Don't be people who carry the name, and then overlook the poor; don't carry My name, and then lose your temper; don't carry the name, and then not forgive people; don't carry the name, and then gossip and slander and drag other people down; don't carry the name and be judgemental. The only way to carry the name of God, in a way that manifests the hope that rests upon it, is to be: compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiveness.
How did the Hebrew people understand the concept of God's name?
1) As a description.
All we have is the full revelation that was given in the Bible. Obviously the Bible was limited to the language of men, whereas God is infinite. Hebrew people saw the name of God as a ‘prophetic utterance of character’. God's name was more about: who He was; than what you called Him.
When people's name changed, their character changed. When Simon became ‘Solid’ - they changed his name from Simon to Peter. God changed Saul's name to Paul. He changed Abram's name to Abraham, and Sarai's name to Sarah. When there was a fundamental change in their character, God changed their name; so what was the first name that God revealed Himself as, in the Bible?
The first name He revealed Himself as was to Abraham, and He said: My name is El Shaddai.
He says: Abraham, I want to make a covenant with you. My name is El Shaddai - that means God Almighty, and that made sense. Abraham worshipped the sun god during the day, and the moon god at night. Well when you worship the sun during the day, and the moon at night, you're left with a fundamental question: who's in charge? So God shows up and meets his need. He says: let Me tell you who's in charge, I'm in charge man. I am El Shaddai, I choose you Abraham, I want you to go.
They become somewhere between three and four million people in Egypt, and their God was El Shaddai. One day God chooses to reveal Himself a guy named Moses, and Moses said: what is Your name? God says: My name is Jehovah. I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and Moses' response was understandable: no way.
God says this, in Exodus 6: “I revealed Myself to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as El Shaddai, but by My name Jehovah, they didn't know Me”.
So God begins to expand the revelation of His name. Now He's not only El Shaddai, God Almighty; He's Jehovah, Jehovah what? Just Jehovah. Later He says: I'm Jehovah Rapha, in other words I'm a healer. He later says: I'm Jehovah Jireh, I'm your provider. He says: I'm Jehovah Tsidkenu, I'm your righteousness; Jehovah M'Kaddesh, I'm your sanctification; Jehovah Shammah, I'm the ever present one - I don't leave or ever forsake; Jehovah Shalom, I'm God, your peace; Jehovah Rohi, I'm the Lord; your shepherd; Jehovah Nissi.
He reveals Himself over time, over and over and over again to a group of people, until the concept of God's name got bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger; until the New Testament says that God gave Jesus a name that was “above every other name, whether that name be written in heaven, or on earth, or under the earth; that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess, to the glory of God, the Father”.
Jesus Christ lived in the flesh, the encapsulation of everything the name of God was; so it was a prophetic utterance of character. It was less about title, and more about a description of who a person was - that was name.
2) My name is: ‘in Him’.
Exodus 23:20-21 – “Behold, I send an Angel before you, to keep you the way, and to bring you to the place which I have prepared. Be on your guard before Him, and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions, for My name is in Him”.