"You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus." (Luke 1:31)
"She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”(Matthew 1:21)
A blessed Christmas to you and your families! As the angel announced to the shepherds on that clear night: "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord (Luke 2:11). We sing Christmas carols declaring the same, that our Savior was born on Christmas day. The very name Jesus or Yeshua means "God saves" or "Yahweh saves". Many in Israel at that time were already named Yeshua, actually the Old Testament character Joshua had the same name. At the core of the angel's specific instructions to Mary and Joseph to name their child Yeshua is God's redemptive mission on behalf of mankind. It is not just reusing a very common name, it is God being identified with humanity and perfecting the name and thereby fulfilling the promise "Yeshua saves". Until Jesus was born, the Name Yeshua was just a promise of a future salvation, or for many in war-torn Palestine under Roman rule, maybe a diminishing hope.
God's intentionality in giving a human name to His Son Who would perfect our salvation is in the pattern of the grace of God and hope found in Jesus. He takes our imperfection, failures and messes by being among us and offering a pathway to salvation through His perfect nature and victory on the cross. He takes humanity's fading hope found in the name Yeshua and personifies it into a living hope in Messiah. The Savior was born to our world, grew up inconspicuously as one of the many "Yeshuas" or "Joshuas", he experienced the travails of humanity; yet God prepared Him for a unique mission as the fulfillment of that very name, moreover Yeshua Hamashiach, Jesus the Christ- the Anointed One Who finished the work of salvation.
As we celebrate the first coming of our Savior, let us put our hope in Him, Yeshua Hamashiach, the Anointed One Who saved us from the penalty of our sins through the cross. Remember, He is still in the business of saving us from the power of sin, living up to His Great Name every single day of our lives. Praised be the One and Only Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ!
Have a Christ-filled Christmas beloved of the Lord,
Pastor Ramon
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