Jehovah Shalom – May God Be Your Peace 

What’s In a Name? Everything.   

Mark Sinclair – Vin Disel (picture) 

Karl Anderson Jr. – Michael Kors 

Caryn Elaine Johnson – Whoppi Goldberg 

Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson – Katie Perry 

Eric Marlon Bishop – Jamie Foxx 

Peter Gene Hernandez – Bruno Mars 

Everything is in a name, especially when we talk about the names of God and who he is.  A name is so important in biblical settings that Scripture frequently mentions God Himself changing someone’s name to reflect a new reality.   

For example, Abram to Abraham.  Saul to Paul.  And Simon to Peter, the one builds his church. 

Names reveal aspects of character and who you are.  The way some people may know you are as wife/husband/teacher/student/mom/dad/son/daughter.  These names reveal who you are. 

And as such names reveal aspects of God’s character. 

Now God reveals himself right away in scripture as Elohim… 

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God [Elohim] created the heavens and the earth. 

The literal translation is Elohim (the strong one) created. 

That one line at the beginning of time reveals a deep character quality of God—Creator.  It’s God’s introduction into who he is.  Elohim is emphasized in the beginning and is the only name used until Genesis 2 and we see this word 35 in Genesis 1 and first part of 2… 

But as we progress into Genesis chapter 2 and the creation of Adam and Eve we find another name mentioned throughout scripture God introduces another word, Jehovah, His most famous name which occurs 6519 times.  Now that is the translated English, which was originally YHWH simply for letter that in Jewish culture was never dared to even be spoken so that they wouldn’t accidently take his name in vain.  Even when the scribes who copied the Bible came upon this sacred name of God, they silently read over what they had just copied.   

The literal translation of Jehovah (Yahweh) “I am the existing One.” 

If Elohim is God’s creative and powerful name, Jehovah is God’s personal name.  Elohim is the side of God who created the heavens and the earth.  Jehovah is the side of God who relates to his creation personally.  A person can believe in Elohim without knowing Jehovah. 

And then we go one step further to compound names of Jehovah and this is what this series is about 

Granted it took me a little bit of time to get you here