Grace and Truth
Bible Ministries

The name's and titile's of TLJC reveal his identity and the doctrines that describe his unique person

John 1:14 - And the Word (undiminished deity) became flesh (true humanity), and dwelt among us (the Incarnation), and we (James, Peter, and John) beheld His glory (the visual manifestation of the Uniform of Glory), glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth (Bible Doctrine).

In our previous lessons we reviewed the doctrines that relate to TLJC in his first advent or incarnation via the virgin birth.

Christmas is about how God so loved the world so much that he gave his uniquely born son. It is about how God became human in order to solve the problem of man's of separation from God.

Christmas is about what God did to resolve man's problem and how he did it while maintaining his perfect integrity that is composed of his perfect righteousness, his perfect justice and his perfect love.

We started with a discussion of the virgin birth that was necessary for there to be no transmission of the OSN and then took up the doctrine of the hypostatic union that explains the mechanics of how undiminished deity and true humanity reside in the person of TLJC and then discussed the doctrine of the kenosis that defines the protocol for the deity and humanity of TLJC in hypostatic union.

In the context of that discussion we will now look at the names and titles for Jesus Christ in view of the doctrines we have discussed and see how the names and titles reveal the doctrines.

Both the Old and New Testaments provide us with names and titles for TLJC and it is from these we are given a clearer awareness of Jesus' person. His deity, His humanity, the hypostatic union and His mission as the Savior of mankind.

Christmas is about the person of TLJC. It is about knowing him personally as he is revealed in the word of God.

With Christmas in view the first name we will discuss in "Immanuel". that is found in Matt 1:23 where it quotes Isa 7:14; Immanuel is the transliteration of the Hebrew word that is also transliterated into the Greek that means "God with us".

Immanuel therefore captures the concept of the Incarnation that we have studied.

The prophecy in Isaiah is given 700 years before the birth of TLJC in the context of giving a message to King Ahaz of Judah who is concerned about an alliance between Syria and Israel and Isaiah tells him that the alliance will fail.

King Ahaz does not request a sign even though he was told to, so God gave him a sign anyway.

The near fulfillment of the sign occurred when Assyria destroyed Syria and Israel before his child was weaned. The fulfillment of the near term prophecy not only demonstrated that Isaiah was God's spokesman, but also guaranteed the fulfillment of the "long term" prophecy of a virgin birth.

The child in the prophesy was not only to be conceived miraculously, but was also given a name that in the Hebrew means "God with us."

The way the name is constructed emphasizes the point that "WITH US is God!" God is not just to be "with us" in the traditional sense, but is to be WITH US in a unique sense. The One who is to be born of a virgin is God, come to earth as a true human being! He is to be with us in our humanity, born into the world as an infant as we are, and yet at the same time fully God.

The concept of Incarnation is captured in the name "Immanuel." "Incarnation" means "en-fleshed." It reflects the teaching that in Jesus, God took on a true human nature and became a man. Though difficult to understand this concept is clearly taught in the Bible.

The Bible reveals that in the person of Jesus Christ, God has come to us in the flesh. This is the Christian doctrine of incarnation that we celebrate at Christmas.

In John 1:1; we see that "the word" was God and then in John 1:14; John explains that "the word" took on flesh and became part of the human race.

Gal 4:4-5; also reveals the preexistence of TLJC and as we have seen, Phil 2:5-11; presents TLJC "who, being in very nature God" yet "made himself nothing, taking on the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness."

As a human being the Son of God "humbled himself and became obedient unto death even death on a cross."

In Col 1:15-19; Jesus is described as the "(express) image or the exact representation of the invisible God." It was "by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible.

He is before all things and in him all things hold together," for "God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him (Jesus)"

Matt 1:18-25; describes the fulfillment of the prophesy.

v18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been
betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the
Holy Spirit.

v19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.

v20 But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

v21 "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."

v22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

v23 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which translated means, "God with us."

v24 And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife,

v25 but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.

Isa 9:6; For a child (the humanity of Christ) will be born to us, a Son (the deity of Christ) will be given to us (the hypostatic union, the God-Man). And the government will rest upon His shoulders and His name will be called Wonderful Councilor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

This passage is one of the most powerful prophesies regarding TLJC and it provides us with 7 different titles for him.

The title "A Child is born" is a clear reference to the humanity of the Messiah. He will enter the world as a child through birth.

Later, in Isa 53:2; he wrote, "He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness, and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him"

As Jesus lived His life on earth, there seemed nothing special about Him. He appeared to simply be a faithful first-century Jewish man who worked as a carpenter. After Joseph's death, Jesus assumed the responsibility for taking care of His mother and younger half-brothers and half-sisters.

The fact that of Jesus' life was ordinary can be seen by John the Baptizer's statement in John 1:29-33; where John states that he did not recognize him as the messiah even though he was sent to prepare the way for him.

Most likely John knew who Jesus was because he was his first cousin but he did not recognize him as the Messiah.

There was nothing about him that would cause anyone to recognize him as the Messiah. The only way anyone would know would be if they personally knew of the unique circumstances of his birth and knew and understood and believed the OT prophesies.

This provided him with invisibility in the devil's world until he was prepared to begin his public ministry.

The next title in Isa 9:6; is "A Son is given".

The Savior, that was born into this world as a child, was "the unique Son" as described in John 3:16;For God so loved the world that He gave His uniquely born Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

In God's system of progressive revelation, the OT did not clearly reveal the doctrine of the Trinity that is revealed in the NT but when one looks back at the OT scriptures with the NT revelation it can easily be seen that God has existed in three Persons, The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit.

From the perspective of the New Testament, we understand perfectly Isaiah's prophecy of a "Son given." And we understand that the promised Messiah was at the same time undiminished deity and true humanity.

Isa 9:6; In the Title "Wonderful, Counselor" the word translated "wonderful" comes from the Hebrew word "pehleh" that means "wonderful" in the sense of a wonder or miracle.

This same word is used in Psa 77:14; that describes the Lord as "the God who does wonders" The same root is use in Exod 3:20, where God promises Moses to "strike Egypt with all My miracles."

The name "Wonderful, Counselor" indicates that the child born, who is also a Son given, is a miracle. His nature and existence can only be explained as a supernatural intervention by God, and not by the natural processes that God has set in motion in the material universe.

 

© Copyright 2007, Michael Lemmon Bible Ministries. World Rights Reserved.  This document was created on 12/20/2009