One Name = Saviour

Reflection: Yesterday we learned that Jesus’ name is above every other name. This means that who Jesus is (his character, identity, position, authority, inheritance, promise, and presence) transcends all of creation. There is nothing or no one greater!

But Jesus didn’t come to earth – fully human and fully God – to assert his greatness and display his kingship. He wasn’t after fans, likes, or fame. In fact, John’s Gospel tells us: “God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 4:17 NLT).

As the first Christian disciples learned, even after Jesus returned to heaven, his name continued to carry the power of salvation, as it does today. In Acts 3, Peter and John are going to pray when they meet a man who is disabled and desperately poor, who spends every day begging just to survive. They give him the greatest thing they have – healing and salvation in the name of Jesus.

Having created quite an uproar with this healing, these disciples are arrested and forced to explain themselves to the religious authorities. They don’t want anyone to be confused – this healing was not something they did in themselves, it came through the ‘powerful name of Jesus Christ’ (Acts 4:11 NLT).

And they don’t mean healing came through the mindless reciting of the name ‘Jesus’ but rather having the faith to reach out to the man in the love, authority, and power of Jesus. Peter and John believed fully in the reality of Jesus as the Son of God, knew he longed to heal and restore, and so acted as his hands and feet to see this life made whole.

As they explain this to the religious rulers and others, Peter and John make an even greater claim: “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12 NLT). Beyond even healing, it’s Jesus’s name alone we must call on to be saved. Our eternity depends on it – there is no other Saviour.

One Name today: If you haven’t before, call on the name of Jesus to be saved. If you have, remember you carry amazing truth that must be shared – faith in who Jesus is (his name) can heal and is the only way for our sins to be forgiven and our lives saved.