Fire on the Mountain (Part 4): Bearing the Name Without Denying Its Beauty and Power
I once took a class on Hebrews and Leviticus at Covenant Theological Seminary. The professor was Harold Mare. Early in the term, he paused mid-lecture and asked a simple question: “Hebrews one speaks of a ‘more excellent name.’ Class, what is that name?”
The room went quiet. Mare was a renowned archaeologist and linguist, a specialist in ancient Near Eastern languages. It was the first day of class, and none of us wanted to look like fools. We all thought, “It must be a little-known Aramaic, Ugaritic, or Syriac word none of us could possibly pronounce.” He looked around, baffled at our silence, and asked, “Why, what’s wrong with you? He then answered his own question, his voice breaking, tears welling in his eyes and streaming down his cheek. He said, “It’s ‘Jesus’ - as the old song says, ‘There’s just… something about that Name.’”
That moment never left me. What a beautiful moment. Here was a learned professor with more letters after his name than in it, a member of the committee that translated the NIV, a world-class scholar with Ivy League credentials - weeping at the beauty of the name of Jesus.
Scripture agrees. “There is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). And again, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).
Professor Mare knew that. And yet, among many people—and I hate to say it, but even within the Church—God’s name is treated lightly or with derision. In our society, it has become little more than a filler word or a curse for millions. The name that drives out darkness, silences demons, raises the dead, and saves souls is spoken without thought, reverence, or fear.
The name most cursed by humanity is the only name that can save it.
We may be desensitized to this. Heaven is not.
More Than Bad Language
When we hear the third commandment—“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain”—we usually think of profanity. And Scripture certainly includes that. Leviticus 24:15 makes clear that blasphemous speech matters to God.
But that is only the surface.
To “take” God’s name does not simply mean to say it out loud. The Hebrew word also means to bear, to carry. God’s name is not just something spoken. It is something placed upon a people.
Scripture expands the commandment far beyond careless words.
We violate the Name when we teach falsehood in the Name.
We violate the Name when we take vows and make oaths but break them, or have no intention to keep them in the first place, saying “I promise” with our fingers crossed.
We violate the Name when we engage in false worship—drawing near with lips while our hearts are far away from God (Isaiah 29:10–13). Jesus quotes this text, saying, this worship is in vain.’
We violate the Name when we claim to love God but hate our brothers and sisters, when we bless God and curse people.
The Name as Presence
Throughout Scripture, God’s name is closely tied to his presence. In Deuteronomy 12, as Israel prepares to cross the Jordan, God speaks of “the place where the Lord your God chooses to make his Name dwell.” That is where the people are to worship, give, rejoice, and live before him.
God’s name is not a label. It is his nearness.
That makes the commandment far more personal. To bear the name of God is to carry his presence into the world.
Both Baptism and Benediction make this clear. Baptism matters so deeply. Jesus doesn’t say, “Go and baptize.” He says, “Make disciples, baptizing them into the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:18–20). The name is not a tool. It is an identity.
The same is true in the priestly blessing of Numbers 6. God tells Aaron that when the priests bless the people, they are placing his name upon them. “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”
We are name-bearers. On the Cross, Christ bore our shame so that we might bear his Name.
When the Name and the Life Don’t Match
Here is where the commandment presses in -
When we carry the name but do not live in the name, we shame it. We deny it. We blaspheme it. We take it in vain. We know this is true of us. This is not abstract. We see it constantly.
We see it when Christians claim the name without faithfully living the truth. We are called to be servants rather than self-promoters, peace-makers rather than power-brokers, and ministers of reconciliation rather than angry agents of division.
We see it in social media accounts that loudly claim the writer is a Christian while the content is marked by cruelty, mockery, falsehood, and pride. That is not the accent of heaven.
We see it when public Christian leaders are exposed as predators, hiding abuse behind spiritual language and religious authority. When the holy name of God is used as a shield for sin, it is taken in vain.
We see it when we politicize the Name, using it to prop up our party politics or positions, claiming “God is on our side” to manipulate others.
Oh, how I’ve seen politicians and misguided Christians do this in the most blasphemous ways. A Senate candidate last week used the account of Gabriel’s visit to Mary and her response, “Be it unto me according to your word,” as support for uncontrolled abortion: “She had a choice”, he said, claiming the Bible supports being ‘pro-choice’, as if Mary and Christ and the entire Christian tradition could be co-opted into a pro-abortion position. Intellectually dishonest? Yes. Philosophically absurd? Yes. Madness. But worse than that, blasphemous. And I’ve seen people wave Jesus banners and sing praise songs while in the next breath chanting for the hanging of the sitting Vice President, their brother in Christ, because they didn’t agree with his view of the Constitution. Madness. Blasphemy. Bearing the Name in empty, vain, violent ways that deny by their words the very Name they claim endorses their position.
When it comes to politics and the Name, remember that this NAME is ABOVE every name. Be wary of those who lower it by invoking it as the guarantor of their own cause rather than humbling themselves before the Almighty for his wisdom and grace.
In other words, it is possible to speak God’s name correctly and still empty it of its weight and violate its beauty, vandalizing its witness.
Jesus does not respond to this by demanding that we stop using his name. He does not say, “Distance yourself from me.” He says the opposite. He calls us to lean into his name and to let his grace reshape our lives so that the name we bear becomes visible in how we live.
The exposure of our many sins can and should lead us to a renwed daily repentance, a firmer reliance on grace, and a determined prayer that God the Spirit would sensitize our hearts to the abuse of God’s name, strengthen our faith to proclaim his Name, and deepen our reverence for his Name in worship, joining the Psalmist to exclaim, “O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your Name in all the earth!”
Our Identity: Called by the Name
In Acts 11, believers are first called “Christians.” That word means “belonging to Christ” or “those marked by Christ.” It is a naming moment.
In the ancient world, names mattered. Identity was bound to allegiance. People did not ask, “Do you believe in God?” Everyone believed in some god. The real question was, “What is the name of your god?”
There were many gods and many names. But none of those names could save.
Only one God is Savior. Only one name delivers.
This is why the early Church did not survive by blending in. They survived by bearing a name that set them apart.
There is an old story about Alexander the Great walking through his camp and encountering a sentry who had fallen asleep at his post. The soldier’s offense was punishable by death. Alexander asked him a single question: “What is your name?” When the soldier answered, “Alexander,” the king replied, “Then either change your conduct or change your name.”
The point is simple. If you bear the name, your life must align with it. Christ knows our lives don’t match the name we bear, but if we call on his saving name, he sends his Spirit and word - along with many trials! - to sanctify us and transform us more and more into his image.
Our Ministry: Acting in the Name
The name of Jesus is not only our identity. It is the center of our ministry.
Acts 4 makes this unmistakably clear. The apostles heal, preach, and suffer “in the name of Jesus Christ.” They insist that salvation itself is found nowhere else.
Proverbs 18:10 puts it beautifully: “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and are safe.”
Christian ministry is not powered by personality, platforms, or cleverness. It flows from the name we trust. When the Church forgets this, it tries to replace the name with influence. The result is always emptiness. We proclaim the name, pray in the name, suffer for the name, seek God for healing in the name, and drive out darkness in the name of Jesus.
But when ministry is truly done in the name of Jesus, it becomes an act of refuge. The weak find safety. The guilty find forgiveness. The lost find life.
Our Destiny: Bowing before the Name
Scripture does not end with us merely carrying God’s name in life, but with all of humanity bowing before the majesty of the Name of Jesus on the last Day.
In Philippians 2:5-11, Paul surveys Jesus’ saving mission, his incarnation, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and enthronement as King and Judge, God the Father bestowing upon him the Name that is above every name. All humanity, Paul goes on to write, will bow before Christ and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. It is true. Either we will bow while we live and confess that truth with joy - like Dr. Mare, or we will bow in grief and anguish on judgment day, confessing the name too late, knowing that by cursing that saving name in life, we cursed ourselves with everlasting death. When will you bow and confess the saving Name of Jesus?
Living as Name-Bearers
The third commandment confronts Christians with a hard and holy question.
Do our lives make God’s name weighty or hollow?
Do we carry it with reverence or emptiness?
Do we call him Lord while living as though he is optional?
To take the name in vain is not only to misuse it with our lips. It is to wear it without obedience. To claim it without repentance. To speak it without love. To bear it without faith.
But to honor the name is to live in it. To trust it. To call upon it in humility. To walk in a way that shows the world there really is something about that Name.
Not an empty word. Not a casual phrase.
But the name above every name.
A day is coming when every blasphemer on every golf course and factory floor, every actor and writer, every soldier and sailor, every politician and pundit, every sinner and every saint will bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The remedy for taking the name in vain is not silence, but surrender. Not avoiding the name, but calling upon it in faith.
So let us call on the name of the Lord—to cleanse our hearts, forgive our sins, and renew us in the power of his holy name.