First Question: Whose Son Is He?

Second Question: What Is His Name?

Let us go to Matthew 1:21; an angel of the Lord speaking to Joseph…

21 She will bear a Son; and you will call His name Jesus,

Joseph is not His biological father, but it is Joseph who is to name Him.

There is significance to naming something in the Oriental culture. When you name something, it means you are giving authority over whatever you name. That is why Adam could assign names to everything; he had dominion.

Picture: This righteous man, Joseph, who is not the biological father of Jesus, is going to be Jesus' virtual father — Joseph gets to name Him.

Jesus, His divinely revealed name, is the Greek form of Joshua (as seen in the Old Testament) or Yeshua, meaning Yahweh, "God is salvation".

Israel was looking for a deliverer from Rome. God was sending a deliverer from sin.

22 Now all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled,

A phrase you will see many times in the book of Matthew.

And then he quotes Isaiah 7:14:

23 Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which translated means, God with us.

24 And Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took her as his wife,

25 and kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name "Jesus".

It is Joseph who names Him, and Joseph is Jesus' virtual father.

Again, is His name Jesus or is it Immanuel? We need to go back to the first question Whose Son Is He? It depends. Do we mean His human nature or His divine nature? If we are talking about His human nature, then His name was Jesus, because that is what people called Him.

It is important for us to know that Jesus (Yeshua) was a very common name. The name Jesus was given to Him on purpose, to be a common name. Why? Because He became one of us — He was a human being. He did not come down to earth to be called Monsignor or Your Eminence. He was just Jesus.

Jesus would have been named Lee Bob if He had been born today in the town where I grew up in Texas. I guarantee you, He just would have been one of us. Jesus would have taken a name just like anybody else does. Okay, maybe not Lee Bob, but it would have been Bill or Joe or some other common name.

But His name does mean God is salvation, because He had a divine nature too. The name Immanuel, God is with us, refers to His character. It is not what people called Him, but your name in the Orient means your character. So Jesus, one of us, was also God — He was God with us.

Both of His names (Jesus and Immanuel) have the dual nature within them. Jesus is a common name; it means:

Immanuel means God; it means:

We have looked at two questions:

1. Whose Son Is He?
2. What Is His Name?

There is one more question:

First Question: Whose Son Is He?

This is very important to me because David was [what we would call] a sinner. And a sinner is what we all are. That is good news. Why? Jesus came into the world to save sinners. If we are sinners, then we are people who can be saved. Though He was sinless, and since He was the Son of David, He identifies Himself with sinners.

David was a sinner and we are sinners — Jesus is not ashamed to identify with us. You may think My sins are pretty bad. Are they as bad as committing adultery and then committing murder to cover up your adultery? As I said in our last study (The Genealogy of Jesus of Nazareth: Messiah!), David's sins would be in the top five if we would rank sins. Adultery and murder: that is pretty bad. But Jesus would identify and call Himself The Son of David. He was not ashamed or embarrassed to pitch His tent among us. He is the Son of David.

Something else about David: David was mortal. David died and Jesus of Nazareth, in His human nature, really died. I think some of us do not really understand that Jesus of Nazareth died. It was not a sham. [He did not have one eye open -sic!)]. Jesus of Nazareth died on the Cross.

Remember: He is also the Son of God, so He could resurrect from the dead. That means He will raise us from the dead!

Second Question: What Is His Name?

He has two names, because He has a dual nature. He is Jesus in His human nature; He is Immanuel in His divine nature.

Is that not interesting? Biblical believers also have a human nature, and we also have a divine nature. In our human nature, our names are Lee Bob or whatever your given name is. What is the name in our new nature? We do not know what it is, but God has given us one. We will find out what that name is in heaven.

Father, thank You for Your word and we thank You for Jesus.

We thank You that Messiah Jesus was not just God; that He was not just born of a surrogate mother, but that He took human nature from the human gene pool so that when He became a human — when He became like us — he really did become one of us. And yet, He was without sin. We do not know how You did it, but You made Him a brand new Person, possessed by Your eternal Holy Spirit, so Jesus could be our substitute and so He could resurrect from the dead and give us newness of life, eternal life with You.

Father, we thank You that we are not stuck with this human nature. Unfortunately, that is what we see most of the time, and that is certainly what we see in other people: the human nature. But we have been born again — we are a brand new person. We praise His name for what He has done for us!

Thank You for the picture of the betrothal because, O Father, we see today that is exactly where we are with You. We are legally married to You, we are betrothed to You, but we are not physically together. However, during that betrothal time for Mary, Your Son was found in her. So we thank You that as we wait for the physical consummation of our relationship with You, that even now You Son, Jesus, is in us.

Father, we thank You for Him. And for those of us who have trusted in Jesus as Savior, we thank You that we are redeemed and that we will live forever with You.

And we thank You for these things in Messiah's names — Immanuel, Jesus. Amen.

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