The Name of God

The name of God fascinates me. I understand that we really can't know /the/ name of God until we get to heaven but the names we have been given usually seem to have a ton of power behind them. Of course, we've got to realize who we're talking about here. If saying "Johnny Depp" can make girls swoon or "Barack Obama" can make people vote, shouldn't the name of the creator of the universe be a little more dramatic? I would think so.

Even though the actual name of God is probably above our understanding, we can grasp the names God has given us to refer to him as. Often, we can connect the Old and New Testaments through these names, although there are other more direct links between the Bible's two parts.

Jesus was the bread of life. And what was it the Israelites ate in the day of Moses? Was it not bread from heaven, eventually called Manna?

Jesus also was described as (or as the one having) the Living Water. Again in the story of of the Israelites leaving Egypt, we see a little foreshadowing going on; water flowed from the rock.

An interesting detail to point out is that the Old English word for "strike" (as shown in Exodus 17:6 referenced in the last paragraph) is "smite", that word I'm sure Christians everywhere love explaining. Why is the appearance of the word "smite" important to the overall message? Well, Jesus was smitten for our sins, wasn't he? May I point out Jesus was called the Rock?

While we're on the topic of how much Jesus rocks, I should point out the Old Testament praises God rocking like he does.

We can't forget that Jesus was also a sacrificial lamb, dying for us so we wouldn't have to. Not surprisingly, this is a familiar concept in the Old Testament.

Oo! Here's a name in the Old Testament I'm pretty sure we see used in the New Testament!

I haven't studied the Bible enough yet to know where other correlations are in the Bible, but I don't doubt there are more. It's possible I'm reading too much into it, although for me, this is exciting stuff. However, in case I am reading too much into it, I encourage you to examine the Bible for yourself and make your own opinion. Go on, try it!