9th December 2020 - What's in a Name?

 

What's in a Name?

by Grace Cleland

The highlight of my short time in my school’s senior choir was performing Immanuel (Our God is With Us) in Down Cathedral.  It remains one of my favourite seasonal hymns and I love the simple truth found in its words.  Have a wee listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrmMQdkBPwY&ab_channel=Songs4OurSavior

https://open.spotify.com/track/5Gy2go3vpnLfg5FY680Hzz?si=8ax78byKTPuB2NPD2uWs2g

What do you call your grandparents?  Granny, Papa, Nana, Grandad, Grandma, Pops… The list goes on!  These all refer to the same people and mean the same, but have different names.  We give multiple names to people and things all the time.


We know that Jesus is given many names in the Bible.  The Bible also calls Him the Messiah, Wonderful Counsellor, Almighty God, Redeemer and Prince of Peace. 

Immanuel is one of these and we see it used in Isaiah 7:14:

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

We know that Christmas is about so much more than presents, eating too much, decorating your home, singing the same songs and sending Christmas cards.  At the centre of Christmas, the message we hear is of a God of love who wants to have a relationship with us.


The name “Immanuel” means, ‘God is with us.’ 

God sent His Son to us to be with us.  This has been God’s desire all along—to have a relationship with us.  We were created to have a relationship with God, but sin drove a wedge between God and us that we cannot fix on our own.  No matter what we say or do, we will never be good enough to enter into His kingdom. 

Thankfully for us, that is not what God asks us to do.  God knows that we are flawed people, imperfect in our actions that separate us from Him.  So, God sent Jesus, Immanuel, to be with us.


Robin talked to the kids at Church on Sunday about how the first advent season was hundreds of years long, waiting and longing for the birth of Jesus as the first Christmas present.  The best gift any of us will ever receive.  Jesus provided the ultimate sacrifice to restore our relationship to God now and for all eternity.

Why then, if His name was supposed to be Immanuel, do we call Him Jesus?  In the Hebrew language, the word ‘name’ could refer to a title as well as a proper name.  You call your parents, ‘Mum’ and ‘Dad’ but that’s not their actual name.   If I was to say, “Mum,” or, “Sharon”, I would still be talking to the same person.

This Christmas season, among all the confusion of 2020, think about the relationship God wants to have with you.

He loved you so much that He sent His only son to be with you.

Now, we get to be with Him.

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