Impassioned Life

God . . . has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, . . . through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

HEBREWS 1:1–4

The life that Jesus gives is not dull or common. It is vibrant and impassioned. That life should be lived with a passionate, emotional, blazing love for the Lord Jesus Christ. His name towers above all others. H. G. Wells once listed the ten greatest men of history; Jesus Christ was number one on the list. Yet He has no business in a list like that. He is more than a man. We may speak of Charlemagne the Great, Peter the Great, or Alexander the Great. But Jesus is the One and Only. There is no one like Jesus Christ. 

It is the uniqueness of Jesus that sets the Christ of Christmas apart from all others. Buddha, Confucius, and Mohammed were all leaders, but one can follow their religion without knowing them personally. This is not so with Christ. To take Christ from Christianity would be like taking water from a well, notes from music, and numbers from mathematics. 

The key phrase in the book of Hebrews uses the word better. It is used thirteen times. God is saying that we can come to know Jesus better, but we can never find anything better than knowing Jesus. He is indeed the superlative Savior. Let’s think about His name. 

There is wisdom in that name. This is the earthshaking declaration: that God Who has spoken through nature, conscience, history, law, and the prophets said His last word to humanity through His Son, Jesus Christ. God is love, and love cannot be silent. Jesus stood in the wings of history waiting for His time. He cast a long shadow throughout the Old Testament. All of the books of the Old Testament, like tributaries in a mighty river, merge into the last word of God to man—Jesus. 

There is wonder in that name. Jesus is the wonderful reason of creation. “He made the worlds.” The Baby in Matthew 1 was the Creator of Genesis 1. It is all by Him, for Him, and it is coming to Him. Jesus is the wonderful regent of creation, “upholding all things by the word of His power.” To uphold means to bear a load. Jesus is the glue of the galaxies. Without Him, the cosmos would become a chaos. Jesus is the wonderful redeemer of creation. “He had by Himself purged our sins.” We will be saved by Him alone, or we will not be saved at all. There is no other Savior. 

There is worship in that name. Jesus deserves our impassioned worship because of His superior name. “He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name” than even the angels. We know the names of some of the angels. Michael means “who is like God.” Gabriel means “man of God.” These angels were, and are, mighty and glorious, but Jesus has a more excellent name than they. He is not a messenger of God like Gabriel, but the Word of God Himself. 

We worship Him because He is God. He is God upon the throne. Some tell us that we need to “make Him Lord.” We are too late for that. He already is Lord. A billion years from now He will still be God upon the throne. All hail the pow’r of Jesus’ name!

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers