Hebrews 1 - The Excellent Name

“Many Jews had a superstitious or idolatrous respect for angels, because they had received the law and other tidings of the Divine will by their ministry. They looked upon them as mediators between God and men, and some went so far as to pay them a kind of religious homage or worship. Thus it was necessary that the apostle should insist, not only on Christ's being the Creator of all things, and therefore of angels themselves, but as being the risen and exalted Messiah in human nature, to whom angels, authorities, and powers are made subject.”

-Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

It was with this issue in mind that Hebrews 1 was written, to clarify the deity of Jesus Christ and to tell of His power, for He has been given “a more excellent name” (verse 4)

Now what’s in a name?

A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet, so says Shakespeare. So what is so important about a name, when we can alter even that? For instance, the word silly was originally meant to describe that a person was smart. (Sarcasm is a ‘great’ distorting tool!)

"Personal names were formed from words that had their own meanings. Thus, the people of the bible were very conscious of the meanings of names. They (the Jews) believed there was a vital connection between the name and the person it identified. A name somehow represented the nature of the person."

-Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary

The name of Jesus Christ carries with it the testimony of the resurrection power that He holds with infinite ease.

A few months ago, I was intrigued by a phrase from a hymn, it goes like this:

“Ponder anew what the Almighty can do”

God doesn’t want my narrow-minded thinking to get in way of His capabilities to work through me, and that includes the rest of mankind, too. Narrow-mindedness “routinises” my thought life, making it unable to appreciate the creative flow of the Spirit.

I guess that’s why God did not limit Himself to a single description. All He calls Himself is “I Am”, because He is Everything. The Jews gave Him a lot of names, El shaddai, El Rophi, and Jehovah Jireh, to name a few.

But the name He gives Himself is simply “I Am”.

He cannot, and will not, be bound to a single attribute. Ponder anew, then, what the Almighty can do.