The Gospel in Names

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Aug 25, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 33.

The Gospel in Names

GOD preaches the Gospel often in wonderful ways. Even the names of the great antediluvian patriarchs tell the story of salvation for man. Note how this is. Using the Hebrew meanings of these names, we have the following: “(Adam) Man in God’s image (Seth) substituted (Enos) man in misery (Cainan) lamenting. (Mahalaleel) The blessed God (Jared) will come down (Enoch) teaching. (Methuselah) His death will bring (Lamech) to the weary (Noah) rest.” This is the exact order of the names as they occur and the meaning of each in its order. It told to men in a chain of providence the hope of redemption. The Spirit of God directed each godly parent in turn to name his child in such manner as to add the appropriate part to the wonderful sentence God was dictating through the years. As the Bible was given part by part through the ages until the great story was completed, so here in simpler form the names of holy men were so arranged as to tell God’s plan of redemption.