A mission revealed in a twofold Name.
The fact confronts us, and sets us upon earnest inquiry, that one name was prophesied for Messiah, and another name was given to him when he came. He was to be called "Immanuel," and he was called "Jesus." Now, are we to understand that these are two names, and that Messiah is to be known as "Immanuel-Jesus"? or are we to see in the name Jesus a full and sufficient embodiment of the idea contained in the name "Immanuel"? Jewish names, and especially prophetic names, carry definite and precise meanings; they embody facts or suggest missions.
I. THE MESSIANIC NAMES TREATED AS TWO.
1. Take the prophetic name "'Immanuel," or "Emmanuel." The secondary reference of the prophecy in Isaiah is to the Messiah; the first reference is to some one who should deliver the nation from its immediate troubles (see Commentary on Isaiah 7:14). The name carried the assurance "God is with us." But that assurance involved more than the fact of Divine presence. If God is near, he is near to help. If God manifests himself, he manifests himself to deliver and to save. Christ, then, is "God with us," sensibly present, manifest in the flesh. With us he is active to help and save.
2. Take the angel-given name "Jesus." This is a common Jewish name. It is the Greek form of the familiar "Joshua;" but it has a significance and a history. It is really Hoshea, or Hoshua, "the Helper," with the name of God added as a prefix, Je-hoshua, shortened to Joshua. So it means in full, "God our Helper." But, in the dream, a very full translation of the name was given. It was said to declare Messiah's mission to be "saving the people from their sins," and "from their sins" is designedly set in contrast with "from their troubles," so that the moral and spiritual character of the mission should be made quite plain.
II. THE MESSIANIC NAMES TREATED AS ONE. Take the simple meaning of "Jesus," Je-hoshua; it is "God with us helping." But that is precisely the thought embodied in "Emmanuel," which is "God with us," and the connection declares that God is thought of as with us to help us. Then the same mission is declared in both names. It is the fact that our supreme need arises out of our sins that decides the sphere of the Divine helping.—R.T.