The Norman invasion of 1066 introduced the letter "j" to England but the sound of the letter did not exist in the Old English language until the early 1200's. Over the next 300 years the hard "J" sound started to replace male names that began with I or Y because it sounded so masculine. Names like Iames became "James," Iakob became Jacob, and Yohan became "John." During the time the letter J was starting to gain acceptance, John Wycliffe became the first person to translate the New Testament from Latin into English in 1384. He preserved the Latin spelling and pronunciation of IESUS but his translation was unread by the common man because only a few hand-written copies of his Bible were produced which were quickly banned by the Church. The KJV was legally the only "authorized" version allowed in England, and was produced to stamp out the Geneva translation (The Geneva "Bible" contained many footnotes, reference helps, and conveyed a high level of general information for people to learn).
When Gutenburg invented the printing press the Latin Vulgate "Bible" became the first book ever printed in 1455. The first printed bible in a foreign tongue was the German Mentel Bible of 1466 followed by the Martin Luther bible of 1522. After William Tyndale was denied permission to print an English bible he went to visit Martin Luther and completed his translation of the New Testament in 1525. Tyndale had 18,000 copies printed at Worms and smuggled into England of which only two copies survive. After printing his revised edition of 1534 he was captured in Belgium, tried for heresy by order of the pope, and put to death in 1536 by strangulation after which his body was burned at the stake. By the year 1611 the letter "J" was officially part of the English language and the King James Bible was printed along with pronunciation guides for all proper names like Jesus, Jew, Jeremiah, Jerusalem, Judah, and John. The name "Jesus" has been in use ever since.
At Acts 4:12, we learn that there is only ONE NAME under heaven, given among men by which we may be saved, yet we see that the true Name has been under constant change over the centuries. The true Name of the Mashiach can be proven by deduction; and you should know that we cannot trust the Greek to explain the Hebrew. But, when we see that the Greek text uses the same letters (IESOUS) when referring to the men that translators spell as "Joshua" and "Jesus", then we know these letters refer to not just a similar name, but the same name; the Greek alphabet simply corrupted the Name for us. We can fix that easily. The Mashiach of Israel certainly never had a Greek name, so let's hunt-down His real, Hebrew Name!
At Hebrews 4 and Acts 7, we discover from the Greek that the Savior's Name is spelled IESOUS. I'm not saying these two men wrote the text in Greek, but the Greek is what we have received. The name "JESUS" isn't even in the original Scriptures - and you can check out the way it looked back in 1599 by clicking on this: 1599 Geneva Translation.
Hebrews 4 and Acts 7 refer to "Joshua" (Yahusha more accurately, alternately seen as Yahushua), using the same Greek letters, IESOUS. Now think very hard; could the successor of Mosheh and the Mashiach of Israel possibly have the same NAME in the original Hebrew? Scholars don't doubt it for a second that they did indeed. To learn the real name of your Savior, go look at the Hebrew letters for the spelling of "Joshua": yod-hay-uau-shin-ayin (It isn't rocket surgery you know). Both had the Hebrew name: YAHUSHA. The Greek alphabet cannot transliterate this word, and "Latinizing" the Greek form only makes it freakier. The Name of our Savior contains the Name of our Creator, because He is our Creator, and His Name is His identification (His identity is wrapped-up in His Name.
- YAH = "I am" . . . so, Yahusha literally means "I am your Deliverer".
The Greek texts at Hebrews 4 and Acts 7 both indicate the spelling to be identical for both the Mashiach and the successor of Mosheh: IESOUS (in the Greek letters). Therefore, all we have to do is go to the Hebrew texts, find the spelling of the name of the man that succeeded Mosheh, and we have found the Savior's Name perfectly preserved ~ and based on the texts of Shemoth (Exodus). Logical deduction brings this out. The Name "Yahushua" describes the FUNCTION or ROLE that our Creator has become. To ignore this function/role, we have to overlook the phrase included by Gabriel when the Name was given:
- "But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of (Yahuah) appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Yoseph, you son of David, fear not to take unto you Miryam your wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the (Ruach haQodesh). And she shall bring forth a son, and you shall call His Name (Yahusha): for He shall deliver His people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of (Yahuah) by the prophet, saying, 'Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel', which being interpreted is, (Eloah) with us. Then Yoseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of (Yahuah) had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name (Yahusha)." [Matt 1:20-25]