What's So Special about the Name of Jesus?

the short answer is the name of god is a very important theme throughout the bible in the name of jesus is featured as the name of salvation in the new testament so let me give you a couple resources if you're interested i have a small book that's entirely devoted to this subject called in the name of jesus and then if you want to discuss more about water baptism in the name of jesus christ my book the new birth goes into that subject now i'm not going to do go specifically into that aspect but let's focus specifically on the significance of the name if you study the bible names are very significant and particularly the name of god actually there's a four-fold significance god's name represents first of all his character his identity what kind of person he is or what kind of god he is so in other words by knowing his name you have an understanding of his character his nature his attributes the second thing god's name represents his authority third god's name represents his power and fourth god's name represents his manifested glory or his immediate presence so what makes the name of god different from all other names if you call my name i may or may not hear you i may or not be may or may not be there i may or may not want to help you if you're asking for help or even if i want to i may not have the power or authority to do anything but what's different about god's name specifically the name of jesus when you call his name anywhere in the world you have his immediate tension and presence you have a god who wants to help who has the power to help and who has the authority to help so his name represents his presence throughout the earth and so god's name identifies who he is now the name of jesus is significant let me back up in the old testament the personal name by which god was identified in contrast to all the false gods was what we call in the in the king james version jehovah or probably more accurately in hebrew was pronounced yahweh now ancient hebrew didn't have vowels so we don't know the exact ancient pronunciation but the consonants yhwh also called the tetragrammaton the four sacred letters which as we say yahweh so the word god or elohim in greek could be applied to true gods false god even humans in certain capacities so it's like the english word generic god but when you say yahweh that is the one true god of the bible the god of israel the god of creation so that was god's personal name that distinguished him from all other so-called gods the name of jesus literally means yahweh savior or yahweh is salvation and the uniqueness about the name of jesus is that jesus christ of nazareth the lord jesus christ is the only person who actually embodies or personifies the meaning of that name now other people in history so even in its equivalent to the name joshua uh and in the new testament we find other people who are named jesus bar jesus even today especially in the human hispanic community jesus so many people can bear that name but when they bear the name it's a way of glorifying god to say god is our savior yahweh is our savior but in the case of jesus christ of nazareth it has a very specific fulfillment that he actually is what his name says in contrast to anybody else we see this in matthew chapter one when the angel spoke to joseph the husband of mary the mother of jesus and and said call his name jesus in matt so this was god's choice matthew 1 21-23 it quotes from isaiah a virgin will conceive and bear a son you will call his name emmanuel which being interpreted from the hebrew is god with us and then this is applied to jesus he will be the fulfillment of this prophecy he will be the son born of a virgin who will be emmanuel god with us so call his name jesus and then there's the explanation why for he shall save his people from their sins so if you don't know the meaning of the name of jesus it doesn't make sense but if you know the meaning is the name jesus is jehovah savior or yahweh savior oh so that's why he should be called that name because he's going to do that and so now you see the parallel god with us the name jesus actually fulfills that prophecy because god is jehovah and god is with us why is he with us to be our savior so the name jesus actually fulfills the prophecy that the messiah would be god with us to save us from our sins and so we have this classic statement in acts chapter 4.

so if you go back to acts 3 peter and john prayed for elaine layman he was miraculously healed they actually said in the name of jesus christ of nazareth rise up and walk and i might say we typically use the title lord or the title christ or maybe even of nazareth why because as i said there are other people throughout history and even today who are known by the name of jesus but they're only there's only one who actually fulfills the meaning well how do you identify that one when you say lord jesus or jesus christ or lord jesus christ now you're exclusively identifying that one so the name is jesus but the titles identify the unique jesus who is the object of your faith who is actually god manifest in flesh who is your savior and so they said in the name of jesus christ of nazareth rise up and walk so the lame man was healed crowd gathered they marveled they thought wow peter and john have such extraordinary power there must be holy men of god and so peter explained you know why do you look on us as if we had extraordinary power of holiness it's our holiness not us acts 3 16 says his name through faith in his name has made this man whole so it's the name of jesus but notice it's not merely the mechanical pronunciation it's not a magical formula when we say the name it's only effective because we have faith in the one the name represents so it's the name of jesus that heals but it's because we call his name in faith knowing who he is having a relationship with him relying upon him as the savior and healer so that's how he was healed through the invocation of the name of jesus in faith so in acts 4 peter and john were arrested called before the jewish council and they were threatened you know you shouldn't be preaching jesus but they ask how were you able to do this miracle well in acts 4 10 peter quoted the exact words by the name of jesus christ of nazareth and then in verse 12 he explained neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved so you want to know why do we emphasize the name of jesus because the new testament especially the apostles said it's specifically the name of jesus that's the only name for salvation and if you read the book of acts they baptized in jesus name they laid hands on the sick and prayed for healing in jesus name they cast out demons in jesus name they preached and taught in jesus name they suffered suffered shame and rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of jesus and as colossians 3 17 the apostle paul said whatever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the lord jesus uh and of course in doing so you're giving honor and thanks to god the father because god has chosen to reveal himself in the name of jesus and so of course doing all in the name of jesus goes beyond just a verbal invocation it means all of our life should be subject to jesus as lord but when there is a time to invoke god's name or to act in god's name or a ceremony such as water baptism where we need to call on god then it's obvious do it in the name of jesus and that's why we emphasize it because the new testament tells us whatever you do in word or deed do it all in the name of the lord jesus