By Jon Schaffner
Lead Missionary, Church at Ridgeway
Historically, the church has celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ in the month of December. We have termed this Christ’s, “first advent,” or advent for short. Advent comes from the Latin word meaning, “coming.” We are celebrating Christ’s first coming. There are many different ways people get ready to celebrate Christmas or Advent. The last few weeks we have written about prophecies concerning the coming of the Lord Jesus in order to prepare ourselves to celebrate Christ’s birth.
This last article I want to share is about the prediction of the angel of the Lord and what he said to Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father. He told Joseph to name the child that was in Mary’s womb, “Jesus.” A name carries weight and bears importance and the same is true with the meaning and purpose of Jesus’ name which means “The Lord is salvation.” But more importantly, the person behind the name bears much more significance.
What an interesting story that leads us up to this point in the Christmas narrative. Mary, Jesus’ mother, was engaged to Joseph. But before they were married, and while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:18). Once Joseph realized she was pregnant, he planned to break off the engagement. As he contemplated this, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream. The angel told Joseph, “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child that is within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit.” The next part is powerful and prophetic. The angel went on to say, “She will have a son, and you are to name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins,” (Matt. 1:20-21).
There was much importance in the work that the angel predicted Jesus would do to live out the realities of His name. Jesus, who is the Lord God (supreme ruler), is salvation and He would save His people from their sins.
Throughout the Old Testament, it was predicted that the coming Messiah, the anointed one (Christ), would save Israel from her enemies. This Messiah would make things right again between God and man. Through God’s chosen One, even Gentiles (non-Jews) would come into a right relationship with God. What many didn’t understand was that their greatest enemy was sin and self.
It is important for us to understand that Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is “God with us.” He comes to us. He meets us where we are at. He is present in our circumstances. No doubt. But because “the Lord is salvation,” He doesn’t allow us to remain the way we are. He wants to save us and set us free from our sin. And He did just that when He died on the cross and rose again three days later, conquering sin and death.
Through Jesus’ death on the cross, we were saved from the penalty of our sins and completely forgiven. When Jesus Christ died for our sins He took on Himself the penalty we deserved. Through His shed blood, He also delivers us from the power of sin. Sin no longer has dominion over us. And His sacrificial death will one day deliver us from the presence of sin, no longer to be affected by it ever again. He rose from the dead to prove it all to be true and to transfer to us all these great blessings of salvation. We are saved from the penalty of sin, the power of sin, and the presence of sin through the finished work of Jesus Christ. Salvation has come—Jesus!
