This will be our last Names of God post until after the new year… I do pray that as you dig into these names with me you are growing in your relationship with our God and Christ. The study of this name today falls in the midst of our Holiday Season. Most of us have just experienced Thanksgiving, have headed out for our Black Friday shopping, and now the streets in Alabama are about to be cleared for the infamous Iron Bowl. We are in the midst of walking through our family traditions…

 

Traditions can be good… they can make us feel safe and loved and close to loved ones that have since passed away… but sometimes there comes a time for traditions to fade away.

Before we get into the name of Christ that we will be discussing today lets first go back. Let’s go back to a day when God had called out a people, a nation, to be His. A day when He set up a way for His people to commune with Him, to worship Him, to honor Him… a day when the temple in Jerusalem stood in all its beauty and the glory of the LORD filled the Holy of Holies.

The “I AM” had set the nation of Israel apart to be His and to be His witness to the world… but as the nation passed from generation to the next something happened in the hearts of the people… they forgot their God. They became more intrenched in following tradition instead of just following their God and as they did so their hearts grew cold. They had kings over them that did not honor God… and one day God reached out to one of them, King Ahaz.

Then the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, “Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; make it deep as Sheol or high as heaven.”  But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord!”  Then he said, “Listen now, O house of David! Is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. 

Isaiah 7:10-14

Ahaz was a king who followed the traditions and rituals of the Law, but he did not love God. He also worshipped idols and he put his trust in other nations and kings, not his God. God gives Ahaz an open door to cry out to Him, to seek Him, but Ahaz refuses… and he refuses with a nice “churchy” answer… God is not happy. He gives His sign… Immanuel, God with us.

Here was the problem of Ahaz and the nation of Israel as a whole…

Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote, 

Isaiah 29:13

Their hearts did not belong to their God. They trusted in their tradition not in Him. So God would now send them the sign. He would send the One who would remind them that He alone saves… He would send Iesous.

The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.

Luke 1:30-31

Iesous is the Greek form for Jesus.

Iesous would come and He would rock the traditions of all of Israel and of all the world. He would come and His very presence would cause everyone to question why they did what they did… whether it be good or bad, tradition or religious, His sincerity and truth and grace and glory would cause all to look in places of their heart and mind that they would just as soon have lived forever ignoring.

He would cause those who called themselves sons of God, sons of Abraham, son of the promise… to ask: Who do I really love and who do I really serve?

And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?

Matthew 15:3

When God asked for a sign from Ahaz, I believe he wanted Ahaz to respond to Him as the psalmist responded…

Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord.


Lord, hear my voice!

Let Your ears be attentive
 to the voice of my supplications.


If You, Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?


But there is forgiveness with You, 
that You may be feared.



I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait,
 and in His word do I hope.

 My soul waits for the Lord
 more than the watchmen for the morning;
 indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.

 O Israel, hope in the Lord;
 for with the Lord there is lovingkindness,
 and with Him is abundant redemption.

 And He will redeem Israel
 from all his iniquities.


Psalm 130

And when Jesus came… He wanted the same. God has always wanted us to know that forgiveness and redemption belong to Him alone… and this is why when He came in the Word made flesh… His name was Iesous, Jesus.

Now here’s the thing… all the other names of Christ we have studied thus far have really been titles… but this name, Iesous, is His given name.

The Hebrew origin of Iesous is Y@howshuwa. We translate that as Joshua or Jehoshua.

Now let me ask you…  who led the children of Israel into the promised land?

Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter there; encourage him, for he will cause Israel to inherit it.

Deuteronomy 1:38

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, the time for you to die is near; call Joshua, and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, that I may commission him.” So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting.

Deuteronomy 31:14

Moses did not lead the children of Israel into the Promised Land. Joshua did. Moses represents the Law.

For the Law was given through Moses;

John 1:17

Precious one do you see?

Moses, representing the Law, could only get Israel to the border of the Promised Land. It would be Joshua, Jehoshua, Iesous, who would take them in.

Jehoshua, Jesus, is broken down into two syllables:

JE the first syllable, means Jehovah

SUS or Oshea the second syllable means help, deliver, salvation

Jesus, Iesous, means Jehovah Salvation. The name of Jesus means the Salvation of God.

Before our Savior would go to the cross He stand on what we call the Mount of Transfiguration. He would stand there and Peter and John and James would see Jesus standing there and Moses and Elijah would stand there with Him.

Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.

Matthew 17:1-3

Just as Moses commissioned Joshua before the children of Israel before he would take them into the Promised Land, Moses would commission Jesus before He would go to the cross. Moses representing the Law and Elijah representing the Prophets, would stand there on that Mount with the One to whom all the Law and Prophets pointed… AMAZING! The Salvation of God had come! Iesous!

So when the angel looked at Mary and declared “you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.” He was saying the Salvation of God is here. Here He is and there is no other name, none other to come, only Jehovah saves. Jehovah is Salvation… Jesus.

And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12

So precious one every time the name of Jesus rolls off of your tongue you are declaring Jehovah is Salvation! Every time you say the name of Jesus you are declaring that only Jesus saves! The declaration is in His name.

So this Christmas season be sure to say His name…  Y@howshuwa. Iesous. Jesus.

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:5-11