Sometimes we are asked by fellow Israelis, “If Yeshua is the Messiah, why is there no prophecy of that being his name in the Tanakh?” That’s a good question. On the one hand, if there was a straightforward direct prophecy saying “The Messiah’s name is Yeshua,” then every Jewish mom would have named her child “Yeshua” and thus become meaningless.
On the other hand, there should be some prophetic indication. It would have to be partially hidden and partially revealed. In that sense there are many scriptures that indicate the name of Yeshua in a hidden form. For instance, “YHVH has become my Yeshuah” (Exodus 15:2). There is Moses’ changing Hosea’s name to “Yehoshua” in Numbers 13:16. There is Isaiah 33:22 declaring that “YHVH our King, He will Yoshianu.”
There are many such prophetic hints. But there is a direct prophecy of the name Yeshua as well. Let us remember that Yeshua is a shortened form of Yehoshua which is a shortened form of “YHVH Yoshia.” Let us also remember that the word “Branch” צמח Tsemakh is a code word or symbol of the Messiah (Jeremiah 33:15 -16; see also Isaiah 11:1, 53:2).
The prophecy of the name of Yeshua is made up of three simple parts:
- Zechariah 3:8 – Yehoshua the High Priest is described as a symbol of the Branch. Therefore, Yehoshua is a symbol of the Messiah.
- Zechariah 6:12 – The name of Yehoshua is a symbol of the name of the Branch. Therefore, the name Yehoshua is a name for the Messiah.
- Ezra 3:8 – The name Yehoshua the High Priest is shortened from Yehoshua to Yeshua at the time of the end of the Old Testament period. Yeshua is the name of the Branch. We could summarize this way:
- Yehoshua the High Priest is a symbol of the Messiah the Branch
- Yehoshua is the name of the Branch
- Yehoshua is the name of the Messiah
- Yehoshua is the full form of the name Yeshua
- Yeshua is the name of the Messiah. {eoa}
Asher Intrater is the founder and apostolic leader of Revive Israel Ministries and oversees Ahavat Yeshua Congregation in Jerusalem and Tiferet Yeshua Congregation in Tel Aviv. Asher was one of the founders of Tikkun International with Dan Juster and Eitan Shishkoff and serves on the board of the Messianic Alliance of Israel and Aglow International. He and his wife and full-time partner in ministry, Betty, have a passion for personal prayer and devotion, local evangelism and discipleship in Hebrew and unity of the body of believers worldwide.
This article originally appeared at reviveisrael.org.
