This week’s devotions are based on the Week 5 “Explore God” – Is Jesus Really God? (WATCH HERE)
Does your name have a meaning? If it does, does it accurately reflect who you are? Or is your name just a whim of your parents made up or a name of a favorite friend, family member, or movie character?
Perhaps names today don’t have the same impact or significance that they have had in the past. Especially in biblical times, names often portrayed some key aspect or character of the individual.
Abraham – “Father of many” echoes the promise God made to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations.
Jacob – “heal grabber” or “one who seizes” reflects the tricks and activities that Jacob embarked on to obtain a birthright and blessing that were not rightly his.
So when we get to names for Jesus throughout the Bible, they portray key aspects of who Jesus is and what he did. Yesterday we considered the testimony of the demons and pagan centurion. These names today are ones that prophets of God were inspired to give to Jesus or ones that the messenger of God, angel, brought from God himself. If he was not God, he would not be giving this name.
Immanuel:
Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
The clear fulfillment to this prophecy of Isaiah is record in Matthew:
Matthew 1:22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.”
While there are people today with the name “Immanuel” who are NOT God, the fact that this name was prophesied 700 years before Jesus was born, given by God himself through his prophets and reaffirmed in his interaction with Joseph through a dream and confirmed by the virgin birth connected to it simply confirms there is not mistake this name was identifying God who came in the flesh. This name would be a lie if Jesus was not God.
Son of Man:
At first read one may scratch their head and say, “How is ‘Son of Man’ a name that confirms Jesus is God. Jesus often used “The Son of Man” to refer to himself. The name comes to a head when the enemies of Jesus accuse him of blasphemy and ask him directly, “Are you God?” Jesus answers by quoting verses from the prophet Daniel that his accusers knew directly referred to God. Here’s the interaction and the prophecy from Daniel.
Matthew 26:63 But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” 64 Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” 65 Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy.
Daniel 7:13-14 “I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
Without a doubt in every detail of Jesus’ life, including his names, God wanted to proclaim one clear truth: Jesus is God!
Apply: What other names for Jesus imply or state directly that Jesus is God?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for making sure every detail about Jesus made clear the truth to us that he IS God! AMEN