So as they understood the name as a prophetic utterance of character; now their understanding expanded to: wait a minute, the name of God can actually rest on a person; the name of God can float around, and it can rest on a person. It could come on me, it could come on you.
I don't want you to lose track of the context here: that when the name of God comes on you, what is actually coming on you? Compassion, grace, slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiveness.
What else is coming on you? Whatever you need - in the name - at the time. If you need healing, Jehovah Rapha comes on you; if you need provision, Jehovah Jireh comes on you; if you need peace in your heart, Jehovah Shalom comes on you. That the name of God can actually rest on a person.
3) A dwelling place.
Deuteronomy 12:11 – “then there shall be a place which Jehovah your God shall choose to cause His name to dwell”.
So now, not only can the name of God exist on a person; but the name of God can actually come into a place; that not only can the name of God rest on you, the compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiveness God. Not only can it rest on you, but it can actually make this place a dwelling place.
How many of us agree we should make this our prayer: God, let Bay City Outreach Centre be a dwelling place for Your name. What would happen in the city of Hastings, if this church was known as a dwelling place for the compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiveness God?
What would happen around Hastings, if the reputation of this place became: people get healed there; people get fed there; people get peace there? I have a friend who went in there, and her mind was all chaotic, and she left and now her heart is full of peace.
What would happen if it became a dwelling place for the name; when this place becomes fully devoted?
If we, individually, have the name of God rested on all of us; then we become a place (and it's a specific place), that God chooses to make His name dwell; that manifests the name of God, instead of disappointing the hope that rests upon it.
One of the reasons the church in general has lost its credibility, is because we made it all about getting to heaven one day. It's all about getting saved, and get to heaven one day, and we forgot our basic mission: to bring heaven to earth. We forgot our basic mission: to carry the name of God well.
So the name could: sit on a person; be in a specific place.
4) A force that provides protection.
Their next understanding of it was found in the Book of Psalms 20:1-2, and the writer of this Psalm is reflecting on God, and he makes an interesting observation about God. He says: “May Jehovah hear you in the day of trouble. The name of God of Jacob set you on high, sending you help from the sanctuary”.
So now their concept of this started to expand: not only could it ‘rest on a person’; not only was it a ‘prophetic utterance of character’; not only could it ‘sit in a place’; but now the name of God could actually be: ‘a force that provides protection’.
It could be a force that provides protection - that when the enemy comes against you like a flood; the name of God is what sets you on fire; that nothing can touch you; no weapon formed against you can prosper.
The name of God is ‘setting you on high’; that when you ‘carry the name of God’, the responsibility on you is to carry it well, to carry it in a way that manifests the hope that rests upon it, to everyone you know - that's our job.