>\n \u2018Dear Heavenly Father, by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, we ask that we all would grasp the magnificent beauty of the Incarnation. In Jesus\u2019 name, Amen<\/p>\n Merry Christmas!!!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The importance of a name NAMES\u2026can tell so much about a person, thing, even an institution. It\u2019s your identity. Many have names with underlying meaning, even directing their life\u2019s destiny. It sets you apart from someone else. My first and middle name is Billy Cleveland. I was named after my maternal grandfather and the twenty-fourth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[130,168,156,102],"class_list":["post-5946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abiding","tag-christmas","tag-holidays","tag-jesus","tag-weekly-devotional"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}I am who I am<\/h3>\n
Jesus<\/h3>\n