THE NAME OF JESUS
E. M. Walkinshaw
Hebrews 2: 8, 9; 13: 12–15; Revelation 22: 16, 17
The name of Jesus is mentioned in each of these scriptures that I have read, just His personal name. When we speak to Him of course we say, ‘Lord Jesus’. I trust every one here says to Him ‘Lord Jesus’.
‘Jesus! how much Thy Name unfolds
To every opened ear!’ (Hymn 6)
His personal name ‘Jesus’ is mentioned nine times in Hebrews. I have read the first and the last. The name was hated by the Jews, but believers come to love Him, therefore they would appreciate His name ‘Jesus’.
When a baby is born, the parents are usually careful about the name. They are the ones that would select it, and sometimes keep it secret until, maybe, the child is born. But with Jesus that was not the case. Both the
parents were involved in the name, but it was a name given to Him. Before He was born it was given to Him from heaven, “thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins”, Matthew 1: 21. So Joseph did not choose it, nor Mary, and there was no question of argument as to what it should be, “thou shalt call his name Jesus”—Jehovah the Saviour. What appeal does that have to you, the name of Jesus? I would not try to fall back on eloquence, even if I had it, but rather leave the name itself to make its own appeal to every one of our hearts.
So the writer of the Hebrews, who would be under reproach because of the name of Jesus says, “we see not yet all things subjected to him, but we see Jesus”. The world to come is going to be subjected to Him. He is going to resolve every issue in the universe, be it a large one or a small one. He is going to settle everything in its effects for God, and presently everything will be subjected to Him. You can see therefore what a wonderful Person He is.
Every secret society will be unravelled and, I would judge, be disposed of. There will be nothing secret that will not be brought to light. There will not be any ‘no-go’ areas in any city in the world, whether it is New York or London, or Paris, or any other city; everything will be unravelled and settled, held in righteousness, and dominated by the will of God. That will be done by Jesus, and moreover He is the only Person capable of doing it.
Now at the moment that is not the case. There are all kinds of corrupt societies, and I think if we could see the corruption in the world we should be very surprised; what does come to light is like the tip of the iceberg. We do not want to dwell on it, but there are various secret societies working in the world, which are uncontrolled and uncontrollable by man. All that is working up to the man of sin, solemn thing. But, just at the moment, Jesus is hidden, that is going on for the moment. Everything is going to be subjected to Him, as the Scripture says, in the world to come of which we speak, but at the moment He is hidden.
But now, “we see Jesus ... crowned with glory and honour”. We sang this morning—
‘No place too high for Him is found,
No place too high in heaven’. (Hymn 451)
I wonder if we all see Him. Do you see Jesus crowned with glory and honour? You may, very likely say ‘Yes’, but I would like to ask, What effect has it had upon you? Before He was crowned with glory and honour, He tasted death for every thing, or every one. How wonderful that Jesus tasted death for every one here. And for those who trust Him, man, woman, boy or girl. He was the substitute for their sins, so that they will never come into judgment, never come into condemnation, because He took the condemnation. How wonderful is the gospel that we have to preach, and it centres in this Man. Maybe some people are preaching other gospels. Paul says, “if even we or an angel out of heaven announce as glad tidings to you anything besides what we have announced as glad tidings to you, let him be accursed”, Galatians 1: 8. What a statement that is. He does not say an angel from hell, but even if it be an angel from heaven, let him be accursed. So great is the gospel, so glorious the Person about whom the gospel is!
Now, we know that He went the way of the cross for us. I would love that every one of our hearts might be deepened in our appreciation of Him for going that way—the cross. It says,
“that ... he should taste death for every thing”. So that we can preach the gospel to every one, no question of class or creed. If you meet a man in the street you do not have to stop and think, Well, I wonder if the gospel applies to him. You can say that He tasted death for every one. Presently He will put the whole universe on the footing of redemption for God. In the meantime He is preached, and there is no other name but that of Jesus, “for neither is there
another name under heaven which is given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4: 12), no other name at all. I wonder if every one of us here has faith in Jesus, and I wonder, has faith in His blood. It is not good to take it for granted. Persons may say, Well, I am breaking bread, I was brought up in a Christian household. The fact that you have Christian parents does not make you a Christian. The fact that you are born of persons who are saved does not mean that you are. I was born of Christian parents but I needed to be saved by faith and the Holy Spirit which I received from God. I hope you have. Have you received the Holy Spirit? How do you know you have? Ask yourself the question. By the Holy Spirit I can see the Man that was on the cross for me, crowned with glory and honour. I can say what Bunyan said—
‘Blest cross, blest sepulchre,
But blessed rather be,
The Man that there was put to shame for me’.
But if He was put to shame for me there, He is now crowned with glory and honour. Can you see Him by the eye of faith and the Holy Spirit? I do not think you can if you have not received the Spirit. You might say, as a result of teaching, that you know He is there, but you cannot see Him unless you have received the Holy Spirit. I would urge this on every one of us, especially the younger ones, that as having received the Spirit we might make more room for Him to help us to see Jesus crowned with glory and honour. If you do, it will alter your life. It may change the course of your life. It may change you altogether. You may cease from the path you are in and change to another path. But whatever it is if you see Jesus crowned with glory and honour it will have an effect. You would not be engrossed with things here if you saw Him there. You would not be engrossed with material things. You have to be occupied with them because you must be righteous in making your living, and you must be righteous, but your absorbing interest would be that Man there called
Jesus. The blind man said, “A man called Jesus made mud and anointed mine eyes”, John 9: 11. The woman said in John 4, “Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever done” (John 4: 29). What is He to all of us here? May He become more precious and may He have a greater effect on our lives, so that we might be more ready to serve Him in the few days that are left to us. They may only be a few.
The next passage says, “Wherefore also Jesus, that he might sanctify the people by his own blood, suffered without the gate”. ‘There is a green hill far away’, we used to sing, ‘Outside the city wall’. I do not know that it was very green, but that was the poem; ‘Where our dear Lord was crucified, Who died to save us all’. Very simple, very touching! The Spirit of God would touch our hearts by these things. The Lord Jesus there was stripped of everything He had; He had nothing. So the writer makes this an appeal to these Jewish believers. He says.
He “suffered without the gate”. Why? So that He might set us apart, that He might sanctify the people. Sanctify means set apart. He wants to set you apart for Himself and for His service; so He suffered that for you. He suffered outside the gate for me. So the writer says, “let us go forth to him without the camp, bearing his reproach”. You will soon find, if you confess the name of Jesus, that you will bear His reproach, maybe not persecuted physically, but you will bear His reproach. Let us go outside the camp, the great ordered camp of religion where people deck themselves with various robes. It is not really consistent, is it? Mr. Coates said that every church spire in Christendom is a denial of the fact that Christ is rejected. Are you prepared to be rejected with Him? Am I prepared to be rejected with Him? Am I prepared to be associated with Him outside the camp, and bear His reproach? To be known as a Christian committed to, and seeking to follow the Lord Jesus? So the writer uses the appeal of the name of Jesus. Jesus suffered outside the camp. What does it mean to you? What does the Lord Jesus really mean to you? What effect does He have on your life? When He went into heaven He sent the Holy Spirit, so that although things may seem hard, and the path difficult, we have a resource in the presence of the Holy Spirit. I repeat the urgent need of receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit; and when you have received the gift of the Holy Spirit, give a little more room to such a great Guest, so that He may have more room to affect you in your words, and walk and ways.
In the last scripture Jesus introduces Himself. He says, “I Jesus”—Jesus, the same Person at the end of the Bible—“have sent mine angel to testify these things to you in the assemblies”.
“I Jesus”, as though at the very end He would make an appeal, testifies these things, gives witness to them in the assemblies. “I am the root and offspring of David”. Think of who He is, the root of David, the One from whom David, great man as he was, sprang. I suppose we know that that refers to His Deity. Jesus is God. We worship in the presence of such a Person, the root of David. All that David was for God sprang out of Jesus as the root. Then He says, “the ... offspring of David”, that is what He is as Man. He came on that line. It is clear that our Lord sprang out of Judah, the offspring of David. What else? “the bright and morning star”. I wonder if the bright and morning star has risen in your heart. It tells us that the day is just at hand. Oh, how dark things are in the world! Is that where your outlook is, in the world? If it is, how dark. The outlook of the lovers of Jesus is towards Himself, the bright and morning star.
The day is coming, there is a word in Isaiah to the watchman, “Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?” (Isaiah 21: 11). There are those that are watching for the Lord Jesus to come. What of the night? The answer is, “The morning cometh”. Wonderful, the morning comes! The Lord Jesus is coming to take away from this world all those who love Him. Do not think it is impossible. Otherwise you are reckoning without God. He is coming to take all those that love Him, to rapture them to Himself. Will each one of us be among them? I trust so, pray so, but at the same time one cannot in the preaching of God’s word take anything for granted. So, “Watchman, what of the night? ... The morning cometh, and also the night”. For us, when Jesus comes, it will be wonderful blessing, but it will be a night of sorrow and judgment for those that have refused Him. It will be a solemn time for this world, when the church, the assembly, is taken out of it, a very solemn time will be the night of God’s judgment; but for us, those of us who love Him, those of us who can sing with joy about Him and to Him, the morning is coming. It will be a morning without clouds, when the Lord Jesus will have His own with Him, and He will come forth with them to reign over the earth. What an outlook, is it not? So He died for us, for our sins, shed His precious blood so that our sins might be washed away. He died, took the penalty of sin; He was buried, went right out of sight, settled every moral question for God. God raised Him from the dead; He is set at the right hand of God. The Holy Spirit is here, for how long I do not know. Then the Lord Jesus is coming to take those who love Him to be with Him for ever.
What a name, we might well sing about it, might we not, the name of Jesus. I suppose the most powerful name that there is. Certainly, it is the most powerful and the most effective in the hearts of millions of persons on this earth today. You do not hear Churchill’s name mentioned much, only occasionally, Napoleon’s occasionally. We may hear of William the Conqueror occasionally. But every day millions of persons on this earth are mentioning and speaking of the name of Jesus and speaking to Him. There is no other name like it. May all our hearts be increasingly attracted to Him, for His name’s sake.
Preaching at Rotherham
14 November 1982