Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Spirituality Column #743

February 9, 2021

Jesus On Every Page

By Bob Walters

“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place, and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth, and under the earth.” – Philippians 2:9-10

I believe you can find Jesus on every page of the Bible if your heart is intent on looking for Him.

That said, my wife Pam led worship in our E91 Traditional Service a couple weeks ago and read a wonderful passage from The Celebration Hymnal (1997, Word/Integrity Music). Remember hymnals?  This hymnal has more than just songs, and since the service many people have asked for a copy of the reading.  Here it is.

The hymnal’s page 14 has the heading “Name Above All Names” (with no author listed, regrettably, because I’d love to know who wrote it), and this intro: “God has promised He will never leave or forsake us. In Christ, God revealed His faithfulness to us from the beginning of time.”  And then Pam read the piece … it took my breath away.

“In Genesis Jesus is the Ram at Abraham’s alter.  In Exodus He’s the Passover Lamb.  In Leviticus He’s the High Priest.  In Numbers He’s the Cloud by day and Pillar of Fire by night.  In Deuteronomy He’s the City of our refuge. 

“In Joshua He’s the Scarlet Thread out Rahab’s window.  In Judges He is our Judge.  In Ruth He is our Kinsman Redeemer.  In 1^st and 2^nd Samuel He’s our Trusted Prophet and in Kings and Chronicles He’s our Reigning King. 

“In Ezra He’s our Faithful Scribe.  In Nehemiah He’s the Rebuilder of everything that is broken and in Esther He is the Mordecai sitting faithfully at the gate.  In Job He’s our Redeemer that ever-liveth. 

“In Psalms He is our Shepherd and we shall not want.  In Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, He’s our Wisdom and in the Song of Solomon He’s the Beautiful Bridegroom.

“In Isaiah He’s the Suffering Servant.  In Jeremiah and Lamentations, it is Jesus who is the Weeping Prophet.  In Ezekiel He’s the Wonderful Four-Faced Man and in Daniel He is the Fourth Man in the midst of a fiery furnace.

“In Hosea He is our Love that is forever faithful.  In Joel He baptizes us with the Holy Spirit.  In Amos He’s our Burden Bearer.  In Obadiah our Savior and in Jonah He is the Great Foreign Missionary that takes the Word of God into all the world.

“In Micah He is the Messenger with beautiful feet.  In Nahum He is the Avenger.

In Habakkuk He is the Watchman that is ever praying for revival.  In Zephaniah He is the Lord, mighty to save.  In Haggai He is the Restorer of our lost heritage.  In Zechariah He is our Fountain and in Malachi he is the Sun of Righteousness with healing in His wings.

“In Matthew He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  In Mark He is the Miracle Worker.  In Luke He’s the Son of Man and in John He is the Door by which every one of us must enter.

“In Acts He is the Shining Light that appears to Saul on the road to Damascus.

“In Romans he is our Justifier.  In 1^st Corinthians our Resurrection.  In 2^nd Corinthians our Sin Bearer.  In Galatians He redeems us from the law.  In Ephesians He is our Unsearchable Riches.  In Philippians He supplies our every need and in Colossians He’s the Fullness of the Godhead Bodily.

“In 1^st and 2^nd Thessalonians He is our Soon Coming King.  In 1^st and 2^nd Timothy He is the Mediator between God and man.  In Titus He is our Blessed Hope.  In Philemon He is a Friend that sticks closer than a brother and in Hebrews He’s the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant.

“In James it is the Lord who heals the sick.

“In 1^st and 2^nd Peter He is the Chief Shepherd.  In 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd John it is Jesus who has the tenderness of love.  In Jude He is the Lord coming with 10,000 saints.”

“And in Revelation,” with Heaven standing open, He rides a white horse

and is called Faithful and True.  With justice he judges and wages war.

His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns.

"He is our King of Kings and Lord of Lords."

My friend and teacher George Bebawi, who taught so many of us so much about knowing Jesus in the Bible and, more importantly and profoundly, in our lives, passed away before dawn last Thursday.  I could think of no better way to honor him this week than by talking about Jesus through all 66 books of the Bible ... and I had this reading passage my wife found for a worship service.  Perfect.

George, in home hospice at the end, died quietly with his loving wife May at his side and two of his three sons, visiting from Texas and Germany, at home with him.

Now, George is with Jesus whom he loved and defended fiercely in life.  Restored to communion in the Coptic Church last fall, George was a lion in the service of the Lord and possess a Christian and philosophical intellect on par with any in this world.  I love George dearly and he will be missed by not just his lioness May, his family, and close friends but multitudes of Christians and especially Copts he touched wrldwide.

Rest in peace, Rabbi.  You ran the good race, fought the good fight, and finished well.  With our deepened faith in Jesus we will revere your memory always.  Thank you.

Signed, The Archbishop

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes that George was buried Monday, Feb. 8, in Oak Lawn Cemetery, Fishers, Ind., USA, after a private family Coptic / Orthodox funeral.  He guesses George’s first words inside the pearly gates were, “Where is this Paul?” 

A post-Covid memorial gathering ??? is something May hopes to arrange ... tbd, obviously.

Also, regarding the reading passage above, Bob deeply cherishes the victorious and “White Horse” Jesus of Revelation 19 and so suggested Pam’s edit in the reading’s last paragraph (portion not in quote marks). We hope Word Music doesn’t mind.

And one last thing … George, before finding Christ in his late teens, grew up Jewish (in a Muslim neighborhood in Cairo, Egypt, if you can imagine).  Hence, Bob called him “Rabbi.”  Early on, George responded to that sobriquet by noting Bob’s Episcopalian upbringing and dubbed him “The Archbishop.”