The Name above every name is found written in simple majesty on the first and last pages of the New Testament, and those whose eyes have been anointed with the Spirit’s salve can trace it from the beginning to the end of Holy Scripture. That name is Jesus, “Jehovah Saviour.”
It is in the Epistle to the Hebrews especially, by contrast and comparison, that His excellences are displayed; to the Hebrews, to whom He was unattractive and unwelcome. They gazed on the root sprouting from the dry ground, thought of their bygone bramble-king, and longed for the cedars of Lebanon (Jud. 9:14).
The inspired writer quickly gets to the heart of things, and says, ” He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent Name” (Heb. 1:4).
A More Excellent Name
That is one clause in his eloquent description of our Lord Jesus, “God over all blessed for ever” (Rom. 9:5), and truly “the noblest Man who ever lived in all the tides of time.” The excellent Name connotes the excellent character of its Owner. The Father has bestowed on Him the “Name which is above every name, that at the Name of JESUS every knee should bow” (Phil. 2:9-10). By all the rights of His eternal being and atoning work, He bears the grandest name that perfect love and power could bestow. Ages before the Bethlehem advent, a prophet had declared, “His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6). But to this bright galaxy another has been added–JESUS.
True it is that wise men in their day called Him “The Nazarene,” that the drunkards shouted His Name in ribald song; that often He was denied the common courtesy of a name, and spoken of as “this fellow” and “that deceiver.” Yet today, amidst the world’s upheavals, and after the wear and tear of centuries, to a countless multitude His Name is “as ointment poured forth” (Song of Sol. 1:3). Time and again it has proven a stronghold triumphant over the most hideous powers of hell. It has lingered on the parched lip of the martyr at the stake, robbing death of its sting. It lightens the pilgrim’s load, and lures him onward to his goal, the Home “eternal in the Heavens.”
But this is not all; that pre-eminent Name, so richly merited and adorned, is very soon to be shared with those who narrowly escaped being written down in letters of everlasting infamy; those who at length answered to their rightful title–“sinners.” For our Lord has pledged Himself, saying, ” Him that overcometh…I will write upon him the Name of My God, and the name of the city of My God…and I will write upon him My new Name” (Rev. 3:12). Marvellous destiny for these who were “by nature the children of wrath, even as others” (Eph. 2:3). Well may our hearts bow in adoring worship, and yield to Him in glad surrender at the realization of such amazing love.
Jesus dishonored and dying, a felon on either side;
Jesus, the song of the drunkard, Jesus the Crucified.
Name of God’s tender comfort,
Name of His glorious power;
Name that is song and sweetness,
The strong, everlasting tower.
Jesus, the Lamb accepted; Jesus, the Priest on His throne,
Jesus, the King who is coming; Jesus, Thy Name alone.
A More Excellent Ministry
“Now hath He obtained a more excellent ministry” (Heb. 8:6). This is the burden of the Holy Spirit’s message through many chapters. He alternates from Throne to Cross. He travels from the mighty present down into the misty past, and then upward and onward to the eternal future but there is a constancy in His task–the unveiling of the excellences of Emmanuel, “God with us” and for us (Mt. 1:23).
Now He has traced Him back to the right hand of the majesty in the heavens (Heb. 8:1), and proclaims Him the Minister of the New Covenant. Hitherto Moses had represented the high-water mark of mediatorial ministry. The Hebrews looked up to him as the author of their ancient covenant. They saw him forsaking the treasures of Egypt for the desert wilds. They reviewed his return to the court, striking terror to Pharaoh’s heart, until he allowed their bondmen ancestors to march out in triumph. By faith they beheld him on the heights of Sinai, Pisgah, and Nebo, sharing their burden and blame and cheerfully dying on the very threshold of success. No wonder they revered the man and were jealous for his sake.
But now Moses’ glories have paled before the meridian splendor of that other Prophet whose coming he himself had heralded. The hands of Moses were red with the blood of his Egyptian foe; the hands of our Lord Jesus with His own precious blood. Moses descended Sinai with gleaming countenance, the Lawgiver of Israel. Christ ascended Calvary with a visage marred more than any man’s, the Lover of a lost world. Moses struck the second rock with loud complaints. Christ was stricken, and reviled not. Moses died on Nebo in utter silence and secrecy. Christ died on the hilltop in utmost publicity and pain. Moses’ task ended with his decease; but our Lord Jesus entered on a fresh phase of service which has made Him a bright reality to every pilgrim heart. It is good to magnify His manger birth, His peerless Manhood, and His dying love; but do not forget His excellent ministry, apart from which we would be miserable indeed.
How nobly He performed His task down here! How nobly He perfects it there! He is not only the Friend at Court, He is the Advocate proud to hold a brief for every needy soul, and no case committed to Him can ever be lost. Happy those who are beginning to know His worth and enjoy His matchless ministries. Still His delights are with the sons of men. That great heart has not changed since the night when He waited, a towelgirt King, to wash Peter’s feet. The motto on the banner of His love is still “I serve,” and that amazing promise stands, “Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when He cometh shall find watching; verily I say unto you, that He shall gird Himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them” (Lk. 12:37).
A More Excellent Sacrifice
Finally, we consider His “more excellent sacrifice,” of which Abel’s is a symbol (Heb. 11:4). By virtue of His Godhead, the Son summoned creation into being, and sustained its vast concerns. His dwelling place the Father’s bosom; His Person the sum of all perfection; but even He could not bear the name of JESUS, or fill the vacant post of Daysman, to bridge the gulf between a rebel world and a righteous God, until He qualified Himself by becoming truly man in order to bear in His own body the relentless stroke of justice.
Behold the stainless Judge arraigned in the felon’s dock, condemned to suffer the felon’s doom! See Him grappling with that unheard-of combination of woes–the wrath of God, the sin of the world, the hatred of men and demons. Suffering an eternity of agony in a few hours, yet dying to conquer, rising in triumph, in every detail pleasing His Father and securing an honorable place in His family for every penitent sinner.
Heaven’s occupied throne is proof positive that there are no outstanding claims. But that excellent sacrifice is the pioneer of a countless host of acceptable offerings, each one a sweet savor of Christ. On His behalf the apostle pleads, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1).
What heights and depths of grace are these! How heartening the prospect to those who are determined to walk in that “more excellent way” of love (1 Cor. 12:31). How glorious to hear His well-known voice ringing above the strife of tongues, saying to the erstwhile slaves of sin: “I will make thee an eternal excellency…the work of My hands, that I may be glorified” (Isa. 60:15, 21).