We rightly shy away from treating the name of Jesus as a magic word. There is no word we can say apart from understanding and intent that can solve the problems we face. And yet there is power in the name of Jesus.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
In this passage Paul places the name Jesus where God refers to himself in Isaiah 45:23.
By myself I have sworn;
from my mouth has gone out in righteousness
a word that shall not return:
‘To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear allegiance.
It follows that Jesus' name is more exulted than the angels.
After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. (See Hebrews 1:3-4).
His name was "given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb." The name Jesus means God saves. It refers to his mission to seek and to save the lost. But it is more. It reveals God himself. The name Jesus makes the unpronounceable name of God pronounceable. Yeshua is a shortened version of Yehoshua (like Joshua in English bibles). The prefix of that name is an abbreviation of the sacred Tetragrammaton, God's name. This name was considered to be so sacred as to be unspeakable in most cases. But when the verb yasha, to deliver, save, or rescue was added humanity was given a name which it could speak (details here).
Although the name of Jesus is not magic, nevertheless, if we bear in mind the one to whom we refer and just how exulted is the name when we speak it, miracles are to be expected. We really can pray 'in Jesus' Name' with great faith. This is how we can understand the passage from Mark where Jesus says "Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me" (see Mark 9:39).
The name of Jesus is the only name given under heaven by which we can be saved (see Acts 4:12). It is because salvation entails precisely the self-revelation of God in Christ that this is so.
This brings us to the practical considerations. How do we treat the name of Jesus? Perhaps readers of this blog don't abuse it. Perhaps they even ask other people not to abuse it. But are we afraid to speak his name? We don't want to treat it lightly. But we mustn't allow such a great gift as the name of Jesus to lie dormant when the world desperately needs his power.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
sing joyfully before the King, the LORD.
No comments:
Post a Comment