At One With God

Yeshua HaMashiach – Jesus the Messiah (Messiah = Anointed One). Philippians 2:9 says that God “bestowed on Him the name which is above every name.” His name was so important that God Himself sent an angel to Joseph to instruct him, “…you shall call His name Jesus.” (Matt. 1:21)

Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua (Jehoshua). The name Joshua means “YAHWEH is salvation.” This, of course, is significant because when the Jewish people heard the name Jesus, their minds would go back to the stories of their great leader Joshua who led their ancestors from the wilderness into the land that God had promised to them. It was a foreshadowing of what God’s Messiah would do for His people – saving them from slavery and leading them to rest.

In order get a better understanding, I want to give you a quick history and etymology lesson.

William Tyndale was a 16th-century Protestant reformer and scholar who translated the Bible into the Early Modern English of his day. Tyndale’s was the first English translation to draw directly from Hebrew and Greek texts. In 1535 Tyndale was arrested, jailed in the castle of Vilvoorde outside Brussels for more than a year, tried for heresy and treason and then strangled and burnt at the stake.

Tyndale created new English words while translating the Scriptures, such as Passover, scapegoat and the peculiar word atonement. This word is a portmanteau, or a blending of two or more words to form a new meaning. Tyndale created atonement or “at-one-ment” to describe the remission of sins and the reconciliation between God and man brought about by Christ’s death to bring God and man “at one” with each other.

‘Atonement’, or kaphar in Hebrew, can mean “to cover over” or “to hide”, and was used for the mercy seat on the Ark (Exodus 25:17, 37:6). So, it could be seen that on the Day of Atonement, God allowed the blood of bulls and goats to “cover over” the sins of the people; He did not deal with them fully and finally (see Hebrews 10:1-4).

In fact, Paul told the Greeks on Mars Hill that God “overlooked the times of ignorance” (Acts 17:30); and in Rom 3:25 Paul says, “in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed”. In Romans 11:27, Paul quotes an Old Testament passage that prophesied, “This is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.” When Christ came, He came to deal with sin fully and finally. John the Baptist proclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29). Imagine what a profound statement that must have been for a first century Jew who had heard all his life that his sins had only been covered or hidden. But now the Apostle John writes, “You know that [Jesus] appeared in order to take away sins…” In fact, the very name of Jesus (He Saves) speaks to this, “…you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)

There is a clear difference between the atonement (“covering”) for sin in the Old Testament and the taking away of sin by Christ. I think it is significant that the New Testament writers did not tie those two things together, but instead emphasized the contrast between the two (which is explicitly seen in Romans 3:25). Apparently, many Bible translators did the same, since “atonement” is not used in the NASB or ESV translations of the New Testament. Instead, “propitiation”, “reconciliation”, and “mercy” were used to translate the Greek word hilaskomai.

The blood of Jesus, our Savior, did not simply cover our sins, but was powerful and effective to take away our sins. What does that mean for those of us who come to Him by faith? It means that Jesus has removed our condemnation, fulfilled the requirements of the Law in us, and has given us the power to overcome sin that we were once enslaved to.

“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us.” (Romans 8:1-4)

As we take communion together, let us worship the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29); the Man whose name “is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11)