The Ministry TableSample

These Are the Names

This fall, our church will make our way through the book of Exodus. The name of the book, Exodus, comes from Greek, ἔξοδος (éxodos), which means, “the way out”—referring of course to God leading his people out of bondage in Egypt and into the Promised Land.

But the custom of our Jewish brothers and sisters is to call each book of the Bible by the first word or words of the book. The first words of Exodus are, “These are the Names.” So they call the book, “Names”, or “These are the names.”

The more you know about the God of the Bible, the more you realize how important names are to him.

• In Exodus 3, God reveals his name to Moses. He wants Moses, and us, to know him personally.
• Psalm 20 tells us God’s name is powerful and redemptive:"Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God."

But it’s not only God’s name that is given attention in the Scriptures. God makes it clear that he cares about our names—they matter to him.

In the first stand-off in Exodus between the domain of darkness of Egypt and the kingdom of God, Pharaoh commands the midwives to kill all newborn Hebrew sons. But two midwives fear and love God and they defy the Lord of Egypt. God’s Word tells us the names of these two courageous women—Shiprah and Puah—but neither the Scriptures nor history can tell us the name of that Pharaoh. In his refusal to obey the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, his name has been lost.

Graciously and in love, God has told us his name. He has shared with us the name of his only son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.

But God also desires that we tell him our names. Of course he already knows them, but what he desires for all of us—especially we who lead his people—is that we would come before him not just as pastors or leaders, but as his beloved children, sharing with him the depths of who we are beyond our roles and titles.

Jesus calls his sheep by name and leads them out. And that’s good news for all of us.

Pastor Vito Aiuto
Lead Pastor, Lower Manhattan Community Church
New York, NY
https://www.lowermanhattanchurch.com/