...you shall call his name Jesus...

A sole name.
Just one. Common practice over 2,000 years ago, in that a single personal name (only one that acted as first, middle, and last) was the practice [1].

Also common in that names often carried spiritual significance. In Hebrew, the Son of God’s sole given name, just one, is “Yeshua”, with the preeminent significance of “Yahweh (YHWH= God) saves”, or “Yahweh is salvation”.

Powerful (God) and profound (saves) is the name – the name Joseph was spoken to be ascribed to a son, conceived from the Holy Spirit, carried by his betrothed, Mary. In a dream an angel of the Lord told him so [2]. “…you shall call his name Jesus.” [3]

“Jesus… There’s just something about that name.” [4] That standalone name is more familiar than any other on planet earth spanning two millennia and is known across thousands of languages, mounting still more. A name both loved and hated, lauded and chided, hallowed and cursed. What a name. What a mystery.  

But that name cannot be separated from the One with the name. The name ‘Jesus’ defines who He is. And although Jesus was a common name back then and back there [5], there was absolutely nothing common about the perfect name for the perfect man, because the application of the name perfectly suited the only perfect life [6].That cannot be literal for any other name and person in the history of mankind.  

And the reason for the name? Because “…he will save his people from their sins”. [7] Hope, hope universal, to all nations and to all peoples. The hope of salvation, and not of a kind expected or even desired, like liberation from hardship, but of a kind unexpected and ever needed, like liberation from sin. The inseparable union between the name and person of Jesus gives life [8], salvation [9], purpose [10], and glory [11]. “The power in the name is the person behind the name.” [12]

And ‘tis particularly now that the name and person of Jesus be celebrated. Christmastime. O’, how it’s often yearned at the end of each year. Such anticipation, such expectation, such hope. The merriment of the Savior’s birth. Mary “…gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger…” [13]. And with His birth came a name–Jesus. “And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.” [14] Jesus. Yahweh saves. ‘Twas His name, ‘tis His name, and shalt forever be His name.  

Yahweh saves,
let Jesus sink into the souls of all classes,
Yahweh saves,
may His name be heard from across the masses.
Yahweh saves,
speak His name in heart, in thought, in strength,
Yahweh saves,
bring Satan to tremble at the name for length.
Yahweh saves,
might the very stones of earth cry out,
Yahweh saves,
O’ angels in heaven, sing, praise, and shout.
Yahweh saves!

If Grace Bible Church were to have a bell tower atop its sanctuary ridgepole, would it forever ring forth the sound of “Yahweh saves”. “…there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” [16] Yahweh saves.  

Of all the gifts to be received this season, may the sole gift of the sole name and person of Jesus satisfieth enough. For “…God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” [17] Knowing this, as Solomon wrote, now “Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head.” [18]

May the name and person of Jesus have primacy in every heart. Yahweh saves!

Merry Christmas!

Thomas Kruggel is a no-vocational Pastor at Grace Bible Church and works in the City of San Francisco

1. As for a “last” name, the place of origin sometimes served that purpose (e.g., “of Nazareth”).
2. Matthew 1:20-21
3. Matthew 1:21b (ESV); Luke 1:31b (ESV)
4. Gaither, Gloria & William J., Copyright 1970
5. cf. Acts 13:6; Colossians 4:11
6. II Corinthians 5:21
7. Matthew 1:21c (ESV)
8. John 20:31
9. Acts 4:12
10. Colossians 3:17
11. Philippians 2:11
12. DeYoung, Kevin, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-deyoung/5932/, 3.
13. Luke 2:7a (ESV)
14. Luke 2:21 (ESV)
15. Luke 19:40
16. Acts 4:12 (ESV)
17. Philippians 2:9-11 (ESV)
18. Ecclesiastes 9:7-8 (ESV)