Understanding God's Purpose in Sending His Son
. . . and you shall call His name Jesus,
for He will save His people from their sins.
(Matthew 1:21)
God the Father sent His Son into the world with a definite purpose. It was a purpose that can even be seen in His name.
When the angel spoke to Joseph, he told him to name the baby "Jesus" because He would save His people from their sins. The name Jesus is the Latin form of the Greek name Iesous, which is derived from the Hebrew Jeshua. Jeshua is a shortened form of Jehoshua, which means Jehovah is salvation. In the shorter form (Jeshua) the emphasis is on the action of saving. Therefore, the name Jesus means, The Lord Will Certainly Save.2 So when the angel spoke to Joseph, he was saying this: You shall call His name "The Lord Will Certainly Save," because He is the one who will certainly save His people from their sins.
The world does not need to be further condemned by God. All people since Adam and Eve have been born in a state of condemnation (Rom. 5:12-19, cf. John 3:19-20). God sent His Son, therefore, not to condemn, but rather to save (cf. John 3:16-17). Also, the Father did not risk failure in sending the Son. Jesus came with a clear saving purpose and mission—one that would assuredly be fully accomplished. To better understand God's saving purpose in Christ, it will be helpful to look closely at the last eight words of Matthew 1:21, emphasizing each word or phrase individually.
» He will save His people from their sins.
Jesus is the only Savior. As He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). Peter also pointed men only to Christ for salvation, saying, "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
» He will save His people from their sins.
Jesus did not leave the glories of heaven merely hoping that many would believe and be saved. He did not come to seek and perhaps save some who were lost. He came "to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10, emphasis added). He was not sent merely to offer eternal life to all men, but rather to actually give eternal life to all whom the Father had given Him (John 6:37-39; 17:2).
» He will save His people from their sins.
Jesus was sent to save completely. He did not come in order to show the way of salvation or open the door to heaven, making salvation ultimately dependant upon a human response. If salvation depended ultimately on the will of the natural man, a will that is hopelessly enslaved to sin, no one would be saved. As we said in the last issue, dead people (cf. Eph. 2:1) cannot follow someone to safety or walk through an open door, no matter how persuasive the invitation. A person who is enslaved to sin is "helpless" and "without strength" (cf. Rom. 5:8) and cannot assist in his own deliverance. He must be completely saved by another.
» He will save His people from their sins.
There is often confusion regarding the intended objects of Jesus' saving work. Was it His mission to try to save as many people as possible? Or was He sent to actually save many specific people? Another way to ask these two questions is like this: Was Jesus trying to save all people so that many would become His? Or was He saving the many because they were already His? Passages like Matthew 1:21, Matthew 11:25-27, John 5:21, John 6:37-39, John 10:14-16, John 17:1-3, 2 Thessalonians 2:13 and many others, strongly affirm the latter. (We will address this in greater detail in the next issue of the Basic Truth series.)
» He will save His people from their sins.
Was it unfair of God to send Christ into the world to intentionally and definitely save many undeserving sinners? Does He have any moral obligation to even try to save the rest? It is important to remember that no one deserves to be saved. We all deserve to die because of sin. If God had determined to save no one, but rather to punish every person eternally in hell, He would have been perfectly just. Therefore, in determining to save some people—His people—He cannot be accused of injustice. Instead of pouring out His wrath on every sinner who deserves to die, He lovingly and mercifully sent his Son into the world to save many. Anyone who would cry "unfair" should remember that it was the holy and blameless Son of God who left the glories of heaven to suffer and die as a man, all for the sake of unholy and undeserving people. If anything is "unfair," (humanly speaking, of course) it is that.
1Adapted from the commentary section of the catechism for Christ Fellowship of Kansas City entitled, Questions and Answers for Learning and Living the Christian Faith, Copyright © 2004, Christ Fellowship of Kansas City.
2We are indebted here to William Hendricksen's New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1973), Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew, p. 108.
Permission granted for reproduction in exact form. All other uses require written permission.
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Morning and Evening: Daily Readings
by C. H. Spurgeon
Saturday Morning, December 25
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Isaiah 7:14
Let us to-day go down to Bethlehem, and in company with wondering shepherds and adoring Magi, let us see him who was born King of the Jews, for we by faith can claim an interest in him, and can sing, Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. Jesus is Jehovah incarnate, our Lord and our God, and yet our brother and friend; let us adore and admire. Let us notice at the very first glance his miraculous conception. It was a thing unheard of before, and unparalleled since, that a virgin should conceive and bear a Son. The first promise ran thus, The seed of the woman, not the offspring of the man. Since venturous woman led the way in the sin which brought forth Paradise lost, she, and she alone, ushers in the Regainer of Paradise. Our Saviour, although truly man, was as to his human nature the Holy One of God. Let us reverently bow before the holy Child whose innocence restores to manhood its ancient glory; and let us pray that he may be formed in us, the hope of glory. Fail not to note his humble parentage. His mother has been described simply as a virgin, not a princess, or prophetess, nor a matron of large estate. True the blood of kings ran in her veins; nor was her mind a weak and untaught one, for she could sing most sweetly a song of praise; but yet how humble her position, how poor the man to whom she stood affianced, and how miserable the accommodation afforded to the new-born King!
Immanuel, God with us in our nature, in our sorrow, in our lifework, in our punishment, in our grave, and now with us, or rather we with him, in resurrection, ascension, triumph, and Second Advent splendour.
Evening, December 25
And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.
Job 1:5
What the patriarch did early in the morning, after the family festivities, it will be well for the believer to do for himself ere he rests tonight. Amid the cheerfulness of household gatherings it is easy to slide into sinful levities, and to forget our avowed character as Christians. It ought not to be so, but so it is, that our days of feasting are very seldom days of sanctified enjoyment, but too frequently degenerate into unhallowed mirth. There is a way of joy as pure and sanctifying as though one bathed in the rivers of Eden: holy gratitude should be quite as purifying an element as grief. Alas! for our poor hearts, that facts prove that the house of mourning is better than the house of feasting. Come, believer, in what have you sinned to-day? Have you been forgetful of your high calling? Have you been even as others in idle words and loose speeches? Then confess the sin, and fly to the sacrifice. The sacrifice sanctifies. The precious blood of the Lamb slain removes the guilt, and purges away the defilement of our sins of ignorance and carelessness. This is the best ending of a Christmas-day--to wash anew in the cleansing fountain. Believer, come to this sacrifice continually; if it be so good to-night, it is good every night. To live at the altar is the privilege of the royal priesthood; to them sin, great as it is, is nevertheless no cause for despair, since they draw near yet again to the sin-atoning victim, and their conscience is purged from dead works.
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Morning and Evening: Daily Readings
by C. H. Spurgeon
Sunday Morning, December 26
The last Adam.
1 Corinthians 15:45
Jesus is the federal head of his elect. As in Adam, every heir of flesh and blood has a personal interest, because he is the covenant head and representative of the race as considered under the law of works; so under the law of grace, every redeemed soul is one with the Lord from heaven, since he is the Second Adam, the Sponsor and Substitute of the elect in the new covenant of love. The apostle Paul declares that Levi was in the loins of Abraham when Melchizedek met him: it is a certain truth that the believer was in the loins of Jesus Christ, the Mediator, when in old eternity the covenant settlements of grace were decreed, ratified, and made sure for ever. Thus, whatever Christ hath done, he hath wrought for the whole body of his Church. We were crucified in him and buried with him (read Col. 2:10-13), and to make it still more wonderful, we are risen with him and even ascended with him to the seats on high (Eph. 2:6). It is thus that the Church has fulfilled the law, and is accepted in the beloved. It is thus that she is regarded with complacency by the just Jehovah, for he views her in Jesus, and does not look upon her as separate from her covenant head. As the Anointed Redeemer of Israel, Christ Jesus has nothing distinct from his Church, but all that he has he holds for her. Adam's righteousness was ours so long as he maintained it, and his sin was ours the moment that he committed it; and in the same manner, all that the Second Adam is or does, is ours as well as his, seeing that he is our representative. Here is the foundation of the covenant of grace. This gracious system of representation and substitution, which moved Justin Martyr to cry out, O blessed change, O sweet permutation! this is the very groundwork of the gospel of our salvation, and is to be received with strong faith and rapturous joy.
Evening, December 26
Lo, I am with you alway.
Matthew 28:20
The Lord Jesus is in the midst of his church; he walketh among the golden candlesticks; his promise is, Lo, I am with you alway. He is as surely with us now as he was with the disciples at the lake, when they saw coals of fire, and fish laid thereon and bread. Not carnally, but still in real truth, Jesus is with us. And a blessed truth it is, for where Jesus is, love becomes inflamed. Of all the things in the world that can set the heart burning, there is nothing like the presence of Jesus! A glimpse of him so overcomes us, that we are ready to say, Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me. Even the smell of the aloes, and the myrrh, and the cassia, which drop from his perfumed garments, causes the sick and the faint to grow strong. Let there be but a moment's leaning of the head upon that gracious bosom, and a reception of his divine love into our poor cold hearts, and we are cold no longer, but glow like seraphs, equal to every labour, and capable of every suffering. If we know that Jesus is with us, every power will be developed, and every grace will be strengthened, and we shall cast ourselves into the Lord's service with heart, and soul, and strength; therefore is the presence of Christ to be desired above all things. His presence will be most realized by those who are most like him. If you desire to see Christ, you must grow in conformity to him. Bring yourself, by the power of the Spirit, into union with Christ's desires, and motives, and plans of action, and you are likely to be favoured with his company. Remember his presence may be had. His promise is as true as ever. He delights to be with us. If he doth not come, it is because we hinder him by our indifference. He will reveal himself to our earnest prayers, and graciously suffer himself to be detained by our entreaties, and by our tears, for these are the golden chains which bind Jesus to his people.
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Morning and Evening: Daily Readings
by C. H. Spurgeon
Monday Morning, December 27
Can the rush grow up without mire?
Job 8:11
The rush is spongy and hollow, and even so is a hypocrite; there is no substance or stability in him. It is shaken to and fro in every wind just as formalists yield to every influence; for this reason the rush is not broken by the tempest, neither are hypocrites troubled with persecution. I would not willingly be a deceiver or be deceived; perhaps the text for this day may help me to try myself whether I be a hypocrite or no. The rush by nature lives in water, and owes its very existence to the mire and moisture wherein it has taken root; let the mire become dry, and the rush withers very quickly. Its greenness is absolutely dependent upon circumstances, a present abundance of water makes it flourish, and a drought destroys it at once. Is this my case? Do I only serve God when I am in good company, or when religion is profitable and respectable? Do I love the Lord only when temporal comforts are received from his hands? If so I am a base hypocrite, and like the withering rush, I shall perish when death deprives me of outward joys. But can I honestly assert that when bodily comforts have been few, and my surroundings have been rather adverse to grace than at all helpful to it, I have still held fast my integrity? then have I hope that there is genuine vital godliness in me. The rush cannot grow without mire, but plants of the Lord's right hand planting can and do flourish even in the year of drought. A godly man often grows best when his worldly circumstances decay. He who follows Christ for his bag is a Judas; they who follow for loaves and fishes are children of the devil; but they who attend him out of love to himself are his own beloved ones. Lord, let me find my life in thee, and not in the mire of this world's favour or gain.
Evening, December 27
And theLORDshall guide thee continually.
Isaiah 58:11
The Lord shall guide thee. Not an angel, but Jehovah shall guide thee. He said he would not go through the wilderness before his people, an angel should go before them to lead them in the way; but Moses said, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. Christian, God has not left you in your earthly pilgrimage to an angel's guidance: he himself leads the van. You may not see the cloudy, fiery pillar, but Jehovah will never forsake you. Notice the word shall--The Lord shall guide thee. How certain this makes it! How sure it is that God will not forsake us! His precious shalls and wills are better than men's oaths. I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Then observe the adverb continually. We are not merely to be guided sometimes, but we are to have a perpetual monitor; not occasionally to be left to our own understanding, and so to wander, but we are continually to hear the guiding voice of the Great Shepherd; and if we follow close at his heels, we shall not err, but be led by a right way to a city to dwell in. If you have to change your position in life; if you have to emigrate to distant shores; if it should happen that you are cast into poverty, or uplifted suddenly into a more responsible position than the one you now occupy; if you are thrown among strangers, or cast among foes, yet tremble not, for the Lord shall guide thee continually. There are no dilemmas out of which you shall not be delivered if you live near to God, and your heart be kept warm with holy love. He goes not amiss who goes in the company of God. Like Enoch, walk with God, and you cannot mistake your road. You have infallible wisdom to direct you, immutable love to comfort you, and eternal power to defend you. Jehovah--mark the word--Jehovah shall guide thee continually.
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