What's in a name? The angel Gabriel asked the question, Jesus, why this name? You would think there would be a special name. We're going to be looking at the passage that Ray read for us this morning from the Gospel of Luke. in chapter 2, and there are many, many names that are associated with Jesus throughout the Bible. We've seen a number of them in these past weeks leading up to Christmas in the messages. There's that beautiful passage in Isaiah where he's declared to be the wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. Hold on, let me get this. I actually have a PowerPoint to go with this, so let me get that going. Might be helpful. Or it might lock up and say, I don't know what I'm doing. There we go. So we've got names, lots of different names. The Nativity account from Luke chapter 2, it's a very familiar passage. to us all, and even in that passage, we have several names or titles that are used for Jesus. And I want to look a little bit closer at those names this morning with the question, what's in a name? Well, we start off with that given name, Jesus. In Matthew 121, Gabriel had told Joseph you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins And Mary had been told in in verse 21 of this passage at the end of Eight days when he was circumcised. He was called Jesus the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb So what is this name? Well, it's the Hebrew or the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew name, Joshua, Joshua and Jesus are the same name linguistically. And they both mean Jehovah is salvation. God is salvation. It was a very, very common name among the Jews as this reading from Gabriel's questions mentioned earlier, there's one never called the sack. It's a very common name. It wasn't special as far as the people thought. But it was a remembrance of the historic Joshua who had led the people in conquering the promised land, but it was also a plea for God's deliverance from sin. And as the angel told Joseph, this Jesus, this child, the son of Mary, this was the promised one who would save his people from their sins. This was the long-awaited Messiah. The next name we're going to identify is Christ. This is the Greek form of the Hebrew Messiah. It means anointed one. Priests and kings and prophets in the Old Testament were all called the anointed of the Lord. signifying that they had been selected by God, chosen for a particular service. And these three anointed offices, priest, king, and prophet, all had a very special role for God's people. The priests offered sacrifices and interceded for the people with God. And Jesus is called, in Hebrews 4.14, our great high priest, the supreme high priest. That passage goes on to say, and being made perfect, he became the source of salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. This connection to Melchizedek brings us also to the second anointed office in the Old Testament, that of the King. Melchizedek was not only the priest of the Most High God, but he was also the King of Salem, or the King of Peace. And his name means King of Righteousness. Jesus Christ, is the king of kings, the true king of righteousness, and the true king of peace. It is by his own sacrifice that we have peace with God. I see I somehow skipped forward on my screens. I'm missing some of my detail about the king. But Remember when the wise men came, they saw his star in the east and they came asking the question, where is he who is to be born king of the Jews? They knew that star announced the birth of the promised king. When Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the people took palm branches. They went out to meet him crying, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel. And when Jesus died on the cross, over his head was the placard, this is the king of the Jews. So Jesus was the anointed king. He is also the anointed one who is the prophet like Moses. Moses said in Deuteronomy chapter 18, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you. Peter quoted this very passage in Acts chapter 3 when he spoke to the Jews in Solomon's portico, calling them to believe in Jesus as the anointed of God, the prophet, priest, and king. Jesus is the Christ, the selected anointed one sent by God to deliver us from sin and to fulfill all that the prophets had said. Well, this brings us to our next name for Christ, and that is Savior, which means deliverer, preserver, the one who brings salvation from sin. Sin has been man's problem since the very beginning. The first man, Adam, brought sin into the world and passed that sin onto all his descendants when he disobeyed God's command regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Sin brought death, so death passed to all men, for all have sinned. It was in declaring the curse that came as a result of sin when God first introduced the concept of a savior. saying that it would be the seed of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent. And then 2 Timothy 1 10 tells us that God's purpose in grace have been shown to us through the appearing of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. That's good news. Death has been defeated. Jesus Christ has saved us from its power by taking on human flesh, facing death on the cross, and rising in victory over death and hell. Finally, in this passage, he is called Lord, Master, one with authority. In his teaching ministry, Jesus demonstrated his lordship as even the Jewish leaders declared he teaches as one who has authority. In His healing ministry, Jesus demonstrated His Lordship over sickness and demons. He even demonstrated Lordship over creation, calling the winds and the waves to be still. But the final demonstration of His Lordship was accomplished through His death. Philippians 2, verses 7-11 tell us that in the incarnation, Jesus took on human flesh and humbled himself to die on the cross on our behalf. And as a result of that, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. So what's in a name? So much meaning. These are just a few of the names that are applied to our great Savior. There's a few more. Today we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Savior of our souls. The Great High Priest. The Prophet greater than Moses. The King of all kings and Lord of all lords. He came to be the light of the world. The sacrifice to end all sacrifices. And to open for us the way of righteousness through faith in His shed blood. He is the greatest gift that the world has ever been given. And He is ours. when we put our faith in him. Merry Christmas. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your great love gift that you would send your own son to take on human flesh, to lay aside the glories of heaven, to experience earth and life as one of your created beings, and then to be rejected and crucified in order to take the punishment that our sins deserved, all in order to grant us forgiveness, righteousness, and life. We thank you for that gift of love. Father, we pray that you would help us not only to receive your gift of salvation initially. But Lord, to live each day as an act of thanksgiving and worship for your goodness, for all that you have done for us. Help us to live for your honor and glory, to live worthy of the name, the high name that you have granted us to be called your children followers of Christ, members of your family, we ask that you would bless and direct us in Jesus' name.