December 15, 2021
We know that God loves to re-name people. He transforms people by refurbishing their names often by switching just a few letters. From Abram (exalted father) to Abraham (father of a multitude) ; from Sarai to Sarah ; from Saul to Paul. The meaning of the name matters to Him. Matthew 1:21 is the angel speaking to Joseph, "She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Yeshua because he will save his people from their sins.” The name 'Yeshua' is significant because it means 'Salvation' in Hebrew. So, the angel was saying, 'Call him 'Salvation' because he will offer salvation to all people from their sins. So where did the name Jesus come from? In the english language, the name Jesus is less than 400 years old. The actual Hebrew translation of 'Yeshua' to english is 'Joshua'. In fact, Joshua of the Old Testament and Jesus of the New Testament are the same name in both Hebrew and Greek. When the Hebrew name Yeshua was translated in Greek it became Ἰησοῦς Iesous (sounds like 'yay-soos'). The King James Bible of 1611 still used the name 'Iesous'. This name was used in Greek, Latin, and English until sometime in the late 17th century. The letter 'J' replaced the letter 'I' when used as a consonant. However, the name 'Jesous' was still pronounced 'yay-soos' for many years. No matter what you call Him, Jesus, Yeshua or Joshua, He came to be YOUR SALVATION. Your dialect and name preference do not matter to Him. He only desires that you would know Him and call Him yours.
Praying for His will to be our purpose today.
I pray you are seeing Him more clearly and loving Him more deeply this Christmas season.
Yeshua Come!
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