Quotes:
“Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell the name will carry.” -Bill Cosby
“A good character is the best tombstone. Carve your name on hearts, not marble.” –Samuel C. Fulkerson
“Character is like a tree and reputation is like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” -Abraham Lincoln
“Character is a diamond that scratches every other stone.” -Cyrus A. Bartol
“He lives who dies to win a lasting name.” -William Drummond, Sonnet (XII)
"It matters not what you are thought to be, but what you are." -Publilius Syrus
Ecclesiastes 7:1-2, 8 (Live Right, Die Right); Proverbs 22:1-2, 4
What is in a name?
To us, names are identifiers.
But to the Hebrew every name means something as they are “nouns”.
Samuel (SheMule) [H8050] for example means “His name is El/Name of God”.
“Name” = Shem [H8034]: Shem is from the Neshama = to breath; meaning “character”.
Your character is what makes you, who you really are.
People say: “He/she has a good name.”… They really mean he/she has a good “character”.
Jesus said in John 16:23 “…Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name [character], He will give [it] you.”
It’s not magic formal; Its “character”.
Philippians 2:5 “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:”
The Crown of a Good Name:
Hebrews 10:1 “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.”
Hebrews 8:4-5 “4- …there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: 5- Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle…”
Colossians 2:16-17 “16- Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 17- Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”
Galatians 3:24-25 “24- Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25- But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.”
The Tabernacle was a type of Christ:
The Tabernacle (Tent of Meeting) was divided into 3 primary areas: Outer Court; Holy Place and the Holiest of All (Holy of Holies).
The Holy of Holies was divided from the Holy Place by a veil.
Hebrews 10:20 “By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his [Jesus’] flesh;”
Within the Holy Place and Holy of Holies was found the Golden Ark of the Covenant (containing Aaron’s rod that buddied [dead stick budding = life from death; miracle], Pot of manna (in Hebrew meaning, “what is it”) [manna = God’s provision]), and the tablets of stone (10 commandants [placed here to preserve as a source of validation to prevent anyone from being able to alter what God hath said.] ie. The master copy); The Golden table of Shrew-bread; the Golden Altar of Incense and the Golden (beaten gold) Candle Stick (Menorah [the only light source for the Holy Place; a type for the Word of God that lightens men’s hearts… “a lamp unto my feet and light unto my path.”
Of the 4 pieces of Tabernacle furniture 3 had Golden Rims (Crowns): Ark of the Covenant, Table of Shrew-bread and the Alter of Incense; the Menorah did not.
Why?
Rabbi Shimon said, "There are three crowns: the crown of Torah, the crown of kehunah (priesthood), and the crown of malchus (kingship). But the crown of a good name is greater than them all." (Avos 4:13)
The Ark corresponds to the crown of the Torah;
The Altar corresponds to the crown of the priesthood;
The Table corresponds to the crown of Kingship.
The Midrash (Bemidbar Rabba 14:9) tells us that the Menorah, which had no crown, corresponds to the crown of a good name.
Why – first we need to understand why the rims (crowns)?
Exodus 25:9-11 “9- According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it. 10- And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. 11- And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown [H2213] of gold round about.”
Note: Inside and Outside should be the same (overlaid with gold, “within and without”): Because God expects us to be the same on the Inside and the Outside:
Psalm 51:6 “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts:”
The Hebrew word used by the Bible for the decorative “crowns” [H2213] is Zar.
This word is closely related to the Hebrew word “Nazar” [H5139], a Nazarite.
A Nazarite is someone who dedicates his life to holy purposes by abstaining from wine and other things as dictated by the Law for a designated period of time.
According to Bamidbar 6:7, “...the Nazar [crown] of God is upon his head.”
All men serve earthly desires (fallen nature); however the true king, who has the crown of Kingship on his head, is one who is free from earthly desires.
“Mortify the deeds of the flesh.”
Jesus said, “Not My will be done, but Thine!”
Zar (Crowns) symbolizes raising oneself above the usual downward slope of base desires and thereby the precious Blood of Christ entering a holier and more spiritual realm.
However the Menorah (representing the Crown of a good name has no Rim (Crown) because “our righteousness is but filthy rags.”
And all can obtain His CROWN of Righteousness:
“For God so loved the world, that he sent His only begotten son…”
“Whosoever will!”
WILL YOU WEAR THE CROWN OF A GOOD NAME?
Malachi 4:2 “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.”
Philippians 2:9-11 “9- Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:, 10- That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11- And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Psalm 138:2 “I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.”
Word above Name; because Name = Character and Character comes from the Word of God!
John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
ARE YOU WEARING THE CROWN OF A GOOD NAME?
ACTS 2:38!!!
