It’s the time of the year that we celebrate the anniversary of the 1st coming of our Savior’s birth. All names and titles used of the One we celebrate reflect the different relationships that are sustained by Him. Here are some of them:
“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a SAVIOR, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).
- SAVIOR: A savior is for the lost. Due to man’s failure back in the garden, “none is righteous”…“all have sinned & fall short of the glory of God”…”all have gone astray” (Rom. 3:10, 23; Isaiah 53:6). What’s even more wonderful is the title attached to “Savior” in the above verse—“Christ the Lord”, “Christ”, which in Hebrew means Mashiah Jehovah (Jehovah’s Anointed) and the name “LORD” with it denotes “all power and might”—therefore able to save.
- MESSIAH: This is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew: Mashiah, meaning “Anointed”, it means “the Christ” (John 1:41).
““Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us” (Matt. 1:23; Isaiah 7:14, 8:8).
- IMMANUEL: In Hebrew “Immanuel” means God (El) with us. Used of Christ reveals proof of His Deity.
- KING: In the book of Matthew, the Lord is presented as Jehovah’s KING.
The lineage in the 1st chapter of Matthew is unique in the order that it’s given, linking Jesus Christ with the Son of David, heir to the throne (2 Sam. 7:12, 16). It will be more than apparent at His 2nd coming that He will be seen as the “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Rev. 19:16).
“She (Mary) will bear a son, and you shall call his name JESUS, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matt. 1:21–See also Luke 1:31). All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet in Isaiah 7:13-16.
- JESUS: is the same as the Hebrew Jehoshua, or Joshua, and means Salvation of Jehovah, or Jehovah (the) Savior. The name “Jesus” expresses the relation of Jehovah to Him in Incarnation, by which He “Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:6-8).
- Christmas is the wonderful season that reminds the Christian why he/she believes and what a precious gift God has given us in the form of His only begotten Son.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever BELIEVES in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift (2 Cor. 9:15)!
Caged Bird Sings 