Weird Stuff in the Bible

Do We Get a New Name in Heaven?
Revelation 2, Enoch 5

Introduction
The Bible has a thing for name-changes. Abram gets an upgrade where he becomes Abraham. Simon gets a glow-up, too; Jesus changes his name to Peter, the Rock. And Jacob goes medieval on an angel and he gets himself rebranded as Israel.
And they aren’t the only ones. You get into the book of Revelation and Jesus says this:
(Revelation 2:17)
To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.
Wait, you get one of these new names, too! A super-secret name for forever and ever once you get to heaven.
Wait- what if you like your current name? Or what if you don’t like your new one? What’s with all these changing names in the Bible- and do you have to change your name once you get to heaven- and does the Book of Enoch perhaps shed some insight on this?
I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.
Turn to Revelation 2, and let’s get weird.
[theme music]

Enoch 5
Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. This is Luke Taylor, and today we’re going to be talking about the changing names of Scripture; and also, this will continue our exploration of the Book of Enoch that we are undertaking this year. Today will wrap up Enoch’s introductory chapters, and we get into the real juicy stuff next week. But I think today’s study will be kind of special as well.
In fact, let’s start with Enoch this time, and then we’ll loop it back around to Revelation and the changing names that we see elsewhere in Scripture. Last time, we studied Enoch 2, 3, 4 and half of 5, and Enoch opens his book with these chapters by contrasting the righteous and the wicked. Enoch is explaining the differences in behavior, and the ultimate fates, of those who rebel against God versus those who follow God. And last week, a lot of what we were saying was focused on hell. We’ll focus more on heaven today.
So to finish up Enoch 5, let’s read today’s verses:
Enoch 5:6-9 - 6a. In those days ye shall make your names an eternal execration unto all the righteous,
b. And by you shall ⌈all⌉ who curse, curse,
And all the sinners ⌈and godless⌉ shall imprecate by you,
7c. And for you the godless there shall be a curse.
6d. And all the . . . shall rejoice,
When I say “dot dot dot,” that’s a section of the ancient manuscripts that is missing. Presumably, the word “elect” shows up right here. But as I said a couple episodes ago, the Book of Enoch is not 100% intact, and this is one of the reasons why we cannot consider it Scripture. God promised to perfectly preserve His Word, and that not one jot or tittle would pass away. So we’ll keep reading but, presumably, the word “elect” or “chosen” should appear in in that gap.
6d. And all the . . . shall rejoice,
e. And there shall be forgiveness of sins,
f. And every mercy and peace and forbearance:
g. There shall be salvation unto them, a goodly light.
And for all of you sinners there shall be no salvation,
j But on you all shall abide a curse.
7a. But for the elect there shall be light and joy and peace,
b. And they shall inherit the earth.
Oh wow, does that sound familiar? Yeah, Jesus said something very similar in the Sermon on the Most. Remember: this was Jesus’ history book. Jesus had many sayings and theological ideas that are present in the Book of Enoch.
8 And then there shall be bestowed upon the elect wisdom,
And they shall all live and never again sin,
Either through ungodliness or through pride:
But they who are wise shall be humble.
9 And they shall not again transgress,
Nor shall they sin all the days of their life,
Nor shall they die of (the divine) anger or wrath,
But they shall complete the number of the days of their life.
And their lives shall be increased in peace,
And the years of their joy shall be multiplied,
In eternal gladness and peace,
All the days of their life.
So there you go. If you follow God, you will live happily ever after. If you reject God, you don’t. Pretty clear contrast.
And the way that contrast started in verse 6 was by saying that those who rebel against God will have their names become a curse. What does that mean?
To have your name become a curse means that when you’re gone, people speak about you in very negative terms, or someone that no one wants to be associated with. To use a modern example: Jeffrey Epstein. I mean, that name is so toxic, that name has become kind of a political football, with both political parties in America trying to smear each other with it. Jeffrey Epstein was a rich dude with a lot of powerful friends a decade or two ago, he looked like he was on top of the world, but now his name has become a curse. Or another example: have you ever seen a chart with the popularity of the name “Adolph” after 1943? Let’s just say, it takes a hit.
Another way a name can be a curse is when people use you as an example of what NOT to be. For example, I’ve been reading the book of Jeremiah the past several weeks. Jeremiah speaks to the people in chapter 29 about those who were under God’s judgment. Just like Enoch does, he says they’ll be a curse, a reproach among all the nations, because they wouldn’t listen to God. Pay attention to this word “curse.”
Jeremiah 29:20-22
20 Hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon: 21 ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them down before your eyes. 22 Because of them this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: “The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,”
So this is another way a name can become a curse: when people say, “You don’t want to end up like them.” In this case, it’s Zedekiah and Ahab, a couple of false prophets. “You don’t want what happened to Zedekiah and Ahab to happen to you.”
And this is what Enoch means when he says, “And by you shall all who curse, curse, and all the sinners and godless shall imprecate by you.” He says, “even the heathens don’t want anything to do with you and your memory."
Isaiah includes this idea as well in
IsAiah 65:15
You shall leave your name to my chosen for a curse,
    and the Lord God will put you to death,
That’s the bad thing. But here’s the other side of that coin, here’s the exciting part, let me finish the verse:
    but his servants he will call by another name,
Woah. The unrighteous will have their names become a curse, but His servants He will call by another name.

Changing Names
Now, let’s talk about this practice of changing names. In the Bible, it was very common for someone to be given an additional name. Sometimes those names were good; sometimes not so good.
There’s the famous moment where Simon is given a new name by Jesus.
Matthew 16:18
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Peter means “rock.” The church is not built on Peter but on the proclamation he made that Jesus is the Son of God. If you’d like to hear a whole episode on that quotation, go back to last January and check out episode 60.
Another changing name is Daniel. The name “Daniel” means “God is my judge,” and that’s a good, strong, biblical name; but when Daniel was kidnapped and taken to Babylon against his will, he was forced to enroll in demon academy and learn a bunch of pagan nonsense, and his captors even tried to force him to assimilate into their culture by renaming him “Belteshazzar,” when means, “Bel’s Prince.”
Of course, Daniel didn’t lose his first name, as he didn’t accept this new identity because it pointed to the false god of Baal. Though others would call him this, he didn’t refer to himself as Belteshazzar. His given name of Daniel essentially means “I answer to God,” and that’s what Daniel did. So it’s quite common to see people in the Bible have multiple names.
And if you’re a believer in Christ, God’s gonna give you another name, too. And let’s look into that.

A New Name Written down in Glory
Earlier we read this verse in
Isaiah 65:15, addressing the wicked
You shall leave your name to my chosen for a curse,
    and the Lord God will put you to death,
    but his servants he will call by another name
Hebrew scholars will say things on some verses of the Bible like, “Isaiah was quoting from the prophet Micah over here,” or “Micah was quoting from Isaiah,” and I don’t have a problem with one Bible writer using another as a source, but when it comes to prophetic utterance, I’m not sure that that’s always what’s happening. To me, a prophet is hearing their words from God. I don’t think a prophet is just writing what they think is true and mixing it with what another prophet said and then saying, “God said that.” I believe every word they wrote was something they heard from God himself. So when Micah and Isaiah- or any two prophets- both say something that sounds similar, I don’t take it that one is copying the other’s homework. I think perhaps they’re just both hearing the same God, and sometimes God repeats Himself. God might say the same thing more than once, to two different people.
With Isaiah 65:15, some scholars will say that he’s quoting from Enoch 5. Now, I don’t know. I’m not claiming every word of the Book of Enoch is divinely inspired; but perhaps Enoch heard this from God and Isaiah heard a similar thing from God later. That makes just as much sense to me. But that’s the connection here with Enoch 5 and Isaiah 65. So let’s talk about new names.
In his commentary on this verse, Gary Smith says, “…when God transforms a person’s life and directs them on a new path, he often gives them a new name that points to their new destiny.”
And this concept is also expanded upon in a couple of Jesus’ seven letters to the seven churches that open up the book of Revelation. It says in the letter to the church at Pergamum:
Revelation 2:17
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.
So you’ll receive a new name written on a white stone. Now, let’s start with the white stone. There’s a lot of different thoughts on what this could mean. And we gotta go back in time to ancient culture to figure out what this meant- back to the ancient times. After dinosaurs, but before phone books.
One, in Greek culture, when you were on trial, the jury would decide your fate by each member selecting a stone, and then they’d show their stones. If it was a white stone, it meant a vote that you were innocent. If it was a black stone, it was a vote for guilty. The Greek culture of course influenced a lot of the culture of the New Testament era- I mean, Revelation was written in Greek- so this might be what that refers to, although these judicial stones didn’t have names on them.
Another idea is that in the Roman culture, the winner of athletic games was given a white stone with their name engraved on it, and it meant you were a winner. I guess they hadn’t invented trophies yet back then, so they just grabbed a rock. Kinda lazy if you ask me. But this matches what Jesus says in that verse: to him to conquers. Or in other words, to he who overcomes this world; he who is victorious in this life. That means to follow Christ. And that fits quite well as to what this white stone means. It’s a trophy with your name on it.
And not just your name; your new name. But why give you a new name? That’s probably what you’re wondering. Well, I have a few possibilities based on how we see names being given in Scripture.
One, your new name may point to something commendable about your life on earth.
Two, your new name may point to one of the attributes of God.
Another one: your name can point to your own unique relationship with God
And finally, your new name may point to something related to your job in heaven.
Now, that last one probably raises a few questions, so let’s explain these one at a time. Your new name may point to something commendable or noteworthy about your life on earth. And we can see this in Scripture:
Let’s start with Gideon, as most of us are pretty familiar with his story. Gideon’s story starts with him threshing the wheat in the winepress. The angel of the Lord visits and tells him to overthrow Moab. The first thing Gideon does is go back home to get rid of the idol in his hometown. They had an idol to Baal right there in his city. So that night, he and some men go tear it down. This earns Gideon a new nickname.
Judges 6:32
Therefore on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he broke down his altar.
The name Jerubbaal means “Baal will Contend.” It basically means, “Baal’s a big boy. He can defend himself.” So therefore, if Baal doesn’t want his idol being torn down, Baal can take it up with Gideon. So Jerubbaal was kind of a good thing; I take it that Gideon had done something brave, so this name was meant to signify that.
Another example is Joseph- the one from the book of Genesis who was sold by his brothers into slavery. He goes to prison until one day Pharaoh can’t figure out what his dreams mean, and so Joseph is fetched from prison to come interpret Pharaoh’s dreams. He knocks it out of the park and then it says this:
Genesis 41:45
And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphenath-paneah. And he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On. So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.
Zaphenath-paneah. I think I’d just stick with Joseph, thank you very much. Because that has to be, like, the Benedict Cumberbatch of Egyptian names. But this new name that Joseph was given is believed to mean either “revealer of secrets” or “God speaks and He lives.” The new name points to Joseph’s particular talent: he is able to interpret dreams and what they mean. It’s a supernatural prophetic ability that he uses on occasion, so this new name points to his unique abilities that he demonstrated on earth.
Another reason that people receive new names in the Bible is that they highlight attributes of God. For example, God named Ishmael, which was Hagar’s son. Hagar had fled into the wilderness while pregnant and expected to be forgotten and die. An angel visits her and this is what happens:
Genesis 16:11
And the angel of the Lord said to her,
“Behold, you are pregnant
    and shall bear a son.
You shall call his name Ishmael,
    because the Lord has listened to your affliction.
The name Ishmael means “the Lord hears.” The Lord heard Hagar’s prayer and is answering it. I need to hear that sometimes, personally, guys, that the Lord hears. I knew he heard my prayers this mont when Kathleen Kennedy stepped down as the CEO of the Star Wars franchise. The Lord hears. Your prayers are not ignored. And Hagar’s weren’t either.
Now, that wasn’t technically a name-change, but God is pronouncing someone’s name here, and so it fits with what I’m talking about. And there’s a whole lot of names in Scripture that point to attributes of God. Michael means “Who is Like God?” Daniel means “God is My Judge.” Zechariah means “The Lord Remembers.” You may not know this, but Joshua in the Old Testament got a name change.
Numbers 13:16
These were the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua.
His name before meant simply “salvation.” But Joshua means “Yahweh is Salvation.” So a name can point to an attribute of God.
And then a third purpose behind a name: it might point to your unique relationship with God. We see this with John the Baptist. His father, Zechariah, was visited by an angel in Luke 1.
It says in verse 13
But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.
The name John means “Beloved of the Lord.” And you might remember that there was a disciple later on in the Gospels who was also named John, and he had a unique relationship with Jesus, often simply called “The disciple Jesus loved.”
Another person whose name pointed to his unique relationship with God was King Solomon. You might not know this, but Solomon was given two different names by God.
I Chronicles 22:9, God said to David
9 Behold, a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies. For his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days.
The name “Solomon” means “peace.” And so that name pointed prophetically to Solomon’s reign as king of Israel. But then after Solomon was born, he received another name:
II Samuel 12:24-25
24 Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her, and she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. And the Lord loved him 25 and sent a message by Nathan the prophet. So he called his name Jedidiah, because of the Lord.
Jedidiah means “Beloved of the Lord,” just like John in the New Testament. So a name can point to a unique relationship that someone has with God.
And finally, your new name might point to your job or role in heaven. Yes, when you get to heaven, you’ll get a job. I know; you’re thinking, “I don’t want to WORK when I get to heaven. Why would I want to go to heaven and get more WORK to do? Heaven’s supposed to be fun; work isn’t fun. I spend my whole life tryin’ to get to retirement so I can stop working. Now you tell me I gotta die and then do more work for forever- with NO retirement?”
Well, yeah, that’s what I’m saying. But(!) I believe the work in heaven will be enjoyable. If you’re surprised you’ll have a job in heaven, let me just point out that in the Garden of Eden- when God had created everything “good” in Genesis 1- Adam and Eve had jobs. God made Adam and immediately gave him work to do. And that was before sin had even entered the world. It was only after sin entered the world that God said work would stink. Work is part of God’s original plan; and when we get to heaven, He’s got a job waiting for you. You don’t just sit on a cloud playing a harp like in Tom and Jerry cartoons. Unless that is your job. I guess that might be your job. But it won’t be everybody’s job.
And it could be possible that your new name points to your role that you play in God’s eternal kingdom in heaven. Because that’s a reason God often changed peoples’ name on earth. For example, God changed Abram’s name to Abraham.
Genesis 17:5
No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
Abraham literally means “The Father of a Multitude.” And Abraham was the patriarch not just of Israel, but also Ishmael- the people of Saudi Arabia. And then Abraham’s grandson Jacob is given the name-change to Israel in
Genesis 32:28
Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
Israel means “He Who Wrestles [or Strives] with God].” And that was prophetic as it pointed to Jacob’s descendants, the Israelites, who constantly wrestled with God throughout their history.
And then, of course, to bring up the name of Joshua again. Joshua means “Yahweh is Salvation.” And the New Testament version of the name Joshua is … Jesus.
His father Joseph is told by an angel in
Matthew 1:21
She [which is Mary] will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.
“Yahweh is Salvation” is not just something that God is, but it’s something that God came here and did in the person of Jesus, and so a name can also point to a mission.
And I have no idea what your mission will be in God’s Kingdom in heaven. The New Jerusalem will be a busy city that’s bustling with action and you’ll have something to do there. And your new name might be a hint as to what that is.
Now, does this mean you lose your old name? No. In Scripture, we see a lot of names given, but they typically don’t replace or remove the old name. They simply become an additional name, like a nickname, but more official. When you get to heaven, you will still be you, your identity will not change, and you’ll still be an individual. Your new name isn’t going to erase who you are right now. It’s just going to add.
There’s a song we used to sing in the church where I used to serve, and you might have heard it, too.
There's a new name written down in glory,
And it's mine, O yes, it's mine!
And the white robed angels sing the story,
“A sinner has come home.”
For there's a new name written down in glory,
And it's mine, O yes, it's mine!
With my sins forgiven I am bound for heaven,
Never more to roam.

Next Time
Next time on this podcast, we will finally get into the meat of the Book of Enoch with chapter 6. This chapter is so thick with helpful info, we will probably spend about three weeks just in this chapter. And next week’s lesson is titled, “The Days of Noah According to Enoch.” Get ready to learn even more about the sins of the pre-flood world and what they did to provoke God to flood the whole entire planet.
Make sure you’re subscribed so you can get it! And sign yourself up for the newsletter, if you haven’t already. This weekend, I want to share something I learned about why a couple of Saul’s sons changed their names later on. This is just a little tidbit I came across while I was working on this episode, but it was too much to fit into today’s episode, so you can go to the show notes and sign up for the newsletter if you’d like to learn more about that.

Closing Thoughts
In closing, I just want to share this story that means a lot to me. There was a Jewish man born in Germany in 1898. His name was Hans Reyersbach. He was born in Hamburg, Germany; and he grew up by the Hagenbeck Zoo. He was fascinated with drawing and painting, especially of animals. When he became an adult, he made a living painting circus posters. Later in the mid-1920s, he moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Married a Jewish woman. They got two pet monkeys, they founded an advertising agency, and they also ended up both becoming official citizens of Brazil. And since “Reyersbach” was so hard for Brazilians to pronounce, they changed their last name to simply “Rey.”
Later they traveled back to Germany, where they started writing children’s stories together. First it was “Raffy and the 9 Monkeys.” Then later he wrote a manuscript called “The Adventures of Fifi,” another story about a monkey, and he thought he had something really special. He contacted a publisher in France, who bought the story before they even read it, but this was in the days before email, and they needed him to deliver the manuscript with the stories and drawings.
And then WWII broke out. And Germans became very unwanted in Europe. And Jews became captive in Germany. And these two German-born Jews probably didn’t even realize at that moment how harrowing it was going to be for them to escape.
On a couple of homemade bicycles, and with nothing but the manuscript for “The Adventures of Fifi” and some artwork in their satchels, they made their way across Europe, sleeping in barns and stables, traveling along railways, and eventually made their way to Portugal, and then back to Brazil. At one checkpoint, though, the official was afraid that they may have been spies because of their German accent. But they no longer had a German name, and their citizenship was in Brazil, and when he searched their satchel and only found The Adventures of Fifi, he let them carry on their journey.
They later sailed to New York and published the book under the name H.A. Rey. And the publisher decided that Fifi the monkey needed a name change as well: they called him Curious George.
And now you know the rest of the story.
And this story is personal to me not just because I have a 7-year-old at home who loves the Curious George, but because of this: H.A. Rey was saved for two reasons: he had a new citizenship and a new name.
And for you and I, when we got saved, we got a new citizenship. We will live forever in the Kingdom of God.
And when we arrive there, we’ll also get a new name. And that name will mean something. But I can’t tell you what it means, because that’s between you and Jesus.
There’s a new name written down in glory. And it’s mine, oh yes, it’s mine.
Thanks for listening, God bless you for sticking around until the end, and we’ll see you next time on Weird Stuff in the Bible.