To Encourage You

Acts 5:29 “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.”

The name of Jesus – it’s something about which there is much confusion today.  Some people think they can use the name of Jesus almost as a magical spell. They believe that so long as they first say “in the name of Jesus” anything that they say after that will come to pass.  It’s always been that way.  An example of this from the first century was the seven sons of a man name Sceva whom we read about in Acts 19.  These men were self-proclaimed Jewish exorcists. We are told that they once came upon a demon-possessed man and proceeded to proclaim “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” And the result?  “One day the evil spirit answered them, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?’ Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.”  Obviously, their incantation didn’t work, regardless of the fact that they said it “in the name of Jesus.”  Another example: The Bible tells us that at the final judgment, when we stand before the Lord, many people will say “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?” However, of these Jesus says “And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:22-23). 

So, what of the name of Jesus?  What’s it’s significance to the believer?  When in Proverbs 18:10 we are told “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe,” what does this mean?  In what sense is just a name a protection for anyone? 

To understand this, we must recognize that a “name” represents more than some letters on a page.  A name carries with it the character of a person – or even a thing.  When we say the word “lion,” certain images come to mind.  We think of the power of such an animal; its ferocity. He’s the “king of the jungle.”  But when we talk about “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Revelation 5:5), what comes to our mind then?  Is it not that this “Lion,” which is nothing more than another name for Jesus, is awesome in power, the King of Kings who rules over all? 

Then there’s the name “Lamb of God,” which refers to the sacrifice of this same Jesus on the cross, that “takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:20). 

The name of Jesus, then, is synonymous with His character.  It brings to mind Who He is and everything about Him.  It’s a glorious name because it describes our glorious God. When we truly act, speak, or preach “in the name of Jesus” we do so as His representative in obedience to what He has said.  However, when we do this, as referenced in the verses from Acts 5 above, we are likely to face resistance, even hatred, from a world that hates Christ. 

So why do it?  Isn’t this dangerous?  Not at all – for to act, speak, and preach “in the name of Jesus’’ is to be in the safest place of all.  Nothing can harm us when we live life as His ambassador, i.e., “in His name.” 

But there’s a paradox.  Jesus told us that when we follow Him, and in particular when we preach His Word “You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish”(Luke 21:16-18).  What in the world does that mean –  “Some of you will be put to death . . . but not a hair of your head will perish”?  Well, the word “perish” in this context refers to eternal destruction – an eternity spent in Hell. You see, all of us will die someday, no matter if we call ourselves believers or not.  However, that death is nothing more than a path to eternal life for those who know Jesus and who love Him, i.e., those who “love His name.” In fact, we are told that one day “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads” (Revelation 22:4).  It is those who have identified with His name in this life who will be protected by His name for all eternity.  And nothing can touch them in this life outside the knowledge of and protection of His great name, for “The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run into it and are safe” (Proverbs 18:10).  Indeed, it is the Lord who is also called by the name “Savior” and “all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). 

So what about you? Do you identify with His name?  Are you known as a Christian who truly lives to glorify Christ?  Or are you one who wants nothing to do with Him now, and would deny Him if met with that choice?  Jesus said “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven” (Luke 21:32-33). 

The name of Jesus: we will bear it now and be protected by its great power forever, or we will deny it now, and be lost forever.  May God help each one who hears the glorious gospel of Christ to run into the “name of the Lord.” It is in that name, that strong tower, where the righteous are found, and it is there and only there, that anyone is forever safe.