“She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). (Matthews 1:21-24, ESV)
In Western culture the choice of a baby’s name can be affected by all kinds of factors. Family tradition is one that is important within my own family. I was named after my father, who was named after his uncle. My son has my name as his middle name to carry on the tradition. This results in multiple people within the family having the same first name. For other people, the chosen name reflects the parents’ favourite actors, singers or sports stars. Other people try to choose a name that will make their child stand out from the crowd. Some celebrities take this to extremes and seem to come up with names that try to be as outlandish as possible.
By contrast, in the Bible, the names given to children are often full of meaning, somehow seeming to capture something of the character of the recipient, or at least reflecting something about them or the events surrounding their birth. That goes all the way back to Adam himself (‘adam’ in Hebrew means ‘man of earth’ or ‘earthling’ we might say). Think of Abraham (‘father of many nations’), Isaac (‘laughter’ – remember when Sarah laughed at the idea she would conceive a baby?), Moses (‘to draw out’ as he was taken from the Nile), or David (‘beloved’).
No name in the Bible is more rich with meaning than the name the angel told Joseph to name Mary’s baby boy. ‘You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins’ (Matthew 1:23).
The name we read in our bibles as ‘Jesus’ is a Greek form of what was a common name for Hebrew boys at the time, Yeshua or as we normally find it in English, Joshua. It is a meeting with a profound meaning: ‘Yahwah saves’ or ‘Yahweh is salvation.’
Verse 23 explicitly links the reason for his name to his mission to save God’s people. Never was a name more apt. As the angels told the shepherds, ‘For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord’ (Luke 2:11, ESV).
Beyond the fact that Jesus was given his name because he is the Saviour, the name hints at another truth. That he is Yahweh himself—he is God, born in a stable in Bethlehem.
The New Testament as a whole teaches this same truth. Jesus is God and it is only as God become a human being that he can achieve salvation for this people. Another Christmas reading is John 1, where it is made very clear that Jesus (whom John calls ‘the Word’) is God:
‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth’ (John 1:1, 14, ESV).
This is why Matthew recognised the prophecy in Isaiah 7 referred to the incarnation as well, that Jesus is ‘Immanuel’ which means ‘God with us.’
God is with his people this Christmas and always. The question for each of us is this: are you one of his people? Are you one of those he came to save? The only answer and assurance the Bible gives is this: ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved’ (Acts 16:31) and as Jesus himself said, ‘Whoever comes to me I will never cast out’ (John 6.37b, ESV).
May the Christ of the manger, the cross, and the empty tomb be yours this Christmas and forever.
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