September 2021 – Name Above All Names

 Religion has taken quite a hit this past year or so, with people unable to go to church as they usually do.  I’m still attending church online at home, but churches are gradually opening back up for face-to-face church.  I know it will be very emotional for me to go back to meet with my Christian family soon.

People of faith today have sometimes become confused because so often the true object of faith, Jesus as the Son of God, has been more recently lost in preaching about social injustice and angry retaliation. But the faith that saves us is not faith in an indefinite something; not in political correctness, nor faith in one’s ability to keep the commandments better than others, nor faith in the perfection of one’s understanding of the Scriptures, but faith in Jesus as the Son of God.

This subject is far too large to fit in one bowl of Webstable Soup, so there will be continuations from time to time of these thoughts that have been heavy on my mind recently. Sometimes things happen that challenge our faith. Sometimes that very challenge will encourage us to research, renew, refresh, and rededicate our faith and passion for Jesus Christ.

However, the truth is that what I believe about Jesus Christ does not matter at all. What you believe about Jesus Christ does not matter at all. The only thing that really matters is what the Bible, the Word of God, says. So if you are a lover of Scripture as I am, this may be an exciting and fascinating study, but if you don’t believe the Bible, you can stop right here right now because the rest of this won’t matter to you anyway…unless you are open to seeing the wonder of Jesus.

Reflections about Jesus dominated Christian discourse from the apostolic age onward. [ii]  The New Testament is taken to convey that the earliest followers of Jesus were convinced that God in the flesh was revealed in a human baby born in a manger in Bethlehem, and that they attributed a number of titles to him, such as “Messiah,” “Son of Man,” “Son of God,” and “Lord.” But the New Testament record was not the beginning of God the Son.  The promise of the Messiah, the savior of humanity, can be seen all throughout the Old Testament; Torah, History, Psalms, and Prophets. In fact, He and His angels can be seen in action throughout the Bible; even speaking through the mouth of a donkey! (Numbers 22:21-38)

In the New Testament, notions of preexistence, which Christian scholars have found expressed in the Hebrew Bible, are applied to Jesus. The Letter of Paul to the Philippians (2:7), for example, speaks of the preexistent Jesus who is sent down by God “in human form.”

The Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End

Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, and together they also comprise one of the names for God.  The name, “the first and the last” appear in multiple places in the Old Testament as a representation for God’s eternal existence (see Isaiah 41:4; 44:6; 48:12). God is the Alpha and the Omega because He is responsible for both the beginning and the end of everything that has ever existed. Jesus had no beginning; He was present for the creation of the world (John 1:8), and he will be present for the end of the world (Revelation 21:6), after which he will reign over the New Creation for eternity.

Jesus is the beginning and the end in many ways.  Hebrews 12:2 says that he is the “pioneer and perfector” of faith, which signifies that he initiated faith, and he will bring it to completion.  He is the summation of and the actual Word of God.

Jesus is there in the first verse of Genesis and the last verse of Revelation, and he is present in every Bible verse, story, and teaching in between. To say that Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega is to say that he is God, a declaration that is reinforced as true in the Gospels and throughout the entire New Testament.  The book of Revelation never wavers from proclaiming that Jesus and God are one, and that together they bring about the creation and culmination of everything. The Holy Spirit of God the Father and God the Son indwells and strengthens all believers. (Romans 5:5)

God Gave Himself to the World

God came to earth in the form of a baby…destined to suffer and die on a cross for OUR sins. Believers can be confident that the God in whom they trust is fully in control of everything that was, everything that is, and everything that will be.  The name of Jesus, “the Alpha and the Omega,” succinctly defines who God is and what he has done.  From the beginning and to the end, God is eternal, God is in control, God is gracious, merciful, and loving, God is just, and GOD WINS!

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made…¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1, 14 NIV [iii]).

1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham: and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah. (Matthew 1:1, 16)

⁶⁰ Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” ⁶¹ But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” ⁶² “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” (Mark 14:60-62)

³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. ⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: ⁶ Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷ rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:8-11; Emphasis mine, SM)

Of all the religious leaders in the world who have lived and died, Jesus is the only one who suffered and died for me and you and was resurrected to live again.  So it follows that the mindset most needed now, and always, is the kind that holds up Jesus Christ in such a way as to lead people to come to him in love and faith.

Blessings, Sandra

 

[i] Source: Musixmatch, Songwriters: Naida Hearn, Jesus Name Above All Names lyrics © Universal Music – Brentwood Benson Publ.

[ii] Jesus | Facts, Teachings, Miracles, Death, & Doctrines | Britannica

[iii] Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Recommended Reading

Face to Face With Jesus, Seeing Him as He Really Is, by Randy Alcorn, © 2019, Harvest House Publishers