Christ, the Name Bearer

By David Bailey. Supporting article for the book Talking with God.

God told Moses that there was a particular angel that bore the Name of Yahweh (Ex. 23:20–23). He is also called the Angel of the Presence (Isa. 63:9). Michael, the archangel, appears to be this name bearer. Zechariah 3:1–2 speaks of Yahweh contending with Satan, and Jude, in referring to this encounter, says it was Michael (Jude v.9). Michael appears to be the chief archangel, even superior to Gabriel, for according to Young’s Literal in Daniel 10:13, he was “first of the chief heads”. Michael means “like unto El”. It is likely, then, that Michael was the angel that appeared to Abraham with two other angels (Gen. 18:1–33), and unto Moses at the burning bush (Ex. 3:1–6), spoke to him on Mt Sinai and whose back Moses saw when he appeared in glory and proclaimed the Name of Yahweh (Acts 7:38). This Yahweh angel was the angel that went with Israel through the centuries (Josh. 5:13–15; Judges 6:12–23; 2 Sam. 24:15–17).

Christ has now taken over the role of the Name bearer. He is over all angels and all powers in both heaven and earth (1 Pet. 3:22; Matt. 28:18). Angels are commanded to worship him (Hebrews 1:6) because he has “become so much more superior to the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a different name obtained by inheritance than they” (Heb. 1:4, dbt). Christ bares the Father’s Name by birth. The angels don’t have that relationship. By birthright, he possesses a different Name than them, with a throne at the right hand of God, which has never been offered to the angels (v. 5).

Because Christ humbled himself to the Father’s will, in Philippians 2:9–11, Paul says:

“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name. That at in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Paul alludes to Isaiah 45:23–25, where it says:

“I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely, shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory.”

Isaiah says it is unto Yahweh Himself that every knee shall bow, and every tongue confesses or swears. Also, in Yahweh, the people shall have justification and righteousness and shall glory. Paul shows that this is all accomplished “in the name of Jesus”.¹

The “name above every name” is Yahweh. God gave this Name to Christ, to the glory of the Father. So Christ is now the representative of the Father. Just as the archangel Michael bore the name of Yahweh in the ot, Christ now holds that office as Name-bearer. He acts on the Father’s behalf and receives honour in His name (John 5: 22–23).

Many passages in the OT use the Name of Yahweh in prophecies that relate to Christ. In Zechariah 14: 3–4, for example:

Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

We know Christ will perform this, for the angel said to the disciples when Christ departed from them on the Mount of Olives, “this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). See also verse 5:“the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee”, which is also the work of Christ (1 Thess. 3:13; 2 Thess.1:7–10), and likewise verse 9: “And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one”, and verses 16 and 17, where it speaks of worshipping the king, the Lord of hosts” (see Ps. 2; 72; Luke 1:32; Rev. 2:27; 5:9–13).

Christ will do this as representative of his Father:

The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he will reign for ever and ever. (Rev. 11:15)

Who will reign? Our “Lord”, or “his Christ”? It’s ambiguous, because they are one, with Christ representing the Father.