What's in a Name?

And he said, Your name shall no longer be called Jacob. But Israel for you have struggled with God. and with men. and have prevailed. And then Jacob asked, saying, Tell me your name.

I pray. and he said, Why is it that you ask about my name? And he blessed him there. And so Jacob called the name of the place Canile For I have seen God face to face. And my life.

is preserved. What's in a name? Very often, there is a lot of significance. It signifies what family you belong to. In the past, it may have suggested the vocation or trade of your family.

And even further back in history, it may have signaled something of your character. or a character trait your parents desired would be in you. This is the Monday edition of Renewing Your Mind, and this week you'll be hearing messages from an RC Sproll series that we have not featured on Renewing Your Mind for almost two decades. It's called Names of God. You'll hear four of the 15 messages in this series.

So, if you'd like to own it and have access to it in the free Ligonier app for life, Simply make a donation in support of Renewing Your Mind at renewingyourmind.org.

Well, to introduce us to the importance of names and the names of God, Here's our sea sprawl. In this session today, we're going to be looking. At the names and the titles that the Bible ascribes. To the members of the godhead Names and Titles of the Father Names and titles of the sun and names and titles of God the Holy Spirit. And we're doing this for a reason.

And that is That In Scripture Very frequently. The name of a person or the title of the person, says something very important. About the character. of the purse. In our culture today, we don't name people on the basis of outstanding characteristics or attributes, but in Israel particularly names often had tremendous significance and gave us deep insight, Interesting.

the character, and sometimes when a person would go through a life changing Trauma Their name would be changed. We remember, for example, how Jesus. assigned a new name to Simon. At Caesarea Philippi, after the great confession, when Jesus asked his disciples, Who do men say that I am? and they responded with the scuttle butt.

Of the area, some say you're a prophet or Elijah or whatever. And Jesus says, That's fine. Who do you say that I am? And they again responded somewhat ambiguously.

Well, we're not quite sure, but Simon gave that magnificent confession of faith when he said, Thou art the Christ. The Son of the Living God And then Jesus turned to Simon and said, Blessed art thou, Simon bar Jonah. He called him by name, didn't he? Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto you, but my Father who is in heaven, and you shall be called. Petros.

Peter. Because on this Petros that is on this rock. The rock of the confession that you've just made on this foundation. which is the basic foundation of my whole life and my whole ministry on this Rock. I will build my church.

And so thereafter. Simon was called. Peter. Probably the most dramatic name change that took place in the Old Testament. was with Jacob.

whose name was changed to Israel. Today there's a nation in Palestine that is called Israel. It isn't called Jacob. It's called Israel. It traces its roots to the twelve sons or the tribes that came.

Out of the loins of Jacob. Whose name was changed. to Israel. Let's look briefly, then, at that moment in history, When the name of Jacob was changed. We read it in Genesis chapter 32.

I'm going to pick it up at verse twenty three, where we read He took them. and sent them over the brook. and sent over what he had. But then Jacob was left alone. and a man wrestled with him, until the breaking of day.

Now, when he saw that he did not prevail against him. He touched the socket of his hip. and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint. as he wrestled with him, And he said. Let me go.

For the day breaks. But he that is Jacob said, I will not let you go. Unless you blessed me. And so he said to him What is your name? He said, Jacob.

And he said, Your name shall no longer be called Jacob. But Israel For you have struggled with God. and with men. and have prevailed. And then Jacob asked, saying, Tell me your name.

I pray. And he said, Why is it that you ask about my name? And he blessed him there. And so Jacob called the name of the place Canaile For I have seen God face to face. And my life is preserved.

Now what's going on here? This event at Panile Records A struggle. Conflict. Combat. Between a human being, Jacob.

and a representative From God Himself. The angel of the Lord comes down from heaven. And meets Jacob where he is. and the two engage in conflict. Not the best out of three falls, not fifteen rounds, three minutes around with the rest of one minute in between, nothing like that, but a wrestling match that goes on through the day and all night.

And in the course of this combat between Jacob and the angel. Jacob Pleads. that this representative of God would bless him. And in answer to this, after the angel defeats Jacob in the match, injures his hip. Permanently, leaving him with a limp for the rest of his life, that he will never forget this moment when he engaged the representative of God Himself.

in combat. He says, Bless me. The angel said. What's your name?

Now, what's the significance of that? Why? did the angel who had wrestled with this man all night. Ask him his name. Do you think for a moment that the angel of God did not know the identity of the one with whom he was locked in mortal combat for the whole night.

He knew his name. But what he was asking for was for Jacob. to surrender. Because by revealing his name, He is in a sense in Hebrew categories at least. placing himself in a position of subordination.

To the one to whom he reveals his name.

Now that idea goes all the way back to creation. where we remember That when God created mankind, Adam and Eve, male and female, and placed him in the garden, that God gave to our primordial parents dominion over the earth. There was a responsibility that attended that, to dress and to till and to keep the earth and so on. But in that act of dominion, A task was given to Adam and Eve. You might say that this was the origin of the scientific enterprise.

Because the task was to do what? To name The animals.

Now we can read that in simplistic terms and say, oh, I see. We're just supposed to run around and say, well, there's a gorilla and there's a horse and there's an orangutan and so on. No, no, no, no. By naming the animals. The whole task of classification.

which is at the heart of science. was begun. whereby we distinguish Between flowers and animals. And then we distinguish among the different kinds of flowers. and among the different kinds of animals.

Remember when you were a student in elementary biology in junior high or in high school, and you had to learn the classes and the phyla and the species and the genus and all of those different distinctions. Where you would group things together in one group and then look at their differences and break them up into subgroups. That's what we do in science. When you go to the doctor and you say my stomach hurts The doctor immediately goes through a checklist in his mind. He examines you.

He, first of all, has to come up with a diagnosis before he can treat you. And in that diagnosis, that knowing through the situation, he begins to discern: well, let's see, I know that you can have a stomachache for 50 different reasons. You could have indigestion. You could have stomach cancer. And he knows that indigestion and stomach cancer have certain points of similarity.

But it's the differences. that the doctor has to know. In order to be able to make the correct diagnosis, that's science. Careful analysis of the reality around us.

Well, that all began when God says, name the animals. And in that process, God is demonstrating that He is giving authority over the earth to Adam and Eve.

Now who names Adam? Adam does not name himself. But God names Adam. Indicating God's authority And dominion over his creature. When they have children, the parents name the child, indicating authority that the parents have.

Over the children. And that was the custom in Israel, except on very rare occasions. One of the most remarkable incidents in the New Testament takes place when? When the angel comes to Zachariah in the temple, and announces to him that his wife, who is Baron Elizabeth, is going to have a baby. And that this baby is going to be the herald, the forerunner.

of the Messiah. This was the annunciation by Gabriel of the impending birth of John the Baptist. And Zacharias was so overwhelmed in that experience in the temple. That he was struck dumb. He was not able to speak a word for the entire nine months of Elizabeth's pregnancy.

And finally, when her term was finished and the baby was brought forth, the family and the friends gathered around and they said, you know, what are you going to name this baby? And everybody looked to Zacharias. Because it was the custom for the father and the mother, and particularly the father here. to name the child. But if you remember, in that experience, That Zacharias had with the angel, Gabriel told.

Zacharias with the baby's name Would be char. that is, in the occasion of the birth of this child, God took back to himself the right to name the baby. Because this baby was going to be in a special relationship of obedience. to God. The same thing happened.

was the birth of Christ. The angel tells Mary. What the baby's name will be. Because this child is the child of God.

Now, when the people in Zacharias' family gathered around on this day, you know, they're making all kinds of suggestions and speculations. Maybe we should call him Zacharias Jr. or Abiathor or some other name of the priestly history, Zadok, or whatever, Abimelech. And whilst they're choosing their alternatives, In his muted fashion, Zacharias asks for a piece of slate. And he takes the chalk and he writes on the slate His name shall be called Jaw.

And the instant he did that His tongue was loosed. and he was able to speak again. Because he showed his Subordination, his obedience to God. And so that's the kind of thing. that's going on in this wrestling match.

between Jacob and the angel. And so when Jacob asked for the blessing, The angel says, Tell me your name. What's your name?

We have something like that. And when we had wrestling matches when we were kids, you know, what one of the ways that we would have ended the wrestling match would be one of the Contenders would yield, would give up and I can remember that as a boy we'd be in a wrestling match and have somebody in a headlock and you'd say, Do you give? Do you give? Do you give up? And you wouldn't let them go until they say, I give up, I give up.

But we had another way of doing it. Do you remember what it was? We would say say uncle I don't know where that came from, why we say uncle, but it we made the other person say uncle, or we had to say uncle, in order for the match to be over.

Well, that's kind of what the Angel is saying to Jacob when he says, Tell me your name, Jacob. He's saying, Say uncle, because this match is not over until. You. Give up. Until you acquiesce.

And surrender to my power. and to my authority, and the way You're going to show that. is by telling me. Your name. And Jacob says.

My name is Jacob. And it says thank you. But not anymore. I'm going to give you a new name. Because God has the right.

to give a new name. Because in this combat in this struggle. In this close quarter Endeavor that we've gone through here. I have touched you. And I have changed you.

And I have changed you. permanently. Yes, there's continuity with who you were before this meeting and who you shall be ever after, but there's also radical discontinuity now for the rest of your life. And so your old name is no longer appropriate. The old name, which meant supplanter, the old name for which you were so well named because of your Crooked hypocritical devious tricks that you pulled on your own family.

No more, Jacob. Jacob. is over. From now on. Your name shall be called Israel.

The one who wrestles with God. Sure enough. Beautiful name because the whole rest of the Old Testament is the history of a nation that never stopped wrestling with God, that never stopped combating and contending. with the Lord, not always in the positive sense. That Jacob does it.

in this context. And so The angel of God. pronounces the blessing of God Upon his servant. And with that blessing. He gives him a new name.

Now what is Jacob now Israel? What is Israel's response to that? He's still fighting. He says to the angel, You tell me your name. And what does the angel do?

He doesn't Give his name. Jacob's looking for a draw. He wants to walk away with some dignity here. He wants a tie. If he can't win this battle, at least let's break even.

I'll tell you my name. You tell me your name. No, nothing doing.

Well As we Look. at the names that God is pleased to give of Himself. We are going to discover. all kinds of vignettes of insights into his character. Because every title that is used for God, either God the Father, God the Son, and you notice even that distinction, God the Father.

God the Son. God the Holy Spirit, Those different names of the members of the Godhead already are telling us something. About the character. of the father. whose character it is to be the father.

And the character of the second person of the Trinity. whose character is to be the sun. and the character of the third person of the Trinity whose character is to be The holy Spirit. We're going to look at the names And the titles. that the Bible attributes to all three members of the Godhead.

And I'm excited about this series because it's a little different from the normal approach to theology. It's where we live, it's concrete, it's graphic. And it's personal. And I hope that you will study with me. in the days and in the weeks to come.

I want us to think. About our own name. Obviously, each name that we have has some particular meaning in ancient history. That may have absolutely nothing to do with who we are or what we're about. But my practical question for you is this.

If you were to crystallize The essence of one outstanding character trait, of your own personality. And had to give yourself a name. Would that name be? Patience. Courage Hope.

Kindness. Would it be bully? Warrior. It may be a good name, it may be a bad name, but ask yourself if you could name yourself according to your most outstanding. personal characteristic.

What would your name be? It might be an exercise. in learning. about who you are. Hearing R.

C. Sproll discuss our names at the close of that message makes me think of this year's Renewing Your Mind alive events. One of the questions I like to ask the audience is to guess what the W in Nathan W. Bingham stands for. But here's the catch.

Only wrong guesses were allowed, and the most creative guess won. And two of the guesses that stand out in my mind were wretched and with a righteousness that is not his own. Because, like all Christians, I am sinful, and I do have a righteousness that is not my own, namely the righteousness of Christ. This is Renewing Your Mind on this Monday, and you just heard a message from Doctor Sproul's Names of God series. Today was an introduction, but throughout this 15 message series, R.C.

Sproul considers the significance of Elohim, Adonai, El Shaddai, and other names of God found in the scriptures. If you'd like lifetime digital access to this 15-message series, call us at 800-435-4343 or visit renewingyourmind.org and give a donation in support of this daily discipleship podcast. In addition, we'll send you a copy of Dr. Sproul's book, What Are the Names of God?, and two copies of his short gospel book, The Great Rescue. Keep a copy and give one to a friend.

Perhaps someone you're praying would become a Christian, or give both away. But that's three books and a teaching series when you donate at renewingyourmind.org or by using the link in the podcast show notes. Thank you. Tomorrow, R. C.

Sproll begins to examine some of the names of God in the Bible, beginning with Yahweh.

So be sure to join us Tuesday here on Renewing Your Mind.