Advent Devotional by Andrew Nash

Matthew 1:18-25

“. . . you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)

The first name in the New Testament is Jesus. After introductory genealogy, the first story in the New Testament is about how Jesus got his name.

An angel visits Joseph for Holy Instructions regarding the baby’s gender and name: Jesus. It’s the Greek form of Joshua, meaning “The Lord saves.” But more than a gender and a name, the angel gives the reason for the name: “because he will save his people from their sins.” But Jesus gets another name later in this passage, as Matthew quotes prophecy from Isaiah: “. . . they will call him Immanuel”. The Bible includes a helpful translation that Immanuel means “God with us.” The Lord saves. God with us.

After Jesus’ ascension, Acts has many references to “the name of Jesus Christ.” Peter speaks at Pentecost about how the crowd should be baptized “in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” Peter heals a lame beggar “in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.” Peter testifies before the Sanhedrin that he heals “by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth . . .” People were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus in Acts 8 and 10. Paul removed a spirit from a woman through the “name of Jesus Christ.” Lives are changed by and through a name that they know well. The Lord saves. God with us.

Acts 4:12 puts it simply: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Jesus’ two names from Matthew are also the simplest declaration of the Gospel: The Lord saves, and God with us.