You
shall call his name JESUS
Expectant parents
often spend hours agonising over the name they will give their baby.
They may wonder, "Will baby be a boy or a girl?" or "Should
we go for a traditional or modern sounding name?" Some parents decide
well in advance the name they will give the baby, others wait until
after the birth before finally making up their minds.
All these agonising
decisions were taken out of the hands of Jesus' parents. Their baby was named for them by an angel.
Joseph was engaged to be married to Mary. He became aware that she
was pregnant, and he was not the father. Joseph was about to break off
the engagement when the angel of the Lord appeared to him
saying,
Joseph, son of
David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for
what is conceived
in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will being forth a Son and you
shall call his name JESUS, for he will save his people from their sins.
(Matthew 1:20 & 21.)
The name JESUS means
"The Lord saves". He is "Immanuel", meaning "God with us". God
came to be with us as a human baby to save us from our sins. "Sin" is
not a very popular word these days. But unless we can see the
seriousness of sin, we will never understand the reason why Jesus came
into the world. Sin is rebellion against God. We sin when we live for
ourselves rather than for our Maker. The Bible tells us that, sin leads
to death and God's judgement.
The good news is that
JESUS was born to save us from our sins. He is able to
save us because he took the punishment that we deserve when he
died on the cross. "Christ died for our sins" (1 Corinthians 15:3).
This Christmas time, do not forget the reason for the season. To quote
the angel of the Lord once more,
For there is born
to you this day in the city of David a Saviour who is Christ the
Lord. (Luke 2:11.)
Is JESUS your Saviour?
Believe in the Son of God who was born a baby, died on a
cross and rose again to rescue us from sin.