Commission
At birth my parents gave me the name “Paul”. Partly in honor of a grandfather, whose middle name was Paul. (I got the other grandfather’s first name as my middle name.) But besides the family connection, my parents named me for the apostle Paul. Giving me a reminder, every time I heard or wrote my name, that this was a person they hoped I would aspire to be like.
Jesus’s Dad did the same for His Son. Gabriel announced to Mary that she would have a son, who would also be the Son of God. And the angel conveyed the Father’s choice of name for him: Joshua. “Jesus” is how the name comes to us—the English form of the Greek form of the Hebrew. There’s actually no ‘J’ sound in either Hebrew or Greek, so it would have been pronounced something like “Yahshua”.
This name has a meaning: “Yah saves”—Yah being the short form of Yahvah (or Yahweh). So you see, the Father also included the family name in the name of His Son.
Sorry if this is all something you’ve heard many times before. My reason for bringing it up is that I was reading in the book of Joshua this morning, and I found myself reading the first chapter in a way I hadn’t seen before.
Take a minute, right here, and go read the first nine verses of Joshua chapter 1. Yeah, now. That’s right.
These verses are God’s charge to Joshua, who has just become the leader of Israel because Moses has died. The Lord God speaks directly to Joshua, gives him his commission. What I hadn’t done before was to read the verses as the Lord God speaking to the other Joshua, His Son. If we read it that way, what charge is the Father giving to the Son?
“Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you.” (verse 3) Jesus walked the length and breadth of the Land of Promise in the course of his ministry. And every foot of it will be his—as promised to Abraham.
“No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life.” (verse 5) His opponents tried, with everything at their disposal, to entangle or discredit Jesus. But they never could. Their last recorded attempt ends with, “No one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.” (Matthew 22:46)
“I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you.” (verse 5) Jesus says, “[All of you] will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.” (John 16:32)
“Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.” (verse 6) This was literally the work of Messiah, to fulfill the promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—to cause all the faithful to inherit the land.
“Be careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.” (verse 7) Jesus was the only one ever to never turn aside from God’s Law. He fulfilled it all. (Matthew 5:17-19)
And finally: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” (verse 9)
What do you think Jesus is thinking about when he reads these verses? He’s being addressed, by name. God charges not only the ancient Joshua, He charges His Son Joshua. This is the Messiah’s commission. It seems to me that this commission would be something he thinks about often. The assurance of the promises, his role in delivering them, the encouragement (“be courageous”). The assurance that his God is always there for him, will never abandon him.
Jesus famously gave his apostles “the great commission”, pieces of which are recorded in the final verses of Matthew, Mark and Luke, and the first chapter of Acts. We don’t think as often about the commission given to Jesus himself. But I think we can be sure that he did.
Love, Paul