The Name Above All Names
In looking at all the different names of God, there is a name that stands out above them all, and that is the name of Jesus. The Bible says that God gave His Son the name that would be above all names and at the mention of His name, all knees would bow and every tongue would confess that He is Lord, (Phil. 2:9-11). The name Jesus, in the Hebrew is: Yeshua. It is the same as the name Joshua, in the Old Testament, which means salvation.
The transition of the use of the name Yeshua to Jesus is understood purely as a phonetic development of languages. In the Romance languages the letter “J” only began to appear in the 16th century. “Y” was also non-existent, so to write in Latim the name “Yeshua” an “I” was used in its place. As the early Church, which was predominately Greek and Latin based, became more distant from its Hebrew origins, the spelling and pronunciation of Yeshua became “Iesous”. In the 1500’s a tail was added to the “I” to distinguish a “je” sound from a “ye”, thus a “J” appeared. Languages are constantly in a state of flux as are the spellings of words.
What is important to note is that the name Jesus refers to a person. That person is the Son of God, who is the Word of God and Savior of mankind. There is power in the name of Jesus, because it refers to the one who has all authority in heaven and on the earth. All demons tremble at the mention of this name, because it was Jesus that destroyed all the works of the devil, cancelling the curse of the law and setting free the captives of sin and death. It is in the name of Jesus that the sick are healed and the demons are cast out. It is the only name by which one can be saved and it is with the name of Jesus that we ask all things from the Father.
Those who have repented of their sins and have received Jesus as their Lord and Savior have the right to use this precious name. Being able to use the name of Jesus is like having a power of attorney. All that belongs to Jesus is now available to us. He signed the check, now all we do is cash it.
Early in my Christian walk, I was confronted by the power in Jesus’ name. I was with a number of young Christian friends and we were trying to help a young girl who had been involved in a satanic cult. As we prayed, she began to manifest demons. The demons were attempting to cast her out a third story window and were much stronger than the seven of us. An older believer came into the room and saw our struggle and came up to the girl and rebuked the evil spirits in Jesus’ name. The demons immediately left the girl and she was filled with peace. There is no name higher than the name of Jesus and He has given His name to us.
Scriptures to meditate on:
Heb. 2; Acts 4:12; 10:38; Mat. 1:20-23; 28:18; I John 3:8; John 16:23; Mark 16:17