A family in Manhattan decided...
Illustration
A family in Manhattan decided to leave the crowded city and go west. They bought a ranch in Texas where they intended to raise cattle. Soon after the family had settled on their new ranch, they were visited by friends from New York. Looking around the ranch, the visitors asked, "Have you picked out a name for the place?" "Well," explained the husband, "I wanted to call it the Bar-J and my wife wanted to call it the Suzy-Q. However, one of my sons liked the name Flying-W and the other son preferred the Lazy-Y. We've compromised and we call the place the BarJ/Suzy-Q/Flying-W/Lazy-Y." One of the visitors from back east scratched his head and asked, "Where are all your cattle?" The new rancher frowned and replied, "Unfortunately, none of them survived the branding!"
Christ's "name" has the opposite effect. It brings life instead of death. A "name" to us is usually a convenient label that we put on persons, places and things. In biblical days, however, a name was more than a label. It stood for the character, the essential nature of its bearer. Esau complained about his brother Jacob, saying, "No wonder his name is Jacob!" (the name sounds like the Hebrew word for "cheat"). Abigail said of her husband, "He is exactly what his name means -- a fool" (1 Samuel 25:25). Christ's "name," then, stands for his character, his spirit and attitude.
-- Chinn
Christ's "name" has the opposite effect. It brings life instead of death. A "name" to us is usually a convenient label that we put on persons, places and things. In biblical days, however, a name was more than a label. It stood for the character, the essential nature of its bearer. Esau complained about his brother Jacob, saying, "No wonder his name is Jacob!" (the name sounds like the Hebrew word for "cheat"). Abigail said of her husband, "He is exactly what his name means -- a fool" (1 Samuel 25:25). Christ's "name," then, stands for his character, his spirit and attitude.
-- Chinn
