The Riches of His Name

The Lord Jesus Christ’s many names and attributes in the Scriptures are also diverse graces granted to His people.

Roberto Sáez

In this opportunity we wanted to center this word in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the revelation of His Name. John’s gospel reveals the Lord Jesus Christ to us, and presents Him in a very singular way: in seven different forms of “I am.”

“I am” is God’s name that was revealed to Moses in the Old Testament. “God said to Moses: I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14). At some point in time the Jews had the sound of the Name, but out of respect for the commandment that said: “You will not take the name of Jehovah your God in vain”, they didn’t pronounce it, and nor did they dare to write it. In time, only the consonants YHWH remained, which has no sound when pronounced. The English re-placed the vowels, and formed the expression “Jehovah” which means Yahweh.

The name of God was lost, but we know for sure that this name has a relationship with the verb to BE, with the I AM, and that this is God’s name. And John presents the I AM to us in the person of Jesus Christ. His person; His name, is associated with God. Jesus is God. He is God with God. So let us pay attention to the articles and the epithets of the name I AM.

The seven forms of “I am”

“I am the bread of life” (John 6:35). I especially want you to notice the article that precedes the noun. Jesus says: “I am the bread of life.” This is the first presentation that John makes regarding the person and revelation of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

“I am the door of the sheep.” (10:7) I am the door. The noun door is indicating the function of the name I AM. The door, indicates that it is singular.

“I am the good shepherd” (10:11)... “I am the resurrection and the life” (11:25). “I am the light of the world” (John 12:1). The expression the light of the world is an epithet of the name I AM... “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (14:6)... “I am the true vine” (15:1).

All these forms of I AM have an article and a complement that indicates a function or attribute of the name, in such a way that John presents us with revelation of Jesus Christ. It is not that He is only I AM seven times. It only mentions His name seven times here because that number represents perfection. If we count the number of names in the Scriptures, regarding the I AM, it surpasses two hundred.

Jesus’ attributes

Some of these names or attributes of the Lord Jesus which appear in the Scriptures are: The Alpha and the Omega. The Beloved. The Amen. The apostle of our confession. Anchor of the soul. Advocate. The Blessed. The good shepherd. The Christ. The Way. Counselor. The Lamb of God. Head of the church. The desire of all nations. Mighty God. The gift of God. The indescribable gift. The sent one. Emanuel. He who is, who was and who is to come. The chosen one. The Faithful and True. The foundation. The stronghold. The great King. The great high priest. The great and mighty. Glorious. The Son of God. The Son of Man. The son of David. The heir. The image of the invisible God. Intercessor. The Righteous One . The Judge of the living and the dead. The morning star. The Lion of the tribe of Judah. The only Mediator between God and men. Fountain of life. The mystery of godliness. The hidden mystery. The Messiah. The new man. The chief shepherd. The Prince of peace. The cornerstone. The first-born of all creation. The first-born from the dead. The first-born among many brethren. The precursor of the faith. The door of the sheep. The splendor of the glory of God. The King of kings and Lord of lords. The King of righteousness. The King of peace. The Redeemer. The resurrection and the life. Holy. Savior. Healer. The servant of God. Sovereign over the kings of the earth. The wisdom. The sanctification. The sun of righteousness. The faithful witness. The Almighty. The Word of God. Man approved of God. Man of sorrows. The true vine. The Anointed one... Just pronouncing His names aloud blesses us... Hallelujah!

It is interesting what the Lord calls Himself. He says that He is the way, not a way; He is the truth, not a truth; He is the light, not a light. There is no other light, there is no other way. He is the only bread, He is the only light, He is the only life, He is the only resurrection.

But when He speaks to His own, He tells them that they are exactly what he is: “You are the light of the world.” He is also the door, but the church, in a special way, is the door. Whatever He is, we are also, by position. However, we must also be it by possession as well. Not only because God gave us a position in Him, but because we also appropriate of that position.

The names signify position

Christ, then, is our inheritance, He is the gift of God; a free gift, without cost. And look at all the blessing that there are, all that these names contain, Christ’s positions, all the favor, all the grace, all the virtues that there are in Him. Everything is ours. Blessed is the Lord, because we are just like Him here in this world (1 John 4:17); because the one who belongs to the Lord, is one spirit with Him. Therefore, we have Christ’s life, Christ’s nature, the sense of Christ. All of Christ is in us, and we have to believe it by faith.

How is it that –being what Christ is, and declaring from the Scriptures what we are in Him–many times we don’t have the reality of this grace that God has given us in Him? We have to see the following: That this life, this indescribable gift that God has given us, is within reach of all us; because this it is a donated life, it is God’s provision, a willing life and within reach of all of us. It is a victorious life, a glorious life, a righteous life, a holy life.

The possibilities of this life that God has given us are as great a number as the attributes of His Name. Every time that you read the Bible and find some attribute of Jesus’ name, write it down, and you will find some favor, a position held by Christ; something that God wants to give to you. And then, it is all yours.

But there is something curious. Although the Lord has many names in the Scriptures, if we could draw all these attributes in a circle, like the spokes of a wheel, in the center there is a single name: Jesus. Why is this name the source of all the others? Because Jesus’ name means Salvation. And this is God’s name.

Jesus said: “I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world.” What would that name be, that Jesus made known to his disciples? I believe that that name is Jesus’ name, and that it is not only the name that designates Jesus alone, but also the name that describes the Father and the Holy Spirit. Because in Matthew it says: “Baptize them in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” It doesn’t say “the names”, but “the name.” So God has a name: the name of God is Salvation. Hallelujah!

When you invoke any one of these names, you will receive salvation. If you invoke Him as the way, you won’t be lost anymore. If you invoke Him as the Light, you won’t walk in darkness any longer. If you invoke Him as the Truth, you won’t be in falsehood any more. If you invoke Him as the Bread, you won’t be hungry any more. And in this way, each one of those names will be salvation for us.

“Work out your salvation”... Does that mean we have to work to be saved? No, what it is saying is that every time you have a need, you will invoke the name of the Lord, and you will be saved. “Because all who invoke the name of the Lord will be saved.”

This life that God has given us is not a concept, it is not a thought, it is not an emotion, it is not doctrine, it is not knowledge, it is not religion, it is life, true life! And in the seven names that John reveals, it is the Lord Jesus who presents himself in those ways.

And John relates an incident to us. When the Jews could not understand Jesus’ teachings- they could not understand because they didn’t believe–he tells them: “If you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.” They got very angry; perhaps they found it presumptuous. However, Jesus is what He is. He presented Himself in the exact same way as John relates it: I am. I am the bread. I am the light. I am the way. I am the good shepherd.

We know that it is not presumption, we know that He is what He claims to be, every time that He says “I am”, we can say: “You are.” Peter said: “Lord Jesus, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” We can proclaim what Jesus is. Jesus, you are the resurrection and the life; you are the eternal rock of the ages, you are the Lord! To each of the Lord’s names, to each name with which he is identified, each name in which he is revealed, the believers say: Yes, Lord, you are!

He is the life of God, in quality and in style, the eternal life, the life available to all, wonderful, victorious, abundant, full life, freely given in an inheritance. This is the life that God has prepared for His children, and it contains all that we need: all the power, all the grace, all the blessing. We have been blessed both spiritual and materially. It is a full life.

This life is available

However, why don’t many people see the signs of this life in us? We have to reach maturity so that God can express all this abundant life in us. God is waiting for us to mature. This is a great message and a great hope for us. Because if many of us are not experiencing this life, it is because we lack maturity. It is not that we don’t have it; it is because it is still yet to be manifested. Even though we are not yet mature enough to manifest everything, from the first day that we knew the Lord, each one of us has experienced more than a little grace. Although we take two, three, five, ten or fifteen years in our walk with him, we have experienced, time and again, that the Lord is good and that His loving kindness is forever.

This life is not a life conquered by our own efforts; it is a life gifted to us. Nor is it a life that we can imitate. How many times we have said: “Lord, I want to be like you.” How many times we have judged our character, have we judged sins; and we realize that our life is not like the Lord’s. The Lord’s life is victorious, it is holy, it is righteous. He is meek, He is humble. And we are not like him.

How many times we have made resolutions to correct ourselves, by means of fasting, continuous prayer, or some type of abstinence; thinking that if we persist, we will become a little more like Jesus. But this implies that we think the Christian life is a life that you can copy. We know from experience that this is not true; that it is impossible for this life to be imitated. This life is Christ’s life, it is Christ in us. Paul in actual fact teaches us that the Christian life is one of denial: not me, but Christ.

God allows failures because He wants the moment to arrive when we say: “Lord, I am not capable, I have failed; I tried in vain to fix my life.” He is waiting for you to have revelation of this life. Then, when we experience the failure of not being able to be like Christ, this is what corrects us, makes us see our true state, and we have nothing left to say other than: “Lord I won’t fight with this any more”, and to hope in Him alone. All this implies the cross: to stop trying in vain with carnal efforts, and to take hold of the faith and let the cross do its work. This is what will finally gain the victory.

I want to encourage your hearts in regard to the possibility of possessing this life. If you are willing, it is within reach of all us.

The wealth of Israel

I want to represent this possibility in an analogy, related to what was once the place of worship in the Old Testament, in accordance with the name and person of Jesus in the New Testament.

Upon the moment of entering in to possess the land, God gives instructions to the people of Israel. In Deuteronomy 12:5 says: “... but you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go.” God tells them that he will choose a place where He will put His name. The people would come to meet there and would lift up prayers to God. The first geographical place was Shiloh.

Later on, God allowed Solomon to erect Him a temple in Jerusalem. On the day that the temple dedicated, Solomon prayed, “May your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, this place of which you said you would put your Name. May you hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place…” Whatever Israel’s need, when they invoked His name from or toward that place, God would hear and would respond.

Now, brothers and sisters, pay attention to the possibilities of this promise, the possibilities that God gives to Israel. When Reading Solomon’s long prayer in 2 Chronicles 6 we can see his concern for solving all problems; national problems, physical problems, climatological phenomena, problems of war, shortage, hunger, captivity; the big and the small problems.

God is interested in listening to and blessing His people. God commits His ears in order to listen to all prayers. All that they had to do was to believe God’s promise, take on an attitude of faith, bow down and look toward the place where God’s name was. They only had to invoke His name and extend their hands, to declare their petition, and be sure that God would respond to their cry.

Gathered in His Name

Now, for us, there is something much more glorious; something much greater. The Lord Jesus said to his disciples: “Where two or three are gathered in my name...” (Mt. 18:20). Gathered in the place where the Name is. They can be united in a prayer, and they can be sure that any thing that they ask of God, will receive an answer.

Can we believe? We have the place, we have the Name, we have the faith to pray. We don’t even have to lift our hands to the heavens; we just have to believe that the Lord is here. We are gathered in Christ, we have been called to Him. We are in Him. Does anyone have a need?

Today we have a tremendous possibility. We have all the possibilities of the attributes of the Name. We have the revelation of the Name with us. Hallelujah! You can invoke the Name according to your need, because for each one of your needs, He has a Name: I am your healer. I am your liberator. I am your shield. I am your refuge. I am your strength. I am... I am... The I AM is with us! Hallelujah!

Synthesis of an oral message shared in Rucacura (Chile) 2003.

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