Part One: Josiah
What’s in a name? In the Bible, names mean a lot. Sometimes, children were named to reflect the experiences surrounding the pregnancy or birth (e.g. Gen. 25:25-26). Other times, they were named prophetically, given a name that encapsulated the parent’s hope (or even God’s intention) for their lives. It is with this latter mindset that we chose the name Josiah Jackson Wood.
Josiah (which means “Yahweh is my support”) was the second greatest king that the world has ever known, second only to Jesus Himself. As 2 Kings 23:25 says:
Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to Yahweh as he did–with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.
Josiah was eight years old when he became the king of Judah. From his fathers, he received a throne besotted with idolatry and sin. Yet when Josiah was 26, the Law of Moses (which had been lost) was discovered in the Temple. On Josiah’s first hearing of the Word, he tore his robes over fear of God’s wrath, saying:
Great is Yahweh’s anger that burns against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.
What ensued was the greatest time of repentance ever experienced within Israel. Not until the Resurrection and Pentecost would we see such activity among the people of God. The Holy Spirit used Josiah to spread God’s Kingdom in unbelievably exciting, transformative ways. When Megan and I were considering names, we sat down and read the account of Josiah together. At the conclusion of that time, I knew that our son had to have this name.
Thirty minutes after Josiah was born yesterday, Megan and I had our first moment alone with him. We had only enough time to stop and pray over our son. With joyful tears, we prayed that like his namesake he would trust Jesus, love God, and spread God’s Kingdom. This desire swells in my heart like none I have felt for any other person: that through his life, Josiah would see the rule and reign of Jesus spread to the people of the world. May that God would grant our prayer for His glory and the good of our precious son.
I am a blessed man.
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