He Knows You By Name

I call you by your name,… – Isaiah 45.4, CSB

Have you ever noticed how important it is to you when someone remembers your name? I believe that each of us is blessed when someone whom we have only met one or two times remembers our names even after not seeing us for a while. There’s something in someone remembering us by name that causes us to feel seen and valued.

⁠God spoke these words to Cyrus, king of Persia, in Isaiah, over a century before his birth, proving again that God is sovereign over all things. Cyrus was not a follower of YHWH, nor did he submit to him as the only true God. But God still called him by name to a specific purpose. That’s right. God called a pagan king by name to a specific calling in order to fulfill God’s eternal plans for the sake of God’s people (read the rest of Isaiah 45.4). Let that sink in as you ponder the sovereignty of God and find his peace available in all situations, convinced that God will use anyone and anything to accomplish everything he wants.

“I call you by your name.”

But how does this impact those of us who know and follow Jesus? Because it’s equally true that God knows and calls us by name. God expressed this earlier in Isaiah.

Now this is what the Lord says— the one who created you, Jacob, and the one who formed you, Israel— “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are mine.” – Isaiah 43.1, CSB (emphasis added)

You see, there’s something different between remembering the name of a stranger and knowing the name of a loved one. Follower of Christ, you are known and loved and remembered by Jesus. He knows you. And he called you by your name. And because of his calling of you mixed with his choosing of you that happened before the foundations of the world (Ephesians 1.4), you belong to him. You are his, and he is yours. Let the truth of that bring you to a place of full submission to God, who loves you and lavishes his grace upon you. And as you relish the fact that God called you by your name, also know that God has a new name for you that you don’t know yet, but he does.

“Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna., I will also give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name is inscribed that no one knows except the one who receives it.” – Revelation 2.17, CSB (emphasis added)

There are, of course, many different opinions about what this new name represents and its significance in the period described in Revelation. And while I have no desire to join in that discussion or debate, I do believe it is telling to know that God has a new name for each of his people, which will be inscribed on a white stone specifically for each of us. And just as Jesus told Simon that he would be called Peter (John 1.42) because of the work that Jesus knew would be accomplished in and through Simon before anything had happened, I believe that we can hold on to this very same thing as God does his miraculous work of transformation in each of us to become the person he has determined us to become, thankful that the good work that God begins in us is completely completed by God (Philippians 1.6).

So, Christian, you are known by name by God. He knows you, every strength and weakness, every insecurity and area of pride to deal with, every wound from past hurts, and every worry about future possibilities. He knows it all and has a plan for you in everything. But instead of trying to figure out all that God knows about your future, maybe stop and sit quietly in the beauty of knowing that you are called by God by name and that you belong to him.