Thank God for the Names of Christ

In the Hebrew culture, as is in the African culture, names of persons always have a meaning. Name giving is never done carelessly and thoughtlessly.  There have been times when children remained a few days without a name because a suitable one had not been found or decided on. Names are significant in the Hebrew and African cultures because they carry a lot meaning.  At times names are given to depict states of affairs prevalent at the time of a child’s birth, (See, 1 Samuel 4: 19-21).  At other times names are a depiction of emotional states of parents, as in the case of Jacob’s wives (Gen 29: 31-30:22). But more importantly, names depicted the characters of their bearers.  There is a strong belief in the African-Hebraic cultures that names predispose their bearers to their characteristic meanings. For instance, the name Jacob means a deceiver.  And Jacob did not fail to live up to its meaning. Nabal means a fool or the foolish one and how true to his name did he behave towards David and his company that his foolishness almost caused annihilation of his entire family prematurely but for the wisdom of his wife Abigail. See 1 Samuel 25.

Names become very special when they mean what their bearers are or do. As for an example, when Moahloli (judge) professionally becomes a judge or Njabulo (Happiness) literally brings happiness in the life of others.  Sometimes names are given to express a wish on the part of parents as to what their children could later become in life. If they indeed become what their parents wished for them, that becomes an oasis of joy and peace.

It is my belief that Christ’s Names have specially been selected by God to depict what he would be and would do when on earth.  I want us over the next few weeks to look at these Names and their significant meanings.  We will take one Name per week.

In Matthew 1: 18-21, we find the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. Mary was engaged to Joseph to become his wife. Before they could wed, Mary was found to be with a child. Joseph purposed to set her aside quietly. But an angel from God visited him to assure him that what Mary was carrying was by the Holy Spirit. The angel encouraged Joseph to marry her. He told him that she would bear a male child and that he should name him Jesus.

I really thank God for this name.  The angel told Joseph that the son would have to be named Jesus because “he will save his people from their sins”.  The name Jesus is an anglicised version of the Greek name Ιησούς. The Greek version itself comes from the Hebrew name Yeshua, meaning God saves.  It is a beautiful name both in its meaning and what Christ did for all humanity. Through Christ, God saves the human race.  He saves humanity:

• From sin:  Jesus, by hanging on the Cross of Calvary and dying a painful and gruesome death, was saving humanity from its sin. He came as the Lamb of God “who takes away the sin of the world” (John1:29). That sin, which is the mother of all sins, is the ruptured relationship between man and God.  On the Cross Christ assumed our place and infinitely suffered the penalty of that broken relationship between us and God so that we should not have to suffer it. He died the death we deserve so that we could have life we do not deserve. In 2 Corinthians 5: 21, Paul says: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”. By becoming sin for us on that Cross, Jesus was saving us from that sin which would inevitably lead us to eternal condemnation.


• From the power of sin: The sin from which Christ seeks to save humanity, has life-squeezing grip on us that without the power of Christ, we would but be hopeless slaves to it.  It inclines us to evil and wrong-doing from birth.  In Psalm 51, David laments the fact that he was not only born sinful but that in fact he was conceived in sin (v5).  This fact predisposes all to be slaves to sin.  Paul laments the condition of a person in the manacles of sin in Romans 7 when he says:  “For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.” (vv 14-20). It is only through the power of life-saving Blood of Christ that we can manage to break loose from the power of sin. In verse 28 of Romans 7, Paul cries out his praises of gratitude to God for Jesus Christ our Lord through whom he delivers him from the body of death. Christ saves us from the power of sin.


• From the penalty of sin: Romans 6:23 says:  “for the wages of sin is death...”.  Ezekiel declares “the soul that sins shall die” (18:4). Sin inevitably leads to death. According to Romans 3: 23, all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God.  In other words all deserve to die.  But through Christ’s sacrificial and atoning death, all those who put their faith in him, escape from death to life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” John 3:16.

I really thank God for the Name: Jesus.  For in this name there is hope and power for all who wish to be saved. In this name there is the salvation of God for his people. Bring your need of salvation to Jesus.  No one else can save but him. As Peter puts it: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Act 4:12). Authored by: Pastor BG Modiri