https://odb.org/MY/2023/05/17/god-remembers-names
In Isaiah 43, the LORD declares that He knows Israel by name. “He who created you, Jacob. He who formed you, Israel. Do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have summoned you by name. You are mine.” In verses 5, 6 and 7, the LORD assured Israel not to be afraid, for I am with you. I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. The LORD reiterated that He will say to the north, “Give them up” and to the south, “Do not hold them back”. “Bring my sons from afar, my daughters from the ends of the earth – everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made”.
Isaiah 43 was proclaimed after the invasion by the Assyrians of Samaria and the exile of the northern kingdom of Israel in 772 BC, as well as the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of Judah by the Babylonians in 586 BC. God punished the Israelites for their insolence and yet promised to redeem them in the future. In the later years, the Israelites returned and rebuilt the ruins of Jerusalem, and this culminated in the creation of Israel in 1948 when the whole diaspora of Jews finally had a state, a homeland – in the present day, nearly half of the world’s Jewish population live in Israel.
At the spiritual level, Isaiah 43 speaks of the calling of God of His children in that He knows each and every one of us by name, the same way He knew Israel by name. The way God interacts with ancient Israel as depicted in Scripture is representative of how He interacts with us individually as believers in Christ. Thus, as much as He may discipline us, His love for us remains steadfast; it never ceases. He is determined to see through His plans and purposes for our lives. We are called by His name, He knows us by name, and we are all created for His glory.
The message this morning is that if we believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, that He died for our sins and is our Lord and Saviour, we have the assurance that God who knows us by our name, has already written our name in the Book of Life. He knows exactly who we are. When we face Him on that day, we need not identify ourselves with our IC number or the address that we used to live in or the job that we used to work or the service that we used to do in His Kingdom. We need not say I am so and so who used to lead your bible study in that life group, that house fellowship, who used to work in that company, who married who and had how many children etc. He sees us, He knows who we are by name and deed, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, where our name is already written in the Book of Life. To me, that is the ultimate significance that the LORD knows us by name. We need to pray and work hard and make sure that Matthew 7:21-23 does not apply to us on that day.
Ronnie's Thoughts 