Matthew 1:21

“She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

I’ve been studying through the different names the Bible gives to God (Jehovah-_____, and El-________). Through my study, I was reminded that “Jesus” is one of the many names the Bible gives to God (woah, how did I almost miss that?), and that it is very significant when you pick it apart.

The name Jesus is so “everyday” to most Christians that it’s difficult to imagine a time when it wasn’t a part of our vocabulary. And because of that, it has lost some of the sacredness it once held. The Hebrew meaning for the name of “Jesus” is so spot-on that we need to dive in to it.

Jesus, in Hebrew, is translated “Yeshua” or “Yehowshuwa”. Keep digging, and you will find that the name “Yehowshuwa” comes from the words “Jehovah” and “yasha”. Or — to write it like the other names written in the Bible — “Jehovah-yasha”.

“Jehovah” is the personal name of God, and the word “yasha” literally means “to be saved” or “to be delivered.”

Jehovah-yasha = “God saves”

Sound like the life and ministry of someone we know??

It doesn’t get any more spot-on than that! And it gives new meaning to Matthew 1:21, “He will save His people from their sins.”

The name of Jesus wasn’t randomly picked out of a book of baby-names. It was specifically and purposefully picked to identify God’s Son. Everything about Him, from the cradle to the grave, was about the salvation He would secure for us.

Each time we say the name Jesus, it’s a declaration of what He was all about. Seriously, take this to heart.

Pastor Bob Coy says this about the name of Jesus: “We declare His earthly mission and His eternal passion to save. He is the God who is not interested in serving Himself, but in saving others … saving us … even though we don’t deserve it. Yet despite the fact we don’t deserve to be saved, He has saved us. Not because of who we are, but simply because of who He is. And there’s no stronger exclamation mark of God’s heart to save than the name Jesus!”

Think about it …