Those Who Bear the Name of Jesus
in ‘Let Us Know the Holy Spirit’
Chapter 3, “The One Who Enables Us to Experience the Name, Jesus”
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.
Matthew 28:19-20 NKJV
God’s absolute will and promise for salvation are encapsulated in the name Jesus. The Son of God came in the flesh to suffer, to be resurrected, and to ascend into heaven. Therefore, His whole life accomplished the name Jesus. His name is the embodiment of His ministry on earth. In other words, the life of Christ on earth was to present the name Jesus to the world. If the life of Christ were incomplete, then the name Jesus would not have been fully revealed. Yet, because the life of Christ was completed through His death, resurrection, and ascension, the name Jesus has been fully and publicly manifested.
Thus, to reveal the Father’s name, Jesus Christ lived a life of public ministry. When the Son inherited this name, He also inherited the life necessary to save the world from sins. The name Jesus was a life designed for the public ministry of the Son. Before His public ministry started, this name was only a name of a Nazarene. The name Jesus was not yet revealed to the world and was not yet important to us.
However, after Jesus died, resurrected, and ascended, this name became our salvation, our redemption, and God’s love toward us. When we receive this name, it equates to owning the ministry of Christ in us. Everything Jesus did on earth, we can find in His name. His name contains all the works of salvation, His flesh torn and His blood shed. Owning the name of Jesus is eating His flesh and drinking His blood.
Now this name lives in us through the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, we can fully experience the name Jesus and we can fully experience salvation in that name. We can completely obtain the life of Jesus and the will of the Father. The name Jesus is the will of the Father in heaven, the life of Jesus on this earth, and the experiences that come from the working of the Holy Spirit in us. Thus, through the Holy Spirit, our encounter with God reaches its culmination.
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” It was the will of the Father to send His only Son. The Lord taught in His prayer, “… Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The Son of God came into the world to give us His flesh and blood according to the will of the Father. It is Jesus who commanded us to receive the Holy Spirit. He gave us His body and asked us to eat His flesh and drink His blood. Jesus enabled us to experience the will of God by the Holy Spirit. Through the body of Christ, the will of God has been given to us. Now, we can experience God’s will through the Holy Spirit in us.
Salvation is the work of the Triune God embodied in the name, Jesus. If the Father had not planned it with His name, the Son could not execute it. If the Son did not execute the Father’s will, then the Holy Spirit could not apply anything in us either. Because the will of the Father reached its peak in heaven, it also reached its peak on the earth through Christ. And now, it must be reached within us through the Holy Spirit. These three parts, the will of the Father, the work of Christ, and the experience through the Holy Spirit are inseparably intertwined in the name, Jesus. Those who treasure the will of the Father should also equally treasure the works of the Son. Those who highly regard the works of Jesus should wholeheartedly welcome the experience through the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said, “For I have not spoken on My own authority, but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.” His words originally belonged to the Father. Therefore, He said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.”
How about the Holy Spirit? Jesus said about the Holy Spirit, “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will tell you things to come.” Therefore, the doctrine of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are the same.
Jesus said to the disciples, “God therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Baptism is the powerful experience of the name of the Triune God. All that the name Jesus represents through the Trinity is experienced in baptism. It is not just a ritual. Baptism is being united with Christ, declaring that the old self has died and the new self now lives. Both faith and experience are completed in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
in Let Us Know the Holy Spirit,
Chapter 3 “The One Who Enables Us to Experience the Name, Jesus”