Called by Name
“I have called you by your name; You are Mine.” Isaiah 43:1
In the terrifying record of his memories of a time that testifies to the depths of depravity of mankind, Elie Wiesel in his book, Night, writes of the time when he arrived at the Auschwitz camp. “In the afternoon they made us line up. Three prisoners brought a table and some medical instruments. We were told to roll up our left sleeves and file past the table. The three “veteran” prisoners, needles in hand, tattooed numbers on our left arms. I became A-7713. From then on, I had no other name. At dusk, a roll call. The work commandos had returned.”
I imagine the roll call now consisted of numbers instead of names. What, at one time was a name, signifying a person, a relationship, a part of a social order, had now become merely a number – easy to exterminate. There is something about our names. It encompasses a personal history, and establishes a personal identity. It hides in it all that I am, and hope to be. It may be the closest way to reference my essence outside of me. And therefore the words of God through Isaiah, “I have called you by name” must have sounded like a cordial to the Israelites in the midst of an uncertain future and Babylonian captivity.
When someone calls you by name, they are declaring they recognize you, and they are validating your identity. When God calls you by name, He is not only declaring recognition, and validating identity, He is also assuring protection and securing destiny. Look at the words that follow God’s declaration. He promises safety from flood and fire, and ultimately a destiny – a gathering of His people. “I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you, when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned… Fear not, for I am with you, I will bring your descendants from the east, and gather you from the west, I will say to the north ‘give them up”, and to the south, ‘do not keep them back, bring my sons from afar (Isaiah 43:2-7)
As the Israelites “wept by the rivers in Babylon”, and perhaps wrestled with their alienation from God because of their sin, the words, “I have called you by name, you are mine” were most cheering. In this God was saying that though through sin you have been alienated, you have not been voided personally. You have not simply become a number. If this was true then, it is more true after the cross. John reminds us that “as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name”
Friend, may I remind you today that if you have repented of your sin, and surrendered your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, then God promises that you are His child, and he calls you by your name – recognition, identity, safety and destiny!
Danesh Manik
In the terrifying record of his memories of a time that testifies to the depths of depravity of mankind, Elie Wiesel in his book, Night, writes of the time when he arrived at the Auschwitz camp. “In the afternoon they made us line up. Three prisoners brought a table and some medical instruments. We were told to roll up our left sleeves and file past the table. The three “veteran” prisoners, needles in hand, tattooed numbers on our left arms. I became A-7713. From then on, I had no other name. At dusk, a roll call. The work commandos had returned.”
I imagine the roll call now consisted of numbers instead of names. What, at one time was a name, signifying a person, a relationship, a part of a social order, had now become merely a number – easy to exterminate. There is something about our names. It encompasses a personal history, and establishes a personal identity. It hides in it all that I am, and hope to be. It may be the closest way to reference my essence outside of me. And therefore the words of God through Isaiah, “I have called you by name” must have sounded like a cordial to the Israelites in the midst of an uncertain future and Babylonian captivity.
When someone calls you by name, they are declaring they recognize you, and they are validating your identity. When God calls you by name, He is not only declaring recognition, and validating identity, He is also assuring protection and securing destiny. Look at the words that follow God’s declaration. He promises safety from flood and fire, and ultimately a destiny – a gathering of His people. “I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you, when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned… Fear not, for I am with you, I will bring your descendants from the east, and gather you from the west, I will say to the north ‘give them up”, and to the south, ‘do not keep them back, bring my sons from afar (Isaiah 43:2-7)
As the Israelites “wept by the rivers in Babylon”, and perhaps wrestled with their alienation from God because of their sin, the words, “I have called you by name, you are mine” were most cheering. In this God was saying that though through sin you have been alienated, you have not been voided personally. You have not simply become a number. If this was true then, it is more true after the cross. John reminds us that “as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name”
Friend, may I remind you today that if you have repented of your sin, and surrendered your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, then God promises that you are His child, and he calls you by your name – recognition, identity, safety and destiny!
Danesh Manik
posted by Danesh Manik | 2:41 PM
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