You know, just from our scripture today and that hymn alone, I don’t feel like I really have to say much except: Jesus. I feel like I just need to say “Jesus” and that’s enough said, and I can close my notes and sit down. Because like that old song says “there’s just something about that name.” There’s just SOMETHING, about that name! You can call it when you’re happy. You can call it when you’re sad. You can call it when there’s no other name left to call. I dare you to call it. Like we used to say when I was younger—"I double dog dare you” to call it. Amen. Let me get into this message before my heart gets too happy. Ya’ll know I’m just a Midwest Baptist boy—my heart gets happy and I’ll stay all day.]
I’ve been sitting on this message for a while—maybe even a year or more. At one point, I even sat down and tried to write it—not knowing if I would ever preach it or even use it for anything. I admit that as I was writing it the first time I just gave up on it because I just couldn’t get the message to come out right, and I put it away in the back of my mind. When I was asked about speaking today I didn’t know what I was going to speak about, until the spirit lead me back to this message in the form of a video on YouTube. There’s a channel that I follow called Grunge that does fact videos on all kinds of topics, and they posted one recently called “What Was Jesus’ Real Name?” Though that video doesn’t necessarily go along with this topic today it made me think about the many names of Jesus.
Our text today comes from the book of Isaiah. It’s one we typically hear around the Christmas holiday season, because in this text Isaiah is prophesying the coming of a savior, who we now know to be Jesus, some 700+ years before the actual birth of Jesus. When I hear this text it always strikes me and it sits with me because Isaiah names Jesus without actually naming Jesus. Me being who I am, and with my Theatre background, I find myself thinking back to Shakespeare and the play Romeo and Juliet. One of the most famous scenes in that play is act two, scene two, or The Balcony Scene. Even if you’ve never read the play you’ve probably seen this scene referenced many times in pop culture. It’s during this scene where Juliet is on the balcony professing her love for Romeo not knowing he is in the garden below, and at one point she says, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet.” This is where I draw correlation between our scripture and the play because, as Juliet basically says—it doesn’t matter what you call a rose, it still smells like a rose. No matter what name you call Jesus there is still power in the name.
Let’s go back to our text. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder.” Isaiah in the first sentence of the verse is prophesying the power that the coming savior (Jesus) will have by telling us that the government itself is going to upon His (Jesus’) shoulder, and He’s going to be the one to govern the people. I can hear Isaiah saying to the people of Judah now, “Don’t worry about Assyria. You may be defeated and exiled to Babylon, but there’s a child coming who’s gonna be more powerful than that government.” Let’s keep going. “and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” I don’t about you, but as I read that I can see Isaiah prophesying, and every time he says a different name, I can see his chest puff out a bit more each time because every name he says has more power than the name before it. And what an honor it must be to be able to foretell the coming of one so powerful you can simply call him Wonderful. What an honor it must be to be able to foretell the coming of one so powerful you can simply call him Counsellor, or The Mighty God, The everlasting Father, or The Prince of Peace.
My Brothers and Sisters, I’m here today to do two things. The first, is to answer Juliet’s question “What’s in a name?” Well, when you’re talking about Jesus—there’s Power in the name. The second thing that I’m here to do is to remind the saints of God, or one in particular, that there’s STILL power in the name of Jesus – no matter what you call him. You can call him Emmanuel, Rabbi, Master, Alpha and Omega, the Lamb of God, or The Son of David! If you still need reminding that there’s power in the name of Jesus, let me remind you what Paul said in Philippians 2:9-11, “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a 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; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” I thank God that there’s power in the name Jesus. I thank God that I have a name I call on in times of trouble. I thank God there’s a name I call when my soul needs comforting. There’s just something about that name—that name above all names, that name that brings peace out of confusion—Jesus, Hosanna, the King of Kings. The Son of the Living God! Amen!
As you leave here today, if you don’t take anything else from this sermon I want you to remember that there’s power in the name of Jesus. I don’t care what your circumstances may be. I don’t care what you’re going through. There’s power in the name of Jesus! It doesn’t matter what the doctor says, or what the government may say, or what the non-believers may say. I know that there’s power in the name of Jesus, because when Jesus got up on that third day he got up with ALL power over heaven and earth in his hand, and he’s still in the blessing business today! AMEN!
