Making Known the Divine Name
1. What effect can learning God’s personal name have on people?
1 How did you respond when you first learned God’s name? The reaction of many is similar to that of a woman who said: “When I first saw God’s name in the Bible, I wept. I was so moved by the knowledge that I could actually know and use the personal name of God.” For her, learning the divine name was an important step in getting to know Jehovah as a person and being able to build a relationship with him.
2. Why is it urgent for us to teach others about Jehovah?
2 Why Make It Known? God’s name is linked with his qualities, purposes, and acts. It is also linked with salvation. “Everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved,” wrote the apostle Paul. But “how will they call on him,” Paul reasoned, unless people first learn about Jehovah and exercise faith in him? Hence, it is urgent for Christians to make known to others God’s name and all that it represents. (Rom. 10:13, 14) However, there is an even greater reason why the divine name must be made known.
3. What is our foremost reason for preaching?
3 In the 1920’s, God’s people discerned from the Scriptures the universal issue involving the vindication of God’s sovereignty and the sanctification of his name. Before Jehovah destroys the wicked to remove the reproach that has been heaped upon his name, the truth about him must be “made known in all the earth.” (Isa. 12:4, 5; Ezek. 38:23) Therefore, our foremost reason for preaching is to praise Jehovah publicly and to sanctify his name before all mankind. (Heb. 13:15) Love for God and neighbor will move us to share fully in this God-ordained work.
4. How have Jehovah’s Witnesses come to be identified with God’s name?
4 “A People for His Name”: In 1931 we adopted the name Jehovah’s Witnesses. (Isa. 43:10) Since then, God’s people have made known the divine name to such an extent that the Proclaimers book, page 124, notes: “Internationally, anyone who freely uses the name Jehovah is quickly identified as being one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.” Are you thus identified? Gratitude for Jehovah’s goodness should move us to ‘bless his name,’ speaking about him on every appropriate occasion.—Ps. 20:7; 145:1, 2, 7.
5. How is our conduct involved in bearing God’s name?
5 As “a people for his name,” we must uphold his standards. (Acts 15:14; 2 Tim. 2:19) Often what people first notice about Jehovah’s Witnesses is their fine conduct. (1 Pet. 2:12) Never would we want to profane his name by flouting godly principles or by relegating his worship to a secondary place in our lives. (Lev. 22:31, 32; Mal. 1:6-8, 12-14) Rather, may our way of life show that we cherish the privilege of bearing the divine name.
6. What privilege can we enjoy both now and forever?
6 Today, we see being fulfilled Jehovah’s declaration: “From the sun’s rising even to its setting my name will be great among the nations.” (Mal. 1:11) Let us continue to make known the truth about Jehovah and “bless his holy name to time indefinite, even forever.”—Ps. 145:21.