“And God spoke all these words, saying, ‘I am the Lord [Jehovah] your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.’”
When God meets His children at Mt. Sinai to seal a covenant with them, these are the gracious words with which He opens: “I am Jehovah—your God.” In effect He is saying, “I belong to you, and you belong to Me. I am not some generalized, public-square kind of ‘God’ who demands no commitment and who makes no real difference in the lives of those who ‘believe’ in Him. I am Jehovah—I have a covenant name, the name by which I am known to you—and I am like no other god.” Jehovah, creator of heaven and earth, is not only the God who had created them but the God who had saved them from their enemies, who had given them their lives again. Thus they owe their allegiance to Him—to this God with a covenant name—and He promises to be faithful to them as well.
In the same way, God meets us in baptism and seals a covenant with us, and once again the covenant name is important: “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.” (Acts 2:38) “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) Those who are baptized into this name—Christians, in other words—owe all their allegiance to Christ and His law; and our deliverance—from sin, death, and the devil—is secured by our God for us. His name is on us: He has sworn by His own name to be faithful to His own people, and we who have been bought at the price of His blood are obliged to trust and obey Him in all things, to walk worthy of the name of our God.
“Heavenly Father, we give You thanks this day for placing Your Son’s name upon us. Thank You for sealing us through baptism into the covenant name of Jesus Christ. Thank You for being our God and for making us Your children. We pray, dear God, we would live worthy of His name, trusting fully in the God who saves us and living in obedience to His holy and righteous law. And it is in that name we pray—the name of Jesus. Amen.”
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