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What is in a name? Have you heard that before? I'm sure that you have, and I am
also sure that the name, first of all, identifies a person. Secondly, your character, person, physical traits, moods, ideas, and your very personna comes with your name. I know that some people do not seemingly have a name that suits their character, but, all are unique individuals, nobody can be you but you. There may be some people that resemble you, or look almost exactly like you, or maybe have your mannerisms or idiosyncrisies, however, they are not you. If the two of you are in a crowd and people notice the two of you resemble each other, when your name is called then, that will set you apart from them. I said all of that to say this: no two people are exactly alike. The Saviour of the world, Jesus, was given that name by God. He is the image, the Bible states, of the invisible God. ( See Colossians 2:15 KJV + Hebrews
1: 3 ) When God got ready to come as the redeemer, Saviour, and Messiah, he did it in Christ. ( see Hebrews 10:5 - 10 KJV )
" Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and GIVEN HIM A NAME THAT IS ABOVE EVERY NAME, that at the name of JESUS every knee should bow of things in heaven, things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. " ( Philippians 2:9- 11 KJV ) That is the name that the angel announced to Mary when he appeared to her before the birth of Christ. ( St. Matthew 1: 20- 23 KJV ) So, since that is the name that it says God gave him, or if you speak Hebrew
its Y'ashua Homo'sheia ( I hope I spelled that
right ) Or Jesus Christ the Messiah .
But, since we are English speaking people and are not familiar with the Hebrew language then let's stick to our native tongue. We know him as Jesus Christ. Furthermore, there are some that are Orthodox Jews that will get upset with you for not addressing him as such, or they will say that we do not have the sacred name.
( Actually the Jews said that God's name was so sacred that they did not even pronounce it. ) Or some just use the constonants and no vowels or JHWH, and there are some that do use vowels and will say Yahweh. Nevertheless, the one that lived over 2,000 years ago, chose the twelve, performed miracles, raised the dead, cast out devils, gave sight to the blind, unstopped deaf ears, fed the multitudes with the small ammount of fish and loaves of bread. He went to the cross, suffered, died, and rose the third day, according to the Old Testament scriptures. He is the one that I am talking about. ( Whatever your native tongue is still he is the one , Jesus . ) For my Judaizer friends out there the Old Testament tells us about the coming of the Lord, although his name was not revealed to them yet, he still was even with the Israelites as they came out of Egypt.
" Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that ROCK WAS CHRIST. " 1 Corin. 10: 1- 4 KJV + " This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear. THIS IS HE THAT WAS IN THE CHURCH IN THE WILDERNESS WITH THE ANGEL which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: " Acts 7:37-38 KJV Notice how it states that the rock that Moses smote, and the waters gushed out in the wilderness was Christ, also note that the scripture in Acts states that Jesus was in the church in the wilderness, with the Israelites.
Jesus was back there? A resounding yes! Go with me for another witness in the book of Micah 5:2 KJV , where it states, " But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me THAT IS TO BE RULER IN ISRAEL; WHOSE GOINGS FORTH HAVE BEEN FROM OLD, FROM EVERLASTING. "
The writer is talking about Jesus then, he is from everlasting, ( See Isaiah 9:6 KJV ) Jesus came in the " fulness of time", ( see Galatians 4:4- 5 KJV ) Although he was from the beginning. " Iam Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. " Rev. 1: 8 KJV That is directly Jesus as plain as can be. So, again remember God, exalted him ( Christ ) and gave him that name Jesus, literally meaning Saviour, Messiah, Anointed one, which it states is above all names, which supersedes titles, superlatives and all that can be attributed to a person. Nevertheless, the Judaizer will contend that that is a Gentile name thus not being the sacred name, some also in Christendom also dispute the name of Jesus because they say that God is so great that we cannot only use one name to describe him, it takes many. Well, again, you are insulting God since it states that God gave him that name that is above every name. ( Also See Ephesians 1: 20 - 23 KJV ) Either the scriptural writer was wrong or, man, do not even go there with me about God not knowing what he was wanting to do. If you are a student of the Bible then you should know that even under the old covenant it was in the mind of God to save the whole
world, not just one nation of people. If one of another nation wanted to convert to Judaism he had to accept the covenant that God gave to Abraham which was circumcision. And furthermore I will take you to the book of Amos where it lets us know that God was going to restore the true way of worship to him that King David, a man after God's own heart was living, Or the scriptures call it the, "Tabernacle of David ." " And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness. " Isaiah 16: 5 +
" In that day willI raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof ; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: THAT THEY MAY POSSESS THE REMNANT OF EDOM, AND OF ALL THE HEATHEN,WHICH ARE CALLED BY MY NAME SAITH THE LORD THAT DOETH THIS. " Amos 9:12 KJV.Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, TO TAKE OUT OF THEM A PEOPLE FOR HIS NAME. " And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After this will I return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: THAT THE RESIDUE OF MEN MIGHT SEEK AFTER THE LORD, AND ALL THE GENTILES, UPON WHOM MY NAME IS CALLED, SAITH THE LORD WHO DOETH ALL THESE THINGS. " Acts 15 :14- 17 KJV. " And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles: in him shall the Gentiles trust. " Romans 15: 12 KJV Pay close attention to those scriptures that are from the Old Testament. Especially since the Orthodox Jew and the Judaizers do not believe that Christ is the Messiah. Note how it said that the Gentiles, UPON WHOM MY NAME IS CALLED SAITH THE LORD WHO DID THIS. What did the Lord do? And what was his name? The same name that the above scripture stated the name that God gave to the saviour, Jesus Christ. So, since you Judaizers do not believe on that name it stated that God did that, and that the name he gave was Jesus. That is why we use the name of Jesus Christ in water baptism, and all that we do in, " word and deed " must be done in his name. " Giving thanks to God and the father by him " Colossians 3:17 KJV . And to you trinitarians, Satan will not be so blatant as to say to you that the name of Jesus means nothing, he knows that you know that much about Jesus, what he will do as far as you are concerned , he will get you confused, and have you using titles in place of THE NAME. " For the name of the Lord is a strongtower, and the righteous runneth unto it and are safe. " ( See Proverbs 18 : 10 KJV ) Satan knows the importance of the name, that's why he deceives and beguiles man not to take on the name of the Lord as stated unanimously in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. All were baptized using that name. So, whenever you hear a minister say that Father, Son, and holy ghost, he does not understand the Bible in the context that God gave it. He may understand it in the context given by man in organized religion, and Theology, but not as the word states. If he knew and believed the authority, power, and dynamics of the name of Jesus, he along with all of his congregation would run to the water, and take on the name of the Lord, for truly it is there that we take on him, and we are, " buried with Jesus Christ in baptism " according to Romans 6 th chapter. KJV
As we move on in our study of the name we must look at this factor that says it all, is that we are the bride, the church is, and Jesus is the Bridegroom. Just as in a marriage the bride takes on the name of the husband, and becomes one with him, or united, so it is when we take on the name of the Lord. " For Iam jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused ( Bethrothed, or performed a wedding or marriage ) you to one husband , that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. " 2 Corin. 11: 2 KJV. This was written by the Apostle Paul who through the gospel, espoused them to Jesus, just as Peter the spokesman on the day of Pentecost espoused the 3,000 believers on that day at Jerusalem to Christ when he said this, " Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the holy ghost. " Acts 2:38 KJV
That is how you become the People of the name of Jesus! " For neither is there salvation in any other, for there is NONE OTHER NAME UNDER HEAVEN GIVEN AMONG MEN WHEREBY WE MUST BE SAVED. " ( See Acts 4:12 KJV ) " And as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of god, EVEN TO THEM THAT BELIEVE ON HIS NAME ." ( See St. John
1:12 KJV )
" Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures and said unto them , thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in HIS NAME AMONG ALL NATIONS beginning at Jerusalem. " St. Luke 24 : 45-47 KJV ) "To him give all the prophets witness, THAT THROUGH HIS NAME WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHALL RECEIVE REMISSION OF SINS. " Acts 10: 43 KJV Again notice how it said that THROUGH HIS NAME ( JESUS ) whoever believes on him, shall receive remission or removal or taking away of sins. It did not say Father son and holy ghost, but THROUGH THE NAME OF JESUS, that's where forgiveness of sins can take place, and that also remember, betrothes us to or unites us to, or links us up to Jesus .
The fourth and final thing that I want to say about the name is that the blood needed for removal of sins must be applied to an individuals life in order to get remission. " ....For without the shedding of blood is no remission ." Hebrews 9 : 22 Just as in the Old Testament when the Israelites were in the land of Egypt , the application of blood on the lintel and the doorpost to save them from the death angel that destroyed Egypt's firstborn, so it is today with the necessity of the application of blood on the lintel or doorpost ( the entrance of one's being, or heart ) must be found there to keep off the judgment of God from an individual's life today, that is the parallel. ( See Exodus 12: 23 24 KJV )
The End
Rodney Brooks |
