The First-Name Basis God

              I once had a Bible teacher ask me if I was a freshman in college. Normally I wouldn't think this queer and would actually appreciate the token of interest, but at that point I was a junior in college. Furthermore, I had two of his classes almost every semester and because he was one of those teachers that always sat his students alphabetically - yep, you guessed it, with a last name of Bradford, I was right in front of him or just a little to the left on the second row. In case you wondering, no, this is not a post about how I mysteriously slipped through college unnoticed (although it seemed that way with the girls of the college). This post is about the Omniscient God who knows everybody's name.

             The Bible says in Luke chapter 1:26-30, ^"And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God." Imagine the scene. Mary doing some activity or resting and then to her surprise a messenger, an angel from God, comes to her. No wonder the angel said "Fear not." I would be very afraid too. However, I believe the next word must have brought great comfort. The angel Gabriel said "Mary." To understand the significance of this colloquy, it is first necessary for some points to be established.

              First, angels are not omniscient. It is true that angels are powerful creatures and can perform many supernatural works, but they are not all-knowing. Matthew 24: 36 states, "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only" and I Peter 1:11-12 "Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into." If one desires "to look into," one does not know the subject and therefore, does not know everything. God and God alone is omniscient. He knows everything and knows everything equally well!

              Second, Mary's parents named her. As far as we know, an angel did not appear to Mary's parents as it did to Zacharias when he was told to name his child John. She might have been named after someone else or her parents might have just liked the name and decided to give it to her. Whatever the reason, it was her name and it was given to her by them. These two points iterate a wonderful truth about God. He knows us. He was the one who told Gabriel who Mary was. He was the one who directed him to her.

               Also, God knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows how many hairs are on our heads (Matthew 10:30), our downsittings, uprisings, and thoughts (Psalm 139:2), our next words (Psalm 139:4), our location (Psalm 139:7), etc. The truth is He knows us better than ourselves. Because of this, we can surrender our lives to Him for salvation and service. He knows the future. Simply, we don't. We can trust the Omniscient God with our lives. After all, He knows our names.

In Christ,

Pastor Jon

Followup question: Can you name some other Biblical persons that God called by name?