T. Austin-Sparks · 1 of 6

The Moral and Spiritual Nature of the Name

Reading: 1 Cor. 1:23-31; 2 Cor. 12:7-13; 13:4.

The power of the Name is, in His will, to be operative, active in the church, and it is an extremely important thing that the Lord's people should be in the good of the Name of Jesus. To make that statement, and then to go with it to the Scriptures is to have it very fully corroborated, proved, and demonstrated; not only to the New Testament, but to the Old Testament. The Lord's glory was bound up with His Name and that Name rested upon that which represented His House; in the Old Testament the House in type, in the New Testament the House in spiritual reality. To trace the Name of the Lord through the Scriptures is to come out with a very deep and strong realisation of how important it is for the Lord's people to be in the good of the Name.

There are several things which are comprehensive in connection with the Name.

The Name Stands for Universal Sovereignty

The word of God shows that the Name of Jesus stands for universal sovereignty: "God... has highly exalted Him, and given Him the name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth" (Phil. 2:9-10). "According to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenlies, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come; and has put all things in subjection under His feet" (Eph. 1:19-22). So that that Name sets forth the universal sovereignty of the Lord Jesus.

That is a comprehensive statement. It can be analysed, broken up, and thus seen in application in every realm. It can be seen in the realm of spiritual forces. They are brought into subjection to the Name of Jesus, their power bound, their work destroyed. It can be seen in the realm of nature. The Name of Jesus prevailed over the effects of spiritual forces working evil in the creation, in physical conditions, sicknesses and infirmities. It can be seen in the realm of testimony. Everything was done in the Name of Jesus. It is a Name the sovereignty of which is recognised and acknowledged in every realm. Sooner or later it will be acknowledged by that which at present is last to acknowledge it; that is, man himself. Other forces recognise the sovereignty of that Name; man is very slow to acknowledge the sovereignty of the Lord Jesus. But every knee shall bow in the Name of Jesus, and every tongue shall confess, because God has decreed and determined that to the farthest bounds of this universe everything within those bounds shall bow in the Name of Jesus.

The Name Rests Upon the Church

Then the Name is shown by the Word of God to rest upon the church, the House of God. We are familiar with the words relative to the Temple, that it was to be a House for His Name. The Lord referred to it as the place where His Name was. The appeal to the Lord was always made in the interests of His Name: "For Thy great Name's sake". The Lord Himself said that He acted in sovereignty, not for man's sake, not for the sake of any earthly thing, but for His own Name's sake, and that because His Name was bound up with that on the earth which He had chosen to be the vessel of that Name.

From the Old Testament to the New Testament we move, and see so distinctly that the spiritual counterpart carries that significance with it, that the church is the place where the Name is, the people of God bear His Name. As James puts it: "That holy name which was called upon you".

The Name Functions in Power on the Ground of the Blood

Then we also see by the Word of God that the Name functions in power on the ground of the blood. That, in other words, means this: that the mighty work of the Cross in the efficacy of the blood of the Lord Jesus is a work of universal triumph over sin, over the flesh, over death, over judgement, and over all the power of evil. The blood speaks of a mighty, comprehensive, universal victory, and that blood brought into the sanctuary and sprinkled there becomes the basis of the operation of the Name. The Name takes up all the values of the blood; that is, all the victory to which the blood testifies, and the Name embodies that victory, and is mighty, and energetic, and operates in virtue of the mighty work of the Cross and the power of the blood of Jesus. It functions on the ground of the blood.

The Name and the blood must ever go together. The appeal to the Name must ever be by way of the blood, and a right apprehension of the value of the blood will lead us into the power of the Name. You will notice that, while not using exactly that form of words, the truths are kept together all the way through; "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him has God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour" (Acts 5:50-31). They are only other terms for the cross and the Name, the blood and the supreme Lordship. These two things are kept together, and they are parts of one another.

The Name Demands Moral and Spiritual Qualities in Order That the Power May Be Manifested

Then the next thing which we see is that the Name demands certain moral and spiritual qualities and values in order that its power may be manifested. Of these moral and spiritual values the first is:

(a) Humility

The nature of humility, and the tremendous power of humility, is in the Name of the One who was crucified, the Name of the One who was despised and rejected of men. These things are kept together in testimony in the New Testament, that when the explanation of the power was given, Jesus of Nazareth was brought into view; not first of all Jehovah, but Jesus of Nazareth. An explanation was asked: "By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?" (Acts 4:7). Whether asked for or not, the explanation was always given that the working of this mighty power manifested amongst men was related to Jesus of Nazareth, whom men crucified and rejected, and cast out; whom they slew and hanged upon a tree. The cross, the humiliation, the degradation of the Lord Jesus is brought up, and then over against it is set this mighty power of His Name. That means that the power works through the weakness, the humility of the Lord Jesus, the humiliation which was prompted by His humiliation. He, in humility, allowed the humiliation, and this is the outcome.

We pass to a consideration of the second of these spiritual and moral values and qualities which are essential to the working of the power of the Name. It is of the family of humility:

(b) Human Weakness

That is one side of it. The other side would be that the Lord alone is our strength. But for the Lord alone to be our strength means that we in ourselves have no strength at all. Weakness is a great element in the operation of the power of the Name. We must take it as a settled thing with God, that that to which we shall have to come and from which we shall never escape if we are to know anything at all about the power of the Name of Jesus, is that we shall have to learn the meaning of weakness, we shall have to come to the place of conscious weakness. It will have to be settled in us that weakness is essential to God; so far as we are concerned, weakness is indispensable, weakness is complementary, weakness is divine strategy, and is God's opportunity. If that be so, then our eyes, our faces, our direction will have to be toward glorying in weaknesses that the power of Christ may rest upon us. It is easy to talk like that. Words of that kind can slip through our lips, but it may take us decades to reach anything like a situation of that kind.

By way of illustrating this, and reaching something of its meaning, we will turn back to the Old Testament to that familiar incident in Genesis 32:29: "And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name?" For what reason? What is your object? To what purpose? To what end do you ask after My Name? Why do you think it necessary to know My Name?

You notice the setting of this. "Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day" (Gen. 32:24). Then the Man asked his name, and he had to confess that it was Jacob. I wonder whether Jacob ever bore that name happily. When you remember what it means, and for a man to have to carry that label about, and to know what it means, and then in the end for the Lord to demand the confession of that name, makes you wonder if he ever bore it pleasantly: "Jacob is my name, and Jacob is my nature"! "And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince hast thou striven with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved".

Notice carefully the significance of that. There is a statement here which says, "there wrestled a man with him". The statement of the Man indicates the Name that Jacob sought to know, and shows us why the Man refused to give the designation. The statement is in two parts: "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel". That is one part. Then, "Thou has striven (had power) with God and with men, and hast prevailed". The name of Jacob was changed to Isra-el, a Prince with God, "Thou hast striven with God... and hast prevailed". You do not want a Name after that! You know who it is you have had to do with. It need not be put into a designation. "Why do you ask? You ought to know! Why do you want a title, when you have met what is in the Name?" That Jacob instantly saw the significance of the refusal is seen by his naming of the place, Peni-el. What is that? The Face of God! "For, said he, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved". The Man was God, and the Name withheld as to a title, a designation, is known by what is met: the power.

Before we touch that further let us turn to the book of Exodus 33:20: "And He said, Thou canst not see My face; for man shall not see Me and live". Now link that with Jacob's word, "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved". Is that a contradiction? No! Jacob did not know it was God, He met a man, and it was man to man, and the man he met was endued with the very power of God, it was the God-Man.

The whole of the New Testament can be crowded into that. Here is a Man. Ask Jesus of Nazareth His Name. "Why do you want to know My Name? Look upon the effects, and you will know who I am!"

Now note: "There wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he (the man) saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was strained, as he wrestled with him". Jacob came out with every ounce of strength at his command. He gathered up all his power, all his forces, to exhaust himself in his strength against this man, and the man drew him out until his strength had reached its last extremity; that is, all Jacob's strength was put into this thing. Then note: "And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched..." it looks as though the Angel (or the Man) was exerting all his strength. Not at all. Jacob was being drawn out to use up every ounce of strength, and then all the man had to do was to put his finger upon him.

Paul tells us that the weakness of God is stronger than men. It is only a finger touch, after all, when Jacob has got to the end of his strength, and he bears the mark of that to his dying day. "Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name?" "Do you want to know who I am? Look at the effect! My weakness is stronger than men, greater than all the power of the devil." He was "crucified through weakness". He lives "by the power of God". Crucified in weakness? But what weakness! The mighty power of God was allied to that weakness.

So the Name as a mere word was withheld, and the interrogation was intended to direct the attention of Jacob to the power in action: "You need not ask My Name, you ought to know!" It was as though Jacob said, "Oh no, I need not ask, I have met it, I know! It has proved more than a match for my utmost strength! That simple touch crippled me when I was at my strongest."

The Name of the Lord is known by its power. The Name is power, that is the point. It is not a title, it is not a word, it is not a place. The Name means power, but this power is manifested on the ground of human weakness.

Isra-el, a Prince with God! When? When his greatest strength has met the touch of God and broken under it, been crippled by it. Then he is a Prince with God, then he knows the meaning of the Name.

I do not know whether we know the Name which is above every name. The Word says that God has given Him the Name. I am not sure that we have the Name that God has given Him. We are not told what the Name is that is above every name, unless we conclude that it is the title of God known to us, Jehovah. What that Name is may well be something unrevealed. The point is that we know He has been given a title of authority and power over every other title in the universe, and we know it by the power that is in Christ. The Name is the power, and that power operates when our strength has been broken. So weakness becomes the background of the power of the Name. That is what is revealed by types in the Old Testament. Look where you like, and you will see the value of God operating and the Name of God resting, and you will see that God has dealt with the vessel to its breaking, and its weakening, and its emptying.

Is it a Moses, coming out from Egypt in the strength of his own person to do God's work? God does not ally Himself to that Moses. God does not commit His Name to him. But in the day when Moses has been weakened and emptied in the desert, then Moses says: "When I come unto the children of Israel... and they shall say to me, What is His name? What shall I say unto them?" And God tells him, "Thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, I AM has sent me unto you" (Ex. 3:13-14). But what will they understand about that? That is vague, indefinite, they will not understand that! "What is that in thine hand?" And Moses said, "A rod". "All right, that is the key to the Name, the rod of supreme authority. They will know My Name by the power that is manifested! They will understand that I AM when that rod becomes active!" And they did. All their enemies were slowly, steadily, surely brought into subjection to that Name until the last enemy, death, met that rod, met that Name, undefined but active, and was broken. The Name proved to be above every name. Moses, in order to come into the power of that Name, had to be broken in his natural strength.