Double name

When Yahweh pours out the refreshing water of the Spirit on the dry land of Israel, it will transform the land. And it will give everyone a new identity, a new belonging. One will say, I am Yahweh’s, another will identify himself by the name of Jacob, and another will write “Belonging to Yahweh” on his hand and name Israel (Isaiah 44:5).

But Isaiah doesn’t want us to be Corinthian here. This is not an “I am of Yahweh, I am of Jacob, I am of Israel” situation. Rather, the coming of the Spirit imprints a double name – the name of Yahweh, God of Israel, and the name of Israel. To belong to one is to belong to the other; to belong to Israel is to belong to Yahweh, to belong to Yahweh is to belong to Israel.

The Spirit comes at Pentecost to mark the disciples of Jesus with this same double name. Filled with the Spirit of Jesus, who is the living Name of the Father, the disciples identify themselves as His: “We are Christians, members of Jesus.” By the same token, and by the same Pentecostal gift, they identify themselves as His people: “We are the body of Jesus, members of one another.”