CHRISTMAS! ONE CANNOT HEAR THAT WORD AND NOT ALSO THINK OF THE ANGELIC MESSAGE OF LUKE 2:10-11, “DO NOT BE AFRAID; FOR SEE—I AM BRINGING YOU GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY FOR ALL THE PEOPLE: TO YOU IS BORN THIS DAY IN THE CITY OF DAVID A SAVIOUR, WHO IS CHRIST,THE LORD.”
THIS NEWS PROCLAIMED BY THE ANGEL WAS SO SACRED THAT “THE ANGEL WAS JOINED BY A VAST HOST OF OTHERS—THE ARMIES OF HEAVEN—PRAISING GOD AND SAYING, ‘GLORY TO GOD IN HIGHEST HEAVEN, AND PEACE ON EARTH TO THOSE WITH WHOM GOD IS PLEASED.”
YET, AS AMAZING AS THIS ANNOUNCEMENT MAY BE, WE STILL HAVE ANOTHER ANGELIC VISIT WITH AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE THAT WAS DELIVERED TO JOSEPH AS HE SLEPT. HE WAS TO TAKE MARY AS HIS WIFE AND TO GIVE HER BABY THE NAME, JESUS. WHAT A NAME!
PHILIPPIANS 2:9-11, “THEREFORE, GOD ELEVATED HIM TO THE PLACE OF HIGHEST HONOR AND GAVE HIM THE NAME ABOVE ALL OTHER NAMES, THAT AT THE NAME OF JESUS EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW, IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH AND UNDER THE EARTH, AND EVERY TONGUE DECLARE THAT JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, TO THE GLORY OF GOD THE FATHER.” GOD, THE FATHER, NAMES HIS SON, TO BRING HIM GLORY.
JESUS! THE NAME, ABOVE ALL OTHER NAMES, IS ACTUALLY A SINGLE NAME CONTAINING MULTIPLE NAMES. THE MANY OTHER NAMES OF JESUS IS A TESTAMENT TO WHO HE REALLY IS TO US!
THE CHRISTMAS STORY TELLS US THE VARIOUS MEANINGS BEHIND THE NAMES OF JESUS AS WELL AS ITS PRONUNCIATION! WE LOOK AT THOSE BLESSED WORDS THAT SPEAK OF OUR REDEMPTION!
FIRST, JESUS, AS THE SON, IS GOD INCARNATE! OUR CHURCH TEACHES THAT “GOD WAS HIMSELF IN JESUS CHRIST TO RECONCILE PEOPLE TO GOD. CONCEIVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, BORN OF THE VIRGIN MARY, HE JOINED TOGETHER THE DEITY OF GOD AND THE HUMANITY OF HUMANKIND. JESUS OF NAZARETH WAS GOD IN FLESH, TRULY GOD AND TRULY HUMAN. HE CAME TO SAVE US. FOR US THE SON OF GOD SUFFERED, WAS CRUCIFIED, DEAD AND BURIED. HE POURED OUT HIS LIFE AS A BLAMELESS SACRIFICE FOR OUR SIN AND TRANSGRESSIONS. WE GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT HE IS OUR SAVIOR, THE ONE PERFECT MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND US.” JESUS IS GOD INCARNATE!
SECOND, THE NAMING OF JESUS FULFILLS PROPHECY. THE MESSAGE OF ISAIAH SAYS “THEY WILL CALL HIM IMMANUEL.” THE NAME, “IMMANUEL,” MEANS “GOD WITH US.” JESUS WAS GOD IN THE FLESH! THAT MEANS GOD WAS LITERALLY “WITH US” AS WELL AS FOR US, BECAUSE OF JESUS. NO GREATER BLESSING CAN BE CONCEIVED THAN FOR GOD TO DWELL WITH HIS PEOPLE! JESUS IS IMMANUEL!
THE THIRD NAME GIVEN TO JESUS IS THAT HE IS THE CHRIST. “CHRIST” IS A GREEK NAME THAT MEANS “ANNOINTED ONE.” OLD TESTAMENT KINGS, PRIESTS AND PROPHETS WERE ANOINTED WITH OIL. JESUS WAS ALSO ANOINTED, BUT BY THE HOLY SPIRIT TO PERFECTLY FULFILL THESE ROLES. JESUS NOW RULES AS GOD’S PROPHET, PRIEST, AND KING OVER HIS CHURCH AND ALL CREATION.
ACTS 10:38, “AND YOU KNOW THAT GOD ANOINTED JESUS OF NAZARETH WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT AND WITH POWER. THEN JESUS WENT AROUND DOING GOOD AND HEALING ALL WHO WERE OPPRESSED BY THE DEVIL, FOR GOD WAS WITH HIM.” JESUS IS THE CHRIST!
THE FINAL NAME IS THAT JESUS IS LORD! THIS GIVES HIS NAME SUPREME AUTHORITY OVER THE CHURCH, CREATION, NATIONS, AND OVER EVERY ASPECT OF OUR OWN PERSONAL, SOCIAL, PROFESSIONAL, LEISURE, AND FAMILY LIFE. WE SURRENDER TO JESUS AS LORD AND SEEK TO LIVE EVERY PART OF OUR LIVES IN A WAY THAT PLEASES HIM. COLOSSIANS 1:18, “CHRIST IS ALSO THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH, WHICH IS HIS BODY. HE IS THE BEGINNING, SUPREME OVER ALL WHO RISE FROM THE DEAD. SO HE IS FIRST IN EVERYTHING.” JESUS IS LORD!
IF HIS NAMES WERE NOT POWERFUL ENOUGH, WE FIND THAT EVEN THE PRONUNCIATION OF HIS NAME IS A PROMISED FULFILLED. THE NAME “JESUS” IS PRONOUNCED “YESHUA” OR THE ENGLSH NAME “JOSHUA” WHICH MEANS “GOD SAVES OR JEHOVAH SAVES!” IN JESUS, GOD BRINGS THE ATONING SACRIFICE OF SALVATION TO REDEEM AND SAVE US FROM THE POWER OF SIN AND DEATH.
JESUS COMES TO BREAK THE POWER OF SIN AND DEATH BY HIS OWN LIFE, DEATH, AND RESURRECTION SO THAT WE CAN BE SAVED THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS. HEBREWS 9:26, TELLS US THAT JESUS “PUT AWAY SIN BY THE SACRIFICE OF HIMSELF.” WHEN WE SAY THE NAME OF “JESUS” WE ARE PRONOUNCING THE MESSAGE THAT “GOD SAVES!”
THE NAME OF JESUS THAT CONTAINS MANY NAMES AND SAVING LESSONS THAT HE IS THE SON OF GOD, INCARNATE! HE IS IMMANUEL, THE CHRIST AND LORD. JESUS HAS COME TO SAVE US!
LET US, THEN, REPEAT THE BLESSED GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY…TO YOU IS BORN THIS DAY IN THE CITY OF DAVID A SAVIOUR, WHO IS CHRIST,THE LORD.”
