“Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the Temple of my God… and I will write upon him the name of my God… and I will write upon him my new name” Rev 3:12
“…and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name” Isa. 62:2
“To him that overcometh will I give… a new name which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it” Rev 2:17
“Who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the son of God?” 1 John 5:5
Have you ever considered the significance of a name? With the exception of women who traditionally adopt their husband’s last names upon marriage, most people live their entire lives with only one name. But who are we really? Are we the names we have been conditioned to respond to, or is our heritage of a much higher calling? Is our identity forged in the name itself, or does it transcend beyond this earthly existence? For as surely as those who overcome are raised a new body, spiritual and eternal, so too has God promised every believer a new name in Christ.
It is therefore not the name itself but the soul and spirit that make the essence of a person (1 Thes 5:23). The names we are assigned at birth are as transient and temporal as the physical body, which returns to the dust upon death. The first name represents the self, that unique individual person on earth. The last name represents patriarchal bloodline, the families into which we are born. But we are much more than our earthly names! Our true names are hidden in God until we are reborn from the dead, raised a new resurrection body incorruptible and eternal (Col 1:18; John 3:3; Rom 8:29; Rev 2:17).
When Jesus said you must be “born again” to see the Kingdom of God (John 3:3), the Greek text translated “born again” is “gennao anothen.” The Greek verb “gennao” can be used for either the father or mother. In Mathew 1:2 “gennao” is translated “begat,” as in “Abraham begat Isaac,” or “Abraham ‘gennao’ Isaac.” When used of the father gennao means to “beget” or “engender.” When used of the Mother it means to “conceive” or “bring forth into the world.” Jesus is speaking of the Father when he said a man must be “gennao anothen.” (John 3:3 rendered “born again”).
The word “anothen” can also be translated “from above” in John 3:3 rather than “again.” Indeed, it is rendered “from above “ in many other passages of scripture (See John 1:31; 19:11; Math 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 1:3; James 1:17; 3:15; 3:17).
Thus, to enter the Kingdom of God a man must be “gennao anothen,” meaning “begotten” or “engendered from above.” Many Christians who believe they have been “born again” have really only been spiritually “begotten from above.” The difference in terminology is important because it is at resurrection that we are truly “born again” from the dead (Co 1:18) and receive our spiritual bodies and new names.
This does not mean to say that a change does not take place upon spiritual regeneration, the point at which one is “begotten from above.”
“For if any man be in Christ he is a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17)
At physical birth we enter this world with a living body and soul but a latent, dormant spiritual identity unconscious of God and incapable of a relationship with Him. We are born spiritually dead, the consequence of Adam’s fall, also known as original sin. We exit the womb a dichotomy (body, soul, latent/dormant spirit) but are potentially a trichotomy (body, soul, living spirit). To activate the spiritual dimension of the inner person, one must be “gennao anothen,” or “spiritually begotten from above.”
Spiritual regeneration can be compared to the human reproductive cycle. When we are “begotten from above,” God’s Word is like sperm that penetrates the mind and heart, the very mentality of the soul, entering the body via the ear canal and resulting in faith (Rom 1:17). Faith can also come as a revelatory gift from the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:17; Gal 5:22).
It is through this faith that fertilization occurs and the new spiritual embryo germinates. Similar to the female ovulation cycle, sometimes our minds and hearts are more receptive to God than at other times. However, once fertilization occurs, there is no going back. God quickens to life the dormant human spirit, what is referred to in Eastern philosophies as the opening of the heart chakra or energy center. The individual becomes privy to a new spiritual awareness and higher understanding of Truth—Enter God Consciousness.
This opens the door to a relationship with the Creator, the beginning of one’s spiritual journey. The body becomes the ova of God, the Holy Grail of Christ, the vessel through which His Spirit moves. And with the spiritual embryo, there is no such thing as abortion, miscarriage, or forfeiture of eternal life once received. Salvation is eternally secured. The earthly existence becomes the incubation period in which we may grow to spiritual maturity, eventually being reborn and renamed at the resurrection.
Marriage is another useful analogy to illustrate the new identity promised in Christ. It is the restoration of harmony to duality, the perfect yin and yang relationship. It is the balance of the masculine and feminine principles within. This is the sacred marriage spoken of in alchemy: God and man in communion; spirit and soul consciously dwelling together at-one. The transmutation of lead into gold was an allegory for the depraved and darkened soul becoming instantaneously purified through faith in Christ. Love is that mysterious fifth element, the very essence of God, the philosopher’s stone spoken of by the ancients which makes transmutation possible. That is how it has worked throughout the ages, faith results in the activation, restoration, and regeneration of the human spirit.
In today’s age, since the resurrection of Christ some 2,000 years ago, the sacred marriage takes on an even greater meaning. God is not only restoring the dead spiritual identity lost in Adam. He is also reproducing Himself in humans, calling out a family of spiritual royalty after his own likeness. The body is not only the egg for the restored human spirit, but is also the very temple of God Himself (1 Cor 3:16). Prior to Christ God did not permanently indwell believers, promising to never leave or forsake them (Heb 13:5). In Old Testament times, the Holy Spirit would come and go (Psalm 51:11).
But nowadays the indwelling presence of the Lord permanently resides in the believer (2 Cor 6:16). Unprecedented power to overcome the most adverse of circumstances or accomplish the loftiest of goals are now available to every believer. Christ foretold that his followers would do even greater works than Him (John 14:12)!
What God has in store for those who Love Him staggers the imagination, it is more than what we are capable of comprehending (1 Cor 2:9). At the same time that God’s Holy Spirit quickens to life the dormant human spirit, the soul is baptized into the body of Christ, and Christ permanently indwells the believer’s body as His temple. Enter the paradox—if you are in Christ, then Christ is simultaneously in you.
“Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world.” (1 John 4:4)
In today’s age, the sacred marriage transcends beyond spirit and soul, mind and heart, intellect and emotion. In today’s age, the Holy Spirit and human spirit bear witness together (Rom 8:16), believer’s share the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16), and Christ permanently indwells the believer’s body. We are a new spiritual species as a result of this union, God’s children through faith (2 Cor 5:17).
Like a husband and wife in which the “two become one flesh” (Math 19:5), so too is it with our husband, Jesus Christ. We share His body and He ours. Though separate in individual part, believers collectively comprise one inextricable whole—the Body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27). He is the head and we are His parts. We are currently betrothed to Him in marriage, and the Holy Spirit is the sign of this pledge, similar to an engagement ring (2 Cor 1:22; Eph 1:14).
When Christ returns, an actual marriage will take place in heaven (Rev 19:7; 20:5, 6). As God’s wife, we adopt His last name, representing the new family to which we belong (Rev 3:12; 22:4; Isa 62:2). As God’s newborn children, He provides us a new first name based upon the individual victories won during life and the resulting glory we brought Him in our earthly existence (Rev 2:17).
As we grow deeper in intimacy with God, we come to see the many relationships we share: God is our Spiritual Father, Our Nurturing Mother, Our Beloved Husband, Our Kinsman Redeemer, Our King on Earth, Our High Priest in Heaven; He is our Rock; Foundation, Light, Life; He is Master, Creator, Partner, Friend, Food, Savior, Provider, and Sustainer; He is the ineffable Self-Existent One, the Great “I Am” who is most Holy and Blessed forever. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but a few names, labels that help us understand what we have scarce capacity to receive:
“God is Love” 1 John 4:16
May the Lord add a blessing to the reading of His Word.
Larry Word
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