Joy to the world, the savior reigns

You shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. --Matthew 1:21

My son is spending some time in Germany.  Last week he posted greetings from Nuremberg.  One of his German friends gently chided him, as the locals call the name of the town Nurnberg.  Similarly, in high school geography class, we were taught that one of the biggest cities in Germany is called Munich.  But the people who live there do not call it that; they say the name of their city is Munchen.

This is just a small example of how things are often lost in translation, from one language and people to another.   This weekend in church our pastor reminded us that Mary and Joseph were entrusted to raise the Son of God, but they never called him "Jesus".  That was the Greco-Roman form of the name.  Let me explain.

In Hebrew, the name given to the Savior was pronounced Yeshua.  We do not use the same alphabet that they used, so a closer rendition in English would be Joshua.  Remember that in Hebrew, there is no hard "J" sound, so it is pronounced as we would pronounce the letter "Y".  You can see this in the word we have borrowed from the Hebrew, "Hallelujah", where the letter "J" has a soft "ya" sound.  The prefix in Hebrew is a reference to Jehovah (or Yahweh), the name given to God.  The second syllable "shua" means "Saves".  So we see that the name given to our Lord literally means "God saves".

But something was lost in translation in the Roman world where they lived.  Although the New Testament is written in Greek, many of the names have Latin roots.  Latin names often end in the suffix "-us".  We know many important Roman names from our history lessons--Marcus Aurelius, Julius Ceasar, Augustus.  They all end in the suffix "-us".   My first name is Marion.  If I were to have lived in that place at that time, I would probably have been called "Marius".  In fact, if you go to a hear a Latin Mass, either in a Catholic church or to a choir concert where it is sung, you will hear the names of God as, "Dominus" (the Father); "Deus" (God); "Sanctus Spiritus" (the Holy Spirit); and "Christus" (the Christ, or Messiah).  Today, we would probably call Julius Caesar by a more Anglicized form, maybe "Julian" or "Jules".

But the important thing to remember is that whatever we call them, we are talking about the same people.

"God Saves", leader of the Hebrew Nation
Now, here is another surprise.  Last week I mentioned the protege of Moses, whom we call Joshua.  His mother never called him that, either!  According to Numbers 13:16, the original name given to the young man who was to be Moses' aide and later to lead the Children of Israel into the promised land--his mama called him Hoshe'a.  The name means "Salvation".  Moses called him Yehoshu'a, which means "God saves".  We see that Moses added the prefix "Ye-" or "Je-" to the name, to signify him belonging to God.  But when the Bible translators got to the word, they just called him "Joshua", as that is what is sounds like in English.

In the Bible, there are "types and shadows", meaning that everything in the Old Testament was a foreshadowing of the Messiah.  Joshua's mission in the Old Testament was to lead God's people into the land that had been promised to their forefathers.  Jesus had a similar mission: to lead God's people into God's presence.  One man wanted to lead the people into a land flowing with milk and honey--he knew, because he had been there and had seen it with his own eyes.  The Son of Man wanted to lead the people into fellowship with God, which He knew and had experienced, because He had been there.

In fact, Joshua had an encounter with Christ Himself.  Just after the people crossed the Jordan River on dry ground, Joshua was preparing to lead the people to conquer Jericho.  This was their first military mission, and Joshua went off by himself to prepare himself for the battle.

And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand.  And Joshua went to Him and said to him, "Are you for us or for our adversaries?" So He said, "No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come." And Joshua fell on his face and worshiped, and said to Him, "What does my Lord say to His servant?"  Then the Commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, "Take the sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy."  And Joshua did so.  --Joshua 5:13-15

I want us to notice how Joshua's position changed, almost instantaneously.  He was starting to think of himself in military terms, as the General of the Army of Israel, God's chosen people.  He encounters a man with a drawn sword; he thinks, "Oh, this must be a military leader as well."  Joshua offers this soldier, this military officer, the only two options he could think of--either you are for us, or against us.  If you are for us, he must have thought, then stand behind me or beside me against my enemies.  If you are against us, then we have a problem, because one of us is not leaving this place alive.  That's how we approach our problems, many times.  We steel ourselves for the battle.  When we meet an interested third party, we want to size up the situation, so we have an idea of what we have to do.  We want to classify them as friend or foe.  In Joshua's case, the answer he got did not fit into his pre-conceived notion.  The Man made Joshua think outside the box.  "No," He said.  I am not in one camp or the other.  I AM.  That is all you need to know.

Joshua's attitude changed from a leader to a follower.  "Lord, what do you want me to do?"  Okay, there is this battle that must be fought.  I'm relieved that I don't have fight alone.  In fact, I don't even have to lead the battle.  I have a leader.  Now, what's the game plan?  Again, the Lord's response was probably not what he expected.  Instead of getting marching orders from his new Commander, Joshua was told to prepare himself for worship.  Take off your shoes, for this is holy ground.  Anyplace where Jesus is is holy ground.  We just need to prepare for worship, and He will fight our battles for us.  As Moses had told the people 40 years earlier, "The Lord will fight for you; you only need to be still." (Exodus 14:14).

The man whose name was changed from "Salvation" to "God Saves" met the Lord of Creation.  Joshua was not to be the savior of his people.  But he did get to meet the Savior of the world.  And because he was obedient, God saved him and his people.  The same God continues to save today.

"God Saves", the high priest of the Restoration
There is another man named Joshua in the Bible.  He, too, was a Jew.  But in his day, the Jewish nation had been disobedient.  God had allowed the Babylonians to come in and conquer Israel, the land that God had given to His people.  The people rebelled, and as a result they lived in exile in Babylon for 70 years.  But God allowed His people to be restored to the promise.  Under the leadership of Nehemiah, a remnant was allowed to return, and they restored the walls of Jerusalem, and the Temple within those walls.

When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, the people assembled as on man in Jerusalem.  Then Joshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, in accordance with what is written in the Law of Moses the man of God.  Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening sacrifices. --Ezra 3:1-3

So this man Joshua re-established the sacrifices that the people had not been able to make for 70 years because of their disobedience.  He was willing to overcome his own fear and do the right thing.  This man Joshua, according to Scripture, also had an encounter with Jesus.  We read about it in the words of the prophet Zechariah.

The he (the angel) showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord (a common Old Testament reference to Jesus), and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him.  The Lord said to Satan, "The Lord rebuke you, Satan!  The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you!  Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?"  Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the Angel.  The Angel said to those who were standing before Him, "Take off his filthy clothes." Then he said to Joshua, "See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you."... The Angel of the Lord gave this charge to Joshua: "This is what the Lord Almighty says: If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here." --Zechariah 3:1-4,6-7

This man Joshua had an encounter with Jesus.  Satan, the accuser, made a case against him.  Wasn't he of the people whom God had exiled?  God had already cast all of them out of the land of promise.  He was a citizen of Babylon now, a city which Satan controlled.  After Satan had rested his case before God, who is the Righteous Judge, Jesus came to Joshua's defense.  Jesus (referred to in this passage as the Angel of the Lord) compared him to a stick--broken, vulnerable, alone.  But the desire to serve God burned within Joshua as a fire.  Jesus saw the potential in him.  He could be grafted onto the Branch, even in his humble condition.  His clothes were filthy, but Jesus commanded that his sins be taken away, and that he be clothed in rich garments.  It didn't matter what charges Satan brought against him; Joshua had an advocate before the Father, Jesus who took away his sin and shame.

Zechariah the prophet goes on to show that Joshua the high priest is symbolic of things to come.  "Listen, O high priest Joshua and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch.  See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! I will engrave an inscription on it, says the Lord Almighty, and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day." (Zechariah 3:8-9).  Having heard the testimony of the prosecution (Satan), and the defense (Jesus), the Judge (God) renders a verdict: not guilty.  And not only Joshua and his fellow priests, but all who will believe in "the cornerstone, the stone which the builders rejected", who is "the Branch", will receive forgiveness of their sins.  "The Branch" refers to the incarnate Jesus, the One who was born of a virgin and who died a sacrificial death, and who was raised to new life as one victorious over death and hell.  The inscription is set in stone for all who believe on His name: not guilty.  Our names are indelibly in the Lamb's book of life.

Hallelujah!

"God Saves", the world's propitiation
So we see the origin of the name Jesus, how it is the Latin variant of the names Joshua or Yeshua, which means God saves.  We see how other people in the Bible with the same name were forerunners of, and types of, Christ.  We also see how each of the Joshuas in our narrative had a personal encounter with their namesake, the One whom the angel foretold that his name should be called "God Saves", because He would save the people from their sins.

Jesus had his own encounter with God, in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Like Joshua the high priest, He feared for His life.  He prayed so earnestly that not only did he break a sweat, but the sweat was as drops of blood.  But like Joshua the son of Nun, Jesus knew that the God He encountered was holy, and that His will would be done.  So He laid down his life as a sacrifice for us. "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:10).  "And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but for the whole world."  If you look up the word propitiation, or propitiate, you will find that it means "to gain or regain the favor or good will of; to appease."

God is holy.  People are sinful.  God showed grace to His people by choosing them from among all the nations to be called His own.  Sin separated them from God.  He set up a system of sacrifices to be made for the appeasement of sin.  Even when the people messed up, and went without the sacrifices being offered for 70 years, God restored them to their homeland.

God is still holy.  People are still sinful.  No animal sacrifices are made for us.  There is no need for further sacrifice, because God sent His son to save us from our sins.  His death appeased God's wrath.  His love allows us to regain the favor and good will of God, even after we mess up over and over again.

Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love