February 8, Morning

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"Thou shalt call his name Jesus." — Matthew 1:21 · KJV

When a person is dear to us, everything connected with him becomes dear for his sake. So precious is the person of the Lord Jesus in the eyes of all true believers that everything about Him they count priceless. "All Thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia," said David, as if the very robes of the Savior were so perfumed by His person that he could not help loving them. Certainly there is not a spot where that hallowed foot has trodden, not a word those blessed lips have spoken, not a thought His loving Word has revealed, that is not to us precious beyond all price. And this is true of the names of Christ — they are all sweet in the believer's ear. Whether He is called the Husband of the Church, her Bridegroom, her Friend; whether He is styled the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, the King, the Prophet, or the Priest; every title of our Master — Shiloh, Immanuel, Wonderful, the Mighty Counselor — every name is like the honeycomb dropping with honey, and luscious are the drops that fall from it. But if there is one name sweeter than any other in the believer's ear, it is the name of Jesus. Jesus! It is the name that stirs the harps of heaven to melody. Jesus! the life of all our joys. If there is one name more charming, more precious than another, it is this. It is woven into the very fabric of our songs; many of our hymns begin with it, and scarcely any worth anything end without it. It is the sum total of all delights — the music with which the bells of heaven ring, a song in a single word, an ocean of meaning though a drop for brevity, a matchless anthem in two syllables, a gathering up of the hallelujahs of eternity in five letters. Jesus, I love Your charming name; it is music to my ear.