Question: What is our Rebbe's true name and does the IHS monogram have a bearing on it?
Short Answer: Our Rebbe's name is Y'shua ben Miryam (i.e. Yeshua son of Mary). He is also properly known as Y'shua the Nazarene (based on Isaiah 11:1).
The IHS and similar monograms are Pagan in origin and have nothing to do with our Rebbe or his real name although they are the origin of the name Jesus (which is not his name).
Longer answer: Consider: I might think "Frank" or "Betty" would be nice names to call you, but your name is something different. Should I call you by another name or by your own?
You have a name. It may be the one your parents gave you or it may be one of your choosing, but it is not my place to call you by a name of my choosing. If I respect you I will use your correct name. If one respects our Rebbe why would one not use his correct name?
Likewise, if I do not know you personally perhaps I will read your name somewhere, say in a book or a legal document. Lets say your legal name is Johnny or Wilberforce Smith. I may address you that way (or perhaps more formally as Mr. Smith) because that's all I know to call you. You are Johnny or perhaps Wilberforce Smith. When the IRS comes to rob you or some government thug comes persecute you they will use your "legal name" as well. They don't know you nor do they care about you. You are only a name and a number to them. But when I get to know you, to care about you, when we become friends, you may invite me to call you John or Will. This knowledge of your personal name reflects our closer relationship. The point is, our Rebbe's name is not Jesus even though it is written that way in some books. As his talmidim and friends (John 15:14) surely we should call him by his personal name, by the name used by his mother and his friends.
Our Rebbe's mom and his talmidim (students) called him Y'shua (or Yeshua). They never called him "Jesus" (nor Iesus/Iesous). They never even heard those names. So where did the name "Jesus" come from?
The Catholic Church renamed our Rebbe Iesus (which a few hundred years ago was changed to Jesus after the invention of the English letter J) for their own purposes. but that was never his name (I will discuss this in more detail below). So... why would we call the most important person in our lives by another person's name? We know his name is not Iesus and linguistically it can not be Jesus.
The 1611 King James Bible does not use the name Jesus:
Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a sonne, and thou shalt call his Name Iesus: for hee shall saue his people from their sinnes.Since the invention of the English letter J around 1600 C.E. however later editions of the King James Bible has had this verse as:
Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.Y'shua or Jesus?
Note WHY our Rebbe was named what he was according to the Bible:
"For" or because "he shall save his people from their sins."
The biblical name of our Rebbe is ישוע or in English script, Y'shua (or Yeshua: Yah-Shua ). As the text says, this name means: Yah Saves (or Salvation of Yah). Because "Yah" is a shortened form of the Holy Name of God we may wish to write his name as Y'shua rather than Yeshua. This is optional.
The Greek based English name "Jesus" (Latin: Iesus, Greek Iesous) on the other hand has significant Pagan connotations with the god Zeus. The name Zeus means "the living" or by implication "the living god (a blasphemous conception to Jews)." There is no way a devout Jewish couple of the first century C.E. would have named their child after a Pagan god! It would be like an Orthodox family today naming their beloved son Muhammad. Moreover, an angel of HaShem certainly wouldn't have done this (Matthew 1:21)! And the name Jesus in no way means "Yah Saves."
The sus (or sous) ending (in praise of Zeus) was added to many Pagan names such as Dionysus, Prometheus, Epimetheus and Menoetius, Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus (i.e. Constantine the Great) and others. This suffix honors Zeus as the sovereign and living god, even as the name Yah (Jah) is added to many biblical names in honor of HaShem (such as Adonijah, Amariah, Elijah etc.) and to words of worship like "hallelujah" (which means "praise Yah"). Despite this most Nicene Christians call the Rebbe "Jesus."
But let's be honest, isn't this all just semantics? When Nicene Christians say "Jesus is Lord" they are referring to Y'shua, not to a swine offering in praise of Zeus:
sus, sus N 3 1 NOM S C T, sus N 3 1 VOC S C T sus, suis swine; hog, pig, sow; (Latin-English-Latin Java Dictionary with Whitaker's Wordlist) sus : swine, pig, hog. (Lynn Nelson's Latin=English Dictionary (Hong Kong) sus, -is g.c. nomen animalis (A Latin Dictionary of Saxo Grammaticus (medireview Latin) SWINE [ME fr.OE swin; akin to OHG swin swine LATIN -SUS--more at SOW] 1: any of various stout-bodied short legged omnivorous mammals (family Suidae) with a thick bristly skin and long mobile snout; esp: a domesticated member of the species (Sus Scrofa) that includes the European wild boar-usu.used collectively 2: a contemptible person (Webster's Seventh New Collegate Dictionary)So, does the name we use really matter?
Let the Bible be your doctrinal guide:
Acts 4:10 then let it be known to you and to all the people of Isra'el that it is in the name of the Messiah, Yeshua from Natzeret, whom you had executed on a stake as a criminal but whom God has raised from the dead, that this man stands before you perfectly healed.
11 "This Yeshua is the stone rejected by you builders which has become the cornerstone.
12 There is salvation in no one else! For there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by whom we must be saved!"Based on this, the name we use seems important to get right, wouldn't you say?
This is similar to Shabbat in that HaShem will accept our worship on any day (we should worship and honor Him every day!) and yet He specifically sanctified Shabbat and set it aside for observance. Should we not worship HaShem and honor His Son as the Bible teaches rather than relying on our own human traditions?
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in HaShem with all your heart; and lean not on your own understanding.The Father has a personal Name as I discuss Here and so does His Only Begotten Son.
For a more detailed look at this topic go Here
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