Living in the Name of the Lord

npHE name of the Lord’* is a phrase X that occurs very frequently in the word of God. It is a phrase with which we are so familiar that we are in danger of overlooking its full meaning.

In Proverbs xviii. lo we read, for instance, The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.’’ We have contemplated Christ in that aspect, chiefly, perhaps, in reference to the sinner fleeing for mercy. We have ourselves rejoiced in Him as our Refuge from the penalty of sin, and have found in Him safety, rest and peaoe.

But is not the passage especially applicable to the child of God? Although it contains the truth of primary importance to the sinconvicted soul, it really describes the privilege

of the “righteous.” It tells us what the child of God is privileged to do in reference to that name, — he rutps into it; and what he invariably finds when he thus runs into it, — he is safe, that is, delivered from whatever evil may then assail him.

The whole Gospel is summed up in God’s names. To proclaim the glad tidings, and to declare the name of the Lord, are one and the same thing. Moses prayed, “I beseech Thee show me Thy glory.” God answered, “I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee.” Standing in the cleft of the rock, and covered with the hand of the Lord, Moses heard that name proclaimed — “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in forgiveness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin.” There we have a revelation of God’s character — an unfolding of Jehovah’s name. So, again, in the Law, what have we but a manifestation of the name of the Lord? In the moral law we

see shining forth the rays of His holiness, justice and truth. Not a full transcript of God’s character it is true, because the revelation was but partial, but, so far as it went,’ it showed what God was; it set forth His name. So too, in the ceremonial law, we see God’s name declared. Every sacrifice, as it met some special side of man’s need, revealed at the same time some special aspect of God’s character, some special view of His name, as the God of grace, of righteousness, of mercy, and of truth. And yet all these Old Testament revelations were but imperfect manifestations of Jehovah’s name. They were fragmentary in substance and manifold in form. As we read in Heb. i. i, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake unto the fathers by the prophets” {i.e., God who in many parts f not in one undivided whole, but in part; and in many ways revealed His name to the Old Testament saints), “has in these last days spoken unto us by His Son.” In Christ the revelation of God is’ not partial

or imperfect, but full and complete — not in part but as a glorious wholp. And He could say, “Father, I have declared Thy name.” “I have manifested Thy name/* The whole life of Christ was a revelation of God’s name. He was “the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of His person.”

But our God and Saviour has many names. Just as our needs are many, so His names are manifold. For every need in self there is a Divine name, into which we may run and find deliverance.

“The name of the Lord is a strong tower.” A tower. Consider the end and use of a tower in a besieged city. When all the outposts are taken, the walls scaled, the fortifications forsaken, the houses left, it is to the tower that the people flee.

So when all Satan’s legions surround thee, when the powers of darkness encompass thy soul, and thou art driven from all other places of refuge, then think of the name of the Lord.” Who is among you that feareth the Lord, libtng m tl)e fiaim of tie ioxti. 21

that obeyeth the voice of His servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.”” Thou art my hiding-place.**

God’s name is a *’ strong tower’* — an impregnable fortress. It not only gives immediate shelter, it affords eternal security. When a man is in a tower the walls are around him; on every side he is protected. So when the soul trusts in the name of the Lord he is garrisoned in all the attributes of the unchanging Jehovah. He is safe. In the margin it is, he is “set aloft”; that is, lifted up above the reach of his foes. The shafts of the enemy can do him no harm.

Let God’s children remember these words in their daily trials. No matter what may be the nature of your difficulties, temptations, conflicts, perplexities, there is revealed in God’s Holy Word just the name you need to meet your every emergency. Are you tempted to give way to sin? — remember His name. He is called Jesus to save you from your

sins. Run into that name by a definite act of trust, and He will be to you at that moment of danger a strong tower, and you shall be saved from falling into sin.

Let us be ever learning the names of Christ. He has many names. How many do you know, — not intellectually, merely, but spiritually, practically, experimentally? As you advance, as you are enabled to overcome, so you will be learning Christ more and more, in all His wondrous names. And the fulfilment of that promise will be yours: To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone {i.e. the same testimony that Enoch had, that he pleased God), “and in the stone a new name written “(not a new name given to the believer, but a new “name of Christ revealed to the believer), “which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.’* (Compare Rev. iii. 12, “my new name.*’)

Here, again, is the secret of all acceptable service and all true testimony. It must be in the name as well as about the name of the

Lord that he has to bear witness. Hence it is written, in Matt. x. 32: “Whosoever, therefore, shall confess Me before men” — literally, confess in Me “(iv sfwi). “This corresponds with the idea of kr xpiffr eJyau* “The iv is not equivalent to * in behalf of me,* but it shows the ground or root of the confession, namely, a living union with Christ.” {Lange.)

But some may say, “How can I remember all His names, and the special Name I need at the time?” Let the need itself suggest the name. Weakness will suggest His strength, emptiness His fulness, unrest His peace. Christ has as many names as we have needs.

How instructive is this truth in connection with the life of Abraham. In the twelfth chapter of Genesis, God revealed Himself to Abraham as a God of blessing. In the fifteenth chapter we have another manifestation of the Divine name: “Fear not, Abram; I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward.** What is a shield? A covering — a protection — the soul’s first need. “Behold our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed.” It is as such we first trusted in Christ. Under Him, as our Shield, we find security. and rest. Jehovah was also his “reward.” That pointed to the future. So Christ is our present shelter and our glorious hope. Then, in Gen. xvii. i, God reveals Himself under a new name: — “I am the Almighty God” — EZ Shaddai. That is, the God of all sufficiency — of infinite power, and boundless provision — able to fulfil all His promises, and to deliver from all enemies. Hence the command, “Walk before Me and be thou perfect” — upright, free from blame — was not a grievous requirement to Abram, if only he lived by faith in that name. For in this new name he had not only the security (in the shield) and the prospect (in the reward) he Jiad the present provision for every need, in the name El Shaddai. And so it has pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell in Christ for His children. Walk ye in Him.’^