(REFLECTIONS ON EZEKIEL 48:30-35)

What’s in a name? A name represents familiarity, memories, a way we identify with people, places, and things. The name of the city we grew up in reminds us of the good and unfortunately at times the bad as well. Our name, especially our surname, represents not only who we are, but where we came from, who we came from, and can represent blessings and curses that we can’t seem to shake.

That’s why people change their names when they are adults, why cities change their names to try to erase history, it is a sign of change, newness, letting the past stay in the past and moving forward with hope for a better future.

Have we noticed from Ezekiel 40-48 something interesting about the land that the Lord will bring back His people to? The land, the promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey, we know as Canaan. The place where the temple was built, where God chose to put His name, we know as Jerusalem.

However, as we look at this land of revival, hope, and a future with God, it no longer is called Jerusalem. Jerusalem was destroyed along with the temple. The land is no longer Jerusalem, but the place that God will once again dwell with His people is finally revealed in the last chapter and verse of Ezekiel,

“And the name of the city from that time on will be:

the Lord is there.”

The Lord is there is the name of the land. May we identify as a church with more than just the name that is on the church building. Yes, when people ask us what church we attend, we perhaps proudly give them the name of our church. However, for some perhaps a specific church with a specific name represents to them a negative experience as well. What if there is true healing in the church, and no matter what the name of the church is, that we can one day respond that the church we attend is “the Lord is there.”

Maybe what is more important than a church having an unique and catchy name is that all will remember that “the Lord is there.” May we be a church and a people that can move forward and free ourselves of the pains and curses that names often contain in its memory, and be known as “the Lord is there.”

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Ezekiel 48