“You didn’t want heaven without us, So Jesus, You brought heaven down…
My sin was great, Your love was greater, What could separate us now…
What a wonderful Name it is
The Name of Jesus Christ my King”
In the past there has been a time when sorrow and grief have clashed with Joy and Hope like a wave crashing onto the rocks in a storm. How is it that the heart can break and rejoice at the same time? The key is in the Power of His name… Jesus. The songwriter proclaims, “You have no rival, You have no equal, Now and forever… Our God reigns, Yours is the Kingdom, Yours is the glory, Yours is the Name, above all names… What a powerful Name it is.”
A fourth century monk named Telemachus from Asia is credited with halting the gladiatorial contests. Having come to reside in Rome where these ‘abominable spectacle were being exhibited’, he went himself into the stadium, and stepping down into the arena, endeavored to stop the men who were wielding their weapons against one another… all while crying out, “In the Name of Jesus Christ, Fordear!”. The spectators of the slaughter were indignant, and inspired by “the triad fury of the demon that delights in those bloody deeds, stoned the peacemaker to death. When the emperor was informed of this, he numbered Telemachus in the number of victorious martyrs, and put an end to that impious spectacle.”
What enables a man to place himself at deaths door for the sake of saving others’ lives? What principles must he believe? More importantly, what powerful truth did he proclaim that had such an indelible impact, causing such violence to cease and lives to be changed…? It is that powerful name, the name of Jesus, “that every knee should bow too, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil 2:10-11) Do you know that name, and I mean not just know ‘of it’, but do you intimately know Him, having by faith believed in His finished work of redemption? I hope so.
Do you want to withstand the storms of life? Can you rejoice as a loved one slips from your arms and walks through Heavens gates? Can you wait on God’s timing having trusted in His will and released your own? Do you desire to allow the crucible of suffering to refine you into His extraordinary character, enabling you to not only face the lions of this life, but to change their hearts as well? Then you must come to “know” Jesus and the power of His name.
I look forward to the day when those ‘who know His name’, sing this song together in the presence of the One whose name is Beautiful, our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray you are there too.
Choose wisely…
Written by David Brown: David Brown is a husband, father, grandfather, Pastor with a Masters of Religious Studies and a Professor of Philosophy and Comparative Religions. Dave is the Associate Pastor of Pemberton’s First Baptist Church. He is the author of two devotional books, “From a Chair by the Window.” And “#PrayerWinsThe Day”.
