The Name Above All Other Names

I was asked to talk at our annual ladies cookies exchange last night. It was such a privilege to be able to share the gospel of Jesus with so many women……

As I began to pray and ponder on what I was going to write about for this special time, I began to mediate on the names and titles of Jesus. His names serve as a description of who He is and how He works in the lives of individuals. He wants to be known and one way He has chosen to reveal Himself is by telling us His many names.

What are some of His names you treasure? What are some you desire to know more about? What are some you find yourself clinging to each day? I believe the more we know of Him the more we trust and long for Him.

What are some of His names you treasure? What are some you desire to know more about? What are some you find yourself clinging to each day? I believe the more we know of Him the more we trust and long for Him.

What I would like for us to do in the next few minutes is think about three of His names: The Bread of Life, The Light of the World, and Savior. I’m going to associate them with some Christmas traditions. Can we treasure God in our traditions…I think we can.

1. Jesus is…. The Bread of Life

Who doesn’t love the all wonderful goodies at this time of year, and the wonderful meal you anticipate on Christmas day. Though these things may sustain life for the moment, they don’t give life.

John 6:32-33
Jesus said , “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

Jesus said, I Am the Bread of life. Can you think back, when God provided manna – bread from heaven – to feed Moses and the people of Israel in the wilderness. They ate the manna, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and never  die. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. What was God showing the Israelites with the manna? God was  pointing them to Jesus the one who came down from heaven to be the living bread, for souls that are hungry, that they may be satisfied in Him.

What is it you hunger for? Will it give you life everlasting? May this be our heart’s cry,

2. Jesus is …The  Light of the World

Do you enjoy all the bright lights you find illuminating the cities and neighborhoods at Christmas time.  They seem to shout, “Hey look at me, I’m dazzling. Don’t I sparkle and glow?” Those lights come from an artificial source and though they sparkle they will dim and go out in a few weeks.
Jesus is the light of all lights that reveals the splendor of God’s glory. It’s who He is. He will never dim or go out.

Revelation says, “There is a city coming which does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.”
 
In the Old Testament God Himself is closely associated with light. He is the One who illuminates by His Glorious Presence. In the very beginning God illuminated creation with the words “Let there be light, and there was light. God saw that the light was good.” (Gen.1:3)

God’s Presence went with the Israelites as He brought them out of slavery in Egypt – a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, illuminating their way in the darkness. (Exodus 40:34-38)
The “Shekinah” glory of God’s Presence filled and illuminated the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle (in the wilderness) and then the the Temple. No wonder the Psalmist sang, “The Lord is my light and my salvation.” (Ps. 27:1)This “true light” is the illuminating Presence of God Himself, in the Person of Jesus Christ.

This same light, the Light who brings salvation. The Light who leads men and women out of
the darkness of unbelief and slavery to sin has rescued me from the dominion of darkness and transformed me into the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom I have redemption and forgiveness of sins.

Listen to the words of Jesus, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

3. Jesus is …The Savior

This is a season to give gifts to those whom we care about, to those we love and who have been kind to us over the past year. We don’t give gifts to the person who has been slandering our name or to the angry neighbor who never has a kind word to say.

The greatest gift you could ever receive is knowing you have forgiveness and peace with God through His Son Jesus. The Bible tells us that Jesus came into the world to “save people from there sins.”(1 Tim. 1:15) “..for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord”. God was giving us the gift of a Savior! Even His name means “The Lord is Salvation.”

But why do I need this gift of a Savior? What do I need to be saved from? The Bible says, God created all that exists including man. Man rebelled against God through disobedience that resulted in separation from God. But God sent His Son into the world, as a man who lived a life without sin, and died as a sacrifice and substitute in the place of His people.Three days later he rose from the dead to show victory over sin and death, and ascended back into Heaven and one day He will return and judge the world. This work of salvation is a gift from the Lord and comes by repentance and faith. Thanks be to God for His Gift, [precious] beyond telling. (2 Cor. 9:15)

Remembering the Hope he intends for us to have at Christmas,
 Amy