THE NAMES OF GOD                                                                                                 Lesson #9

 

Jehovah-Jesus: The Lord Our Savior               Isaiah 43:3 and Matthew 1:21

 

            In Isaiah 43:3, the Lord our God calls himself by three great names. By these three names, he encourages us to trust him, lean upon him, and comfort ourselves in the knowledge of him. In the midst of raging storms and fiery trials, our God says to all his saints, “Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.” If the Lord God has redeemed us, if he has called us, if we belong to him, we have nothing to fear, no matter how fearful our trials and circumstances may appear. Those who are redeemed by blood and called by grace belong to God. And those who belong to God are under the care and protection of his sovereign power. In order to encourage our faith in him, the Lord our God graciously reveals himself to us by these three distinct names.

 

            He says, “I am the Lord thy God.” “I am Jehovah thy God.” The Lord our God, the supreme, almighty, sovereign, eternal God, the one true and living God of heaven and earth is our God. He is our God because he created us; but he is especially our God, the God of his covenant people, the God of all believers, because he redeemed us and called us. He is the God of all men; but he is especially the God of them that believe. He is the God of all men by creation; but he is our God by his own eternal choice, by his own work of redemption and grace.

 

            This is the name by which our God is pleased to reveal himself and make himself known to us - Jehovah. The word “LORD” in our English translation is the word “Jehovah.” This is the name which God claims for himself alone. It is his glorious name, which he will not give unto another (Ex. 6:3; Isa. 42:8; Psa. 83:18). It is not to be spoken, nor spoken of, lightly, but only with the highest reverence, esteem, and adoration (Deut. 28:58; Psa. 111:9).

 

            This name, Jehovah, identifies our God as the one and only eternal, necessary, self-existent Being. He is the Being out of whom and by whose will and power all other things exist. He is the Creator of all things. Jehovah is the eternal One, which is, which was, and which is to come (Rev. 1:4). If this great and glorious Jehovah is our God, if he has redeemed us and called us, if we belong to him, who or what shall we fear?

 

            He is also “The Holy One of Israel.” Jehovah, our God, is our holiness. He alone is holy; and he alone makes us holy. He is the One by whom we are sanctified; and he is our sanctification. He has made us holy by setting us apart for himself in eternal election, by washing away our sins in redemption, and by imparting his holy nature to us in regeneration; and he will bring his work to perfection by raising our bodies from the grave and making even our bodies to be holy in glorification. He is Jehovah our God; but more than that, he is Jehovah our Righteousness. The Lord our God is the Lord our Righteousness.

 

            Then he declares himself to be “Thy Savior.” The Lord our God, who is the Lord our Righteousness, is the Lord our Savior. He is our Preserver, our Protector, our Provider, and our Deliverer. The Lord who redeemed us, called us, and made us holy by his almighty grace is our Savior. Who is he? What is his name? The answer is found in Matthew 1:21. The angel of the Lord said to Joseph, “She shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins.” The Lord our God, Jehovah, is Jesus our Savior. Jesus Christ is Jehovah our God come to save. We have seen seven names of God, given in the Scriptures. Each of the names point us to the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.

 

·         Jehovah-Jireh:  The Lord will Provide (Gen. 22:13-14).

·         Jehovah-Rapha:  The Lord will Heal (Ex 15:26).

·         Jehovah-Nissi:  The Lord our Banner (Ex. 17:8-15).

·         Jehovah-Shalom:  The Lord our Peace (Jud. 6:22-24).

·         Jehovah-Ra-ah:  The Lord my Shepherd (Ps. 23:1).

·         Jehovah-Tsidkenu:  The Lord my Righteousness (Jer. 23:6).

·         Jehovah-Shammah:  The Lord is There (Ezek. 48:35).

 

            With the incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ all these names of our God and Savior and the messages contained in them are fulfilled. The name by which the Lord God appeared to his saints in the types and prophecies of the Old Testament is Jehovah. Jesus, the name which our Lord assumed when he came into the earth as a man, is a transliteration of the Old Testament name Joshua, which means “Jehovah is salvation,” or “Jehovah is Savior.” The name of the God-Man, who is our Savior is Jehovah-Jesus, or the Lord Jesus; and he is the Christ.

 

            JESUS CHRIST OUR SAVIOR IS JEHOVAH. We are Trinitarians. We worship one God in the trinity, or tri-unity, of his sacred Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. There are three distinct Persons in the eternal Godhead; and those three divine Persons are one God (I John 5:7). The Father is God. The Son is God. And the Holy Spirit is God. Yet they are not three Gods, but One. And this eternal Godhead in all the fullness of the divine Beings is revealed by and forever dwells in the body of that man whose name is Jesus, the Christ (Col. 2:9; John 1:1, 14; 14:1-10). The triune God reveals himself to men, deals with men, and is known by men only in the Person of that One who is the Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (John 14:6). And this man, Jesus Christ, is himself Jehovah, the eternal God (Rev. 1:4,8). He is Immanuel (Matt. 1:21-23; Isa. 9:6).

 

            This is the wondrous mystery of the incarnation. “God was manifest in the flesh” (I Tim. 3:16). Jesus Christ is really and truly God, as much God as though he were not a man. Yet he is really and truly man, as much man as though he were not God. Indeed, he must be both God and man in one glorious Person or he could not be our Savior. Someone said, “God could not suffer and man could not satisfy; but the God-man both suffered and satisfied.”

 

            Jehovah-Jesus bridged the gulf between God and man. Our Savior is God. Therefore he is able to save. But he is also man. Therefore he has compassion upon men. He is God come to save. God, who spoke to our fathers in times past by the prophets, has spoken to us by his Son, whose name is Jehovah-Jesus (Heb. 1:1-3). And the thing he speaks is salvation!

 

            Jehovah-Jesus is God over all and blessed forever, Creator and sovereign Ruler of all things He is a real man, touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He knows the temptations of his people in every age and at every stage of life. He knows the pain of loneliness and isolation. He knows the bitterness of scornful and mocking jeers. He knows the grief of betrayal by friends. He knows the weakness of hunger and the fever of sickness. He knows the sorrows of bereavement, sin, and death. Though he had no sin of his own and consequently no sorrow of his on, when he came to be made sin for us he suffered for us all the consequences of sin.

 

            Child of God, be assured that whatever it is that touches you, it has touched him. He knows what you feel. He knows the pain that crushes your heart which no one else can understand. What is your trouble? What is your sorrow? What is your burden? Tell it to Jehovah-Jesus. He is a friend who understands and a God who is able to help. He not only knows our weaknesses and needs, he is able to do something about them. Jehovah-Jesus is our Mediator, our Savior, our Brother, our Advocate, and our God.

 

            JEHOVAH-JESUS CAME TO SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM THEIR SINS. The angel did not say, “He shall reward his people for their righteousness.” He did not say, “He shall save his people from becoming sinners.” He said, “He shall save his people from their sins.” The connecting link between Christ and his people is not their goodness, but their sins. Christ never gave himself for our righteousness. He gave himself for our sins. If we had never sinned we would never have needed a Savior. Had we never sinned, the name of Jesus would never have been heard. “The first link between my soul and Christ is, not my goodness, but my badness; not my merit, but my misery; not my standing, but my falling; not my riches, but my need” (C.H. Spurgeon). Our Lord comes, not to admire the beauty of man, but to remove the deformity of man; not to reward virtue, but to remove sin. Every promise of God in the gospel is made to sinners. When we own and acknowledge our sins, then we obtain the mercy of God in Christ (I John 1:9).

 

            The Lord Jesus Christ “shall save his people from their sins.” This is not a faint wish, or hopeful desire. This is a divine prophesy. Jehovah-Jesus “shall save his people from their sins,” everyone of them. Jesus is a name fully justified by the facts. Many children are given great names, which they can never live up to; but not the Christ of God. His name is Jesus; and he lives up to his name. Jehovah-Jesus has saved his people from the penalty of sin by his blood atonement. He is saving his people from the reigning power of sin by the grace and power of his Spirit. He shall save his people from the being of sin by his glorious advent. Jehovah-Jesus saves his people from their sins. Earth knows it. Hell hates it. Heaven chants it. Time has seen it. Eternity shall declare it (Isa. 45:20-25).

 

            The angel’s word to Joseph is a declaration of the glorious gospel doctrines of election, particular and effectual redemption, and of irresistible grace. Those whom Christ came to save were his people even before he came to save them. The were his by his own electing love and by the Father’s gift of them to him in the covenant of grace before the world began (John 15:16; 6:37-40; 17:9). Those for whom Christ lived, died, rose again, and makes intercession in heaven are “his people.” The redemptive work of Christ was not a haphazard thing. All that he has done and is doing is for “his people” (Isa. 53:8; John 1:11, 14; 17:9, 20). And the grace by which he saves “his people” from their sins is efficacious, irresistible, saving grace. It is written of him, “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power” (Psa. 110:3). Jehovah-Jesus does not try to save, offer salvation, or make salvation possible. He saves “his people,” every one of “his people,” from their sins.

 

            EVERY SINNER WHO TRUSTS JEHOVAH-JESUS IS SAVED FROM ALL HIS SINS (John 3:14-16). I do not doubt that some who read these lines are yet without faith, without life, without Christ, and yet under the wrath of God. I urge you now to look to Christ and be saved. Trust the Lord Jesus Christ right where you are. If you can but trust him, Jehovah-Jesus has saved you from your sins. He has saved you from the penalty of sin. He will save you from the power of sin. He shall save you from the very being of sin.