Jesus’ name has meaning that reveals Who He is. His name is LORD, which means Jehovah God. He is the Jehovah of the Old Testament Who revealed Himself to His people. Today Jesus reveals God to you and me. His name is also Jesus, which means Savior, because He came to save us from the penalty and power of our sin. And His name is Christ, which is the New Testament equivalent of the Old Testament name Messiah. He is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy that pointed to the Anointed One of God Who would come down to reign and rule on the earth.
To pray in Jesus’ name means we come to God believing that Jesus is our Lord — believing He has revealed God to us and in response we have submitted to His authority. To pray in Jesus’ name means we believe He is our only Savior Whose death on the cross provides atonement for our sin. And it means we acknowledge that He is the Christ, Who is coming again to rule the world in peace and righteousness. Do you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ?
“And the Lord said unto Noah, ‘Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.'”
The offer God extended to Noah was an invitation to be saved from the judgment that was coming. God has also told you and me that judgment is coming – physical death that ushers us into eternity, where our sin has condemned us to hell. Hell is a place of intense, unending physical suffering, darkness, dissatisfaction, and worst of all, separation from the One for Whom we were created. (Matt. 13:49-50).
At the same time God warns us that judgment is coming, He issues an invitation to come into the Ark He has provided as the means of salvation from it. Jesus Christ is the Ark in which we hide, our Savior from the storm of God’s coming judgment. Have you accepted His invitation to “come in”?
On the hill of Golgotha, When Jesus was stripped of His physical clothes, the execution squad of soldiers divided what little He had between them-His belt, sandals, and other things. But when it came to His beautifully woven inner garment, they decided that instead of tearing it into four pieces, they would gamble for it. So while Jesus hung slightly above them, groaning in excruciating pain, they callously ignored Him and tossed the dice. (John 19:23-24) Their ribald laughter and the clatter of the dice as they were thrown made a sharp contrast to His pain-wracked sobs so near by.
People today still toss the dice for the robe of His righteousness. While coldly ignoring His death on the Cross, they gamble for His “robe” by betting their eternal lives on the chance that they can earn acceptance with God through their religiosity, or their sincerity, or their morality, or their philanthropy. But the only way to obtain it is to exchange it for your own filthy shreds of righteousness at the Cross.
Jesus encouraged His disciples by promising, “where I am, my servant also will be.” There is nothing in this world that I desire more than the presence of Jesus in my life.
Nothing . . .
not houses or honors or health,
not cars or careers or children,
not money or marriage or ministry,
not fame or family or freedom,
not promotion or pleasures or position,
not strength or success,
not ability or achievement,
not even love or life itself.
Nothing!
What would it be like not to have Christ in your life? I think that it would be hell-literally.
Although God is the Creator of us all, nowhere does the Bible say we are all His children. On the contrary, there are two conditions you and I must meet before we can be called God’s children. One is that we must receive Jesus, or open the door of our hearts and invite Him to come in. The other is that we must believe in His Name.
Believing in His Name means we must be willing to commit our lives to all that He is as represented by His Name. And His Name is Lord Jesus Christ.
The qualification for being a child of God by believing on His Name means much more than just head knowledge. It is not just giving intellectual assent to the fact that the Name Lord Jesus Christ is the label attached to the Person. It means to rest in Jesus, to put all of our trust on Him alone for forgiveness and salvation.
