“And when eight days had passed, before His circumcision, His name was then called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.”
– Luke 2:21 NASB
Considering the current culture; that is, the pro-choice platform which allows for the discretionary death of a baby right up until it’s birth (and several minutes afterward, apparently), how could this passage not be one that shines through the darkness of dispute:
“…The name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.”
In this passage, we see the very real evidence of the Lord’s words centuries before to Jeremiah. In Luke’s account the knowledge of the unborn is revealed outside of God’s omniscient Self. To Jeremiah, it was a word spoken between him and the Lord, but only the Lord knew beforehand,
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
– Jeremiah 1:5 NASB
However, with Jesus it was a word spoken between the heavens and the parents. So important was this name that both Joseph, in Matthew 1:21, and Mary, in Luke 1:31, were informed to call Him such.
Why was that name so important?
“In Hebrew culture a name was important. It revealed something about you. A name revealed some characteristic about your birth, or a hope for your future. Sometimes because of this, names were changed by God. The name stood for the whole character of that person, as it was known, manifested or revealed. Proverbs 10:7, 18:10, 22:1, 30:1-9.”[1]
Dr. Bob Utley brings clarity to Jesus’ name in the Hebrew culture:
“Jesus (Greek) and Joshua or Yeshua (Hebrew) are the same Hebrew names. They are a combination of the covenant name for God, YHWH, and the noun ‘help’ or ‘deliver.’ The exact way to combine these two nouns is uncertain, a verb must be supplied. Here are some options.
1. ‘YHWH saves’
2. ‘salvation is of YHWH’
3. ‘YHWH delivers’
4. ‘YHWH is the deliverer’”[2]
And, indeed, that is both who He is and what He does!
In fact, it is who He still is and what He still does!
