Calling on the Name of the Lord in NT - 1

Subject: Calling on the Name of the Lord at Baptism

When we come to the NT, in the 1st Century Church, Christians were taught to call on the Name of the Lord when they got baptized, right at the beginning of their spiritual life. This was Paul's experience when he began his Christian life.

Ananias played a significant role in mentoring Paul at Paul's conversion. His instruction to Paul was: "Arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, CALLING on the Name of the Lord." Acts 22:16

I've read this passage so many times but somehow these words "Calling on the Name of the Lord" escaped my eyes.  I always knew that Ananias instructed Paul to get up and be baptized to have his sins washed away.  But what about "Calling on the Name of the Lord?"  I never took too much notice of these words.

Obviously 'Calling on the Name of the Lord' was something Ananias and the early disciples did often, thus Ananias exhorted Paul to do likewise.  Notice Paul was exhorted to call on the Name of the Lord at the beginning of his spiritual life, not at a later stage.  The First Century Christian leaders indeed laid a very firm foundation in the prayer life of the newly baptized believers.  We also need to do the same.

Here at baptism, Paul called on the Name of the Lord to have his sins washed away. Clearly calling on the Name of the Lord has to do with salvation, for the remission of our sins. 

The calling is not a mere verbal calling but it is a new beginning to express our faith in obedience to the Gospel. 

The word "Calling" in the participle form describes an action that is ongoing.  This means that "calling" is a progressive continuous action. You keep on calling His Name.  So Paul did not just call on the Name of the Lord at baptism and stopped there, but that he continued calling on the Name of the Lord throughout his Christian life. It doesn't mean that everytime Paul called on the Name of the Lord, he had to get rebaptized again and again. Obviously there is much deeper content involved in this action of calling that threads through Paul's prayer life. This calling on the Lord results in continual rich blessings from God (Rom 10:12-13).  Imagine this!  This is going to be something we will learn together as we move on in these articles.

The application for us today is that we too, must first call on the Name of the Lord to have our sins forgiven at baptism.  

There must be a beginning to call on the Name of the Lord.  

Did you call on Name of the Lord when you were baptized?

We need to get back to this "forgotten basics".   This teaching of calling on the Name of the Lord is not just for the mystics or the mature Christians as we might think.   

Let us exhort newly baptized Christians to call on the Name of the Lord.


In the coming articles, I will go into more detail to explain on this phrase "Calling on the Name of the Lord". This term contains very deep meanings in both OT and NT. 

:)

Topics # 6 - Calling on Yahweh's EVERLASTING Name

Topic #6  Calling on Yahweh's EVERLASTNG Name  -  7 Days Devotion


Here is a summary of the 7 subheadings:

Click onto the following links for your daily devotions:

1.  6 Bible Statistics Graph- Importance of Yahweh's Everlasting Name

2.  Your Name, O YAHWEH is EVERLASTING

3.  Abraham calls on Yahweh's Everlasting Name

4.    Isaiah calls onYahweh's Everlasting Name

5.   Jeremiah calls on Yahweh’s Everlasting Name

6.  Habakkuk calls onYahweh’s Everlasting Name

7.  David Calls on Yahweh's Everlasting Name

Enjoy!

:)

Calling On Yahweh's EVERLASTING Name - 1

Subject:  6 Bible Statistics Graph - Importance of Yahweh's EVERLASTING Name

In this coming week, we are going to start a new topic on Yahweh's Everlasting Name.  

• In Topic 4, we looked at "This is My Name FOREVER"
• In Topic 5, we looked at "Blessed be the Name of God FOREVER"
• For Topic 6, we will look at "Calling on Yahweh's EVERLASTING Name"

Hopefully in these 3 sequential series of Topics, you can see the importance of the 'eternal' nature of God's Name.  

Yahweh's Name is not like any name.  
Yahweh's Name is an Everlasting Name.  

When we call on God, we are calling on God's Everlasting Name.  

In the following days, we will see examples of prophets and men of God consciously calling on God's Name, paying special attention to the 'everlasting' nature of Yahweh.

For today, I will post 6 Bible statistics Graphs for you to have a general overview again on the significance of God's Name - Yahweh.

The following 6 sets of words are very important to our present study. From now on, whenever you come across these words in your Bible, highlight them.  You will find that you will see these words appearing on every page in your Bible.

After serving Yahweh God for 25 years, I have now come to realize the significance of the Name of God, Yahweh in the Bible.

Just looking at the following 6 statistics graph will give you a lot of insights about God's mind as He reveals His Name to you in the different books of the Old Testament.

1.  Yahweh - the most frequent noun in the Bible - 6828X

So far in our studies, we have seen that the word "Yahweh" is the most frequent noun in the Bible.  The main focus of the Bible is "Yahweh". 

We have seen that the most occurrence is in the Book of Psalms.  Then it is followed by the Book of Jeremiah.  Do you know why Jeremiah emphasizes on "Yahweh"?   Meditate on this. :)  

2.  I am Yahweh - 207X

Whenever God says something of great significance and requiring special attention, He reveals Himself as "I am Yahweh".  Can you feel the heart beat of God as to how much He wants us to know Him as Yahweh? 

Last year, when I discovered these words spoken by Yahweh God, "I am Yahweh", this revelation drew me to love Him and His Name more and more.  There are so many riches in this simple phrase.  We will need to spend a few weeks to study on this topic this year if God willing.

The most occurrence of this phrase is in Ezekiel.  Do you know why?  The rebellious Israelites in exiles were forgetting God's Name.  Ezekiel's message kept drawing them to remember "they will know that I am Yahweh."

Do you also notice that "I am Yahweh" occurs frequently in the Book of Leviticus. This should draw you all the more to study the book of Leviticus with new insights.  What we often thought was a boring book will turn out to be a very exciting book of God's revelation of His Name.

3.  Name of Yahweh - 87X

While "Yahweh" appears the most in the book of Psalm, the phrase "Name of Yahweh" occurs also the most in the book of Psalm.  Can you guess the reason why?

4.  My Name - 52X

Yahweh God sometimes puts emphasis on 'My Name' because He wants us to call on "His Name" and not just call on Lord or God in prayer. 

If you take time to look at all the references to "My Name", you will be able to see where God puts the significance regarding His own Name.  Again, if God willing, we will do an in-depth study on this in the future.

5.  My Holy Name - 10X

To emphasize the importance of the holiness of His Name, God specifically says "My Holy Name".

The most occurrence is found in the Book of Ezekiel as Ezekiel is dealing with the rebellious Israelites who had polluted themselves in grievous sins, so God is reminding of His holiness to draw them back to Yahweh God.

6.  Your Name - 94X

It is not surprising that "Your Name" has the most occurrence  in the book of Psalms.  While the psalmists often call on Yahweh in prayer, they are also concerned to pray to God concerning Yahweh's Name, thus "Your Name" is usually a focal point of their prayers.  

Do you ever pray to God about "Your Name . . ."?  In the Lord's prayer, Jesus instructs us to pray "Hallowed be Your Name."  



These statistics reveal to us the important emphasis God places on His Name.  When we enter into prayer, all the more, we must call on God's Name, Yahweh. This week we will call on God's Everlasting Name ever more deeply from our hearts.

:)