The Name Above All Names

Because he sacrificed his life for others, God resurrected and exalted Jesus and installed him as Absolute Lord over all things.

Jesus is the only one who unveils the “mysteries of God,” only he is qualified to reveal the “unseen God.” Only in Christ are all the promises of God fulfilled. He unlocks the Hebrew Bible and discloses the “times and seasons.” The Crucified Messiah is the Absolute Sovereign over all things, and he reigns from the Divine Throne as “Lord” – (Revelation 5:9-14).

The Book of Revelation presents Jesus as the sacrificial “Lamb” who reigns over the “Kings of the Earth.” It is the “slain Lamb” who discloses and implements the contents of the “Sealed Scroll,” and only he can show his servants “what things must soon come to pass” – (Revelation 1:1-6, 5:5-6).

[Jesus Name - Photo by Mark Fletcher-Brown on Unsplash]

Jesus is the only man whom God ever appointed as “Lord,” and He did so, not because the Messiah conquered his enemies through subterfuge or violence, but because he sacrificed his life for friends and foes alike. The Son of God overcame his enemies through his Death and Resurrection, and he summons his followers to do likewise:

• “He who overcomes, I will give to him to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame, and sat with my Father in his throne” – (Revelation 3:21).

• “They overcame the Dragon through the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and because they loved not their lives unto death” – (Revelation 12:11).

No president, king, dictator or prime minister of this fallen age is entitled to this office and designation. Only Jesus, the “Crucified Messiah,” earned the right to rule over the Universe from “God’s right hand,” and he did so, not as a victorious warrior king, but as the suffering “Servant of Yahweh”:

• “He poured out his life, taking the form of a slave, being made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore, also, God highly exalted him and gave him the name which is above every name, that in the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” – (Philippians 2:8-11).

• “For the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many” – (Mark 10:45).

• “Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the great, and he will divide the spoil with the strong. Because he poured out his soul unto death and was numbered with the transgressors, yet he carried the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors” – (Isaiah 53:12).

This Jesus, the Messiah who poured out his life for us, is the center of Apostolic Tradition preserved in the New Testament. This same Christ is the “Word,” the ‘Logos’, the unfiltered expression of God. This Word “became flesh” - it was embodied in Jesus of Nazareth. The glory of God “tabernacles” in the Crucified and Resurrected Messiah, not the Tent in the Wilderness or the Jerusalem Temple.

Likewise, the “Word” of God spoken in His Son is His complete word. In contrast, the previous “words” given through the prophets were incomplete:

• “In many parts and many ways of old, God spoke to the fathers in the prophets; at the end of these days, He spoke to us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the ages, who being the radiance of his glory, and the exact impress of his being, and upholding all things by the utterance of his power when he had made purification of sins, he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high” – (Hebrews 1:1-3).

Unlike the Levitical priests and their repeated animal sacrifices, Christ “achieved the purification of sins,” and he did so “once and for all.” His sacrificial death will never be repeated, and any attempt to return to the animal sacrifices of the now obsolete system will fail to purify men of sins or “cleanse their conscience from dead works to serve the Living God” – (Hebrews 1:1-4, 7:27, 9:14, 10:10).

Having overcome the Devil through his Death and Resurrection, Jesus sat down at God’s “right hand” and inherited the “name” that is vastly superior to that of angels, Moses, Aaron, or any other predecessor. He now reigns from God’s presence as our merciful and faithful High Priest - (Hebrews 1:2-4, 2:17, 8:1-3, 12:1-2).

IT IS THE LAMB WHO REVEALS

In the Book of Revelation, Jesus is the slain “Lamb” who is declared “worthy” to open the “Sealed Scroll.” He unveils and executes its contents, a process that will conclude in nothing less than the New Creation and a fully populated city of “New Jerusalem.”

This same Lamb is declared “worthy” to receive all power because “by his death, he purchased men and women from every nation to become a Kingdom of Priests for God.” He achieved victory through his execution at the hands of the World Empire. By submitting to this shameful death, he redeemed men from every nation for his Father’s Kingdom and granted them everlasting life - (Revelation 5:6-12).

• “These are they who come out of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his Sanctuary. And He who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. They will hunger no more, neither thirst any longer, neither will the sun strike upon them, nor any heat, for the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to fountains of living waters” – (Revelation 7:14-17).

The Book is the “revelation of Jesus Christ.” It is an unveiling of Jesus and “what things must soon come to pass.” It presents us with the sacrificial Lamb who reigns over the “Kings of the Earth,” the ruler who also is the “shepherd of the nations.” The Lamb is the one who interprets and applies the visions and symbols of Revelation to his “churches,” and he guides nations and peoples to everlasting life in the Holy City – (Revelation 1:4-6, 1:20, 12:5 [“She brought forth a Son who is to shepherd {‘poimainô’} the nations”]).

The Lamb is the “Living one. And I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore and hold the Keys of Death and Hades.” His authority was earned through his crucifixion and his resurrection from the dead. That authority extends even over the realm of the Dead – (Revelation 1:18, 3:7).

None of the events portrayed in the Book of Revelation occur without the knowledge or consent of the Lamb, the one who rules over “kings” and “nations.” Even the “Beast from the Sea” is incapable of launching its war against the “saints” until the time determined by Jesus - (Revelation 1:1, 1:17-20, 13:7-10 – “And it was given to him…”).

Jesus is the “Faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the Dead, and the Ruler of the Kings of the Earth.” Because of his Death and Resurrection, he alone unlocks everything whether scriptures, prophecies, visions, or the mysteries of God. He is the Greater Tabernacle where the glory of God manifests, the inaugurator and “Author” of the New Covenant, the “once and for all” sacrifice for sin, and the Ruler of the Cosmos.

The substance foreshadowed in the structures and rituals of Ancient Israel is found in the “Crucified Messiah.” In him alone, all the promises of God find their “Yea!” and “Amen!” - (2 Corinthians 1:20, Colossians 2:17, Hebrews 8:5, 10:1).

God can only be known through His Son, Jesus of Nazareth. There is no true understanding of the Father without the Crucified Messiah. Therefore, everyone who has seen Jesus has “seen his Father.” He is the “way, the truth, and the life.”  No man or woman comes to God without him, and salvation is found only in him:

• “Be it known to you, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even in him does this man stand here before you whole. He is the stone which was rejected of you the builders, which was made the head of the corner. And in no other is there salvation, for neither is there any other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” – (Acts 4:10-12).

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SEE ALSO:

• He Humbled Himself - (Paul summoned believers to adopt the same mind that Jesus had when he poured out his life “unto death” for others – Philippians 2:5-11)

• Son and Servant - (Jesus is the son of David and heir to the Messianic Throne, the beloved Son of God, and the Suffering Servant of Yahweh)

• Ransom For Many - (His disciple is called to engage in self-sacrificial service for others just as Jesus gave his life as a ransom for many – Mark 10:35-45)

• The Royal Shepherd - (The Lamb’s reign began with his Death and Resurrection. Since then, he has been shepherding the nations toward New Jerusalem)