One Name = God

Reflection: In thinking about One Name above all names, so far we’ve learned that Jesus is Lord and Jesus is Saviour. But this only has real meaning if we believe Jesus is God. There are plenty of people claiming to be human lords and human saviours. Some of these might even do some good. But from the very beginning, Christians believed something different about Jesus – that he is God ‘incarnate’ – God in human flesh.

The book of Hebrews was likely written in the early 60s AD – within three decades of when Jesus walked the earth. As we see in our reading today, the writer of Hebrews believed Jesus to be more than a teacher, more than a prophet, more than an angel, more than a good person. Instead, they believed that God ‘created the universe’ through Jesus who now ‘sustains everything by the mighty power of his command’ (Heb 1:2, 3 NLT). So, who is Jesus? He is the ‘radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being’ (Heb 1:3 NIV).

There are many other verses in the Bible where it is clear that Jesus not only came to point us to God, but to be God with us. To give us One Name we can call on in any circumstance. The beautiful truth is that God became like us so that he could save us. He came near us so we could know him and call him friend. God did not leave us in our despair but shared our despair so we can hope again. As Hebrews explains:

‘Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. (Heb 2:14 NLT).

So, when we pray to Jesus, we are praying to God, we are praying to the One who defeated sin, satan, and death. We are praying to the One who knows what it is like to be human, but who can also bring the full power and authority of God into our circumstances when we put our trust in him.

One Name today: Hebrews says: ‘Since he [Jesus] himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.’ (Heb 2:18 NLT). What testing are you facing today? Call on the One Name, Jesus, who not only can sympathise with what we are experiencing, but hears our prayers when we pray in his name.