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Transcript 266B — Understanding the Name of Jesus
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Hi, Mr. Camping. You've been talking a lot about the Trinity and so forth. And I noticed, as I've visited different church groups, some of the people's reactions to different things. They seem to be a little different. For example, with regard to our relationship to God and our relationship to Christ. And I've been kind of troubled about this at times, because I've become born again, since I have had this sense of sinfulness and I realize I've got to repent, that I have to turn away from sin, and so forth.
I think I've seen some spiritual growth in my life over the last couple of years. But as I've been around here and there, sometimes someone will come up to you and say something like, "Well, how's your relationship with Jesus?" or they'll say in a Bible study, "Well, we're getting to know Jesus better." And I go home that night, and sometimes the phrases kind of hit me kind of funny, because I guess maybe my background would make me think something like, "Well, let's see. I have a relationship with Jesus. But yet I have a relationship with God, if I know Him."
And sometimes this spills over into areas that people have asked you about. When I pray, it comes more naturally to say, "Oh, Lord," or "Father." And people say, "Isn't Jesus wonderful?" And I don't react to it emotionally like they do, you know? And I think to myself, "Yes, Jesus is wonderful, isn't He? He went to the cross." And I realize He endured the wrath of God for me. And yet I guess when I'm praying I react to the term God, and sometimes it seems like, when so many people speak to me, He's a friend or something. You know? And I guess there's a truth to that, but He's God, too, if you know what I mean. And sometimes I think, "Well, I don't react emotionally like that to Jesus." Is that my pride, that I won't want to react that way? Now I've got to really trust what the Bible says. The Bible says Christ is the Savior, and that's what I've got to believe, because the Bible says so.
HC: Yes, I follow you. In other words, the question you're really posing is, How are we to relate to this phenomenon today where there is so much emphasis placed upon Jesus? We have songs that say, "Jesus." It's almost as if there is something superstitious about the name Jesus.
CALLER: And then sometimes I just can't react to it in that kind of sentimental type of way.
HC: You know, we get on safe ground when we look at the scripture. Now here is the apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, speaking in Colossians 1:3: "We always thank God, the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you." Now immediately we see two things here. First of all, he puts the Father Number One. We pray to the father. The fact is, in 1 Corinthians 11 God teaches that the head of Christ is God. Now we can't understand that, but that's the Biblical language.
Okay. And here we find that we're to pray to the Father. And the fact is, I could refer to all kinds of passages like this, as for example, Ephesians 1:3: "Blessed be the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ, with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places."
The second truth that shines through here is the statement, "The Lord Jesus Christ." Now the word Jesus is a perfectly good Biblical word: "Thou shalt call His Name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins." But the word Jesus is not telling the whole story. There is also the word Lord here. And the word Lord indicates that He is the head of the Kingdom. He is the one who is not only the one who has saved us, but He is the head of the Kingdom that we belong to. And we are to recognize Him as head.
The word Christ means He is the Anointed One, that He has been anointed King by virtue of His redemption. Now this comes back to an observation you're making. There is a tendency on the part of some to put Jesus down on our human level, because Jesus was His human name. That was the name that was given Him by Mary and Joseph, Jesus. But He was the Christ.
Now they didn't give Him the name Christ. Christ is the Name that means Messiah. He was the Messiah of the Old Testament. And certainly they didn't give Him the Name Lord. But they were told to name Him Jesus.
Now a lot of people look upon Jesus as not much more than a friend, not much more than someone who was just a wonderful buddy to have around. And they fail to realize that the Lord Jesus is Eternal God, that He is King of kings and Lord of lords, that He is the Almighty Majesty. And we are to look upon Him with awe and reverence and trembling.
CALLER: I don't sort of envision Christ as the person who walked in Palestine 2000 years ago. He did do that then, but I tend to think of God as God Almighty, like you say, the Ruler of the universe. And it's easier for me to have that concept rather than the man as such, although He had to be a man, too.
HC: You see, this phenomenon is further encouraged by an altogether different question. And that is the pictures of Jesus. We have these pictures of Jesus, which are flatly contrary to what God teaches in Exodus 20, that we're not to have make any likeness of God. And yet the picture of Jesus conveys the idea of a benevolent individual, a compassionate man, a longsuffering man. And no picture could ever, ever convey the fact that the Lord Jesus is Eternal God Himself.
CALLER: You don't think there's too much of a problem, then, just stick with the Bible and try to just pray to God, because Christ is God Himself.
HC: Well, yes. We're always on safe ground when we follow the scriptures. Now Jesus was asked how to pray. And He says, "Pray thusly, Our Father, who art in Heaven."
CALLER: Now we should be thankful to Christ for saving us, so they'll say, "Thank you, Jesus, for saving us." It seems to come easier to me to say, "Thank you, Father, that Christ paid the price for my sins."
HC: I always wonder why people want to improve upon the scriptures. Why not follow the rules of the scripture? Why not follow what God has given us examples of? And then we know that we in the will of God. Now if we're going to formulate our own language and try to be more holy and more direct than what God indicates, well, who do we really think we are? And I wonder why men would want to do this.
CALLER: I thought I'd share that. I didn't know whether it was an unusual thing that I might have experienced. You know, you hear so many different opinions on things, you know. It's hard sometimes to separate your own pride from really wanting to respond to God.
HC: And you see, there's another factor here. Now God has very carefully given us His Word. And by praying to God the Father, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and recognizing that it was the Father who so loved us that He gave His only-begotten Son, and so on, this cautions us that we do not make a caricature of the Lord Jesus Christ. We do not say things about Him that are not so. We just use the Biblical language.
He says, "I and the Father are one." Fine. "If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father." I don't understand that. I don't understand that. All I know is that it's so, because Jesus said so. Jesus and the Father are one, and yet the Lord Jesus prayed to the Father. He was not praying to Himself.
And when the Lord Jesus was on earth, dying for our sins, He was not in Heaven. The Father was in Heaven. Jesus left Heaven. He emptied Himself of His glory and came to earth, in order that He might pay for our sins. These are things we cannot understand.
CALLER: The same thing with the Holy Spirit, when we read about the Spirit. He's also Eternal God.
I appreciate your clearing that up for me. I worry about that sometimes.
HC: And incidentally, you mentioned the Holy Spirit. And there are those today who are making a caricature of the Holy Spirit. It's the "Holy Spirit" this, the "Holy Spirit" that, the "Holy Spirit" the other thing. And they are never talking about the Father. They are almost suggesting that nobody knew about the Holy Spirit until we came along.
Actually, we're only going to be on safe ground when we carefully read the Bible and let the Bible be our guide. And when the Bible tells us to speak of the Father, let's speak of the Father. And if the Bible is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, it's speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. And let's just follow what the Bible says, even though much of it we cannot understand.
CALLER: There are so many books on this subject, on the Spirit, and so forth. When you start looking at all these, you can get pretty confused. I was thinking the other day, and I've heard you say, that it's better to just stick with the Bible. You don't get so confused.
HC: Yes.