That Holy Name

December 22

Some of us, even believers, have taken the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in vain. To those who are not inclined toward faith, His name is a mere cuss word in a repertoire of unsavory epithets that are uttered to express disdain for a situation or an individual.

Those who are well-practiced in the blasphemous usage of the “Name that is given above all names, the only Name by which men may be saved” (Acts 4:12) will have a rude awakening one day when the light of truth illumines the darkness in which they have chosen to live their lives.

In Matthew 17:6, we get a preview of the power of that Name, the Name that can save and the Name that can condemn to eternal darkness. Here we get a glimpse of the transfiguration of Jesus. The disciples hear a voice from Heaven declaring that God is well-pleased with Christ—and these men who had walked with the Lord, “fell face down and were terrified.”

If they who knew Him as companion and brother, they who walked with Him and talked with Him and saw His love extended to the masses fell on their faces in fear and trepidation at the revelation of His glory, we can only shudder to think of the horror of the blasphemer, the hater of God, the mocker of truth when he recognizes Who it is who offered him life and he despised the Gift.

At this season of Christmas, when the Holy Child in Bethlehem's manger compels our hearts to visit the salvation story once again, may we recognize with awe and wonder the reality of who this Babe really is, and in our grasp of the glorious truth that He is Emmanuel, God with us, may we hold Him and His matchless name in awe; may we bow before the Babe as we will one day bow before His Majesty in Glory.

As Paul has written in Romans 4:11, "Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."