Take a red pencil and wade through the apocalyptic language of the sixty-sixth book – the Revelation. Underline the names and descriptions ascribed to the Lord in the twenty-two inspired chapters. It’s remarkable!
In the opening lines, He is called “Jesus Christ … the Faithful Witness … the Firstborn from the dead … the Ruler of the kings of the earth … Him who loves us” … and the One who “set us free from our sins by his blood” (Revelation 1:5).
He is “the Alpha and the Omega … the One who is, who was, and who is to come … the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8), “the First and the Last … the Living One” and the One Who declared, “I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever … and I hold the keys of death and Hades” (Revelation 1:17–18).
He is eternally “the Lamb who was slaughtered” (Revelation 13:8) and the ever-conquering “Lion from the tribe of Judah”(Revelation 5:5).
He’s “the Alpha and the Omega … the First and the Last … the Beginning and the End” (Revelation 22:13) … “the Root and Descendant of David … the Bright Morning Star”
(Revelation 22:16). He is the “Male Child … caught up to God and to his throne” … the King to “rule all the nations with a rod of iron” (Revelation 12:5, ESV).
John even paints a picture of His glorious presence. “I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was one like the Son of Man, dressed in a robe and with a golden sash wrapped around his chest. The hair of his head was white as wool—white as snow—and his eyes like a fiery flame. His feet were like fine bronze as it is fired in a furnace, and his voice like the sound of cascading waters” (Revelation 1:12–15). The golden lampstands are His churches. The “Son of Man”, in all His power and majesty, is pictured standing with His bride, the church… think about that.
Later, we’re granted another glimpse as “heaven opened, and there was a white horse. Its rider is called Faithful and True, and with justice he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a fiery flame, and many crowns were on his head ... He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God … and he has a name written on his robe and on his thigh: King of Kings and Lord of Lords” (Revelation 19:11–13, 16). In Glory, when “God’s dwelling is with humanity” (Revelation 21:3), we will bow before our ever-present “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” … the always “Faithful and True” … “Word of God.”
Curiously, the One who is “named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6), has “a name that no one knows” (Revelation 19:12).
This name must be so magnificent and majestic, so hallowed and holy, so sacred and sanctified, that it has never crossed the lips of man or angel. “Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). Truly, He has a “name that is above every name, (and) at the name of Jesus every knee will bow—in heaven and on earth and under the earth—and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9–11).
I wonder… “a name that no one knows” ???
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