What is His Son’s Name?
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Hook: You all know the saying… ‘father like son’—b/c a son reveals his father. And if a father is far away, how can we know him? By getting to know his son, who embodies his father’s nature, personality, and character. The son is the way to know the father.
Need: We can’t reason our way up past the infinite chasm between us and God—He must reveal Himself to us. It is only through the Son of God that we can know the LORD. And so the question that we are going to be asking this evening from the book of Proverbs is…
Title: What is His Son’s Name?
Purpose: To humble us in our ignorance of God; to reveal to us the true knowledge of God’s Glory; and to declare to us the Name and Gospel of the Son of God, as we celebrate this Christmas Season and Adore the Name that is above every Name!
Text: Prov. 30:4 ESV
PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY
(1) Four “Whos” - v. 4a-d.
(1) Four “Whos” - v. 4a-d.
Who has ascended to heaven and come down?
Who has gathered the wind in his fists?
Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
(1) Four “Whos” - v. 4a-d.
(1) Four “Whos” - v. 4a-d.
The four questions just asked by Agur are meant to humble us. Just before these questions he makes a humble statement about his ignorance of the depths of the knowledge of God:
I have not learned wisdom,
nor have I knowledge of the Holy One.
Agur recognizes his finitude. He knows that he is but a creature of the dust. He knows that he cannot master the Almighty. He knows that he cannot plumb the depths of the knowledge of God. For who can? How can we, who are finite, bound by space & time, and corrupted by sin…. how can we know the unsearchable glories of the Holy One?
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
and his greatness is unsearchable.
Trying to search out the glory of the Almighty, in our own strength, is like an ant trying to push Mount Everest—it’s like a house-fly trying to comprehend the cosmological physics of the heavens.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
The first part of true wisdom is realizing that we cannot know God on our own. We cannot approach God—He must approach us in his grace and condescension.
And it’s with this note of our absolute limitation—that Agur asks his four ‘whos’. He is summoning all creatures to a challenge. If we really think that we can master the Almighty; if we really think that we can pry open the secrets of the infinite, eternal, and unchangeable One—whose glory is above the heavens—then he has a test for us. And so, back to our text in Proverbs 30:4, Agur resounds:
(A) Who has ascended to heaven and come down?
Who can defy the power of gravity? Who can fly up into the skies above? Who can transport themselves into the invisible realm on high? Who can defy their human limitations and climb the ladder of heaven in order to bring down the secrets of the Holy One? The answer? No mere man. No one, no not one.
(B) Who has gathered the wind in his fists?
Who can contain the wind during a storm? Who can calm it’s destructive power? Who can turn away a village-wrecking tornado? Who can fasten themselves to the ground during a hurricane? Who can show themselves to have absolute control over the created power of the air? The answer? No mere man. No one, no not one.
(C) Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment?
Who can still a raging sea? Who can stand against the power of a tsunami? Who can declare the depths and mysteries of the bottoms of the oceans of earth? Who can contain the body of water on this planet and raise it up in glorious strength? The answer? No mere man. No one, no not one.
(D) Who has established all the ends of the earth?
Who can speak into existence the entire world by divine fiat? Who can fling some dirt into the cosmic expanse and establish it as a habitable planet? Who can control the tectonic plates and molton lava that rests beneath us? Who can uphold the continents and all their habitants all at once? The answer? No mere man. No one, no not one.
As Zophar declares in the book of Job:
“Can you find out the deep things of God?
Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?
It is higher than heaven—what can you do?
Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?
Its measure is longer than the earth
and broader than the sea.
And so like Job so long ago, we must stand before the Almighty and Holy One, with absolute reverence, and confess our pride and inability to know the LORD! Job says:
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
And this is the spirit in which Agur asks his:
(1) Four “Whos” - v. 4a-d.
Who can do such things? The answer? No mere man. No one, no not one. Obviously the implication is that GOD ALONE can know and do such things, and that GOD ALONE can speak and reveal such things to us. We are entirely dependent on the Word of the LORD if we are going to know anything about the Holy One! And so Agur then takes us to two more questions this evening:
(2) Two “Whats” - v. 4e.
(2) Two “Whats” - v. 4e.
What is his name, and what is his son’s name?
(2) Two “Whats” - v. 4e.
(2) Two “Whats” - v. 4e.
Who alone can do such things? The Holy One, the Almighty King, God Himself, the LORD of Heaven and Earth. What is his name? Yahweh, the Great I AM! The LORD of Hosts!
No mere man can do such things! Only the Creator and Ruler of all can. But how do we know what his Name is? We would have no ability to answer with confidence unless God has stooped down to Moses so long ago:
Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
And later at Mount Sinai, a further revelation of God’s Name and Attributes was Declared:
The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped.
Yes, this God! The LORD, the God who is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth! What is His Name? Yahweh. But wait, that’s not all that Agur asked! Agur also asked us: and what is His Son’s Name?
Wait? God has a Son? What is this Son? Who is this Son? Where is this Son? Is this Son a mere creature? Where can we find this Son of God? The OT itself is full of an expectation of the revealing of this divine Son and Messiah:
I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Those are beautiful titles…. But his Name? What is His Name, pastor Evan? Well, even Agur didn’t know. For it had not yet been revealed. That mystery lay hid up in the mind of God until angels from the realm of glory opened their lips to declare the glad tidings of great joy! And Christmas is the time that we set apart to remember when the beautiful name of the Son of God was first trumpeted forth in history. And so from the four whos and the…
(2) Two “Whats” - v. 4e.
We come now to give our answer to Agur, because God has indeed declared from heaven: this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased! God alone can reveal such things to us—and so he has—as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! And oh what an honour we have to be able to answer Agur’s shadowy questions from thousands of years ago! So lastly this evening, there is but:
(3) One “Answer” - v. 4f.
(3) One “Answer” - v. 4f.
Surely you know!
(3) One “Answer” - v. 4f.
(3) One “Answer” - v. 4f.
Though this was originally a bit of a taunt in the Hebrew tongue: surely you know! We can also answer it honestly in light of the New Testament: surely, we do know! Oh is this not the glory of the Christmas season? Because of Christmas, we can answer Agur’s questions with resounding clarity…
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
But, what is His Name, pastor Evan? Yes, He is the Son of God, but what is His Name? Well, hear from the angel of the Lord that spoke to Joseph so long ago! God has come to us in the Name of His Son, born of thr Virgin:
She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”
(which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
What is His Son’s Name? Jesus. Jesus Christ. He is the eternal Son of God, true God of true God, co-equal in power and glory with the Father, who took on humanity in order to be the Saviour of the World! This is no mere man, this is the Son of the living God, Immanuel, God with us—the 2nd Person of the Trinity—and He has come that we might have life, peace, forgiveness, and hope! All through the precious Name of Jesus!
And what would you know? Jesus himself applies the words of Proverbs 30:4 to himself in John 3:13! who has ascended to heaven and come down. The answer? No mere man. No one, no not one. But the Son of God is no mere man… Jesus said:
No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
Surely you know! And this Son of Man is no mere man, for he is worshipped alongside God the Father, as God the Son. Only the Son of God can reveal the depths of the Father’s nature, personality, and character to us—because he is the exact imprint of his nature, of his divine nature!
[Jesus said]: no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
[And Jesus], He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
Do you know the Father, through the Son of God? His Name is Jesus, who has indeed descended from heaven, who was born of the Virgin Mary, and he lived a perfectly righteous life in obedience to the Father, and then he bore our sins on Calvary’s Cross, to redeem those who repent and believe in Him, freeing them from the pangs of God’s wrath, and granting us peace with God and deliverance from death—and then three days later—he rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, where he is seated at the right hand of God the Father! And Jesus will return to make all things new, judge the wicked, and consummate his eternal kingdom. And all of this is contained in that beautiful name: Jesus Christ.
There is only One Answer to Agur’s question: what is his Son’s name? And the Son himself poses the same question to us: who do you say that I am? Oh this Christmas season, as we marvel in the glory of the Incarnation and the birth of the Godman, may we answer Agur, and Jesus himself, confessing with the Apostle Peter:
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
For there is only:
(3) One “Answer” - v. 4f.
And thus we come to our conclusion for this PM:
(C) What is His Son’s Name? His Son’s Name is Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Saviour of Sinners! So Trust in Him for Eternal Life.
(C) What is His Son’s Name? His Son’s Name is Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Saviour of Sinners! So Trust in Him for Eternal Life.
And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
His Name is indeed above every other name, and He is the Prince of Peace. Amen? Let’s pray, and then by faith in His Name, let’s sing as the faithful who come and adore this wondrous mystery! O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your Name in all the earth.
