Knowing God Lesson 2 of 12 – Knowing Him through His Names

Knowing God Lesson 2 of 12 – Knowing Him through His Names (meeting 1a)

When we get to know a person, the name of that person is important and it takes some time to remember. Sometimes a name represents a character trait that the person has and if we understand the meaning of the name we understand who the person is.

The Bible reveals numerous names and titles of God, each with a distinct meaning.

What is the name of God that Jesus wanted his disciples to know the most and remember the most and really understand?

....."O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." John 17:25,26 NASB


“FATHER”. We must lay this “Father” foundation first in Knowing God via His names.

Again this is a two fold endeavor of knowing about the Father and also experiencing God as our Father in a deep relationship.

To explain further, one of God’s names is “healer”. Jehovah Rapha –The LORD Who Heals You (Ex 15:26). A person can know about “God the Lord who heals you” yet not experience God as the Lord who heals you. It takes both to really Know God as Rapha.

How well do we know the Father?

Jesus wanted us to know God the Father.

........Matthew 6:9 “Pray, then, in this way:' Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.”

......Luke 10:22 “" All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him."

......Luke 11:13 “" If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"

......Luke 12:30 “"For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things.”

......John 14:7 "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him." 8Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." 9Jesus said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10"Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. 11"Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.”

It is possible for a young disciple to fixate on a single name of God revealed in the Bible and become stagnate in growth. Some fixate on “Jehovah” thinking that is all there is about God and His name. Others fixate on the Old Testament spelling and reverence for the name and spell it G_D or in ways that indicate they have not learned what Jesus came to teach them about God as Father.

To the extent that you know God the Father you can make the Father known to others.

......"O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." John 17:25,26 NASB

Knowing God as the Father means many things and as we help the young disciple know the Father we can share with them various things like the Father loves his rebellious children and looks for them to return like the prodigal son parable in Luke 15.

Jesus was always explaining the Father.
.......John 1:18 “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”

We too must know the Father and explain the Father in order to make disciples.

It is possible to misrepresent the Father as a hard and harsh person with strict rules and a big stick to beat us for every little error we make, but this is not the Father that Jesus came to explain. Jesus was the perfect representation of the Father to us.

.......Hebrews 1:3 “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high”

As the Apostles began to understand this they also began to explain the Father.

......1 John 3:1 ‘See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.”

......Romans 8:16 “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”

......1 John 2:15 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Fatherhood includes loving discipline:

.......Hebrews 12:6 “FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES,AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES. 7It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.”

Children often imitate their fathers - Knowing the Father includes imitating Him.
......Ephesians 5:1 “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;
......1 John 3:2 “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see.”

There is a physical DNA that we share from our father and a spiritual DNA that we share from our Heavenly Father:

......Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”

......2 Peter 1:4 ‘For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”

.......1 John 3:10 “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.”

How did Jesus make disciples that knew the Father?
All the various attributes of the Fatherhood of God he explained both in His teachings and life. This is how we need to make disciples, become an example of a loving father, not just a teacher but a father as well, just as the expert disciple maker the Apostle Paul did.

.......1 Corinthians 4:15 “Even though you have ten thousand guardians {teachers, instructors, leaders} in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.

In conclusion,

.....John 12:28 “" Father, glorify Your name " Then a voice came out of heaven: "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again."

......John 16:27 "the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father".

.....John 17:23 "I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."

May the Lord use you to build disciples who know the Father well and glorify the name of the Father!

Blessings,
Disciple Maker

(Meeting 1 b: Knowing God via the 100 names of God in the Bible)