Just One Name
Acts 4:12—Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.
I’ve aways found it strange when I hear about a famous person, often a music star, change their name to just one word. Probably one of the first to ever do it was one of my most famous Minnesota neighbors—Prince Rogers Nelson, or simply, Prince. There was even a time when his legal name was an unpronounceable symbol. Prince’s reasons were more legal, whereas others simply do it for notoriety.
While Jesus in fact has many names (Christ, Messiah, Son of God, Son of Man, Savior, Holy One, Lord/Jehovah etc.), there is one that stand above the rest because there is Just One Name that brings salvation. There is Just One Name that can rescue you from all your sins, from death, and from the power of the devil. That name is Jesus, which means “the Lord saves.”
That is why Peter so simply declared that day in Jerusalem: Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.
You certainly know this very plainly, but there are many who don’t. There are also many who think they do, but do not. People like Prince. You see, in 2001 Prince became a Jehovah’s Witness. To Prince, Jesus was God’s Son. Jesus was even the Savior. But Jesus wasn’t the Lord. Jesus wasn’t Jehovah. People who want to make Jesus into something he is not, or deny who he truly is do not have Jesus and therefore do not have what he gives—salvation.
As you consider your Easter joy, consider how many in your lives do not have your joy, peace, assurance, and confidence because they consider Jesus to be Just One Name among many, rather than the only name that matters. Consider how you can reach out to them and witness to them about that one name, that one Savior, that one and only Son of God, that one who is the great I AM (Lord/Jehovah). And you can do this by simply pointing them to the accounts of Holy Week you know so well.
Tell them of Jesus who marched into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Tell them about Jesus in the Upper Room celebrating the Passover for the last time and giving a new and better meal in its place in Holy Communion. Tell them about bloody Golgotha. And tell them about the empty tomb. Tell them about these things because there is Just One Name that not only accomplished all these things, but also Just One Name that fulfilled all of the Old Testament Scriptures. Tell them about the Just One Name that brought peace and joy to his disciples then, and still does today. Tell them about Jesus that they too would receive salvation from the Lord and be saved!