The Mystery Of His Name

The Mystery Of His Name:

The word mystery in Greek is, “musterion.” What does it mean? A mystery is something into which one must be initiated, or instructed before it can be known; something of itself not obvious and above human insight. In the N.T. a mystery revealed will speak of facts, doctrines, principles, etc. things that had not been fully revealed, but only obscurely, or symbolically set forth.

The hidden mystery of the Son’s name! First we read in,

Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever.”

Judges was written by Samuel the prophet, and covers the years between 1425 B.C. and 1120 B.C. It contains the history of the nation of Israel, from Joshua to Samson.

In Judges 13:17 we read, “Manoah (Samson’s father) said unto the angel of the LORD (meaning Jesus) “What is your name?” The angel of the LORD said unto him (Manoah,) “Why ask you after my name, seeing it is secret?”

The angel of the LORD declines to answer the question, because his name was to remain secret, a mystery; and to reveal it at this time would be to much for Manoah and his wife to comprehend. But both were convinced that their visitor was more than human, that he was Divine; for Manoah and his wife said,

Verse 22, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God.”

Now we move forward some 2 or 300 years. Proverbs was written by Solomon, and perhaps others like Agur. Proverbs was written about 1000 B.C. 

In Proverbs 30:4, Agur asks the question, “Who has ascended up into heaven, or descended? — Who hath established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son’s name, if you can tell?”

Socrates modestly affirmed, “This I know, that I know nothing.”

The question, “What is his (the Father’s) name, and his son’s (Jesus) name?” The question seems to imply not only a deep sense of the mysterious nature of God, but some knowledge also of a plurality in the Divine Being. Here again are questions that no man could answer, “What is the Father’s name?” and “What is the Son’s name,” neither question could no man could answer.

Now we again move some 200 years forward. Isaiah covers a period between 810 B.C. and 698 B.C. 

In Isaiah 9:6 we read, “Unto us a child (Jesus) is born, a son given, — and his name shall be called Wonderful.”

Wonderful here is the same Hebrew word used in Judges 13:17, “Secret.” This name of the Son of God was to remain a mystery, a secret known only to God. Wonderful in the Hebrew is concrete; meaning a term that includes both the quality and the subject in which it exists.

This secret that had been hidden in God from eternity past would now be revealed some 700 years after Isaiah. Before the Lord was born the angel of the Lord revealed to Joseph the child’s name, the story told in Matt.1:21.  

Matthew 1:21, “She (Mary) shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for He shall save his people (the Jews) from their sins.”

And that is the answer to the age old question, “What is the name of the Son of God?”

“His name shall be called Jesus, who came as the Savior, the Christ of the Jews, and the Creator of heaven and earth,

Revelation 1:8, “The Almighty.”

Phillip LaSpino www.seekfirstwisdom.com