Where God puts His Name

Our pastor tossed off a comment in yesterday’s Bible class that still resonates with me and that has profound implications. In the context of our study of Genesis, via Luther’s commentary (which consists of his lecture notes, so that, as our pastor said, it’s as if we were sitting in on Luther’s course at the University of Wittenberg), we were contemplating the statement that Cain departed from the presence of God. Throughout the Scriptures in both Testaments, the pastor said, God’s presence is associated with where He puts His name. He says of the Temple in Jerusalem that His Name dwells there. With the Incarnation, Christ says that whenever two or three gather in His Name, He will be in the midst of them. When we worship, we begin with the invocation, in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In Baptism, God puts His Name with our name. See the implications?