"Thou shalt call His name Jesus." Matt. 1:21.
Thou name of deep, unfathomed love,
Yea, love and grace unknown!
The wonder of all worlds above,
The glory of God's throne.
Oh, 'tis a name I love to own,
I love to call Him mine;
No other name could e'er atone
Or save my soul, but Thine.
All other names may countless form
A vast variety,
But Thine through ages yet unborn,
One sweet monotony!
Our souls may well this portion claim,
Since but for us—our sin -
Thy name, the blessed saving name,
Of JESUS, ne'er had been.
Thy ancient titles, Son and Word,
Forever stood the same;
But through Thy love for us, blest Lord,
Was known Thy human name.
The cross! the cross! it gave
Thee right To bring us to Thy throne;
And there as precious in Thy sight,
Thy purchased ones wilt own.
There with the joys for which Thou'st died,
Thou canst not want for more;
While all the universe beside
Will wonder and adore.
The name of Jesus brings us into His nature and His work. It is the office of the Spirit through these to reveal Him as a Person. He tells of the love and glory of a personal Christ. Christianity is no abstract theory. It does not consist in mere doctrines or truths, however great. No; the very heartstrings of Christianity are closely entwined around a Person, a glorified Man who is now in heaven, who is not only our salvation, but is the great center and end of all God's purposes and ways. Such is Christianity; it concerns Christ. The beginning and the end—the very soul and center of it—is not so much the truth, or the cross even, but Christ Himself.
And as to ourselves, beloved, who are Christians, such in fact are our affections that we cannot rest merely in a system of truths, or in a book, or even in the Bible, unless it reveals Him.
If we have not Christ, we have nothing. We must know Him and live in the sense of His deep love and grace as a Person. Without such a sense of Him, we grow cold and worldly. We lose all our freshness of soul and power in service. But knowing Him and realizing Him, we have all. Paul, standing on this, exclaimed, "I know whom I have believed." He had no imaginary glory; his was no illusion, no fancy of the brain. His eye was on the Lord Himself, whom he had seen. To his spiritual vision one glorious object alone was ever present. "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day." 2 Tim. 1:12.