We Have a New Name

God is known for changing people’s names. Names mean something to God. Let me give you three examples from the Bible – two from the Old Testament and one from the New.
Genesis 17:3-5 God changed Abram’s name to Abraham. “Abram” in Hebrew means he is an exalted father. “Abraham” means he is father of many. Abraham was appointed by God to be the father of the Israelite nation.
Genesis 32:27-28 God changed Jacob’s name to Israel. “Jacob” in Hebrew means he grasps the heel. “Israel” means he struggles with God. This name change came after Jacob had wrestled with an angel of God.
Acts 13:9 God changed Saul’s name to Paul. “Saul” in Greek means he asked. “Paul” means he quits or desists. Paul henceforth quit persecuting the Jews.
Yes, after a person comes to God, He likes to change their name and give it a new meaning.
Even in the present civilization of man, most women change their last name to that of their husbands when they become married. This is a logical way of showing that the two are one in marriage. Of course, in the present climate of women’s liberation, some women keep their maiden names or attach the husband’s name to their own such as: Mary Smith-Brown. That’s okay. There is still a union shown in the name.
When we Christians come to accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, we are “born again” – we are new in spirit nature and are in union with the living Life of Christ (see Galatians 2:20). With this kind of “marriage” union with Christ, God the Father CHANGES OUR NAME. When the Father looks at us from this point on, He sees Christ within us as our source of life and our very basic nature. This changes WHO we are and our real relationship in the Family of God. I see this as prompting God to change our name to a more descriptive title.
My first name is Lou. After Christ comes into a living union with me at my new birth, I believe the Father starts to name me: “Christ-Lou”. Sound egotistical? Not really! ALL Christians of the new birth get the same name change – Christ-Mary, Christ-David, Christ-Susan, Christ-any Christian!
And this name change is permanent for eternity! We Christians mess up in our human lives many times, but God still sees Christ in us and continues to call us by our CHRISTian names.
In the stage version of Man of La Mancha (based on Cervantes’ novel, Don Quixote De La Mancha), the hero Don Quixote meets a woman named Aldonza in a little town in Spain. She is a harlot at night, while during the day she is a waitress.
Don Quixote falls in love with Aldonza, telling her that he believes that one day he will be a knight, and of course every knight must have a lady. He tells Aldonza that he has decided that she will be his lady.
Don Quixote declares his love for Aldonza, refusing to see her as the fallen woman she is but as what she can become – his lady. [God sees all humans as what they can become.]
“Sweet lady…fair virgin, I dare not gaze upon thy countenance lest I be blinded by beauty. I will give you a name, a new name, Dulcinea. I have sought thee, sung thee, dreamed thee, and the world shall know thy glory, Dulcinea!”
Aldonza is a hardened veteran of the real world, where men use and abuse her. She responds, “My name is Aldonza. Men make passes at me.”
But Don Quixote is undaunted. Each time he sees her he says, “Dulcinea, my lady. You are my lady.” She responds to his kindness by spitting on the ground and bargaining for more money with a potential customer.
With this background the play takes a sudden turn. The curtain rises to an empty stage. Suddenly Aldonza runs across the stage barefooted, wet with sweat, straw clinging to her clothing that has been ripped and torn away from her. She has been raped.
She’s weeping, almost hysterical. Suddenly the man of La Mancha appears and runs to her side. “Oh, my lady,” he says with love and compassion. But she can’t accept his grace. She screams at him, “O my God, don’t call me your lady. Look at me, can’t you see me for what I really am? I was born in a ditch, by a mother who left me there, naked, cold and too hungry to cry. I never blamed her. I’m sure she left hoping I would have the good sense to die. Look at me. I’m no lady. I’m only a kitchen slut oozing with sweat, a horror that men use and forget. Don’t call me a lady. I am nothing. Nothing at all.” And she runs off the stage.
Don Quixote, the man of La Mancha is unmoved. He stares at her as she runs away and insists, “But you are my lady, you are my lady.” Then the curtain drops.
When the curtain rises for the next act, Don Quixote is on his deathbed. The dreamer of impossible dreams is dying. He is despised and rejected by others. He is a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. [See Isaiah 53:3.]
A beautiful woman comes to his deathbed, dressed in a mantilla made of black lace that covers her head and shoulders and veils he face. She kneels and prays, then looks at him and says, “My Lord…”
Quixote does not recognize her and asks, “Who are you?”
She responds, “My Lord, don’t you remember? Try to remember. You sang a song, remember?

To dream the impossible dream,
To fight the unbeatable foe,
To bear with unbearable sorrow,
To run where the brave dare not go.
This is my quest, to follow that star,
No matter how hopeless, no matter how
far.
And I know, if I’ll only be true to this
glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I’m laid to my rest.
And the world will be better for this,
That one man, scorned and covered with
scars,
Still strove, with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable stars!

She is crying. “Don’t you remember my Lord?” She draws her mantilla back and she says, “You gave me a new name. You called me Dulcinea.” With his last human effort the man of La Mancha tries to rise out of his bed, but cannot, and falling back to die, with his last words he says, “My lady.”
Aldonza faces the audience and pronounces, “My name is Dulcinea.”
God has given you and me a new name. We are regenerated – God gives us new life in Christ. We are His children, spiritually re-born and adopted – God confers upon us His special favor, grace, and all the benefits of being His very children. He makes us heirs of His Kingdom.
The blood of Christ has atoned for our sin – He substituted for us, bearing the penalty and debt of our sin once and for all.
We are forgiven – God pardoned our wrongdoing. He eliminated our debt, the penalty of our sin. His forgiveness empowers us to do the same for others.
We are redeemed – Christ bought us out of slavery and gave us freedom in Him.
We are reconciled – God removed the barrier of sin and removed the separation from Him.
God has justified us – declared us righteous because of the finished work of Christ coming to dwell in us.
God has sanctified us – God pronounces us holy and by the Holy Spirit works in us to conform us to Christ by bringing our soul’s moral condition into conformity with the legal status established in justification.
Yes, God has saved us, is saving us and will save us, by Christ alone, by faith alone, and by grace alone.
God will never let you go, never give up on you, or never forsake you. There are only two kinds of people in the world: He has either already saved you by His grace, or His hand is stretched out welcoming you into the world of His grace.
If you have not received His salvation, IT’S TIME TO GET A NEW NAME.
If you are presently a child of God by a new birth, IT’S TIME TO KEEP RECOGNIZING THAT YOU HAVE A NEW NAME – YOU ARE A
CHRIST-PERSON.

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