March 11, 2022
“You have magnified your Word above all. Your name.” This most amazing statement is found in Psalm 138:2. Paul tells us in Philippians 2:10 that God has so highly exalted Christ that at his name, every knee shall bow…and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” “At his name, every knee shall bow,” and yet God’s word is magnified even above that name, which is for the Christian, almost incomprehensible. How can this be?
I’ve listened to many people speak the name of Jesus almost as a talisman. They fervently pray “in the mighty name of Jesus,” somehow imagining that merely mouthing the syllables will make something happen. The reality is that there are plenty who will claim the name of Jesus for all sorts of things, mostly good, but sometimes selfish and evil. But the Name without the Word is only a good-luck charm, a rabbit’s foot. Shouting the name of Christ is no shortcut for faith in and obedience to the Word of Christ.
There is no substitute for faithful study of and meditation upon the Word of God. It is exalted above the Name because it is the fountain of faith (Romans 10:17–“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God”), the source of our life in Christ. If I abandon the Word of God, my claiming the Name of Christ amounts to no more than vain repetition, but allowing the Word of God to transform my life brings the power of the Holy Spirit when I speak the Name of Christ.
If as Paul said, the Name of Jesus is exalted above all other names, how much more the Word of God than all other words! Which begs the question: Why do we listen to all this world’s voices before we search out the Word of Christ?
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