WHAT'S IN A NAME?
Names do not have the significance they once did. Bible names always meant something. God's name means something to those who belong to Him.
"Our help is in the name of the Lord," declares the Psalmist in the Bible (Psalm 124:8).
What is the Lord's name? In the Old Testament it was Jehovah. In the New Testament, Jesus. When Jehovah was made in the likeness of men He was given the name Jesus. "Thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son," was the angelic promise to the virgin Mary, "and shalt call his name JESUS" (Luke 1:31).
Why JESUS? "Thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). "Our help is in this name of the Lord." Our salvation . " . . . His name carried great significance in that it meant, as did its equivalent Joshua, "Jehovah is salvation."
We poor humans were caught as a bird in the snare of the fowlers. We were snared by our own sinful nature and evil deeds and were taken captive by Satan the enemy of our soul. We found ourselves helpless and hopeless and hapless. Doomed to suffer eternal condemnation.
"If it had not been the Lord who was on our side . . . then they had swallowed us up quickly" (Psalm 124:1,3). But "blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord: (Psalm 124:6-8).
The Lord Jesus Christ was sent "to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound" (Isaiah 61:1). "If (God's) Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John 8:36). By His death, burial, resurrection, and glorification, Jesus delivered them who were all their lifetime subject to bondage. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1).
What's in a name? There's eternal salvation in the name of JESUS for whoever will have it. "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13). "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
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"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." I Timothy 2:5
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DOES JESUS CARE?
(II)
If tears are an indication that people really care, then it is true Jesus cares about that which involves His own people. Jesus wept at the grave of His friend Lazarus.
After a brief illness Lazarus died. When Jesus arrived He found the mourners, with Martha and Mary sisters of the deceased, loudly lamenting their loss. Lazarus had been dead four days. Jesus asked to see the place of burial. They showed Him the sealed tomb. And "Jesus wept" (John 11:35).
Those standing about thought He wept for the loss of this loved one. Not so. He knew what He would do. He knew that in a matter of minutes Lazarus would be standing before them alive again. He wept not for the death of Lazarus or His own loss, but because of their unbelief.
Had He not been going in and out among them for several months, showing them many mighty and wonderful works, speaking as no one else ever spoke, revealing Himself as the One sent from the Father? Had He not proved over and over that He was indeed Emmanuel -- God with them? If they believed not His words, surely the mighty works which were seen in Him should have convinced them. But they were slow of heart to believe.
Earlier Jesus had promised Martha, "Thy brother shall rise again." In unbelief Martha relegated the promise to the future. "I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day." She failed to recognize that the Resurrection and the Life was standing in front of her. He answered, "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."
They were well aware that He could heal the sick. They saw Him do that. They admitted that if He had been there Lazarus would not have died. But the fact was Lazarus was dead and had been dead four days. Resurrection? Certainly, SOME day!
Enough of this horrid unbelief! Roll the stone away! But, Lord, by now he has begun to decompose. "Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?" Is it any wonder Jesus wept?
He wept at their unbelief. He wept that they believed not fully in Him. Indeed they believed that He was "the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world." They believed that He could do MANY things, but hesitated to believe that He could do ANYTHING.
How much grief have we, His friends today, caused Him by our wicked unbelief: He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. "Believest thou this?" Do we really believe Him? Do we fully believe in Him? Anything less than our complete faith in Him is a grief to His loving heart.
Does He care? Certainly He cares! His tears prove that He cares. May we care enough to cry out with the concerned father in the Gospels, who "said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief."
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I would strive, the Spirit helping, to assail, to melt and conquer hearts, that Christ may there be enthroned, in all His rightful majesty, a beloved and adored Lord.
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Who will deny that the happiest man on earth is he who is most enriched with enlightened views of Christ, and acts out most devotedly this faith?
-- (From "Things Concerning Himself")
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THAT WONDERFUL FACE!
By Henry G. Bosch
"And they shall see his face . . . "
Revelation 22:4
When I was a small boy, I frequently had to have a cast put on my left leg to hold it immobile. As I was suffering from tuberculosis of the hip, the pain was severe and the leg so sensitive that the least movement caused me to scream in agony. To stretch out the pulled-up limb and move the almost completely disintegrated hip joint in order to apply the large cast -- which extended from my waist to the tip of my toes -- was a real ordeal. In fact, it could not be done without giving me an anesthetic.
The first time I went to the hospital for this procedure was especially "scary." Father was permitted to be in the room, but a boy of six still gets worried when they put a mask over his face so that he cannot see -- especially when he starts smelling ether. I just had to be sure Dad was still there, for I knew he loved me and would not let them hurt me if he was near. To see his face would be reassuring.
Gathering up my courage I pleaded, "Please, Doctor, may I see my daddy just once more?" "Sure, Sonny," said Doctor Hodgen, and he had the nurse lift the mask. There was my faithful father bending in tenderness over me -- his face reassuring, loving, sympathetic, and smiling. "Breathe deeply, my boy, and it will all be over in a few minutes!" he said. How I wished I could have continued to see him, but that was impossible -- the mask had to go back over my eyes, and the operation completed.
So, too, in this life, occasionally the clouds roll away and the mask of trouble and sorrow is removed. Then by faith we get a momentary glimpse of our loving Father's face. Someday, however, when the fitful fever of our sin-troubled existence is over, and we bask forever in the sunshine of Jesus' smile -- what a glory that will be!
All the warmth and kindness that is in the heart of the Eternal will glow in His wonderful countenance to brighten eternity and chase forever from our minds all regrets over the insignificant hardships of the earthly pilgrimage that brought us to His side. Praise God, the road leads Home -- Home to the smiling, loving face of Jesus!
(From "Our Daily Bread," copyright 1964 by Radio Bible Class.)
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Jesus taught His disciples to pray:
"OUR FATHER . . . "
"After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed by thy name . . . " (Matthew 6:9). Whose Father? OUR Father! Jesus called Him Father. Jesus told His disciples to call Him Father. And we are to call God "OUR FATHER."
We may call Him our Father if we are rightly related to Jesus Christ. Jesus is God's only begotten Son. He was the only One begotten of God by a virgin. Jesus is the firstborn of every creature. He was the first to be raised from the dead by God. So His Father could speak from heaven and say, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
And we "are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." As Jesus was well pleasing to the Father, so are we accepted in Him. As He was raised from the dead, so shall our mortal bodies be quickened. As He was born of God by the virgin, so when we believe on Him we are born again by the Spirit of God.
The Spirit enters our hearts crying, "Abba, Father." "The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." He first witnessed unto us of God's only begotten and beloved Son when we believed. Then He witnessed unto us of the Father, convincing us that through Christ we were now the children of God.
Jesus says to all such, when you pray, say, "Our Father." After His death, burial, and resurrection, and before His ascension, Jesus declared to His disciples: "I ascend unto my Father, and your Father." MY Father -- YOUR Father. He ascended -- so shall we who believe in Him. This is why He came, to bring "many sons unto glory." "For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." Thus Jesus is our Brother and God our Father. What a blessed relationship!
We earthly fathers are supposed to be visible types of our heavenly Father. We fall far short of His perfection. But think of the best characteristics of the best fathers you know, and you begin to see a little of the wonderful Father we have in heaven.
Do you know a father who is loving and kind? Our heavenly Father is such. Did He not give heaven's Best to show us His love and grace? Do you know one who is faithful and true? Our Father in heaven is faithful and true? Has He not faithfully performed for us and made great and precious promises which He is sworn to fulfill?
Do you know a father who is a good provider? Our Father provides for His own. Is it food for the body you need, or food for the soul? Do you need clothing, shelter, protection? Are your needs physical, material, spiritual? Our Father provides them all.
Shall He feed the fowls of the air and clothe the flowers of the field, and do not the same for His own children? Shall His heirs ask for bread and He give them a stone, or for fish and He give them a serpent? If we earthly fathers, being evil, know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more shall our heavenly Father give good things to His children?
We were once afraid of God. We need not be afraid of "our Father," any more than we would be afraid of a kind and loving, faithful and true, and good earthly father. But what about our sins? Christ bore the wrath of God against our sins. What of the judgment? The judgment of God is past for the child of God, having been poured out upon Christ on the cross.
"That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full" (I John 1:3,4).
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Let me use every power of life and pen to magnify and exalt Christ -- to love Him -- to follow Him -- to serve Him -- to commend Him -- to live in Him and through Him and for Him.
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Study much the essential holiness of Jesus. It is one of the anchors of our Gospel-hope. He must be holy as God is holy, or He cannot mediate with God for us. If but a shadow of a sinful shade be on Him, atonement is needed for Himself; then He must save Himself; and we are left unsaved. But Jesus is all-sufficient to redeem us, because He is God's fellow.
(From "Things Concerning Himself")
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WHEN GOD SAYS "NO"
By Rev. Austin L. Sorenson
WE TAKE A LOOK AT THE WORLD -- and let's face it, life is full of disappointments. There are times when God says "No."
Moses had one great ambition. It was that he might lead his people into the land of promise. But while they went in, Moses had to die just outside its borders.
David's great hope was that he might build the temple for the glory of God. All his life he had gathered treasure and drew his plans, but he never lived to see a single stone laid in its foundation.
Abraham and Jeremiah, and many others of Old Testament times, had their aspirations and their visions for the realization of which they had earnestly hoped and prayed, but they were denied.
"In your case it may be that of disappointed ambition. You had hopes in early years of reaching the top of the ladder in your profession, but now you have come to an age and to a place where you are sadly aware of the fact that others have surpassed you in the race while you are but a man of mediocre achievement -- a disappointed man" (W. E. Biederwold).
WE TAKE A LOOK AT THE BOOK -- and in II Corinthians 12 we read of Paul's experience. God sometimes says "no" because He needs to chasten us. A twelve year old boy was asked why he thought he had the best Mother in the world. He replied: "She stays on speaking terms with God and on spanking terms with me."
God sometimes says "no" because it is not His plan. Paul wanted to go eastward, but God blocked his way and turned him toward the west, and with his ministry there came the greatest triumphs of the Christian faith.
Livingstone's disappointment gave him a tomb and a tablet in Westminister Abbey among the immortals. He had set his heart on going to China, but God said "no" and sent him to Africa.
Not till the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly,
Will God unreel the canvas
And explain the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful
In the Weaver's skillful hand,
As the threads of gold and silver,
In the pattern He has planned.
Life without adversity, without suffering and disappointment would be pretty much life without character . . . Disappointment is sometimes God's antidote for self-sufficiency . . . Perfection is through the chisel and sharp blows of the mallet.
Steel is iron plus fire. Tools are wood plus gashing axes, and statues are marble plus the chisel whose every stroke makes the sparks to fly.
God sometimes says "no" but your prayer is still answered.
I asked for strength that I might achieve;
He made me weak that I might obey.
I asked for health that I might do greater things;
I was given grace that I might do better things.
I asked for riches that I might be happy;
I was given poverty that I might be wise.
I asked for power that I might have the praise of men;
I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life;
I was given life that I might enjoy all things.
I received nothing that I asked for, all that I hoped for,
My prayer was answered.
My friend, humbly thank the Lord and bow submissively at His feet when He says "no."
(From the radio broadcast of "American Mission to Greeks" produced by Rev. Sorenson. Used by permission.)
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CHRIST -- OUR MESSAGE
By Rev. Miles Taber
I should like to commend to you the simple message of the New Testament. Paul was so sure that he had the right message that he pronounced a curse on anyone who would offer any other (Galatians 1:8). He stated the content of this message very simply: "I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (I Corinthians 2:2). This narrows down the message tremendously: it concerns one Person, and one event in that Person's life. Everything else is excluded.
CONTENT OF EARLY PREACHING
Did the apostles actually limit the content of their message to this one theme? Yes, this is what they preached, and this only. At Pentecost Peter lost no time in getting to the heart of his message: "That same Jesus, whom ye have crucified" (Acts 2:36). In the Temple court Peter was still preaching Christ (Acts 3:20). The message of the apostles continued to be a Person: "They ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ" (Acts 5:42).
In witnessing to the Ethiopian, Philip "began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus" (Acts 8:35). When Paul was converted "straightway he preached Christ" (Acts 9:20). And the same message was offered to the gentiles (Acts 11:20). On the continent of Europe Paul preached a Person, Jesus Christ, at Thessalonica and Athens (Acts 17:3,18).
This testimony of Luke in the Acts is confirmed in the Epistles. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church: "We preach . . . Christ Jesus" (II Corinthians 4:5). He was so much concerned about getting this message to all men that he even rejoiced when it was preached by unworthy men (Philippians 1:15-18). In all these references, and many others like them it is Christ Himself who is preached.
Now if we are to understand the full force of this testimony we must distinguish between preaching Christ and preaching about Christ. Perhaps an illustration will help us to make that distinction. You are sick. You call the doctor. After examining you thoroughly he takes some pills out of his bag. Then he begins to describe those pills. He mentions their beautiful color, their pleasant taste, their harmlessness. He preaches to you about those pills, and their many virtues. But still you are just as sick as ever.
But then the doctor takes some of those pills out of his bottle and gives you one, and you take it. He leaves some more of them for you to take at regular intervals. He prescribes this medicine for you, because he knows it will cure you. All his preaching about the pills did you no good. But when he preached those pills, prescribed them for you, recommended them as being the answer to your need, then you took them and you were healed. Our message is not a description of Christ, but rather a prescription of Him. The apostles did not preach about Christ; they presented Him as the answer to every human need.
Let us not then suppose that our message is the same as that preached by the apostles simply because we talk much about Christ. Our task is to present Him to the sinner as the remedy for his sin and guilt. We must present Him to the sinning Christian as the cure for his helplessness and defeat. He is our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption (I Corinthians 1:30). He is the only answer to human need.
EMPHASIS ON ONE EVENT
But now we come to a further restriction as to our message. We have seen that it concerns one Person. But now we must see that it concerns just one event in that Person's life, His death. We already have eliminated everything else and everyone else except Jesus Christ. Now we must shut out all things that concern Him except His glorious death. For Paul said, "I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (I Corinthians 2:2).
But, you may ask, is there not much true Christian wisdom and knowledge which ought to be preached, but which is not about His death? And must we not preach about the signs of the times and His second coming, as well as about His death at His first coming? Let us permit the Apostle Paul to answer these questions: "For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God" (I Corinthians 1:22-24). Men may desire to be taught many things. But what they need to be taught is what God accomplished for them at Calvary. This is the Gospel which Paul preached (I Corinthians 15:1-3).
ADEQUACY OF THIS MESSAGE
Is this message adequate? Did God really provide for all human need when He gave His Son to be crucified?
First, for the conscience-stricken sinner, did God provide forgiveness? Isaiah had provided the answer to that question eight centuries before: "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:5-6).
Our Lord at the Last Supper confirmed that this was the purpose of the Cross: "Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matthew 26:27-28). Christ crucified is the answer to the heart need of the sinner. When he is brought face to face with this message -- Christ and Him crucified -- he is brought face to face with his Saviour and is compelled to make some decision concerning Him.
It is relatively easy to show that what the sinner needs is provided by Christ and Him crucified. But when it comes to teaching Christians and meeting their needs, many feel that another message is needed. So we must ask the question: Is the message of Christ and Him crucified adequate for the believer?
Perhaps the sixth chapter of Romans gives the clearest answer to this question. The focal point of the answer is still the Cross. But it is no longer Christ dying for us on the Cross, but our own death with Him. The whole problem of the remaining sin in the Christian's life is dealt with on the basis of his death on the Cross with Christ. Death is separation, and through death the Christian is separated from sin. "Know this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin" (Romans 6:6-7). The slavery, the bondage to sin is ended for the believer who appropriates the power of the Cross. So that this Christ-centered message is the only message that breaks the power of sin over the Christian.
The same message of the Cross ultimately will deliver God's people from the very presence of sin. Those who will find themselves in heaven, forever separated from sin, will sing, "Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou was slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation" (Revelation 5:9). They attribute their happy condition to Christ and Him crucified.
RELATION TO OTHER THEMES
But some may still hesitate to accept our thesis. For do we not read that the apostles preached a broader message, including other truth besides Jesus Christ and Him crucified? Did not Paul preach "the kingdom of God" (Acts 28:31). And did not Philip do the same? (Acts 8:12). Paul admonished Timothy to "preach the word" (II Timothy 4:2). And did he not boast that he preached "the whole counsel of God?" (Acts 20:27, ASV). Is there not contradiction here?
No, for there are two radically different ways to preach the whole Bible. First, it may be preached as a collection of facts, history, doctrine, promises, etc. On the other hand, the whole Bible may be preached as a revelation of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. For "the whole counsel of God" for the whole need of man is Christ and His Cross. We maintain that it takes the whole Bible to properly present the meaning of the Cross in all its efficacy. We must study it endlessly to discover all that God accomplished at Calvary; then we must proclaim it faithfully to apply its healing power to a needy world. The whole redemptive purpose, and program, and revelation of God to man is to be found in Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
This is what Paul states in Ephesians 1:7-10, as translated by Phillips: "It is through the Son, at the cost of his own blood, that we are redeemed, freely forgiven through that full and generous grace which has overflowed into our lives and opened our eyes to the truth. For God has allowed us to know the secret of his plan, and it is this: he purposed in his sovereign will that all human history shall be consummated in Christ, that everything that exists in Heaven or earth shall find its perfection and fulfillment in him." So that there is no message from God to man that is apart from Christ and His Cross.
If this is our message, then this should be our method. The other characters in the Bible are there simply to set the stage, to help us to see more clearly the glory of the Cross. What a tragedy it is, then, when we concentrate on the scenery and the background. Instead of preaching the Antichrist, we should use the Antichrist merely to set the stage, then preach Christ his conqueror. Move from the Millennium to the King who will reign. Let the emphasis be not on the second coming of Christ, but on the One who is coming. Preach less on the grace of God, and more on the God of grace. Instead of eulogizing faith, get to the one who is the worthy object of that faith. Concentrate less on the various gifts of the Spirit, and more on the One who gave the Spirit. Use the whole Bible, present the whole counsel of God, and do so by presenting in all His glorious fullness the world's Redeemer.
Jesus Christ and Him crucified is our message. We must find Him in the experiences of the patriarchs, in the typical sacrifices of the Law, in the history of Israel, in the judgments upon sin, and in the prophecies of the future. Whatever the text, the theme remains the same. And we shall never be in danger of exhausting that Theme.
(This article is a condensation of a message delivered at Grace Theological Seminary as part of the Louis S. Bauman Memorial Lectures, January 30, 1961.)
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