What a Beautiful Name

The next entry for my Blog is What a Beautiful Name, which was written by Ben Fielding & Brooke Ligertwood. The song was initially released in 2017. A link to Hillsong performing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

What a Beautiful Name

You were the Word at the beginning
One with God the Lord Most High
Your hidden glory in creation
Now revealed in You our Christ

What a beautiful Name it is
What a beautiful Name it is
The Name of Jesus Christ my King
What a beautiful Name it is
Nothing compares to this
What a beautiful Name it is
The Name of Jesus

You didn’t want heaven without us
So Jesus You brought heaven down
My sin was great Your love was greater
What could separate us now

What a wonderful Name it is
What a wonderful Name it is
The Name of Jesus Christ my King
What a wonderful Name it is
Nothing compares to this
What a wonderful Name it is
The Name of Jesus
What a wonderful Name it is
The Name of Jesus

Death could not hold You
The veil tore before You
You silence the boast of sin and grave
The heavens are roaring
The praise of Your glory
For You are raised to life again
You have no rival
You have no equal
Now and forever God You reign
Yours is the kingdom
Yours is the glory
Yours is the Name above all names

What a powerful Name it is
What a powerful Name it is
The Name of Jesus Christ my King
What a powerful Name it is
Nothing can stand against
What a powerful Name it is
The Name of Jesus

What do you think of when you hear the name Jesus? What makes this name special and why would anyone say it is a beautiful name, isn’t it just another name? When many people think about beautiful, their thought process focuses on the outward appearance; whereas true beauty is much much more than physical appearance. A person can be beautiful because they are loving, caring, compassionate, sacrificial, and put others before themselves. Thinking of these attributes, which type of person would you rather have around you? Now let’s think about what comes to your mind when you think of Jesus. Of course, we can start with the attributes listed in Isaiah 9:6, “And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”, but this is just the beginning when we start applying attributes to the name of Jesus. The names in Isaiah illustrate the power of God, his compassionate nature, his love as a father, and someone who only wants peace among his children. Take a moment to think of other names or attributes that come mind when you hear the name of Jesus.

We often think of God being around forever and Jesus starting his life on earth, but we are told in John 1:1-4, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.” John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Basically, these verses tell us that Jesus was a part of God and with God since the beginning. God loved us enough to let Jesus become flesh so he can walk among us and let us see the true glory of God and who he really is.

He had created us in his image and then gave us a perfect and sinless place to live, and he was there to meet our every need. In spite of having all we needed, we wanted more and gave into the temptations put forward by Satan. Even though his creation had sinned and even though he was probably disappointed, he didn’t want us to spend eternity away from him. Sin had separated us from him since heaven is a place of perfection and with no sin, we would no longer have an eternal home to look forward to. To keep all of us from spending eternity in hell, God sent Jesus to die for all of our sins. Once we accept him as our personal savior, all of our sins are forgiven and we are now able to spend eternity in heaven with the father, since we are now perfect and sinless in his eyes. God hated our sin, but he loved us enough to sacrifice his only son. It had to be a difficult time for God and Jesus since God had to turn his back on Jesus for that brief time on the cross when Jesus took on all of our sins forever. He had to do this because God is perfection and Jesus had just taken on all sin and this caused this temporary break with his own father. We know there is a place in the heavenly kingdom for us because Jesus said in John 14, prior to his crucifixion and resulting resurrection, that he was going to prepare our eternal homes for us in heaven with the father. Christ knew what was ahead, but he still loved us enough to go through the agony of the cross; he couldn’t just turn his back on us since we had no other way to get to heaven.

As Jesus arose from the dead, the people who knew him were completely overwhelmed since I am sure that not all of them were convinced he would be coming back as he said. It wasn’t a matter of not trusting in Jesus, it was the fact that if he had died; who could bring him back to life since they thought he alone had the power to resurrect people from the dead. Jesus conquered the grave and proved that not even death can overcome the power of God. For the Christian, death is just the transition from our temporary home to our eternal home. As Christ rose from the dead, I am sure the angels were rejoicing and that heaven was really rocking; and the devil just tucked his tail realizing he had been defeated once again by the incredible power of the father. There is no one who can rival the power of Jesus and no one else who deserves our praise and glory.

Yes indeed, Jesus is a beautiful, powerful, and wonderful name.

Click to Hear Hillsong Sing What a Beautiful Name

Who You Say I Am

The next song for my Blog was written by Ben Fielding and Rueben Morgan and released in 2018. A link to Hillsong singing the song is at the bottom of this Blog entry.

Who You Say I Am

Who am I that the highest King
Would welcome me
I was lost but He brought me in
Oh His love for me
Oh His love for me

Who the Son sets free
Oh is free indeed
I’m a child of God
Yes I am

Free at last
He has ransomed me
His grace runs deep
While I was a slave to sin
Jesus died for me
Yes He died for me

Who the Son sets free
Oh is free indeed
I’m a child of God
Yes I am
In my Father’s house
There’s a place for me
I’m a child of God
Yes I am

I am chosen
Not forsaken
I am who You say I am
You are for me
Not against me
I am who You say I am

I think all of us have been in a situation where we feel as if we do not belong. We have such feelings as we are under dressed, over dressed, not good enough, not of the right social class, or just a general feeling that we shouldn’t be wherever we are. Imagine, that despite who we were, who we are, or where we come from; we are always welcome to be with the greatest king of all; our God. He doesn’t care about our past, but only who we have become. We are welcome in his kingdom at any time. When we were lost and wondering what the future held for us and sometimes were lost in the quagmire of life, he invited us, through his son, to join him for eternity. The only thing our king asked was that we accept his only son as our lord and savior. We can’t even begin to understand the depth of his love for us or even why he should believe we are even worthy of his love.

We have been set free of all of our transgressions, our mistakes, and our lack of obedience to God, all because the Son of God died on the cross so that all of these sins would simply disappear. The really good news is that everything we have done wrong and will do wrong, is eternally dismissed; we are truly free of our past. For sure we will have memories and scars from our past, but God wants us to look to him and to the future and to not dwell on the past since we are finally absolved of all guilt. We have become a child of God, yes we are! John 8:34-36 delivers this message to us: Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Whether you accepted Christ as a child or as an adult, you became free for the first time in your life with a guarantee that you are free for eternity. Christ paid the debt, just like the old hymn Jesus Paid it All tells us;
‘Cause Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow
The ransom/debt was paid in full so we could be completely free. It is by his grace, which means that God loves us even though we don’t deserve it. Sin owns us throughout our life until we decide to become a child of God. Jesus died for me and for all of us, and through his death; sin and Satan lost their power over us. I can honestly say that Christ died for me and you can say he died for you, isn’t it amazing that we can have a personal relationship with the son of God? Each of us can claim him as our own, just he claims each of us as his own. We are told in John 14:2 that when Jesus returned to heaven that he was preparing our eternal home for us, In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. So not only has God promised an eternity with him, he has already prepared our new homes in heaven. We may ask, who does this type of thing? The only answer is the King of everything.

We, who have accepted his son, are his chosen people. He could have easily walked away from us because of the way we have turned our backs on him, but he refused to forsake us, He promised us eternity and that he would never leave us. Yes, I am a child of God, I am who you say I am!!

Click to Hear Hillsong Perform Who You Say I Am