The name Jesus was given to the Christ because his prophetic function was to renew revelation of the saving Name ‘I AM’ and so, by hallowing the Name, unveil the kingdom come. The prophet Isaiah had said long ago that all God’s children shall be taught by ‘I AM’ and great shall be the peace of his children. (Isaiah 54:13 cf John 6:45). The Name unveils great peace as abundance and joy, being the great completeness of Holy Trinity revealing the Father through the Son, in the Holy Spirit. It is the Name of the Holy Trinity whose ineffable, opening oneness unveils the Name above all names. The Name of glory completes prophetic revelation by fulfilling the priestly function of uniting heaven and earth and the royal function of unveiling the Kingdom of God. All three functions of prophet, priest and king are fulfilled in the mystery of the completeness of the Name, which is not to be confused with anything created although it reveals the indivisibility of all uncreated and created worlds. The Name is mystery which transcends sensation and conception but fills us with the grace of its glory, opening us to joy beyond every perception.
When we turn and see, wisdom discerns this glory of the Name ‘I AM’ without confusion or division, curing confusion by revealing communion and healing division by unveiling union. The tradition of the apostles and prophets tells us that when we turn, we see, and when we see, we awaken to God seeing God in God the Holy Spirit, which is the mystery of glorification, also called deification. Turning and seeing are wisdom’s way to awaken to the Kingdom by hallowing the Name’ I AM.’ They are glory’s way to open us to deifying truth and life. ‘I AM’ is way, truth and life for all who hallow the Name aright and witness the Kingdom come on earth just as it is forever coming in heaven. The injunctions to turn and see are the foundation of Orthodox Hesychasm but are also to be found at the heart of every sacred wisdom, because wisdom is opened wherever and whenever the Word unveils the Name. The apostles and prophets reveal this mystery through the Name to awaken the hearts of elders and saints in generation after generation.
To turn and see is to awaken to Holy Trinity by a triune turning into God through God, which opens the eye of the heart to a triune seeing of God by God. Prophets transmit the Word which reveals the Name and apostles transmit the gospel of wisdom which is abundance and joy. This transmission is what hallows saints by unveiling the Kingdom come, a coming which is renewed by elders when saints receive it with open hearts. The Name is grace whenever the Gospel is taken to heart as revelation and the saving Name is trusted. Without trust, there may be a moment of illumination but not a lifetime of transfiguration. Trust bequeaths confidence that carries the human spirit through trials and temptations, so that tried by fire, illumination matures into glory. Without trial by fire, there can be no real saving even though the Name never ceases to save. Without temptation, the Name cannot prove its uncreated capacity to save by grace and heal by glory. The Holy Trinity is not reified like a useless artefact in a chamber of mysteries but is revelatory energy from the Father enlightening us through the Son, assimilated by the Holy Spirit, so that the awakened heart becomes a sanctuary of glory, freeing whatever arises so that it releases into glory. This is wisdom’s revelation of the Name unveiled in Holy Trinity, the ineffable glory of grace opening as a Kingdom of abundance and joy.