Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1434
Delivered on Lord’s-Day Morning, September 15 1878
“And she shall bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21.
BERNARD has delightfully said that the name of Jesus is honey in the mouth, melody in the ear and joy in the heart. I rejoice in that expression on my own account, for it gives me my share of the delight and leads me to hope that while I am speaking, the sweetness of the precious name of Jesus may fill my own mouth. Here, also, is a portion for you who are listening—it is melody in the ears! If my voice should be harsh and my words discordant, you will yet have music of the choicest order, for the name itself is essential melody and my whole sermon will ring with its silver note! May both speaker and hearer join in the third word of Bernard’s sentence and may we all find it to be joy in our hearts, a jubilee within our souls! Jesus is the Way to God, therefore will we preach Him! He is the Truth, therefore will we hear of Him! He is the Life, therefore shall our hearts rejoice in Him! So inexpressibly fragrant is the name of Jesus that it imparts a delicious perfume to everything which comes in connection with it.
Our thoughts will turn, this morning, to the first use of the name in connection with our Lord, when the Child who was yet to be born was named Jesus. Here we find everything suggestive of comfort. The person to whom that name was first revealed was Joseph, a carpenter, a humble man, a working man, unknown and undistinguished except by the justice of his character. To the artisan of Nazareth was this name first imparted! It is not, therefore, a title to be monopolized by the ears of princes, sages, priests, warriors or men of wealth—it is a name to be made a household word among common people! He is the people’s Christ, for of old it was said of Him, “I have exalted One chosen out of the people.” Let every carpenter and every worker of every sort rejoice with all other sorts of men in the name of Jesus!
There is consolation in the messenger who made known that name to Joseph, for it was the angel of the Lord who, in the visions of the night, whispered that charming name into his ear and, henceforth, angels are in league with men and gather to one standard, moved by the same watchword as ourselves—the name of Jesus! Did God send the name by an angel and did the angel delight to come with it? Then is there a bond of sympathy between us and angelic spirits and we are come, this day, not only “to the general assembly and church of the firstborn,” but “to an innumerable company of angels,” by whom that name is regarded with reverent love!
Nor is the condition of Joseph, when he heard this name, altogether without instruction. The angel spoke to him in a dream—that name is so soft and sweet that it breaks no man’s rest but rather yields an unrivalled peace—the peace of God! With such a dream, Joseph’s sleep was more blessed than his waking. The name has evermore this power, for, to those who know it, it unveils a glory brighter than dreams have ever imaged! Under its power young men see visions and old men dream dreams—and these do not mock them, but are prophecies faithful and true! The name of Jesus brings before our minds a vision of Glory in the latter days when Jesus shall reign from pole to pole—and yet another vision of Glory unutterable when His people shall be with Him where He is!
The name of Jesus was sweet at the first because of the words with which it was accompanied—for they were meant to remove perplexity from Joseph’s mind and some of them ran thus—“Fear not.” Truly, no name can banish fear like the name of Jesus! It is the beginning of hope and the end of despair! Let but the sinner hear of “the Savior” and he forgets to die! He hopes to live! He rises out of the deadly lethargy of his hopelessness and, looking upward, he sees a reconciled God and no longer fears. Especially, Brothers and Sisters, this name is full of rare delights when we meditate upon the infinite preciousness of the Person to whom it was assigned. Ah, here is a Jonathan’s wood dripping with honey
from every bough and he that tastes it shall have his eyes enlightened! We have no common Savior, for neither earth nor Heaven could produce His equal!
I. First, we shall remark that THE NAME OF JESUS IS A NAME DIVINELY ORDERED AND EXPOUNDED. According to the text, the angel brought a message from the Lord and said, “You shall call His name Jesus.” It is a name which, like He who bears it, has come down from Heaven. Our Lord has other names of office and relationship, but this is specially and peculiarly His own personal name and it is the Father who has thus named Him. Rest assured, therefore, that it is the best name that He could bear!
God would not have given Him a name of secondary value, or about which there would be a trace of dishonor. The name is the highest, brightest and noblest of names—it is the glory of our Lord to be a Savior. To the best that was ever born of woman, God has given the best name that any son of man could bear. JESUS is the most appropriate name that our Lord could receive. Of this we are quite certain, for the Father knew all about Him and could name Him well. He knows much more about the Lord Christ than all saints and angels put together, for, “No man knows the Son but the