God Has a Name

An article specially designed for parents to read with their children

WHAT is your name? You have a name. So do I. The first man on earth had a name. God called him Adam. The first woman was named Eve. Every man, woman and child has a name.

God gave the angels in heaven names too. Do you know the name of the angel whom God sent to earth to tell about the birth of his Son? That angel’s name is Gabriel.

Look up at the many, many stars at night. Do you think they have names? Yes, God gave a name to each star in the sky. The Bible tells us: “He is counting the number of the stars; all of them he calls by their names.”​—Ps. 147:4.

People, angels and stars all have names. So do you think that God has a name? Jesus said that he does. Jesus once said in prayer to God: ‘I have made your name known to my followers.’​—John 17:26.

Do you know God’s name? God himself tells us what it is. He says: “I am Jehovah. That is my name.” (Isa. 42:8) So God’s name is JEHOVAH.

Do you like it when others remember your name? People like to be called by their name. And Jehovah wants people to know his name too. So you should use the name Jehovah when you talk about God.

Jesus used God’s name Jehovah when he spoke to people. One time Jesus said: “You must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart.”​—Mark 12:30.

Jesus knew that “Jehovah” is a very important name. So he taught his followers to use God’s name. He even taught them to speak about God’s name in their prayers. Jesus knew that God wants all people to know his name Jehovah.

Long ago God showed the importance of his name to the man Moses. Moses was one of the sons of Israel. The sons of Israel lived in a land called Egypt. The people of that land were known as Egyptians. They made the sons of Israel slaves and were very mean to them. When Moses grew up, he tried to help one of his people. This made the king of Egypt angry. He wanted to kill Moses! So Moses ran away from Egypt.

Moses went to another land. It was the land of Midian. There Moses got married and began to raise a family. He worked as a shepherd. A shepherd is a person who takes care of sheep. One day Moses was busy caring for sheep near a mountain. There he saw an amazing thing. A thornbush was on fire, but it was not burning up! Moses went closer to take a look.

Do you know what happened? Moses heard a voice from the middle of that burning bush. The voice called, “Moses! Moses!”

Who was saying that? It was God speaking! God had a big job for Moses to do. God said: “Come and let me send you to Pharaoh [the king of Egypt], and you bring my people the sons of Israel out of Egypt.” God promised to help Moses to bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt.

But Moses said to God: ‘Suppose I come to the sons of Israel in Egypt and say that God sent me. What if they ask me, What is his name? What shall I say?’ God told Moses to tell the sons of Israel: ‘Jehovah has sent me to you. Jehovah is my name forever.’​—Ex. 3:1-15.

Moses now knew that God was going to keep the name Jehovah. He would never change it. God wanted to be known by the name Jehovah forever.

Moses went back to Egypt. The Egyptians there did not really know Jehovah. They thought that he was just a small god of the sons of Israel. The Egyptians did not think that Jehovah was the God of the whole earth. So Jehovah told the king of Egypt: ‘I am going to make my name known in all the earth.’​—Ex. 9:16.

Jehovah did make his name known in all the earth. He had Moses lead the sons of Israel out of Egypt. And people in all the earth soon heard about Jehovah.

Today many people are like the Egyptians of Moses’ day. They do not believe that Jehovah is the God of the whole earth. So Jehovah wants his own people to tell others about him. This is what Jesus did.

Do you want to be like Jesus? Then tell others that God’s name is Jehovah. You will find that many persons do not know that. So perhaps you can show them the scripture in the Bible at Psalm 83:18. Let’s get the Bible right now and find that scripture together. It says: “You, whose name is Jehovah, you alone are the Most High over all the earth.”

“Jehovah” is the most important name there is. It is the name of the One who made all things. Jesus loves and worships Jehovah. And remember, Jesus said that we should love Jehovah God with our whole heart. Both Jesus and Moses showed that they loved Jehovah that much.

How can you show that you love Jehovah as Jesus and Moses did? One way is to tell others about the wonderful things Jehovah has made and the good things he has done. This makes Jehovah very happy, because he wants people to know about him. You want to make Jehovah happy, don’t you?

Not everyone will want to listen when you speak about Jehovah. Many people did not listen even when Jesus, the Great Teacher, talked about Him. But that did not stop Jesus from speaking about Jehovah.

So be like Jesus. Keep talking about Jehovah. Jehovah God will be pleased with you because you show love for his name.