THE NAME
[p. 521] THE NAME
Matthew 28:16 - 20; James 2:6,7; 3 John 5 - 8
What I have to say, dear brethren, has reference to the name which we, as Christians, have been baptised to and which is called upon us. I have the public position of Christians in mind. Matthew has it in mind, particularly; James speaks of “the excellent name which has been called upon you”; John says that for “the name” certain have “gone forth, taking nothing of those of the nations”; so that these apostles, in writing thus, have the public position in mind. John has what I may call the private position particularly in mind in his gospel; he builds inward, as it is said of David, in taking Zion, that he “built round about from the Millo and inward”, (2 Samuel 5:9). John’s gospel has that in mind, particularly, and Paul also has it in mind; being the architect, as I may say, of the public assembly, he has the inward in mind more than any. He speaks of the Father, “that he may give you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man” (Ephesians 3:16), with a view to our eternal relations. John, also, ministers on the same line, directing us through the words of Christ into heavenly and eternal relations.
But in his epistles, particularly in the second and third, John speaks of the assembly in its public aspect. He speaks, for instance, of Diotrephes casting persons out of it, and he speaks of the love of the brother to whom he wrote having been declared to the assembly. The assembly is to be informed of matters of special interest, in the sense that every right feeling is in it; indeed, I might say, what is of heaven is here below in that sense, for the feelings and sympathies of heaven are in it. There is respect and reverence for God, and for Christ, and respect for dignitaries; these things mark heaven. We read [p. 522] of the assembly having ears; it is ready for every information as to the work of God and as to the people of God. It is the home of all such information - the best use can be made of it there. Matthew speaks of the assembly as militant — an important side to its position, for the gates of hades are not to prevail against it. So that the things of God are safe there. And he speaks of it as a court of appeal, which is another matter of great importance, for there is that here which is capable of rendering right judgment. And then James speaks of the assembly in relation to sickness amongst the people of God. Paul is concerned about the financial affairs of the saints, telling us that those who carry the bounty of the assemblies to meet need are messengers of assemblies, Christ’s glory. There is a peculiar glory attaching to that.
So that what I am speaking of is the assembly of God, or the assembly as such, for it had acquired that place, the word denoting a very great matter. Matthew brings it in to supersede military protection for the saints, for they that take the sword perish by it. The assembly is a refuge from any such feeling. He also shows that it supersedes the court of the land for the Christian. And James, if you will allow me, shows that the hospital is superseded by the assembly. He speaks of it in relation to the bodily illnesses of the saints, of which there is always much. But in the passage I read he avoids using the word ‘assembly’ for he is speaking of rich people blaspheming the excellent name. He uses the word ‘synagogue’ showing the character of the epistle. While it deals with what is really of God, in the Christian sense, it also includes the great Jewish community, addressed in grace by the Spirit of God in this way, so that even the synagogue was observed. But he does not finish the epistle without speaking of the assembly. There is no suggestion of rich blasphemers [p. 523] in the assembly; it would cease to be the assembly were it allowed there. So he speaks of the synagogue, for that is the word, the synagogue where the rich and the poor came together.
Well now, as I said, I am seeking to occupy you with the public side of our position. If you follow what I have been saying, you will see that there is that which is really intended to supersede, for believers, all mere human institutions. I am not here to say a word against such institutions, whether it be military, official or authoritative. They are there provisionally, but spiritually they are superseded by the assembly. Would that everyone here would take that in, but the young ones especially.
But we are living in a dual sort of way; living in relation to what is spiritual and of God, and at the same time living in relation to what is public in a literal sense, subject to governments, subject to every human institution for the Lord’s sake, honouring the king and all dignitaries, praying for them too, making supplication for them, giving thanks for them. So that the Christian is never an overturner of governments, he is a patient sufferer in regard to any ill-treatment. Inwardly he is in another world; that is the position; he is in an out-of-the-world state of things. That may be an expression that the young ones may not fully understand, but if you will be patient and think it over and see that there is another world opened up, and that the assembly is a part of it, there will be great gain. The assembly is to be a great luminary in that world presently. She is coming out of heaven from God. In the meantime it has a public place, but not as a rival of governments, for those who form it know that patience is our present normal right attitude — we are in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ.
At the same time we do not forget the public aspect of the assembly, that it is here as the vessel [p. 524] of grace in the enforcement of the kingdom of God in whatever way it may be required by believers. And, of course, if believers are benefiting by it, others notice that and it is a testimony to them. The kingdom of God is a very real thing, beloved brethren. It is against evil, but not against human institutions that are, in the providence of God, beneficial in restraining evil. How can we be against what restrains evil in any sense? A policeman on his beat is of interest to a real Christian so far as he is a minister of God for the restraint of evil. That is what he is, and from the policeman up to the king the same thing applies so long as we can view them in that light. So that, dear brethren, we are not rivals of what God is supporting providentially. We are thankful for that, and yet there is another world, another kingdom, another place of authority in the assembly, and all these features of which I am speaking, whether it be courts of appeal, hospitals and the like, are provided for in the new system, the new world, for those who belong to it. There is perfect government in it; there is perfect provision made for every ill for those who belong to it.
Matthew has all this in mind when he records what we do not have elsewhere, that the countenance of the angel at the tomb of Jesus was like lightning. In this chapter the angel is a public personage; in the other gospels his service is private. But here he is a great heavenly official with his countenance like lightning, and he is sitting upon the stone that had been on the mouth of the tomb in which the Lord of glory lay. He says, “He is not here”. He is a public personage. The keepers were as dead men on account of him; that is, the keepers were those who represented the murderers of Christ. He is against them; he is against the seal that is on the tomb, because it is against Christ. Had it been another tomb, it would have been different. But it [p. 525] is the tomb of Jesus, and that must not be sealed; not that it made any difference, in one way, whether it was sealed or not. Jesus came out before the stone was rolled away. The stone was rolled away, but Jesus did not do it. The angel did it, and sat upon it; it is a public matter. And now he says to the women, “Go quickly and say to his disciples that ... he goes before you into Galilee ... . Behold, I have told you” (Matthew 28:7). It is authority. And the Lord Himself met them as they went, for they went by the angel’s word and He respected their obedience. He saluted them and said, “Hail!” And then He sends a message to His brethren, “Go, bring word to my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there they shall see me” (Matthew 28:10). Authority and dignity are in mind. They went; they were obedient to His word.
You will understand that what I am saying now is to bring our hearts into subjection, for entrance into this realm depends upon subjection. Self-will is incongruous to it and has no part in it. So elsewhere, Peter tells us that the Holy Spirit is given by God to those who obey Him. It is by the power of the Spirit that we enter into this realm on the principle of obedience. The eleven obeyed and went to Galilee, and the Lord met them there. It was a matter of appointment. It is well to bear in mind the need for keeping appointments. In this public position yea and nay will not do. Paul was very particular to disclaim any lack as to this in himself. He says, “Now God is faithful, that our word to you is not yea and nay” (2 Corinthians 1:18). And that is to be observed; we are to see to it that we can be relied upon. The eleven went to Galilee and when they saw the Lord they worshipped Him and He came and spoke to them. It is what might be called the public side of worship, for there is such a thing as that. “We are the circumcision”, says the apostle, “who worship by the Spirit of God” (Philippians 3:3). It is the public side of worship,
[p. 526] the public service of God. It is not governed by the Westminster Confession or any confession or creed. It is by the Spirit of God — we “worship by the Spirit of God, and boast in Christ Jesus, and do not trust in flesh”(Philippians 3:3).
But then, some of the disciples doubted. I need not say that no one here wishes to be a doubter. It spoils the public position when we doubt. “Why didst thou doubt?” said the Lord to the greatest of the twelve on one occasion. Doubting will not do. It is a question of the maintenance of the public position for God. But the Lord went on with what He had in mind. He might have stopped to correct or adjust them, but no, He went on. The position was so great and the service was too important to delay. He says, “All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth”. There is nothing to fear. Perhaps the best way to meet a doubter is to go on and let him see the power; perhaps he is much more affected by the evidence of power than by argument. The Lord proceeded, talking about power: “All power”, He said. The disciples would feel the absurdity of doubting in the presence of such dignity and authority. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations”. It is a public matter; not all the men of the world, but the nations. It has never been done, but still, it is in the Lord’s mind to bring about this great matter. In the time to come we shall see the basis on which the nations come into blessing — not all of them, not the nations we are conversant with now, exactly, for God must make His own selection. Sovereignty must enter into that as it does in the selection of individuals. The prophets indicate the nations that shall be blessed, but it is on the basis of divine selection.
How beautifully the Lord brings to our attention that when He sits upon the throne of His glory, when all the nations shall be gathered before Him,
[p. 527] He will say to those on His right hand, “Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you” (Matthew 25:34). What a word to them! And to those on His left He will say, “Go from me, cursed, into eternal fire”(Matthew 25:41). The nations that shall be saved shall walk in the light of the heavenly city. They will not be independent, they will bring their glory to it. The great metropolis of the universe will be respected then; they will bring their glory, publicly, to the heavenly city. And so the Lord goes on to say, in chapter 28, “Make disciples of all the nations, baptising them to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have enjoined you. And behold, I am with you all the days, until the completion of the age”. So that the saints at the outset were fortified in this great position. Faith lays hold of the mind of God expressed in these words. What a thought! What a conception! “Make disciples of all the nations”! Was the power not there? It was, all power in heaven and upon earth was there.
Well now, I am thinking of the name. It says, “... baptising them to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”. It is one name, and I wish all the young brothers and sisters here to realize that you are baptised to the glorious thought of that name! It is not an empty thing, all the power of God is behind that name, and you have been baptised to it. It is a great objective thought for faith to lay hold of as one is baptised. That is the position, it has not altered one bit. The power has been greatly weakened outwardly, but the fact stands and can be proved. It is a great public matter — the name. It is not to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, but to the name, all power being here in connection with the name!
[p. 528] So, as I said, James contemplates that it will be blasphemed. That is a solemn matter, dear brethren; for there is a solemn side to the position. A corresponding passage is found in Leviticus 24:11, where certain men strove and one of them blasphemed the Name. It does not say what name. What name could it be, dear brethren, but the covenant name by which God was in relationship with His people? All that entered into the name of God, the name of Jehovah and the other different titles which designate the Deity, entered into the word ‘Name’. One blasphemed the Name and he was stoned.
Now James alludes to the same thing and he reminds his readers of the danger of favouring the rich. He says, “Do not they drag you before the tribunals? And do not they blaspheme the excellent name which has been called upon you?” Christians ought not to disregard this. Being in business we are exposed to blasphemy of the name. How we need to have our ears under control and not to permit the awfulness of it for a moment, but rather reprove the insolence expressed in the use of the name in a blasphemous way. It has to do with all this, dear brethren. The Lord would help us to hold ourselves free. It is an excellent name. If we are to speak of it, we are to say. Lord Jesus. It is not the mere use of these two words; it is to be in the power of the Holy Spirit, as the apostle Paul says: “No one can say, Lord Jesus, unless in the power of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3). He is speaking of the assembly and the gifts that are in it, in that chapter, but it is well to be reminded that he brings in the Holy Spirit in regard of the use of the name Lord Jesus. And it is a public matter; what power there is, whether in the school-yard or the office, if I say. Lord Jesus, confessing with the mouth, not only in my ways, but with my mouth, Jesus as Lord. James supports Matthew on this point, and so does Peter. The [p. 529] apostles support each other. They were perfectly agreed in their testimony, the Lord prayed for that. Peter says, “For neither is there another name under heaven which is given among men by which we must be saved”, (Acts 4:12). There is power in it, dear brethren. Let us try it in the sense in which I am speaking of it, for we need to be kept from the evil that comes to our ears and our eyes, and in the expression of the name there is power, even though there is reproach too. As identified with the name I am certainly under reproach, but the victory in Christianity is on the line of suffering. I am bold to say that there is not a liberty or privilege that belongs to us publicly that is not recovered on the line of a suffering people, and the suffering attached to the name called upon us. It is the excellent name that is called upon us that is blasphemed.
Well now, John says that there are some who have gone forth in the name to serve the Lord: “... for the name have they gone forth”, 3 John 7. He writes to the beloved Gaius as a hospitable brother He says, “Thou doest faithfully in whatever thou mayest have wrought towards the brethren ... in setting forward whom on their journey worthily of God, thou wilt do well; for for the name have they gone forth”. How it sets aside all human names and organizations in the service of the Lord. It is the name and no other. John is writing about certain who had gone forth for the name, and the brother to whom he wrote was hospitable to them. They had gone forth taking nothing of those of the nations. They were wholly on the principle of the new order of things; the new world that has been brought in. They were dependent on God, not on the nations; and here is a brother who was looking after them and setting them on their way. So that John says, in effect, You are doing well, and your name is being mentioned honourably in the assembly [p. 530] because of it. It is for the name they have gone forth, taking nothing of the nations; we, therefore, ought to receive such that we may be fellow-workers with the truth. Hospitality is one of the greatest things that can be displayed amongst the people of God. It is love; John calls it that here; he says that certain “have witnessed of thy love before the assembly”. It is because of the name. What a dignity is given to hospitality, or any service that can be rendered to those who have gone forth for the name, taking nothing of the nations.
Now I must mention that the Lord had said to His disciples that He would beg the Father and He would give them another Comforter, which means Paraclete. That is a term that signifies that the Spirit is here in a personal sense as Christ was here, to take charge of things for us and for God. It is a marvellous thing that there is a divine Person here to look after things for God and for us. The next mention the Lord makes of Him in that chapter is the Spirit of truth. He will not tolerate any untruth, dishonesty or deceitfulness where He has sway. He will maintain the truth for God. But then the Lord says, “These things I have said to you, abiding with you; but the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things” (John 14:25,26). He says, “whom the Father will send in my name”. It has a bearing on Philadelphia; it is a question of the name now — of the name of Christ — over against other names. The Spirit is here in that relation and He will not tolerate any other names in rivalry to Christ. How wonderful it is that the Spirit has taken such a lowly place! He would bring all things that Christ has said to their remembrance; and what may have become beclouded or distorted in the history of the assembly, will be brought to us by the Holy Spirit, so that we have it, and the name is maintained here in living power.
[p. 531] Would that the brethren would take this in, because the Spirit being here in Christ’s name has a great bearing on our meetings. The Spirit is looking after things, bringing things to our remembrance and teaching us all things so that we are here intelligently. If you find an assembly of saints like that, what is the wisdom of the world as compared with it! It is nothing; it is eclipsed. The Spirit of God, the Comforter, a divine Person, is bringing everything to us, as I might say, teaching us as to all things so that we are here in Christ’s name in living power. The Lord said to Philadelphia, “Thou hast a little power, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name”, (Revelation 3:8). It is only on these lines that it can be said of any of us that the name is preserved, not only in literality, but in power, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
May God bless His word.