What's in a Name? Part 1

“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with him an hundred forty [and] four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.” Rev. 14:1

Often when we pray, our prayers either begin or end with the phrase: “In the name of Jesus.”

When we use a phrase over and over again, the potential is there for it to lose its value or meaning; we can, if we are not careful, forget why we began to pray that way in the first place. It becomes just one more traditional practice that we do, not knowing for sure why we do it. And so something very valuable and very significant is lost; and, especially in the case of our prayers, that loss can be our prayers not being answered.

Praying “in the name of Jesus” is not a magic formula that we attach, superstitiously, at the end of our prayers, as though “NOW God will hear them” just because we spoke those words.

Praying “in the name of Jesus” is much MORE than just words.

It is the required condition of our souls, which must be utter and complete holiness, when coming to stand before God to make our requests known. But you and I both know that we have no such holiness. How then can we stand in the presence of such a Holy God as ours?

"Make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it as on a seal: HOLY TO THE LORD. Fasten a blue cord to it to attach it to the turban; it is to be on the front of the turban. It will be on Aaron's forehead, and he will bear the guilt involved in the sacred gifts the Israelites consecrate, whatever their gifts may be. It will be on Aaron's forehead continually so that they will be acceptable to the Lord.” Exodus 28:36-38 (NIV)

Aaron, consecrated by God into the position of High Priest (mediator) between God and man, bore on his forehead an inscription (a name) that declared before God that the Israelites were HOLY. He was able to wear that signet of holiness only because he symbolically bore the guilt of the sin of the people, the guilt that all of their sacrifices were atoning for.

Today, we have been made priests ourselves, by our great High Priest, Jesus. But in the case of Jesus, He bore on His forehead a crown of thorns, of suffering, of sacrifice that atoned finally and completely for the guilt of the people of God: US.

It is because He bore this crown of thorns on His brow, and so much more for our sakes, that we have been given our own signet, or seal, or name to be worn on our own foreheads. You might not see it, but it is there. It says HOLY TO THE LORD. And it was our great High Priest, Jesus, who consecrated us, and placed that seal on our foreheads.

The seal isn’t the name of Jesus, it’s the name of the Father. Our mediator, our great High Priest, bridged the gap between the Father and His children. We belong to the Father.

Why then did Jesus say:

“And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give [it] you.” John 16:23

“Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you [as priests], that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and [that] your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.” John 15:16

It is because we are identified IN JESUS. As we abide in Jesus, and He abides in us, we are allowed to “boldly approach the throne of God”. For only Jesus was HOLY TO THE LORD. Not us. Our righteousness is as “filthy rags”: “But we are all as an unclean [thing], and all our righteousnesses [are] as filthy rags…” Isaiah 64:6. When Isaiah used the term filthy rags he meant menstrual rags! That’s how repulsive our own righteousness is to God. That’s why we come to the Father THROUGH Jesus.

It is as we come “IDENTIFIED IN JESUS” that God the Father sees us as His Own Son, HOLY TO THE LORD.

Praying in the name of Jesus, carries no weight with the Father whatsoever, unless we stand before Him IN JESUS, or IN THE NAME OF JESUS. THEN the Father receives us as His own. It isn’t words. It’s the condition of our souls. It’s the acceptance we receive from the Father for no other reason that that we are IDENTIFIED with JESUS CHRIST.

Before you say, “Oh, well, that’s no problem for I am definitely identified with Jesus Christ because I’m saved. I said the sinner’s prayer and He lives within me”, before you say that, just remember the last time you denied Jesus, denied speaking the gospel of Christ, denied even saying His name, denied that you were a Christ-ian called by His name, before man.

“But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:33)

And how soon after denying Jesus, were you in prayer, requesting things of the Father, “in the name of Jesus”? You see, it isn’t easily said, nor easily done.

“For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required…” (Luke 12:48)

And there are penalties for us not doing what is required. There are losses that we will suffer, even though we will not suffer Hell.

“Much more then, being justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” (Romans 5:9-10)

Regarding the work of Jesus, Paul says here that while we were saved from so much by His blood, there is much more will we be saved from THROUGH His life. There is the saving of us when we were non-believers and there is the saving of us as believers. They are not separate works of Jesus, for the second part is only a phase, or a continuation of the work.

The punishment of the cross paid for our sins while we were yet un-believers. The punishment of the cross bridged the gap between sinners and a holy God. We will not pay the penalty of death and hell that our sin deserves. In this, we have been "justified" by Christ.

But beyond the cross, is the resurrection. His Life IN US is what transforms us, saving us in a very real sense still further, by transforming us into the image of God that we once had in the garden of Eden. The saving does not stop at justification. It continues on past the cross, and into the resurrection. And at the last trump, even our mortal bodies will be saved by being made immortal, again as they once were in the garden.

There is much “saving” to be done still, and in this phase of the saving, called "sanctification", as in the first phase, something is required of us. What was required by us at first was to believe, repent and confess Jesus as Lord. What is required now is to believe, repent and confess Jesus as Lord. In either case, the confession of Jesus as our Lord is evidenced only IN HIM or THROUGH HIM; in our ABIDING in Him: His Word in us, and we in Him. This evidence (or fruit)of His Lordship in our lives grows only as we abide in Him.

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” John 15:4-7

“If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you…” is a requirement or a condition that must be met before all that we ask to be done for us and others CAN be done for us and others. THIS is what gets our prayers answered. The “formula” does not get anything answered. It is only the condition of the soul that is backing up the words spoken that bears any significance when we pray “in the name of Jesus."

What's in a name? Everything...whether good or whether evil....the Name declares the authority behind the name. I say evil, because even in this Satan has his counterfeit.

I find it amazing that radical Islamists, fighting jihad, the "priests of murder and terror" wear on their foreheads a name as well. It is a signet declaring that "Allah is god and Mohammed is his messenger." (Small "g" in the word god is my writing of it, not theirs.) And the day will come when, perhaps at the hands of these radical Islamists, we will have to choose what is to be worn on our foreheads:

“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and [I saw] the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received [his] mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” Rev. 20:4

The name IS important! More on the "Name of Jesus" tomorrow.