Matthew 1: 21
You Shall Call His Name Jesus 
for He Will Save His People From their Sins 

My text this morning is v.21: "You shall call his name Jesus, for he himself will save his people from their sins."  This announcement is a significant text in the development of a Biblical Christology.

I. THINK ABOUT THE TEXT ITSELF.

1. This pronouncement to Joseph was probably in Aramaic and not in the Greek language of our manuscripts.  So too, probably are all of the conversational words, recorded in the Gospels.  They were probably spoken in Aramaic/Hebrew but reported to us in Greek.  No doubt the Jews were somewhat bi-lingual The Greek text reports that the angel gave Joseph this message about the birth of the Messiah.  It is very likely that the angel would have spoken this in Aramaic or Hebrew, Joseph's first language.  Yashuha would be the name he was to give the Saviour.  Jesus became known as Yeasus in the Greek language -- which name- translated into English -- the "Jesus" -- that we know him by.  Before his birth he was named by this Aramaic/Hebrew name.  It was the name of Joshua in Hebrew and it means "Yawa Savior," Yawa, being the personal name of God.  The text of Matthew, of course, originally written in Greek, gives the name "Yeasus," which means "Yaweh Savior."  Our Greek text, translated literally, amplifies this when it says after the name "for he himself shall save his people from their sins.  It seems, not only, to proclaim Yahweh (Jehovah) as Savior but Jesus as Yaweh!) 

2. Many in the first century probably saw this as a prediction that this Savior would be a political figure who would deliver them from the Romans.  He would save them from their dreaded oppressors, they would have thought. "What a great idea," they might have thought and would have desired to join in a secret political movement.  How many times since then and until yesterday did people see Jesus as a political figure or use him as such?  "Drive out those wicked Romans, and kill all the Roman sympathizers," they might have said.  And the political parallel to that in our own time abides with us still.  At times one wonders if the Crusades have really ended! 

3. But it was the wrong interpretation! "Sins," it says, "He shall save his people from their sins --" not from the Romans.  And it is not, "He shall save everybody" from their sins but "his people."  "He shall save his people from their sins."  It is not necessarily saving them from political oppression, or difficult lifestyle, or even natural disaster, such as the folks in New Orleans have experienced.  It is not always a salvation from financial distress, or health problems, or political persecution, or family difficulties. 

It is a salvation from the temporal consequences and especially the eternal consequences of sin! 

4. Here lies the problem in evangelism.  The Biblical view is not universal salvation that would save Saddam Hussein, or Hitler or Atilla the Hun.  It was God's purpose to save his people from their sins -- and not always from political oppression; nor from difficult lifestyle; nor from the consequences of climate (as we have recently seen); nor from the effects of war; but "from their sins."  And the whole story of his atonement for sin follows from that understanding. 

III. SO THEN, THE CORRECT ANSWER OF WHAT HE SAVES HIS PEOPLE FROM, HAS TO DO WITH THEIR SINS

1. Much more specifically, it is a salvation that saves his people on three levels, or as you might say, in three dimensions: in the sense of justification; which is instantaneous and absolute; in the sense of sanctification (-- our behavior) and in the sense of glorification (at the end of our pilgrimage.) 

That justification of the first answer is the act of the imputing (or "charging") of the sins of the Lord's people to the Lord Jesus Christ at the moment of their trust in him and imputing Jesus' righteousness to those same people at the same time.  We call it "justification" because it makes a person "just," or absolutely perfect before God's bar of justice.  "He himself shall save his people from their sins."  That is what "justification" means.  Perfection in the way that God sees them because they are possessors of the personal righteousness of Jesus Christ which was "charged" by God the Father to their accounts.  And their sins, past, present and future, are charged back in history to Christ who would have borne those sins on his cross.  (Charged backwards in history because of the omniscience and sovereignty of God.)  "He, himself, shall save his people from their sins." 

2. This salvation is speaking also of sanctification: "He, himself, shall save his people from their sins."  He not only forgives our sins by the atonement of Christ for them, but in our experience saves us from the consequences of our fallenness.  That's why we can expect true Christians to live lives that are "worthy" of the Gospel and can expect to see the effect of progressive sanctification in their lives.  I am reminded of the old woman who stood up to give a testimony in a country church meeting and said: 

I know I ain't what I oughta be, And I ain't what I's gon'na be; but thank God I ain't what I's usta be! 

It's pretty bad English but wonderfully good theology!  "He, himself, shall save his people from their sins." 

3. And that "saving his people from their sins," is also speaking about glorification, the process by which an individual is made perfect in God's sight in all of his person and aspects at the moment when he is transferred into the heavenly kingdom and into the presence of his God and Savior.  "He shall save his people from their sins." 

Some Christians have eschewed the celebration of Christmas as a pagan holiday, marked by Santa Clauses, elves, reindeer, colored lights, over-eating, and the like.  They see it as a reflection of the most debased period of Church History, and they want to have no connection with it.  Even its name, they say -- "Christ"-plus-"mass" -- points to a debased and paganized corruption of the communion, the so-called "mass" which was the focus of the observance of Christmas in the Middle Ages.  And they have a point there.  The way it is celebrated with over-eating of things that are not good for us and emphasizing a red-suited, white-bearded impostor who takes the focus from Christ, is certainly paganistic.

But we are of the opinion that we should take it as an opportunity to celebrate -- in a godly way -- one of the three most-important-events in human or world history, for enhancing our spiritual lives, for testifying of our own personal salvation through this God-man who presumably is at the heart of the celebration -- or at least, should be.  And for anticipating the time when we will go to be with Christ forever!

Let us use it in such a way that our celebration downplays the commercial aspects that make it, by far, the biggest sales month of the entire year.  Let us moderate the extremes of secular elements, the commercial fervor of its frequent celebration and the tendency for Santa Clause etc. to usurp the one thing about it that justifies celebration and that is our dear Lord Jesus' birthday.  Let us renew our devotion to him who is our Lord and King and express our appreciation for his blessed incarnation, life, teaching, death because of our sins, and his resurrection on the third day.  Let us make our celebration a vehicle to exalt him, increase our love for him and perfect our devotion to him.  While we ought to respect Christian brothers and sisters who ignore Christmas altogether, in our case we would do well to reclaim it as an instrument of faith, devotion, teaching about the 3rd most significant event in all of history -- which is the celebration of the incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity, that occurred at about 4 B.C. in history,

Solo Deo Gloria!