The Promise of the Name of Jesus

Mat. 1:21 “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

The name Jesus was chosen by God to be given to the Christ-child because of its meaning, which is “Jehovah is salvation.” Christ was the salvation of Jehovah for God’s people not from their natural enemies as the Jews at the time expected, and as the Old Testament Joshua (same name) had done, but from the far worse internal and spiritual enemy of us all – our own sins.

Notice this text does not say Christ would save us from hell, or only from the consequences and penalty of our sins. Too often that is all we deal with these days. Christ does free us from the penalty of our sins, but if that is the extant of our salvation than it is a mockery of all that is good and just. Imagine if you would, a man who is a murderer, he is pardoned, set free and absolved of all the responsibility for his past actions. He would probably think that is great! However his neighbors might desire to be saved from such a salvation!

It is essential to have a clear idea of what sin is or we will not be truly thankful for our deliverance which has been provided in Christ. There are some sins which almost everyone condemns, however other sins are viewed in a more favorable light, depending much on the cultural and religious background of the viewer.

When a person can ask how God can send a “good person” who is not a Christian to hell, it shows that that person does not really grasp sin. Imagine that there is a certain terrorist organization. This organization needs funding to fight the lawful government of its own nation. To get the funding and support of the people, it establishes various charitable institutions (this actually isn’t as farfetched an illustration as you might think; some terrorist organizations really do this). People may not know the purpose of the organization, and might consider it to be their friend. However in the eyes of the law, it is an enemy, not because of its charitable deeds, but because the purpose of the supposed good deeds is actually to undermine the greater good of the land, and to set up its own regime. Thus the very good things it does only increase its odiousness and culpability in its rebellion and the misery which that rebellion brings on all around it.

When a man trusts in his own good works to justify himself in the sight of God, or uses philanthropic deeds to minimize the guilt his conscience feels, he is acting in rebellion to God. He is in an active state of war against the One who formed him and who has the lawful right of rule over him. Anything he does other than admitting his rebellion and submitting to God only increases the punishment of his crimes, because these things are merely covers he uses to plot further rebellion.

When man is confronted with his own rebellion, he often tries to point to others to justify himself. One story I have heard was of a missionary who had recently translated part of the Scriptures into Cherokee and read the Sermon on the Mount to a chief with the hope that the chief would allow more preaching in his tribe. Asked if he did not think this book was good the chief replied, “this is a good book, I wonder why the white people’s lives are not better when they have so good a book.” Anyone reading the Sermon on the Mount is struck by the wonderfulness of it, but it is beyond what we are capable of in ourselves. What do we do? Do we acknowledge our faults, or do we point at other’s failures to place ourselves in a good light. There are far too many hypocrites in the church, however, my pointing out hypocrisy and the sin of others does not excuse me from the bar of God. To trust in my failure being common is the same as seeing other motorists speeding and trusting that because they are doing it, I can do it. See if that logic will get you out of a ticket when you are pulled over.

In First Corinthians, the apostle Paul having just finished a list of behavior which will keep us out of heaven says, “And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” The most beautiful part of this verse is the past tense. Such WERE some of you. It shouldn’t be necessary for me to write this, but in this evil age I must, notice he did not write, “such are some of you.” Christ is able to save unto the uttermost. He is able to save the vilest of sinners. He will save them, not only from the eternal misery of hell, but also from the the sting of death – sin. Praise be to God!