Yesterday, I noted and wrote about the fact that God had given John the Baptist his name. I learned that the name John means
Yahweh is gracious.
The angel Gabriel had come and announced John’s birth to Zecchariah, the father in John’s case. But in Jesus’s case, Gabriel comes to Mary, the mother, to announce Jesus’s birth.
Reading in Luke 2 today, I noted the reference back to Gabriel’s discussion with Mary where Luke says:
And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
Luke 2:21
God, through the angel Gabriel, has now named both John and Jesus. He is clearly sending a message to his people. The name Jesus means
Yahweh saves.
So there is a clear message. God’s people have been rebellious toward him, but God is sending John, a man who will prepare the way for the Messiah, and his name means Yahweh is gracious.
But what is even more, and of even greater importance, is that the one who will save the people from their sins will be named Jesus whose name means Yahweh saves.
God named both of these children before they were conceived. They were given the names that God himself had given them so that the Lord’s message is clear. God is coming. Yahweh himself. He is gracious. And he is here to save his people.
This is the same message that we receive today. Just a few days ago, we celebrated Christmas, the celebration of Christ’s birth, the celebration of God’s entrance into the world in the form of a man, in the person of Jesus. This is the reality that we live within today. Jesus has come and so we must look to him, give ourselves to him, and live for him. His name and its meaning, as well as that of the name of John, is clear. Yahweh has come, and if you will let him, he has come to save.