The Power of a Name

We remember from Geneis 1 that Adam was created in Ha-Shem's likeness and image and was given a divine appointment as steward and keeper off all the Earth.  Here is Genesis 5 we read, "...male and female created He them, and blessed them, and called their name Adam..."  did you catch that?  "He called THEIR name Adam."  The ones we know as Adam and Eve, by Ha-Shem's own lips were given 1 name to share between them.  They were so close that they shared a name; and as the Hebrew word "yada" implies in Genesis 4, they were so intimately close that their souls danced and were indistinguishable one from the other.  It is very important to undersand the relationship man and woman were intended to have - a relationship to complete, a relationship to share - all held in place and together by Ha-Shem's presence and identity in their life.  It is the same relationship Ha-Shem shares with Himself as both King and Queen...  as both Father and Mother...  As we read in Deuteronomy 6:4 "...Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one..."  and what we don't see in the English is the Hebrew word "Echad" which translates to "One".  But this is not merely the number "One" but Rabbis have expounded on the meaning that what should really be understood is "...  the LORD is united and complete in all of His many parts..."  and Ha-Shem "Yada" Himself - Ha-Shem's many parts dance with each other in an eternal relationship in such a way that no element of the identity of Ha-Shem can truly be distinguished from another...  The Father... The Spirit...   the Son...  all bear each other's traits and as Ha-Shem are truly indistinguishable and indivisible...

Have you ever noticed how much work relationships are?  Why is this so?  when did Ha-Shem place this curse on man?  The answer is that He didn't curse man with this; it is another example of the Serpent slithering into our lives...  Of Sin ensnaring and devouring us,  And Why?...  Because we let it!  How much more like Ha-Shem can we get than His very likeness and image!

This was the relationship Adam had before falling to the Serpent's rule...  The moment that Ha-Shem was no longer ever present with Adam, hostility arose between man and woman as fingers were pointed and fault was assigned.  Ha-Shem's curses constantly reminding Adam what they had lost...  what they gave away and cast tot he swine...   Day after day, we see as the result of Sin's prowl, the rift between Adam and Ha-Shem growing greater and greater.  As Adam drifts further from Ha-Shem so to has  he drifted from himself...  Without Ha-Shem there can be no unity between them and they grew so far apart that where Ha-Shem called them Adam, they were now Adam and Eve…

As people living in the western world, we don't tend to place the stock in the power of a name or the power of one's lineage, and because of this we can miss so much in the book of Genesis, especially here in chapter 5 where we are reading of Adam's descendants.  But remember for it is by no other name that we have power at all than the name of the Messiah who bled Himself that He could testify to Ha-Shem, calling you innocent, redeemed, and free!...  their is no name in Heaven or Earth aside from "Jesus" our "Emmanuel" that bears this magnanimous power to give you and I such image and likeness that it should be said of us "...  on this day, you were born here on My Mount Zion..."

"...  and Enoch walked with God ..."  Here is the power, because Jesus restored Adam and all their lineage to Ha-Shem, we can be encouraged, for a mere man was able to achieve a state of being that had not been seen since the Garden of Eden.  This tells me that just like the story of Jesus' life, ministry, etc. a life of sanctification is still possible for man to live.  It tells me that Ha-Shem's command, "... Be ye holy as I am holy..."  is not impossible to follow and live.  Enoch did not die, he simply went straight away to be with Ha-Shem just as is the case with Elijah.  THis is not to say that if you live a life of holiness then Ha-Shem will sweep you from this world into His realm, but that we too by the power of Jesus blood that now flows through our veins are able to live holiness.

"...  Noah, saying the same shall comfort concerning our work and toil ..."  the first hints at the events and aftermath of the flood; before man even had inklings that the Great Deluge would actually happen; within a name a promise was given in which Ha-Shem would give man mercy in His judgement...   The very thing that man is given to punish him for eating the fruit of knowledge; he is now given a promise that there will be comfort, there will be release....

Some thoughts and questions to guide our meditations...

I want you to spend a little time thinking about your name.  Maybe even do some internet searches on it and find what your name means...  what its significance is...  What is in a name?   My name?  Ha-Shem's name?  what clues does this tell me as to the His will and direction in my life?

Where is Ha-Shem in my life?  How does this affect me and my relationships with those the He has placed in my life?  My spouse? Parents? Siblings? Children?  Am I being drawn nearer to those in my life or driven away from them?   Why?

What is the goal I have for my life?  How does it compare to the map laid out for us in the lives of people such as Enoch, Elijah, or Jesus?  what am I doing that is bringing me closer to that goal?  What am I doing that is distancing me from that goal?

Where do I find comfort in life?  What things in my life keep me from these comforts? What things bring me closer to them?  What is Ha'Shem's role in my discomfort?  In my comfort?  in my strivings?  In my success?  In my failings?

If the Scriptures truly are the Breathed Word of Ha-Shem then every element within is His Promise, every element within has His power to sculpt the whole of the world around us, and if we so choose, they have the power to sculpt us as well...