You Shall Call His Name (Tu gli Porrai nome…)

I must confess. When growing up, I wasn't too crazy about my first name, Marcie. It wasn't the most common name and it seemed like most people I interacted with had a hard time saying it (at least at first). And forget about anyone spelling it right.

I use to imagine myself with a few other names I thought were more fitting. It wasn't a huge issue for me. I just would have preferred being called something else. That is until as a young Christian, I found out what my name meant… Warrior!

How awesome, I thought. All of a sudden, I liked my name; was proud of it. Even to this day when it seems like life is knocking me  around just a bit too much, I try to remember the name I've been given and remind myself that I can't get stuck being timid and fearful. I have to act more like my name. I have to put up a better fight.

Now I don't think that my parents intentionally picked a name for me that meant warrior. But over and over again in the Bible, we definitely see this happen. And with the opening chapter of the New Testament, we see God setting the stage for Christ's life and work on earth by telling Joseph what His name was to be before He was born.

"You shall call His name Jesus" (Matthew 1:21). That's powerful in and of itself.

But what made this stand out even more to me was the phrase used in the Italian language Bible, "gli porrai nome Gesù." The literal translation of this is more like, you shall put  or set upon him the name Jesus.

The Italian language is known for being a very expressive and colorful language that often describes things differently than many others. This is one of the reasons I've come to love reading the Bible in Italian. After being both a student and teacher of God's Word for more than 20 years, phrases and wording like this allow me to see the Scriptures in a whole new light. The phrase "tu gli porrai nome…" is a perfect example of this.

To say that a name is  placed or set upon a newborn child implies so much more than just something to identify him by. It's more like assigning a role, a calling or  even a destiny to someone. It reflects what or who he is to be.

The name set upon King David meant Beloved of God and we know that God thought of David as a man after his own heart. Before the birth of David's son who was to be the next king, God said his name was to be Solomon which means peace. And during King Solomon's reign, he indeed had a great time of peace.

And here in our main verse, the most important and powerful name of all… And you shall set upon Him the name, Jesus. For he shall save His people from their sins.

To this day, we are still calling, on bowing to, and drawing from the power of this name.

And if the right name wasn't set upon someone's life at birth… no problem. When it came time to live out their calling, God simply changed it. God changed Abram's name to Abraham; father of many nations. Likewise, Simon became Peter and Saul became Paul. (I guess this is what I attempted to do when I didn't know that my own name had a significant meaning).

So what name has God set upon you? Was it your birth name? Or perhaps just a general word to describe your own unique way of honoring and serving the Master. Is it encourager, preacher? Or are you a person of unusually great compassion for others. Maybe you have multiple callings. Whatever it may be, more and more, call forth that part of you and walk in it until you reach your full potential in Christ.

Whatever name, title, calling, etc. has been set upon you, may you fully live and walk in it to the glory and honor of God.