THE HOLY NAME OF MESSIAH

Isa Al-Messih - Jesus of Nazareth - Yeshua Ha Moshiach

Hosted By Jameel - Messianic Believers in Isa

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Introduction

In the paper on "The God of Abraham" we examined how God manifested Himself in ancient times and in the paper entitled "The prophets and Messiah" we read where the prophets in the Hebrew Bible described the coming Messiah as being "eternal".  We will return to this theme at the conclusion of this paper.

The prophets in the Hebrew Bible state, in a number of places, the name and titles of Messiah and we shall examine a few in this paper.

It is universally recognised that the Messiah will be a descendant of King David.  In the book of 1 Chronicles 17: 11-12-13 &14 God promises to David through Nathan the prophet:

"And it shall be when your days are filled, when you must go to be with your fathers, that I shall set up your seed after you, who will be of your sons, and I will establish His kingdom.  He shall build me an house and I shall establish His throne forever.....I will be His Father and He shall be My son.....And I will establish Him in my house and in my kingdom forever and His throne shall be established forever."

This is speaking of the time when Messiah shall return as King to establish the Kingdom of God on earth and to re-establish the throne of King David.  It is not King David's son Solomon as Solomon died and did not rule forever.

1. Jeremiah 23: 5-6

"Behold the days are coming." says the Lord, "That I will raise to David a branch of Righteousness; a king shall reign and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth....... Now this is His name by which He will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness."

This passage of Scripture is universally recognised as being a Messianic prophecy of Messiah coming as King.

Jeremiah here speaks of a time when Messiah will come to rule as King Messiah and that the name by which Messiah will be known by is "The Lord our righteousness".  Messiah is the Lord, He bears the Holy name and Messiah is the righteousness of all those who believe on Him because  in the atonement which he made by shedding His blood He has become the righteousness of all who believe and accept atonement through Him.

The term "branch" is here universally recognised as meaning "son" and this passage is often quoted as evidence that Messiah will be of the lineage of King David.  In Isaiah 4:2 we read "In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious".

If the term Branch in Jeremiah is used to mean "son" then the term "branch" used in the same way in Isaiah 4:2 refers to Messiah as the "Son of Yahweh"  The Son of the Lord.  In the paper on "Titles" (accessible from the Front door) it will be seen that the term "Son" refers to the God nature of Messiah who is referred to as the "Son of God" but in this scripture Jeremiah goes on to state, not only the divine nature of Messiah, but also His earthly nature:  "And the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing for those of Israel who have escaped."

Thus in this prophecy Jeremiah confirms that Messiah will be devine and yet be human.

2. Isaiah 9:6

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government will be upon His shoulder and His name will be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

This Messianic prophecy which goes on to state that this child will one day rule upon the throne of King David (ie. a decendant of David) requires little explanation.  This Child who will be born will bear the name of  Mighty God for this Messiah the anointed one is God manifested to His creation.

The child who is promised also bears the name "Wonderful".  This is the same name which "The Angel of the Lord" gave when questioned by Manoah and His wife who were the parents of Samson.  Manoah and His wife acknowledged The Angel of the Lord to be Yahweh the Lord God.  Messiah bears this name which is the name of the one in whom God has manifested Himself throughout all ages to His creation.

3. Isaiah 7:14

The verse reads:

"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign, Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel."

The term Immanuel literally means "God with Us"  So here we have the promise given, not to Ahaz the king who is mentioned in this chapter in Isaiah, but to "The house of David" that a sign shall be given which shall be a child born of a virgin who shall be called "God with Us."  This is a promise of Messiah made to the House of David and as all agree Messiah was everywhere prophesied to be a descendant from the family and household of King David and would bear the name of God.

This prophecy is further examined, explained and defended in the appendix below (click here)

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Appendix

In recent years it has been popular to attempt to discredit the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14 by claiming that the word in the Hebrew "almah" which appears translated as "virgin" has been translated incorrectly.  In fact it was the 70 or so Jewish Rabbis who translated the scroll of Isaiah into Greek 250 years before Messiah (BCE) who chose to translate it as "virgin" (Greek: "parthenos").  It is inconceivable that they made an error and that this error went undetected for over a thousand years.  Nonetheless some critics appeal to the redefinition of the term "almah" to mean exclusively a "young woman" which was made by an influential Rabbi known as Rashi (Rabbi Sholomoh Yizchaki) who lived in medieval times. However Rashi himself used the term "almah" to mean virgin in his explanation of Song of Solomon 1:3 and 6:8 and admitted that other scholars made the word to mean virgin.

A simple reading and understanding of the verse and the context will help readers deal with any other objections because the birth of a son to any young woman was no sign and if that son was to bear the Most Holy Name then there had to be something of significance in the birth of the son.

Lastly the virgin birth of Messiah is the explanation of the mystery of the very first messianic prophecy in Genesis 3:15.  That Messiah shall come from the "seed of a woman" and not from the "seed of a man".

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