“O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

As we see in the opening verse of Psam 8, there is something about the Name of God.  All throughout the Scripture much is made of God’s Name.  He is known in the Old Testament as:
Elohim – The Strong One; El Elyon – The Most High,; El Olam – Everlasting God; Adonai – Lord(Master); Yahweh – I Am the One Who Is; Yahweh-Jireh – The Lord Provides; Yahweh-Shalom – The Lord is Peace; and the list goes on and on and on.

Why is it that God made so much of the Name?  Because the Name incorporates the characteristics of the one bearing it.

When we talk about the Name of God, we should be very careful how we use it.  Thus, the commandment: “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain” – Exodus 20:7 (NKJV)  So what does it mean to take the Lord’s name in vain?  It is defined as: Having no real substance, value, or importance; empty; void; worthless; unsatisfying.

No wonder the Lord warns us not to take His Name in vain!  When we do we are saying that He is empty, has no real substance, and is unsatisfying!  WOW!  And, if that was His feeling in the Old Testament, what about the New Testament?  After all the New Testament says; “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name” in reference to Jesus! (Philippians 2:9)

Think about it!  Why did God, who was called by so many wonderful names, give to Jesus Christ the Name that is above every Name?  I refer you to Psalm 8 again and Hebrews 2:

“It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come,
about which we are speaking.
But there is a place where someone has testified:
“What is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
You made him a little lower than the angels;
you crowned him with glory and honor
and put everything under his feet.”
In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him.
Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him.
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels,
now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death,
so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”

In this passage we see a direct reference to Psalm 8 and its relationship to the “son of man” which we know is a title given to Jesus.  In Philippians 2 Paul describes Jesus this way:

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant,
and coming in the likeness of men.
And being found in appearance as a man,
He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death,
even the death of the cross.
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
of those in heaven, and of those on earth,
and of those under the earth,
and Therefore God also has highly exalted Him
and given Him the name which is above every name,
that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Jesus, was equal to God the Father in every way!  Indeed He even told Philip in John 14; “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” And; “Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” Because He was willing to come to us where we were, lost and bound in our sin; He was willing to leave the glory of Heaven to come to the “pig sty” of the earth and give His life so that mankind might know love and redemption, God exalted Him above all and placed all things under His feet! In doing this the Father made the Name of the Son, Jesus, greater and higher than any other Name, whether it be in Heaven, on the earth, or under the earth!  WOW! There is power and glory in that NAME – JESUS!