6/5/2023

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING:

“Then the [red] dragon was enraged at the woman [who had given birth to the son protected by God who would rule the earth with an iron scepter] and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.” (Revelation 12.17)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

I would offer the following only because human beings have this inate desire to live/define life by names. Shakespeare exposed this thinking in Romeo and Juliet when he penned, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” The very dialectic of Capulet versus Montague proves only to be a death sentence for the future of their love. If they had any other name, then they would have some other life…and that life perhaps together in this world (dare we assume as in the next?). But, in the grand scheme of things, human naming is meant mostly for control. From counseling we are told to “name our problem, our enemy, our fear, our angst, our issue” and by so doing we gain control over it. Or, at least we release its control, our perception of it, on us. In the Garden we are introduced to names and naming. Adam (life) and Eve (the mother of all living) I have already mentioned. We see that in the prelude to Eve’s “coming into being,” Adam names all the animals over which he is to have dominion as steward and shepherd (an archetype of “king” and master.) Strange, is it not, that in the introduction of temptation, the serpent is only the serpent. Only after the temptation, the fall, the exposure of shame and guilt, do we actually hear the name- Satan the Accuser. And he does not accuse Adam and Eve. He accuses only God. It is out of shame and guilt that they name the Accuser responding to God seeking accountability for their “hidden” actions. It is the naming of “they, them, he, she, it, etc.” which refers to deflection. What truly overcomes the guilt and shame and leads to salvation is “introspection.”

For those who put their trust in the Lord, the name of the Lord is their strength and their protection. It is also their joy and security because of the blessing and gift of salvation given to us by “that name which is above all names” knowing “that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord…Lord of/over all.” Look to the penitent thief on the cross who believed in his heart that Jesus was innocent and undeserving of death. Imbedded in that profession of faith (not a confession of sinfulness) came the giving of the blessing of “paradise” in the name of the presence of Jesus as the Christ. The other thief mocked the name of Jesus and the claim on Messiahship which others declared was His when they did not truly believe it. They were the scribes, Pharisees and teachers of the Law whose promoted themselves as “protectors of the name of God. It was not the name they carried as an adornment along with their robes, phylacteries and scrolls which they protected or which would protect them. It was how they carried the name of God in word and deed that would be their witness and testimony. Jesus urged His disciples to remember that when persecution would come, it would not be because of their name. It would be because of His name which they claimed as their own being “disciples of Christ/followers of the Way.”

I bring this to our consideration as “the woman” in Revelation 12 has no name yet she bears the child by which salvation and spiritual conquest over evil would be gained. But, there are the names of Michael, Satan, God, Messiah and Jesus which are mentioned. I believe we can safely assume that the woman mentioned represents the “Church” as the body of Christ. Rabbinic teaching promotes that the Messiah, the descendant of David, would come from the House of Israel- the chosen ones of God. Could it be that this “Israel” is the new creation which comes in those who are called by the name of Jesus? What Jesus would that be but the One whom God raised from the grave and restored to His right hand as King of kings and Lord of lords. So, now those who bear the name of Jesus by the works and words of their lives are challenged by the one whose name is anti-Christ. He is an anethema, a curse. He seeks to destroy the Church if he cannot destroy the one by which the Messiah comes into the world. What is that sure defense against this enemy? It is nothing less than the name of Jesus which is more than a name; it is a life and a living which brings glory to God and makes His will known among all people. It is the only name by which we can be saved.

A PRAYER FOR TODAY:

You are our God and we shall be Your people in spirit and in truth. Continue to dwell among us. Let the revelation by Your Holy Spirit inspire us to greater service in a more refined identity. We do not live as ourselves for ourselves. Rather, we live in Christ as He lives in us. We declare it with all the elders and angels in Heaven, saying “Holy, holy, holy is He who was and is and is to come.” In Jesus’ name we live, serve and pray. AMEN.