Praise for He Shall Be Called:

“Morgan makes simple the theological significance behind the various names of Jesus…. Dr. Morgan’s careful use of classic hymnody with each devotion makes this book a potential treasure for seasoned believers who will enjoy meditating on both the word pictures of Scripture and the doctrinal depth of sacred music.”

—Dr. Frank R. Lewis, senior pastor,
First Baptist Church, Nashville, TN

“I love Rob Morgan’s books. His knowledge of the Word of God and his love for history, especially hymn history, always translates into challenging and motivating chapters. Rob Morgan is a great student and a gifted communicator. His passion for Christ comes through in all he does.”

—David Jeremiah, senior pastor of Shadow Mountain
Community Church, El Cajon, CA

“If a person is looking for a devotional work centered loosely on the identity of Christ, I would recommend HE SHALL BE CALLED.”

—R. Ben Armstrong, Christian Book Previews.com

“HE SHALL BE CALLED is a wonderful book for anyone who wants a better understanding of who Jesus is. No theological degree is required to read it; no church affiliation is called for to absorb it. All anyone needs is a sincere heart that seeks the truth in a simple, straightforward way (Morgan speaks not in any typical religious language of clichés), ready to learn what Jesus is called through prophecy, through the witness of those who knew him, and through His own testimony of Himself.”

—Wendall Sexton, Round Table Reviews.com

Copyright

Copyright © 2005 by Robert J. Morgan

Full scripture quotations appear at the back of the book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

Warner Books, Inc.

Hachette Book Group

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New York, NY 10017

Visit our website at www.HachetteBookGroup.com

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Originally published in hardcover by Warner Faith

First eBook Edition: November 2009

ISBN: 978-0-446-57010-7

Warner Faith and the “W” logo are trademarks of Time Warner Inc. or an affiliated company. Used under license by Hachette Book Group USA, which is not affiliated with Time Warner Inc.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Consider this an engraved invitation to spend some pleasant days getting to know Jesus Christ through His manifold and marvelous names. God is in the habit of blessing those who study His name, for Psalm 119:132 says: “Look upon me and be merciful to me, / As Your custom is toward those who love Your name.”

Something remarkable happens as we learn about the names of our Lord Jesus. We come to know Him better, and, in the process, we develop greater joy and deeper faith. Psalm 5:11 says: “Let those also who love Your name / Be joyful in you.” And Psalm 9:10 says, “Those who know Your name will put their trust in You.”

In these pages you’ll find 260 Scriptural names, titles, and descriptive phrases for Jesus. Along with my own comments, I’ve included some classic quotes from earlier centuries, especially from the incredible sermons of the Prince of Preachers, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, which I've taken the liberty to update slightly and condense. When he was seventeen years old, Spurgeon was asked to pastor a small congregation in Waterbeach village. His first sermon there was to a dozen people. Soon hundreds were attending each week, and the doors and windows of the church were left open so the overflow could hear. Two years later, he moved to London. Despite his youthful appearance, he set the city afire, packing London’s greatest auditoriums and preaching to thousands without aid of microphone or amplification.

I like Spurgeon’s sermons so much better than his writings. He himself once admitted that writing was difficult for him, but his sermons poured from his mouth in remarkable bursts of seemingly spontaneous oratory. He used no pulpit, and he preached his eloquent discourses with only a few notes on a table beside him as he stood at the platform railing.

In addition to my own Spurgeon resources, I am indebted to www.spurgeon.org for its excellent and growing archives. I’m also thankful to www.cyberhymnal.org, one of my favorite Internet sites, for its fantastic research into Christian hymnody. I have included a verse from an old hymn with every devotional. The handful of unattributed verses is my own.

This book wouldn’t have been possible without the help of some dear friends. Sincere thanks go to Greg Johnson who encouraged the idea from the beginning and to Lee Hough for his guidance and support.

My literary agent, Chris Ferebee of Yates and Yates, has been a great encouragement. Special thanks to my editor, Leslie Peterson, whose friendliness, vision, and competence have been invaluable.

I also want to thank my sister, Ann Campbell, for running our childhood home, Roan Mountain Bed and Breakfast, in my absence, and for keeping a room ready for me whenever I needed to hole away.

My personal secretary, Sherry Anderson, keeps my life on schedule, and I thank her for that. And I thank each of you for picking up this book. If you’d like to get in touch with me, please do so at www.robertjmorgan.com.

Most of all, I love and appreciate my wife, Katrina, who read every word of this manuscript—and changed quite a few of them, and all for the better.

To Joshua and Grace

I know my words cannot honor Him according to His merits:

I wish they could. Indeed, I grow less and less satisfied with my thoughts
and language concerning Him. He is too glorious for my feeble language
to describe Him. If I could speak with the tongues of men and of
angels, I could not speak worthily of Him. If I could borrow all the
harmonies of heaven, and enlist every harp and song of the glorified,
yet were not the music sweet enough for His praises. Our glorious
Redeemer is ever blessed: let us bless Him.

—CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON

FEBRUARY 16, 1881

Contents

Praise For He Shall Be Called:

Copyright

Acknowledgments

Preface

HIS NATIVITY NAMES

Jesus—John 9:11

Yeshua/Joshua—Matthew 1:1

Jesus of Nazareth—Luke 18:37

The Nazarene—Matthew 2:23

The Galilean—Matthew 26:69

Immanuel/God with Us—Matthew 1:23

A Babe—Luke 2:12

That Which Is Conceived in Her—Matthew 1:20

The Child Jesus—Luke 2:27

The Boy Jesus—Luke 2:43

The Seed of Woman—Genesis 3:15

The Dayspring from on High—Luke 1:78–79

The Consolation of Israel—Luke 2:25

The Horn of Salvation—Luke 1:68–69

Her Firstborn Son—Matthew 1:25

HIS ROYAL NAMES

A King—John 18:37

Another King—Acts 17:7

King of the Jews—Matthew 2:2, 27:37

King of Kings—Revelation 19:16

King of Righteousness—Hebrews 7:1–2

The Prince—Daniel 9:25–26

The Prince of Peace—Isaiah 9:6

Prince and Savior—Acts 5:31–32

HIS AUTHORITATIVE NAMES

Lord—Matthew 3:3

Lord of the Sabbath—Mark 2:28

Lord of All—Acts 10:36–37

My Lord and My God—John 20:28

Lord of the Dead and the Living—Romans 14:9

The Righteous Judge—2 Timothy 4:8

Judge of the Living and the Dead—Acts 10:42

One Having Authority—Matthew 7:28–29

Governor—Matthew 2:6 (Kjv)

HIS SONSHIP NAMES

The Son—Hebrews 1:8

The Son of Abraham—Matthew I:I

The Son of David—Matthew 12:23

The Son of Joseph—John 1:45

The Son of Man—John 3:13

The Son of God—Matthew 27:54

The Son of the Living God—Matthew 16:16

His Only Begotten Son—John 3:16

The Carpenter’s Son—Matthew 13:54–55

HIS CORNERSTONE NAMES

The Rock—Luke 6:48

The Chief Cornerstone—Psalm 118:22

A Stone For a Foundation—Isaiah 28:16

The Flinty Rock—Deuteronomy 8:15

The Stone Cut without Hands—Daniel 2:45

The Stone with Seven Eyes—Zechariah 3:8–9

HIS APOCALYPTIC NAMES

The Faithful Witness—Revelation 1:5

Lord of Lords—Revelation 19:16

The Lion of the Tribe of Judah—Revelation 5:5

The Amen—Revelation 3:14

Your First Love—Revelation 2:4

The Alpha and the Omega—Revelation I:8

The Ruler over the Kings of the Earth—Revelation 1:5

The Lord Who Is and Who Was and Who Is to Come—Revelation 1:8

The Almighty—Revelation 1:8

A Male Child Ruling the Nations—Revelation 12:5

The Bright and Morning Star—Revelation 22:16–17

The Word of God—Revelation 19:13

Faithful and True—Revelation 19:11

The Name No One Knows—Revelation 19:12

The Faithful and True Witness—Revelation 3:14

The Firstborn from the Dead—Revelation 1:5

Him Who Loved Us and Washed Us—Revelation 1:5

He Who Holds the Seven Stars—Revelation 2:1

HIS PRIESTLY NAMES

The Minister of the Sanctuary—Hebrews 8:1–2

A Merciful and Faithful High Priest—Hebrews 2:17

A Priest Forever—Psalm 110:4

The Mediator—1 Timothy 2:5

The Redeemer—Job 19:25–26

The Testator—Hebrews 9:16

The Burnt offering—Leviticus 1:3–4

The Grain offering—Leviticus 2:1

The Peace offering—Leviticus 3:1

The Sin offering—Leviticus 4:3

The Trespass offering—Leviticus 5:6

The Bird That Was Killed—Leviticus 14:6–7

HIS ISAIAH NAMES

Man of Sorrows—Isaiah 53:3

Wonderful Counselor—Isaiah 9:6 (Niv)

Everlasting Father—Isaiah 9:6

A Tender Plant—Isaiah 53:1–2

My Strength and My Song—Isaiah 12:2–3

My Elect One—Isaiah 42:1

A Polished Shaft—Isaiah 49:2

A Sanctuary—Isaiah 8:14

A Shelter from the Tempest—Isaiah 32:2

My Righteous Servant—Isaiah 53:11

HIS JOHANNINE NAMES

God—John 1:1

The Savior of the World—John 4:42

The Lamb of God—John 1:29

The Word—John 1:1

That Eternal Life—1 John 1:1–2

The True Bread from Heaven—John 6:31–34

The Light of the World—John 8:12

The Door of the Sheep—John 10:7

I am—John 8:58–59

The Way—John 14:6

The Truth—John 14:6

The Life—John 14:6

The Man—John 19:5

The Advocate—1 John 2:1

The Propitiation For Our Sins—1 John 2:2

The Resurrection and the Life—John 11:25–26

The Vine—John 15:5

The Good Shepherd—John 10:10–11

The Serpent In the Wilderness—John 3:14–15

Teacher—John 13:13

Rabbi—John 3:2

He Who Comes from Heaven—John 3:31

HIS PAULINE NAMES

Our Peace—Ephesians 2:14

The Savior—Philippians 3:20–21

The Second Man—1 Corinthians 15:47

Christ Our Passover—1 Corinthians 5:7

Our Great God and Savior—Titus 2:13

The Head—Ephesians 4:15–16

The Firstborn over All Creation—Colossians 1:15

Christ Who Strengthens Me—Philippians 4:13

A Servant to the Jews—Romans 15:8

Him—2 Timothy 1:12

Him Who Fills All in All—Ephesians 1:22–23

HIS PETRINE NAMES

The Overseer of Your Souls—1 Peter 2:25

The Shepherd—1 Peter 2:25

Him Who Called You Out of Darkness into His Marvelous Light—1 Peter 2:9

HIS OLD TESTAMENT NAMES

Shiloh—Genesis 49:10

The Friend Who Sticks Closer Than a Brother—Proverbs 18:24

The Fourth Man—Daniel 3:25

The Commander of the Army of the Lord—Joshua 5:13–15

The Fountain—Zechariah 13:1

The Sun of Righteousness—Malachi 4:2

My Companion—Zechariah 13:7

His Anointed—Psalm 2:2

HIS HOLY NAMES

The Holy One—Acts 3:14–15

The Just One—Acts 7:52

HIS NAMES IN HEBREWS

That Great Shepherd of the Sheep—Hebrews 13:20–21

The Author of Eternal Salvation—Hebrews 5:9

The Veil—Hebrews 10:19–20

The Author and Finisher of Our Faith—Hebrews 12:2

The Apostle—Hebrews 3:1

Him Who Endured Such Hostility—Hebrews 12:3

HIS NAMES IN THE GOSPELS

He Who Made Me Well—John 5:11

The Carpenter—Mark 6:3

A Prophet without Honor—Matthew 13:57–58

The Bridegroom—Matthew 25:6

Fisher of Men—Matthew 4:19–20

A Ghost—Matthew 14:26–27

A Hen—Matthew 23:37

A Thief in the Night—Matthew 24:42–44

The Christ—Mark 8:29

The Christ of God—Luke 9:20

Good Teacher—Mark 10:17–18

Notes

PREFACE

If you could choose your own name, what would it be? Do you see yourself as a Britney, Bernardo, Shaquille, or Sam? What about Claudia, Carla, Arlo, or Alfonso?

My name is Robert, but one of my regrets is that I never asked my parents why they chose that name. There are no other known Roberts in my family tree, and its meaning—“bright fame”—hardly describes a hillbilly boy like me from the Tennessee mountains. I might have called myself John, after my dad, or Jim, or George.

So what’s your name? Where does it come from? Does it have special meaning or significance? Is it descriptive of your personality or character? Do you like it, or would you prefer another?

Such questions belong to the area of onomastics, a term coming from the Greek word onoma, meaning “name.” Onomastics is the study of names, and an onomastikan is a list of names. A vast body of literature exists on this subject, and such organizations as the American Name Society, founded in 1951, promote the study of onomastics. From these sources we learn that our names have one primary purpose: to distinguish us from other people and to give us our own identity.

As it turns out, names are very interesting. All of us have monikers that in one way or another have meaningful origins. Take our English surnames as an example. Experts tell us the majority of them developed from one of four different criteria:

Some are based on locality. The name Appleby, for example, means “By the apple tree.” I know a family named Woods. Where do you think their ancestors lived? I have another friend named West. At some time or another, his forbearers must have lived west of a town somewhere, or perhaps west of the Woods.

Other names come from one’s occupation. If a man named Thomas was a cook, he became known as Thomas the Cook, or Thomas Cook. Same for Baker, Farmer, Smith, and Taylor. I know a man named Bowman, one of whose ancestors was evidentially a skilled archer.

A third category of surnames originated from the given name of a father. If a man named John was the son of a John, then he would be John John’s son, or John Johnson.

A fourth category developed from personal characteristics. James Strong, the man who compiled a famous concordance, must have had a very muscular ancestor. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow had a tall fellow somewhere in his family tree. When I was growing up, the Little family lived on one side of town, and the Stouts on the other (though strangely the Stouts were little and the Littles were stout).

Perhaps your mind is racing to figure out the etymology of your own name. I did a bit of checking on my surname, Morgan, and found it fit into the first category; it was a locality-based name. It appears to have come from the old Welsh word, mor, meaning “moor” or “sea.” The suffix gan may have meant “born.” If so, I could infer that somewhere in my ancestry I had a forefather who was born on the high seas. It is essentially the same as the name Seaborne.

So far I’ve been talking about English names, but experts tell us that remarkable similarities exist in almost every culture, including African, Latin, and Asian ones. These patterns do not greatly vary from land to land.

It was especially true in the society of the ancient Hebrews, for they took seriously the naming of a child. They didn’t give their kids names that were trendy or that merely sounded good. They wanted their children to wear meaningful monikers.

Samuel is a good example. His mother, Hannah, was a woman distraught by infertility who begged God for a child. The Bible says, “So it came to pass in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, ‘Because I have asked for him from the LORD’” (1 Sam. 1:20).

The prefix Sam is related to the Hebrew verb meaning “to hear,” and the el at the end is a Hebrew word for God. His name meant: “God Heard!” Samuel was named, as it were, “Answered Prayer.”

In the Bible, then, a person’s name was not just his or her identification, but his or her description.

With that in mind, it shouldn’t surprise us that the greatest man in the Bible—the Source and Center of the Scriptures, the Peerless Personage around whom the Bible revolves—would have not just one name, or two, or three, but scores and scores of names, for He Himself is indescribable.

Some time ago, I decided to read leisurely from Genesis to Revelation, noting every name, title, and descriptive phrase that identifies Christ. I found about 350, and I’m sure I missed some along the way.

Why so many names and titles for our Lord Jesus Christ? Because He is so infinite, so vast, so multidimensioned and poly-faceted. It takes all these names to describe Him, just as it would take all the colors of the spectrum to adequately paint His portrait.

Since all His attributes are infinite and limitless, Jesus of Nazareth can no more be contained in His names and titles than the atmosphere can be captured in a series of oxygen tanks, or the ocean bottled in a collection of containers however beautiful. He is timeless and boundless, and His infinity extends through the universe into endless, perpetual depths of foreverness.

Yet He reveals Himself through His designations, and all His glorious names meet varying needs in our own lives. They reveal diverse dimensions of His power, love, grace, glory, and goodness that touch our souls. They disclose the many layers of His relationship with us. His names help us fix our thoughts on Him in new ways. They fill our minds with Him who can fill our hearts and guide our lives. Each of His names helps us comprehend and appreciate Him as we should, and they reassure us of His love in so many different ways.

This is not a study on the names of God the Father or God the Spirit, as I have not included names and titles such as Jehovah or Holy Ghost. It’s limited to the names and titles of God the Son, the second person of the Trinity. Even then, as I indicated, it isn’t an exhaustive list. I could easily pick up my Bible this afternoon and find a name or title I’ve never noticed before. Jesus is on every page of Scripture, and His glorious names are scattered thither and yon throughout both Old and New Testaments.

For the sake of an orderly arrangement, I’ve classified the names under different headings, but these are not watertight compartments. Some of His names could aptly be placed in more than one category. I’ve tried to explain the meaning of each name and to show how it relates to us. Our Lord’s names and titles are so rich they must be pondered, savored, mulled over, and thoughtfully applied to the heart. His love is spread across our souls, His promises are under our feet, His presence is around our lives, and His name is above every name.