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Come to Know Him Through His Names, His Titles And His Offices
“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21)
Of the more than 700 names of the Lord Jesus Christ in Scripture, none is perhaps more venerated by Christians than the name “Jesus” itself. That name has brought about a sense of overwhelming comfort to many in their darkest hours. It is that name most often verbalized in prayer and preaching, in testimony and witnessing. Many relate dramatic, even miraculous experiences of life to the significance of that name.
In all likelihood, when Mary and Joseph talked to their son, they used their native language and called him “Yeshua” or “Joshua.” If they used the Greek trade language, then they called him “Jesus,” for as we noted previously, “Jesus” is the Greek form of the Hebrew name “Joshua.” The name “Joshua”was a contraction of “Jehoshua,” meaning ‘ Jehovah the Saviour.
In the first mentions of the name of Jesus in scripture, it is clear that Jesus was more than just another baby boy born to a young Jewish mother. The first to hear His name was Mary who was informed not only that she would bear a son but that she should “call his name JESUS” and that He would also “be called the Son of the Highest” (Luke 1:31,32). When Joseph first heard the name, he was told “that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 1:20). The name Jesus, when applied to the virgin-born child of Bethlehem, was an affirmation of who He is, “Jehovah the Saviour.”
“Jehovah” was the most venerated name of God in the Old Testament. So careful were the Jews not to violate the forth commandment that they refused to verbalize this name lest, unknowingly, they were to use it in vain. When they came to read it in their Scriptures, by habit they substituted the name Adonai, another name for God in the Old Testament.
To think, that greatly respected “Jehovah” of the Old Testament was “Jesus” in the New Testament! Jehovah Himself became a man. That mystery concerning the incarnation has baffled theologians and bible students for years, yet remains a part of human history that one day the One who made this world and created all things, including the human race, voluntarily chose to become a man without compromising in any way who He was.
When we realize the true nature of Jesus, we have no problem understanding the necessity of the virgin birth. It is not simply an early Christian legend, which found its way into the Bible or a novel little miracle to give us yet something else to believe. The virgin birth was the only possible way in which Jehovah could become a man and at the same time remain Jehovah. Jesus needed a human mother to have a human nature, but if He had a human father, He also would have received the sin nature of His father. With a pair of sinful human parents, it would have been impossible for Him to be the Son of God.
When God created man, He made man Holy-that is, without sin. But man’s
holiness was conditional and ended when Adam fell. Since then, men have been born sinners by nature because they inherited that nature from their father, Adam. “ Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). That would also have been the fate of Jesus had He been the physical son of Joseph.
In contrast, the scriptures teach that Christ knew no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21).
When Joseph learned his legal son would be named “Jesus,” he was also told the nature of His work, “For He shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21)
This salvation was completed on the cross when Jesus gave us eternal life by His death and resurrection. Is it any wonder the name of Jesus is so deeply loved by Christians around the world? It is the name that brings us salvation and provides all the assistance we need in facing the struggles of life. It bears witness to the fact that Jehovah the Saviour became a man at a point in history that we might spend eternity with Him in Heaven. Now we can come boldly before the throne of grace in prayer knowing we are His children.
These excerpts are taken from the book: “The Names Of Jesus” written and read by Dr. Elmer Towns. This wonderful study will lead you into a deeper understanding and knowledge of Jesus. Click here to see more information about the book.
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