December 16, 2022 – Friday
Why Jesus Came – 7
Matthew 1:21 NIV
21 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.”
* Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua, which means the Lord saves.
Comments
The She in the above verse is of course Mary, the mother of Jesus. And the you in the verse is Joseph, who was Jesus’ earthly father, and he would raise Jesus and teach Him to be a carpenter.
Because of this conversation between an angel of the Lord and Joseph, we may surmise Joseph was the first person in the New Testament to know of Jesus’ purpose in coming. His purpose as the angel explained was to save His people from their sins. It is unlikely Joseph knew how this was to occur, he only knew this is what the angel told him.
This came about because Joseph and Mary were pledged to be married. However, before they consummated the marriage, Mary was found to be pregnant via the Holy Spirit. Mary knew this, but Joseph did not. Joseph as her husband planned to quietly divorce her so she would not be publicly disgraced and possibly stoned to death.
As he considered this line of action to protect her an angel of the Lord came to him in a dream and said, 20 “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. 21 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.”
Mary knew some of this, but she did not know what Joseph was told. We are not told if he ever shared this with her or not. Still, in Luke 1 we know she was told by the angel Gabriel, 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 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, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.
Why did Jesus come? It was because he will save his people from their sins. Guzik points out, Wonderfully, it says “His people.” If it had said, “God’s people,” we might have thought it was reserved for the Jewish people alone. But it isn’t belonging to Abraham that brings salvation from sin; it is belonging to Jesus, being one of His people. He further wrote, This description of the work of Jesus reminds us that Jesus meets us in our sin, but His purpose is to save us from our sins. He saves us first from the penalty of sin, then from the power of sin, and finally from the presence of sin.
Bottom Line: In the short message of the angel of the Lord to Joseph, we find why Jesus came, to save His people from their sinswithout explanation. That would follow in all four gospels.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, Now we know Jesus came to save us from our sins, from the penalty of our sins, from the power of sin and from the presence of sin when we become a member of His people. Thank You! – In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
RileyD, nwJ
Riley D. Driver – Pastor
Calvary Chapel of Dayton
in Beavercreek