THE NAME OF JESUS
THE NAME OF JESUS
CAC The first thing the name of Jesus does is to put a man right on his feet. This man was born lame, he had never walked. It was his state that was in question; he had always sat outside the temple at the gate. He had never been in, he could not approach God. It was against the law that anything deformed should enter the temple. You can never enter into privilege until you are right in responsibility. Until this man could walk he could not enter the temple, he could only sit at the gate. The name of Jesus gives him power to walk, “His feet and ankle bones were made strong”. He is set up in a new way in the Spirit, the power of the name of Jesus does it. Then he leaps as well as walks; that is, exuberance of life. And he praises God; that is, he traces it all to God. He did not think, What a fine fellow I am! He had only looked in at the beautiful gate before, now he can enter in (verse 8).
Silver and gold are the power of this world, but the name of Jesus is in contrast. We want the power of His name to enable us to walk: His name is all that He is. It is not what you say but how you walk that is a testimony. It is your life that affects others, not your talk: if you are still hobbling along on lame feet it is no good at all.
Ques Is it a walk with God that is needed?
CAC Walking with God is privilege, it is communion. Walking before God is responsibility; if you do that you are perfect. It was said to Abram, “Walk before my face, and be perfect”. If you have God before you, you will walk perfectly; if you get out of His presence you fall, and you have to judge it and return to walk before God. Then you will be a testimony to the power [p. 303] of the name of Jesus: the power of the name of Jesus is the point in this part of the chapter.
[p. 304] This man had never walked; he was crippled from his birth. It is like, “We have turned every one to his own way”. By nature we cannot walk, but the power of the name of Jesus gives us complete soundness (verse 16). You may say, Christians do not walk right, but that is because they are not under the power of the name of Jesus.
Ques What is it to be under the power of the Name?
CAC I think the Name implies His absence. You may not think of a person when he is with you, but if he is absent his name recalls all that he is to you: it suggests the person. So the Lord’s name brings to us all the power that is in the Person; the Spirit brings it to us. There is a glorified Man in heaven and there is power in Him for everything. We could not be in any circumstances — persecution or anything else — where His power was not enough for us.
The Lord was rejected first, and in this chapter His name is rejected. In chapter 7 the Spirit is rejected: “Ye do always resist the Holy Spirit”.
Notice in verse 11 that the man held Peter and John; he would not let them go. If you get spiritual blessing, hold on to the one whom you get it from; that is, seek the company of those who help you; it is very important. But then Peter had to make it plain that the blessing had nothing to do with him, but that it was in the power of the Name. So we have to recognise that all that comes to us in the way of help is of God and comes from Him. There is no man holy in himself, or who can help us of himself.
How amazing it is to consider the grace of God! What a wonderful verse verse 17 is! What grace after the most atrocious act that ever was done in this world, that it was put down to ignorance! Then in verse 20 the Jews are offered to have the Lord back (”he may send Jesus Christ”). Even then the Lord would have come back if they would have received Him, but they reject the offer. His name is rejected. We see Him standing until then, waiting to see if they will receive Him. Stephen saw Him standing, but they rejected the Spirit [p. 305] then, and the Lord has sat down and will sit until His enemies are made the footstool of His feet. He sits until He rises up and shuts the door. He will rise too to receive His saints.
Verse 21 is taken by the universalists as their great text; they cut the head off the verse and leave the body! They take the restitution of all things and leave out the end (verse 23) following on not hearing what the prophet spoke of: “Whatsoever soul shall not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people”. That is the end of those who do not hear. If Jesus had been received the millennium would have been there, and the restitution of all things, but they would not receive God’s wonderful offer of grace. Jesus was actually offered to them again after all their wickedness. Then in verse 26, “To you first God, having raised up his servant, has sent him, blessing you in turning each one of you from your wickedness”. The worst possible people in the world had the first opportunity of blessing. Just think of the grace of God! We should have said, ‘Let the Gentiles have it, not these horrible people’! Instead of that, Jesus is sent first to bless them, and not in their sins but in turning them away from their wickedness. That is the only way of blessing. Even then Jesus would have come if they would have received Him. We cannot conceive of or realise fully the amazing grace of God.
There is a great deal about the prophets in this chapter; God thinks great things of His prophets: we read of them in verses 18, 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25.