His name remains when all else disappears. It endures when everything else perishes, and retains fame, prestige and lustre in the midst of a scene of transitory and fading glory.
Among many kings, queens, presidents and prime ministers it is still reverently honoured and esteemed, and whilst the authority of such persons is great, the dominion and power of the name is infinitely greater. The influence it exercises for good in an evil world far exceeds the questionable domination of all the dictators on earth combined.
Angels know it and worship, whilst rejoicing in seeing it apprehended in the faith of men’s hearts. Fallen angels and demons also know it and confess it, but fear and tremble. Many soberminded leaders among men recognise it: commanders of armies and navies, defenders of fortresses and outposts, scientists and scholars, judges and law-makers.
It has flashed into the vision of falling aircraft pilots, stirred the memories of stricken mariners in the ocean depths, and sounded in the ears of dying miners in the dark tombs of the earth. Many a doctor has been fortified with it, whilst nurses have whispered its wonderful music to the weak and dying. It has been a power for hope and comfort to the despairing in concentration camps, in dark dungeons and in cruel prisons.
Perish it cannot - endure it will, for the immutable will of the everlasting God has decreed it. Schemes, plans, conspiracies, ambitions hold sway for a while, but the sway of His wonderful name continues on and on forever. In favour and disfavour, in honour, and dishonour, in fervent adoration and in cavilling reviling, in loving appreciation and in neglectful indifference, amongst believers and unbelievers, around kingly thrones and in nomadic encampments, in universities and factories, around the belt of the equator and on Arctic ice - floes - this strangely magnetic name - JESUS - is the one power to move the hearts of men.
Its unfailing testimony has echoed in the theatres and palaces of ancient Rome - it was carried to the limits of its far-flung empire. When the empire fell the name remained, reaching Gaul and Goth, Briton and Celt, on and on forever spreading. It travelled with and into history, reached the Dark Ages, shone in cloister and cell, wood cabin and cave, East, West, North, and South, always the same in its unfailing attractiveness.
In an unceasing effort to eradicate it from the earth, Satan has employed every agency, and all his cunning and hate. By persecution and destruction, by flattery and fraud, by patronage and promises, by corruption and violence, he has warred against it. He has never slept in his campaign to blot it out, but it is here still. It sounds in the silence of the night, awakes with the dawn, and comes into speech in the daytime. At every turn, and angle it confronts us and is forced upon our attention. It lives because He lives - and because He lives to the ages of ages, His name shall likewise endure.
Listen, reader! Is there known to you any other name like it? Do you know any other name in history of which we can say such wonderful things? Like a lone mountain peak, rising majestically far above all other heights, this one unique name of unsurpassed wonder and significance stands quite alone: “And salvation is in none other, for neither is there another name under heaven which is given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4: 12).
Where else can we look for hope? It is a time of unparalleled fear and anxiety among men - new powers for death and destruction have been devised and developed and that coveted peace, to which men have looked, toiled and fought and died for, is further away than ever - and yet what peace is available in Him!
Some names are loathsome to men, others inspire courage, others fear and terror, but the name of Jesus has a winning charm of holy attractiveness which no other name could ever have. Nobody fled from Him in fear, but great crowds came near to hear His wonderful words. With what intense yearning He cried “Come to me, all ye who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest … If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink” (Matt.11: 28; John 7: 37). He has not changed. What He was He is still, and the same words of earnest and loving entreaty still hold good today. The name is the finest credential possible. It is an imperishable commendation to every man of that marvellous grace of God which desires that “all men should be saved and come to [the] knowledge of [the] truth” (1 Tim. 2: 4). “And thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins … and it shall be that whosoever shall call upon the name of [the] Lord shall be saved” (Matt. 1: 21; Acts 2: 21).
