Psalm 72:17 His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him… I. THE NAME OF JESUS OUR SAVIOUR IS FITTED TO ENDURE. 1. By virtue of the law which connects memory with greatness. The great are remembered — great kings, great heroes, great sages, great saints — while the crowd must be forgotten. Jesus does not refuse to be commemorated according to this standard. He does not struggle indeed for fame, but for usefulness; but when He says, "Come unto Me," "Follow Me," He presupposes transcendent greatness. Even on the human side the greatness of Jesus is unexampled, the greatness of knowledge, of wisdom, of purity, of benevolence, of devotion — such greatness as amounts to absolute perfection. 2. By virtue of the law which connects memory with service. 3. By virtue of the law which connects memory with suffering. Even destroyers and conquerors are better remembered by disaster than by victory — as Alexander by his premature death, Caesar by his assassination, and Napoleon by his exile. How much more have the great benefactors of our race had their memories embalmed by suffering; so that they are cherished as their works and endurances have cost them dear. But how imperfect is every such image of the connection between the Saviour's sufferings and the enduring of His name! All others were born to suffer, if not in that form in some other; they were sinners, and could not escape even by labour and service to mankind. But Jesus was above this doom, and stooped to meet it — stooped from a height beyond all parallel. "Though He was rich," etc. "The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto,." etc. II. IT IS DESTINED TO ENDURE. 1. The name of Jesus is identified with the existence of the Church. Take it away, and the Church falls. Christianity is obliterated, or sinks in fragmental Take it away, and there is no pardon, no sanctification, no fellowship with God, according to His own word, "No man cometh unto the Father but by Me." 2. The name of Jesus Christ is hound up with the history and prospects of mankind. This name is a key to the history of the world. It is not without reason that history is divided into two great periods, before Christ and after Christ. 3. The Saviour's name is destined to endure, because it is committed to the watchful care of the Godhead. God the Father sees here the brightest manifestation of Himself, for He thus reveals the fulness of power, the depth of wisdom, the beauty of holiness, the tender radiance of mercy, all shining in the face of Jesus Christ. The continued display of this glory to men and angels is the last end of redemption, the fulfilment by the Father of the prayer of the Son, "Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee." Shall this last prayer, then, be defeated? Shall these supreme manifestations of God, which, pent up from everlasting days, have at last broken forth upon the universe, be recalled? And shall the word of promise that has gone out of His mouth be made void" I will make Thy name to be remembered in all generations"? (John Cairns, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed. |
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