In Isaiah 7:14 the Bible gives a prophecy of the name of Jesus.
It says, "Therefore the Lord Himself will
give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she
will call His name Immanuel."
If we go to Matthew 1:21, it says, "And she will bear a Son; and you
shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their
sins." (See also, Matthew 1:25; Luke 1:31; Luke 2:21).
Is this a contradiction?
No. It is not.
In ancient times
names were often given as representations of the hopes and dreams of the
parents or even of recognition of divine assistance.
Names in the Old
Testament had understandable meanings.
For example: Abram
means "exalted father," but Abraham means "Father of a
multitude."
Some names could even
be translated into complete sentences as in
Uzziel
(‘God is my strength’ – Exodus 6:18),
Adoniram
(‘my lord is exalted’ – 1 Kings 4:6), and
Ahimelek
(‘my [divine] brother is king’ – 1 Samuel 21:1).
Names are more
descriptive in the Hebrew and Greek than they are in English.
They often refer to
the character, purpose, etc., of the one being named.
The closest we come
to understanding this is in Native American culture.
We are familiar with
such names as "Running Bear," or "Pretty Eagle, "or
"White Owl" as names. These names meant something and were far more
descriptive than "Bob," or "Tom," or "Sue."
When we come to Isaiah 7:14, we encounter a prophecy about the
Messiah - stating that His name will be Immanuel.
Immanuel literally
means "God is with us."
This is significant because Jesus is
God in flesh:
“In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ... and the Word
became flesh and dwelt among us ...”
(John 1:1, 14).
“For in Him [Jesus] all the fullness of Deity dwells in
bodily form” (Colossians 2:9).
The Name Jesus
So,
we can see that a prophecy of Jesus being "Immanuel"
is dealing with his being God - the Word in flesh.
This was fulfilled in
the birth of Jesus when the Word, known as the Son, second person of the
Trinity,
became flesh.
became flesh.
We call this the incarnation.
When it came time to name the Lord, an
angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and told Joseph to call his new
son "Jesus,
for it is He who will save His people from their sins" (Matthew
1:21).
The word "Jesus" means "Jehovah is salvation."
This is appropriate
since Jesus is Jehovah, second
person of the Trinity, who became flesh and is our salvation.
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What Child Is This?
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http://puricarefiles.blogspot.com/2016/12/emmanuel-has-come-for-god-is-with-us.html
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http://puricarefiles.blogspot.com/2016/12/emmanuel-has-come-for-god-is-with-us.html
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Matt Slick is
the President and Founder of the Christian Apologetics and Research
Ministry.
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