She Will Bear a Son
Matthew 1:21
“She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name
Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21
When Mary was found with child the Lord appeared to Joseph, to whom she was
betrothed, and gave him this message. The angel explained that the child in
Mary’s womb was conceived in her of the Holy Spirit and that he should not be
afraid to take her as his wife. In this simple statement to Joseph the angel
revealed God’s plan for His Son and the redemption of mankind in His name.
“She will bear a Son.” In the days before
ultra-sound imaging it was impossible for one to know the sex of a child before
birth. The infant in Mary was a baby boy as the Lord had promised her (Luke
1:31). No man could have known this for certainty although we might say they had
a fifty-fifty chance. This was the child of promise, the “Seed” in the promise
to Abraham by which all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:3;
Galatians 3:16).
“You shall call His name Jesus.” This same
message was given to mother Mary (Luke 1:31). The name “Jesus” is derived from
the verb, “to save.” In the Hebrew it is the same as Joshua. It was a very
common name among the Jews. The name is made up of two parts. The first is the
expression for God, ‘Yahweh,” and the second means “to deliver”. It means “God
will deliver.” It means He is the Savior. Jesus had another name as well and
that was Immanuel, which translated means “God with us.” The giving of this name
was in fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah given about 700 years before the
birth of this child to a virgin (Isaiah 7:14). There is no single name that will
suffice to describe Jesus and there are many descriptive terms that are applied
to Him.
“For He shall save His people.” This is the
reason for the giving of the name as we explained above. A high ranking official
will often times refer to those who surround him on a daily basis and serve his
needs, as “his people.” God had a people in the Old Testament. These people were
the chosen people. It certainly was an honor to be chosen, but more importantly
it meant that they existed to serve Him. When they refused to serve God, they
lost the honor. Who were the people, whom the angel was referring to when said
these words to Joseph? In John 6:37 Jesus said, “All that the Father gives Me
will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.” The
people of Jesus are those who “behold(s) the Son and believes in Him” (John
6:40). They are the people who will be raised up to eternal life in the last day
(John 6:39, 40). His people are those people who are saved. He cannot save those
people who do not come to Him. He cannot save those people who do not believe in
Him. The Father has not given the unbelieving to be His people but the
believing.
He shall save His people “from their sins.”
This is the reason that Jesus came. Albert Barnes wrote, “It was not to save
them in their sins but to save them from their sins.” There is no greater work
than to bring the lost to Jesus so that He can save them. Materialistic pursuits
and a “gospel” that is designed to satisfy physical longings do nothing about
sin.
For His part the sinless Jesus died on the cross to redeem us from sin. “As a
result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His
knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear
their iniquities (Isaiah 53:11). On our part we must believe and obey Him to
become “His people.”
By Karl Hennecke
From Expository Files 17.3; March 2010
