KNOWING GOD BY NAME Part 2 Kay Keith Peebles June 22,2018 18.17
Names are powerful. They can have great significance for the individual and those around them. They can bring shame, or they can raise one up. They can be descriptive of one’s destiny or character or they can curse it. Names can influence one to fulfill its meaning or prove it wrong.
The Lord God re-named several people in the Bible. Abram, meaning “father is exalted” was the first. After the Lord made a covenant with Abram and gave him the promise of descendants as numerous as the sands on the seashore or stars in the sky, He named him Abraham “father of a multitude”. From that moment on, everyone who called him Abraham was declaring God’s promise to him.
In Part 1 of Knowing God By Name, we learned Abraham discovered Jehovah-Jireh “The Lord My Provider”. He had already met the LORD “Adonai” who had called him to move to Canaan and serve him as the One True God. Every believer’s life becomes built on both the Word of God and personal encounters with the Lord as they grow in their knowledge of Him and His ways. It is through that interaction, like Abraham, we discover the many facets of God’s character which make Him more personal to the individual.
Part 2 of Knowing God By Name explores the name REDEEMER. Redeem means: 1. Compensating for the faults or bad aspects of something. (Sin). 2. Gain or regain possession of (something) in exchange for payment. Regain, retrieve, recover, reclaim or repossess. (In this case, the Lord made the exchange of His life for ours, He paid our debt and Redeems our losses.) Miriam Webster. (Emphasis mine).
Abraham and Sarah named their son of promise Isaac “laughter”. Both Abraham age 99 and Sarah 89 laughed when the Lord told them Sarah would have a son within a year. The Lord’s response to their laughter was, “Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” Isaac knew the story his parents told. Every time they spoke his name, Isaac didn’t just hear “laughter”, he heard, “son of God’s promise”.
Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau. The name Esau simply meant “ruddy, red” but Jacob meant “surplanter”. Jacob is blamed for stealing his brother Esau’s blessing. There was an obvious struggle between the two brothers in Rebekah’s womb. Esau was born first but Jacob was holding Esau’s heel when he was delivered. The Lord gave Rebekah a word, “Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.” Genesis 25:23.
The Lord intended Jacob to receive the father’s blessing and be the “chosen” seed of Isaac. Esau defied Rebekah and Isaac’s God while Jacob sought relationship with the Lord God. He was God’s choice to walk in the blessing of Abraham and Isaac and to be the lineage from which Jesus would be born. However, His birth order would have prevented him from receiving the blessing in the natural.
Although Esau had sold Jacob his birthright which included the blessing, he was furious when Jacob tricked Isaac to obtain it. Esau had changed his mind, but the Lord had not changed His. Esau vowed to kill Jacob as soon as Isaac died, and the period of mourning was over. Jacob left quickly to distance himself from Esau and to obtain a wife from Rebekah’s brother’s family.
Jacob encountered God while on his way to visit his uncle Laban. The Bible says “he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep…And behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;…and in thy seed (Jesus) shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” Genesis 28:10-22. (Emphasis mine). Jacob named that place Bethel which means house of God and he declared it the gate of heaven.
Jacob had another encounter with the LORD after Laban had deceived him when he was to marry Rachel. He remained there working for Laban for many years until Joseph was born. Jacob requested that Laban release him with his wives and family to go back to Rebekah and Isaac’s home. He had worked for Laban to pay the dowry for his wife Rachel but had no income of his own. Laban agreed to give him a portion of the sheep if he would stay longer. Jacob made an agreement on his payment of sheep and rams, but Laban began to cheat Jacob by hiding some of the flock. The LORD God gave Jacob a dream and promised him he would receive all the livestock he had earned. He said, “I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar, and where you made a vow to Me; now stand up, leave this land, and return unto the land of your birth.” Genesis 31:13.
Jacob left Laban with his family, his servants and his flock after serving him for twenty years. They were great in number because the LORD had kept His promise and blessed Jacob mightily despite being treated unfairly by Laban. Word came that Esau and 400 men were on their way to intercept Jacob. Jacob assumed Esau would not only try to kill him, but that he would destroy his entire family. He sent many livestock ahead of him as a gift to appease Esau. He then sent his family via another route to protect them. Jacob planned to meet Esau alone to shield his household from harm. He stopped for the night to rest and prepare for his encounter with his brother.
The LORD appeared to Jacob and wrestled with him all night. Jacob refused to let him go until He gave him a blessing. The LORD asked Jacob his name and he told Him deceiver, surplanter. The LORD spoke to Jacob, “Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel (he who strives with God) for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. The Lord blessed the place calling it Peniel, for I have seen God. When Jacob met with Esau and his entourage of 400 the next day, Esau kissed him and welcomed him back home!
Israel (Jacob) had met his Redeemer! The LORD redeemed his name and life with the blessing of Abraham and Isaac. He redeemed his earnings which were stolen by Laban and He redeemed his relationship with his brother Esau.
The knowledge of God as Redeemer was passed on to Israel’s descendants. Israel’s son Joseph had a lofty dream from the Lord. Instead, he was sold into slavery by his ten older brothers and was wrongly accused of rape which caused him to be imprisoned by Pharaoh for several years. Thirteen years of his life seemed cruel and wasted but the Lord blessed him by making him second in command under Pharaoh in Egypt. He was reunited with his father and brothers, and when his father Jacob (Israel) was near death, he prayed the following blessing over Joseph and his sons. “The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.” Genesis 48:16. Israel gave Ephraim, Joseph’s second born the blessing from Abraham and Isaac.
There was another man who knew God as his Redeemer. His name was Job. Job lost everything! His sons and their families, all his cattle and livelihood and his health were gone. Although his friends accused him of deserving his situation because of sin, Job stood in faith of the God who had blessed him. He said, “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth.” Job 19:25. His provision, health and family were turned around and doubled.
The Bible is filled with verses about the Lord being our Redeemer (Deliverer). “I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.” Isaiah 44:22.
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because of the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” Isaiah 61:1
“But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are Mine! Isaiah 43:1
“For He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:13-14.
We will experience many trials in life, some being extremely difficult and life changing. It is challenging to see the possibility of redemption or deliverance when we are in the middle of a crisis, but the Lord has given us His Promise and His name, Redeemer! One of His greatest promises is to conquer the sting of death. “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:55-57.
Both my mom and dad died several years ago but I could rejoice at their funeral because I knew they were in heaven. The sting of separation was removed by the knowledge that I will see them again. I have seen the Lord restore or redeem situations in my life that appeared to be lost or broken forever.
The Lord can redeem lost time, broken relationships, missed opportunities and wrong decisions. We may not see everything fulfilled in our lifetime, but it is assured we will see it in heaven! Hebrews chapter 11 describes those servants of God who walked by faith and stood strong believing in the Promises of God. In Abraham’s case, he did not see the total fulfillment of the multitudes that would come through Isaac, but he is experiencing it in heaven as we continue to come in through his offspring, Jesus. Our God is our REDEEMER. We need not be concerned about what we have lost but rejoice in what we have found in Him!
