God Saves

(link to audio podcast on Spotify: FAB’s Podcast)

While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream. God’s angel spoke in the dream: “Joseph, son of David, don’t hesitate to get married. Mary’s pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. God’s Holy Spirit has made her pregnant. She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus—‘God saves’—because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20-23)

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Upon hearing of the birth of a child, the common question is, “What is your baby’s name?” And when the answer comes, the back-and-forth continues. The parent might offer that “We named him after his Uncle John,” or “We have always liked that name,” or some such rationale. I was commenting to a man once about his son’s name, which I had never heard of anyone having before. He replied, “Of course not, I wanted my son to have a name no one else has ever had. I made it up.” That was the rationale for the choice. Fair enough! Parents can do that! My own name, Fredrick Alvin Boswell, Jr., came as a name of descent from Fred, Sr. Early on, my family called me by a shortened form, Freddy, and it has stuck, throughout a lifetime.

In contrast to the above descriptions, names given to children in Bible times often reflected various circumstances regarding their birth. Moses means ‘drawn out’, and he was drawn out of the River Nile from his floating basket. Abram was later renamed Abraham, which means ‘father of many nations’, and he is held up in Scripture as the one who believed God in the face of humanly insurmountable odds, and of whom countless millions followed him in believing in Yahweh. Jacob means ‘deceiver’, and he would be known as the one who deceived his father regarding a birth rite. After an unexpected wrestling match with an angel, his name was later changed to Israel, which means ‘he wrestled with God.’ And so on. I suspect we could fill many hundreds of pages with discussion on Bible names and their meanings.

Thus, Jesus’ name was given, encapsulating his earthly life and mission. His name was a lifetime, public stamp, announcing that God saves his people.

Interesting to me is that his name, Jesus, is not unique to the baby born in Bethlehem. The pronunciation of Jesus, as we know it in English, is found in many languages. It is not pronounced that way in all languages. Spanish is one quickly cited example. Jesus is pronounced ‘Isa’ in Arabic. And my linguistic genes kick in and say it would be a great exercise to catalogue the pronunciation of ‘Jesus’ in languages around the world.

It’s interesting to me that English speakers rarely, if at all, name their baby Jesus (using the English pronunciation). Spanish speakers, by contrast, do so on a much more regular basis.

Strictly speaking in terms of pronunciation, the “J” sound is not even found in Hebrew, or in Greek. The Hebrew term is Yeshua, and the Greek term could be rendered in English as Iesus. Is there another form of this name? Yes, in English it is Joshua. And there are plenty of those in the English-speaking world! It’s simply another spelling and form of pronunciation of what we commonly pronounce as Jesus. 

Why go on about this, and what’s the point? It is simply this:

• His name was not given by his parents based on family history or parental preference.

• Rather than just a personal decision on their part, his name was given to his parents by an angel.

• Also, his name, God Saves, was not just his own special name, a name that no other baby ever had. This declaration of God saving had been announced every time the name Yeshua—cited as Joshua in English Bible translations—had been uttered in the history of the people of Israel. That utterance had been made countless times.

• This baby with the common name of God Saves will be the one who does more than simply announce, by the mention of his name, God’s ability to give life to his people. He is the one who will activate God’s plan of salvation through His sacrificial death.

That sets this baby apart from all other babies.

He is the One we worship this Christmas.

“Thank you, Saving One, for giving us life! We can never thank you enough for coming to earth and living out the meaning of your name for us, who didn’t deserve such kindness. May our lives reflect the joy and gratefulness we have that the One named God Saves has given life to us, as a free gift for us. But we know that it cost you everything. We worship you this Christmas!”