God’s Word Is Alive

God Wants His Name Known

DID you realize that God has a name? Jesus, seen here praying with his disciples, is saying to God: “I have made your name known to them and will make it known.” (John 17:26) We should not be surprised that God has a name. Everybody has a name, including God’s own Son, Jesus.​—Luke 1:30-32.

People like to be called by their name. And God wants people to know his name, too. That is why he inspired the Bible psalmist to write: “That people may know that you, whose name is Jehovah, you alone are the Most High over all the earth.” (Psalm 83:18) Long ago God showed the importance of his name to the man Moses.

One day while Moses was working as a shepherd in Midian, taking care of sheep, he saw an amazing thing. It was a thornbush on fire, but it was not burning up! When he went closer to take a better look, as you can see here, a voice came from the middle of the burning bush, calling: “Moses! Moses!”

It was God speaking. He wanted Moses to go to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to bring His people out of Egypt. But Moses said to God: “Suppose I am now come to the sons of Israel and I do say to them, ‘The God of your forefathers has sent me to you,’ and they do say to me, ‘What is his name?’ What shall I say to them?” God told Moses to tell them: “Jehovah the God of your forefathers . . . has sent me to you.”​—Exodus 3:1-15.

However, when Moses went to Egypt to speak to Pharaoh, the Egyptians thought Jehovah was just a small god of the sons of Israel. They did not believe he was the God of the whole earth. (Exodus 5:2) So Jehovah had Moses tell Pharaoh that He was going to have His “name declared in all the earth.” (Exodus 9:16) Do you know how Jehovah did this at that time?

Jehovah God had Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt, but the Egyptians chased after them. When they came to the Red Sea there seemed to be no way of escaping the pursuing Egyptians. But then Jehovah had Moses stretch out his rod over the waters, and the waters parted to allow the fleeing Israelites to go through on dry land. Afterward Jehovah had Moses stretch out his rod again, as you can see here, and the waters plunged down on the Egyptians, drowning them all. News of this great event spread far and wide so that peoples everywhere learned God’s name.​—Exodus 14:21-31; Joshua 2:9-11.

What about today? Does God still want his name made known worldwide? Yes, he does. And it is vital that people today learn about Jehovah and serve him. Otherwise, as happened to the stubborn Egyptians who refused to know Jehovah, they will suffer destruction “at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven . . . as he brings vengeance upon those who do not know God.”​—2 Thessalonians 1:7-9.