The Perfect Name
"And at the end of eight days, when He was circumcised, He was called Jesus, the Name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb." - Luke 2:21
Have you noticed through all these devotions up to this one I have not used the name for Mary's Son, the newborn King of the Jews? I've been following the Jewish custom of not naming the baby boy until he was circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. Well, today is the day.
For the first time God's Son sheds His blood and shares the pain we experience in this life, it will certainly not be the last time. His circumcision places Him under His Father's covenant with Abraham. He will carefully obey God's rules and requirements. But being God's Son He doesn't do it for His own sake; He puts Himself under God's Law for our sakes. His perfect life will earn our place in heaven, and when He sheds His blood on the cross He will remove the curse of hell from us.
That is why He receives the name God had chosen and revealed to both Mary and Joseph through the angels He sent to visit them. It was a very common name at that time, its Hebrew equivalent still is today--Joshua. His name means, "The Lord saves." Every other man who ever bore that name was pointing to the Lord in heaven who alone could save him. This Child is the Lord Himself who came down to earth to save His people. And His Name is Jesus, the Lord who saves. - Lutheran Hour Ministries, 2010