Do you know what the name “Jesus” means? Jesus is the English form of the Greek form of the Hebrew name Yeshua or Joshua. Confused? Here’s another way to say it: Yeshua is his original Hebrew name. Yeshua becomes Iesous in Greek, somehow English speakers heard a “J” in there and that gave us Jesus.  

        Yeshua means God saves or God delivers. When the angel tells Mary that she will conceive and bear a son, and tells her, “You shall call his name Jesus” (Matt 1:21), he’s telling her to name her baby, “God delivers, God rescues, God saves.”  

         What exactly does Jesus deliver us from?

         Leading up to the birth of Jesus, Israel was waiting and hoping and longing for a Christ, a Messiah to come and free them once and for all. In Isaiah 35:3, we get a glimpse into what it is that the Israelites were hoping this Christ would do:

“Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear not! Behold your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and
save you.”  

           Isaiah is speaking to the Israelites who were living in great fear. But like the Israelites, there is a fear within each one of us. As we walk through life I don’t know anyone who does not have some level of fear in them. We’re afraid of what we don’t understand. We’re afraid of uncertainty. We’re afraid of what the future is going to bring. We’re afraid of failing. We’re afraid of sickness. We’re afraid of suffering. We’re afraid of being alone. We’re afraid of living with regret. We’re afraid of not experiencing the things we hope to experience. We’re afraid of disappointing people. We’re afraid that people won’t like us. We’re afraid of being afraid.  

          But to those of us who fear - which is to say ALL of us - Isaiah steps in with a message of great hope. He is telling all of us who are fearful and anxious, “Be strong, fear not!”’

          WHY? Because of this: “Behold, your God…will come and save you.” In Advent, we celebrate Christ Jesus who came to save us from our sin and fears, and who will come again to deliver us once and for all. 

           你知道「耶穌」這個名字是什麼意思嗎？耶穌是希伯來文耶穌或約書亞以希臘文形式的英文所成。有點困惑吧？或者另一種說法：Yeshua 是祂本來希伯來文的名字，希臘文就變成了lesous，不知何故操英語的人不知在那裡聽到一個“J”的發音’，就變成了Jesus ,即耶穌。

          Yeshua耶穌的意思是上帝拯救。當天使告訴馬利亞她將懷孕生子，並告訴她「你要給祂起名叫耶穌」(馬太福音1:21)，他是在告訴她給她的嬰孩起名為「上帝拯救﹑上帝搭救﹑上帝救贖」。  

         主耶穌究竟要拯救我們脫離什麼？

         在主耶穌降生以前，以色列人一直在等待、希望和渴求一位基督﹑一位彌賽亞的來臨，一次永遠地釋放他們。在以賽亞書 35 章3節中，我們可以瞥見以色列人希望這位基督為他們做什麼：  

你們要使軟弱的手堅壯，無力的膝穩固，對膽怯的人說：「你們要剛強，不要懼怕！看哪，你們的神必來報仇，必來施行極大的報應，祂必來拯救你們。」

            這是先知以賽亞對生活在極大惶恐中的以色列人的說話。但就像以色列人一樣，我們每個人內心都有恐懼。在我們走過人生的路程上，我認識的每個人都總有某種程度的恐懼。我們對不理解的事物害怕，對不確定的事會害怕，對未知的將來所發生的事會害怕，會懼怕失敗，懼怕患病，懼怕受苦。我們也害怕孤單，害怕生活在遺憾中，害怕不能經歷我們希望經歷的事情，害怕令別人失望，害怕別人不喜歡自己，我們害怕身處害怕之中。  

            但是對於我們這些充滿懼怕的人 - 也就是說我們每一個 - 以賽亞帶給我們一個極大盼望的信息。只有恐懼和焦慮的人，請聽:「你們要剛強，不要懼怕！」  

           為什麼？為此：「看哪，你們的神必來報仇，必來施行極大的報應，祂必來拯救你們。」在將臨節，我們慶祝基督耶穌，祂來拯救我們脫離罪惡和恐懼，祂要再次降臨，一次﹑永遠地救贖我們。