Early this year I heard a really good talk given at Church by one of the women of my new Ward but her name escaped me when I recounted the experience to a friend of mine. My friend was intrigued about this sister so I did my best to describe her: shoulder length brown wavy hair, glasses. How many people do you know that fit that description? Could you guess who I was talking about? Neither did my friend, even though she knows everyone in our Ward. In the end we had to ask someone else who had witnessed the talk to reveal the name of this person.
Imagine if we had no names. Imagine if we were known only by our physical description. What a chaotic world that would be. Being known by a name keeps order in our society. Names are very significant in many cultures and naming a child upon birth is a matter worthy of thoughtful consideration. The hope is that the child will grow up to fill the stature of its given name. Both Mary and Joseph were instructed to give the Saviour the name of ‘Jesus’ (Matt 1:21; Luke 1:31) which is the Greek form of the Hebrew and Aramaic name of Yeshua which means ‘the Lord is Salvation’. But this is just one of the names He is known by. I am always on the look-out for His names when I am reading the scriptures. So far I have recorded 51 but I am sure there is more.
When we are born into this world, we take upon ourselves our father’s name. When we are spiritually born through baptism, we take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ. We become CHRISTians. King Benjamin explained this means that we become ‘the children of Christ’. He mentions the importance of having Christ’s name 11 times in 6 verses of Mosiah 5. Why is this important? Because, just as we are genetically predisposed to inherit physical and mental traits of our earthly fathers, so we, when we take upon ourselves the name of Christ, and live his teachings, inherit His spiritual qualities. In other words, we become like Him by the virtue of our newly acquired parental bond (Moroni 7:48). This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘you’re just like your father’……Alma took this a step further when he talked about having ‘His image in our countenance’ (Alma 5:14).
When I was newly baptised at the tender age of 18, I had a very significant dream. I was estranged from my parents because I had joined the Church. As you can imagine this was very hard for me to bear. One night I dreamt that I was in a high building with my parents when there arose a lot of commotion on the street and we hurried down to see what was happening. As we reached the ground, a white matter fell on top of us akin to snow. We started burrowing upwards but I was the only one who reached the top. As I did so, I saw whiteness everywhere that covered everything. I looked to my right and I saw the Saviour coming towards me with His arms outstretched saying: ‘Where are my children?’. I knew then I belonged to Him as only a child could belong to a parent.
In Jeremiah 31:9, the Saviour says ‘…I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn’.
We are modern day Israel. We are the children of the covenant, we are the children of promise, the redeemed, the beloved, the cherished; His peculiar treasure, we are the apple of His eye (Deuteronomy 32:9,10; Zechariah 2:8; Psalm 17:8); we are the jewel in the bosom of our God. May we forever be grateful to be known by His holy name.
- - Cathryne Allen, (Art: David Bowman)
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