I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word (John 17:6).

17:6 I have manifested thy name. In the Bible, the term "name" is used in a special way. To refer to the name was to refer to the whole character of the person in as far as the person can be known. Psalm 9:10 says of God, "Those who know Thy name put their trust in thee." The reference is not to a special title but the very character and nature of God. The Psalmist noted that, "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God" (Ps 20:7). The Psalmist knows that he can trust God because he knows something of the power and the majesty of Almighty God. Isaiah envisioned a Golden Age whereby all men would know the name of God and thereby know fully what God is like. Isaiah 52:6 "Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I." In John 14:9 Jesus put it another way when He said, "He who hath seen me has seen the Father."

Because of Jesus Christ all of the guesswork as to what God is like can cease.

• Men have wondered if God exits. He lives. He is the God who is there.
• Men have wondered if God is distinct and separate from His creation. During the time of religious confusion the Hindus of old decided that God was not distinct from but was part of creation itself.

One of the major religions that Jesus Christ challenged with His simple declarations was that of Stoicism. Stoicism had been found three centuries before Christ by Zeno, a native of the city of Citium [modern Larnaka] in Cyprus. Zeno would stand in the "stoa" or colonnade at Athens and deliver his philosophy about life. The three key words of Zeno’s creed were materialism, monism, and mutation.

Zeno believed that everything in the universe—every moment of time, every thought of the mind—had some kind of bodily substance or material. He believed that everything could ultimately be referred to a single unifying principle (monism). And Zeno taught that everything is perpetually in process of changing and becoming something different from what it was before (mutation).

According to one professor, "Many of the men who flocked into the Christian community during the second century had been educated in these doctrines from their youth." (Maxwell Staniforth) The teaching of Zeno would be very acceptable to the youth of today for his concepts are still pervasion reflected in the teaching of men like Carl Sagan who speaks of the Cosmos, eternal matter, and education (mutation). Jesus Christ declared that not only does God exist but also He is distinct from His creation. "I leave the world," said Christ, "and go to the Father."

If ever individuals are to fully appreciate God the Father, they must look closely at Jesus Christ. Dr. William Barclay notes, "It is Jesus’ supreme claim that in Him men see the mind, the character, and the heart of God."

Not all men see the mind, the character, and the heart of God and the Bible explains why. People are born physically alive but spiritually dead. The natural person is a soul without spiritual life, without spiritual sight, and without any genuine hope. Every impulse of the heart, every thought of the imagination, is away from God and is centered on self.

Society steps in to curb the natural tendency of the heart to be a god unto itself, lawless and accountable to no one. Sometimes, society does a pretty good job. Most of the time it fails. But what society cannot do, what the home, and the schools cannot do, what the Laws of the land cannot do for men and women and young people is to give them true spiritual life. Only the Almighty God can do that.

This truth does not stop individuals from trying to change. The bookstores are filled to overflowing with an endless array of self-help literature. And yet, for all of the many writings, the honest heart will confess that something is still needed in the soul. The Bible calls this need regeneration or the new birth. Jesus told Nicodemus, "You must be born again."

Educated and uneducated alike need to be born again. Good people as well as the dregs of society need to be born again. Those who enjoy religious privileges need to be born again.

One of the saddest stories in the entire Bible is that of the man who kissed the Hope of Heaven, literally, on his way to hell. His name—Judas Iscariot. Judas could have eaten of the Bread of Life, he could have drunk from the Well of Living Water, but instead Judas chose to merely kiss the Door of Heaven and depart to his own place. In the end, Judas was remorseful for the life he had lived and the deed he had done, but he remained unregenerate, unrepentant, and unresponsive to true discipleship.

Dear reader, do not come so close to Christ that you could kiss Him, and then die without faith in Him.