Key Verse.
11 For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down,
My name shall begreat among the Gentiles;
In every place incense shall beoffered to My name,
And a pure offering;
For My name shall be great among the nations,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
The New King James Version. (1982). (Mal 1:11). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
The scripture says that His name shall be great among the Gentiles. Further, the scriptures tell us that His name shall be great among the Nations. The bible also declares that there would be a time that worship unto Him would not just be in Jerusalem but throughout all the world. People from everywhere would bring their best to Him, and declare Him to be great. This would cause His name to be famous, great, and known throughout all the world.He wouldn’t be famous just in one place, but in every place.
1.) What exactly is in a Name?
In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet asked Romeo that very question and then answered it herself: “That which we call a Rose, by any other word would smell as sweet.”
The simple truth is that names do make a difference to people.
Parents agonize over the names of their children. It is not a simple decision.
Some of us have been named after people that were in our families lives, or after people that made an impact in the world. Your name is something special.
There are times in life when your full name is appropriate to use, some of you go by a nickname that somewhere someone hung it on you.
Some of you have special names that only those that are close to you know and use. They are terms of endearment, and by using that name they are expressing love and admiration for you.
Names are important to us.
If names are important to us and our culture, they were even more so in the biblical times and culture. Biblical names were filled with meaning. Here are just a few.
Adam meant earth or from the dust.
Abraham meant the father of many nations.
Isaac meant laughter.
Rachel named her son Benoni meaning the son of my sorrow. Jacob would later change his name to Benjamin meaning the son of my right hand.
Jabez meant Pain.
As you read through the bible you will find that names were vitally important.
This especially true for the names given to our Lord. His names and titles are a dual revelation unto us. I have not counted them, but one historian states, that there are over seven hundred different names and titles of Jesus Christ in the Bible. Each one reveals what Jesus Christ is in Himself, and also what He wants to do for us.
Jesus Christ is so great that it takes hundreds of names and titles to describe Him! Every name that He wears is a blessing that He shares. For us the better we understand the power of His name, the better we will know Him. It also brings an understanding to what He wants to do for us.
Even with all the names and the titles that were given to Jesus, we must understand that, He is better than what we can describe. He is greater than any one name can express.
We just simply say His name, Jesus, and we find out that there is so much wrapped up in that name!
21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
The New King James Version. (1982). (Mt 1:21). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
She will bring forth a son, and you shall call Him Jesus….
Seven Hundred and Fifty Years before the birth of Christ, the Prophet Isaiah spoke these words concerning Him.
14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
The New King James Version. (1982). (Is 7:14). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
Later the scriptures record this about Him.
6 For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of Hisgovernment and peace
There will beno end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
The New King James Version. (1982). (Is 9:6–7). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
Isaiah saw the uniqueness of this child, He was born and He was given. He was both God and man. As a man He was born, but as God, He was given. He (Jesus) would be God wrapped in the flesh of humanity.
Think of the words the description that Isaiah used and then think of what Jesus is to you.
As the wonderful counselor. He guides me through he decisions and the difficulties of life
As the Mighty God. He empowers me for the demands of this life.
As the everlasting Father. He will be with me through every aspect of life. Never leaving, never forsaking, and always with me.
As the Prince of Peace. He gives me peace in every trial and storm that appears in my life.
He is Emmanuel God with us, the one who never leaves us, never forsakes us, but is with us until the ends of the world.
He is the one who is the same yesterday today, and forever.
He is the name that is Higher than any other name. He is Jesus, We shall call His Name Jesus.
You would think that a name that is higher than any other name wouldn’t be a stumbling block. Most stumbling blocks are something low to the ground. Somehow the name that is higher than any other, is stumbling block for people.
2.) Don’t stumbleover the Name!
Have you ever heard somebody get really mad and yell the name of any other so called god?
No doubt you’ve heard somebody get really mad and yell:
“Jesus!”
Why?
Because when you’re as mad as you can get or as desperate as you can be.
You automatically reach for the most powerful name you can find to express the full extent of your anger, frustration, and desperation. The most powerful name I know is the Name of Jesus. Even those that express there is no God, will find themselves calling on the most powerful one, in their moment of powerlessness.
Let’s take a look at the third commandment given to us.
7 No using the name of God, your God, in curses or silly banter; God won’t put up with the irreverent use of his name.
Peterson, E. H. (2005). The Message: the Bible in contemporary language(Ex 20:7). Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.
Everyone would agree that societies and families work best when there is no murder, stealing, or lying, people have an easy time understanding the commandments that prohibit those activities. However, in the minds of most people, this commandment the third commandant, is completely different. It is the commonality of everyone taking the Lord’s name in vain occasionally. It has numbed us to the truth, that this is one of those “ Thou Shalt Not’s! Though many think it’s ok to take the Lord’s name in vain, God disagrees. Think on this! He prohibited stealing, coveting, killing, lying, committing adultery with a simple “Thou shalt not,” He amplified the commandment of taking His name in vain as if to say “This is really serious.”
I would suggest that we are becoming desensitized to the Name of Jesus. when the Lord’s name is used in vain, in a manner that really has no meaning, the result is desensitization. Satan is behind blasphemy and profanity because they trivialize both salvation and damnation. This commandment is not about God being offended, but about people being lost, desensitized to the reality of the Name that will save them and the reality of where they will be if they don’t receive Him.
We cannot stumble over the name. We cannot misuse the Name! This isn’t a Name nor is it a statement that we should use to express our frustration, or to pronounce a curse over anyone or anything. This Name is a saving Name, this is a delivering name.
Yet, people continually stumble over the name.
30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; 31 but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. 32 Why? Because they didnot seek itby faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone.33 As it is written:
“Behold, I lay in Ziona stumbling stone and rock of offense,
Andwhoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”
The New King James Version. (1982). (Ro 9:30–33). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
3.) Who is this stumbling block?
22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
The New King James Version. (1982). (1 Co 1:22–24). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
Jesus Christ was the stumbling block –
The Jews discounted Jesus, because they were looking for a Messiah that would lead them militarily, someone who would forcefully deliver them. Yet, this Messiah was taken out by the cross, they found it to be a humiliation, that Jesus was crucified. If He was the Messiah, then He wouldn’t have allowed Himself to be humiliated by the Cross.
The Greeks didn’t find the Cross, humiliating as did the Jews. They found it to be too simple. And the Greek mind-set is still present today in those who think the preaching of the Cross is too simple, that it doesn’t deal with the dysfunctional families, drug addictions, and cultural differences of our complex culture. We who have personally experienced the power of the Cross, know otherwise.
That’s the stumbling block. It’s to simple.
They’ll say…”It cannot be that easy.”
Why do people stumble over the name of Jesus, and the power of the Cross?
Because it’s to simple and my problems are complex, my life is complicated.
They’ll ask. “You mean by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ that’s all? That is to easy.”
If that’s you, then you just stumbled over the very solution to your life.
You haven’t found it to be the solution, because of it’s simplicity.
The simplicity of this, is the profoundness of it.
The seemingly weakness of it, is actually the strength of it.
People stumble because His is the name that is Higher than any other –
The world we live in, wants to bring the power of the name down. Because it’s not politically correct to state that one is better than the other. Therefore want to bring it down to be equal to all other names. You can say that if you like, but it still isn’t true. His Name is higher than any other.
You may think of His name as something lowly, but His name is actually Higher than any other name.
9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and thatevery tongue should confess that Jesus Christ isLord, to the glory of God the Father.
The New King James Version. (1982). (Php 2:9–11). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
We serve the only God that still lives. Jesus is the only one who laid down His life. He isn’t asking you to die for Him, He asks for you to Live For HIM!
People stumble over Jesus because He takes the low and the high and causes them all to be equal. (Gal 3:26-29)
Because of Jesus, the rich man and poor man become equal in the sight of God.
Regardless of the size of your house, the car you drive. When you walked in here today, we are all the Sons of God.
People stumble over Jesus because He is the only way.
Oh, there has to be multiple ways, there has to be my way, no there is only one way!
Acts 4:10-12
10 let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. 11 This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
The New King James Version. (1982). (Ac 4:10–12). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
John 14:6
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
The New King James Version. (1982). (Jn 14:6). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
And when it comes to eternity, you better have the Name of Jesus applied to your life. It’s the only way in.
4.) WhenYou Callon that Name!
21 And it shall come to pass
That whoever calls on the name of the Lord
Shall be saved.’
The New King James Version. (1982). (Ac 2:21). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
The Hebrew call means to call out cry out
Greek word means to invoke a person, to call a person by name.
The word says to them that call on His name, they shall be saved.
We call on the name of Jesus.
When did people begin to practice audibly calling on the name of the Lord?
Genesis tells us the practice of calling on the Lord began long ago in the third generation of mankind when Adam’s grandson Enosh was born:
“And to Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time men began to call upon the name of Jehovah.” Genesis 4:26
But why did people begin to do this?
The meaning of the name Enosh gives us a clue. Enosh means frail, mortal man. Because of mankind’s fall, man was frail and without God, the meaning of his existence. From the time of Enosh, men realized both the emptiness and vanity of life apart from God as well as how fragile and mortal we are without Him!
They began to call upon the name of Jehovah, the Hebrew word for Lord. The meaning of the name Jehovah is I am that I am. He is the eternal God, the unique One who is. Everything and everyone else is not. Frail, mortal human beings realized they needed the eternal God. So they began to call on the one that IS and IS to come.
Our condition is the same today as it was in Enosh’s time. We’re still frail and mortal, and life is often confusing, full of turmoil, and even overwhelming to us. We’re limited physically and psychologically. We are frail and need someone to strengthen us in our weakness. We are lost and in need of being found. Therefore you need not stumble over the Name instead call on the Name, the Name of Jesus. When you call on His Name, though you are lost, you will be found!
Further Study
Romans 10:12-13, Acts 2:21, Joel 2:32
Wow, that was a great read. Very interesting! You are correct & I do know the MOST POWERFUL NAME IS JESUS. Was this a sermon on Wednesday?