Come in the Father's Name

John 5:43  I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.

Jesus came to us in the name of His Father. He has told us that God is His Father. The Father has told us that Jesus is His Son at the Baptism. Matt 3:17 Jesus told us that the Father honoured Him. John 8:54 He is the express image of His Father (Heb 1:3) and was given to Have Life in Himself from His Father. John 5:26

The highest means of honouring Jesus is to acknowledge His Father; to acknowledge that He inherited everything from His Father. If we state that Jesus did not receive everything He has from His Father then we deny His true identity; we deny Him that which is most precious to Him and that is His relationship to His Father. Without this inheritance there is no meaning to the words Father and Son; it is the inheritance that gives meaning to these words.

It is Satan’s lie via the Garden that we do not need to accept that everything comes from the Father. Even Christ proceeded forth from the Father. John 8:42; Prov 8:22-24. Jesus was not ashamed of this truth. He was happy to acknowledge where He came from. He did not deny His Father.

If we say that Christ Has His own Life from Himself and not from His Father then we are denying the truth that Jesus is the Son of the Living God. It means that we do not accept Jesus as coming in His Father’s name. It means that we will only accept Him if He comes in His own name. This is what the Pharisees did. They would not receive Christ coming in the name and power of the Father. This is because they were of their father the devil. Satan would not accept that Christ came in His Father’s name. He would only accept a God that came in His own name. This is the centre of the Great Controversy. Can I accept a God who comes in the name of another? This is exactly who Christ is – The one who comes in the name of His Father. This is what Satan rejected. He refused to accept Jesus unless He would come in His own name.

This is exactly what the church has done today. The church has refused to accept that Jesus comes in the name of His Father. The words of inspiration are twisted to suit the devil’s lies. “In Christ was Life Original, Unborrowed and Underived” goes up the cry. He did not receive it from anyone. He had it in Himself. And so is fulfilled the words of Christ “I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.” John 5:43

John 5:26 makes it very clear concerning the Life that Jesus received of His Father.

“For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; John 5:26”

It says AS the Father hath Life SO hath He Given to the Son. AS the Father has Life original, unborrowed and underived, SO the Son has been given this same life. The statement by Ellen White about this Life is given in Desire of Ages

“Still seeking to give a true direction to her faith, Jesus declared, "I am the resurrection, and the life." In Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived. "He that hath the Son hath life." 1 John 5:12. The divinity of Christ is the believer's assurance of eternal life. "He that believeth in Me," said Jesus, "though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this?" Christ here looks forward to the time of His second coming. Then the righteous dead shall be raised incorruptible, and the living righteous shall be translated to heaven without seeing death. The miracle which Christ was about to perform, in raising Lazarus from the dead, would represent the resurrection of all the righteous dead. By His word and His works He declared Himself the Author of the resurrection. He who Himself was soon to die upon the cross stood with the keys of death, a conqueror of the grave, and asserted His right and power to give eternal life.”  DA 530

This statement is given in the context of the resurrection from the dead. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. But where does this Life come from to raise the dead? Let us read the Scriptures:

Joh 5:26-30  For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.  I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.  

Again look at what Jesus says just earlier in the same chapter:

Joh 5:18-23  Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.  For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.

Jesus clearly tells us where the power comes from to raise the dead. He tells us that He does not do this OF Himself, but that He has received this power from His Father. This is the context of Ellen White’s statement in Desire of Ages.

It is a supreme insult to Christ to deny Him His identity as the Son of God, to twist the statements of inspiration to make Him come in His own name with His own power separate from the Father. It is treason of the highest magnitude. Only those who have the Son will have life and those who interpret that Jesus has Life original, unborrowed and underived to mean that He did not receive this life from the Father do not have the Son of the Scriptures but a being who comes in his own name like Nimrod and Satan.

I once believed that Jesus had this Life from Himself and not His Father. I am completely ashamed that I believed such a thing and I ask the Father to forgive me for such an insult to Him and His Son. I trust in His mercy that I am forgiven and I now rejoice in knowing the Son. I accept Him as coming in the name of His Father. I love the Son of God and I love the Father for giving Him to me as my Saviour and Friend.

I plead with anyone who does not accept Jesus as coming in the name of His Father to repent and turn to the truth while there is still time. Turn back to the highway, the way, the truth and the life and find the joy of knowing that Jesus truly is the Son of the Living God.