Beyond Sin

“And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus (Yehoshua), for he will save (Yeshuah) his people from their sins.” Matt.1:21 [words in bracket are my additions]

“Yehoshua”, in other words Jehovah saves, Jehovah heals, Jehovah delivers, Jehovah is our salvation. You are to name him Yehoshua because He will [Yeshua] deliver, save His people from their sin. So the word Yeshua actually means salvation, deliverance, rescue, freedom, and restoration. It is an all-encompassing word for these different things. So when you say Jesus is my Savior, what you are actually saying is Jesus is my Savior, Jesus is my healer, Jesus is my deliverer, Jesus is my restorer, and Jesus is my redeemer. And for a Jew, the word salvation translates to total emancipation as individuals and total emancipation as a nation. Jews don’t see salvation as just deliverance from sin and interestingly, God really doesn’t see salvation like that too. Salvation is beyond sin; it includes deliverance from sicknesses, deliverance from poverty, even deliverance from bad governance. “So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free [save, deliver, Yeshua] Israel and restore our kingdom?” Acts1:6 [words in bracket are my additions]. At this time, Jesus had died, resurrected, and was about to ascend to heaven. The disciples were saying to Him, we are excited because You are the Savior. Jesus, has the time come for You to restore us? Jesus did not deny the fact that He will restore Israel but He said the time is with the Father.

When we look at salvation, it is important to look at the whole package because that is how God expects us to embrace salvation. In Acts 3 [Please read], there is a story of a crippled man sitting by the gate called Beautiful and how Peter and John who were on their way to pray in the temple, saw this man and said “silver and gold have I none, that which I have I give unto you, in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk”. They grabbed the crippled man and he began to walk, leap, dance, and praise the Lord. Then Peter and John were thrown into prison for healing the crippled man and for declaring the Lordship of Jesus. And Peter said something very profound, “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12. Take note what is in contention is the fact that they healed a crippled man but Peter was using the same word salvation for healing. In quoting Peter you could say, “there is no healing in any other” because for the Jew, healing, deliverance, protection, everything comes in salvation.

Prayer: Father, today I see my salvation in new light and I am filled with a new depth of gratitude for this all-encompassing gift, in Jesus Name.