Genesis 32:28 And he said, Your name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince have you power with God and with men… He is asking us to-day as He asked Jacob, "What is thy name?" For when God asks, "What is thy name?" He means, "What is it that lies behind the name, that is really thee?" And Jacob had grace and honesty at last to own up and say, "Oh, unknown wrestler! my name is trick and quirk and cunning. My name is Jacob. My name is craft, my name is cunning." He owned up at last: "I am of the earth, earthy. My name is Jacob — Supplanter." My brother, what is your name? After bearing a Christian profession; after, it may be, being an office-bearer in God's house for twenty or forty years, the great God with whom we have to do comes in mercy to-day simply because perhaps we are soon to get to heaven, and we need a lot to make us ready; we need a lot yet to make us ready. God has to come to you this morning with my lips, and says: "What is thy name?" If you tell the truth you will say: "My name is Jacob." You will say, "My name is money, my name is cent. per cent., my name is profit-my very name is that, O God. My name is moderation and religion. O God, dost Thou ask my name? My name is lust. Right down at bottom that wriggling thing is me My name is lust, uncleanness, vileness. I have kept it in; I have veneered it over; but I admit to-day that, that is me. This is the one thing in me. It is my name." "What is thy name? What is at bottom in us, that is us? What is it? " How few of us can say honestly, "My name, O God, is religion; my name is settled principle; my name is candour, openness, honesty, sincerity. My name is singleness of heart, childlike simplicity." What is our name? I cannot give all the names. It is not the actual Johns and Roberts that were named over us here in baptism. Jacob's name was a name of significance; and God gives us all a significant name, and He is asking us to-day, "What is your name? What is it?" Oh, let us be honest and tell Him. I know mine. You could stand up in this church, and in one sentence could tell this meeting what "is your prevailing characteristic. Young girl, young woman, you can stand up before God and say, "My name is frivolity. That is nay prevailing characteristic. I come to church on Sunday, but the thing that engrosses and consumes me is a ball and a dance and the theatre. That is my name. That sets my whole soul abounding and a-pulsing." With some of us, our whole creed is just a determination not to yield ourselves utterly unto God, but to keep on the safe side. What is your name? Ananias is the name for some, and Sapphira is the true name for others. It was not a nice name. It may be that Jacob's swarthy cheek got a little swarthier even in the darkness, as he said, "Supplanter is my name. I am a wrestler, I depend on cunning, I call on God even occasionally, to help my cunning. I use religion for a cloak for my cunning." My name, in Thy sight, and with shame I confess it, my name is double-tongue, or facing-both-ways. (J. McNeill.) Parallel Verses KJV: And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. |
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