… as He has inherited a more excellent name than they …

The Name – probably one of the most written about subjects in all of Christian literature. The names of God, the names of Christ. Names are descriptions, they invoke emotion and insight. Parents often name their children after a beloved relative. Sometimes a name is given which reflects the parents’ hopes that the child will live up to the character of some great person who had that name.

With God, His primary name is that of Yahweh (first elucidated in Exodus 3:14), which means that He is the One who will be all that His people need Him to be. People often mistakenly think that God’s name is, well, “God.” However, that is simply a generic term for deity, and not a personal name. His personal name is “Yahweh.” He is the personal God of the Israelites (and for Christians as well). His name distinguished Him from false or fictitious gods. (In English we use the convention of capitalizing the word “God” when used in reference to the true God of Scripture but not capitalizing it when referring to false gods).

He was Yahweh, the God of the Jews. Sometimes rendered “Jehovah,” His name combines with other descriptions, for example, “Jehovah Jireh,” God provides. A study of His various names and appellations is rich.

In our text today, it is the name of the principle focus of the book, “His son,” (Heb 1:2), “namely Jesus” (Heb 2:9). The name means, “savior,” or “salvation,” rooted in the Old Testament Hebrew name, “Joshua.” Jesus inherited this name, but not from Joshua. He was not named after any Old Testament personage. He received His name from His Father. In fact, an angel was the messenger, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus” (Luke 1:31). Gabriel was a mere messenger (Luke 1:26). The name of Jesus is greater than the name Gabriel (or for that matter, Michael—Dan 10:13—or that of any other angel), precisely because Jesus came as the perfect, exalted Savior. The angels did not.

It is true that angels are magnificent beings and can easily be described as excellent. They serve their roles as messengers of God in a most excellent way. But Jesus is more excellent, which seems like an odd statement. How do you improve on excellent? The answer is this. Whatever is excellent in the universe, Jesus eclipses it to an infinite degree. He is not just a little better, or even much better than angels. He is more excellent than angels. His perfection and magnificence are multiplied to the nth degree. And the writer of Hebrews spends the next thirteen chapters extolling how much more perfect Jesus is than all else.

Lord, open my eyes that I might see Jesus.