“[Mary] 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 1:21 NIV).
The statement by the angel in this passage reveals the mission of Jesus was to save people from their sins.
Even the prophetic name announced by the angel indicates salvation. Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua, which means “YHWH saves.”
Salvation can be an uncomfortable topic. We have all done some wrong stuff in our lives, and we all need forgiveness. Facing up to that fact can be uncomfortable or hurtful. And sins lead to spiritual death, and that is an uncomfortable subject.
Yet facing up to our genuine need, and being willing to open our heart to God, results in receiving the gift of salvation which is the ultimate gift from God.
All human beings need forgiveness for actions which were hurtful rather than loving. God created people in His image (see Genesis 1:27), thus people were created with a soul to have love and to give love.
For example, love was the root of the Mosaic covenant. Soon after the deliverance of the Hebrew people from bondage in Egypt, God made a covenant with them, with Moses as the mediator. This covenant involved many laws and regulations, which started with “Ten Commandments.” Yet the root of these laws and regulations, which Jesus later affirmed, was love. Deuteronomy 6:4 states: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts” (NIV). And the Hebrews were called to love people (see Leviticus 19:18).
Sadly, Old Testament Scripture exposes the fact the Israelites never perfectly carried out the Mosaic Law. Sometimes they did a downright bad job. Once things were so bad, the temple copy of the Torah was stored away and abandoned by the priests for many years. When found by the high priest, Hilkiah, he gave it to the king’s secretary, Shaphan. After reading it, Shaphan read it to King Josiah. The king was shocked, and then realized the previous generation of Israelites had utterly neglected the covenant God had made with the Hebrew people (see 2 Kings 22:8-13). King Josiah even tore his robe and wept (see 2 Kings 22:19).
And King Josiah’s continued response was beautiful: “[King Josiah] went up to the temple of the LORD with the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets – all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the LORD. The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD – to follow the LORD and keep his commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant" (2 Kings 23:2-3 NIV).
This event illustrates the character of God in the midst of relating with His covenant people who had failed to love. God is just, and God is merciful. In this event, the prophetess Huldah stated that God would bring disaster to Judah because they had forsaken the living God. Things had been so bad, there were articles made for Baal and Asherah and more false gods inside the temple (see 2 Kings 23:4). Yikes. God is just.
However, because King Josiah turned to YHWH when learning the truth, God delayed the coming disaster, allowing a time of blessings for King Josiah and the Hebrew people. God is merciful.
God’s justice and God’s mercy are both evident throughout the Old Testament. When the Israelites were caught up in sin, they were punished. Yet God continued to be merciful, thus continuing to bring restoration for the Hebrew people.
The provision of sacrifices for sins by God was the consistent offer of mercy by Him. God knew beforehand that Israelites would sin, thus from the outset He included laws and regulations which involved requirements for animal sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins. Such forgiveness was temporary however. And along with other sins, sometimes even sacrifices were not carried out, such as during the time prior to King Josiah.
Yet God, in His mercy, over a period of many years, started to give promises of a Savior to come. And that Savior would be not only for any Hebrew person, yet also for any human being. The promise of God for all individual human beings, all of whom are created in His image, was a personal Savior.
One such prophetic promise came from the prophet Isaiah: “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his or her own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53: 6). The “him” is Jesus, the One who took upon Himself the sins of all people on the cross, and physically and spiritually died on that cross. Here we were the ones who did wrong, yet Jesus became the Lamb of God, as identified by John the Baptist (see John 1:32).
All of those animal sacrifices for centuries did not make it possible for people to have eternal life. The atoning sacrifice Jesus made on the cross did. Jesus fulfilled the Mosaic Law, and then Jesus even surpassed the Mosaic Law, as He fulfilled the mission proclaimed by that “Christmas angel,” making the forgiveness of sins available to anyone. Jesus was the substitute for the consequence of sins, which is spiritual death. And then Jesus was resurrected!
And He did it all, because He loves you! Loving God and people is what we were supposed to do and what we are to do now. Loving people is what Jesus has always done, and the reason Jesus gave His life on the cross. And now any person can receive His true love, and thus live by the true Love of God. You receive His love, which includes forgiveness and salvation, by believing in Jesus. That is how you enter the New Covenant. Believe in Jesus, and you will be saved from the consequence of your sins, and you will have eternal life with Jesus. Jesus loves you!
Hunter Irvine
