What's In a Name? - Isaiah 56:5-6

"I will give them, in My house and within My walls, a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give each of them an everlasting name that will never be cut off. And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord minister to Him, love the name of 'Yahweh' and become His servants."

The Shakespearian character, Juliet asked Romeo: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

When Juliet asks what's in a name, she means that what really matters is not what someone is called but what someone is.

While undoubtedly true, the Bible indicates that one's name is actually closely associated with what one is or will be.

There were various conditions that excluded people from temple worship (see Deuteronomy 23:1-8). In these verses Isaiah focused on foreigners and eunuchs to make a point about the goodness of God.

Because eunuchs could not have children to perpetuate their name, God proclaimed that He would commemorate them in a way that is far better than having progeny to carry on their name. Foreigners were not even God's chosen people, yet they would become His own and worship Him.

Thus, regardless of one's background or heritage or the circumstances of one's life, all are assured that God will not turn away from them.

The point is that God's favor is especially available to disenfranchised persons. In God's Kingdom, the people that seem to be excluded from God's favor are included. And God has a special way to render His inclusion and favor to the ones who have been deprived in this world!

By giving them an everlasting name in eternity!

God promises a new name in His Kingdom, a name that carries on forever...an everlasting name! God perpetuates their name by ascribing eternal life to them!

The name by which a person is called has great significance. Certainly, when we call a person's name to mind, we think of who that person is, what that person is like, or what sort of personality, disposition or temperament that person has. A person's very identity seems to be rolled up into his or her name.

When I discipline my little boy for misbehaving, I talk to him in a stern voice and call him "Buster." Whenever he misbehaves and thinks he is in trouble, he asks, "Am I Buster?" To him, the name, "Buster" indicates that I am giving him a new identity, that I am somehow redefining the relationship between us--at least while he is in trouble.

Thus, it is in God's Kingdom. God promises to those who join with Him and worship Him that He will perpetuate their name by giving them a heritage that is everlasting.

So, what's in a name? When God names you, it is Eternal Life!

"For this reason I kneel before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named" (Ephesians 3:14-15).