26. March 2025
Who is Jesus?
Who is Jesus of Nazareth?
Jesus is the Son of God and a member of the Holy Trinity. To display God’s love for mankind and to atone for our sins, Jesus gave up his life on the cross. After dying on the cross, he was raised from the dead to prove that he was the Son of God.
Keep in mind that no one “killed” Jesus; he willingly gave up his life to fulfill God’s plan. As he stated…
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” (John 18:36 ESV)
A key foundation of Christianity is that there is nothing that anyone can do to “earn” forgiveness of sins. Only through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and God’s grace are our sins atoned for. Only the son of God could be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Think about that; God loves us so much that he allowed his son to be crucified for us. All we have to do is…
…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9 ESV)
Jesus… Lamb of Gob
You will often hear Jesus referred to as the “Lamb of God.” What does this mean to be the “Lamb of God?” Atonement for our sins can only be achieved via sacrifice. This is the reason in that the Old Testament animal sacrifice was used, and quite often, the animal to be sacrificed was a lamb. These animals were supposed to be perfect, unblemished animals.
So, in that sense, Jesus was the perfect, unblemished (i.e., without sin) sacrifice (i.e., lamb) that God himself made to atone for our sins. Hence, Jesus is the Lamb of God.
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29 ESV)
Keep in mind that Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Since Jesus was the perfect sacrifice, God no longer requires sacrifice to atone for sin. Therefore, Jesus was the last sacrifice.
This is why nothing that we can do can atone for our sins and “earn” salvation. It is only through God’s sacrifice of his unblemished lamb, the Lamb of God, that can atone for our sins.
Jesus… Son of Man
Often in the New Testament, Jesus refers to himself as the “Son of Man.” This statement used to cause me a great deal of confusion. How could Jesus, who was clearly the “Son of God,” also be a “son of man.” Yes, he did have an Earthly mother, so in some sense, he was a “son of man.” However, when Jesus referred to himself as “Son of Man,” he seemed to be doing it as a title of honor as opposed to a matter of fact.
After doing some reading and research, I did come to understand that Jesus was referring to himself as “The Son of Man” as opposed to a “a son of man.” “The Son of Man” is a title that the Jewish people used to refer to the Messiah. So, then Jesus referred to himself as “The Son of Man,” he was stating that he was the Jewish Messiah. The title of “The Son of Man” comes from the book of Daniel, when Daniel has a vision of Heaven and God (Ancient of Days.)
“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. (Daniel 7:13-14 ESV)
Jesus… Son of David
Throughout the Bible, it was prophesied that the Messiah would descend from the line of David. The Jews of at the time of Jesus were clearly expecting that the Messiah would come from the house of David, hence be a “Son of David.” Consequently, when people of the Bible referred to Jesus as the “Son of David,” they are acknowledging that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah.
“In those days and at that time, I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land.” (Jeremiah 33:15 ESV)
Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:13-14 ESV)
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:6-7 ESV)
The Hebrew Meaning of “Jesus”
The name “Jesus” in English has a complicated linguistic history that isn’t apparent in modern Bibles.
“Jesus” is an Anglicized form of the Greek name Yesous found in the New Testament. Yesous represents the Hebrew Bible name Yeshua, which occurs as “Jeshua” in English Bibles (Ezra 2:2; Neh 7:7). In Medieval English the “J” was pronounced as a “Y” is now.
“Yeshua”, in turn, is a shortened form of the name Yehoshua (“Joshua” in English Bibles). Moses' righthand man, Joshua, has three names in the Bible. Originally, it was Hoshea, but Moses changed it to Yehoshua (Num 13:16). During the Babylonian Exile, it was shorted to Yeshua (Neh 8:17).
Hoshea > Yehoshua > Yeshua
“Yehoshua” is a compound name consisting of two elements.
(1) The prefix “Yeho–” is an abbreviation of the Tetragrammaton, God’s Four-Letter Name: Yod-He-Vav-He: YHVH. (Modern scholars think the third letter was pronounced as “W.” Thus: YHWH, Yahweh.)
The 4-Letter Name In the Hebrew Bible “Yeho-” is used at the beginning of certain proper names: Jehoshaphat, Jehoiachin, Jehonathan (the “J” was pronounced as “Y” in Medieval English). The suffix form of the Tetragrammaton is “-yah” ("-iah" in Greek, as in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zechariah, or Halleluiah).
(2) The second element of the name Yehoshua is a form of the Hebrew verb yasha which means to deliver, save, or rescue. Thus, linguistically, the name Yehoshua/Yeshua/Jesus conveys the idea that God (YHVH) delivers or saves (his people), eventually through his servant messiah.
What is not evident outside the Hebrew strata is that the word “savior” is also rooted to yasha.
Moshiah is used 9x for God (2 Sam 22:3; Isa 43:3; 45:15, 21; 49:26; 60:16; 63:8; Jer 14:8; Hos 13:4) and 5x for human “deliverers,” “rescuers” or “saviors” (Judg 3:9, 15; 2 Kgs 13:5; Obad 1:21; Neh 9:27).
Isaiah 19:20 may refer to the Savior-Messiah: “He [God] will send [to the Egyptians] a Moshiah and a Rav [champion] and he will deliver [natzal] them.”
According to Matthew 1:21, “Yeshua” is the name God gave his Son. It is his original birth-name.
“She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Yesous [Greek] / Yeshua [Hebrew], for it is he who will save his people from their sins.”
Note also the play on words on the name “Yeshua Messiah” that Hebrew speakers would hear in Acts 4:
“There is salvation [Heb. yeshuah] in no one else; for there is no other Name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved [Heb. yasha]” (v. 12).