A Few Remarks on Prayer and Praise: Part 1

 •  10 min. read  •  grade level: 9
 
Titus 2:7, 8,7In all things showing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, 8Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. (Titus 2:7‑8) “In all things showing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine (showing) uncorruptness, gravity, SOUND SPEECH that cannot be condemned, that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. We read, also of “wholesome words” (1 Tim. 6:33If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; (1 Timothy 6:3)); of the form of sound words” (2 Tim. 1:1313Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 1:13)); of “sound doctrine” (Titus 1:99Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. (Titus 1:9); see also 1 Tim. 1:1010For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; (1 Timothy 1:10); 2 Tim. 4:33For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; (2 Timothy 4:3)); “of things-which become sound doctrine” (Titus 2:11But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: (Titus 2:1)); of “being sound in the faith” (Titus 1:13,13This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; (Titus 1:13) and 2:2) —as things which are greatly to be sought after by the Christian.
I would desire to act under a sense of the weight of these instructions whenever I attempt to communicate thoughts derived from God's written word; and I would also study that word as remembering that the present and future correction of oneself is far more important than the seeing where either oneself has in time past been wrong, or where others around us may be so still.
There is great accuracy in the Holy Spirit's use of words—though it be accuracy without labored effort; for He, who is God, does nothing save perfectly. His use of words is perfect; it must be so—for He is God. When therefore any habitual difference in His use of words exists, we may be sure that some distinction is intended by Him to be marked.
Now, in the New Testament there is such a difference between the gospels and the rest of the book, as to the way in which the Savior is commonly spoken of in the terms used to designate Him.
In the gospels He is commonly named as “Jesus;” in the rest of the book generally, with some title of honor superadded; for instance, as, “the Lord,” — “the Lord Jesus Christ,” — “Jesus the Christ,” — “the Christ,” —and He is comparatively rarely named merely as “Jesus.” This is all quite natural and consistent. He is but one; but when He is presented, as in humiliation, in the days of His association with the children of men, then He is spoken of as the Son of man. When, earth-rejected, He has been received up into glory, it is both natural and consistent that He should also be spoken of as accordingly, and that some title or other of glory should be connected with His name when He is mentioned. No one can carefully read through the gospels, and then through the Acts and the Epistles, and not see the difference; and how, also, the mention of a title is in the Gospels the exception, (though a reason may generally be seen in the context for the exception), and, on the other hand, in the Acts, together with the Epistles, the omission of all title is the exception; and the exception is generally in this case also fraught with meaning and reason. If I said that the name of “Jesus” occurred in the Gospels about 605 times without any title, and about 14 times with a title, and in the Acts, &c., about 30 times without one, and about 300 times with a title, I should not be far wrong.
To neglect so marked a contrast, and to speak of Him now, that He is exalted, in the language in which the Spirit spoke of Him, when He was in humiliation, would be a mistake, and mark, at all events, defectiveness of instruction in him that did it.
The following may serve as illustrations of the exceptions in the first case—
16. Of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ1 was on this wise.
16:20. Tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. 27:17. Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ. (In Pilate's mouth).
37. This is Jesus the king of the Jews. (In Pilate's mouth.)
5:7. Jesus; Son of the most high God? (In the mouth of one that had an unclean spirit.)
11:21. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou, &e.
17:3. And Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.
19. Jesus of Nazareth the king of the Jews. (From Pilate, but probably under divine ruling.)
31. Believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
They are all the exceptions in the first case, which I know of.
The meaning of the name of “Jesus” is deep— “Jehovah a Savior,” and faith lays hold of those glories as being His: personally, JEHOVAH, —in action, the Savior. Yet the name (as we see in Acts 7:45,45Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David; (Acts 7:45) and Heb. 4:88For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. (Hebrews 4:8)) was a name not uncommon among the Jews, but rather one of their national ones “Joshua.”
Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, the One anointed of God, the Messiah, the root and offspring of David, the king of Israel, the seed of Abraham, in whom, and in whom alone, all the promises given to the patriarchs were secure. He came as such for the earth. But He had and was far more than these names presented. He had titles for heavenly glory, and was and is personally Jehovah and God. He had made the world, upheld it, and was to redeem it and a people for God—sons and daughters for the heavens, and a people for the earth—and to put down Satan and those that adhere to him; and therefore, He came not at first in such a form, and with such a manifestation as would have secured to Himself certain glories at once, but He came meek and lowly, in order to make good God's claims over the people. And the form in which He came was such as left the people free to show whether they desired God and His glory, or an evil world and their own ways. In the very act in which full iniquity of Israel and the Gentiles was proved, the counsel of God provided a ransom for a man and the blood of atonement.
But if the King, meek and lowly, had passed through Israel's land, and after tarrying there a little while, had been rudely thrust out of it, this same blessed One must needs be testified of in the value of His atoning blood—He sitting in patience at the right hand of God.
He Himself gone on high—the testimony of that God of heaven's estimate of Him (as set in contrast with man's) was to be preached, with the Holy Ghost sent down from Him. And this faith's recognition of God's estimate of Him in heaven is now salvation, and the walking therein is the power of Christian life. Jesus of Nazareth, the virgin's son—that very Jesus who had taught in Jerusalem, &c. (Acts 1:1; 2:22,1The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, (Acts 1:1)
22Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: (Acts 2:22) whose mother was Mary (Acts 1:1414These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. (Acts 1:14)); who had been betrayed (verse 16); whom the Jews had “taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain,” —that “Jesus” had been raised up from the dead (2:32), and, taken up into heaven (1:11), had there been owned as “Lord and Christ” (2:36).
If God “raised Him from the dead, and gave Him glory, that our faith and hope might be in God” (1 Peter 1:2121Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. (1 Peter 1:21)), it is clear that the recognition of the glory in which He is, and the glories which belong to Him, are now of the utmost importance; still, He whom God has raised and glorified is the very one whom man rejected—the same Jesus. This will account for the list of the exceptional passages in the Acts, Epistles, and Revelation (in which He is named as “Jesus” without any title being added), being small in comparison with that in which His titles are named.
Acts 1:24, 2524And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, show whether of these two thou hast chosen, 25That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. (Acts 1:24‑25). “And they prayed, and said, Thou Lord, which knowest the hearts of all (men), show whether of these two thou hast chosen, that he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.”
Again 2:21. “And it shall come to pass (that) whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord 2 shall be saved.
Again, verse 32. “This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord (Jehovah) said unto my Lord,3 sit thou on my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ,” I may observe here that, the Greek word κύριος represents two Hebrew words; 1St, Jehovah, which is one of the most sacred names of the Jewish scriptures—a name never given save to Him who is personally God in the highest; 2ndly, Adon, master, Lord, proprietor. The expression, “hath made,” proves that the word κύριος, lord, here means master; and the contrast is between the past humiliation and the present glory of Jesus. Crucified by the Jews on earth, Jehovah hath made Him universal master and Christ. In the authorized version the translators rendered the Hebrew word Jehovah by LORD in the Old Testament, and the word (master, Adon,) they rendered Lord. Jehovah, or Lord, is a sacred name, never, as I have said, applied, save to the most high Himself. To talk of making any one Jehovah would be nonsense. The term is justly applied to the Lord Jesus (Isa. 6:1,1In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. (Isaiah 6:1) compared with John 12:4141These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him. (John 12:41)). Read the context, John 12:20-4120And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast: 21The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. 22Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. 23And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. 24Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. 25He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. 26If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honor. 27Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. 28Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. 29The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him. 30Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. 31Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. 32And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. 33This he said, signifying what death he should die. 34The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man? 35Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. 36While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them. 37But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: 38That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? 39Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, 40He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. 41These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him. (John 12:20‑41); and this may be seen also in Zech. 11:12, 13,12And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. 13And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord. (Zechariah 11:12‑13) “And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prized at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord.” Here Jehovah, or Jesus, was prized at thirty pieces of silver (Matt. 26:1515And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. (Matthew 26:15)). So again, chap, 13:7: “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.” This likewise was the blessed Lord (Matt. 26:3131Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. (Matthew 26:31)). To none from among men could the name of Jehovah be applied save to Jesus—He alone is so—in Him, too, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. But “Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord” (1 Peter 3:66Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement. (1 Peter 3:6)).
(To be continued.)
 
1. The reading here is disputed, but the Christ, without Jesus, seems preferable.-ED. the full iniquity of Israel and the Gentiles was proved, the counsel of God provided a ransom for a man and the blood of atonement.
3. Adonai, my master.