What’s In a Name #1

(Go To Meeting)

Michael Heiss—May 2, 2025

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Tonight we’re going to talk about what’s in a name. My wife, Nancy, unfortunately she’s no longer with us; she departed this life. But she had a lot of Kansas expressions, some back in the Midwest. Whenever you had a lot of stuff or you were going through a lot of stuff, she used to say, ‘a whole bunch.’ That was her phrase, ‘a whole bunch.’

Well, what’s in a name? A whole bunch and then some! At first now, I’m going to play around a little bit with you and see if God is in any of your names. We’ll just take a few minutes out and we’ll get just maybe three or four. For example, we’ll start with my name:

1. Michael—That’s from the Hebrew, Michael. There’s the ‘el’ meaning ‘who is like God.’ So, I kiddingly say, ‘Wow, they named an archangel after me.; I think it was the other way around. Now, Michael has a counterpart up there, another archangel:
2. Gabriel—‘Gabriel’ or ‘Gabriy-el,’ which is God is mighty! How many people on earth have the name Gabriel? God is in their name!
3. The parents of John the Baptist: Elizabeth and Zacharias?
4. Elizabeth—pledged to my God! You hear the ‘El’ in there, Elizabeth.
5. Zacharias or people who are named today Zach, Zachary, it comes from Zacharias, which means the Lord has remembered!

Remember the Sabbath Commandment in Exo. 20 when God says, remember the Sabbath? That’s part of Zacharias’ name. You can see that.

We have to realize that a name actually contains the reputation, the renown, the character! It’s in essence, everything that person is or stands for. God names people for:

• what they are
• what they say
• what they do

We’re now going to look at an individual whose name is what He did. In fact, He was the most important person who ever lived. He was on a mission that for all practical purposes was a mission impossible. But with God, we’re told all things are possible! I’m talking, of course, about:

JESUS THE CHRIST

In the Gospel of Matthew, first chapter, we will see information about His birth.

Matthew 1:18: “And the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: Now, His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph...”

First of all, I don’t know how many of you are familiar with Jewish marriages. When it talks about betrothing, that is not an engagement, that is an actual marriage! The marriage took place in two parts.

The first part was when ceremony was provided, people were gathered together and they are declared to be married. Then she went home to her father for a year. The reason for that was to make sure no hanky-panky happened. Well, look what we find here.

“...but before they came together, she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to expose her publicly, was planning to divorce her secretly” (vs 18-19).

He didn’t want to make a spectacle out of it, but this was a valid marriage. How else do you get pregnant unless you do the normal thing?

Verse 20: “But as he pondered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary to be your wife, because that which has been begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she shall give birth to a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins’” (vs 20-21).

But the Hebrew background, the Hebrew name is ‘Yeshua,’ which means:

• save
• One Who saves
• He who saves

Jesus was named ‘Yeshua,’ because He was the Who was going to save His people from sin, you and me for our sins, and the whole world. That was almost the mission impossible! How do you come and live a perfect life?

• guard the door of your mind
• never once slipping up

That’s for all practical purposes, mission impossible!

But He had the Holy Spirit in full measure from the beginning. He guarded the door of His mind and He came through with fine colors! God named Him, because of:

• what He was going to do
• what He said
• what He did

Now, we’re going to find out in just a minute, as far as Old Testament, ‘Yahweh’, or ‘Adonai,’ the LORD God had a name. In fact, He mentions it twice.

So, when God says He has a name and tells us what it is, well, that should be sufficient! But when He says it twice and emphasizes it, we better sit up and take notice!

We’re now going to look at the second time and then we’re going to go back to the first time.

Isaiah 42:8: “I am the LORD; that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to graven images.”

Now, when it says here, “I am the LORD...” that’s a convention. It doesn’t really mean in a sense, “I am the LORD...”—although He was the LORD! What he’s saying is, ‘I am Yahweh. I am Adonai.’

‘Adonai’ was a Jewish substitute, because nobody dared pronounce that name. Eventually, everybody forgot how to pronounce it. The high priest didn’t even know how to pronounce it. So, I’m going to go along with that convention and say ‘Adonai.’ What He’s saying here is, ‘I am Adonai, that is My name.’ But:

• What does it really mean?
• What does ‘Yahweh’ mean?
• Oh, a lot!

Exo. 3—this is the first time chronologically where we find that name mentioned.

Exodus 3:1: “Now, Moses kept the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock [around]...”

Verse 2: “And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire...”

Here’s the story of the burning bush; we know that.

Verse 4: “And the LORD saw that he had turned aside to see. God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said, ‘Moses! Moses!’....”

Verse 6: “And He said, ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.” I think I would be, too, if I had been in Moses’ place!

Verse 7: “And the LORD said, ‘I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt.... [v 8]: And I am coming down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians... [v 9]: And now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me....” (vs 7-9). And we begin the crux:

Verse 10: “‘And now go, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring forth My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.’ And Moses said to God, ‘Who am I...?’” (vs 10-11).

Get somebody else; I can’t do this. I don’t know how to do this. What’s going on here?

God responded, v 12: “And He said, ‘I will be with you. And this shall be the sign to you that I have sent you...’”

But Moses is still not on board with it. He’s a little uneasy. Wouldn’t you be?

Verse 13: “And Moses said to God, ‘Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and shall say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they shall say to me, “What is His name?” What shall I say to them?’” I don’t know what to tell them!

And then look what God says, the famous declaration:

Verse 14: “And God said to Moses, ‘I AM THAT I AM.’....”

Now, this is also, in a sense, a dramatic, dynamic statement. It’s all-encompassing. It means:

• I was what I was
• I am what I am
• I will be what I will be

“...I AM THAT I AM.’ And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, “I AM has sent me to you”’” (v 14). That’s His name!

In Hebrew, that word, the YHVH, is an incredibly powerful word. It has a noun form and it has a verb form. The Old Testament noun form is:

• I AM
• I Exist
• I AM the Ever-Living One
• I AM the Self-Existing One
• I AM the Forever One

Now, that was a bombshell in the ancient world!

I want to take just a couple of minutes and read to you from a work that I had done about 1973 when I was attending the University of Judaism in Los Angeles, and we were talking about, in this particular class, the difference between the religion of Israel and all other religions.

You may not be aware of this. I know it was a bombshell to me when I read it. We’re talking about the ‘primordial realm.’

Basic to all forms of paganism is the existence of the primordial realm, which precedes and transcends the gods. It is a realm of being prior to the gods and above them, upon which the gods depend and whose decrees they must obey.

So whether we’re talking about in days of old Baal, Chemosh, Amon-Roth, or down to the great Roman times, whether it’s Minerva, whether it’s Apollo, Zeus, Jupiter, it doesn’t matter. All of these gods emerge from pre-existing material and are subject to the decrees of what is known as fate.

Now, what is this fate? It doesn’t say!. But compare this to the One Who says, ‘I AM the I AM, the Ever- Living One!

We’ll see that that word as a noun can mean ‘I exist.’ And as a verb, it means to become and to bring into existence all that there is! That’s wrapped up in the name YHVH; powerful!

But going back to the realm of the pagan world:

The realm is conceived of variously darkness, water, spirit, true sky, but always as the womb in which the seeds of all being are contained. There are mysterious powers in this realm of the gods. It is a fundamental hallmark of paganism that the gods are born out of pre-existent material.

Totally foreign to the Bible. It was a bombshell! It was a direct smack at all paganism to say:

In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. And everything that came into existence came in through Him.

Pagans knew nothing about that. Yud-Hei-Vav-Hei [YHVH] stands in total opposition to the pagan world. Now we’re going to think.

Verse 15 is the I AM, the Self-Existing One. So the noun aspect of Y-H-V-H is the One Who is, the One Who exists, the Forever One! That’s what He is. Now, this Forever One was manifested as Priest of the Most High, Melchizedek.

Let’s look at the second time Melchizedek is really mentioned, Heb. 7, and we will see what Paul has to say starting in:

Hebrews 6:20: “Where Jesus has entered for us as a Forerunner, having become a High Priest forever according to the order of Melchisedec.”

Hebrews 7:1: “For this Melchisedec, King of Salem... King of Peace] ...Priest of the Most High God, Who met Abraham as he was returning from his slaughter of the kings, and blessed him, and to Whom Abraham gave a tenth part of all; on the one hand, being interpreted King of Righteousness; and on the other hand, King of Salem, which is King of Peace; without father, without mother, without genealogy; having neither beginning of days, nor end of life...” (vs 1-3)—that’s forever!

We’re being told here that this Melchizedek is the Forever One, only He’s being manifested in what we would say human form. But nevertheless, this is the Existing One. Now, it is most interesting, Paul says:

“...Priest of the Most High God...”

The Christ in the Old Testament many times is called The Most High. Well, if He’s the Most High, then the question sometimes is: ‘How can the Most High be Priest of the Most High?

Now, in English, it’s difficult to understand, but in Hebrew it becomes very clear. It really does.

Gen. 14—Abraham has defeated the various kings and their best forces:

Genesis 14:18: “And Melchisedec the King of Salem brought forth bread and wine. And He was the Priest of the Most High God.”

Verse 20: “And blessed be the Most High God...”

The difference is that in Hebrew, most of the time, or almost all the time, where you read the Most High in Hebrew in the Old Testament is ‘Elyon’ just by itself. But here in Gen. 14, it’s not simply the Most High. It’s the Most High is preceded by ‘El’ ‘El-Elyon.’ Now, that’s a different name. He is the One Who Melchizedek served as High Priest. The El-Elyon, that was the One Who became the Father. So, when you see it in Hebrew, it jumps right out at you. That’s how we know that Melchizedek, Who was Priest of the Most High, was the Priest of the One Who became the Father.

But many times, the Most High is just Elyon. So, let’s just look at a couple of Scriptures to show that:

Deuteronomy 32:8: “When the Most High... [Elyon] ...divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.”

This clearly is referring to the One Who became Jesus. It says Most High, but it doesn’t say El Most High.

Psalm 50:14: “Offer to God thanksgiving; and pay your vows to the Most High.” This is the One Who became Christ; this is the God of the Old Testament!

But there are times when the Old Testament does refer to the One Who became the Father. When you see El-Elyon, that truly is the Great God Most High and refers to the superior being of God the Father.

• we can understand that
• we can see it

Now, we’re going to look at the verb aspect of it; I didn’t get to that, yet. In the verb form, this Adonai/ Yahweh means to be and to become. Not just the One Who is, not just what He is, but it means to be and to become; also, to cause, to cause to be!

The One Who brings into existence, the Creator of all. Not like the gods of the pagan world who came out of a ‘pre-existing substance.’ Right then and there we should be seeking up a Scripture, shouldn’t we?

John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Self-existing, nothing else, except, of course, we know the One Who was the Father, He was there. But other than that, that was it.

Verse 2: “He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and not even one thing that was created came into being without Him” (vs 2-3).

There it is! The One Who created it all. The One Who exists forever, the Forever One, and the One Who brings into existence anything and everything He chooses! We are connecting the dots. So, we have:

• the Yod Hei Vav Hei [YHVH] of the Old Testament
• Melchizedek mentioned in both Old and New Testaments
• the Logos

All connected, they are one and the same!

What’s in a name? Eternity, Forever, All Powerful, Almighty; all of that is in Yahweh, the Eternal, the Ever-Living One! That’s when He told Moses, ‘You tell them the I AM sent you, the Self-Existing One,’ because that’s His name! That’s what His name means:

• to exist forever
• to bring into existence whatever He chooses

So that’s the first part of what I had in mind!

Also, there is something else in John 8. Jesus really sent the religious leaders of the Jews climbing a wall here. Here’s Jesus at odds with the Jews. When we say the Jews, this is a term that doesn’t mean the Jewish people as a whole. It’s a Hebraic term that’s talking about leaders. Yehudi, Judeans. It doesn’t necessarily refer to very many people up in Galilee. It refers to those in charge; it refers to leading Pharisees and Sadducees. But it doesn’t necessarily have to refer to the rank and file of the Jewish people, because the term is different.

So the Jewish leaders are arguing with Jesus and Jesus says:

John 8:55: “Yet, you have not known Him... [talking about God] ...but I know Him. And if I say that I do not know Him, I shall be a liar, like you. But I know Him, and I keep His Word. Abraham your father was overjoyed to see My day; and he saw it, and rejoiced.’” (vs 55-56).

Verse 57: “Then the Jews said to Him, ‘You are not even fifty years old, and You have seen Abraham?’

Then he dropped the bombshell! Almost a nuclear device.

Verse 58: “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM.’”

Now they knew who the ‘I AM’ was. We just read it in Exo. 3. ‘I AM what I AM. I will be what I will be.’ All-encompassing. And Jesus is saying that’s who He was; they knew what He meant! They were ready to lynch Him right then and there, But He escaped their clutches.

I was saying that God names people for what they do, for how they are, what they are. So let us look at a couple.

ABRAM/ABRAHAM

Genesis 11:31: “And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife. And he went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees to go into the land of Canaan. And they came to Haran and lived there.”

This is very interesting because it may be possible. Can’t say for sure, but it may be possible that God was working with Terah to start with. Because it says “Terah took Abram...” and the group to go to the land of Canaan. But they stopped in Haran, and Terah died in Haran.

Genesis 12:1: “And the LORD said to Abram, ‘Get out of your country, and from your kindred...”—he was in Haran when God called him!

Genesis 17:1: “And when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD [Adonai] appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am the Almighty God!.... [I am God the Provider] ...Walk before Me and be perfect.’” He’s going to the covenant!

Now, the name Abram is from the Hebrew ‘Ab-raw,’ which means lofty father. That’s quite a name, ‘lofty father.’ But God is going to do Abraham the one better with his name.

Verse 5: “Neither shall your name any more be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham...’”

Everything is the same, except there’s a ‘ha’ sounds like an ‘H’ put in there, which means father of nations! So, God is really beginning the work of the Kingdom with Abram. He’s now going to call him Abraham. Now, there were some righteous people before Abraham. We all know that!

• Abel seems to have been righteous
• Enoch was righteous, God ‘took him’
• Noah was certainly righteous
• we don’t know to what extent Shem was

So the world didn’t start with Abraham. I understand that, but the emphasis began with Abraham! What did Paul say in Gal. 3? This should be familiar to all of us.

Galatians 3:29: “And IF you are Christ’s, THEN you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Genesis 17:5: “...I have made you a father of many nations. [v 6]: ...I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you”

Abraham was the beginning of God establishing the Kingdom. That means everybody who has ever lived and who converts, works with God and God works with him, becomes a member of the Kingdom of God, the Family of God.

Paul said ‘he’s Abraham’s seed.’ Because Abraham was not only physically, but spiritually, the dust of the land and the sea, the grains of sand on the seashore and the waters itself!

JACOB

This is most interesting here. We say that God names people for what they are. Gen. 25; here we have the story of the birth of Jacob as well as Esau. Jacob was named Jacob because he was a heel-grabber.

Genesis 25:25: “And the first came out red, like a hairy garment all over. And they called his name Esau. And after that his brother came out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel. And his name was called Jacob...” (vs 25-26)—‘Yah-ak-obe’; because he was a grabber, he was a conniver! In fact, the name really means ‘crooked.’

Isaiah 40:4: “Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked places shall be made straight...”—crooked!

How does that read in Hebrew? ‘Yah-ak-obe’. What was Jacob’s name? ‘Yah-ak-obe’; the root’s the same. Jacob was a bit of a crook. Well, not like Levin, true. But he was, he was a conniver, he was out for himself. He took advantage of Esau. Of course, Esau didn’t exactly hold true or hold dear. The difference between Jacob and Esau was Esau cast aside the birthright and the blessing! He was vain inside. He didn’t see the importance. Jacob did!

So, Jacob’s name, though, was going to be changed because of that, because God calls those people for what they are! Jacob was worked upon by God, he really was.

Gen. 32 describes how Jacob was called by God back from Levin to his homeland to actually see his father, Isaac. And look what he actually says when all was said and done.

Genesis 32:7: “Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed, and he divided the people with him, and the flocks and herds, and the camels, into two bands. And he said, ‘If Esau comes to the one company and strikes it, then the other company which is left shall escape.’ And Jacob said, ‘Oh God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD [YHVH] Who said to me, “Return to your country and to your kindred, and I will deal well with you”’” (vs 7-9).

Look at what his state of mind is; look at his thinking:

Verse 10: “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the Truth, which You have done to Your servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I have become two bands. Deliver me, I pray You, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him...” (vs 10-11).

So, Jacob divides up what he has and gives presents to Esau. It turned out Esau had forgotten a lot of that.

Verse 24: “And Jacob was left alone. And a Man wrestled there with him until the breaking of the day.”

• Where did this Man come from?
• Who was He?

Turns out Jacob knew Who this One was!

Verse 25: “And when the Man saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the hollow of his thigh. And the hollow of Jacob’s thigh became out of joint as he wrestled with Him. And He said, ‘Let Me go, for the day breaks.’ And Jacob said, ‘I will not let You go except You bless me’” (vs 25-26).

Now when you’re asking a blessing, you’re not asking a blessing who is one beneath you or an equal. No, no, no! You’re asking someone superior to bless you.

Verse 27: “And He said to him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Jacob.’ And He said, ‘Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed’” (vs 27-28).

He held on! Jacob knew this was YHVH manifested in human flesh; only He limited Himself. He could have taken Jacob out any time He wanted to. But He limited Himself deliberately. He was testing Jacob.

• What do you really believe, Jacob?
• What are you putting your trust in?
• What do you really want?

Jacob knew that he wanted the blessing from this individual, from God! Jacob knew Who He was, because he said so!

Verse 29: “And Jacob asked and said, ‘I pray You, reveal Your name.’....[tell me Who You are] ... And He said, ‘Why do you ask after My name?’ And He blessed him there.”

I wish I would have known exactly. I would like to know exactly how He blessed him. What did He tell Jacob? We don’t know! But God blessed Jacob, and He straightened him out.

Remember the crooked places shall be made straight! This was God working on Jacob, finally making him straight!

Verse 30: “And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, ‘For I have seen God face to face... [eyeball to eyeball; he said so] ...and my life is preserved’”–-I survived! I made it!

• God blessed him
• God changed him
• God changed his name

Jacob was no longer crooked

• he held onto the blessing
• he held onto the birthright
• he held on with all he had

Esau didn’t!

Not that Esau was so terrible in a way, but he didn’t think that highly of the birthright or the blessing. He wasn’t that interested in God. Jacob was! God could work with Jacob!

May we be like Jacob. We all have our faults. We all have our shortcomings. We really do. but IF through God’s Spirit we call upon Him and ask Him:

• to be with us
• to strengthen us
• to lead us
• to guide us

THEN we HOLD ON to the knowledge of God and

• Who and What He is
• What His purpose is

Hang on to that and never let go! Then we will be as Jacob was, and we can say, in our own way, we have seen God face-to-face and our life is preserved!

DAVID

He was not much more than a teenager here in the story, but let’s see him with the Philistines.

1-Samuel 17:3: “And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side. And there was a valley between them. And a champion named Goliath came out of the Philistine’s camp; he was from Gath. His height was six cubits and a span” (vs 3-4). This guy was a giant of a man! WOW! So, he said:

“...Choose a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your slaves. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our slaves and serve us (vs 8-9).

Verse 11: “And Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, and they were dismayed and greatly afraid.”

• Weren’t they armies of God?
• Weren’t they the people of God?
• Yeah, but it wasn’t that real to them!

This is the amazing thing! Even when they were led through the Red Sea. What was it, a few days and they were screaming at Moses, Moses, ‘we need water, we need food’? Human nature, I guess!

David we find was the youngest (v 14). David found out what was going on, and he was brought into Saul. And he says:

Verse 32: “And David said to Saul, ‘Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.’ And Saul said to David, ‘You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth...” [you’re still wet behind the years] ... and he is a man of war from his youth’” (vs 32-33).

Look what David said and compared David’s thinking. Watch. Watch.

Verse 34: “And David said to Saul, ‘Your servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock.’”

Now, here’s where I get to wax your movement for a minister. I do believe in climate change. Lion, bear, you go to Israel today. You go to Syria. You go to the Middle East. There ain’t no bears there. There aren’t any lions, but there were.

Remember the man of God who came up to warn Jeroboam, the victim of sin? God told him when you’re finished, you go right back the way you came and don’t stop. But he didn’t. He was persuaded to say overnight, and a lion killed him.

Look at Samson; remember that Samson killed a lion with his own hands. And when a bunch of ruffians were making fun of, mocking Elisha, what happened? Two she-bears came out and mauled them! The climate was different. But I don’t think the combustion engine had anything to do with it. So just my thought.

David said, v 35: “And I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb out of its mouth.”

Do any of you care to go to a lion and try to grab prey out of the lion’s mouth? David did!

“...And when it rose against me, I caught it by the beard, and struck it and killed it. Your servant killed both the lion and the bear. And this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God” (vs 35-36).

Well, we know the story. David did go out to meet Goliath. But the important thing is, look what he said:.

Verse 41: “And the Philistine came on and drew near David. And the man who bore the shield was before him.”

Now David had taken his staff and five smooth stones!

Verse 42: “And the Philistine looked and saw David, and disdained him, for he was only a youth, and ruddy with a handsome appearance. And the Philistine said to David, ‘Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, ‘Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field’” (vs 42-44).

Verse 45 is all encompassing: “And David said to the Philistine, ‘You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. The LORD will deliver you into my hand today, and I will strike you and take your head from you and give the bodies of the army of the Philistines to the birds of the air today, and to the wild beasts of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel” (vs 45-46).

He said, ‘you come to me with the sword and the spear, but I’m coming against you in the name by the power, the authority and all of that power that’s there. The Commander of the hosts of Israel, the hosts of God, the heavenly hosts, that Power is with me! That Power will deliver you into my hand.’ Awesome!

Next time we’re going to be talking about the LORD of hosts. We will look and see what it means:

• ‘in the name of God’
• ‘in the name of Christ’
• ‘in the name of Jesus’
• ‘I say to you...’

What is it in that name? This is just a foreshadow of what we’re going to see. The Power in the name of Jesus, all this awesome Power in that name!

What is it in that name? I don’t know! There’s all this awesome power in that name! But here David simply says that “...I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts.” That’s:

• the Ever-living One
• the One Who became Christ
• the God of the armies of Israel

Verse 47: “And all this multitude shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’S...’ [the battle is Yahweh’s] ...and He will give you into our hands.’”

‘I can’t do it. I don’t have the strength to do it. But He does, and I am relying on that Power, the name of the Commander of the hosts of God.’

Yeah, David had that faith. David, I mean, he made mistakes later on, we know. But he, even as a young man, he had the faith that God would back him up because he was doing something in the name of that God. We’ll find out that when you do something in the name of God, you’re also doing something in defense of that God, defense of His reputation.

Remember earlier, we didn’t fully read that where he says, who is this uncircumcised Gentile who dares to defy the armies of the living God? David was very well aware of God in relationship. Why many other Israelites weren’t? I don’t know.

You notice that Saul wasn’t exactly in an all fired hurry to get out there and meet Goliath. He was terrified. Saul was really not with God! God was with Saul to a point. But Saul was really not with God!

We need to be with God as David was. Whatever problems we have! Whatever those problems are, we face them in the name, not just by the authority, but all the power that is in that name!

I know there are times when I think to myself: you know, we pray, we have our own private prayers, or we have opening prayer, closing prayer, prayer over food. And we say in Jesus’ name or in the name of the Christ.

• Do we really understand what we’re saying?
• Do we really grasp it?

We’re saying it by the authority, not just the authority, but:

• by the Power of the God who said, ‘Let there be light
• by the Power of the Self-existing One
• by the Power of the One Who calls to be all the universe

That Power is harnessed; we can harness that Power. Jesus talked about: ‘if you say something in My name,’ it’s by My authority, by My Power! The name of Jesus is all powerful!

Now, just as a quick addition here, we know that this man was the Lord of hosts. David came to Goliath in the name. Now, on the other hand, Joshua actually saw in human form the awesome being Who is Commander of the hosts.

JOSHUA

Joshua 5:13: “And it came to pass, when Joshua was beside Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked. And, behold, there stood a Man in front of him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, ‘Are You for us or for our foes?’”

You’re for us? Are you against us? Tell us! Tell me! And he said,

Verse 14: “And He said, ‘No, but I have come as the Commander of the army of the LORD’—YHVH....”

Who was the Commander? Yahweh Himself! He was the Commander of the heavenly hosts.

“...And Joshua fell on his face to the earth. And he worshiped and said to Him, ‘What does my LORD say to His servant?’”

Joshua knew Who that was! That’s why he fell on his face. That’s why he said, ‘What does my Lord say to a servant?’

Verse 15: “And the Commander of the LORD’S army said to Joshua, ‘Take your shoes off your feet for the place on which you stand is Holy.’ And Joshua did so.”

Now, David didn’t see that. I don’t believe David ever saw that. Joshua did! That name applies to the Commander of the heavenly hosts, all of them, Michael, Gabriel, the hundreds of millions, or maybe billions for all I know, of angels that comprise God’s Kingdom.

That name, and the name of Jesus. Remember when Jesus—in Matthew—said to those around him, ‘Don’t you know that I could call upon God and have twelve legions of angels?’

How many would that be? Well, in the Roman world, a legion of Roman troops was five thousand! Five thousand times twelve, that’s sixty thousand angels. Now, that’s a lot of power. That’s a whole bunch of power.

Just think what one or two angels did to Sodom and Gomorrah. Here Jesus said He could have had his ‘beck and call’ sixty thousand, because of His name! He was Commander of all those angels!

• He had to save His people
• He had to save us

His mission impossible was to

• live the perfect life
• die for our sins
• be resurrected so He can be our High Priest

• What an incredible God we have!
• What a great High Priest we have!
• That’s His name!

So next time we’re going to talk about:

• being in the name of Jesus
• calling upon the name of Jesus

Where it says, and he was saved by the name of Jesus, because remember, all power is wrapped up in that name! That name strikes fear into the devils, the demons. They are, they’re terrified of that name. They know what that name means and the power.

Do we fully grasp and understand that when we call upon the name of Jesus, when we say in Jesus’ name, we’re not only saying by His authority, we’re not only saying by His command or by His allowance, we’re saying with all the power of the Commander of the heavenly hosts, we’re asking the Father.

Jesus said, ‘It has to be in the Father’s will. You know, it’s got to be according to His Plan and Purpose. He said, ‘You ask and He will do, because of His name!

What’s in a name? Once again, a whole bunch and then some! So next time we’ll get into that and go into it in some detail. Hopefully this has been a background, an introduction to the name of the Son of God!

Scriptural References:

• Matthew 1:18-21
• Isaiah 42:8
• Exodus 3:1-2, 4, 6-15
• Hebrews 6:20
• Hebrews 7:1-3
• Genesis 14:18, 20
• Deuteronomy 32:8
• Psalm 50:14
• John1:1-3
• John 8:55-58
• Genesis 11:31
• Genesis 12:1
• Genesis 17:1, 5
• Galatians 3:29
• Genesis 17:5-6
• Genesis 25:25-26
• Isaiah 40:4
• Genesis 32:7-11, 24-30
• 1-Samuel 17:3-4, 8-9, 11, 32-36, 41-47
• Joshua 5:13-15

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• 1-Samuel 17:14
• Exodus 20

MH:bo/po

Transcribed: 12/8/25

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