| The NAME Copyright 2004 by Alvin Mitchell |
| by Alvin Mitchell |
| The most significant Name in the entire known universe right this instance (even as we speak), whether in the eyes of men (who don't recognize Him) or, in the Eyes of the God who "spun" Him, is that of Jesus Christ the Nazarene. Subdued maybe, unobstrusive certainly, maligned and often misrepresented--yet powerful in its passivity, persuasive and influential--there is no name nearer and dearer to the Heart and Soul of the Father, than that of this the Man from Galilee (Matt. 12:17-21)--not even in what might be termed that "domain" or "extra dimension" outside of our universe, where God and His celestial host dwell, called Heaven ("crackpots"! That's what the physicists would have termed anyone harboring such notions not long ago, B4 the advent of a new scientific promise and proposal known as superstring theory. Though many still won't bow the knee B4 God and His Christ, in acknowledgement of all they now understand of the engineering behind all that is, they are more and more resigned to exceptance of the fact that we--the creatures of earth--are not the only ones extant and that our cosmos is not all that there is.). In a day yet to be realized, we are told, every one and every thing in heaven and earth will fall prostrate at the feet of this formally uneducated carpenter, acknowledging Him as God and Lord of all (Phil. 2:5-11). Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace; Emmanuel (God with us) (Isa. 9:6; 7:14; 8:8): whatever the designation, however the portrayal, the Name is "moniker" to that which is neither fiction nor fantasy. The Name is, furthermore, the Brainchild, the Realization of a Conceptualization of God the Father, the Almighty God of the Bible; a concept borne in His Holy Mind before He even laid the foundations of the earth (Eph. 1:4; II Tim. 1:9; Ti. 1:2; I Pe. 1:20). It is He and He alone who defines the Name, breathing into it meaning and substance: Jesus Christ; Savior Messiah, God's Anointed One. Pity then the fool, for only he will search for meaning amid the rubble and the rubbish of the arid, dry bones of reason, bleached silly by the scorching suns of centuries of apathy and ignorance, propounded by spiritually churlish men who refuse the thorough washing of their minds in the cool, ever fresh, freely flowing waters of the Word of our God, the One who Lives. Hence, all the competing theories, opinions, and assumptions, all the "beliefs" or "feelings"--the measuring rods, water sheds and windfalls of analysis, the resort for today's backwards scholars and "authorities", who seek constantly but, never arrive at the truth (II Tim. 3:6,7)--these, I say, are utterly baseless and without merit. They contribute nothing to the "who" or the "what" in Christ Jesus, no matter the persuasion or profession of the men behind them, regardless of their status or station in life or the era of their being--whether their intentions are good or bad. All therefore, who would see Jesus Christ (Jn. 12:20-22), would do well to seek sight of Him first, and only, as God sees and portrays Him in His written Word, The Holy Bible (It should be always remembered that God will not be taking stock at the "Judgment" to see what any man's or woman's "beliefs" were or, how he or she "felt", nor will He be questioning how well we adhered to the "beliefs", the "assumptions" or the "feelings" of this or that teacher, preacher, scholar or sceptic. Rather, the question confronting us all in "that day" will be--"all controversy and nay-saying, notwithstanding, given that there has always been those who have spoken and preached contrary to the Word of God obviously to no avail in terms of its annulment--what did you do when brought face to face with My Son--whose Name is Marvelous--per My written Word? Did you embrace and commit to Him in faith, trust and confidence or did you reject Him, in disbelief, in favor of what you wanted to believe?") Seeing and understanding the foregoing, then, we must also understand moreover that the Name Jesus Christ is ultimately second to none in its import. Yet, the Name is "bested" by great names from the past....albeit, on the downside of life, as they are synonymous with words that convey disaster, cruelty, deprivation of autonomy, and enslavement, among other things. Nimrod (some have suggested that he was a mighty hunter of men, in opposition to God; the first true dictator), Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander the Great, Napolean, Hitler, Stalin, Amin, Charles Taylor and many others, all associate easily and readily with the terms like tyranny, and brutality in their quest and thirst for dominance over their fellow men, (even today in our beloved America, it is difficult to escape the often subtle reality that there are those among us who, if they had their way, would vent handily the frustration of a constrained longing for supremacy, to be dominate, to have the name, which holds all others in subjugation). On the other hand, of names which have influenced and/or shaped the lives of multitudes for good (even being physically in absentia, having only been seen in the first thirty-three of the past two thousand (+) years--a mere three and one half of which were marked by the humblest of assertion--His travels never having exceeded a two hundred mile radius of His hometown), none reigns greater. In keeping with His moniker "Prince of Peace", that Name presides over the business of the winning of souls for His Kingdom, which will come, yet--unlike the imitation, perverted farces of Islam and Roman Catholicism--has never a historical moment, except as it rattles no saber, even as it brings to bear and raises the specter of no rapier, as He champions the task of kingdom building. An old Andre' Crouch tune proclaims "...there's power in the Name of....Jeee-suuuus..." This was certainly evident throughout the Greco-Roman world, where all the blood shed profusely and without mercy during those years was not from Christians trying to force converts, but from the sabers and rapiers, the swords of the Romans (augmented by the teeth of lions) as they sought to stave the peaceful change being wrought by proclamation of that matchless Name, Jesus. Having been allowed to succumb to the will and the saber of Rome and then, Roman Catholicism--in whose shadow He lay dormant for nearly 10 centuries--we see yet another manifestation of power through peaceful assertion, as the Name (like a long dead albatross) arose from the ashes of time, shook itself free from the oppression and repression of Romanism without violent aggression on its part, to reclaim its rightful place upon the world stage, re-kindling the winning of souls for that Kingdom, still in the coming. Moreover, the abuse of the Name of Jesus in support thereof notwithstanding, it was the undercurrents created by those spreading the Name which eventually brought about the demise of the ignominious African slave trade. And lastly, while it may well be argued that the same northern white churches in America (some of which were so instrumental in the fall of slavery on U. S. soil), fell flat on their faces under the weight of apathy and indifference in the years following, it is no less true that it is the Name, bounced off the lips of one individual which subsequently floored the American brand apartheid known as Jim Crow (without him--his shortcoming nothstanding--it is unlikely that the American Negro would be free from that kind of abuse, even today). Truly then, there is power in the Name of Jesus! Americans owe a debt of no small gratitude, to that Name. Ever wonder how it is that a nation as inherently wicked as any other can at the same time stand out so, having values and a system of government so diverse, when its people are and ever have been in reality no more righteous? Chalk it all up to the Name of Jesus, like it or not! Here the proponents of the Name of Jesus the Christ have enjoyed a freedom and opportunity unknown in other lands. Without the Name, the relative "stability" and "prosperity", the "hope" that is America would not be possible--contrary to the thinking of many, of course. As a case in point, consider the former world super power, the U. S. S. R., a region of the world containing great resources, rivaling if not exceeding those of the U.S.A. Yet, the Soviet presence on the world stage as a force for good, is far less than that of the U.S. In spite of recent developments, the Name has never been allowed the same presence there, as here. Presently, the Europeans are busily hammering together a consortium of twenty-five "states", home to over four-hundred million souls, which they expect will rival the potential of the Americas. Without the presence of the Name, however, any peace and prosperity is likely to be fragile and temporal, at best. Thus then we have seen that the Name of Jesus Christ is in the Eyes of God the Father, the most significant anywhere in the cosmos, subject only to His interpretation, greatest of all names, a promoter of peace, and therefore, worthy of all our praise and acceptance. And so, we join the psalmist in singing, "Alleluia, Great is the Name of the Lord our God..."! What does all this have to do with who or what Jesus was and how we should perceive Him? "The Mystery:...." thoroughly documents Jesus Christ both as God saw Him and as He would have us see Him. Click on "The Mystery" then, "Preview Chapter", to get a sample reading of the new book due for completion after December 31. |
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