“He Will Save His People from Their Sins”

Everyone has their favorite version of Jesus. Some see Jesus as a radical hippie from Frisco. Some like to think of him as a Palestinian revolutionary come to upset the status quo. Others think of Jesus as a wise teacher, a religious genius. Then there are those, especially at Christmas time, who prefer to see Jesus as an 8 lb. 6 oz. baby with golden fleece diapers, cuddly but omnipotent. Holiday sentimentality aside, who was this baby born in a manger, and why did he come into the world?

We have no better or clearer explanation about the nature and mission of that Child then the pronouncements from the Archangel Gabriel. Remember what he said to Mary: “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end” (Luke 1:30-33).

·         You are to call him Jesus. The Greek New Testament gives us the name Yesus, a translation of the Hebrew name Yeshua, or the English name Joshua. It literally meant “The Lord’s Salvation” or “The Lord is Salvation.” It was a fairly common name in first century Palestine and indicated the people’s hope in a coming Messiah.

·         He will be great. It must have been odd for anyone to describe a child born in Nazareth, a very small, very poor out-of-the-way village as “great,” but this would be no ordinary child. In the end, all of human history would pronounce him to be “great.”

·         He will be called the Son of the Most High. While he will be a human baby born in the normal human way, he will be more than human. He will be the very Son of God, the perfect and complete revelation of God, the face of God, come to live among ordinary human beings.

·         The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. This child will be the promised greater son of David, the rightful King of Israel. He will be the fulfillment of the promised Jewish Messiah.

·         His kingdom will never end. He will be so much more than the Jewish Messiah and the Davidic King; he will be the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He will come with a universal mission to establish his righteous rule over all the earth and among all people.

Somewhat later Gabriel appeared to Joseph to provide him with his own understanding of the child he would raise. “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20-21).

·         Joseph son of David. Joseph of Bethlehem was himself the rightful heir to the throne of David, the King of Israel in his own right. Joseph would provide a human pedigree for his greater Son.

·         Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife. Joseph obviously loved Mary and was committed to her, but he couldn’t live with the disgrace and dishonor of having Mary give birth to an illegitimate child. He needed personal encouragement and confirmation from the Lord.

·         What is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. Joseph was made to understand that the child forming in his beloved was the result of a supernatural encounter with God, the power of the Holy Spirit miraculously producing a special human being. Mary was a faithful, godly girl who had simply allowed God to do something very unusual in her life.

·         She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. Once again we see heaven’s choice of a name for the Child.

·         Because he will save his people. He will be God’s provision of salvation for all humankind. He will be God’s deliverance, God’s rescue plan for all those who had become separated and alienated from God and his purposes.

·         …from their sins. The faithful in Israel were expecting God’s salvation, a Deliverer sent from heaven, but they were looking for someone who would deliver them from Rome and re-establish the nation of Israel. They hoped for someone who would cause Israel to be a bright shining beacon in the midst of a dark world. But God had so much more in mind for his Son. The enemy of humanity is sin, and there will be no deliverance, no salvation, unless sin is dealt a death blow. Jesus came to establish his rule and defeat sin once and for all. And that salvation is still available to all who call on his name, believing God for the rescue Jesus came to provide.

“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’)” (Matthew 1:22-23). Ultimately, Jesus is God with Us, God who has become one of us, God who is himself the bridge of reconciliation, the one who broke down the wall of separation between us. During the fourth week of Advent the church has traditionally reflected on the role of Joseph in the coming of Christ into the world. Joseph was a faithful, righteous man who promptly obeyed whatever instructions were given to him by God. “When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife” (Matthew 1:24). As we anticipate our celebration of Christmas day, may we have a heart that is quick to believe and obey God’s promise of salvation.