The name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, brings us to the next words in the sacrament prayer. This name is no accident or man-made name. There is a message in each Biblical or Book of Mormon name. We may not know the message or understand the meaning of the name in the original language, but just in case we don’t know, the story tells the meaning of the name. J. Hampton Keithly III says:
But in the Scripture, the names of God are like miniature portraits and promises. In Scripture, a person’s name identified them and stood for something specific. This is especially true of God. Naming carried special significance. It was a sign of authority and power. This is evident in the fact that God revealed His names to His people rather than allowing them to choose names for Him.
Keithly gives examples of God changing names like Abram to Abraham (The Names of God J. Hampton Keithly III in www.bible.org). In the Book of Mormon God uses this pattern and tells the Nephites the actual name of the coming Messiah. Jacob says “that Christ—for in the last night the angel spake unto me that this should be his name—should come among the Jews.” 2 Nephi 10:3 Later Mosiah would give a name to the people and further expand on the name of the Messiah: Mosiah 1:11.)
11 And moreover, I shall give this people a name, that thereby they may be distinguished above all the people which the Lord God hath brought out of the land of Jerusalem; and this I do because they have been a diligent people in keeping the commandments of the Lord.
(Mosiah 3:8.)
8 And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and his mother shall be called Mary.
After Christ’s visit to the New World, there are arguments about what his church should be called. While the 12 disciples are praying about the matter, Christ appears and tells them plainly:
(3 Nephi 27:5-8.)
5 Have they not read the scriptures, which say ye must take upon you the name of Christ, which is my name? For by this name shall ye be called at the last day;
6 And whoso taketh upon him my name, and endureth to the end, the same shall be saved at the last day.
7 Therefore, whatsoever ye shall do, ye shall do it in my name; therefore ye shall call the church in my name; and ye shall call upon the Father in my name that he will bless the church for my sake.
8 And how be it my church save it be called in my name? For if a church be called in Moses’ name then it be Moses’ church; or if it be called in the name of a man then it be the church of a man; but if it be called in my name then it is my church, if it so be that they are built upon my gospel.
(Alma 5:38.)
38 Behold, I say unto you, that the good shepherd doth call you; yea, and in his own name he doth call you, which is the name of Christ; and if ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd, to the name by which ye are called, behold, ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd.
David F. Reagan says “Name in scripture represents the very essence of the person. A person’s personality, character, reputation, and authority are all wrapped up in his name.”(www.learnthebible.org).
We are commanded to pray always in the name of Jesus Christ. The following scriptures from John highlight this concept:
(John 14:13-14.)
13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
(John 15:16.)
16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
Dr. Daniel Botkin (The Messiah’s Hebrew Name: “Yesua” or “Yahshua”) (www.yashanet.com) gives the manner in which Joshua, an Old Testament name, becomes Jesus in the Greek New Testament:
The English form Jesus is derived from the New Testament Greek name IhsouB, pronounced “ Yesous.” According to Strong’s, Yesous (Strong’s #2424) is “of Hebrew origin” and can be traced back to Joshua’s Hebrew name, Yehoshua (#3091), [wvwhy]. But how do we get the Greek Yesous from the Hebrew Yehoshua? Someone armed with nothing more than Strong’s Concordance may have difficulty answering that question. Someone who reads the Bible in Hebrew, though, knows that the name Joshua sometimes appears in its shortened form, Yeshua ([wvy) in Neh. 8:17 it is apparent even in English: “Jeshua the son of Nun.”(The letter J was pronounced like a Y in Old English.) Strong does not tell the reader that the Greek Yesous is actually transliterated from this shortened Hebrew form, Yeshua, and not directly from the longer form Yehoshua. The process from “Yehoshua” to “Jesus” looks like this:
Hebrew Yehoshua becomes Hebrew Jeshua in the Old Testament
Hebrew Yeshua becomes Greek Yesous in the Septuagint and New Testament
Greek Yesous becomes Latin Vulgate IESUS
Latin Vulgate IESUS becomes English Jesus in the 1611 King James Translation(modified from the original quote)
There is no “sh” sound in Greek, which accounts for the middle “s” sound in Yesous. The “s” at the end of the Greek name is a grammatical necessity, to make the word declinable….Even in the pre-Christian Septuagint, we see the Greek form IHSOUS (Yesous) in the title of the Book of Joshua.
Jesus’ name is mentioned at least 100 times in the Old Testament and in the very same sense that it is used in the New Testament. Arthur E. Glass Yeshua in the Tenach (The Name of Jesus in the Old Testament) says:
Every time the Old Testament uses the word SALVATION (especially with the Hebrew suffix meaning “my,” “thy,” or “his”), with very few exceptions (when the word is impersonal), it is the very same word, YESHUA, (Jesus), used in Matthew 1:21. Let us remember that the angel who spoke to Joseph in his dream did not speak in English, Latin, or Greek, but in Hebrew; and neither were Mary or Joseph slow to grasp the meaning and significance of the NAME of this divine Son and its relation to His character and His work of salvation. For in the Old Testament all great characters were given names with a specific and significant meaning.
Glass also points out that in the Old Testament the actual Hebrew name is mentioned with a phrase attached afterwards to explain the Hebrew meaning of the name such as “’Noah [Comfort], saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and tell of our hands’” This same pattern is used in the Greek New Testament regarding the name Jesus:
Now when the angel spoke to Joseph, husband of Mary, the mother of our Lord, this is what he really said and what Joseph actually understood: “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus [Jeshua (SALVATION)]: for he shall save [or salvage] his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
Glass further shows with original Old Testament Hebrew phrases how the name Jesus (Yeshua) is used as a prayer plea by the prophets. In Genesis 49:18 the phrase “I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord!” becomes “In thy YESHUA (Jesus) I am hoping (trusting), Lord!” In Psalms 9:14 David sings, “I will rejoice in thy salvation.” Viewed from the name of Jesus perspective, Glass rephrases this as “I will rejoice in (with) thy JESHUA (Jesus).”
Two more examples by Glass will only quote his Hebrew translation. Isaiah 62:11 is translated as “ Behold thy … Jesus … cometh; behold His reward is with Him, and with His work before Him.” The actual name Jesus the Christ is found in Habakkuk according to Glass:
“Thou wentest forth with the YESHA [variant of ESHUA-Jesus] of [or for] thy people; with YESHUA thy MESSIAH [thine Annointed One: i.e., with Jesus thy Annointed] thou woundest the head of the house of the wicked one [Satan].” Here you have it! The very NAME given to our Lord in the New Testament – JESUS CHRIST!
Further proof that the Yeshua of the Old Testament is the name Jesus of the New Testament is found in the Greek New Testament where Joshua, the Old Testament prophet is mentioned twice. Both times his name is spelled Yesous, the same as Jesus is (Acts 7:45, Heb 4:8). In Old English before 1200 A.D. there was no hard J as in Modern English. So the Latin Vulgate transliteration of the Greek Yesous into Latin IESUS was the main pronounciation of the Lord’s name even in the Wycliffe Bible 1384 edition. “J” replace “I” in Jesus in the 1611 King James Bible and it has been so ever since. The actual Greek Yesous is more than just a transliteration of a Hebrew name. Using the mystic Hebrew method of assigning the number equivalents of each letter gives deeper insight into linkages between words of similar number totals. Some numbers are special. The same can be done in Greek. The number total for Yesous in Greek is 888 which represents the”power structure of the whole Greek alphabet.” See Daniel Gleaon The Sacred Geometry Mysteries of Christianity www.jesus8880.com
Citations:
http://www.thehypertexts.com/Mysterious_Ways/Yeshua_in_the_Tanakh_by_Arthur_E_Glass.htm
http://www.jesus8880.com/
https://bible.org/article/names-god
Notes:
(2 Nephi 31:13.)
13 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism—yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel.
(Moroni 7:26.)
26 And after that he came men also were saved by faith in his name; and by faith, they become the sons of God. And as surely as Christ liveth he spake these words unto our fathers, saying: Whatsoever thing ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is good, in faith believing that ye shall receive, behold, it shall be done unto you.
(John 16:23.)
23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.
(John 16:24.)
24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
(John 16:26.)
26 At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: