HERE are four places, very distinct and diverse, connected with which we find the name of Jesus.
First, the Manger: —" His name shall be called Jesus [Jehovah, Savior]; for he shall save his people from their sins.”
Second, the Cross: —" Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”
Third, the Glory of God. "I am Jesus," was His voice to Saul of Tarsus.
And fourth, the Throne: —" God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:9-119Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9‑11))
Pause, dear reader, and think of the contrasts—the deep shades, the brilliant lights—presented in the history of this Man. The extremes, the opposites, the varieties, more chequered than fable can picture, in the life of the "Man Christ Jesus.”
Mark, it is the Manhood, not the Godhead, of Jesus, on which I ask you to ponder,—both equally true, First, the incarnation,—" This shall be a sign unto you," said the angel to the shepherds;" Ye shall find the babe, ... lying in a manger.”
Ah t what depths! A "sign" indeed, and a proof too, of the boundless condescension of that only begotten Son of the Father's bosom. A "manger!” does not the word sound discordant from the heavenly music by which His birth was announced?
But how fair the halo of humility, how entrancing the rays of grace, that encircled this lowly birthplace of Jesus! It was indeed a wondrous descent from the glory He had with the Father before the world was, to the fashion of a man, and to circumstances so humble. A heart-engaging scene, and one that speaks of love to those into whose midst He came.
And so the shepherds said to each other, “Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass." They came; they found the Babe lying in the manger; they made known the saying told them concerning the Child; they returned, glorifying and praising God. They were the happy, thankful witnesses of an event, obscure as to earthly circumstances, but of more interest to the hosts of heaven than the birth of the world itself.
The first place, then, pregnant with the name of Jesus, is the manger. But the shades grow deeper.
For if the love that brought Him thus low was wonderful, what shall we say of the grace that led Him to the cross? He "became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross," is the striking language of Scripture. His path was ever downward. It consisted in the refusal of the glory of this world. Obedience to God, in a scene of rebellion against Him, involved necessarily the loss of favor here. Alas “what is highly esteemed among men, is abomination in the sight of God.”
Man's estimate of things is perverted, his moral judgment warped and vitiated by sin. Whatever he values, God despises or condemns, and vice versa.
Hence the path of true obedience to God, the path of truest testimony to Him, is criminal in the eyes of man. And thus was it fully with that of Jesus.
The cross was His portion here, as an obedient and perfect man. So Pilate superscribed the words, —" Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”
Never did a richer diadem surround a kingly brow.
Never was such a moral victory won. The triumph of evil had been absolute at that moment, but for the resolute and superior triumph at the same time of suffering goodness. The power of evil, of Satan, reached as far as death; and under that power Jesus died, laid down his life. But the power of God wrought beyond death, and Jesus rose. Baffled was every foe by that earthquake sound of victory.
In all this we see the sinless One, who could not be holden by death, laying down His life as the result of full obedience to God in a scene of sin.
At the same time, as sin-bearer, He wrought atonement—"was made sin for us;" but that deeply important subject is not our theme. We are meditating on the faithfulness that brought Jesus to death. The cross emits brightest rays of devotedness, and breathes the savor of that holy and blessed name. But the humility of the manger, and the faithful love of the cross, express their beauty still. Jesus rose from the dead, He ascended; He was seen by Stephen, standing at the right hand of God; and thence He spoke to Saul, in words above quoted, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." He claims His lowly name of Manhood.
He links the glory with the cradle and the cross.
He would introduce Himself as the same Jesus, though His circumstances be those of heavenly splendor. What He was here, He is there, —" the same." The gospel of the glory opens those bright portals to our ravished gaze, and shows to us the Babe of the manger, the martyr of the cross, now the glorified Son of Man. Oh! how blessed to know Him there, and to know why, as man, He is there. How the heart leaps at the sight, how the ear thrills at the sound, of His name! And so Paul preached in the synagogue that “Jesus was the Son of God.”
We are accustomed to associate the name of Jesus with the village of Nazareth. Our thoughts turn backward historically; but it becomes us to associate that name with the glory of God and with Heaven now. The name of Jesus should strike my ear as a sound, not from earth, but from heaven. Nazareth and earthly circumstances fade away in the light of His new place as man in that eternal glory. “Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more" (2 Cor. 5:1616Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. (2 Corinthians 5:16)).
His relations are now new, though He is the “same Jesus.”
Now, lastly, that name is about to claim universal homage, —in heaven, in earth, and under the earth; things supernal, terrestrial, and infernal, must yet own His lordship. Not a knee but shall bow, not a tongue but shall confess, to His name, —the name of Jesus. When the great names of earth shall have been all forgotten, and their glory tarnished, His lowly name, that of the manger and of the cross, shall exercise its everlasting power.
Thank God for all who have felt its spell, and proved its saving power, and who have bowed the knee in heart acknowledgment of His lordship already. It is assuredly meet, for He is worthy.
But His throne of judgment will yet assert itself universally; and they who scorn this name today, shall perforce confess it then. The Lamb will yet be the Lion, the Savior the Judge, the lowly Jesus of Bethlehem and Calvary the omnipotent disposer of eternity. All judgment is committed to Him, because He is the Son of man (John 5:2626For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; (John 5:26)).
Dear reader, what think you of Christ? “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry ... Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.”
“God's counsels ere the world began,
All centered in the Son of Man;
Him destined to the highest place,
Head of His Church through sovereign grace
To Him enthroned in majesty,
Let every creature bend the knee."
J. W. S.