Comprehension of the Lord’s name is incremental and subjective. The extent to which you learn God’s name depends on how well you know what he has done, is doing, and will do, and why. Your understanding of each point of God’s character will increase commensurate with your effort in learning more and your diligence in living up to what you know.1 Because people exert different levels of heed and diligence in their acquisition of knowledge about God, they come to know him differently.
The most generally accessible repository for knowledge about God is the scriptures, where the testimonies of many people who knew him to a greater or lesser extent can be found.2 While written words are invaluable and necessary resources in coming to know God, it is essential to remember that they are only valuable because they were written by those who know God better than you.
Our words are as incapable of demonstrating the glory of God as man-made temples are of housing it.3 Human beings, made in his image, provide the best way of doing both. The Lord explained that he has built the only temple that can adequately demonstrate his glory by creating us in his image—or capable of learning and acquiring his character. No word can be made in God’s image, but a person made in his image can become the word. Only in mortality can a person demonstrate or learn substantially more about God’s character. Jesus came to earth to obtain and demonstrate the character of the Father.
He has sent and will send others to do the same1483 within their scope.1484 The Lord told Moses:
Who, what, and how I am cannot be found in anything not like me, nor explained in anything less than me. However, I always have and always will make myself known through people who are more like me than those who seek me, until they come to know me directly. I send you to Israel as I sent Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. By coming to know you and obey your instructions, they will come to know and obey me. (Exodus 3:14-15, Author's Reflection)
As you study the character of God as revealed in the scriptures and reconcile yourself to it, you will be increasingly prepared in the event that you meet a living individual who knows him better than you do. Whether in print or in the flesh, sources of information about the character of God increase the quality of a person’s direct relationship with Christ.
Footnotes
- 1. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. (Revelation 2:17) ↩
- 2. But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. (John 20:31) ↩
- 3. The Lord lamented through Isaiah how foolish it was to think that man could build a sufficient temple to house his glory: “Thus says Jehovah: The heavens are my throne and the earth is my footstool. What house would you build me? What would serve me as a place of rest?” (Isaiah 66:1, Gileadi Translation) ↩