Advent 2021: What Is His Name?
For all time the incarnation stands as the defining line in the history of men. God became man. You can only cover your eyes and shudder before it, before this: “God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God… who for us and for our salvation,” as the Nicene Creed puts it, “came down from heaven.” Men and women throughout history have struggled to find the words to describe this mystery at the very heart of the Christian faith. We cannot fully appreciate the drama of the enunciation to Mary without touching the longing and anticipation in the hearts of the Patriarchs and Prophets.
Genesis chapter three reveals the tragic moment when humanity entered into the rebellion of Satan. Somewhere between Genesis 1:31, when God saw and said that all things were good, and Genesis 3:1, a conflict began. Tradition holds that Lucifer, a powerful and high-ranking angel, especially in the realm of worship and music, became proud of His angelic grandeur and exalted Himself to be like God. He sought the worship of God’s created order and secured the following of a third of Heaven’s angels. The rebellion expanded into the Garden of Eden as Satan sought to establish his kingdom on the earth by seducing God’s most prized creation; the image bearers. Adam and Eve’s decision was over much more than what fruit to eat. It was over whose nature humanity would demonstrate and manifest on the earth and consequently what kingdom would rule the earth. Humanity joined the resistance against God’s plan, and everything placed under the authority of Adam and Eve was subjugated to death and darkness. The consequences of this rebellion have changed the entire landscape of the created order. The effects have been disastrous and deadly. This agreement split heaven and earth and allowed Satan to insert a foreign kingdom between the two, which would have influence over the earth. Death had entered the human experience, humanity was now enslaved, the dominion of darkness reigned. 1 John 5:19 tells us that the whole world is under the sway of the wicked one, and the New Testament makes it clear that he is the “ruler of this world” and the “god of this age.” (Jn 12:31;14:30;16:11; 2 Cor 4:4; Eph 6:12) Creation began to groan for another Adam to come and restore all things back to the glory of their intended purpose. This is a cosmic dilemma; the first Adam had handed over his authority to Satan and is responsible to pay the price for the broken covenant, but only God had the sufficiency to pay the debt. Only man should pay it; only God could pay it.
After the fall, God prophesied of a coming King who would crush the powers of darkness, restore mankind to the dignity of original design, and restore creation.
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." – Genesis 3:15
This promised King would accomplish three critical works:
He would bring enmity between Satan and the lineage of the woman. An agreement had been made between man and Satan. A binding contract between the two parties, in which man was enslaved. In order for redemption to take place, a man who was not under the contract had to break the agreement that man had with Satan and bring enmity where there was now relationship. The very one whom Satan deceived, the woman; through her would come the promise. He will restore her dignity.
His heel would be struck. - He would pay the penalty for the trespass of the fall and satisfy divine justice. Somehow, He would pay the penalty of death for all mankind, but it would only be a heel strike, it would not be ultimate or fatal.
He would crush the head of the serpent. He would definitively remove Satan and His governments from the earth. Under His leadership, demonic influence would be eradicated from the human experience and creation would be set free from bondage.
All unfolding revelation in the Scriptures would be concerning this promised Seed coming who would destroy Satan and make all things new. This is the first Messianic promise of the Scriptures. The Bible unfolds the story of how God brought forth the Seed, how He will crush Satan forever and how He will bring heaven and earth together again. (Eph 1:10-11)
The search begins for this intercessor King; another man who could stand outside of the curse of Adam with the capacity of the Trinity and reconcile man back to God, thus reconciling all of creation. When the image bearers are reconciled back into fellowship with God, the earth and creation would also be restored to its original glory. This Second Adam would take the mandate of the first, to rule the earth and restore it to a place where the Father could again walk in the midst of the garden with man. ( From this point on, men would be seeking and waiting for this King who would come and reconcile created order to its Creator, redeem the image bearers, remove the kingdom of darkness, and restore the earth. Since the days of Seth, the son of Adam and Eve, people have been praying, longing, and anticipating the coming Seed. Who is He? When will He come? What is His name?
And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, "God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him." To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the LORD. – Genesis 4:25-26
Throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, a Person appears again and again to weak and broken men and women. Just when the promise of the Seed seems out of reach and all hope is lost, a mysterious figure shows up and strengthens men and women with fascination and encounter. He appears to Hagar in the wilderness, fleeing from her masters. He ate lunch with Abram under the Terebinth and wrestled with Jacob all night before touching his hip. Throughout the enigmatic encounters, men and women are left with one lingering question, “What is Your name?”
Then he said, "Let me go, for the day has broken." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." And he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." … Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him. - Genesis 32:26-27, 29
When the people of God were in captivity and all hope seemed to be lost, He appeared in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. There He commissioned Moses to lead the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt and into the promised land.
And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. ... Then Moses said to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" - Exodus 3:2, 13-14
Joshua meets Him with a drawn sword in His hand (Jos 5:13-6:2). Gideon met Him in the winepress (Jg 6:11-14). And Samson’s parents marvel at Him in wonder.
And Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "What is your name, so that, when your words come true, we may honor you?" And the angel of the LORD said to him, "Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?" - Judges 13:17-18 ESV
Isaiah reaches for His name, but he can only touch the edges of His glory as he prophecies.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. - Isaiah 9:6
Daniel’s friends met Him in a fiery furnace, and Zechariah saw Him among the myrtle trees. Malachi, the last prophet of the OT, ends his oracle by promising Elijah before the great and awesome day of the Lord. You can feel the tension…. You can touch the ache… We know who Elijah is, but tell us about the Seed! Who is the One coming? Who can we expect? What is His name? This lingering question would be followed by 400 years of silence between Malachi and Matthew.
In the fullness of time, the Scriptures say, the Lord found a young woman named Mary who was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph who was from the house of David. The angel Gabriel visited this young woman with a message that changed human history for all of the ages.
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!" But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." And Mary said to the angel, "How will this be, since I am a virgin?" And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy--the Son of God.”- Luke 1:26-35
The question has been answered! The mystery hidden for ages now revealed! We know the King by name!
Forever we know the uncreated, invisible, immortal God through the man, Jesus of Nazareth. That name has been exalted as the name above all names as within that name contains all the promises of God. That name carries all the weight of every promise behind it. In that name is the revelation of all that is and all that God intends to do. The promise of the restoration of all things and the crushing of the head of the Serpent is sealed forever in His name. It is that name that we will sing forever and that name which we proclaim to the ends of the earth. The only mediator between God and man, the only name under heaven by which men are saved, Jesus of Nazareth, our Christ Forever.
...who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. - Philippians 2:6-11
"Christ is God shining through the personality of a man, and shining unhindered. His sacred humanity does not veil His divine beauty in any degree." - A. W. Tozer
Prayer:
Father, I slow down to adore the way You are leading history, how You always keep Your promises and how You revealed Yourself throughout the story. I am in awe of who You are. Lord Jesus, You are more beautiful than I could ever imagine. Oh, would You come to me and fascinate me again as You came to the men and women of old! I want to marvel Holy Spirit; open the eyes of my understanding that I may see the beauty of Jesus more and more. Anoint my heart with wonder and let my worship deepen until my thoughts are preoccupied with Your name, my affections are stirred by Your name, and my will is surrendered to Your name. Amen.
