Day 10

08 Feb Day 10

Jesus/Yeshua-Savior

WRITTEN BY: Mitty Copeland

Scripture: Matthew 1:21-NLT– “And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Read more about the birth of Jesus in Matthew 1.

Observation:  Even before Jesus was born, he was to be our Savior.

Let me take a moment to give a brief history of the spelling of Jesus’ name. The New Testament was written in Greek, but Jesus was Jewish and so was his name. During his life, he was called the Hebrew name: Yeshua. Ancient Greek didn’t have a letter to convey the sh sound so, when written, his name was altered to use the Greek letter with the closest sound, which was an “s”. In the same way, the “Y” at the beginning of his name was modified to an “I” as it had the most similar sound. Furthermore, during the 1500s, when the first English translations were being written, the Greek “I” was replaced with the English “J” that we still use today. (Additional fun fact: Since the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, translations directly from Hebrew to English yielded the name Joshua.)

For this devotional, I want to honor his heritage and use his original name, Yeshua.

Application: As we read yesterday (if you didn’t, take a moment to read Day 9), Yeshua is with us always. He loves us and desires a relationship with us so much that he died to cover our sins, allowing us to be made right with God and share in the Kingdom of Heaven.

How many people would you lay down your life for? One? Five? Twenty-five? Maybe your number is much larger than those examples, but I have to say my number is smaller than I’d like to admit. Your life is the most precious thing you can give. Yeshua said it this way, “There is no greater love than to lay one’s life down for one’s friends.” (John 15:13 NLT) Yeshua showed us exactly that—the greatest love.

From our verse today, we see that he did not make a split-second decision to die for us. The name Yeshua means Savior. Before he was even born, God was announcing that Yeshua was destined to be our savior. Yeshua knew he would one day be faced with a painful death. In fact, the night before he was put to death, Matthew 26:36-46 NLT tells of how Yeshua prayed to God, while “crushed by grief to the point of death”, asking if there was another way to accomplish our salvation. Yeshua was facing one of the worst fates imaginable, and (like I bet any of us would) he wanted to double-check that it was necessary, but he also affirmed that he would do what was being asked of him. To me, that is the best example of how he was both human and God. Yeshua’s suffering and sacrifice was immeasurable but the love God has for us exceeds even that.

Yeshua calls us to be like him. When asked which commandment is greatest, Yeshua replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31 NLT). If the greatest show of love is to lay down our lives for others, then that is what we should do. Thankfully, we can almost always accomplish this metaphorically. We can do it through serving those around us—whether family, friends, or strangers. We can use our life’s resources of time, money, and talent to love and serve others.

How can you use your life today (and every day) to show God’s love to others?

Prayer:  Dear Yeshua, Thank you so much for your sacrifice! Thank you for loving me so much that you endured a horrific death on the cross so that I may be reconnected to God. Please help me to follow your selfless example. Show me ways to give my life in service of others. In your wonderful name, I pray. Amen.

Mitty Copeland/Communications and Journey Kids J-Teamer

Mitty has been part of The Journey for almost two years. She and her husband, Kris, started attending shortly after the birth of their daughter, Spencer. Mitty enjoys welcoming new families at Journey Kids Check-In and helping to produce content that will bring others closer to God on the Communications J-Team.

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Next Steps:

If you don’t know Yeshua yet, he is ready and waiting to meet you right where you are. To invite him into your life, pray a prayer repenting of your sins, accepting his forgiveness, and asking him into your heart.

Come back for Day 11.

Dive deeper with the YouVersion devotional, Loving the Other: Jesus Revolution.

Worship with this song by Jesus Image/Michael Koulianos, “Yeshua”

Reflect on the holy name of Yeshua by spending time being thankful for his coming and salvation.

To hear a bit more about the origin of the spelling of Jesus’ name, check out this short video from PBS.