The Names of our Lord Jesus Christ: June 2005
Table of Contents
His Name Shall Be Called Jesus
The Prince of Peace
God With Us
The Christ
The Son of David
Wonderful
The Son of God
Counselor
Bread of Life
Word of God
Alpha and Omega
Light of the World
Bright and Morning Star
King of Kings
Lamb of God
Messiah
Lord of Lords
Mighty God
Emmanuel
Eternal Word
King of Glory
Saviour
The Anointed One
Chosen of God
Redeemer
“The blood of Jesus Christ His [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
The Names of Our Lord Jesus Christ
“Thy name is as ointment poured forth” (Song of Sol. 1:3).
In this issue we consider a few of our Lord’s names and the fragrance of them. The names and titles of our blessed Lord and Saviour are expressive of all that He is, so it does not surprise us to find Him presented to us in so many different ways and aspects. To have the person of Christ Himself before us tends to produce reverence and adoration in our souls for His glory and our happiness.
“The state of our souls may be discerned by the effect produced upon us by the name of Jesus. If our hearts are careless and unresponsive when He is the subject of conversation or presentation, we cannot be in communion with the heart of God. Why, even the name of a beloved object on earth will produce pleasurable emotions. How much more should the name of Christ, the object of God’s heart — and also of ours if we know Him — awaken within us holy feelings of delight, which can only be expressed in praise and adoration!”
Emmanuel - God With Us
“They shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Matthew 1:23).
The Word of God presents to us this very precious fact — not only do we find in the Word certain truths and doctrines, but we also find in it every relation between God and man fully developed on earth. It is a great mercy of God to have brought Him so near to us, so as to make known to us those relationships in the circumstances in which we ourselves are found. At bottom, the life of Jesus was like ours. He was in all things tempted in like manner as ourselves. He was indeed God manifested in flesh, but He was also a life perfectly acceptable to God.
In order to make progress in spiritual life, we must study the Lord Jesus, whether in the grace of His Person or in the circumstances of His life, or, lastly, in the glorious position He has near the Father, and which we shall, by and by, share with Him.
Tender and Mighty Friend
Jesus is to us a tender and mighty friend, and, while traveling through the wilderness, we know that at the end of the way will be found the glory in which He now is. That is what is said in Hebrews 12:13: “Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus ‘the leader and completer’ of faith.” As captain, He has gone before us; as shepherd, “He putteth forth His own sheep” and also “goeth before them.”
Jesus the Light
We shall see a little how the Spirit of God presents Jesus to us, at the beginning of His life. An important thing to remark is that He, the light, manifests all that is in man. Things were never brought to light under the law. God was, as it were, hidden behind a veil, and He allowed many things because of the hardness of their hearts, as Jesus told His disciples, for the full light was not yet manifested. But in Christ the light shone in the world.
Let us meditate upon Jesus, the Light upon earth, entirely separated from sinners, which constituted the perfect beauty of His life. On one hand, we see that He is alone, perfectly alone. He is the most isolated man that one can imagine. The disciples themselves know not how to sympathize with Him. He meets with no real sympathy in the midst of men. We feel that this was painful to Him, because He had a man’s heart and would have desired to find someone who could understand Him, but He found nothing anywhere. On the contrary, as to Him, we see that He has a perfect sympathy toward all. Jesus was the most accessible man, most within the reach of the simple, of the ignorant, and even of the most degraded of sinners. He manifested in His life something that had not its equal. No, in us there never was all that holiness and love, which is above all our thoughts.
There is so much selfishness in the heart of man that the love of God is to him an enigma still more incomprehensible than His holiness. No one understood Jesus, because He manifested God. I do not as yet speak of His work, but of what He was, when He was manifested in the midst of the world. Jesus alone manifested God as He is, and man also as he is.
The first thing God does is to lay us bare in His presence. He takes away everything. We stand before Him, such as we are. Well! That is what took place when Jesus was here below, and therefore He was unwelcome and found Himself in conflict with everyone.
What the Light Exposes
It is impossible that we could like to find ourselves in the presence of God, just as we are. A man accustomed to dirt does not know he is dirty, because his whole way of living is fashioned to it, but if he finds himself in circumstances which give him light as to himself, he will feel disgusted to see what his whole life has been. Such is the heart of man, but when the light of God shines in his conscience and in his soul, he sees himself such as he really is in the sight of God, although there be doubtless some defect in the perception of it. This is very humbling; one does not like it, for it is too painful.
John the Baptist preaches the testimony of repentance and of the kingdom about to be established. He presents himself in order to draw out every thought towards Jesus. After having announced the testimony of repentance, the Lord Jesus presents Himself to our hearts and souls.
The object of God is not only to cause sin to be felt, but to make Jesus known and to place the soul in the enjoyment of God Himself — to act in grace towards it in order that it may forget itself and be filled with the thought of Jesus. This is the way God does it. He presents the Lord “as a root out of a dry ground.” There is in Him no beauty for man, as there was in the temple — nay, nothing of that which attracts the flesh and might tempt it. It is on the contrary, a root that none “should desire.” To the eyes of flesh there is absolutely nothing to render Him lovely. Who is it then? It is a poor man who goes preaching! He “hath not where to lay His head.” He is a man condemned by every clerical authority, by all the wise men and all the Pharisees. The Sadducees condemn Him; the priests condemn Him. Thus was Jesus received. In Him is “no beauty that we should desire Him.” It was needful He should present Himself thus, that it might be shown if the heart could discern God, and because He would not supply food to fleshly feeling. He must put the heart to the test, to prove whether God is enough for the heart, and whether the moral beauty that is in God — His love, His holiness, His word that penetrates within the heart, and whether all that is infinitely precious in the divine nature — can be discerned by man.
When He comes as the light, He never adapts Himself to that which He is going to destroy in the heart: Man would do it, and he would call this religion, but it would only be to hide God, or to deny Him. Thus the Lord Jesus presents Himself without anything which could attract man. Of course, every testimony of grace and goodness, necessary to our poor heart, is there, but nothing to meet its desires. The testimony given by Jesus was perfect and placed before the heart the grace it needed, to be rendered capable of tasting the grace of God itself.
Emmanuel
It is God Himself, it is Jehovah, who comes as Saviour. “Behold a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” What a great and precious truth — “God with us!”
It is God whom I first see in the Person of Jesus, but God in the circumstances which the flesh repels, because it is wicked. To know God, the flesh must be entirely mortified, and grace in our hearts must lead us to value the love of God in spite of the flesh. This is the history of Christian life.
Outwardly Jesus was only a poor Nazarene, but perfection was in His ways and in His heart, and it manifested itself in the midst of every difficulty, of all contempt, and of all that was false. Faith alone could discern the ways of Jesus through want and every misery. The broken heart saw this perfection of goodness manifesting itself in the midst of every care. It is necessary our hearts should see also, in that despised man, God Himself, who reveals Himself to our souls and takes His place in our midst.
If He is to us the most high God, the One who manifests all this light, He is there also as man, with us, believers, in all our misery and in all our circumstances.
Perfect Beauty
As man, Jesus was perfectly righteous, and although He placed Himself in the position of those poor sinners who drew nigh to God, He was none the less acceptable to God, and indeed never was Jesus so acceptable to God as when He bare our sins on the tree. It was at the moment of His death that He perfectly glorified God in all that He was as man, and that He also at the same time bore testimony to the perfect and infinite love of God towards sinners.
May God grant to us to value the perfect beauty of that Jesus who came to us! We know Him. Ah! how happy are we to be enabled to say, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him”!
May God show us all the perfection of Jesus, and that even in temptations, for we shall find the beauty of One who will not forsake us up to the time He will have placed us in the same glory with Him!
J. N. Darby, adapted from “Emmanuel”
The Son of Man
A Man According to God
Each of the four Gospels has its own purpose. In Matthew the Lord meets the Jew as the Messiah. In Mark He meets a needy world as the Servant of that need. In Luke He meets the human family, to speak with them as the Son of Man. In John He meets the church or heavenly family as the Son of the Father, to train them for their heavenly home.
“Son of Man” is a title of very extensive meaning. It expresses man in his perfectness, a man according to God. Man stands a new thing in Jesus, and in Him we see all possible human or moral beauty. Not only is all this moral perfectness expressed by the title “Son of Man” when applied to Jesus, but all His sufferings and all His dignities are connected with Him as such. As Son of Man He was humbled (Psa. 8), but He is also exalted to the right hand of the Majesty on high (Psa. 110). As Son of Man He had not where to lay His head (Luke 9:58), but He also comes to the Ancient of days to take the kingdom (Dan. 7:13). Judgment is committed to Him as Son of Man (John 5). As Son of Man He is Prophet, Priest, King, Heir and Lord of all things, and Head and Bridegroom of the Church. As Son of Man He has power on earth to forgive sins (Matt. 9:6) and is Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28), though, as the same, He lay three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matt. 12:40). As Son of Man He was the wearied Sower of the seed and He will be the glorious Reaper of the harvest. As Son of Man He was crucified and raised again (Matt. 17:9,22-23), but all the while, He had His proper place in heaven (John 3:13-14). And, as the Son of Man, He is the center of all things, heavenly and earthly (John 1:51), for it was in man that God had, of old, set His image, and when the first man who was of the earth had broken that image, the Son of God undertook to restore it, to accomplish in man the divine purpose by man, setting man in that place of honor and trust which God had of old provided for him.
This title or name of the Lord, “Son of Man,” links itself with all of His sorrow and with all of His dignities too, except such as are His as being “over all, God blessed forever.” He came as the anointed Man to exhibit man according to the mind of heaven, standing for the blessed God in the midst of the human family, who had deeply revolted from Him. He was the untainted One, and thus, growing up in the midst of others, He exposes all that are unlike Himself. He is the undefiled human temple raised at the beginning by the Holy Spirit and then filled by Him (Luke 1:35; 4:1). He is the humbled Man, who travailed in sorrow here, down to the death of the cross (Phil. 2). He is the exalted Man, crowned now with glory and honor and by and by to have all dominion (Heb. 2).
J. G. Bellett, adapted from The Evangelists
Stem Cell Research
Over the past five years, stem cell research has been a controversial topic. In North America the subject made news on August 9, 2001, when President George Bush of the U.S.A. allowed research on existing lines of stem cells to resume, but put a moratorium on the harvesting of any new embryonic stem cells in government laboratories. Other countries such as Britain, France and Italy have also passed laws governing stem cell research. Enthusiastic proponents of such research feel that it offers the greatest potential benefits to mankind in the treatment of many chronic diseases, including cancer, diabetes, Parkinsonism and multiple sclerosis. The debate continues in many parts of the world, and Christians may well wonder what their attitude toward it should be. Does such research simply involve man’s using his God-given ability to relieve some of the effects of the fall, or does it cross a moral line into an area that the Word of God would forbid?
Briefly, stem cells are primitive cells that have the potential to develop into most of the 220 different types of cells that make up the human body (for example, heart muscle cells, brain cells and blood cells). There are two basic types of stem cells that are used in research, adult and embryonic. Adult stem cells are taken from adult human beings (for example, bone marrow cells). Because the extracting of these cells does no harm to the individual, there is no real controversy over research involving them. However, adult stem cells are limited in their ability to differentiate into the many types of cells in the body, and because of this they are not nearly as useful as embryonic stem cells. They are also difficult to remove and therefore are limited in quantity. Embryonic stem cells can differentiate into almost all of the cells in the body and thus have far greater research potential. These must be obtained from human embryos, and the most common source is from surplus frozen embryos produced by in vitro fertilization at fertility clinics.
What Researchers Hope
By experimenting with these stem cells, researchers hope to be able to develop tissues that will, for example, give a diabetic a normal pancreas, or someone in renal failure a new set of kidneys. The eventual goal of stem cell research is to create a replacement organ or part of an organ. Stem cell research is similar to what is known as “therapeutic cloning,” the object of which is to make an embryo which is the exact “clone” of a person. Its stem cells would then be extracted and used to create an organ or perhaps a type of tissue. When this was later transplanted into the individual, there would be no rejection because the transplant would contain the DNA of the individual. Although this is not technically possible at present, the potential is indeed awesome when we consider the chronic diseases that plague many individuals.
We can sympathize greatly with those individuals who suffer, sometimes for a lifetime, with a chronic, debilitating disease. Many of us are most thankful for advances in medical technology that have alleviated suffering and saved lives. However, when moral issues surround man’s research into problems involving life and death, the Word of God must be our guide. We have the assurance that God in Christ has given us “all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). I believe that the Word of God answers the question of embryonic stem cell research for us.
The Heart of the Controversy
At the heart of the stem cell controversy is the question of whether an embryo is a human being with a soul and spirit. Most embryonic stem cells are extracted from very young human embryos —typically a few days old. Extracting the stem cells kills the embryo immediately. Is this murder in the eyes of God?
As with many other moral questions, we must remember that Scripture is written for hearts wanting to do God’s will. Thus we may not find an exact answer to every question that comes up, but the heart wanting to do the will of God will find that Scripture makes the mind of God clear in the matter.
With reference to the question before us, I am not aware of any Scripture that tells us with absolute certainty when a human embryo obtains a soul and spirit. However, we will refer to two Scriptures that I believe bear on it. First of all, in Exodus we have instructions as to an injury to a woman carrying an unborn baby. The verses read as follows:
“If men strive together, and strike a woman with child, so that she be delivered, and no mischief happen, he shall in any case be fined, according as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and shall give it as the judges estimate. But if mischief happen, then thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, branding for branding, wound for wound, stripe for stripe” (ch. 21:2225 JND).
I would suggest that this scripture shows us that an unborn child is looked upon by God as a human being. If the child were born (after the injury to its mother) without any problem, then only a fine was imposed. But if the child lost his or her life, then the one causing the death must lose his life. If the injury were less serious, then the individual causing the injury paid an appropriate penalty according to the degree of the injury.
What God Sees
Second, we have David’s comments in Psalm 139:1416 concerning his own development in the womb. Here is what he said by inspiration:
“I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are Thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from Thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in Thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.”
Here we see clearly that God has His eye on a developing human being right from the beginning and that He sees all of its substance, although unperfect. (Note that Scripture is very accurate in saying “unperfect” in the sense of not yet fully formed, but does not say “imperfect,” which would imply something defective.) Further, this Scriptures tells us that all these members were written in God’s book, showing us that God takes an intense interest in the development of His creature.
From these Scriptures, it is clear that any adverse interference by man with a developing human embryo at any point is a serious matter. I prefer to believe that God views a developing embryo right from conception as a human being with a soul and spirit. Thus, to take its life does, in fact, amount to murder. We know that abortions have been done legally on demand for more than thirty-five years in North America as well as in other areas of the world, mostly as a matter of convenience. In some countries of the world (China, for example), abortions are insisted upon in order to limit the size of families. Believers have always viewed this as being morally wrong. I suggest that extracting embryonic stem cells and thus killing the embryo amounts to the same thing.
The ramifications of all this are most serious and, in addition to the matter of stem cell research, call in question the whole idea of in vitro fertilization. Although this article is not primarily about in vitro fertilization, perhaps a few comments on it are in order, since it is closely tied to stem cell research. We can surely sympathize with couples who desperately want children and who are, for various reasons, unable to have them in the normal way. It is one thing to undergo a reasonable investigation to see if there is anything that medical science can correct to make this possible. It is entirely another matter to resort to in vitro fertilization, which almost always leaves excess embryos and the problems that result. If it is morally wrong to use them for stem cell research, then it becomes a major issue as to what to do with them.
Children — a Gift of God
Throughout the Word of God, children are presented as being a gift of God, and it is clear that God alone has the prerogative to control whether children are born or not. Psalm 127:3 tells us that “children are a heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is His reward.” In Genesis 20:18 we read that “the Lord had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech,” while in Genesis 30:22, we read that “God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.” In Ruth 4:13, it is recorded, concerning Ruth, that “the Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son.” Many other Scriptures could be quoted to show that God keeps in His hand the giving or withholding of children. All of these considerations raise the question of whether believers should be involved in this practice, in view of what Scripture says about God giving conception.
In conclusion, I would say that extracting stem cells from human embryos and killing them in the process is no different from abortion. Believers should have no part in it. May we not become involved in areas that Scripture shows us are beyond man’s proper domain. Let us remember that the root of these problems is often the exercise of man’s will independent of God. Thus, he seeks to manipulate everything in this world to his own ends. Self-centeredness impels him to use modern technology to exploit even human reproduction without regard either to God’s claims or the children involved. May we who know the Lord and acknowledge His claims keep well away from such an attitude and not be enticed by man’s penchant for putting his technology into an area which belongs only to the Lord.
W. J. Prost
His Names and Titles
A name denotes the identity of a person, being the term distinguishing that person from others. A title is the term indicating office or service, and the same title may apply to a number of different persons. King is a title, denoting regal dignity and belonging to David, Solomon, Nebuchadnezzar, and to all holding that office. The name is personal to him who bears it, and when it was divinely given it exactly suited him; thus, the Lord said to one of the apostles, “Thou art Peter.” The name expresses what a person is; the title describes what a person does.
“Saviour” is a title of the Lord: “Unto you is born . . . a Saviour” (Luke 2:11). But His personal name is “Jesus,” meaning Jehovah the Saviour (Matt. 1:21). The idea of salvation underlies both the name and the title, but the title “Saviour” describes the work of Him who came that the world through Him might be saved, while “Jesus” expresses who that incarnate Person is — Jehovah the Saviour. So, in celebrating the salvation of Israel, Moses sang, “Jehovah is a man of war; Jehovah, His name (Ex. 15:3 JND).
W. J. Hocking (adapted from
The Son of His Love)
Jesus “Thy Name Is As Ointment Poured Forth”
Jehovah
Jehovah is a name — the name He took in His dealings and relationship with men, but especially with His people Israel. The word signifies the self-existent One, and it expresses the eternity and the immutability of His being. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. The Jesus of the New Testament is the Jehovah of the Old Testament.
“When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, come of woman, come under law” (Gal. 4:4 JND). It is of this mystery that Matthew writes in chapter 1, “Thou shalt call His name Jesus” (Matt. 1:21). It is a chapter in which the divine and human glories of our blessed Lord are mingled and displayed. By “mingled” we simply mean that the character of the Person of Christ is such that all that He is as God and as man is told out in His name and in His work. For example, if we think of Him as the offspring of David, we are at once reminded that He is also David’s root and that David’s Son is also David’s Lord.
The name Jesus means Jehovah the Saviour. A child born into the world, of lowly parentage in man’s esteem, is divinely declared to be Jehovah the Saviour! Yes, the God who heard the groaning of His people Israel in Egypt, who saw their affliction, who heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, who knew their sorrows, and who came down to redeem them out of Egypt and to bring them up out of that land unto a land flowing with milk and honey — it was He, the same God, the same Jehovah, who now came into this world as a baby. He came, blessed be His name forever, as the Saviour of His people. May our hearts be filled with gratitude at the mention of the name of Jesus, for He it is who has secured everything for us.
The Humble Man
As God He emptied Himself; as man he humbled Himself. Indeed, the whole life of our blessed Lord as man is compressed into the words, “He humbled Himself.” It was a low place, indeed, He took when He assumed a bondsman’s form, but how much lower when, “being found in fashion as a man,” He went down to the shameful death of the cross! We wonder and adore in the presence of such infinite condescension. The question may well be asked, Are not our affections occupied and drawn out in dwelling with delight on what Jesus was here below? We admire, we are humbled, and we become conformed to Him through grace. The display of His perfection draws forth and develops its energies and lowliness in us, for who could be proud in fellowship with the humble Jesus? Humble, He would teach us to take the lowest place, but that He has taken it Himself, the privilege of His perfect grace. Blessed Master, may we at least be near to, and hidden in, Thee.
The Exalted Man
Such humbling is the wondrous foundation on which the present exaltation of Christ is based. It is God Himself stepping in, in the joy of His heart, in His delight in the One who had so humbled Himself, and raising Him to those heights of glory which He now occupies. The act proclaims throughout the whole universe that no other position would have been commensurate with what He deserves — He who went down the lowest of all must have the highest place.
Paul in his epistle to the Ephesians touches upon another side of this great subject. He tells us that He who descended into the lower parts of the earth is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things (Eph. 4:910). While we may not be able to fathom this profound language, it cannot mean less than that, in virtue of the humiliation of Christ and the work He did for the accomplishment of the counsels of God, He will eventually flood the whole universe with His own redemption glory. And this, and nothing short of this, will be God’s answer to the humiliation of Jesus, His beloved Son.
The Name Above Every Name
“The name which is above every name” is given Him as a part of His exaltation. It is God’s own estimate of what was due to the One who had humbled Himself and become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. It is thus the worthiness of Christ shown out by the place which God has given Him to occupy. We say “given Him to occupy” because the presentation here is that of His exaltation as Man, as the consequence of His perfect obedience and entire devotedness to the glory of God through the whole of His pathway on earth up to, and including, death. Whatever exalted beings may surround the heavenly throne, the glorified Jesus is above, and beyond, them all. The name accorded to Him, in virtue of His humiliation, bespeaks a dignity which far transcends the most exalted ranks of the celestial host and tells, moreover, that He is supreme in all the worlds which constitute the universe of God. If, then, this position which He now fills is expressive of God’s delight in the once-humbled Christ, will it not also awaken the delight of God’s people, as they contemplate Him in that state and glory? By the grace of our God we are called to share in His own delight in His beloved Son, and the enjoyment of this is really the foretaste — the commencement — of heavenly joys, which, filling the heart, can only find an outlet through the channel of worship and song.
The Bridegroom
In the statement “Thy name is as ointment poured forth” is portrayed the preciousness of Christ as the bridegroom to the bride (Song of Sol. 1:3). “Let Him kiss me,” cries the bride, “with the kisses of His mouth: for [she is now addressing Him directly] Thy love is better than wine.” It is not so much the love itself, as the enjoyment of the love, of which she speaks — this enjoyment “better than wine.” Every renewed heart will respond to this statement, for while the love of Christ is always beyond all our thoughts, infinite and unspeakable, it is only as we enjoy it that we, in any measure, enter into or appreciate it. But when the heart expands in the power of the Spirit to its blessed influences and constraint, when it opens without hindrance to the inflowing of its mighty tides, then the soul learns experimentally the marvelous character of the love of Christ which passes knowledge. Another thing is equally true. The more we taste of the love of Christ, the more we desire it. Every experience of it begets an ardent longing for a larger measure of it.
It is through the heart that all divine knowledge is received, and so the bride passes from the expression of her estimate of the enjoyment of the bridegroom’s love to a declaration of the effect of His excellencies and perfections. Her heart apprehends, through the enjoyment of His love, the savor of His “good ointments.” It may be remarked that however strong the bride’s affections may be, they are not developed according to the position in which Christian affections, properly so-called, are formed. They differ in this respect. They do not possess the profound repose and sweetness of an affection that flows from a relationship already formed, known and fully appreciated, the bonds of which are formed and recognized, that counts upon the full and constant acknowledgement of the relationship, and that each party enjoys, as a certain thing, in the heart of the other. The desire of one who loves and is seeking the affections of the beloved object is not the sweet, entire and established affection of the wife, with whom marriage has formed an indissoluble union. To the former, the relationship is only in desire, the consequence of the state of heart; to the latter, the state of heart is the consequence of the relationship.
The Fragrance of His Name
“Because of the savor of Thy good ointments,” she says, “thy name is as ointment poured forth.” The “good ointments” present to us the blessed fragrance of His excellent perfections as seen in His life, in His acts of tenderness and grace, as well as in His words and in His walk of entire dependence and obedience before God. They will be apprehended and enjoyed in the intimacy of His own presence, in His ways and personal dealings with the soul. The nearer we are to Christ, the clearer will be our perception of His beauty and grace. We may be much impressed by report and testimony, even when at a distance like the Queen of Sheba, but it is only when, like her, we hear and see for ourselves that we are lost in adoration in the presence of the fragrance of the good ointments. If we would be absorbed with the sense of His graces and beauties, we must press on, drawn onward by His attractions, to the place where He dwells. Having part with Him there, the savor of His excellencies will constitute the perpetual joy and rejoicing of the soul.
The sweet savor of the life of Christ was first and foremost for God whose eyes ever rested upon Him with unspeakable complacency, noting with joy the perfection of His every thought and word and deed. It drew forth from the overflowing heart of God the words, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And the more Christ was tested — and He was tested in every way, even by the holy fire of the altar itself — the more abundantly did His sweet savor flow forth to gratify the heart of His God. If we ourselves are permitted to participate in the enjoyment of the sweet savor of His life and to feed upon the perfections of His entire devotedness to the glory of His God, it is only because God has first had His portion and because, in His ineffable grace, He has called us to share in His own delight in the pathway and person of His beloved Son.
Blessed Lord, the savor of Thy good ointments had gone abroad on every hand, making Thee everywhere known, so that Thy name has become as the sweet fragrance of ointment poured forth to all who were burdened with distress and sorrow, to the weary and needy souls among Thy people.
His Preciousness
It is always through our needs that we first get to Christ and learn what He is in His love and grace. Then, when our needs have been met and satisfied, we are at leisure, set at liberty from ourselves and at liberty in His presence, to contemplate Himself. The savor of His good ointments, indeed, scarcely steals into the soul with its gladdening refreshment until every question affecting ourselves and our relationship with God has been settled. In rare cases Christ Himself may be known at the commencement of the spiritual life, but, generally speaking, it is a troubled conscience which has to be appeased, through the efficacy of the blood of Christ, before we are free to survey His glorious perfections. Then His name, even the very mention of it, will fill our hearts with the sense of its sweetness and fragrance, and it will produce such emotions as can only be expressed in adoring worship at His feet.
Christ in Us
Another thing should be mentioned. The savor of the good ointments of Christ may flow out through the holy lives of His people. Every trait, every perfection exhibited by Himself in His walk through this world may be reproduced in those that are His. Christ in us and Christ our life, as set forth in Colossians, are to be followed by the display of Christ through us, in the power of the Holy Spirit. For this we need to be much in His company, for the more we are with Him and occupied with Him, the more we shall be transformed into His likeness and the more certainly will the savor of His good ointments be spread abroad. This will be a mighty testimony to what He is, for in this case His name will, through us, be as ointment poured forth — the sweet savor of the name of Christ will flow forth from our walk as well as from our words. The Apostle Paul, speaking of his preaching, says, “We are unto God a sweet savor of Christ,” and in a subsequent chapter (2 Cor. 4) he points out that testimony is connected with the life as well as with the lip. As we meditate upon it, may we not say, “What a privilege! What a mission, to be sent out into the world to make known the savor of the good ointments of Christ, that His name may, through us, be as ointment poured forth!”
The Virgins
“Therefore do the virgins love thee” (Song of Sol. 1:3). The fragrance of the name of Jesus attracts the hearts of the virgins — not of all God’s people, be it observed, but only of the virgins. A very distinct thought is connected in Scripture with the virgin. It is character, moral character, speaking as it does of the absence of defilement, of not being contaminated with the polluting influences of the world (see Rev. 14:4). Virgins stand in this scripture for those who have been enabled, through grace, to maintain a holy separation from the defilements of the world through which they are passing, those whose hearts have been kept true to Christ and guarded in loyalty to Him through the sense of His claims and of His love. A heart possessed by Christ is fortified against the most seductive allurements of the world. It is absorbing affection which always distinguishes the virgin, and this affection is always intensified and deepened by every new discovery of the perfectness of Christ. In other words, those who partake of the virgin character always respond to the display of the preciousness of Christ. He being the sole object of their hearts, they are in the condition of soul to enter into, and enjoy, His beauties. They will detect His presence, the blessed fragrance of His words and His acts, where others will observe nothing. They live in His presence, they are wholly for Him, and hence it is the delight of Christ to disclose Himself to them in such attractive ways as to increase and elicit their affections towards Himself.
The state of our souls may be discerned by the effect produced upon us by the name of Jesus. If our hearts are careless and irresponsive when He is the subject of conversation or presentation, we cannot be in communion with the heart of God. Why, even the name of a beloved object on earth will produce pleasurable emotions. How much more should the name of Christ, the object of God’s heart — and also of ours if we know Him — awaken within us holy feelings of delight, which can only be expressed in praise and adoration!
E. Dennett, adapted from
The Name Above Every Name