- Overcomer Literature Trust
- Swindon
- Wiltshire
THE SECRET OF HIS NAME.
By Mrs Jessie Penn-Lewis.
It is clearly seen in the Acts of the Apostles what “the Name” meant to the Church at Pentecost. Almost the last words the Lord had said to them before passing into heaven were, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness for sins will be preached in His Name to all nations” (Luke 24 v47), showing that Calvary, the resurrection, repentance and forgiveness for sin are all linked and bound up in the preaching in His Name.
On the Day of Pentecost, Peter’s first words to people under conviction of sin, were, “Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the Name” (Acts 2 v38). To the lame man at the Temple gate he said, “In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” (Acts 3 v6). The power of the Name was emphasised again to the crowd who ran together to see the miracle, for he said it was faith in Jesus’ Name (v16) which had brought about this mighty work. “In the Name” of Jesus “whom you crucified but whom God raised”, he told the high priest, did the man stand before them whole. “Crucified”, “raised”, “the Name”, here it is again, Calvary and resurrection, linked with the power of the Name. The battle raged round the Name, for the council “commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the Name”. The faith of the Church in the power of the Name of the living Lord grew, so that with prevailing faith, they prayed in the face of the opposition of the rulers that “signs and wonders” might be done “through the Name” of Jesus (Acts 4 v30).
“We gave you strict orders not to teach in this Name,” said the high priest and ‘‘they had them flogged and ordered them not to speak in the Name of Jesus”, but the apostles only rejoiced that they had been “counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name” (Acts 5 v 28, 40 & 42). The first stripes had fallen upon men ready to suffer for the Name, for the Name stood for the Person behind it, the risen, ascended Lord.
Again in the Acts, we find Philip ‘‘preaching good tidings of the kingdom . . . and the Name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 8 v12), and that believers were “baptised into the Name of the Lord Jesus” (v16). We find Saul the persecutor changed into Paul the disciple and the Lord saying of him that he was chosen to bear the Name before the Gentiles and kings, and to suffer for the Name (Acts 9 v15-16). We soon read of him “speaking boldly in the Name” (v28), and later on commanding the spirit of divination to come out of a medium “in the Name of Jesus” (Acts 16 v18).
All this shows how the early Church wielded the Name, in prayer to God, over Satan’s power, and in preaching the Gospel of the Cross.
Why should the Name be so mighty? Paul makes this clear in his letter to the Philippians, where he says that the Father gave the Son this all-prevailing Name on the ground of Calvary. Because He “became obedient to death - even death on a Cross . . . God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the Name that is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow” (Phil. 2 v8-10).
The Name therefore represents, not only the living Lord on the throne, but on the Cross in His victory over sin and over Satan. It was because He was obedient unto death, carrying through to the bitter end the only way of victory for fallen mankind over sin and Satan, that God gave Him the Name. This Name will eventually conquer all, and in the fulness of time every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
From an old magazine.