The Son comes in the name of the Father and works also in the name of the Father. In John 5:43 the Lord said, “I have come in the name of My Father.” In 10:25 He said, “The works which I do in My Father’s name, these testify concerning Me.” The rendering in the Mandarin Union Version implies that the Lord comes by being sent. Actually, the Lord comes not only by being sent by the Father. Rather, He comes in the name of the Father; that is, He comes with the Father. Moreover, He is in the Father’s name not only in the three and a half years of His work and ministry for God; but even in the thirty-three and a half years of His human living on earth He is in the Father’s name.
What does it mean that the Son comes in the name of the Father and that the Son works in the name of the Father? Let me use an example. A certain wife has a husband who has an account in the bank. When she goes to the bank to withdraw money, she does it in her husband’s name. Therefore, when giving her the money, the bank teller would call out her husband’s name. This means that she is in her husband’s name; she and her husband are one. This example is not adequate, but there is a similarity in meaning. What the Bible means is that when the Son comes in the name of the Father, that is the Father coming, and when the Son works in the name of the Father, that is the Father working. It is true that He is the Son, but this Son is the image of the Father. Therefore, when people see Him, they see the Father. This is why when Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father,” the Lord Jesus was surprised and said, “Have I been so long a time with you, and you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how is it that you say, Show us the Father?” (John 14:8-9). This is truly a mystery.
Isaiah 9:6 says, “A son is given to us;... / And His name will be called... / Eternal Father.” This verse implicitly tells us that the name of the Son would be called the Eternal Father; hence, the Son and the Father are one. Although He is the Son who came in time, He is the Father in eternity.
Colossians 1:15a says, “Who [the Son of God’s love] is the image of the invisible God.” That the Son is the image of God means that the Son is the expression of God’s being in all His attributes and virtues. This is also what John 1:18 says: “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” When people see the Son, they see the Father; the Son and the Father are one (10:30).
John 14:26 says, “The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name.” The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, would be sent by the Father in the Son’s name. First, the Son lives and does the works in the Father’s name; then the Father sends the Holy Spirit in the Son’s name. Here it says that the Father sends the Holy Spirit, but actually it is the Son who sends the Holy Spirit. Because the Father sends the Holy Spirit in the Son’s name, the Father’s sending is the Son’s sending; the Father and the Son are one (10:30). Furthermore, since the Holy Spirit is sent in the Son’s name, the Holy Spirit’s coming is the Son’s coming; the Holy Spirit and the Son are one (2 Cor. 3:17). This is to say that the Father sends the Holy Spirit in the Son’s name and that the Holy Spirit comes also in the Son’s name.
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