5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.
15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.
16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.
[Genesis 17:5,15&16]
Names are very significant. Throughout the Bible, people acted just according to their names. We’ll discuss that tomorrow, God willing.
Until this time, Abraham was called Abram. We have been using Abraham throughout the series for the sake of convenience. Abraham resonates with us more than Abram. Same is the case of “Sarah”, who hitherto was called Sarai.
What God did was to take the “h” in His Name and to put it in the names of these Covenant People. The God of the Bible is called YHWH (with no vowels), or YAWEH, for the ease of pronunciation. This is a sacred Name to the Hebrews (Jews). It was not to be mentioned in vain. This is translated into English as JEHOVAH.
God told Moses His Name is I AM THAT I AM, The Ever Living One, The Ever Present One (Exodus 3:14). To put His identity on Abram and Sarai, they became AbraHam and SaraH respectively. [Emphasis supplied]
According to the Dake Annotated Reference Bible, Abram means Exalted father, while Abraham means Father of a Multitude. Sarai also means Princely, while Sarah means Queen of princes or mother of princes. It is the feminine of Sar, Tsar, Czar, Caesar, Emperor. By so doing, God has put His Royalty on Sarai.
As believers, God has put His Name on us as well. Mere mortals like us have become Children of the Immortal God. In fact, God Himself says we are gods (Psalm 82:6, John 10:34 &35). God told Moses “See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh…. (Exodus 7:1).
People of God, we are no more ordinary people. We are citizens of Heaven, Children of the Most High God. Bible also says we’re Ambassadors of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20). We are all “His/Her Excellency”. This has nothing to do with our level of education, the families we come from, the schools we attended, the work we do or the money in our accounts. We are all VVIPs in Heavenly places, even if our nations, families and friends etc. may not see us as such.
Jesus told Martha, “If you believe, you shall see the glory of God” (John 11:40). May we see the glory of God and may His Name on our lives manifest in every facet of our lives in the Name of Jesus. Amen.
