What does the name Jesus mean?

This will be very clearly seen by a consideration of the meaning of the name Jesus, which Joseph was instructed to give to the Child when He should be born. As may be seen from Hebrews 4:8, Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua, or Jehoshua, which signifies "Jehovah is salvation," or "whose salvation is Jehovah." There is therefore ample justification for the common observation that the name Jesus means Jehovah the Saviour. If so, what a subject for contemplation, yea, and for adoration, is thus brought before our souls! A child born into the world, of lowly parentage in man's esteem, is declared, divinely declared, to be Jehovah the Saviour! Yes, the God who heard the groaning of His people Israel in Egypt, who saw their affliction, heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, knew their sorrows, and came down to redeem them out of Egypt, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; He who said unto Moses, "I am JEHOVAH: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by [the name of] God Almighty, but by My name JEHOVAH was I not known to them" (Ex. 3:6-8; Ex. 6:2-3); it was He, the same God, the same Jehovah, the El Shaddai known to the patriarchs, who now came into this world as a Babe. But if a Babe, He came, blessed be His name for ever, as the Saviour of His people. Surely we may say that the shadows were fleeing away, and that the darkness, which had hitherto shrouded God from His people, was fast disappearing. It was indeed the blessed dawn of the day of grace.

The meaning of the name of "Jesus" is deep — "Jehovah a Saviour," and faith lays hold of those glories as being His: personally JEHOVAH, — in action, the SAVIOUR. Yet the name (as we see in Acts 7:45, and Heb. 4:8) was a name not uncommon among the Jews, but rather one of their national ones — "Joshua."

But He had a title greater than any which Joseph could transmit even from David or Abraham; and this was to be attested in His name, His lowly name of Jesus, Jehovah, the Saviour. "Thou shalt call His name JESUS; for He shall save His people from their sins." Jehovah's people were His people; and He should save them, not merely from their enemies, but from their sins. What a testimony to Him and for them! Blessed for any sinful soul to hear; how especially needed for a people then inflated with boundless hopes of earthly aggrandizement in their expected Messiah!

Here, too, alone in any of the Gospels, it is that we hear of Jesus as "Emmanuel." This is equally instructive and beautiful, because the Jew was apt to forget it. Did he look for a divine Messiah — for one who was God as well as man? Very far from it. Comparatively few of the Jews expected anything so astonishing as this. They craved and looked for a mighty king and conqueror, yet still a mere man. But here we find that the Holy Spirit, by their own prophet Isaiah, besides speaking of Him as man, takes care to show that He was much more than man, that He was God (vers. 22, 23). Matthew alone brings out this clear testimony of the great evangelical prophet — "God with us." So perfectly did God provide for these poor Jews, and develop the neglected seeds of their prophecies, and reflect light on the obscure parts of their law; so that if a Jew rejected the Messiah, he did it to his own eternal ruin. Besides being the son of David and Abraham, then, He was God with us. Such was the true Messiah, and such the witness produced to Israel. Could they reject Matthew's history, if they received Isaiah's prophecy? In vain they worshipped God, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

The angel addresses him as son of David with the confirmatory announcement of the divine origin of the Child that is to be born, and whose work requires no less than a divine Person to perform. His name, Jesus, or Joshua ("Jehovah the Saviour") is declared to be no mere name, or indicative of some abstract truth, or of some principle to be developed in relation to His history. Nay, Jehovah's people are His people, and He therefore is Jehovah and Saviour, He is the full reality of His name: "He shall save His people from their sins."

The name then is personal to him who bears it, and when it was divinely given it exactly suited him: thus, the Lord said to one of the apostles, "Thou art Peter." The name expresses what a person is; the title describes what a person does. "Saviour" is a title of the Lord: "to you is born … a Saviour" (Luke 2:11). But His personal name is "Jesus," meaning Jehovah the Saviour (Matt. 1:21). The idea of salvation underlies both the name and the title, but the title, "Saviour," describes the work of Him Who came that the world through Him might be saved, while "Jesus" expresses Who that incarnate Person is — Jehovah the Saviour. So, in celebrating the salvation of Israel, Moses sang, "Jehovah is a man of war; Jehovah, His name" (Ex. 15:3).

The angel of the Lord announced His name before His birth into this world—“Thou shalt call His name JESUS; for He shall save His people from their sins.” What does the name JESUS mean? Jehovah—Saviour—Jehovah, the name of a covenant-keeping God as revealed in the Old Testament: Saviour, the name indicating the purpose for which He stooped to manhood, viz., that He might by His death upon the cross perform the work of redemption. This work He has accomplished to God’s satisfaction, enabling God to express His love, grace, and mercy RIGHTEOUSLY so that “He might be just, and the Justifier of Him which believes in Jesus.” (Rom. 3:26).

In reading through the four Gospels we learn a lesson, we may well pay heed to. When our Lord’s birth was announced by the angel to Joseph, he said of Mary, “She shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21).

This name was divinely given to our Lord in relation to His manhood. But what a glorious name it is! Other names may indicate His position and offices, but the name Jesus is personal to Himself. It is composed of two Hebrew words—Jah, a contraction of His wonderful name Jehovah, the self-existent God in covenant blessing in relation to His people, coupled with Hoshea or Joshua, meaning Saviour. Truly a wonderful name for us to contemplate—Jesus (Jehovah-Saviour).

Jesus is the pre-announced name of the Son of God as man. It signifies 'Jehovah the Saviour.' Matt. 1:21. What is revealed of Him historically may be thus divided:-

"Jesus" is His personal name. Given to Him in His incarnation, bringing before us thoughts of His lowliness and humility; at the same time bespeaking His glory and grace, for JESUS means Jehovah the Saviour.

Some have seen a difficulty that the child was to be named Emmanuel, and instead of this name, He is named Jesus. The Jew often comes with this question. We point out to him that this apparent contradiction is really a proof of the inspiration. How easy it would have been for Matthew to have all fit in so that every word would be in harmony with the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit guided his hand in writing. The prophecy in the Old Testament says, "And call His name Immanuel." Here it says, "They shall call his name." In the first chapter of Matthew we read that Joseph called the child's name Jesus, but in Luke we read that Mary calls His name Jesus. The name Emmanuel, God with us, is only given in Matthew. He is Emmanuel, and as such Jehovah the Saviour, so that in reality both names have the same meaning. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (and we have contemplated His glory, a glory as of an only begotten with his Father) full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). He is the exalted One over all.