Carolyn E. Jacobs

Today, we begin an exploration of the names of Jesus, and we begin with the promise of his coming. Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will name Him Immanuel. – Isaiah 7:14 If you’ve grown up in church, that’s a familiar verse. Comforting. I think of advent candles and Christmas carols. The  Charlie Brown Christmas Special. But  Yahweh gave Isaiah King Ahaz the prophecy  in the middle of a military crisis that could mean Judah’s annihilation. More than 700 years before Jesus’s birth. Why? What did King Ahaz take away from it? Let’s break…

Abba is a good Father As a father has compassion for his children, so Yahweh has compassion for those who fear him. – Psalm 103:13, Names of God version   The word translated compassion in the verse above is raham in Hebrew. It connotes loving deeply, having mercy, having tender affection, having pity or compassion. This is the character of our Father, our Abba. Abba? That’s what Jesus called him. In Hebrew, father is ab. Abba is the equivalent of Daddy. Jesus valued the time he spent with his Abba. Consider this: And in the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and prayed there for a time. Mark 1:35…

This week, we reach the halfway point in the Names of God series. Until now, we’ve focused on the names of the First Person of the Trinity. Next week, we’ll move into the New Testament and focus on the Son. This week, we honor the Father. As we cross from the Old Testament to the New Testament, from study of the Father to study of the Son, it’s a good time to get some things nailed down. First, theologians from St. Augustine to Chuck Missler attest that,  “In the Old Testament the New is concealed, in the New the Old is revealed.” As you study the relationship of Father and Son in the New Testament, I think you’ll…

Yahweh Shammah, The Lord is There, is this week’s name. Technically, it’s not one of the names of God. It’s the name of Jerusalem during the Millennium, the 1,000 year reign of Jesus on Earth. Oh, it’s going to be glorious! But the good news is, we don’t have to wait for the Millennium to be with Jesus. The Lord is here. Jesus came and lived among us 2,000 years ago. But then he went away. Immerse yourself in the familiar story. Jesus is in the Upper Room, celebrating an early Passover with his disciples. It was not uncommon for rabbis to celebrate early with family and friends, knowing they…

What a great name we have this week. We see Yahweh Shammah, The Lord is There, in Ezekiel. To set the stage: Ezekiel was taken to Babylon along with the other captives deported from Jerusalem to Babylon in 597 BC. He was 25 years old – the age when Levitical priests could begin serving in the Temple. How disappointed he must have been. He’d waited to serve in the temple his whole life only to lose the opportunity forever. But, oh, what an adventure awaited him. Five years later, in his thirtieth year when he would have been ordained, God called him to prophesy. Don’t you love that? It’s as…