“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; He also is become my salvation” (Isaiah 12:2).

It is fascinating to note all the occurrences of the word “salvation” in the Old Testament. Most are translations of the Hebrew, yeshua, which corresponds to the name “Jesus” in English. For example, the verse above could just as well read “Behold, God is my Jesus; . . . the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and song; He also is become my Jesus.”

Hebrew parents usually gave their children names which had significance. Thus, when Gabriel instructed Joseph to name Mary’s son “Jesus,” they would recognize immediately that they were, in effect, to name Him “Salvation,” because, “He shall save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). We can easily imagine that Mary and Joseph spent many hours together poring over their Bibles and reading again all the great prophecies of the coming Savior—especially those in which His very name,yeshua, had been anticipated.

The first of these was in the dying words of their ancestor, Jacob, after whom Joseph’s own father had been named (Matthew 1:16). In almost his last words, the dying patriarch had exclaimed: “I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD” (Genesis 49:18). We can at least wonder whether they wondered if Jacob, in his prophetic vision, had actually seen Jesus, and cried out, enraptured, “I have waited for thy Jesus, O LORD!” Then, in Habakkuk 3:13, they could even have found both His name and His title (“anointed” = Messiah = Christ). Thus: “Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed [i.e. Jesus thy Christ]; thou woundest the head out of the house of the wicked” (i.e., Satan—note Genesis 3:15). In any case, we can be sure that Joseph and Mary “marvelled at those things which were spoken of Him” (Luke 2:33). HMM