The Name of Yeshua Part 2

Continuing on the theme of the name of Yeshua. This morning I had an email from Yonit Klein of Emmaus Way in the Galilee. She was commenting on my cover story last week in Arrows From Zion. Yonit wrote:

"I have never heard anyone else say this, but to me it is so obvious: how can we possibly understand Matthew 1:21 if we don’t know His Hebrew name and what it means??? It was always a mystery to me what in the world that verse meant!"

This is what the angel told Joseph in Matthew 1:21 and the way most Bible translations relate His name: "She will give birth to a Son, and you shall give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”

But that is not what the angel actually said. How do I know that? because the name "Jesus" does not mean anything whatsoever. It is merely the Greek way of saying the Hebrew name Yeshua, which means Salvation.

Do you see this? We have stripped the meaning of His name by so clinging to the Greek form of the Lord's name and rejecting His real name as if it is some kind of bid to bring us into legalism. It's not that! It's about being so disconnected from our own root of faith and defending our disconnection. That's crazy.

After I got Yonit's email I looked up "the meaning of the name Jesus" on google. 

There is NO MEANING apart from the name Yeshua. Wikipedia notes it is "the Greek form of the Hebrew name Yeshua. As its roots lie in the name Yeshua, it is etymologically related to another biblical name, Joshua."

So who was Joshua? He was the one to lead the children of Israel into the Promised Land conquering the pagan tribes that God had not already cleared out before their arrival. I know that upsets the social justice sensitivities of our day, but God was setting apart a people for Himself — to be a people untainted by pagan beliefs and practices, influenced wholly by His own goodness, justice and righteousness.

Any study of the tribes of Canaan (Israel pre-Chosen People) reveals pagan tribes who committed "wickedness" and "detestable practices" — “Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants” (Leviticus 18:24-25, also see Deuteronomy 9:4-6 and 18:12.

So, in order to create a nation of set apart people for Himself, God made it clear that the people who were defiling the land with their sins, had to be conquered and removed. God even removed some of the inhabitants Himself prior to their entry, Sodom and Gomorrah are noteworthy examples.

So, having started with being disconnected from the name of Yeshua, how did we get here? 

It is because the name Yeshua, or Salvation, in Hebrew is related to the name of Joshua, or Yehoshua. Joshua, who conquered the wickedness of the Canaanites clearing the land as God instructed him, was a type and shadow pointing to what Yeshua/Jesus would do spiritually in our lives: Yeshua would come into our lives to drive out the wickedness and detestable practices that defile our individual lives, so He can make us a people set apart for God Himself.

Many people including the social justice warriors today, think the God of the Old Testament is just a grumpy old God and that their own sense of justice, love and righteousness is far superior. It is only because they do not understand God, or the context of the Bible. They (we) are cut off at so many points from the root of even their own Christian faith and we don't even realize it because it has been going on so long.

Even something as simple as understanding and embracing the real name of Yeshua has the potential to right the ship of understanding that God has not changed, we have just become un-tethered from anchoring truths of our faith.

I'm not pushing for anyone to drop calling Yeshua by the name of "Jesus" — but it would be helpful if every Christian were familiar with His real name and not treat the name of Yeshua as if it is some cultic way to refer to Israel's Messiah and the Salvation - by name - of the world.

If any Christian believes that God has had any intention in replacing Israel with us, let this New Testament verse settle that for you: "He will rule over the house of Jacob forever and His kingdom will never end." Luke 1:33 

Also remember what Paul said in his letter to the Romans 11:18 "...do not boast over those (natural) branches. If you do, remember this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you."

All of history is pointing us in one direction, and that direction is the RE-CONNECTION to the ROOT. That is why the whole world is fighting against the people of God from recognizing that direction.