HIS NAME by J. C. Musselman

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 2, 1901

HIS NAME

By J. C. Musselman

J. C. MUSSELMAN (Agency, Iowa)

In Ex. 34:6, 7, we find God's name to be not only the Lord, but the “Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” This is God's name; and any one who manifests any of these attributes, manifests God's name. But it is evident that if these attributes are manifested, and yet not recognized as being of God, then God is deprived of His most potent method of preaching “glad tidings” to the poor and needy.

In other words, God tells us that He is the giver of every good and perfect gift, which is as much as to say, I am the author of all good; therefore any one doing good in his own name, is appropriating unto himself the honor and glory due God alone. But if it is understood that we are Christ's, it is equally true that all things are His (Ex. 19:5; Ps. 50:12), so that in giving, no thanks are due the giver. He is simply one of Christ's stewards who does this work in his Master's stead, giving of Christ's common goods, bearing in mind that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

We find that when the apostles were sent forth to do miracles in Christ's name, they used His name always. Believers were baptized “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;” and in the name of Jesus devils were cast out.

If these words become a mere form, the trouble is not that the name of Christ is used, but that the Spirit does not attend them. For how can one who has not the Spirit of Christ impart to another, by word or deed, that which he himself has not?

But what is the reward promised for a cup of water given in His name, because ye belong to Christ? He who gives in the spirit of Christ will doubtless receive manifold blessings, but perhaps the chief reward is that the act of giving is one of the most effective means of opening man's heart. When in a condition to receive help, he will the more readily receive the kind words of Jesus. And if given in His spirit, “verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward;” that is, the reward will be a permanent blessing to the giver, inasmuch as the words will bring forth fruit, in a changed life, in the person to whom they were spoken.

The Sabbath commandment is, perhaps, the best illustration of the fact that more than the mere act, or letter, of hospitality is required. Here we are told that the stranger that is within our gates (Ex. 20:10) is to keep the Sabbath. In other words, we are responsible in some degree for his Sabbath observance. When we offer him the hospitality of our house, we must also offer him the Sabbath, and in so doing, of necessity, offer both together in God's name; for especially is God's name linked with the Sabbath.

We read, in Eze. 20:20, “Hallow my Sabbaths; . . . that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” This is the all-important thing. Any one offering a gift, in Christ's name, if only a cup of water, or a bed that will remind a wanderer of the fact that he belongs to Christ, that will cause him to remember “the Lord thy God,” “shall not lose his reward.”