The document discusses the significance and historical context of the name 'Jesus,' noting that it is rooted in biblical history and carries deep meaning as 'God the savior.' It highlights the importance of naming in relation to identity and character, emphasizing that Jesus embodies salvation. The text further explores the impact of Jesus as a transformative figure, contrasting the nature of his teachings with the limitations of conventional morality.

1. JESUS WAS HIS NAME
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
And she shall bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his
name Jesus;for it is he that shall save his people from
their sins.—Matthew1:21.
GreatTexts of the Bible
The Name of Jesus
1. At the beginning of history, names must be invented; in the course of ages,
they become hereditary. The Baptist was about to be called Zacharias, for
that was his father’s name. But in early times the Hebrews made names for
their children. The name was often a memorial of some circumstance
connectedwith the birth, or descriptive of the child’s appearance, or
expressive of the hopes entertained of him. In this last case, the name might
turn out to be most inappropriate, and become a sad recordof blighted
expectations. The first child born into the world was called by a name which
betokenedthe fond hope of his mother that he would prove a treasure to her;
but the infamy of his evil life bitterly put to flight that bright dream. Our eyes
are dim; we cannot see through the mist of the future, and foretell what our
children shall be in after years. We may bestow on them beautiful names, but,
to use the striking comparisonof Solomon, this fine name may be as a “jewel
of gold in a swine’s snout,” the symbol of qualities of which they are wholly
destitute.
2. Had it been left to human wisdom to invent a name for the Child of the
Virgin, we canhardly form a guess ofwhat the result would have been. Nota

2. little friendly discussionis sometimes excitedby the difficulty of fixing on a
name. But this case was peculiar. Here was a Child unlike any that had ever
been born of woman. How perplexing it would have been to find a name
sufficiently expressive and obviously appropriate. But the point was settledby
God Himself. The right to determine the name of the child belongs to the
parent; and how infinitely competentin this case was the Fatherto give His
Son the most suitable name. None knew the Son but the Father, and His
decisionmust be accepted, not only as final, but as the best that could have
been come to. The name selectedwas beautifully simple. A child may be
taught to lisp it, and the dullest memory can retain it. Divine greatnessis
unostentatious. The simplest word in our language is “God,” and the next to it
is “Jesus.”
If thou wilt be well with God, and have grace to rule thy life aright; and come
to the joy of love: this name Jesus fastenit so fastin thy heart that it never
come out of thy thought. And when thou speakestto Him, and sayest“Jesus”
through custom, it shall be in thine ears joy, in thy mouth honey, in thy heart
melody.1 [Note:Richard Rolle.]
I
The Associationsofthe Name
1. The name “Jesus”was no new name, coinedin the courts of heaven, and
carried to earth for the first time by the lips of the angel messenger. A new
name is cold and meaningless, and stirs no memories of the past. There is a
warmth about an old familiar name which no new combination of letters can
ever hope to rival, and so it was an old name, a name with a history behind it,
that the angel gave to the unborn Son of Mary. There was more than one little
Jewishboy who bore that name at that very time. In the high priest’s family

3. alone there were no less than three, eachof whom would one day be high
priest in his turn. There was Jesus, sonof Sapphia, who would one day
become a famous brigand chief, and, still more famous, Jesus surnamed
Barabbas, whom the people would prefer one day to Jesus surnamed Christ.
There was Jesus Justus, who would one day become the trusted helper of St.
Paul, and Jesus the father of Elymas, the sorcerer, St. Paul’s opponent in
Cyprus. There was Jesus the friend of Josephus, and Jesus Thebuti the priest,
and Jesus the peasant, who would one day terrify Jerusalemwith his cries.
Over many a little living Jesus a mother’s head was bending on the day when
Mary claspedher new-born baby to her bosom. How came it that so many
boys were calledby the same name? We know what makes a name popular at
the presentday; it is because thatname is borne by the popular hero of the
hour. How many girls were christened Florence, afterthe lady with the lamp!
The Boerwar produced a never-ending cropof little Roberts. And so it has
always been. Those Jewishboys were all calledJesus aftertwo greatnational
heroes who had borne that name in the past.
2. Who were those heroes? Where do we find the name “Jesus”in the Old
Testament? We do not find it anywhere, nor do we expect to find it; for we are
all familiar with the way a name changes as it passes from one language to
another—how, for example, the Hebrew Johananbecomes in English John,
and in German Hans, and in RussianIvan, and in Spanish Juan, and in
Italian Giovanni; the name is the same, but the form varies according to the
language. Now the Old Testamentand the New Testamentwere written in
different languages. The Old Testamentwas written in Hebrew, and the New
Testamentwas written in Greek;and thus the same names appear under
different forms. Elijah, for example, in the New Testamentis always called
Elias. And so when we searchthe Hebrew Old Testamentfor the Greek name
Jesus we shall expectto find some change in the spelling.
(1) As a matter of factwe meet the name for the first time in the thirteenth
chapter of the Book ofNumbers and the sixteenth verse, where we read that

4. “MosescalledHoshea the sonof Nun Joshua” (which means “Jehovahis
salvation”). Jesus andJoshua are exactlythe same name, only one is the
Greek form and the other is the Hebrew. Joshua the sonof Nun the
commander-in-chief of the Lord’s people, under whom they conquered their
inheritance, the leader who brought them out of the desertto the land of milk
and honey, the captain who ever led them to victory, though foes were strong
and crafty, the ruler who settled every family in the precise position which
God appointed for it, and there gave it rest—he is the first who bears the
name “Jesus”in the pages ofhistory.
(2) But this Jesus died, and the centuries passedon, and a time came when the
people lostthe land that had been given them, when for their sins they were
carried awaycaptive to Babylon, and then, after forty miserable years, the
secondJesus came—Jeshua the high priest, who led the people back to the
land that had been lostby sin; Jeshua, who rebuilt the Temple and restored
the worship of God; Jeshua, who was crownedwith gold by the prophet
Zechariah, as the type and forerunner of a greaterHigh Priestwho was to
come;Jeshua, the son of Jehozadak, was the secondJesus in history.
3. And now we can appreciate something of the associations ofthe name; we
can realize a little of what the message, “Thoushaltcall his name Jesus,”
would mean to a pious Jew like Joseph. Thoushalt name Him after the great
captain who drove the Canaanites from the land. Thou shalt name Him after
the greathigh priest who brought back the people out of bondage. Thou shalt
call Him Jesus;for He, too, shall be a Saviour. “He shall save his people from
their sins.”
Man is the principle of the religion of the Neo-Hegelians,and intellect is the
climax of man. Their religion, then, is the religionof intellect. There you have
the two worlds: Christianity brings and preaches salvationby the conversion
of the will,—humanism by the emancipationof the mind. One attacks the

5. heart, the other the brain. Both wish to enable man to reachhis ideal. But the
ideal suffers, if not by its content, at leastby the disposition of its content, by
the predominance and sovereigntygiven to this or that inner power. Forone,
the mind is the organ of the soul; for the other, the soul is an inferior state of
the mind; the one wishes to enlighten by making better, the other to make
better by enlightening. It is the difference betweenSocratesand Jesus. The
cardinal question is that of sin. The question of immanence or of dualism is
secondary. The Trinity, the life to come, paradise and hell, may ceaseto be
dogmas and spiritual realities, the form and the letter may vanish away,—the
question of humanity remains: What is it which saves?1[Note:Amiel’s
Journal (trans. by Mrs. Humphry Ward), 11.]
II
The Meaning of the Name
1. In one sense, there is nothing in a name. The nature of the thing is
independent of it. It is not in the powerof any name to make evil good, or
goodevil; and our Saviour, Jesus Christ, would have been what He is, by
whatevername He had been called. But in another view there is something in
a name. It stands for the thing, and, through frequent use, comes to be
identified with it. It is therefore of the highest moment that the name should
correspondwith the thing, and convey a correctidea of it. Exactness of
thought requires exactness oflanguage. Knowledge depends for its accuracy
on the right use of words, and the greatinstructors of mankind are as careful
of the expressionas of the idea. Words are things. We deal with them, not as
sounds but as substances,and look not so much at them as at the verities in
them. Names are persons. When one is mentioned in our hearing, it brings the
man before us, and awakens the feelings which would be excited if he were
present himself.

6. Now, we may see this, above all, in the adorable name of Jesus. Thatname,
above all others, ought to show us what a name means; for it is the name of
the Sonof Man, the one perfectand sinless man, the pattern of all men; and
therefore it must be a perfectname, and a pattern for all names. And it was
given to the Lord not by man, but by God; and therefore it must show and
mean not merely some outward accidentabout Him, something which He
seemedto be, or lookedlike, in men’s eyes;no, the name of Jesus must mean
what the Lord was in the sight of His Father in Heaven; what He was in the
eternal purpose of God the Father; what He was, really and absolutely, in
Himself; it must mean and declare the very substance ofHis being. And so,
indeed, it does; for the adorable name of Jesus means nothing else but God the
Saviour—Godwho saves. This is His name, and was, and ever will be. This
name He fulfilled on earth, and proved it to be His character, His exact
description, His very name, in short, which made Him different from all other
beings in heavenor earth, create oruncreate; and therefore He bears His
name to all eternity, for a mark of what He has been, and is, and will be for
ever—Godthe Saviour; and this is the perfectname, the pattern of all other
names of men.
When Adam named all the beasts, we read that whatsoeverhe calledany
beast, that was the name of it. The names which he gave described eachbeast;
they were takenfrom something in its appearance, orits ways and habits, and
so eachwas its right name, the name which expressedits nature. And so now,
when learned men discoveranimals or plants in foreign countries, they do not
give them names at random, but take care to invent names for them which
may describe their natures, and make people understand what they are like.
And much more, in old times, had the names of men a meaning. If it was
reasonable to give names full of meaning to eachkind of dumb animal, much
more to eachman separately, for eachman has a characterdifferent from all
others, a calling different from all others, and therefore he ought to have his
own name separate from all others. Accordingly in old times it was the custom
to give eachchild a separate name, which had a meaning in it which was, as it
were, a description of the child, or of something particular about the child.1
[Note:O. Kingsley.]

7. 2. The name “Jesus,” then, means Saviour. What does He save men from?
(1) Jesus saves from ignorance. If we considerthe incarnate life of the Son of
God as a theophany and a revealing, we see at once what powerit had, and
still has, to rescue man from the blind error which is a part of sin. In Jesus,
man sees Godas He is. And awakenedby this vision, he sees time and the
world as they really are. The false theories of life on which he proceeds are all
contradictedin Him. Every falsehoodwhichthe world’s enchantment tells,
every delusion which it weaves withits Circeanspell, finds its refutation in
Him. Part of the power of sin lies in its specious delusions. Among these
delusions is the lie that the world is all; the lie that sensualpleasure is good,
that passionis strong, that pride is majestic, that disobedience is wise. Jesus
came and refuted all these immemorial lies.
(2) But if He is only a lawgiver, or a teacherof Divine truth, or a finger-board
to direct us in the way of righteousness,He is insufficient for our needs. The
man who teaches me the truth is not himself the truth. And if Jesus is only a
teacherof the wayof salvation, He is not Himself salvation. It is true that man
is sadly and fearfully ignorant both of himself and of the infinite God to whom
he must give accountfor the deeds done in the body; and it is also true that by
coming to Christ he can be relieved of this ignorance. But if Jesus is only a
pedagogue orschoolmaster,He does not touch the deepestnecessitiesofman’s
condition. Such a view of Him may improve a man’s morals, and elevate him
somewhatin other respects, but it can never save him from the powerand
consequencesofsin. Jesus is Himself the salvationwhich He taught, and
which He commissionedHis disciples to preach. He is the wisdom, the grace,
the mercy, and the power that save men from their sins.
As Laurence Oliphant lay dying, the dear and sacredname of Jesus was ever
on his tongue. There had been times in his life when he had spokenit with an

8. accentof perhaps less reverence than was congenialto listeners probably less
devout than he, but holding a more absolute view of our Lord’s position and
work—as there had been times when he had calledhimself not a Christian, in
the ordinary meaning of the word. But no one could doubt now of his entire
and loving reception of that name as his own highesthope as wellas that of all
the world. A day or two before his death he calledhis faithful nurse early in
the morning, probably in that rising of the energies whichcomes with the
brightness of the day, and told her that he was “unspeakablyhappy.” “Christ
has touched me. He has held me in His arms. I am changed—He has changed
me. Never againcanI be the same, for His power has cleansedme; I am a new
man.” “Thenhe lookedat me yearningly,” she adds, “and said, ‘Do you
understand?’ ” 1 [Note:M. O. W. Oliphant, Memoir of the Life of Laurence
Oliphant, 403.]
Many years ago there was a greatfamine of waterin a town in the south of
France. It was a hot summer, no rain fell for months, and as the people always
suffered from the want of water, this dry, hot seasongreatlyincreasedtheir
sufferings, and many of them died. A few miles awayfrom the town was a
range of hills; in the hills were some beautiful springs of water, but the labour
and expense of bringing the waterfrom the springs to the town was so great
that very little of it could be brought. In this town there lived a young man
whom we shall call Jean. He was industrious and good, and was shortly to be
married to a beautiful young woman, whom he dearly loved. But all at once
the marriage was put off, the young man began to go about in old clothes, took
very little to eat, gave up his pleasanthome and went to live in a garret, and,
in short, became a thorough miser. He went to bed in the dark to save candle,
beggedother people’s cast-offclothing, and very soonbecame changedfrom a
blithe and happy young man into a wretched-looking oldone. Nobody loved
him now. His charming bride forgothim, and married another man; the
children calledhim names in the streets, andeverybody shunned his house.
After many years of wretchedness he died. When his relatives went to search
his room they found him almostwastedto a skeleton, and all his furniture
sold, while the old man’s body was lying upon a heap of straw. Under his head
they found a will, and what do you think was in it? This: that in that dreadful

9. summer, forty years ago, Jeanhad been so saddened by the dreadful suffering
of the people—especiallyof the children—for want of water, that he had given
up his young bride, his pleasanthome, his happy prospects, and had devoted
himself day and night all through the weary years to working and saving, so
that the people might have the beautiful waterbrought to them from the
distant springs in the hillside. Oh, how everybody blessedthat old man! A
reservoirwas made in the hills, pipes were laid under the ground, and the
waterwas brought into the town so freely that its inhabitants never thirsted
any more. The old man did not create the water, neither did he make the
people thirst, he simply brought the living water and the dying people
together—andhe sacrificedhimself in doing it. Now that is just how Jesus
saves men. He did not make God love them—God always loved them. He did
not create God’s love or mercy—those greatsprings of blessing were and
always are in the greatheart of God. He did not make men sinful and sad so
that they neededthese things; but He brought these springs of love and
blessing down to the men that were dying for the need of them. He is the
channel through which God’s love comes to us. From God, but through
Christ, we receive all the blessings of salvation. Jesus brought all these good
things to us, and sacrificedHimself in doing Song of Solomon1 [Note:J.
Colwell.]
(3) But if man is to be saved, he must be savednot only from sin’s guilt, and
sin’s defilement, but from sin’s power. If man is to be fully saved, not only
must he, in the infinite mercy of God, be treated as righteous, he must become
actually righteous and holy and good. This is the ultimate purpose of God. He
removes man’s condemnation, He forgives man’s sin, in order that he may
become holy. Forgiveness andjustification are in order to holiness. But man
cannot be personally holy until he is set free from the enslaving power of sin.
He, therefore, who would be the Saviour of man must dealwith this. How does
Jesus deal with it? He deals with it as our Lord and King, dwelling and
reigning within us by the Holy Ghost. Remember, the Jesus who shall save His
people from their sins is One who lives. He is One who is possessedofall
power. He takes men so into union with Himself that they are within the circle
of His life. They are in Him as the branch is in the vine. So their weaknessis

10. turned into might, by the advent of His strength into their lives. The sin which
strives to enslave the believer finds that it has to deal with the believer’s Lord.
And by that Lord it is defeated; its power is brokenand its dominion for ever
overthrown. The disease which we cannot shake offflies before Him; the fire
which we could not quench is by Him put out; the evil root is eradicated, the
mighty current stemmed. The strong man armed meets the strongerthan he,
and is despoiled. In Him we conquer sin. His powerturns the scale ofbattle in
our favour. Sin has not dominion over us. The law of the spirit of life makes us
free from the law of sin and death. So we not only will the will of God, but also
do it. He makes us perfect in every goodwork to do His will, working in us
that which is well-pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christour Lord.
The one cure for any organismis to be set right—to have all its parts brought
into harmony with eachother; the one comfort is to know this cure in process.
Rightness alone is cure. The return of the organismto its true self is its only
possible ease. To free a man from suffering, he must be set right, put in
health; and the health at the root of man’s being, his rightness, is to be free
from wrongness, thatis, from sin. A man is right when there is no wrong in
him. The wrong, the evil, is in him; he must be setfree from it. I do not mean
setfree from the sins he has done; that will follow; I mean the sins he is doing,
or is capable of doing; the sins in his being which spoil his nature, the
wrongness in him, the evil he consents to; the sin he is, which makes him do
the sin he does. To save a man from his sins is to say to him, in sense perfect
and eternal, “Rise up and walk. Be at liberty in thy essentialbeing. Be free as
the Sonof Godis free.” To do this for us Jesus was born and remains born to
all the ages.1[Note:George MacDonald, The Hope of the Gospel, 5.]
III
The Powerof the Name

11. 1. The angel said to Joseph, “Thoushalt callhis name Jesus,” andto-day what
name is there so greatas this? What other so enduring? It has lived through
anarchy and revolution, through storm and change, decayand death. Other
names since then, and many of them accountedgreat—nameswhichheld the
world in awe, whichblanched the cheek, and made men tremble—have passed
into oblivion; but this name is as fresh as ever, and far more powerful than it
was of old. It is the earliestname that Christian parents breathe into their
children’s ears;the first they teachthem to lisp, as they lie in their lap, or
stand at their knee. It is the gracious name woven into all our prayers and
mingling with all our praises.
It is the greatname which many a learned and holy man has felt it his highest
privilege, his most sacredduty, to proclaim. It is the precious name which the
evangelisttakes to the poorestand most wretchedalleys of our cities and
towns, knowing that it can lift the burden of sin and sorrow from the soul, and
fill it with peace and purity and strength. It is the all-powerful name which the
Church is occupiedin sending to the farthest places of the earth, that the
nations may be turned “from darkness to light, and from the powerof Satan
unto God.” It is the hallowedname in which the civilized peoples of the globe
enacttheir laws, crowntheir kings, fight their battles, and celebrate their
victories. It is the Divine name on whose authority we sanctify the dearest
relationships of life, baptize the child at the font, bless the union at the
marriage altar, and commit our dead to the grave. And whereverthis name is
proclaimed, it is inspiring faith, hope, and love. Many who hear it place their
trust in the Saviour, and look to Him as the Source of all blessing, the Well-
spring of all joy.
Who does not know what is the powerof the name of father or mother, sister
or brother? What visions they bring back upon us: what a stream of
memories; of years long passedaway, of carelesschildhood, bright mornings,
lingering twilights, the early dawn, the evening star, and all the long-vanished
world of happy, unanxious thoughts, with the loves, hopes, smiles, and

12. tenderness of days gone by. Who does not know what visions of maturer life
come and go with the sound of a name, of one familiar word—the symbol of a
whole order now no more? The greaterpart of our consciousness is summed
up in memory; the presentis but a moment, ever flowing, past almost as soon
as come. Our life is either behind us or before; the future in hope and
expectation, the past in trial and remembrance. Our life to come is little
realized as yet; we have some dim outlines of things unseen, forecastings of
realities behind the veil, and objects of faith beyond the grave;but all this is
too Divine and high. We can hardly conceive it; at best faintly, often not at all.
Our chief consciousnessoflife is in the past, which yet hangs about us as an
atmosphere peopled with forms and memories. They live for us now in names,
beloved and blessed.1 [Note:H. E. Manning, Sermons, iv. 46.]
2. There is nothing which His name has not hallowedand glorified. The
commonestthings of earth have now a higher and holier meaning than they
ever had before, or ever could have had without Him. A virtue has flowedout
of Him into everything He has touched. Has not labour become nobler since
He sat at Nazareth on the carpenter’s bench? Has not childhood become more
sacredsince He took little children up in His arms, put His hands upon them,
and blessedthem? Has not woman been elevatedsince He lay in a woman’s
arms, and was claspedto a woman’s heart? Has not penitence become more
holy since the Magdalenfell at His feetto wash them with her tears, and wipe
them with the hairs of her head? Has not sorrow been more heavenly since the
“Manof Sorrows”weptbitter tears, cried out in the agonyof His bloody
sweat, and suffered on Calvary? Has not death changedits charactersince He
died and, robbing the arch-fiend of his sting and turning the tide of battle,
wrestedfrom the lastenemy the victory? Has not the grave become brighter
since He lay in the rockytomb under linen napkin and shroud? The very
cross itself, that “accursedtree,” that symbol of shame, has been transfigured
into an emblem of all that is dearestto the Christian heart or that is holiest in
the Christian faith. And not only things but persons also have been
transfigured by contactwith Jesus. Sinners have become saints; fishermen,
apostles;publicans, disciples. A persecuting and blaspheming Saul has been
changedinto a holy and loving Paul. It may be recorded of all who drew near

13. Him that “as many as touched were made perfectly whole.” “As many as
receivedhim, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name.”
The Saviour of the world must heal not only the breach between God and
man, but the sicknessofhuman nature itself. And this He does by implanting
in man, through union with His own perfectnature, a supernatural principle
of regeneration;a germ of new life which may destroy the cause of corruption,
and arrestits progress, and make human nature againcapable of union with
God. The corrupt nature struggles still, seeks forits separate life awayfrom
God, a life that is no life. But the moment the new life is given, the
helplessness, the hopelessnessofthe struggle is past. The cry of human nature,
“I cannot do the things that I would,” becomes the thankful utterance of the
regenerate soul, “Ican do all things through Christ which strengtheneth
me.”1 [Note:Aubrey L. Moore, Some Aspects of Sin.]
3. The name still works as a charm. As long as there is sin in the world, and
sorrow, brokenhearts and wounded spirits; as long as there are chambers of
sicknessand death-beds, so long will the name of Jesus have power. The
saving wonders wrought by Him who bears the name are continued to-day.
They are continued in the thousands of assemblies whichare met in toiling
cities, crowdedtowns and scatteredvillages, in solitary hamlets and on heath-
clad moors, and in lonely ships ploughing the mighty deep. Everywhere where
men of like passions with ourselves have gatheredto worship God, Christ has
thrown open the doors of heaven, and has sent down His Spirit to renew, to
sanctify, to strengthen, and to console. Manyshall be born again into the
Kingdom of God, and be saved from their sins, and, receiving pardon, shall be
given power to wrestle down strong temptations, and shall go forth inspired
with a new hope and girt with a new strength, to be purer, better, wiser, more
humble, more peaceful;and all the week shallbe brighter because ofthe
worship of His name on His own day.

14. It was in the course ofthese sermons delivered at Venice, and in the cities of
Venetia, that Bernardine’s zeal for the propagationof devotion to the holy
name of Jesus first beganopenly to assertitself. This devotion, which may be
said to date back to the Pauline saying, In nomine Jesuomne genu flectatur,
had been speciallyfosteredby the Franciscanorder. We find St. Francis of
Assisimaking it the theme of many pious exhortations, while the holy name
never crossedhis lips without his voice faltering as though he were inwardly
entranced by a heavenly melody. Norwas his example loston St.
Bonaventure, the author of a leaflet, De laude melliflui nomini Jesu.
Bernardine was, therefore, no innovator in striving to rekindle popular
fervour towards a devotion which, though heretofore greatlyin vogue, had, in
his day, been castsomewhatinto the shade. In his sermons our saint was for
ever extolling the beauty and majesty, the mystery and efficacyof the name of
Jesus, and, in order outwardly to embody the sentiments of piety he soughtto
instil into their hearts, we find him calling upon his hearers to inscribe the
holy Name or one of its customary abbreviations on the walls alike of public
buildings and of private houses. He himself had adopted the monogram I.H.S.,
which he loved to see surrounded by a circle of goldenrays. And the adoption
of this symbol he deemed particularly opportune in a land so overrun by
paganism, since he hoped to see the same substituted for the Guelf and
Ghibelline emblems with which the walls then literally swarmed, and so to set
an outward sealon inward peace of heart. And the practice was adopted, and
spread like wildfire throughout Venetia, where both officials and private
individuals vied with one another in everywhere printing or carving the
sacredmonogram, encircledby rays, until it finally became significantof
Bernardine’s passage andof the popular assentto his word.1 [Note: P.
Thureau-Dangin, Saint Bernardine of Siena (trans. by Baroness G. von
Hügel), 66.]
The Name of Jesus

15. BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Name "jesus."
Matthew 1:21
W.F. Adeney
Jesus was the personalname of our Lord, the Greek equivalent of the old
Jewishname "Joshua,"and not unknown in Hebrew families. Therefore to
his contemporaries it would not have the unique associationsthat it has for us.
It would be merely the designationof an individual. But everything that
Christ touches is elevatedto a new value by his contactwith it. Now that he
has been named "Jesus,"that name is to us precious "as ointment poured
forth."
I. THE MAIN MISSION OF CHRIST IS TO SAVE. His work may be
regardedin many lights, fie is the greatTeacher. His kingly throne is set up,
and he has come to rule over us. In daily life he is the "Friend that sticketh
closerthan a brother." But before all he is the Saviour. This comes first, as
the personalname "Jesus"comes before the official title "Christ." It is of his
very nature to save. He cannotteach or rule or cheerus effectuallyuntil he
has savedus. Now, this is the unique glory of Christ. Nature destroys the weak
and cherishes the strong. Christ has pity on failure; he comes to rescue from
ruin. Whereverthere is distress or dangerthere he finds his peculiar sphere of
activity.
II. THE GREAT EVIL FROM WHICH CHRIST SAVES IS SIN. Other evils
are also removed. But they are of but a secondarycharacter, and are not
worthy to be named in comparisonwith this dark and direful curse of
mankind. When once sin is masteredand castout, it will be an easywork to
expel the secondarytroubles of life. For the most part they are the
consequencesofthis monstrous evil, and will depart with it. At all events, we
shall be strongerto bear those that remain when the heart-paralysis of moral

16. evil is cured. The lastthing that many people want from Christ is to be saved
from their sin. They would be glad to be delivered from its pains and
penalties, but the thing itself they love and have no wish to abandon. For them
there is no salvation. Christ aims at the sin first of all. He treats it as man's
deadly foe. Forthose who feelits weight, here is the very essenceofthe gospel
- What we cannotdo for ourselves by resolutionand effort he cando for us, if
we will open our hearts and let him in. Take this literally. He can save us from
our own sins - our defects of character, evil habits, bad temper, vices.
III. THIS SALVATION IS FOR CHRIST'S PEOPLE. Here is a limitation. It
must not be forgottenthat the Gospelof St. Matthew was written for Jews.
Christ's first mission was to "save the lostsheepof the house of Israel." Yet
no one who reads the New Testamentthroughout can doubt that the
limitation is not final. The Jew was only to have the first offer of salvation. He
was to be invited in to the feastthat he might afterwards go out and introduce
others. Now the messageis that Christ "is able to save to the uttermost them
that draw near unto God through him" (Hebrews 7:25). Yet the specification
of "his people" has still an important meaning. Christ is not only the Saviour
at the entrance of the Christian life, but throughout its course. The people of
God are not perfect; daily they commit new sins, and Christ is their daily
Saviour. Notonly at the moment of regeneration, but through the long and
often sadly stained Christian life, we need Christ to save from sins that still
besetus. - W.F.A.
Biblical Illustrator
Jesus.
Matthew 1:21, 22
The designof our Saviour's coming
W. Jay., Bishop J. Taylor.
I. Considerthis AS AN ENEMY.
1. Beholdsin with regardto God.

17. 2. Beholdsin in its names.
3. Beholdthe effects of sin.
4. That Christ derives from this work His highesttitle.
II. ConsiderIN WHAT MANNER HE SAVES HIS PEOPLE FROM THEIR
SINS.
1. He redeems them by price.
2. He saves them by power.
3. He saves from the guilt of sin.
4. He saves from the love of sin.
(W. Jay.)In old times God was known by names of power, of nature, of
majesty; but His name of mercy was reservedtill now.
(Bishop J. Taylor.)
The name and work of Jesus
E. Oakes.
I. HIS NAME.
II. HIS WORK.
1. Whom He saves — "His people."
2. From what He saves — "their sins."
3. How He saves. ByHis atonement He saves them virtually; by His spirit,
vitally; by His grace, constantly;by His power, eternally. Remarks:
(1)Jesus as a suitable Saviour;
(2)a willing Saviour;
(3)an all-sufficient Saviour.

18. (E. Oakes.)
Christ a Saviour
C. Bradley.
I. THE WORK HE IS TO ACCOMPLISH is a most great, glorious, and
blessedone. "He shall save." Another Scripture says, He shall destroy. "For
this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works
of the devil." These charactersare consistent. He demolishes the works of
Satanbecause they stand in His way as Saviour.
1. He saves His people from the penalty of their sins.
2. From the dominion and practice of sin.
3. In the end He saves from the very existence ofsin.
4. And from the painful remembrance of their sins.
II. THE NAME OUR LORD IS TO BEAR IN CONSEQUENCE OF THIS
WORK OF SALVATION. Learn from this —
1. The characterin which Godmost delights to regardHis Son.
2. It shows us that He would have us regardHim chiefly as a Saviour.
3. This name may have been given to Christ to endear Him the more to our
hearts.
4. We see here beyond all dispute the real nature and design of Christ's
religion.
(C. Bradley.)
The name of Jesus
J. Bennet, D. D., U. R. Thomas.

19. I. THE NAME OF JESUS.
1. The signification of the name.
2. The appointment of the name. Notleft to men's choice.
II. THE REASON FOR THE NAME. Some would rather that He had come to
save them from poverty, pains, death; not knowing that to save from sins is to
save from all these.
(J. Bennet, D. D.)
I. A WORK OF MOST BLESSED PURPOSE.
1. Sin is itself the greatestofall miseries. It is
(1)deeper;
(2)vaster;
(3)more abiding;
(4)the source of all other miseries.
II. A WORK OF VAST MAGNITUDE. Its magnitude realized by dwelling —
1. On the multitudes of the saved.
2. On the nature of the salvation.
3. On the fact that this salvationis wrought by Jesus personally.
(U. R. Thomas.)
Jesus the Saviour
J. Donovan.
I. WHAT THE GOSPELSHALL, BRING — Salvationfrom sins.
II. JESUS IS THE SAVIOUR AND HIS WORK CONSTITUTES OUR
SALVATION.

20. 1. This word teaches us that salvationis Divine. Because Divine it is
(1)sufficient;
(2)unchangeable;
(3)infinite. It is illimitable, as the air to the bird.
2. He who gives this salvationstands in solitary grandeur — "He." Nowhere
else canwe find salvation.
3. The name gives an immutable pledge that we shall be saved.
III. The text informs us OF WHAT THIS SALVATION CONSISTS."From
their sins." Not from the wrath of God primarily.
1. From the guilt, curse, condemnation of sin.
2. From our love, habit, practice of sin.
3. It is not salvationfrom an abstraction, but from selfishness andself-will.
IV. THE CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD. His people; peculiar,
chosen, royal. Are you savedfrom sins?
(J. Donovan.)
Jesus the Saviour
G. H. Smyth., W. M. Taylor, D. D.
I. Jesus is an OMNIPOTENTSaviour.
1. The presumption of the factfrom the infinite wisdom and goodness ofGod,
who never provides a cause unequal to the effect.
2. The declarationof the fact, "He is able to save them to the uttermost," etc.
II. Jesus is a WILLING Saviour.
III. Jesus is a LIVING Saviour.

21. IV. Jesus is a PRESENT Saviour.
V. Jesus is a PERSONALSaviour.
VI. Jesus is a SYMPATHIZING Saviour."
(G. H. Smyth.)
I. Let me callyour attention to the SAVIOUR. Jesus is Divine; He saves His
people from their sins. Not the word, not the ordinances, but Jesus Himself
saves.
II. Look at the SALVATION.
1. Jesus savesfrom sin by bestowing forgiveness — full forgiveness, free,
immediate.
2. Jesus savesHis people from the pollution of sin; not in their sins, but from
their sins.
III. Let us look at the SAVED. "He shall save His people." Who are His
people? They must have been at one time in their sins. Therefore no one need
despair.
(W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Jesus only worthy of trust as a Saviour.
A Christian Hindoo was dying, and his heathen comrades came around him
and tried to comfort him by reading some of the pages oftheir theology;but
he waved his hand, as much as to say, "I don't want to hear it." Then they
calledin a heathen priest, and he said, "If you will .only recite the Numtra it
will deliver you from hell." He waved his hand, as much as to say, "I don't
want to hear that." Then they said, "Callon Juggernaut." He shook his head,
as much as to say, "I can't do that." Then they thought perhaps he was too
wearyto speak, andthey said, "Now if you can't say ' Juggernaut,'think of
that god." He shook his head again, as much as to say, "No, no, no." Then
they bent down to his pillow, and they said, "In what will you trust?" His face

22. lighted up with the very glories ofthe celestialsphere as he cried out, rallying
all his dying energies, "Jesus!"
The name of Jesus. —
Christopher Sutton.
This name Jesus," saidSt. Bernard, "it is honey in the mouth, harmony in the
ear, melody in the heart." "This name Jesus,"saithSt. Anselm, "it is a name
of comfort to sinners when they call upon Him; " therefore he himself saith,
"Jesus, be my Jesus." This name is above all names: first, for that it was
consecratedfrom everlasting;secondly, for that it was given of God; thirdly,
for that it was desired of the Patriarchs;fourthly, for that it was foretoldof
the Prophets;fifthly, for that it was accomplishedin the time of grace,
magnified in the Apostles, witnessedof Martyrs, acknowledgedand honoured
shall it be of all believers unto the world's end. This name Jesus, it is
compared to "oil poured out; " oil being kept close, it sendethnot forth such a
savour, as it doth being poured out; and oil hath these properties, it suppleth,
it cherisheth, it maketh look cheerfully; so doth this name of Jesus, it suppleth
the hardness of our hearts, it cherisheth the weaknessofour faith,
enlighteneth the darkness ofour soul, and maketh man look with a cheerful
countenance towards the throne of grace.
(Christopher Sutton.)
Salvationfrom
W. Jay.
sin. — You must be savedfrom sin not in sin as some seem to imagine. The
latter is like saving a man from drowning by keeping him under the water
which is destroying him; or like recovering a man from sicknessby leaving
him under the malady which constitutes the complaint.
(W. Jay.)

23. STUDYLIGHT RESOURCES
Adam Clarke Commentary
Jesus - The same as Joshua, ‫עשוהי‬ Yehoshua, from ‫עשי‬ yasha, he saved,
delivered, put in a state of safety. See on Exodus 13:9; (note); Numbers 13:16;
(note), and in the preface to Joshua.
He shall save his people from their sins - This shall be his greatbusiness in the
world: the greaterrand on which he is come, viz. to make an atonement for,
and to destroy, sin: deliverance from all the power, guilt, and pollution of sin,
is the privilege of every believer in Christ Jesus. Less than this is not spokenof
in the Gospel;and less than this would be unbecoming the Gospel. The
perfection of the Gospelsystem is not that it makes allowancesforsin, but
that it makes an atonement for it: not that it tolerates sin, but that it destroys
it. In Matthew 1:1, he is calledJesus Christ, on which Dr. Lightfoot properly
remarks, "Thatthe name of Jesus, so often added to the name of Christ in the
New Testament, is not only that Christ might be thereby pointed out as the
Savior, but also that Jesus might be pointed out as the true Christ or Messiah,
againstthe unbelief of the Jews." This observationwill be of greatuse in
numberless places of the New Testament. See Acts 2:36; Acts 8:35; 1
Corinthians 16:22; 1 John 2:22; 1 John 4:15, etc.
Albert Barnes'Notes onthe Whole Bible
His name Jesus - The name Jesus is the same as Saviour. It is derived from the
verb signifying to save, In Hebrew it is the same as Joshua. In two places in
the New Testamentit is used where it means Joshua, the leader of the Jews
into Canaan, and in our translation the name Joshua should have been
retained, Acts 7:45; Hebrews 4:8. It was a very common name among the
Jews.

24. He shall save - This expresses the same as the name, and on this accountthe
name was given to him. He saves people by dying to redeem them; by giving
the Holy Spirit to renew them John 16:7-8; by His powerin enabling them to
overcome their spiritual enemies, in defending them from danger, in guiding
them in the path of duty, in sustaining them in trials and in death; and He will
raise them up at the last day, and exalt them to a world of purity and love.
His people - Those whom the Father has given to him. The Jews were called
the people of God because he had chosenthem to himself, and regarded them
as His specialand beloved people, separate from all the nations of the earth.
Christians are called the people of Christ because it was the purpose of the
Father to give them to him Isaiah53:11; John 6:37; and because in due time
he came to redeemthem to himself, Titus 2:14; 1 Peter1:2.
From their sins - This was the greatbusiness of Jesus in coming and dying. It
was not to save people in their sins, but from their sins. Sinners could not be
happy in heaven. It would be a place of wretchedness to the guilty. The design
of Jesus was, therefore, to save them from sin; and from this we may learn:
1. That Jesus had a designin coming into the world. He came to save his
people; and that design will surely be accomplished. It is impossible that in
any part of it he should fail.
2. We have no evidence that we are his people unless we are saved from the
powerand dominion of sin. A mere professionof being His people will not
answer. Unless we give up our sins; unless we renounce the pride, pomp, and
pleasure of the world, we have no evidence that we are the children of God. It
is impossible that we should be Christians if we indulge in sin and live in the
practice of any known iniquity. See 1 John 3:7-8.
3. That all professing Christians should feel that there is no salvation unless it
is from sin, and that they can never be admitted to a holy heavenhereafter
unless they are made pure, by the blood of Jesus, here.

25. Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus;for it is he
that shall save his people from their sins.
This was not an unusual name among the Jews, the name appearing both as
Jesus and as Joshua. The word "Christ" means Messiah;hence, in the
confessionoffaith, the believer affirms that he believes that "Jesus is the
Christ, the sonof the living God," as did Peter in Matthew 16:16. In all
ordinary cases,parents do not name their children before they are born,
seeing that the question of their sex is not determined until after birth;
however, an angelof the Lord announced Jesus'name along with the news of
his conception!
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
And she shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Jesus. Forthough
she was with child, it could not be known any otherwise than by prediction or
divine revelation, that she should have a son, whose name should be called
Jesus;a name of the same significationwith Joshua and Hosea, and may be
interpreted a "Saviour", Acts 13:23 for the word ‫עושי‬ Jesus, comes from‫עשי‬
which signifies "to save." And to this agrees the reasonof the name given by
the Angel,
for he shall save his people from their sins. The salvationhere ascribed to him,
and for which he is every way fit, being God as wellas man, and which he is
the sole author of, is to be understood, not of a temporal, but of a spiritual and
everlasting salvation;such as was prophesiedof, Isaiah 45:17 and which old
Jacobhad in his view, when he said, "I have waited for thy salvation, O
Lord", Genesis 49:18 which by the JewishF6Targumistis paraphrasedthus:
"Jacobsaidwhen he saw Gideon the son of Joash, and Samsonthe son of
Manoah, that they would rise up to be saviours, not for the salvationof
Gideon do I wait, nor for the salvation of Samsondo I look, for their salvation
is ‫אתעשד‬ ‫ןקרופ‬ "a temporary salvation";but for thy salvation, O Lord, do I
wait and look, for thy salvation is ‫ןקרופ‬ ‫ןימלע‬ "an everlasting salvation", or

26. (according to another copy) but for the salvationof Messiahthe son of David,
who shall save the children of Israel, and bring them out of captivity, for thy
salvationmy soul waiteth.'
By "his people" whom he is said to save are meant, not all mankind, though
they are his by creationand preservation, yet they are not, nor will they be all
savedby him spiritually and eternally; nor also the people of the Jews, for
though they were his nation, his kinsmen, and so his own people according to
the flesh, yet they were not all savedby him; many of them died in their sins,
and in the disbelief of him as the Messiah:but by them are meant all the elect
of God, whether Jews orGentiles, who were given to him by his Father, as a
peculiar people, and who are made willing in the day of his powerupon them,
to be savedby him in his own way. And these he saves from "their sins", from
all their sins, original and actual;from secretand open sins; from sins of
heart, lip and life; from sins of omissionand commission;from all that is in
sin, and omissionupon it; from the guilt, punishment, and damning powerof
it, by his sufferings and death; and from the tyrannical government of it by
his Spirit and grace;and will at lastsave them from the being of it, though not
in this life, yet hereafter, in the other world, when they shall be without spot
or wrinkle, or any such thing.
Geneva Study Bible
And she shall bring forth 3 a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS:for he
shall save i his people from their sins.
(3) Christ is born of the same virgin who never knew a man: and is named
Jesus by God himself through the angel.
(i) Save, and this shows us the meaning of the name Jesus.

27. Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And she shall bring forth a son — Observe, it is not said, “she shall bear thee
a son,” as was said to Zacharias of his wife Elizabeth (Luke 1:13).
and thou — as his legalfather.
shalt call his name JESUS — from the Hebrew meaning “Jehovahthe
Savior”;in Greek Jesus-to the awakenedandanxious sinner sweetestand
most fragrant of all names, expressing so melodiously and briefly His whole
saving office and work!
for he shall save — The “He” is here emphatic - He it is that shall save;He
personally, and by personalacts (as Webster and Wilkinsonexpress it).
his people — the lost sheepof the house of Israel, in the first instance;for they
were the only people He then had. But, on the breaking down of the middle
wall of partition, the savedpeople embraced the “redeemedunto God by His
blood out of every kindred and people and tongue and nation.”
from their sins — in the most comprehensive sense ofsalvation from sin
(Revelation1:5; Ephesians 5:25-27).
People's New Testament
Thou shalt call his name Jesus. Thatis, Savior. The Hebrew form is Joshua;
the full meaning is {Jehovah's salvation}.
Shall save his people. Not the Jewishnation, as Josephprobably supposed, but
all who acceptand follow him.

28. From their sins. Nota temporal salvation, but from the curse of sin,
condemnation and banishment from God's favor and heaven.
Robertson's WordPictures in the New Testament
Thou shalt call his name Jesus (Καλεσιες το ονομα αυτου Ιησουν — Kalesies
to onoma autou Iēsoun). The rabbis named six whose names were given before
birth: “Isaac, Ishmael, Moses, Solomon, Josiah, andthe name of the Messiah,
whom may the Holy One, blessedbe His name, bring in our day.” The angel
puts it up to Josephas the putative father to name the child. “Jesus is the
same as Joshua, a contractionof Jehoshuah(Numbers 13:16; 1 Chronicles
7:27), signifying in Hebrew, ‹Jehovahis helper,‘ or ‹Help of
Jehovah‘”(Broadus). So Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua (Hebrews 4:8). He
is another Joshua to lead the true people of God into the Promised Land. The
name itself was common enough as Josephus shows. Jehovahis Salvationas
seenin Joshua for the Hebrews and in Jesus for all believers. “The meaning of
the name, therefore, finds expressionin the title Saviour applied to our Lord
(Luke 1:47; Luke 2:11; John 4:42)” (Vincent). He will save (σωσει — sōsei)
his people from their sins and so be their Saviour (Σωτηρ — Sōtēr). He will be
prophet, priest, and king, but “Saviour” sums it all up in one word. The
explanation is carried out in the promise, “for he is the one who (αυτος —
autos)will save (σωσει — sōseiwith a play on the name Jesus)his people from
their sins.” Paul will later explain that by the covenantpeople, the children of
promise, God means the spiritual Israel, all who believe whether Jews or
Gentiles. This wonderful word touches the very heart of the mission and
messageofthe Messiah. Jesus himselfwill show that the kingdom of heaven
includes all those and only those who have the reign of God in their hearts and
lives.
From their sins (απο των αμαρτιωναυτων— apo tōn hamartiōn autōn). Both
sins of omissionand of commission. The substantive (αμαρτια — hamartia) is
from the verb (αμαρτανειν — hamartanein) and means missing the mark as
with an arrow. How often the best of us fall short and fail to score. Jesuswill

29. save us awayfrom (απο — apo) as well as out of (εχ — ex) our sins. They will
be castinto oblivion and he will coverthem up out of sight.
Vincent's Word Studies
Shalt call
Thus committing the office of a father to Joseph. The naming of the unborn
Messiahwouldaccordwith popular notions. The Rabbis had a saying
concerning the six whose names were given before their birth: “Isaac,
Ishmael, Moses, Solomon, Josiah, and the name of the Messiah, whommay
the Holy One, blessedbe His name, bring quickly in our days.”
Jesus ( Ιησοῦν )
The Greek form of a Hebrew name, which had been borne by two illustrious
individuals in former periods of the Jewishhistory - Joshua, the successor of
Moses,and Jeshua, the high-priest, who with Zerubbabel took so active a part
in the re-establishmentof the civil and religious polity of the Jews ontheir
return from Babylon. Its original and full form is Jehoshua, becoming by
contractionJoshua or Jeshua. Joshua, the son of Nun, the successorofMoses,
was originally named Hoshea (saving )which was alteredby Moses into
Jehoshua (Jehovah(our )Salvation) (Numbers 13:16). The meaning of the
name, therefore, finds expressionin the title Saviour, applied to our Lord
(Luke 1:47; Luke 2:11; John 4:42).
Joshua, the son of Nun, is a type of Christ in his office of captain and deliverer
of his people, in the military aspectofhis saving work (Revelation19:11-16).
As God's revelationto Moseswas in the characterofa law-giver, his
revelation to Joshua was in that of the Lord of Hosts (Joshua 5:13, Joshua
5:14). Under Joshua the enemies of Israelwere conquered, and the people
establishedin the PromisedLand. So Jesus leads his people in the fight with
sin and temptation. He is the leaderof the faith which overcomes the world
(Hebrews 12:2). Following him, we enter into rest.

30. The priestly office of Jesus is foreshadowedin the high-priest Jeshua, who
appears in the vision of Zechariah (Zechariah 3:1-10; compare Ezra 2:2) in
court before God, under accusationof Satan, and clad in filthy garments.
Jeshua stands not only for himself, but as the representative of sinning and
suffering Israel. Satan is defeated. The Lord rebukes him, and declares that
he will redeem and restore this erring people; and in token thereofhe
commands that the accusedpriestbe clad in cleanrobes and crownedwith the
priestly mitre.
Thus in this priestly Jeshua we have a type of our “GreatHigh-Priest, touched
with the feeling of our infirmities, and in all points tempted and tried like as
we are;” confronting Satanin the wilderness;trying conclusions with him
upon the victims of his malice - the sick, the sinful, and the demon-ridden. His
royal robes are left behind. He counts not “equality with God a thing to be
graspedat,” but “empties himself,” taking the “form of a servant,” humbling
himself and becoming “obedienteven unto death” (Philemon 2:6, Philemon
2:7, Rev.). He assumes the stainedgarments of our humanity. He who “knew
no sin” is “made to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the
righteousness ofGod in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). He is at once priest and
victim. He pleads for sinful man before God's throne. He will redeem him. He
will rebuke the malice and castdown the powerof Satan. He will behold him”
as lightning fall from heaven” (Luke 10:18). He will raise and save and purify
men of weak natures, rebellious wills, and furious passions - cowardly
braggarts and deniers like Peter, persecutors like Saulof Tarsus, charred
brands - and make them witnessesofhis grace and preachers of his love and
power. His kingdom shall be a kingdom of priests, and the song of his
redeemedchurch shall be, “unto him that loveth us, and loosedus from our
sins by his own blood, and made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto his
God and Father; to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever.
Amen” (Revelation1:5, Revelation1:6, in Rev.).

31. It is no mere fancy which sees a suggestionand a foreshadowing ofthe
prophetic work of Jesus in the economyof salvation, in a third name closely
akin to the former. Hoshea, which we know in our EnglishBible as Hosea, was
the originalname of Joshua (compare Romans 9:25, Rev.)and means saving.
He is, in a peculiar sense, the prophet of grace and salvation, placing his hope
in God's personalcoming as the refuge and strength of humanity; in the
purification of human life by its contactwith the divine. The greattruth which
he has to teachis the love of Jehovahto Israel as expressedin the relation of
husband, an idea which pervades his prophecy, and which is generatedby his
own sad domestic experience. He foreshadowsJesusin his pointed warnings
againstsin, his repeated offers of divine mercy, and his patient, forbearing
love, as manifested in his dealing with an unfaithful and dissolute wife, whose
soul he succeededin rescuing from sin and death (Hosea 1-3). So long as he
lived, he was one continual, living prophecy of the tenderness of God toward
sinners; a picture of God's love for us when alien from him, and with nothing
in us to love. The faithfulness of the prophetic teacherthus blends in Hosea, as
in our Lord, with the compassionand sympathy and sacrifice of the priest.
He ( αὐτὸς )
Emphatic; and so rightly in Rev., “Forit is He that shall save his people.”
Their sins ( ἁμαρτιῶν)
Akin to ἁμαρτάνω , to miss a mark; as a warrior who throws his spearand
fails to strike his adversary, or as a traveller who misses his way. In this word,
therefore, one of a large group which representsin under different phases, sin
is conceivedas a failing and missing the true end and scope ofour lives, which
is God.
Wesley's ExplanatoryNotes
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS:for he
shall save his people from their sins.

32. Jesus — That is, a Saviour. It is the same name with Joshua (who was a type
of him) which properly signifies, The Lord, Salvation.
His people — Israel. And all the Israel of God.
The Fourfold Gospel
And she shall bring forth a son1;and thou shalt call his name JESUS2;for it
is he that shall save his people from their sins3.
She shall bring forth a son. The angeldoes not say "shallbear thee a son", as
he said to Zacharias (Luke 1:13).
And thou shalt call his name JESUS. Josephwas to take the position of a legal
father to the child and name it. The name means "Salvationof Jehovah" or
"Jehovahis the Savior". Would we could all bear our names, such as
Christian, pastor, magistrate, father, mother, child, etc., as Jesus bore that
wonderful and responsible name of Savior.
For it is he that shall save his people from their sins. Thus from before his
very birth-hour the nature of Christ's salvationis fully set forth. He came to
save from the guilt of sin by having shed his blood, his may be remitted or
washedclean. He saves from the powerof sin by bestowing the gift of the
Spirit, who regenerates, comforts, andstrengthens, and ultimately he saves
from the punishment of sin by giving us a resurrectionfrom the dead, and an
abundant entrance into the home of glory. That is no salvationat all which
fails to free us from this triple bondage of sin.
Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

33. 21.And thou shalt call his name JESUS. I have already explained briefly, but
as far as was necessary, the meaning of that word. At present I shall only add,
that the words of the angelsetaside the dream of those who derive it from the
essentialname of God, Jehovah;for the angelexpressesthe reasonwhy the
Son of God is so called, Because he shall SAVE his people;which suggests
quite a different etymology from what they have contrived. It is justly and
appropriately added, they tell us, that Christ will be the author of salvation,
because he is the Eternal God. But in vain do they attempt to escape by this
subterfuge; for the nature of the blessing which God bestows upon us is not all
that is here stated. This office was conferredupon his Son from the fact, from
the command which had been given to him by the Father, from the office with
which he was invested when he came down to us from heaven. Besides,the
two words ᾿Ιησοῦς and ‫הוהי‬ , Jesus and Jehovah, agree but in two letters, and
differ in all the rest; which makes it exceedinglyabsurd to allege any affinity
whateverbetweenthem, as if they were but one name. Such mixtures I leave
to the alchymists, or to those who closelyresemble them, the Cabalists who
contrive for us those trifling and affectedrefinements.
When the Son of God came to us clothedin flesh, he receivedfrom the Father
a name which plainly told for what purpose he came, what was his power, and
what we had a right to expectfrom him. for the name Jesus is derived from
the Hebrew verb, in the Hiphil conjugation, ‫,עישוה‬ which signifies to save In
Hebrew it is pronounced differently, Jehoshua;but the Evangelists, who
wrote in Greek, followedthe customary mode of pronunciation; for in the
writings of Moses, andin the other books of the Old Testament, the Hebrew
word ‫,עושוהי‬ Jehoshua, orJoshua, is rendered by the Greek translators
᾿Ιησοῦς, Jesus But I must mention anotherinstance of the ignorance of those
who derive — or, I would rather say, who forcibly tear — the name Jesus
from JehovahThey hold it to be in the highestdegree improper that any
mortal man should share this name in common with the Son of God, and
make a strange outcry that Christ would never allow his name to be so
profaned. As if the reply were not at hand, that the name Jesus was quite as
commonly used in those days as the name Joshua Now, as it is sufficiently

34. clearthat the name Jesus presents to us the Son of God as the Author of
salvation, let us examine more closelythe words of the angel.
He shall save his people from their sins The first truth taught us by these
words is, that those whom Christ is sent to save are in themselves lost. But he
is expresslycalled the Savior of the Church. If those whom God admits to
fellowship with himself were sunk in death and ruin till they were restoredto
life by Christ, what shall we sayof “strangers”(Ephesians 2:12)who have
never been illuminated by the hope of life? When salvationis declaredto be
shut up in Christ, it clearlyimplies that the whole human race is devoted to
destruction. The cause of this destruction ought also to be observed; for it is
not unjustly, or without goodreason, that the Heavenly Judge pronounces us
to be accursed. The angeldeclares thatwe have perished, and are
overwhelmed by an awful condemnation, because we stand excluded from life
by our sins. Thus we obtain a view of our corruption and depravity; for if any
man lived a perfectly holy life, he might do without Christ as a Redeemer. But
all to a man need his grace;and, therefore, it follows that they are the slaves
of sin, and are destitute of true righteousness.
Hence, too, we learn in what way or manner Christ saves;he delivers us from
sins This deliverance consists oftwo parts. Having made a complete
atonement, he brings us a free pardon, which delivers us from condemnation
to death, and reconciles us to God. Again, by the sanctifying influences of his
Spirit, he frees us from the tyranny of Satan, that we may live “unto
righteousness,”(1 Peter2:24.) Christ is not truly acknowledgedas a Savior,
till, on the one hand, we learn to receive a free pardon of our sins, and know
that we are accountedrighteous before God, because we are free from guilt;
and till, on the other hand, we ask from him the Spirit of righteousness and
holiness, having no confidence whateverin our own works orpower. By
Christ’s people the angelunquestionably means the Jews, to whom he was
appointed as Head and King; but as the Gentiles were shortly afterwards to
be ingrafted into the stock ofAbraham, (Romans 11:17,)this promise of
salvationis extended indiscriminately to all who are incorporatedby faith in
the “one body” (1 Corinthians 12:20) of the Church.

35. James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary
PENALTY PAID, POWER CRUSHED
‘Thou shalt callHis name Jesus;for He shall save His people from their sins.’
Matthew 1:21
The name above every name—‘Jesus,’Saviour;a name sounding like music in
our ears, and of the deepestsignificance.
I. Who are ‘His people’?—His people are those who are given to Him of the
Father, or those who are willing to be saved from their sins. Or again, those
who, having come to Him by faith, are made one with Him by the possession
of a common Spirit.
II. What does Christ save from?—Fromthe penalty of sin, and from its
power. From the penalty. Yet not altogether. The spendthrift does not regain
his lostproperty when he becomes a Christian. The converteddrunkard
suffers from the shaking hand and unstrung nerves, of his former excess.Men
who have been brought to God late in life find the shadow of the past pursuing
and darkening their souls. But there is one thing from which Christ saves His
people, and that is what is commonly called‘Hell.’ The essenceofhell consists
in alienation from the Divine nature in antagonismto God, in hatred of His
name. Hell is, therefore, an impossibility to those who have been reconciledto
God through Jesus Christ, and who have been brought to love what God loves
and to hate what God hates. To them, suffering becomes disciplinary. From
the powerof sin. If a man is in Christ, he cannot indeed be said to have
entirely done with sin: sin is in him, though he is not in sin: he has been
removed out of the element, but not as yet out of the reachof sin. ‘The
infection of nature,’ says our Ninth Article, ‘doth remain, yea, in them that
are regenerated.’We may compare sin, as far as the Christian is concerned, to
a monster, slain by a deadly wound, whose dying struggles are indeed much to
be dreaded, but who cannotslay his antagonist. Christhath killed the
monster. ‘Sin hath no more dominion overyou.’
III. How does Christ save?—As to the penalty, Christ hath put awaysin by
the sacrifice ofHimself. He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree.

36. He hath obtained eternalredemption for us. As to the power, when He saves
His people from the powerperhaps we may saythat the Christian conflict of
which Scripture speaks,and of which we are all conscious in ourselves,—that
conflict which the Spirit of God enables us to maintain successfully—is, when
we closelyexamine it, a Spirit-inspired inclination and effort to resistour own
natural inclination to save ourselves. To a man struggling in deep water, and
drowning, an expert swimmer approaches. He says, ‘Keep quiet, and let me
save you. That’s your best chance.’And it is in the effort to keepquiet and let
oneselfbe savedthat the conflictconsists. We do not save ourselves from the
powerof sin by our own resolution or force of will; it is Christ who saves us;
and the Christian’s struggle is—we sayagain—to let Him do it.
Prebendary Gordon Calthrop.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
THE FULNESS OF SALVATION
The Lord Jesus Christ has many glorious names. But there is no name like the
name of Jesus. It is the name which is above every name (Philippians 2:9).
Salvationis ascribedto Jesus, and to Him only. This is the foundation truth of
the Gospel.
I. How He saves His people.
(a) By dying for them (Romans 5:8). Unless He had died none could have
obtained life.
(b) By sending His Holy Spirit as the fruit of His death (Psalms 68:18).
(c) By protecting them. They have many enemies (Psalms 31:2-3).
(d) By bringing them to glory (St. John 17:24;Hebrews 2:10). To present
glory in enjoying the glorious privileges of the Gospel. To future glory in
heaven—justified, sanctified, glorified (Romans 8:30).
II. From what He saves His people?—Fromtheir sins.
(a) From the power of sin. Sin has great powerover men. But ‘Sin shall not
have dominion’ (Romans 6:14; Romans 5:20-21).

37. (b) From the love of sin. Love of sin is overcome by love to the Saviour.
(c) From the practice of sin (Hebrews 12:1-2).
(d) From the punishment of sin (Romans 6:23; Ezekiel18:4).
III. The marks of ‘His people.’
(a) They are a holy people (Isaiah60:21; Hebrews 12:14). Their bodies are the
temples of the Holy Ghost(2 Corinthians 6:16; also Ephesians 1:4).
(b) They are a happy people (Hebrews 11:25;Psalms 144:15;Hebrews 4:9;
Isaiah40:1-2).
(c) They are a contented people (Philippians 4:11).
(d) They are a wise people (St. Matthew 25:4).
(e) They are an important people—‘the salt of the earth.’
Illustrations
(1) ‘A blind man was sitting at the corner of a street, reading a Bible in the
raisedcharacters of“Moon’s System.” He slowlypassedhis finger over the
raisedwords and read—“There is none other name”—thenhe losthis place.
A secondtime he passedhis finger along and read—“There is none other
name, under heaven,”—a secondtime he lost his place. A third time he
recommenced, and as he slowlypassedhis finger along, he read—“There is
none other name, under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be
saved.” A gentleman who was passing had paused to listen, and three times he
heard the words. He passedaway, but those words clung to him; nor could he
get any rest of mind, till he found peace and salvation through that Name.’
(THIRD OUTLINE)
CHRIST AND HIS PEOPLE
I. Trace the history of the Name: In Deuteronomy32:44—‘Hosea,the sonof
Nun.’ Hosea signifies help, or salvation. Name changed(Numbers 13:16):
Jehoshua, orJoshua, which signifies God our salvation, denoting that the man
who bore the name was indeed God’s instrument. Greek form is ‘Jesus,’as in

38. Acts 7:45; Hebrews 4:8. See the elevationof the name as applied first in
Matthew 1:21. For while ‘Joshua’meant, ‘This is he through whom Jehovah
shall save His people from their enemies,’‘Jesus’(same name, yet with higher
significance)meant ‘God the Saviour’ in the directestapplication of the
words, and not as denoting salvationinstrumentally; for ‘He Himself shall
save His people from their sins.’ So also Matthew 1:23.
II. His people.—How Josephwould understand it, we know: the people of
God’s choice. So Mary (Luke 1:54); Zacharias (Luke 1:68; Luke 1:77); the
announcement of the angel:Luke 2:10 (R.V.). Consider why the chosen
people: to constitute a channel for the communication of God’s saving truth to
the world. Concentrationfirst; diffusion afterwards. Is not this the way of
God’s working always:the fountain-head, the river-course, then the wide sea?
The process ofconcentrationwas not complete when our Lord Himself was
born (see St. Matthew 10:5-6; Matthew 15:24). But the expansion came. The
very rejectionof Christ by the Jews was overruledto further the acceptance
of His salvationby the world. So John 12:32;Romans 11:11-12;Romans
11:15;and so the greatwork began (Acts 13:46;see also Matthew 14:27). And
now, who are ‘His people’? See Galatians 3:9; Romans 4:9-18. Yes, a people,
not of natural descent, but of spiritual sympathy. And these ‘a peculiar
people,’or rather, His very own. By the claims which He has upon us, truly (1
Corinthians 6:20). But by actualresponse to those claims also (Ephesians
1:13). Yes, His people, in virtue of the great redemption; His people, by the
attachment of a spiritual loyalty through faith!
III. He shall save.—As regards the Jewishrace;what is its ‘salvation’ now?
Alas, it did not know its realevil! Looking for gains and glory in this present
world, it has found destruction! So terribly have those words been fulfilled
(St. Matthew 16:25). But may there not be a future of true salvationfor the
‘salvation-people’? (2 Corinthians 3:16; Romans 11:26). As regards the larger
world, Christ is the world’s hope; He alone can smite the sin, and heal the
world’s griefs and woes (see 1 Corinthians 1:8-31).
Illustrations

39. (1) ‘God has given this Name, given it in writing to be read, given it by
preaching to be heard, given it Himself that it may never be forgotten, and
that it may be above every name, given it among men, that men may read and
hear it, learn and repeatit, incorporate it with their prayers and their songs,
and that it may become as familiar in their mouths as any household word, as
the words mother and father.’
(2) ‘Apropos of the naming of the newly-arrived infant, it may not be out of
place to recall a few curious customs which prevail in some countries in
regard to selecting a name for the baby. A Hindoo baby is named when twelve
days old, and usually by the mother. Sometimes the father wishes for another
name than that selectedby the mother; in that case two lamps are placedover
the two names, and the name over which the lamp burns the brightest is the
one given to the child. In the Egyptian family the parents choosea name for
their baby by lighting three waxcandles;to eachof these they give a name,
one of the three always belonging to some deified personage.The candle that
burns the longestbestows the name upon the baby. The Mohammedans
sometimes write desirable names on five slips of paper, and these they place in
the Koran. The name upon the first slip drawn out is given to the child. The
children of the Ainos, a people living in Northern Japan, do not receive their
names until they are five years old. It is the father who then choosesthe name
by which the child is afterwards to be called. The Chinese give their boy
babies a name in addition to their surname, and they must call themselves by
these names until they are twenty years old. At that age the father gives his
son a new name. The Chinese care so little for their girl babies that they do
not give them a baby name, but just call them Number One, Number Two,
Number Three, Number Four, and so on, according to their birth. Boys are
thought so much more of in China than girls are, that if you ask a Chinese
father who has both a boy and a girl how many children he has, he will reply,
“Only one child.” German parents sometimes change the name of their baby
if it is ill; and the Japanese are saidto change the name of their children four
times.’

40. John Trapp Complete Commentary
21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS:for he
shall save his people from their sins.
Ver. 21. And she shall bring forth a Son] Shiloh, the son of her secundines:
that Son, that Eve made accountshe had gotten when she had gotten Cain: for
said she, "I have gotten a man from the Lord;" or, as others read it (and the
original rather favours it), "I have gotten the man, the Lord." But how far she
was deceived, the issue proved. Fallitur augurio spes bona saepe suo. Hope
comes halting home many times.
And then shalt call his name Jesus]Not of ιαομαι, to heal, as some Hellenists
would have it; although it be true that he is {Exodus 15:26}the Lord the
Physician, "by whose stripes we are healed," Isaiah53:5; but of Jashang,
whence Jehoshuah, Jesus.Two in the Old Testamenthad this name. The first
when he was sentas a spy into Canaan, Numbers 13:16, had his name
changedfrom Oshea, "LetGod save," to Jehoshuah;"God shall save." Under
the Law (which brings us, as it were, into the wilderness of Sin) we may wish
there were a Saviour, but under the Gospelwe are sure of salvation, since our
Jehoshuahhath bound himself to fulfil all righteousness,and had therefore
this name imposed upon him at his circumcision. Forhe assumedit not to
himself (though, knowing the end of his coming and the fulness of his
sufficiency, he might have done it), nor receivedit from men, but from God,
and that with greatsolemnity, by the ministry of an angel, who talked with a
woman about our salvationas Satan sometime had done about our
destruction.
For he shall save his people from their sins] This is the notation and etymon,
or reasonfor his name, Jesus, -a name above all names, Philippians 2:9.

41. σωτηρ, saith the heathen orator, {a} is a word so emphatic, that other tongues
can hardly find a word fit to express it. Salvation properly notes the negative
part of a Christian’s happiness, viz preservationfrom evil, chiefly from the
evil of sin (which is the mother of all our misery); from the damning and
domineering power thereof, by his merit and Spirit, by his value and virtue.
Jesus therefore is a short Gospel, and should work in us strongestaffections
and egressions ofsoulafter him who hath savedus from the wrath to come, 1
Thessalonians 1:10. The Grecians, being set free but from bodily servitude,
calledtheir deliverer a saviourto them; and rang it out, Saviour, Saviour, {b}
so that the fowls in the air fell down dead with the cry. Yea, they so pressedto
come near him and touch his hand, that if he had not timely withdrawn
himself, he might have beseemedto have lost his life. {c} The Egyptians
preservedby Joseph, calledhim Abrech, or tender father. The daughters of
Jerusalemmet David returning from the slaughterof the Philistines with
singing and dancing. When the Lord turned againthe captivity of his people,
they were like those who dream, Psalms 126:1. And Peter enlarged, could
scarcelybelieve his own eyes, with such an ecstasyofadmiration was he rapt
upon that deliverance. Oh, then, how should our hearts rejoice and our
tongues be glad, Acts 2:26; and how should we be vexed at the vile dulness
and deadness ofour naughty natures, that can be no more affectedwith these
indelible ravishments! Jacobweptfor joy at the goodnews that Josephwas
yet alive. Joannes Mollius, whensoeverhe spake of the name of Jesus, his eyes
dropped. And another reverend divine among us, being in a deep muse, after
some discourse that passedof Jesus, and tears trickling abundantly from his
eyes before he was aware, being urged for the cause thereof, confessed
ingenuously, it was because he could not draw his dull heart to prize Christ
aright. Mr. Fox never denied beggarthat askedin that name; and goodBucer
never disregardedany (though different in opinion from him) in whom he
could discern aliquid Christi. "None but Christ," said that blessedmartyr at
the stake. And another in the flames, when judged already dead, suddenly, as
wakedout of sleep, moved his tongue and jaws, and was heard to pronounce
this word, Jesus. (JohnLambert, Julius Palmer. Acts and Mon.)

42. Here also we have an excellentargument of our Saviour’s Divinity and
omnipotence; forasmuchas the angelascribeth unto him that which the
Psalmistaffirmeth of Jehovah, that he shall "redeemIsraelfrom all his
iniquities," Psalms 130:8; cf. Hosea 13:4. λυτρωσεται. Christus autem, non
Pater, factus est απολυτρωσις.
{a} Cicer. in Verrem.
{b} σωτηρ, σωτηρ. Plut. in Vita Flamin.
{c} Tyndale in his Annotat.
The Popular Commentary by Paul E. Kretzmann
The climax of the angel's message:
v. 21. And she shall bring forth, a son, and thou shall call His name Jesus;for
He shall save His people from their sins.
It was thus ordained in God's counsel:She will give birth to a son, she is to
become a mother, not only by supernatural interposition, not merely by God's
giving new life to organs that were pastthe age of bearing, as was true in the
case ofSarahand Elizabeth, Gen_18:10-14;Luk_1:7-18, but by a miraculous
suspensionof the usual process ofnature, according to which men are born of
the will of the flesh and of the will of man, both sexes being active. And this
son of Mary he, Joseph, was to call Jesus. This is a command in the form of a
prediction. By giving to the child His name, Josephwould publicly recognize
and formally adopt Him as his legalson. Jesus is to be the child's name, not
indeed as a mere appellation to distinguish Him from other people, as in the
case ofthe Hebrew synonym Joshua, Num_13:17;Zec_3:1, but as an

43. expressionof the very essence ofthe divine personality, through which the
salvationof men would be gained. For the angelexplains the name: He shall
save His people from their sins That, in a sentence, is the end and objectof His
coming, that alone is His errand and mission: He, and no other. He alone, and
He completely, saves. He brings full pardon, free salvation, complete
deliverance, not only from the pollution and power, but also from the guilt of
sin. To His people He brings this priceless boon, not merely to the members of
His nation according to the flesh, to the Jewishpeople, but to all that are in
need of a Savior, Mat_18:11. This is the Gospel-message, notthat Jesus makes
allowancesforsin, but that He has made atonement for it; not that He
tolerates sin, but that He destroys it.
Sermon Bible Commentary
Matthew 1:21
I. Salvationfrom sin is the greatnecessityfor man. This is a fact of universal
observation. It is also a fact of universal consciousness. Menare so constituted
that they cannotdoubt that ultimate happiness is impossible unless they can
be delivered from that which they know to be a greatcurse in this world, and
which they also know will be their ultimate ruin, if persistedin.
II. Jesus has undertaken this work. "He shall save His people from their sins,"
therefore His name is Jesus, the name Jesus signifying a Saviour. The term
salvation, as here used, means merely deliverance, or safetyfrom some
tremendous evil; it is often found in the Bible, and includes in it very
generally, in addition to mere deliverance, the result of it—eternal happiness
and enjoyment in heavenwith the people of God.
III. Why is it that so many persons fail of this salvation? (1) Many persons fail
of it because they have not abandoned reliance on themselves. It is the most
obvious thing in the world, that many persons are living, not to God, but to
themselves. Now, whereverthis principle is manifestedit is certainthat
persons are not savedfrom sin; for what is sin but living to selfand not to
God? Self-seeking is the very essenceofsin. (2) Multitudes are not saved

44. because they seek forgivenesswhile they do not forsake their sins. Another
reasonwhy men are not savedfrom sin is that they have really come to regard
justification in sin as a means to save them from it. Justificationin sin is a
thing impossible. A man must be in a state of obedience to the law of God
before he can be justified. (3) Many make the mistake of cherishing hope
rather than holiness; insteadof working out their own salvation, they seek to
cherish a hope that they shall be saved.
C. G. Finney, Penny Pulpit, No. 1566.
References:Matthew 1:21.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiv., No. 1434;Ibid.,
Morning by Morning, p. 39; Ibid., Evening by Evening, p. 39;Ibid., Homiletic
Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 259;G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines, p. 9;
Clergyman's Magazine, vol. i., p. 345;W. M. Taylor, Three Hundred Outlines
of Sermons on the New Testament, p. 1; C. Kingsley, Sermons for the Times,
p. 48;G. Huntington, Sermons for Holy Seasons, vol. ii., p. 45. Matthew 1:22,
Matthew 1:23.—H. P. Liddon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xv., p. 1; Ibid.,
Expository Outlines of Sermons on the Old Testament, p. 1; Ibid., Three
Hundred Outlines of Sermons on the New Testament, p. 2; J. C. Jones,
Studies in St. Matthew, p. 1; J. Keble, Sermons for Christmas and Epiphany,
p. 160.
Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible
Matthew 1:21. Thou shalt call his name Jesus— Thatis, He shall be God the
Saviour; for he shall prove that glorious and divine Person, the long-expected
Messiah, intended by God to save his people, even all that truly and
perseveringly believe in him; by procuring an ample pardon for them, and
raising them, after a life of holiness on earth, to a state of consummate
perfection and eternal happiness. Bishop Pearsonseems to have setthe
etymology of the name Jesus in the clearestlightin his large discourse upon it,
where he endeavours to prove that Jah, one of the names of God, enters into
the compositionof the Hebrew name Joshua, to which Jesus answers;a
derivation, which plainly shews how Christ's being calledJesus, that is to say,
God our Saviour, was in effectan accomplishmentof the prophesy, that he

45. should be calledEmmanuel; for what else, says the bishop, is God with us,
than God our Saviour? Well, therefore, has the Evangelistconjoinedthe
prophet and the angel, asserting that Christ was therefore named Jesus,
because it was foretold he should be calledEmmanuel. See Pearsonon the
Creed, p. 69-71 and Doddridge.
Expository Notes with PracticalObservations onthe New Testament
Observe here, 1. A prediction of our Savior's birth; the virgin shall bring
forth a son.
2. A precept for the imposition of his name; Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
that is, a Savior.
3. The reasonwhy that name was given him; because he should save his
people, not temporarily, as Joshua did the Israelites from their enemies, but
spiritually and externally from their sins; not in their sins but from them; that
is, from the guilt and punishment, from the powerand dominion, of them.
Observe, 4. The peculiar subjects of this privilege; his people: He shall save
his people from their sins.
Learn, 1. That sin is the evil of evils; or that sin consideredin itself, is
comparatively the greatestand worstof evils.
2. That the greatend of Christ's coming into the world, was to be a Savior
from this evil.
3. That Christ's own people do want and stand in need of a Savior as well as
others; if he does not save them from their sins, they must die in and for their
sins, as well as others.
Therefore he saves them from sin in three ways;
1. By obtaining pardon for sin, and in reconciling us to God. 2. By weakening
the reigning powerof sin, and implanting a new principle of holiness in the
heart. 3. By perfecting and accomplishing all these happy beginnings at the
end of this life in heaven.

46. Dr. Hammond's Pract. Catech.
Golden Chain Commentary on the Gospels
21. And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus:for He
shall save His people from their sins.
Chrys.: What the Angel thus told Joseph, was beyond human thought, and the
law of nature, therefore he confirms his speechnot only be revealing to him
what was past, but also what was to come;"She shall bring forth a Son."
Gloss., apAnselm: That Josephshould not suppose that he was no longer
needed in this wedlock, seeing the conceptionhad takenplace without his
intervention, the Angel declares to him, that though there had been no need of
him in the conception, yet there was needof his guardianship; for the Virgin
should bear a Son, and then he would be necessaryboth to the Mother and
her Son; to the Mother to screenher from disgrace, to the Son to bring Him
up and to circumcise Him. The circumcisionis meant when he says, "And
thou shalt call His name Jesus;" for it was usual to give the name in
circumcision.
Pseudo-Chrys.:He said not, "Shall bear thee a Son," as to Zacharias,
"Behold, Elisabeththy wife shall bear thee a son." For the woman who
conceives ofher husband, [p. 51] bears the son to her husband, because he is
more of him than of herself; but she who had not conceivedofman, did not
bear the Sonto her husband, but to herself.
Chrys.: Or, he left it unappropriated, to shew that she bare Him to the whole
world.
Raban.:"Thou shalt call His name," he says, and not, "shaltgive Him a
name," for His name had been given from all eternity.
Chrys.: This further shews that this birth should be wonderful, because it is
God that sends down His name from above by His Angel; and that not any
name, but one which is a treasure of infinite good. Therefore also the Angel
interprets it, suggesting goodhope, and by this induces him to believe what

47. was spoken. Forwe lean more easily to prosperous things, and yield our belief
more readily to goodfortune.
Jerome:Jesus is a Hebrew word, meaning Saviour. He points to the
etymology of the name, saying, "ForHe shall save His people from this sins."
Remig.:He shews the same man to be the Saviour of the whole world, and the
Author of our salvation. He saves indeed not the unbelieving, but His people;
that is, He saves those that believe on Him, not so much from visible as from
invisible enemies;that is, from their sins, not by fighting with arms, but by
remitting their sins.
Chrysologus:Let them approach to hear this, who ask, Who is He that Mary
bare? "He shall save His people;" not any other man"s people; from what?
"from their sins." That it is Godthat forgives sins, if you do not believe the
Christians so affirming, believe the infidels, or the Jews who say, "None can
forgive sins but God only." [Luke 5:1]
Greek TestamentCriticalExegeticalCommentary
21. ἰησοῦν] The same name as Joshua, the former deliverer of Israel. It is
written ְ‫ה‬‫הֻׁשֹו‬‫י‬ in the Law and Prophets, but ְ‫שּוה‬‫י‬ in the Hagiographa. Philo
says, ἰησοῦς ἑρμηνεύεται, σωτηρία κυρίου.De mut. nom. § 21, vol. i. p. 597.
αὐτός]He, emphatically: He alone:best rendered, perhaps, ‘it is He that.’
τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ](not αὑτοῦ, any where, except when a specialemphasis is
intended: and there is none here, no distinction betweenHis people, and the
people of any other, being made). In the primary sense, the Jews, ofwhom
alone Josephcould have understood the words:but in the largersense, all
who believe on Him: an explanation which the tenor of prophecy (cf. Genesis
22:18;Deuteronomy 32:21), and the subsequentadmission of the Gentiles,
warrant. Cf. a similar use of ‘Israel’ by St. Peter, Acts 5:31.
ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν]It is remarkable that in this early part of the evangelic
history, in the midst of pedigrees, and the disturbances of thrones by the
supposedtemporal King of the Jews, we have so clearan indication of the

48. spiritual nature of the office of Christ. One circumstance of this kind
outweighs a thousand cavils againstthe historicalreality of the narration. If I
mistake not, this announcement reaches further into the deliverance to be
wrought by Jesus, thanany thing mentioned by the Evangelistsubsequently.
It thus bears the internal impress of a messagefrom God, treasuredup and
related in its original formal terms.
Meyer understands the words of a political emancipation and prosperity of
the Jewishpeople, and strangely enoughrefers to Luke 1:68 for confirmation
of this idea; adding, however, that a religious and moral reformation was
consideredas intimately connectedwith such a change.
ἁμαρτία is not put for the punishment of sin, but is the sin itself—the practice
of sin, in its most pregnant sense. ‘How suggestive it is,’ remarks Bishop
Ellicott, ‘that while to the loftier spirit of Mary the name of Jesus is revealed
with all the prophetic associations ofmore than David’s glories—to Joseph,
perchance the agedJoseph, who might have long seenand realized his own
spiritual needs, and the needs of those around him, it is speciallysaid, Thou
shalt call his name Jesus:for He shall save his people from their sins.’
Historical Lectures on the Life of our Lord, p. 56.
Heinrich Meyer's Critical and ExegeticalCommentaryon the New Testament
Matthew 1:21. τέξεται δέ] and she will bear. “Nonadditur tibi, ut additur de
Zacharia, Luke 1:13,” Bengel.
καλέσεις … ἰησοῦν] literally: thou wilt call His name “Jesus.”Comp. LXX.
Genesis 17:19;1 Samuel 1:20; Matthew 1:23; Matthew 1:25; Luke 1:13; Luke
1:31; Luke 2:21. Exactly so in Hebrew: ֻׁ‫מ‬‫תאש‬ ‫את‬ ‫.קרא‬ The Greeks, however,
would say: καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτὸν(or also αὐτῷ)ἰησοῦν;Matthiae, p. 935
[E. T., Kenrick, p. 675 ff.]; Heindorf, ad Plat. Phaedr. p. 238 A.
καλέσεις] the future serves in classicalwriters to denote the softenedidea of
the imperative. Bernhardy, p. 378;Kühner, II. 1, p. 149. In the LXX. and in
the N. T. it is especiallyused of divine injunctions, and denotes thereby the
imperative sense apodeictically, becauseit supposes the undoubted certainty

49. of the result; comp. Winer, p. 296 [E. T. 396 f.]. So also here, where a divine
command is issued. When Fritzsche would here retain the proper conception
of the future, it becomes a mere prediction, less appropriate in the connection;
for it is less in keeping with the design of the angelic annunciation, according
to which the bestowaland interpretation of the name Jesus is referred to a
divine causality, and consequently the genus of the name itself must, most
naturally, appear as commanded.
αὐτός]He and no other.
τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ]The people of Israel: because forthese first, and then also for
the heathen, was the MessiahandHis work intended, John 4:22; Romans
1:16; Galatians 3:14. As certainly, moreover, as the manner and fashion in
which the promised one was to accomplishthe salvation, and by means of His
redemptive work has accomplishedit, is to be conceivedas being present to
the eye of God at the sending of this news, as certainly must Josephbe
conceivedas regarding it only in its national definiteness, consequentlyas
referring to the theocratic liberation and prosperity of the people (comp. Luke
1:68 ff.), along with which, however, the religious and moral renewalalso was
regardedas necessary;which renewalmust have presupposedthe antecedent
forgiveness ofsin (Luke 1:77). ἁμαρτιῶν, therefore, is to be taken, not as
punishment of sin, but, as always, simply as sins.
αὐτοῦ, not to be written αὑτοῦ (for the angelspeaks of Him as a third person,
and without any antithesis): His people, for they belong to the Messiah, comp.
John 1:11; on the plural αὐτῶν, see Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 114 [E. T. 130].
Johann Albrecht Bengel's Gnomonof the New Testament
Matthew 1:21. τέξεται, shall bring forth) The word σοι (to thee), which is
added (Luke 1:31) concerning Zachariah, is not introduced here;(58)—
καλέσεις, thou shalt call) By the use of the secondperson singular, the duties
and obligations of a father are committed to Joseph. StMatthew records more
particulars than the other evangelists regarding him; afterwards, when men
had become acquaintedwith the truth, the first place is given (in Luke 1:31) to
Mary.— ἰησοῦν, Jesus)Many names of the Messiahwere announcedin the
Old Testament;but the proper name “JESUS” wasnot expresslyannounced.

50. The meaning and force of it are, however, proclaimed everywhere, namely,
SALVATION and the name itself was divinely foretold in this passagebefore
our Lord’s birth, and in Luke 1:31, even before His conception. The name
ְ‫שּוה‬‫י‬ (Jeshua), which occurs in Nehemiah 8:17, is the same as ְ‫הּושּוה‬‫י‬ or ְ‫ה‬‫שֹו‬ ‫הוש‬‫י‬
(Jehoshua, commonly calledJoshua):both of which are rendered ἰησοῦς
(Jesus)by the LXX. And in so far, learned men have been right in declaring
that the name Jesus contains the Tetragrammaton, [ ‫הוהי‬ ] or ineffable name
of God.—See Hiller’s Syntagmata Hermeneutica, p. 337, where the name of
Jesus is thus interpreted, HE WHO IS is SALVATION: yea, the angel
interprets it αυτοσσωσει (He shall save), where αὐτὸς (He) corresponds with
the Divine Name.—Cf. Gnomonon Hebrews 1:12. Nordoes the name
Jehoshua differ from the original. Hoshea (See Numbers 13:16)in any thing
else, exceptthe addition of the Divine Name, which transforms the name from
a prayer, Save (Salva), into an affirmation, Jehovah Salvation. And, since the
name Emmanuel mentions GOD most expresslytogetherwith SALVATION,
the name Jesus itself, the force of which, the Evangelistof the Old Testament,
Isaiah(whose own name signifies the same thing) clearly indicates by the
synonym Emmanuel, requires much more the mention of the Divine Name:
for Emmanuel and Jesus are equivalent terms.—See notes onMatthew 1:22-
23. Nay, evenif the ‫י‬ in ‫עושי‬ be consideredas merely the sign of the third
person, still, as is frequently the case with Hebrew names, “GOD” must be
understood, and here with especialforce.— αὐτὸς,He) The pronoun αὐτὸς, in
the nominative, is always emphatic; here it is peculiarly so. In the oblique
case, it is frequently a mere relative.— σώσει, shall save)As often, therefore,
as the words, “to save,” “Saviour,” “salvation,” “salutary,(59)”occurwith
reference to Christ, we ought to consider, that the name of JESUS is virtually
mentioned.— τὸν λαὸν, αὐτοῦ, His people) sc. Israel, and those who shall be
added to the fold of Israel.(60)— αὐτοῦ,His) and at the same time God’s.—Cf.
ch. Matthew 2:6.
Matthew Poole's EnglishAnnotations on the Holy Bible
When the usual time of women is accomplished,

51. she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall not be
thy natural son, but he shall be her son, not begotby thee, but brought forth
by her, so flesh of her flesh. His name shall be calledJesus by thee, or by his
mother. It is the will of God thou shouldest give him that name.
For he shall save his people from their sins. It was the custom of the Jews
(God’s ancientpeople) to give names to their children, either expressive of the
mercy which God had showedthem in giving them their children, or of the
duty which their children did owe unto God. This name was given by God,
expressing the mercy of God to his people in giving them this child;
for he shall save his people from their sins, saith the angel. Jesus comes from a
Hebrew word, which signifies salvation. Joshua had his name from the same
word, because he was to be a temporal saviour to save the Jews, the whole
body of the Jews, from the Canaanites their enemies. This Jesus was to save
his people, all that should believe in his name, whether Jews orGentiles, from
their sins. Hereby the angelhints the mistake of the Jews, in thinking the
Messiasshould be a temporal saviour, who should save the Jews from their
enemies, minding them that he was to save them, not from their bodily, but
spiritual enemies, from their sins; the guilt of them, and the powerof them,
and from the eternal danger of them: and he alone should do it; There is none
other name under heaven given among men, neither is there salvationin any
other, Acts 4:12.
Justin Edwards' Family Bible New Testament
Jesus;Jesus is the same name as Joshua, or, as it is written by some of the
later Hebrew writers, Jeshua. It signifies the salvation of Jehovah.
Save;deliver from the pollution, power, guilt, condemnation, and punishment
of sin.
Cambridge Greek Testamentfor Schools andColleges
21. καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦν. Jesus represents the Greek form, while
Joshua represents the Hebrew form of the same name. The same Hebrew root

52. occurs in the salutation Hosanna:see note, ch. Matthew 21:9. Joshua who led
the Israelites into the Promised Land, and Joshua or Jeshua, who was high
priest at the time of the return from the Babylonish Captivity, are types of
Jesus Christ in respectboth of work and name.
αὐτός, with some emphasis, he will not only preach σωτηρία, but will himself
conferit.
σώσει τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶναὐτῶν. An announcement of a
spiritual Kingdom. Contrary to the thought of many Jews the salvation which
Jesus brought was not to be a saving from the Roman or Herodian rule, but a
life protectedfrom sin.
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
21. Thou shalt call his name Jesus — We have already remarked, in our note
on Matthew 1:1, that the name JESUS is equivalent in Greek to the Hebrew
name of JOSHUA, who was his type, as being the deliverer of Israelinto the
promised land. The original name of Joshua was Hoshea, and Moses
(doubtless by divine inspiration) changedhis name to Joshua, in order to
make it signify the salvation of God. Numbers 13:16. Thus the name was given
to indicate the reality of the thing. The reality was that Joshua should be
God’s saviour of Israel from their enemies, and their establisherin Canaan.
As antitype to this, the same name is given, by the same divine direction, to
the Lord our Saviour, because he shall save his people from their sins. As
Joshua is redeemerof Israel from their enemies, and their establisherin
Canaan, so Jesus is the Redeemerof believers from their sins, and their
establisherin the heavenly Canaan. Whence we have the typical parallels:
Redeemer.
The Redeemed.
The Evil.

53. The Result.
Joshua
Israel
Enemies
Canaan.
Jesus
Believers
Sins
Heavenly Canaan.
We here also see Scripture instances in which the name is divinely imposed to
signify the reality of the thing. The name of Jesus signifies saviour, and is
given because he IS Saviour; from which we shall in the proper place infer
that he is called Emmanuel, (Matthew 1:23,)signifying God with us, because
he truly IS God manifest in the flesh. So that we may forcibly maintain
againstthe doctrine of the mere humanity of Christ the sublime truth of the
Incarnation.
For he shall save his people from their sins — From these words it is plain
that howeverthe Jews may have expected a political Messiahto save the
nation from the Romans, the angel promised a Jesus, who should save his
people from their sins. Modern neologists, who maintain that Jesus startedat
first with the purpose of forming a temporal kingdom, are contradicted by the
very earliestdeclarations in the Gospels to the contrary.
PeterPett's Commentary on the Bible
“And she will bring forth a son, and you shall call his name JESUS, for it is he
who will save his people from their sins.”
Mary is to bear a sonand His name is to be calledYe-sus, ‘YHWH is
salvation’, for he will save His people from their sins. We can compare here
Psalms 130:8, where it is said, ‘and He (YHWH) shall redeemIsrael from all

54. her iniquities’. So Jesus is to acton behalf of YHWH as a Saviour. As in Luke
the emphasis is on a Saviour acting on behalf of God the Saviour (compare
Luke 1:47; Luke 2:11). Here at the very commencementof the Gospelthen we
have the declaredpurpose of His coming. It is for the salvation of people from
their sins (from their comings short, their missing the mark), and from the
consequencesoftheir sins. Its deliberate connectionwith His name means that
the idea is thus to be seenas emphasisedthroughout the whole Gospel
whereverthe name of Jesus is mentioned. We canalways therefore replace the
name ‘Jesus’with ‘God the Saviour’ (see especiallyMatthew 20:28. Also
Matthew 10:22; Matthew 18:11;Matthew 24:13;Matthew 24:22).
While saving from sin was undoubtedly a trait of the ‘popular Messiah’, it
was not a prominent one, certainly not as prominent as it is made to be here
where it is pre-eminent. It was certainly a part of the future hope in general
(Isaiah 1:18; Isaiah43:25; Isaiah44:22), but not as a major aspectof
Messiah’s work, forMessiahwas seenas coming to establishjustice and to
judge (Isaiah 11:1-4; Psalmof Solomon17:28-29, 41), although that would
necessarilyinvolve a measure of forgiveness. Butthe thought of forgiveness
was not prominent, and that is why Jesus had to emphasise that as the Son of
Man He had the right on earth to forgive sins (Matthew 9:6). Thus it is made
clearthat this was to be a different form of Messiahfrom the One Who was
usually expected, One Who would equate with the Servant, Who would suffer
on behalf of His own. Compare Matthew 9:2; Matthew 9:5-6; Matthew 26:28;
and see Isaiah53;Jeremiah 31:31-34;Ezekiel36:24-31. We note from the
Lord’s prayer (Matthew 6:12; Matthew 6:14-15;see also Matthew 18:21-35)
how central forgiveness was to the ministry of Jesus. Forgiving and being
forgiven were both essentialaspectsofthe Kingly Rule of Heaven.
The Expositor's Greek Testament
Matthew 1:21. τέξεται— ἰησοῦν: Mary is about to bear a son, and He is to
bear the significantname of Jesus. The style is an echo of O. T. story, Genesis
17:19, Sept(3), the birth of Isaac and that of Jesus being thereby placedside
by side as similar in their preternatural character.— καλέσεις:a command in

55. form of a prediction. But there is encouragementas well as command in this
future. It is meant to help Josephout of his doubts into a mood of heroic,
resolute action. Cease frombrooding anxious thought, think of the child about
to be born as destined to a greatcareer. to be signalisedby His name Jesus—
Jehovahthe helper.— αὐτὸς γὰρ … ἁμαρτιῶναὐτῶν:interpretation of the
name, still part of the angelic speech. αὐτὸς emphatic, he and no other.
ἁμαρτ., sins, implying a spiritual conceptionof Israel’s need.
JosephBenson's Commentaryof the Old and New Testaments
Matthew 1:21. She shall bring forth a son — Hers, not thine, for he does not
say to thee, Christ being απατωρ, without father, as man. And thou shalt call
his name Jesus — It belonged to Joseph, as being reputed his father, and the
person under whose protectionChrist was placedduring his infancy, to give
him his name. “Six men,” says Rabbi Eliezer, “have been named before they
were born; viz., Isaac, Ishmael, Mosesour lawgiver, Solomon, Josiah, and
King Messiah.”To these we may add, Cyrus and John the Baptist: and
observe, that those persons to whom a name has been given by God before
their birth, have always been remarkable persons. The name Jesus, in Greek,
answers to Joshua, or rather, Jehoshuah, in Hebrew, which signifies Jehovah
shall save;for Jah, or Jehovah, enters into the compositionof the name, as
Bishop Pearsonhas largelyand clearlyshown in his most learned and
instructive Exposition of the Creed, pp. 69-71. So that Christ’s being called
Jesus, was in effectan accomplishment of the prophecy that he should be
calledEmmanuel. It was not without reasonthat the successorofMoses was
calledby this name; for, by subduing the Canaanites, and putting the tribes of
Israelin possessionofthe promised land, he showedhimself to be, under God,
the Saviourof his people. But this name agrees much better to our Jesus, who
both delivers his followers from much more dangerous enemies, and divides
unto them a much more glorious inheritance. Thus, in the next clause, he shall
save his people from their sins — Joseph, by his people, could not understand
any other than the Jewishnation, which is generallysignified by that name in

56. the Scriptures;and to them he was peculiarly sent, and them he will at length
fully gather, save, and restore. We know, however, that all the true Israelof
God, including even the Gentiles that should believe in him, are included. All
these, it is here said, he should save from their sins, i.e, from the guilt, power,
and pollution of them, by procuring, through his death, and receiving, in
consequence ofhis ascensioninto heaven, an ample pardon for them, and the
Holy Spirit to write that pardon on their hearts, and renew them after the
divine image, that, in consequence ofa life of holiness on earth, they might be
raisedto a state of complete perfection and felicity in heaven. How plain it is
from hence that, although the gospeloffers us salvationby faith, and not by
works, yet it effectuallysecures the practice of holiness, since holiness is a part
of that salvationwherewith Christ came to save sinners; for he came to save
them from their sins. It is worth observing, on this occasion, whatan excellent
example of gentleness and prudence is here set us by Joseph!In an affair
which appeared dubious, he chose, as we should always do, rather to err on
the favourable than on the severe extreme. He is careful to avoid any
precipitate steps;and, in the moment of deliberation, God interposes to guide
and determine his resolves. Letus reflect, with what wonderand pleasure he
would receive the important message fromthe angel, which not only assured
him of the unstained virtue and eminent piety of her he loved, and confirmed
his choice ofher, as the partner of his future life, but brought him tidings of a
divine Saviour, a Jesus, anEmmanuel, who should be God with men, and
should save his people from their sins; and assuredhim, moreover, that the
objectof his affections, his beloved, espousedMary, should, by a miraculous
conception, be the happy mother of this heavenly offspring, and should
therefore through all generations be entitled blessed. Let us also receive these
glad tidings of greatjoy, designedfor the consolationof all people, with
suitable humility and gratitude, and seek unto this Jesus that he may answer
his divine name in us, and save us, his people, from our sins. Let our souls bow
to this Emmanuel, our incarnate God, and, while with holy wonderwe survey
the various scenes ofhis humiliation, let us remember, too, his native dignity
and divine glory, and pay him the worship and service which are his
undoubted due.

57. George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary
Jesus . . . he shall save, &c. The characteristic name of Saviour was peculiar to
the Messias,by which he was distinguished, as wellas by the adorable name of
Jesus. The expectations ofboth Jew and Gentile lookedforward to a saviour.
St. Augustine, in the 18th book, 23d chapter, de Civitate Die, introduces a
curious anecdote. He mentions there, that he receivedfrom the eloquent and
learned ProconsulFlactianus, a book containing in Greek the verses ofone of
the Sybils, which related to the coming of Christ. The substance of them is
much the same as occurs in the prophecies of Isaiah, from which Virgil has
likewise copiedinto his Pollio, many of the sublime thoughts which we find in
that beautiful eclogue. It is remarkable that of the initials of these verses, St.
Augustine had formed an acrostic to the following import, Greek:Iesous
Christos Deos huios soter; that is, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Saviour.
(Haydock)
E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes
bring forth. Not the same word as in verses:Matthew 1:1, Matthew 1:2,
Matthew 1:16, Matthew 1:20. Greek. tiklo. Not"of thee" as in Luke 1:35,
because not Joseph"sson.
His name. Figure of speechPleonasm. App-6= Him.
JESUS. Forthis type see App-48. The same as the Hebrew Hoshea (Numbers
13:16)with Jah prefixed = God[our] Saviour, or God Who [is] salvation.
Compare Luke 2:21. See App-98.
he = He, and none other, or He is the One Who (emph.)
sins. Greek. hamartia. See App-128.
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS:for he
shall save his people from their sins.

58. And she shall bring forth a son. Observe, it is not said, 'she shall bear thee a
son,' as was saidto Zacharias ofhis wife Elizabeth (Luke 1:13).
And thou (as his legalfather) shalt callhis name JESUS , [ Ieesoun(Greek
#2424)] - from the Hebrew [ Y
The Bible Study New Testament
Yon will name him Jesus. Jesus means "Savior." The Hebrew form is
"Joshua"—"Jehovah's Salvation."Will save his people. Not the Jewish
Nation alone, but all who follow him. From their sins. Christ's specialwork to
remove sin and make us God's friends.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(21) Thou shalt call his name Jesus.—Thereis nothing strange in this being to
Josephthe first knowledge ofthe name, which St. Luke tells us (Luke 1:31)
had been previously imparted to Mary. The customs of the Jews were, as we
have seen, againstany communications betweenthe bride and bridegroom
during the period of betrothal, and the facts of the case (including Mary’s visit
to Elizabeth) would make it more improbable than ever.
The name Jesus was one full of meaning, but it was not as yet a specially
sacredname. In its Old Testamentform of Jehoshua (Numbers 13:16),
Joshua, or Jeshua (Numbers 14:6; Nehemiah 8:17), it meant “Jehovahis
salvation;” and the change of the name of the captain of Israelfrom Hoshea,
which did not include the divine name, to the form which gave this full
significance (Numbers 13:16)had made it the expressionof the deepestfaith
of the people. After the return from Babylon it receiveda new prominence in
connectionwith the high priest Joshua, the sonof Josedech(Haggai1:1;
Zechariah 3:1), and appears in its Greek form in Jesus the father, and again
in the son, of Sirach. In the New Testamentitself we find it borne by others
(see Note on Matthew 1:1). It had not been directly associated, however, with
Messianic hopes, andthe intimation that it was to be the name of the Christ

59. gave a new characterto men’s thoughts of the kingdom. Notconquest, but
“salvation”—deliverance, notfrom human enemies only or chiefly, nor from
the penalties of sin, but from the sins themselves. As spokenby the angelto
the dreamer it was the answerto prayers and hopes, going beyond the hope,
and purifying it from earthly thoughts. As recorded by the Evangelistit was a
witness that he had been taught the true nature of the kingdom of the Christ.
Treasuryof Scripture Knowledge
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS:for he
shall save his people from their sins.
she
Genesis 17:19,21;18:10;Judges 13:3; 2 Kings 4:16,17;Luke 1:13,35,36
thou
Luke 1:31; 2:21
JESUS
that is, Saviour. Heb. for.
Psalms 130:7,8;Isaiah 12:1,2;45:21,22;Jeremiah23:6; 33:16;Ezekiel36:25-
29; Daniel9:24; Zechariah 9:9; John 1:29; Acts 3:26; 4:12; 5:31; 13:23,38,39;
Ephesians 5:25-27;Colossians 1:20-23;Titus 2:14; Hebrews 7:25; 1 John 1:7;
2:1,2; 3:5; Revelation1:5,6;7:14
E.M. Zerr's Commentary on SelectedBooksofthe New Testament
The angelnot only told Josephthe cause ofMary's condition, but even told
him what to call the child when born. Proper names in ancient times usually
had some specific meaning, hence the name Jesus, meaning "Saviour,"" was

60. to be given to this sonto be born of Mary, because he was designedto save his
people from sin.
END OF STUDYLIGHT RESOURCES
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
JESUS NO. 1434
A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD’S-DAYMORNING, SEPTEMBER15
1878, BYC.H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE,
NEWINGTON.
“And she shall bring forth a son, and you shall call His name Jesus: for He
shall save His people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21.
BERNARD has delightfully said that the name of Jesus is honey in the mouth,
melody in the earand joy in the heart. I rejoice in that expressionon my own
account, for it gives me my share of the delight and leads me to hope that
while I am speaking, the sweetnessofthe precious name of Jesus may fill my
own mouth. Here also is a portion for you who are listening. It is melody in
the ear. If my voice should be harsh and my words discordant, you will yet
have music of the choicestorder, for the name itself is essentialmelodyand
my whole sermon will ring with its silver note. May both speakerand hearer
join in the third word of Bernard’s sentence, andmay we all find it to be joy
in our hearts, a jubilee within our souls. Jesus is the wayto God, therefore will
we preach Him. He is the truth, therefore will we hear of Him. He is the life,

61. therefore shall our hearts rejoice in Him. So inexpressibly fragrant is the
name of Jesus that it imparts a delicious perfume to everything which comes
in connectionwith it. Our thoughts will turn this morning to the first use of
the name in connectionwith our Lord, when the child who was yet to be born
was named Jesus. Here we find everything suggestive ofcomfort. The person
to whom that name was first revealedwas Joseph, a carpenter, a humble man,
a working man, unknown and undistinguished except by the justice of his
character. To the artisan of Nazarethwas this name first imparted. It is not,
therefore, a title to be monopolized by the ears of princes, sages,priests,
warriors or men of wealth. It is a name to be made a household word among
common people. He is the people’s Christ, for of old it was said of Him, “I
have exalted one chosenout of the people.” Let every carpenterand every
workerof every sort rejoice with all other sorts of men in the name of Jesus.
There is consolationin the messengerwho made known that name to Joseph,
for it was the angelof the Lord who, in the visions of the night, whisperedthat
charming name into his ear, and henceforth angels are in league with men and
gather to one standard, moved by the same watchwordas ourselves—the
name of Jesus. Did God send the name by an angeland did the angeldelight
to come with it? Then is there a bond of sympathy betweenus and angelic
spirits, and we are come this day not only “to the generalassemblyand
church of the firstborn,” but “to an innumerable company of angels,” by
whom that name is regardedwith reverent love. Nor is the condition of
Joseph, when he heard this name, altogetherwithout instruction. The angel
spoke to him in a dream. That name is so softand sweetthat it breaks no
man’s rest, but rather yields a peace unrivalled, the peace of God. With such a
dream Joseph’s sleepwas more blessedthan his waking. The name has
evermore this power, for, to those who know it, it unveils a glory brighter than
dreams have ever imaged. Under its poweryoung men see visions and old men
dream dreams, and these do not mock them, but are prophecies faithful and
true. The name of Jesus brings before our minds a vision of glory in the latter
days when Jesus shallreign from pole to pole, and yet another vision of glory
unutterable when His people shall be with Him where He is. The name of
Jesus was sweetatthe first because ofthe words with which it was
accompanied, for they were meant to remove perplexity from Joseph’s mind
and some of them ran thus—“Fearnot.” Truly, no name can banish fear like

62. the name of Jesus. It is the beginning of hope and the end of despair. Let but
the sinner hear of “the Savior,” and he forgets to die, he hopes to live, he rises
out of the deadly lethargy of his hopelessnessand looking upward, he sees a
reconciledGod and no longerfears. Especially, brethren, this name is full of
rare delights when we meditate upon the infinite preciousness ofthe person to
whom it was assigned. Ah, here
Jesus Sermon#1434
Tellsomeone today how much you love Jesus Christ. Volume 24
2
2
is a Jonathan’s wooddripping with honey from every bough and he that tastes
it shall have his eyes enlightened. We have no common Savior, for neither
earth nor heaven could produce His equal. At the time when the name was
given, His full person had not been seenby mortal eyes, for He lay as yet
concealed. But soonHe came forth, having been born of Mary by the power of
the Holy Spirit, a matchless man. He bears our nature, but not our
corruption. He was made in the likeness ofsinful flesh, but yet in His flesh
there is no sin. This Holy One is the Son of God, and yet He is the Son of man.
This surpassing excellence ofnature makes His name most precious. I shall
ask the exercise ofyour patience while I considerseventhings in reference to
this transporting name. It is as ointment poured forth and its scentis varied so
as to containthe essenceofall fragrances. Theseseventhings will be seenvery
plainly by you if you continue to look at the text and its connection. I. First,
we shall remark that THE NAME OF JESUS IS A NAME DIVINELY
ORDEREDAND EXPOUNDED. According to the text, the angelbrought a
messagefrom the Lord and said, “You shall call His name Jesus.”It is a name
which, like He who bears it, has come down from heaven. Our Lord has other
names of office and relationship, but this is speciallyand peculiarly His own
personalname and it is the Father who has thus named Him. Restassured,
therefore, that it is the bestname that He could bear. God would not have
given Him a name of secondaryvalue, or about which there would be a trace
of dishonor. The name is the highest, brightest and noblest of names. It is the

63. glory of our Lord to be a Savior. To the best that was everborn of woman,
God has given the best name that any son of man could bear. JESUS is the
most appropriate name that our Lord could receive. Of this we are quite
certain, for the Father knew all about Him and could name Him well. He
knows much more about the Lord Christ than all saints and angels put
together, for “No man knows the Son but the Father.” To perfection the
Father knew Him and He names Him Jesus. We may be sure, then, that our
Lord is most of all a Saviorand is best described by that term. God, the
Father, who knows Him best, sees this to be His grand characteristic, thatHe
is a Savior and is bestrepresentedby the name, “Jesus.”Since infinite wisdom
has selectedit, we may be sure that it is a name which must be true, and must
be verified by facts of no mean order. God, who cannotbe mistaken, calls Him
Jesus, a Saviorand therefore Jesus, a Savior He must be upon a grand scale,
continually, abundantly, and in a most apparent manner. Neither will God
refuse to acceptthe work which He has done, since by the gift of that name He
has commissionedHim to save sinners. When we plead the name of Jesus
before God, we bring Him back His own Word and appeal to Him by His own
act and deed. Is not the name of Jesus to be viewedwith reverential delight by
eachone of us, when we remember from where it came? He is not a Savior of
our own setting up, but God the everlasting Father has set Him forth for our
deliverer and Savior, saying, “You shall callHis name Jesus.” Itis a name
which the Holy Spirit explains, for He tells us the reasonfor the name of
Jesus—“ForHe shall save His people from their sins.” “Savior” is the
meaning of the name, but it has a fuller sense hidden within, for in its Hebrew
form it means, “the salvationof the Lord,” or “the Lord of salvation,” or “the
Savior.” The angel interprets it, “He shall save,” andthe word for, “He,” is
very emphatic. According to many scholars, the divine name, the
incommunicable title of the MostHigh is contained in “Joshua,”the Hebrew
form of Jesus, so that in full the word means, “JehovahSavior,” and in brief it
signifies, “Savior.” It is given to our Lord because “He saves”—notaccording
to any temporary and common salvation, from enemies and troubles, but He
saves from spiritual enemies and especiallyfrom sins. Joshua of old was a
savior, Gideon was a savior, David was a savior, but the title is given to our
Lord above all others because He is a Saviorin a sense in which no one else is
or can be—He saves His people from their sins. The Jews were looking fora

64. Savior. They expected one who would break the Roman yoke, and save them
from being under bondage to a foreign power. But our divine Lord came not
for such a purpose. He came to be a Savior of a more spiritual sort and to
break quite another yoke, by saving His people from their sins. The word,
“save,” is very rich in meaning, its full and exactforce can hardly be given in
English words. Jesus is salvation in the sense of deliverance and also in that of
preservation. He gives health. He is all that is salutary to His people. In the
fullest and broadestsense He saves His people. The original word means to
preserve, to keep, to protect from danger, and to secure. The grandest
meanings generally dwell in the shortestwords, and in this case the word
“save” is a well
Sermon #1434 Jesus
Volume 24 Tell someone todayhow much you love Jesus Christ.
3
3
where the plummet is long in finding a bottom. Jesus brings a great salvation,
or as Paul says, “so greatsalvation,”as if he felt that he could never estimate
its greatness (Heb. 2:3). He also speaks ofit as, “eternalsalvation” (Heb. 5:9),
even as Isaiah said, “Israelshall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting
salvation.” Glorious beyond measure is the name, “Jesus,”as it is divinely
expounded to us, for by that very expositionthe eternal God guarantees the
successofthe Savior. He declares that He shall save His people, and save His
people He must. God Himself sets Him forth to us as— “Jesus,Savior, Sonof
God, Bearerofthe sinner’s load.” Thus we have a name, dear friends, which
we have not to explain for ourselves. As we did not choose it, so, we are not
left to expound it. God who gave the text has preached us the sermon. He who
appointed the name has given us the reasonfor it, so that we are not left in
ignorance or uncertainty. We might have said, “Yes, His name is Jesus, but it
refers to a salvationwhich was workedin the olden ages.”But no, the Word of
the Lord tells us, “You shall callHis name Jesus, for He shall save His people
from their sins,” and this is for all time since He always has a people, and
these people always needto be savedfrom their sins. Let us be glad that we

65. have such a Savior, and that the name of Jesus retains all the sweetnessand
powerit everhad and shall retain it till all the chosenpeople are saved, and
then forever and ever. Moreover, in addition to expounding this name, the
Holy Spirit by the evangelistMatthew, has been pleasedto refer us to the
synonym of it and so to give us its meaning by comparison. Let me read you
the next verses. “Now allthis was done that it might be fulfilled which was
spokenof the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child
and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which
being interpreted is, God with us.” If when our Lord was born and named
“Jesus,”the old prophecy which said that He should be calledEmmanuel was
fulfilled, it follows that the name, “Jesus,” bears a significationtantamount to
that of “Emmanuel” and that its virtual meaning is “God with us.” Indeed,
brethren, He is Jesus, the Savior, because He is Emmanuel, God with us. And
as soonas He was born and so became Emmanuel, the incarnate God, He
became by that very fact, Jesus, the Savior. By coming down from heaveninto
this earth and taking upon Himself our nature, He bridged the otherwise
bridgeless gulf betweenGod and man. By suffering in that human nature and
imparting, through His divine nature, an infinite efficacyto those sufferings,
He removed that which would have destroyed us and brought us everlasting
life and salvation. O Jesus, dearestofall names in earth or in heaven, I love
Your music all the better because it is in such sweetharmony with another
which rings melodiously in my ears, the name Emmanuel, God with us. Our
Savior is God and therefore able. He is God with us, and therefore pitiful. He
is divine and therefore infinitely wise, but He is human and therefore full of
compassion. This, then, is our first head. This charming name of Jesus is a
jewelfrom the casketofheaven. It comes to us as an apple of gold and it is
attended by an exposition which places it in a basketof silver. The name is
precious as the golden mercy seatand overit burns the light of the divine
glory, so that we may not stumble at it, but may rejoice in the greatlight. It
lets us know the very heart of God in reference to His Son, why He sent Him,
what He meant Him to be and to do, and in what manner He would glorify
Him. Salvationis the joyful sound which rings from the bells of our High
Priest’s garment as He comes forth to bless us. God, who spoke to our fathers
by His prophets, now speaks to us by His Son whose name is Salvation. Is
there not a mint of joy in this? II. Secondly, although this name was thus

66. chosenby God, OUR LORD WAS ACTUALLY CALLED BY THE NAME
OF JESUS BY MAN. To this I call your specialnotice. “She (Mary) shall
bring forth a son and you (Joseph)shall callHis name Jesus.” The Godof
heaven by His angelappoints the child’s name, but His reputed father must
announce it. Both Josephand Mary, according to the divine command, united
in calling the child by the appointed name. See, then, that the name which is
chosenof God is fully acceptedby instructed men. Those who are taught of
God joyfully recognize that Christ is salvationand without a question give
Him the well-belovedname of Jesus, the Savior. Here note that the name
Jesus, Savior, was givento our Lord by two simple hearts as soonas ever He
was revealedto them. They only needed to be told who He was and why He
came, how He was born and what was the object of His incarnation and they
at once acceptedthe divine message andnamed the
Jesus Sermon#1434
Tellsomeone today how much you love Jesus Christ. Volume 24
4
4
baby by the name of Jesus. And, brethren, all of us to whom Christ is revealed
at all, call Him Jesus the Savior. Many there are who think they know our
Lord, but since they only speak of Him as a prophet, a teacher, or a leader
and care not for Him as a Savior, we are clearthat they are in ignorance as to
His chief character. His first name, His personalname they know not. The
Holy Spirit cannot have revealedChrist to any man if that man remains
ignorant of His saving power. He who does not know Him as Jesus, the Savior,
does not know Him at all. Certain anti-Christian Christians are craftily
extolling Christ that they may smite Jesus. I mean that they cry up Jesus as
Messiah, sentof God, to exhibit a grand example and supply a pure code of
morals, but they cannot endure Jesus as a Savior, redeeming us by His blood
and by His death delivering us from sin. I am not sure that they follow His
example of holy living, but they are very loud in extolling it, and all with the
purpose of drawing off men’s thoughts from the chief characterand main
objectof our Lord’s sojourn among us, namely, the deliverance of His people

67. from sin. If men knew our Lord they would callHim Jesus the Savior, and
regard Him not merely as a goodman, a greatteacher, a noble exemplar, but
as the Saviorof sinners. Now, Josephand Mary not only believed, so as to
give the young child the name in their own minds, but in due time they took
Him up to the temple and presentedHim according to the law and there
publicly His name was calledJesus. All hearts to whom Godcommits His
Christ should publicly acknowledgeHim in the most solemn manner
according to His ordinance, and should desire in all proper places to confess
Him as the Savior. The infant Christ was committed to the care of Josephand
Mary to nurse and protect. Wonder of wonders, that HE should need a
guardian, who is the Preserverofmen and the Shepherd of His saints!In His
feebleness as a baby He needed parental care and in caring for Him, Joseph
and Mary did not hesitate to avow their faith by giving Him a name which
indicated His destiny. Nor did they refuse to declare His name in the temple
before the priests and the congregation. Now, in a certain sense Christis
committed to the keeping of all His people. This day we have a charge to keep,
we are to preserve His gospelin the world, to maintain His truth and to
publish His salvation, and therefore, we are bound to bear this testimony, that
He is Jesus, the Savior of sinners. This we must make very prominent. Others
shall say what they please aboutHim and if they speak wellof His character
in any respectwe will be glad that they shall do it, howeverlittle they may
know. But this is our peculiar testimony that our Lord saves from sin. Nothing
is more prominent about a man than his name, we can hardly mention him
without pronouncing his name, and so we feel that we cannot mention our
Lord without speaking of salvation. If He is anything, He is Jesus, the Savior.
We know Him best by that name. We preach unto men Jesus, we insist upon it
first and foremostthat He is the sinner’s Savior. He is righteous and loves
righteousness, but He is first known to men as the friend of sinners. He is the
faithful and true witness, the prince of the kings of the earth, but His first
work is to save. After that, He teaches and rules His savedones. Sunkenin sin,
men need to be redeemed from that tremendous evil and the consequent
wrath upon it, and this awful need is met by Jesus, the Savior. So, beloved,
you see that the name chosenof God is given to Him by all those who know
Him and to whom His gospelis entrusted, and given heartily, zealously and
boldly. Yes, all of us call Him Jesus if we know Him, and we are resolvedto

68. publish His name abroadas long as we live. If He was Jesus in the cradle,
what is He now that He is exalted in the heavens? As Emmanuel, God with us,
His very incarnation made Him Jesus, the Savior of men. But what shall I say
of Him now that beyond His incarnation, we have His atonement, and above
His atonementHis resurrection, and beyond that His ascension, and to crown
all, His perpetual intercession? How grandly does the title befit Him, now that
He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing
He always lives to make intercessionforthem! If in the arms of the Virgin He
is the Savior, what is He on the throne of God? If wrapped in swaddling bands
He is Jesus, whatis He now that the heavens have receivedHim? If in the
workshopof Nazarethand sitting in the temple among the doctors, He was the
child Jesus, the Savior, what is He now that His infancy and childhood are
over and He is exalted far above all principalities and powers? If He was Jesus
when on the cross, presenting Himself as an offering for His people, what is
He now that He has, by one sacrifice, perfectedforeverthem that are set
apart? What is He now that He sits at the right hand of God, expecting till His
enemies are made His footstool? Let us all unite in calling our Lord by this
tender human name of Jesus. Are we not His mother and sisterand brother?
Did He not call all believers by these endearing titles? Then we, too, will call
Him Jesus—
Sermon #1434 Jesus
Volume 24 Tell someone todayhow much you love Jesus Christ.
5
5
“Jesus, name all names above; Jesus bestand nearest, Jesus,fount of perfect
love, holiest, most tender, dearest:Jesus, source ofgrace completed;Jesus
holiest, sweetest, Jesus, Saviorall divine, Yours the name, and only Yours.”
III. THE NAME HAD BEEN TYPICALLY WORN BY ANOTHER, BUT IS
NOW RESERVED FOR HIM ALONE. There had been a Jesus before our
Jesus. I allude to Joshua and you know that in our version the name Jesus is
twice used where Joshua is really meant. The first is Acts 7:4, 5, where we
read of the fathers who entered in with Jesus into the possessionofthe

69. Gentiles, evidently meaning Joshua. And the secondin Hebrews 4:8, “If Jesus
had given them rest.” Joshua is the Hebrew form and Jesus the Greek form,
but Jesus and Joshua are the same word. There was one, then, of old, who
bore this famous name of Jesus, orJoshua, and was a type of our Jesus. What
did Joshua do? When Moses couldnot lead the people into Canaan, Joshua
did it, and so our Jesus accomplisheswhatthe law never could have done.
Joshua overcame the enemies of God’s people. Though they were very many
and very strong and had cities walledto heavenand chariots of iron, yet in the
name of Jehovah, as captain of the Lord’s host, Joshua smote them. Even so
does our glorious Joshua smite our sins and all the powers of darkness, and
utterly destroys our spiritual enemies. Before Joshua, Amalek is smitten,
Jericho falls and Canaanites are put to rout, while Jesus gives us triumphs in
every place. Moreover, Joshua conqueredan inheritance for Israel, took them
across the Jordan, settled them in a land that flowed with milk and honey and
gave to eachtribe and to eachman to stand in his lot which God had ordained
for him. Preciselythis is what our Jesus does. Only our inheritance is more
divine and on eachone of us it is more surely entailed. Though Joshua could
not give to the people the heavenly Sabbatismos, orrest of the highest kind,
yet he gave them rest most pleasantto them, so that every man sat under his
own vine and fig tree, none making him afraid. But our glorious Joshua has
given us infinite, eternal rest, for He is our peace and they that know Him
have entered into rest. Joshua, the son of Nun, causedthe people to serve the
Lord all his days, but he could not save the nation from their sins, for after his
death they grievously went astray. Our Joshua reserves to Himself a people
zealous for goodworks, for He always lives and is able to keepthem from
falling. No more does Joshua lift swordor spearon behalf of Israel, but Jesus
still rides forth, conquering and to conquer, and all His people have victory
through His blood. Well is His name calledJesus. We readof another Jesus in
the books ofEzra and Zechariah. The form which the word there takes is
Jeshua or Joshua. He was the high priest who came at the head of the people
on their return from Babylon. He is spokenof by the prophet Zechariah in
terms which make him a fit representative of eachof us. But, behold, Jesus of
Nazarethis now the only High Priest, and having presented His one sacrifice
forever, He remains a priest according to the power of an endless life. He
heads the march from Babylon and He leads His people back to Jerusalem.

70. The name of Jesus was not at all uncommon among the Jews. Josephus
mentions no less than 12 persons of the name of Jesus. Salvationofa certain
kind was so longed for by the Jews that their eagernesswas seenin their
children’s names. Their little ones were by their hopes named as saviors, but
saviors they were not. How common are nominal saviors!“Lo here,” they say,
“here is a savior.” “Lo, there,” they cry, “anothersavior.” These have the
name but not the power, and now, according to the text, Jesus Christ has
engrossedthe title for Himself. His name shall be called Jesus, for He alone, is
a Prince and a Savior and truly saves His people from their sins. Other saviors
do but mock the hopes of mankind, they promise fairly, but they utterly
deceive. This holy child, this blessed, glorious Godwith us, has truly brought
us salvation and He says, “Look unto Me and be you saved, all you ends of the
earth, for I am God, and beside Me there is none else.” This Jesus of
Nazareth, the King of kings, is the one and only Savior. He, and none but He,
shall save His people. He shall save by His own act and deed, He and not
another. Singly and alone He shall save His people. Personally, and not by
another, in His name and on His behalf He shall, by Himself, purge awaysin.
He shall do all the work and leave none undone, He shall begin it, carry it on
and complete it, and therefore is His name calledJesus, becauseHe shall
completely and perfectly save His people from their sins. The name has been,
in a minor sense, appliedto others before, but now none else may wearit,
since there is no other Savior, and none other name given under heaven
among men whereby we must be saved.
Jesus Sermon#1434
Tellsomeone today how much you love Jesus Christ. Volume 24
6
6
IV. The fourth point grows out of the wording of the text. THIS NAME
JESUS IDENTIFIES OUR LORD WITH HIS PEOPLE. “Youshall call His
name Jesus,” forthat name declares His relation to His people. It is to them
that He is a Savior. He would not be Jesus if He had not a people. He could
not be, for there could be no Savior if there were none to save, and there could

71. be no Saviorfrom sin if there were no sinners. Notice, dearfriends, the all-
important connectionhere revealedbetweenour Lord and His people, since
His very name hangs on it. His proper, personalname has no meaning apart
from His people. “He shall save His people.” It does not say God’s people, for
then it would have been understoodas meaning only the Jews, orit would
have been supposedto refer to some goodand holy persons who belongedto
God, apart from the Mediator. But, “He shall save His people”—those who
are His own and personally belong to Him. These are evidently a very peculiar
people, a people setapart as Christ’s own treasure. Theyare a people that
belong to God incarnate—Emmanuel’s people. These He saves. Who are they
but His elect, whom His Father gave Him before the earth was? Who are they
but those whose names are engraved on the palms of His hands and written on
His heart? Who are they but those for whom He counted down the price of
redemption? Who are they but those for whom He became a surety, whose
smart He has borne? Who are they but the numbered sheepthat will be
required at His hands by the great Father, that He should render them back
by count and number, saying, “I have kept those whom You have given Me,
for they are Yours”? Yes, the Lord knows them that are His and He preserves
them unto His eternalkingdom and glory. “He shall save His people.” Do you
not see that this name of Jesus is an electionname, after all? It is a wide, far-
reaching name to sinners dear, to sinners given, but still in the depths of its
meaning it has a specialbearing upon a chosenpeople. It has a ring of
sovereigntyabout it and is all the sweeterbecauseofthis, to those who see in
their own salvationan exhibition of distinguishing grace. Now the question
arises, who are His people? We are eagerto know who they are and we are
glad to find that His people, be they who they may, need to be savedand shall
be saved, for it is written, “He shall save His people.” It is not said, “He shall
reward His people for their righteousness,”nor is it promised that He shall,
“save them from becoming sinners,” but “He shall save His people from their
sins.” Do you need saving brethren? Has the Holy Spirit taught you that you
need salvation? Let your hearts be encouraged. This is the characterof all His
people. He never had a chosenone who could do without washing in the
Savior’s blood. If you are righteous in yourself, you are not one of His people.
If you were never sick in soul, you are none of the folk that the Great
Physicianhas come to heal. If you were never guilty of sin, you are none of

72. those whom He has come to deliver from sin. Jesus comes onno needless
errand and undertakes no unnecessarywork. If you feelyourselves to need
saving, then castyourselves upon Him, for such as you are He came to save.
Notice yet again, the very gracious, but startling fact that our Lord’s
connectionwith His people, lies in the direction of their sins. This is amazing
condescension. He is calledSavior in connectionwith His people, but it is in
reference to their sins, because it is from their sins that they need to be saved.
If they had never sinned they would never have required a Savior, and there
would have been no name of Jesus knownon earth. That is a wonderful text—
did you ever meditate upon it?—“Who gave Himself for our sins according to
the Scriptures.” As Martin Luther says, He never gave Himself for our
righteousness, but He did give Himself for our sins. Sin is a horrible evil, a
deadly poison, yet it is this which gives Jesus His title when He overcomes it.
What a wonder to think upon! The first link betweenmy soul and Christ is,
not my goodness,but my badness, not my merit, but my misery, not my
standing, but my falling, not my riches, but my need. He comes to visit His
people, yet not to admire their beauties, but to remove their deformities, not
to reward their virtues, but to forgive their sins. O you sinners, I mean real
sinners, not you that callyourselves so because you are told you are such, but
you who feelyourselves to be guilty before God, here is goodnews for you. O
you self-condemnedsinners, who feel that if you ever get salvation, Jesus must
bring it to you and be the beginning and the end of it, I pray you rejoice in this
dear, this precious, this blessedname, for Jesus has come to save you, even
you. Go to Him as sinners, callHim, “Jesus,”andcry, “O Lord Jesus, be Jesus
to me, for I need Your salvation.” Doubt not that He will fulfill His own name
and exhibit His power in you. Only confess to Him your sin and He will save
you from it. Only believe in Him and He will be your salvation.
Sermon #1434 Jesus
Volume 24 Tell someone todayhow much you love Jesus Christ.
7
7

73. V. The fifth point is very clearand wellworthy of note. THE NAME OF
“JESUS” IS ONE WHICH INDICATES HIS MAIN WORK. “You shall call
His name Jesus, forHe shall save.” He shall save from sin. Why do men write
lives of Christ who know nothing about His main business and objective?
Why do some preachabout Christ who do not know the very essence,and
heart of Him? Think of knowing Milton, but not as a poet, and Bacon, but not
as a philosopher! There is no knowing our Lord, if He is not known as a
Savior, for He is that or nothing. Those who fall short of His salvationdo not
even know His name. How, then, should they know Him? His name is not
calledJesus because He is our Exemplar, though indeed He is perfectionitself,
and we long to walk in His footsteps. But His name is calledJesus because He
has come to save that which is lost. He is Christ, too, or the anointed, but then
He is Christ Jesus, that is to say, it is as a Savior that He is anointed. He is
nothing if He is not a Savior. He is anointed to this very end. His very name is
a sham if He does not save His people from their sins. Now, Jesus does save
His people from sin, for, first, He does it by taking all the sins of His people
upon Himself. Do you think that is a strong expression? It is warranted by the
Scriptures. “The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Christ’s
shoulders bore the guilt of His people, and because He took their load, His
people are free and have henceforthno burden of sin to weighthem down. He
saves His people through His personalsubstitution, by standing in their stead
and suffering in their place. There is no other way of salvation but by His
vicarious sufferings and death. ThenHe saves them by bearing the penalty
due to their sin. Where the sin lies, the penalty falls. “The chastisementof our
peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed.” “He was made a
curse for us.” “Christ also has suffered for us.” He died, “the just for the
unjust, to bring us to God.” He bore the wrath of God which was due to us.
He has takenthe sin and paid the penalty, and now quibblers come in and
falselysay that we teach that a man is to believe the dogma of atonementand
then he is saved and may live as he likes. Theyknow better. They know that
they misrepresentus, for we always teachthat this great work of substitution
and penalty-bearing by Christ works in the person who partakes in its
benefits, love to God, gratitude to Christ and consequenthatred of all sin. And
this change of heart is the very core and essenceofsalvation. This is how
Christ saves His people from their sin—by rescuing them, by the force of His

74. love, out of the power, tyranny and dominion of sins, which before then had
the mastery overthem. I knew what it was to strive againstsin as a moral
person, seeking to overcome it. But I found myself masteredby sin, like
Samsonwhen his hair was lost, and the Philistines bound him. But since I
have believed in Jesus I find motives for being holy which are more influential
with me than any I knew before. I find weapons with which to fight my sin
that I never knew how to handle before and a new strength has been given me
by the Holy Spirit. “This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our
faith.” This is the powerwhich drives out the vipers of sin from the soul—the
precious blood of Jesus. He that has believed in Jesus as his expiation and
atonement becomes thereby, through the powerof the Holy Spirit, renewedin
heart. He has fresh objects secure him, fresh motives swayhim, and thus
Jesus saves His people from their sins. Beloved, if we had space atthis time, I
should like to speak abouthow completely Christ saves His people from their
sins, how when He comes in He turns out the strong man armed with mighty
force, how that strong armed man seeks to come back againand does, as far
as he can, gain a partial entrance, but Jesus drives him out again, how all the
damage and foulness that were left within the house by the old tenant are
gradually clearedawayby Jesus, till at last His people are fully sanctifiedas
temples of the living God. His saints shall be without spot or wrinkle, or any
such thing, and no sign that the devil ever dwelt within them shall remain
upon them. Viewing eachone of their risen bodies as a temple of God, you
shall searchthose bodies through and not find a trace of the dominion of sin.
You shall look into the heart, into the mind, into the understanding, but when
Jesus has done His purging work there shall be no scaror speck to show that
sin was everthere. So completely shall He save His people from their sins that,
they shall be fit to dwell with angels. Better—theyshallbe fit to dwell with
God. Betterthan that, they shall be one with Jesus, one with Him throughout
eternity, the fullness of Him that fills all in all. How glorious, how
transcendent is the salvationwhich JehovahJesus has brought to us! VI. This
NAME OF JESUS IS ONE WHICH IS COMPLETELYJUSTIFIED BY
FACTS. It was given Him before He had done anything. While yet He was a
baby, or before His trembling feethad learned to tread the cottage floorat
Nazareth, He was Jesus the Savior. But is the name well deserved?

75. Jesus Sermon#1434
Tellsomeone today how much you love Jesus Christ. Volume 24
8
8
Many a child has had a grand name and his life has contradictedit. I
remember a grave on which there is the name of a child, “Sacredto the
memory of MethuselahConey, who died agedsix months.” His parents were
mightily mistakenwhen they called him Methuselah. Many other names are
equally inappropriate and are proved to be so in the course of years. But this
Jesus is a Savior, a true Jesus. He bears a name which He well deserves. Come
to the Christ and see there the many that once rioted in sin, and rolled in the
mire, but they are washed, but they are sanctified, and now they rejoice in
holiness. Who purified them? Who but Jesus? He that saves His people from
their sins has saved them. Go to deathbeds and hear saints telling of His love,
and speaking of the heaven which is already dawning in their souls. Some of
these once could sit on the ale-bench, and use the swearer’soath, but Jesus
has cleansedthem. Climb up to heavenand behold the snow-white host,
glittering like the sun in spotless purity. I ask them from where they came?
The reply is that they have washedtheir robes and made them white in the
blood of the Lamb. It is most true that Jesus saves His people from their
sins—earthknows it, hell howls at it and heaven chants it. Time has seenit
and eternity shall revealit. There is none like Jesus in saving power. All glory
be to Him! When He shall come from heaven with a shout, and all His hosts
shall be with Him, when the day of the supper of the Lamb shall come and the
bride has made herself ready, and she that is the queen all glorious within,
wearing her raiment of workedgold shall sit down at the table of God with
her glorious husband—then shall it be seenthat He has savedHis church, His
people, from their sins. VII. Last of all, THIS NAME IS CHRIST’S
PERSONALNAME FOREVER. It is a home name. It is the name His Father
gave Him, it is the name His mother gave Him—Jesus, the child Jesus. We
also belong to His family, for he that believes in Him is His father, mother,
sisterand brother, and that most dear and familiar name by which He was

76. known at home is always in our mouths. He is the Lord and we worship Him,
but He is Jesus and we love Him. Jesus is also the heart name, and is full of
the music of love. They who loved Him best gave Him the name, especiallyHis
mother, who pondered everything about Him in her heart. It is the name
which moves our affections and fires our souls— “Jesus, the very thought of
you With sweetnessfills my breast.” Let your hearts go out towards Him in
tender union. Jesus is His death name—“Jesus ofNazareth, King of the
Jews,”was written on His cross. Thatis His resurrectionname. That is His
gospelname, which we preach. It is the name which Peterpreached to the
Gentiles when he said, “This is Jesus ofNazareth by whom is preached to you
the remissionof sins.” And this, beloved, is His heavenname. They sing to
Him there as Jesus. See how it concludes the Bible. ReadRevelationand read
its songs and see how they worship Jesus, the Lamb of God. Let us go and tell
of this name. Let us continually meditate upon it. Let us love it from this day
and forever. Amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTUREREAD BEFORESERMON—HEBREWS1
AND 2 HYMNS FROM “OUR OWN HYMN BOOK”—872,331, 786.
Adapted from The C. H. SpurgeonCollection, Version1.0, Ages Software.
PLEASE PRAY THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL USE THIS SERMON TO
BRING MANY TO A SAVING KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS CHRIST.
By the grace ofGod, for all 63 volumes of C. H. Spurgeon sermons in Modern
English, and 574 Spanish translations, all free, visit: www.spurgeongems.org
GREG ALLEN

77. BY HIS APPOINTED NAME (v. 21).
The angeltold Josephnot to be afraid to take Mary as His wife, and that the
Child in her womb is conceivedin her of the Holy Spirit. And then, the angel
said, "And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall callHis name JESUS, for
He will save His people from their sins."
The name "Jesus"was a familiar name in those days. In Hebrew, it's the same
as the name 'Joshua';a name that means "Yahwehsaves". Butin the case of
our Lord, the name has particular significance, becausethe angelclearly
identifies this Son of Mary's as the One would "save His people from their
sins." He is being marked out as the Savior through whom Yahweh saves -
and particularly, saves from sin!
In designating Mary's Son in this way, there's a sense ofexclusivity. No one
else canclaim to be the saviorof their people, because no one else in human
history has ever had an angel of the Lord come and identify them as the one
who would save people from their sins. But Jesus has. And this exclusive
designationis confirmed elsewhere inScripture. Jesus Himself saidto the
Pharisees,". . . If you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins"
(John 8:23-24). He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes
to the Fatherexcept through Me" (John 14:6). Petersaid, "Noris there
salvationin any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among
men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
But in designating Him as "JESUS" - the One who saves His people from
their sins - there's also a sense of invitation. "For," as the apostle Johntells us,
"Goddid not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the
world through Him might be saved" (John 3:17). "Believe onthe Lord Jesus
Christ," Paul said, "and you will be saved. . ." (Acts 16:31). ". . . If you
confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus," Paulteaches, "andbelieve in your
heart that God has raisedHim from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans
10:9). Jesus is, as John the Baptist proclaimed, "The Lamb of God who takes
awaythe sin of the world" (John 1:29); and in heaven, those who are saved
will cry out, "Salvationbelongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the
Lamb!" (Revelation7:10).

78. A goodfriend of mine pointed something out to me the other day. We were
talking about how so many people complain because, as Christians, we believe
what the Bible clearlyteaches - that there is no other way to salvationbut
through faith in Jesus Christ. Such people seemput off by the fact that there
aren't "options". My friend had recently watchedthe movie Apollo 13; the
story of how the endangeredastronauts managedto stay alive and return to
earth by staying inside the lunar landing module. My friend pointed out how
the astronauts didn't complain that this was the "only way" or that they
didn't have other "options" to choose from. In fact, seeing that they were
otherwise sure to die, they seemedunspeakablygrateful that there was "a
way" at all!!
How goodGod is to us! We were lostin our sins; and apart from His grace,
there would be no hope - no "way". But God has provided "a way";and He is
THE ONLY WAY - Jesus Christ, "God with us", the One whom the angel
designatedby name as, "Yahweh saves!"
CHRIS BENFIELD
What a Lovely Name
Matthew 1: 21-23, Luke 2: 11
There’s an old hymn entitled “Whata Lovely Name”. The 1st stanza reads:
There’s a name above all others, Wonderful to hear, bringing hope and cheer;
It’s the lovely name of Jesus, Evermore the same, what a lovely name. Mostof
you know that old hymn; but most importantly, I pray that all of you know
that Name!It is certainly a name worth knowing, because itbelongs to a
Savior worth loving.
The name of Jesus truly is a lovely name. It is that lovely name that I want us
to considerthis morning. Christmas is upon us and the One who bears that
name is the reasonwe are here. His name means much to the believer. It

79. speaks ofmuch more than a babe in a lowly manger. Let’s consider the
significance ofthat Name.
I. JESUS – His Pre-eminence (21) – Jesus means Jehovahis salvation. What a
name, the name of Jesus. In that day Jesus was a common name. It is the
Greek form of the Hebrew name, Joshua. At His birth, Jesus became a special
name, a pre-eminent name.
 This was the name chosenby God. It speaksofwho He is. It declares His
deity as the Son of God. Jesus is the name knownin heaven, recognizedby the
angels. It is the name that brings fearto Satanand the forces of hell.
 Never has a name endured the ages oftime as the name Jesus. It is still the
name that brings comfort to those in despair, salvationto the sinner, and hope
to the hopeless. It is a name both loved and hated, cursed and honored,
receivedand rejected;but, Jesus is a name above all others. Acts 4:12 –
Neither is there salvationin any other: for there is none other name under
heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Phil.2:9-11) There’s no
other name like Jesus!I hope it’s more than just a name to you.
II. Emmanuel – His Person(23) – This is His name that is seldomspoken, but
it holds specialsignificance forall of mankind, especiallythe Christian.
Emmanuel means God with us.
 It reminds us of Jesus’humanity. His was no ordinary birth, not just
another child. He came as God in the flesh. He came as the perfect God-Man.
He was born of a virgin, conceivedofthe Holy Ghost.
 On that faithful Christmas, God came in the form of a man to dwell among
the fallen creation. Jn.1:14 – And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among

80. us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begottenof the Father,)
full of grace and truth. Isn’t it amazing that Christ came at all? He left all the
splendor of heaven, laid aside His glory, and was robed in flesh, all for you
and me! Phil.2:7 – But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him
the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness ofmen. Without our
Emmanuel, there would be no salvation;had He not come, we would still be
lost. Aren’t you glad He came as a humble babe to redeemus?
I. JESUS – His Pre-eminence (21)
II. Emmanuel – His Person(23)
III. Savior – His Purpose (Lu.2:11) – For unto you is born this day in the city
of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. The angel had brought good
tidings of greatjoy. The Savior of the world had been born in Bethlehem.
Jesus came to deliver us from sin; that is why He came.
 He could’ve come as a righteous judge to condemn; but, He came as Savior,
full of compassion. He didn’t come for the wealthy, or men of high degree;He
came for the lowly sinner, those held captive by sin, lost and undone. Jesus
came to set us free! Lu.19:10 – For the Son of man is come to seek andto save
that which was lost. Ro.5:6 – For when we were yet without strength, in due
time Christ died for the ungodly.
 He accomplishedwhatwe never could. It was impossible for us to redeem
ourselves. Jesus came as the Savior of the world. I Jn.4:14 – And we have seen
and do testify that the Father sentthe Son to be the Saviour of the world. He
alone was worthy; He alone could purchase our forgiveness. Withoutthe
Savior, we would still be in our sin. What a Savior!

81. IV. Christ – His Priesthood(11) – The Greek wordis Christos and means the
same as the Hebrew, Messiah. Christis the Messiah, the anointed One! He is
the one they had longed for; the One the prophets preached about. The
anointed One had come.
 In the name Christ, we see Him as the holy High Priest. Jesus came to
provide redemption, but through Him we have much more than just
forgiveness. He ascended back to the Father, placing His royal, redeeming
blood on the mercy seat, thus forever removing the veil of separation.
 Christ provided a means by which we canapproach the Father. Every born
againChristian has direct accessto the throne room of God. He stands as our
Mediator, making intercessionforus! I Tim.2:5 – For there is one God, and
one mediator betweenGod and men, the man Christ Jesus. I can come before
the Fatherwithout fear. We can boldly come unto the throne room of grace. I
stand cleansedin the blood of the Lamb. God doesn’t see me as a condemned
sinner, but a cleansedsaint.
I. JESUS – His Pre-eminence (21)
II. Emmanuel – His Person(23)
III. Savior – His Purpose (Lu.2:11)
IV. Christ – His Priesthood(11)
V. Lord – His Power(11) – For unto you is born this day in the city of David a
Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. Jesus is also known as Lord. This
particular name speaks ofHis supreme authority; He is our Master!We serve
the King of kings and Lord of lords.
 There has never been a time when Jesus wasn’tLord. The title and its
attributes were never foreignto Christ. He didn’t become Lord; He is Lord!
He stood as Lord in glory with the Father. He was Lord on earth, possessing

82. complete authority. He was Lord over the waves, the demons, all manner of
sickness, andeven death.
 He is even Lord over hell and the grave. Neverthink the cross was the end,
even in His death, Jesus was Lord. He laid down His life and took it up again.
He is seatedright now at the right hand of God. He is Lord of all. Col.1:17 –
And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
If you did not recognize my name, you wouldn’t have missedmuch. But, the
name of Jesus, that’s a much different story. His name means all to me.
Have you met this wonderful Jesus? Simply believing in Him and calling upon
His name will make an eternal difference in your life. What a lovely name, the
precious name of Jesus!He brought salvationto the shepherds, the disciples,
and the thief on the cross;He can provide salvationfor you also!
BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR
Verse 21-22
Matthew 1:21-22
Jesus.
The designof our Saviour’s coming

83. I. Considerthis as an enemy.
1. Beholdsin with regardto God.
2. Beholdsin in its names.
3. Beholdthe effects of sin.
4. That Christ derives from this work His highesttitle.
II. Considerin what manner he saves his people from their sins.
1. He redeems them by price.
2. He saves them by power.
3. He saves from the guilt of sin.
4. He saves from the love of sin. (W. Jay.)
In old times God was knownby names of power, of nature, of majesty; but
His name of mercy was reservedtill now. (Bishop J. Taylor.)
The name and work of Jesus
I. His name.
II. His work.
1. Whom He saves-“His people.”
2. From what He saves-“theirsins.”
3. How He saves. ByHis atonement He saves them virtually; by His spirit,
vitally; by His grace, constantly;by His power, eternally. Remarks:

84. Christ a Saviour
I. The work he is to accomplishis a most great, glorious, and blessedone. “He
shall save.” Another Scripture says, He shall destroy. “Forthis purpose the
Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”
These charactersare consistent. He demolishes the works ofSatan because
they stand in His way as Saviour.
1. He eaves His people from the penalty of their sins.
2. From the dominion and practice of sin.
3. In the end He saves from the very existence ofsin.
4. And from the painful remembrance of their sins.
II. The name our Lord is to bear in consequence ofthis work of salvation.
Learn from this-
1. The characterin which Godmost delights to regardHis Son.
2. It shows us that He would have us regardHim chiefly as a Saviour.
3. This name may have been given to Christ to endear Him the more to our
hearts.
4. We see here beyond all dispute the real nature and design of Christ’s
religion. (C. Bradley.)
The name of Jesus
I. The name of Jesus.
1. The signification of the name.
2. The appointment of the name. Notleft to men’s choice.

85. II. The reasonfor the name. Some would rather that He had come to save
them from poverty, pains, death; not knowing that to save from sins is to save
from all these. (J. Bennet, D. D.)
I. A work of most blessedpurpose.
1. Sin is itself the greatestofall miseries. It is
II. A work of vast magnitude. Its magnitude realized by dwelling-
1. On the multitudes of the saved.
2. On the nature of the salvation.
3. On the fact that this salvationis wrought by Jesus personally. (U. R.
Thomas.)
Jesus the Saviour
I. What the gospelshall, bring-Salvation from sins.
II. Jesus is the saviour and his work constitutes our salvation.
1. This word teaches us that salvationis Divine. Because Divine it is
2. He who gives this salvationstands in solitary grandeur-”He.” Nowhere else
can we find salvation.
3. The name gives an immutable pledge that we shall be saved.

86. III. The text informs us of what this salvationconsists. “Fromtheir sins.” Not
from the wrath of God primarily.
1. From the guilt, curse, condemnation of sin.
2. From our love, habit, practice of sin.
3. It is not salvationfrom an abstraction, but from selfishness andself-will.
IV. The characterof the people of God. His people; peculiar, chosen, royal.
Are you saved from sins? (J. Donovan.)
Jesus the Saviour
I. Jesus is an omnipotent Saviour.
1. The presumption of the factfrom the infinite wisdom and goodness ofGod,
who never provides a cause unequal to the effect.
2. The declarationof the fact, “He is able to save them to the uttermost,” etc.
II. Jesus is a willing Saviour.
III. Jesus is a living Saviour.
IV. Jesus is a present Saviour.
V. Jesus is a personalSaviour.
VI. Jesus is a sympathizing Saviour.” (G. H. Smyth.)

87. I. Let me callyour attention to the Saviour. Jesus is Divine; He saves His
people from their sins. Not the word, not the ordinances, but Jesus Himself
saves.
II. Look at the salvation.
1. Jesus savesfrom sin by bestowing forgiveness-fullforgiveness, free,
immediate.
2. Jesus savesHis people from the pollution of sin; not in their sins, but from
their sins.
III. Let us look at the saved. “He shall save His people.” Who are His people?
They must have been at one time in their sins. Therefore no one need despair.
(W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Jesus only worthy of trust as a Saviour.
A Christian Hindoo was dying, and his heathen comrades came around him
and tried to comfort him by reading some of the pages oftheir theology;but
he waved his hand, as much as to say, “I don’t want to hear it.” Then they
calledin a heathen priest, and he said, “If you will only recite the Numtra it
will deliver you from hell.” He waved his hand, as much as to say, “I don’t
want to hear that.” Then they said, “Callon Juggernaut.” He shook his head,
as much as to say, “I can’t do that.” Then they thought perhaps he was too
wearyto speak, andthey said, “Now if you can’t say ‘ Juggernaut,’think of
that god.” He shook his head again, as much as to say, “No, no, no.” Then they
bent down to his pillow, and they said, “In what will you trust?” His face
lighted up with the very glories ofthe celestialsphere as he cried out, rallying
all his dying energies, “Jesus!”
The name of Jesus.-“

88. This name Jesus,” saidSt. Bernard, “it is honey in the mouth, harmony in the
ear, melody in the heart.” “This name Jesus,”saithSt. Anselm, “it is a name
of comfort to sinners when they call upon Him; “ therefore he himself saith,
“Jesus, be my Jesus.” This name is above all names: first, for that it was
consecratedfrom everlasting;secondly, for that it was given of God; thirdly,
for that it was desired of the Patriarchs;fourthly, for that it was foretoldof
the Prophets;fifthly, for that it was accomplishedin the time of grace,
magnified in the Apostles, witnessedof Martyrs, acknowledgedand honoured
shall it be of all believers unto the world’s end. This name Jesus, it is
compared to “oilpoured out; “ oil being kept close, it sendeth not forth such a
savour, as it doth being poured out; and oil hath these properties, it suppleth,
it cherisheth, it maketh look cheerfully; so doth this name of Jesus, it suppleth
the hardness of our hearts, it cherisheth the weaknessofour faith,
enlighteneth the darkness ofour soul, and maketh man look with a cheerful
countenance towards the throne of grace. (ChristopherSutton.)
Salvationfrom sin
You must be saved from sin not in sin as some seemto imagine. The latter is
like saving a man from drowning by keeping him under the waterwhich is
destroying him; or like recovering a man from sickness by leaving him under
the malady which constitutes the complaint. (W. Jay.)
ALAN CARR
Matt. 1:18-25 THERE IS A NAME I LOVE TO HEAR
Intro: Ill. “Oh How I Love Jesus” – One of my favorite hymns! It exalts that
Name that God said is “above every name.”

89. * Names in our day do not mean much. Parents pick out names for their
children for many reasons. Some are different; others are weird; some are
chosento honor someone they think of as their hero; or sometimes they will
name a child after a family member. But, most of the time, there is no special
significance behind the choice of a name.
* For instance, the name “Alan” means “Handsome”. What were my parents
thinking?
* Lets considerour Deacons names tonight. Gene – “Wellborn”; Bobby –
“Bright Fame”;Don – “Rulerof the World”; Harry – “Home Ruler”; Ray –
“Counselorand Protector” Thoseare all noble names, but they were probably
not chosenfor their meanings, but for the waythey sound, our to honor a
family member, or just because somebodyliked them.
* In Bible times, things were different. Names were given for a reason.
Names meant something and people often lived up to their name. Jacob –
“Trickster”;David – “Beloved”;Abraham – “Fatherof a Multitude”; Moses
– “DrawnOut”
* Today I want to considerthe name mentioned in verse 21. The angel
commanded Josephto name the baby Mary would bear Jesus. Why? That
name would describe in detail the entirety of all that Jesus was coming to do.
* I would like to take that name Jesus and say “There Is A Name I Love To
Hear.”
I. THAT NAME DECLARES HIS IDENTITY
* The name Jesus means “Jehovahis Salvation”. It was a very common name
in that society. (Ill. Jacoband Emily have been the most popular baby names
in America since 1999, according to the SocialSecurity Administration web
site)
* Jesus may have had a common name, but He was no ordinary baby. His
birth was normal, but His conceptionwas anything but normal, Luke 1:26-38.
Jesus was a real human baby, but He was also God in the flesh, John 1:1; 14.

90. * When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, God came to earth to live among men –
Ill. Phil. 2:5-8a!
* Ill. The implications of this! The Creatorbecame dependant upon the
creature!
* When we speak ofthe Jesus ofthe Bible, we are referring to God in the
flesh!
II. THAT NAME DECLARES HIS INTENTIONS
* His name means “Jehovahis Salvation”. The word “salvation” tells us what
Jesus came into this world to accomplish. He came to “save His people from
their sins”, v. 21.
* The word “save” means “keepsafe and sound, to rescue from danger or
destruction”. How would Jesus accomplishthis? He tells us in His own words,
Mark 10:45. Jesus came to this world for one purpose only and that purpose
was to die on the cross for sinners, Phil. 2:8b; John 18:37. (Ill. Phil. 2:8b,
“eventhe death of the cross” – Isa. 53:4-6;Psa. 22:1; 12-18.) Evenour Lord’s
greatmission statement, Luke 19:10, reveals His intentions.
* In spite of all He did while He was here, his primary purpose in coming into
this world was so that He could die for His people.
III. THAT NAME DECLARES HIS IMPOVERISHMENT
* The name “Jesus”is our Lord’s human name. He is given many names in
the Bible. Ill. Some. But the name “Jesus”is the name that identifies Him
with the very people He came to save, Ill. Phil. 2:5-8a. He was all God; yet He
was all man too! (Ill. And He still is!)
* Imagine this; the Lord of glory came into this world. He came not as a
King, but as a humble servant. He was not born in a palace, but a manger.
Jesus understoodpoverty, Matt. 8:20; weariness, John4:6; Matt. 8:24;
hunger, Matt. 4:2; rejection, John 1:11, John 19:10; loneliness, John6:15;

91. Matt 26:29; temptation, Matt. 4:1-11;and the rest of the trials of the human
condition.
* He endured all that He did so that He might identify Himself with us,
understand us, and be able to comfort us in our trials, Heb. 4:15-16.
IV. THAT NAME DECLARES HIS INDIVIDUALITY
* As I said, there were many children in that time named Jesus. But, there
was only one Who could be called“Emmanuel”! (Ill. Verse 23)
* Thousands of babies were into the world that same year, but only one of
them would grow up to be the Savior of the world!
* After all these years, Jesus stillstands alone. He is the only One Who can
save a lost soul, John 14:6; Acts 4:12.
* Ill. Mankind has fallen into deep pit of sin. As he lies there perishing many
would be saviors walk by with their advice. The legalistsays “You shouldn’t
fall into pits.” The religionistsays, “I can tell you how to get out of that pit
and avoid other pits in the future.” The pessimistsays, “You’re going to die
in that pit!” The optimist says, “I have seenworse pits than that.” The realist
says, “You need to acceptyour pit.” The spiritualist says, “There is no pit.”
But, Jesus comes by, and He says, “I’ll getinto the pit with you and lift you
out!” That is exactly what Jesus did for you and me, Psa. 40:1-3.
* Jesus is the only One Who cansave the sin-sick soul!
Conc:There is a name I love to hear! In Jesus, I see and hear His
Incarnation, Humiliation, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Glorificationand
Salvation. The song says, “There’s justsomething about that Name!” Do you
know Him? Do you want to know Him better? Needto thank Him?

92. THE WONDERFULNAMES OF JESUS
Dr. W. A. Criswell
Matthew 1:18-25
7-1-62 7:30 p.m.
On the radio you are listening to the services ofthe First Baptist Church in
Dallas. This is the pastorbringing the evening messagefrom the eighteenthto
the twenty-fifth verses ofthe first chapter of Matthew. And all of us here in
the greatcongregationand on radio listening, turn to the first chapter of the
First Gospeland read it with us out loud. Share your Bible with your
neighbor and all of us reading it together. The title of the sermontonight is
The Names of Jesus;two of them here in this remarkable passage. Now
togetherchapter 1, the Gospelof Matthew beginning at the eighteenthverse:
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as His mother Mary
was espousedto Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child
of the Holy Ghost.
Then Josephher husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a
public example, was minded to put her away privily.
And while he thought on these things, behold, the angelof the Lord appeared
unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou sonof David, fear not to take unto
thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceivedin her is of the Holy Ghost.
And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He
shall save His people from their sins.
Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spokenofthe Lord
by the prophet, saying,

93. Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall
call His name Immanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
Then Josephbeing raised from sleepdid as the angelof the Lord had bidden
him, and took unto him his wife:
And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn Son: and he called
His name JESUS.
[Matthew 1:18-25]
Somebody has said there are three hundred sixty-five different names in the
Bible given to our Savior and Lord. In one verse in the Old Testament, I
remember, “And His name shall be calledWonderful, Counselor, the Mighty
God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace” [Isaiah9:6]; calling Him
Lord [Isaiah 9:7]. Calling Him our Shepherd [1 Peter5:4], calling Him our
Savior [2 Peter3:18], calling Him our Messiah[John4:25-26], the Christ of
God [Luke 9:20], calling Him our Mediator [1 Timothy 2:3], our greatHigh
Priest[Hebrews 4:14], our Intercessor[Romans 8:24;Hebrews 7:25]. How
many and how multitudinous are the names that describe and depict the glory
and the ministry of Christ? But out of all of the names by which He is named,
the most beautiful is the name Immanuel. “All this was done, that it might be
fulfilled which was spokenof the Lord by the prophet Isaiah, saying, Behold,
a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call His
name Immanuel, which being interpreted is God is with us” [Matthew 1:22-
23]. There is music in every syllable of it, “Immanuel,” and it is found in
sacredsong and in sacredliterature through all of the centuries since that
Isaiahmade that glorious and incomparable prophecy [Hebrews 1:1]. The
most beautiful of all the names of our Lord is the name “Godis with us,”
Immanuel [Matthew 1:23].
That name is as meaningful and as significantas it is gloriously, incomparably
beautiful. In days passed, Godhas revealedHimself in divers ways and in
divers manners [Hebrews 1:1]. At the gate of the gardenof Eden on the east
side, the Lord exhibited His glory and His grace in the cherubim with the

94. flashing, flaming sword, and the altar of God to which our fallen parents were
invited to come back and there call upon His incomparable name [Genesis
3:24]. On the back side of a desert, the Lord appeared to Moses in a burning
bush and spake to the greatlawgiverout of the fire and out of the flame
[Exodus 3:1-3]. At Mt. Sinai the Lord came down in thunder, and in
lightning, and in the sound of a trumpet, and the whole earth quaked with His
presence [Exodus 19:16-18]. The Lord appearedin glory to Israelin a column
of a fire by night and in a pillar of hovering, sheltering cloud by day [Exodus
13:21-22]. In the dedicationof the glorious temple of Solomon, the Lord came
down in a shekinah, in a shekinahflame, in a light, in a presence, in a celestial
heavenly glory like heaven itself [1 Kings 8:10-11].
In how many different ways has God exhibited, and portrayed, and offered
Himself? But nothing comparable to the glorious abridgment of heavenand
earth when Christ came to live among men [John 1:14; Hebrews 10:4-14];
forever the gulf betweenheaven and earth is bridged, and forever God and
man made one. The significance and the meaning of that name Immanuel,
God is with us [Matthew 1:23]. Here is a babe nursing at a mother’s breast.
Here is a boy growing up. Here is a man walking in strength. Here is God’s
Servant dying on a cross [Matthew 27:30-50]. Everyactof His life and every
breath that He breathed is the actand the life of Almighty God. “Forin Him
the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily” [Colossians 2:9]. Oh, the
amazement of it, and the wonder of it, and the astonishment of it! This is God
in the flesh. “And the Word was made flesh . . . and we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begottenSon of God, full of grace and truth” [John 1:14].
It staggers the imagination! It beggars description, this superlative God Man
Christ Jesus, greaterthan the greatest, fairerthan the fairest, purer than the
purest, higher than the highest, nobler than the noblest, sweeterthan the
sweetest, finer than the finest; the greatincomparable superlative Man Christ
Jesus. His song is the Song of Songs. His dwelling place in earth is the Holy of
Holies. His home is above the heavenof the heavens, and His name is above
every name that is named [Philippians 2:9]. God is with us, Immanuel
[Matthew 1:23]. And even from the harshest critics of unbelief and infidelity
there have come praises. Lord Byron, cynical, sensuous, one time said, “If
ever God was man and man was God, that God-Man is Christ Jesus.” And

95. the Frenchcritic and cynic Renan said, “He is the superlative man to whom
the conscience ofthe whole world rightly has given the title the Son of God.”
“And His name shall be calledImmanuel, which being interpreted is, Godis
with us” [Matthew 1:23]. And the blessing of that name, “Godis with us,” He
shared our toil and our labor. There is no man that works;there is no one
who toils that does not find a brother in Jesus, the Sonof God. He lived
thirty-three years, and for thirty of those years, He toiled at a working man’s
bench. When a man sweats, whena man labors, when a man works, he has a
brother in God.
He shared our privations; all of our limitations were knownto Him. He was
poor, “He had not where to lay His head” [Matthew 8:20]. He was hungry
[Matthew 21:18; Luke 4:2]. He receivedwith appreciationthe few things the
women of Galilee ministered unto Him in His needs [Luke 8:1-3]. He was
thirsty. He sat on the well and askeddrink of a woman who was a despised
Samaritan. He knew what it was to be weary and to be exhausted from the
toil of the road [John 4:6-7]. And He entered into the life of all of the sorrows,
and trials, and temptations of God’s people in the earth; “Tried, tempted in
all points like as we are, though without sin” [Hebrews 4:15]
When death visited a home, it brought tears from His eyes [John 11:32-35].
And when He saw the blind and the halt, and the maimed, and the crippled,
He was moved with compassionupon the people [Mark 9:35-36]. We have in
our sorrows, in our trials, in our agonies, in our disappointments, and in our
tears, and in our broken hearts, we have a blood brother in Jesus.
I read this week ofthe story of an Oriental monarch, who when he died, said,
“My son will succeedto the throne. And the blessings of the reign of the
kingdom will extend unto you through him.” They’d never seenthe boy.
They’d never lookedupon his face. But after the death of the monarch and as
his sonbegan to reign, there were blessings that coveredthe kingdom as the
light rays of the sun brought warmth to the land. Their trials, their
tribulations, their problems, their heartaches, allseenin the heart of that
king. And his laws were just and his ministries were compassionate. He

96. seemedto understand the people. Yet they’d never seenhim or lookedupon
his face.
Upon a day the throng came to the palace and said, “Let us see the face of our
king. Let us look upon him.” And the king appeared in his gorgeous andhis
royal robes. As he stoodbefore the vast concourseofhis people, they looked
in amazement. And one cried, “Why, why, I know him. When our child died
he wept by the side of the grave.” And another said, “He, I know him. When
we were hungry he brought bread to our home.” And another said, “Why, he,
I know him. In the dark hour of our trial he came to succorand to help, to
encourage.” He had walkedunknown in their midst, their reigning monarch
and king.
Thus it is with us. Is there a sorrow? Look in His blessedface. You’ll find
tears of compassion. Are we troubled? Look up into His face. There will be
compassionateunderstanding. Are we fallen? Look, He knew what it was to
fall beneath the heavy weight of a cross. Is there need? Is there trouble?
There is help, and life, and encouragement, andlove, and compassionin Him.
“And His name shall be calledImmanuel, which being interpreted is, God
with us” [Matthew 1:23]. And how infinitely blessedand how preciously
statedis the welcome ofGod to come, and to trust, and to believe, and to bow,
and to kneelin His holy presence. Anybody, anywhere, any time somehow
can feelwelcome as he approaches our Lord; the most approachable of all of
the men who ever walkedand servedin this earth; nothing proud or
contumacious or haughty or reservedor removed, not in the Son of God.
When He was born, they wrapped Him in swaddling clothes [Luke 2:7]; so
poor they had no little garment for Him, no little dress for the Baby but they
wrapped Him in rags, in swaddling clothes, in rags, and laid Him in a bed of
straw in a manger[Luke 2:7]. Anybody, anybody could approach a child
born like that. Maybe in a king’s palace, maybe exalted an heir to the throne,
maybe as the crown prince we might have been hesitant. There is no need to
hesitate in a stable; to approacha manger, to look in the face of a little child
born in poverty to a peasantwoman [Luke 2:8-16]. And when He lived and
when He walked, He was knownas “the carpenter’s son” [Matthew 13:55].

97. And in His ministry, somehow there was about Him what made mothers lay
their children in His arms that He might bless them; put His hands upon them
and pray over them [Mark 10:13-16]. There was something about Him that
made that woman so strickenwith an issue of blood say in her heart, “If I just
touch the hem of His garment, I will be saved” [Matthew 9:20-23]. There was
something about Him that made the publicans and the sinners love to hear His
words [Luke 15:1]. There was something about Him that even as He bowed
His head in death, a malefactorcrucified by His side felt constrainedof Godto
believe He would have a heavenly and an ultimate kingdom [Luke 23:42].
Anybody can approachthe cross. Anybody cankneel at the feet of Jesus.
Anybody can feel welcome in the presence ofthe greatGod: His name shall be
calledImmanuel, which being interpreted is, God, God with us [Matthew
1:23].
For ye are not come unto Mount Sinai that burned with fire, and the people
were afraid, and Moses said, EvenI exceedinglyfear and quake;but ye are
come unto Mount Zion, and to the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, and to
an innumerable company of angels, and to God, the lover of our souls, and to
the spirits of just men made perfect, and to the blood of the covenantthat
speakethbetter things than that of angels.
[from Hebrews 12:18-24]
Come, come, bow, and welcome, “His name shall be calledImmanuel, which
being interpreted is,” God is here, “Godis with us” [Matthew 1:23]:
Then Josephbeing raised from sleepdid as the angelof the Lord had bidden
him, and took unto him his wife. And she brought forth her firstborn Son:
and he calledHis name Jesus . . . She shall bring forth a Son, and they shall
call His name Jesus, Savior:for He shall save His people from their sins.
[Matthew 1:21, 23-24;Luke 2:7]

98. Jesus, Savior. The missionthat brought Him into the world was fulfilled in
the naming of the Child: Iēsous, Joshua, Savior[Matthew 1:21]. Men have
gone on countless numbers of missions into this world for fame, for conquest,
for glory, for wealth, but Jesus came on a greatmission into this earth for one
thing only; to save us from our sins. “And thou shalt call His name Jesus:for
He shall save His people from their sins” [Matthew 1:21].
He came into this world to change a cursing fisherman into an apostle, Simon
Peter. He came into this world to change a blaspheming Pharisee into the
mighty apostle Paul. He came into this world to change a cringing monk into
Martin Luther, the preacherof God. He came into this world to take a mill
hand and make of him a David Livingstone. He came into this world to take a
poor cobbler and make of him a William Carey. He came into this world to
take a ball player and make out of him a Billy Sunday. He came into this
world to take a shoe clerk and to make out of him a Dwight L. Moody. He
came into this world to create a new order and a new humanity. And I have
seenit all the days of my life, having grownup in the circle of the church and
for the most of my life having been a minister of the gospelof the Son of God.
I have seenit all of my life.
On a plane coming back from a Southern Baptist Convention, I had listened
that year to a marvelous conventionsermon. As you know once a year, the
year preceding they choose a minister to preach the convention sermon for the
following year. That year I had listened to a man—one of the illustrious
pastorates in one of the greatcities of America—I had listened to that man
bring a remarkable sermon at the Southern Baptist Convention. I was in the
plane returning to the home here in Dallas. Onthe plane I happened to be
seatedby a man who wantedto visit with me. And I enjoyed it, so we beganto
talk together. He was a businessman belonging to anothercommunion,
another denomination. And when he found out that I was a Baptist preacher,
he began to ruminate, and he said, he said, “You know, you know, you are a
Baptist preacher.” He said, “You know, that reminds me. I grew up in a little
town,” and he named the town in the easternpart of the United States. And
he said, “In that town was a girl. And the girl fell into shame and disgrace,

99. and she became the unwed mother of an illegitimate child.” He said, “She
gave birth to a little boy that we call Willie, and she took the little fellow and
rented a little house on the edge of the town and took in washing.”
And he said, “She brought up that little boy. Oh!” he said, “I’ll never forget
what a time that little illegitimate boy had in school.” And he said, “You can
understand how things are in a small town and how that little fellow grew
up.”
I said, “Yes, I canunderstand. I grew up in a little town.”
And he said, “You know by the way,” he said, “that’s why you reminded me
of it. I have been told that that boy turned out to be a Baptistpreacher.”
Well I said, “That’s, that’s great, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” he said, “it is. Yes,” he said, “it is.”
He never had calledthe boy’s name.
So I said to him, “You say he has turned out to be a Baptistpreacher. What is
his lastname? What is his last name?” And he named that preacher I had
just heard.
What a remarkable thing! That’s God! That’s the powerof the Almighty!
That’s the moving, saving, quickening, changing, renewing Spirit of Jesus!
That’s why He came into this world; to create a new order, to create a new
humanity, to create a new socialdedication, to create a new house, and a new
home, and a new government, and a new people. And I live in that kind of a
world.
There is a home in the city of Dallas. It was vile, and it was wicked, and it was
blasphemous, and it was full of curses. And the children lived in terror and in
fear. And the wife was as vile and as wickedas her husband. And upon a
day, in the providence of God, the Lord moved in the home; he was baptized,
she was baptized; the children brought to be taught in the name of the Lord in
this blessedchurch. And upon a day, I visited in the home. And when time
came for me to leave, the mother said, “Would you take our Bible and read
out of the Book, and then would you kneelby our sides in prayer?” This is

100. the heavenly ministry of Christ our Lord. “And thou shalt call His name
Jesus, Savior;for He shall make us anew”;a new life, a new hope, a new
commitment, a new vision, a new dedication, a new love, a new song. This is
our living Lord.
He did not come to condemn the world;
He did not come to blame.
He did not only come to seek,
It was to save that He came.
When we call Him Jesus, Jesus, Savior,
We callHim by His name.
[author unknown]
There is majestyin the name of God. There is personality in the name of
Jehovah. There is powerin the name of Lord. There is unction in the name
of Christ. There is mediation in the name of Intercessor. There is help in the
name of Advocate. “But there is none other name given among men, whereby
we must be saved, but in the name of Jesus” [Acts 4:12].
An Alexander can build an empire. A Napoleoncanchange the maps of the
earth. A Darwin canbring an intellectual revolution. A Copernicus or a
Newtoncan bring in a new era of science. A Wyatt or an Edison canusher in
a new era of industry. But there’s nobody can re-create the human heart but
Jesus the Christ, the Sonof God. “Thoushalt call His name Jesus:for He
shall save His people from their sins” [Matthew 1:21]. And this is the great
meaning, and ministry, and message,and significance ofour Lord.
I could not help but be moved by reading of a boy, a youth, a teenagerwho
came into the study of his father, a theologicalseminaryprofessor. And he sat
down by the desk of his learned intellectual father, and he said to him, he said,

101. “Fathertoday,” it was Sunday and he’d been down to the mission, the boy
said, “Father, todayfor the first time in my life I saw the meaning of
Christianity!” And the Fathersaid, “Wellson, son, how was it?”
And the boy said, “Dad, today I went down to the mission, and I saw
hardened men melt before God. And I saw streetwomen brought to God.
And I saw families changedunto God. And I saw people savedunto the
Lord.” He said, “Dad, today I saw the real thing, and I have never seenit
before.”
You know what went through my mind when I read that? That boy was a
child of the church. All of his life, from a lad until these days of his teenage,
all of his life he had seenthe decorum, and he had seenthe ritual, and he had
seenthe ceremony, and he had heard the songs, and had watchedall of the
things that belong to a well ordered church service, but he never had seen
Christ, the Son of God until he saw it in a mission, saving lost sinners!
I have nothing againstthe beautiful decorum. I have nothing againstthe
august and exalted ritual. I do say you never come to grips, you never grasp
the heart of the Christian faith until you see Christ meet the world as it is and
change it to the power, and the glory, and the blessing of God our Savior.
This is the messageofhope, and of life, and of light, and of glory. “Thou shalt
call His name Iēsous, Savior:for He shall deliver His people from their sins”
[Matthew 1:23].
While we sing our song tonight, somebodyyou coming to Jesus in strength, in
faith, in help, in encouragement, in repentance, in confession, in faith, while
we sing the song, make it now, make it now. There is a stairwell on either side
at the front and the back. If you are in the balcony, there is time and to spare,
come. If you are on this lowerfloor, into the aisle and down to the front,
come. While we sing the song, while we make the appeala family you, a child,
a youth, a couple; as God shall say the way, shall lead, shall open the door,
make it tonight. Make it now, while we stand and while we sing.
https://wacriswell.com/sermons/1962/the-wonderful-names-of-jesus/

102. ALEXANDER MACLAREN
THE NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME
‘. . . Thou shalt callHis name JESUS:for He shall save His people from their
sins.’—MATT. i. 21.
I. THE historicalassociations ofthe name.
It was a very common Jewishname, and of course was givenin memory of the
greatleader who brought the hosts of Israel to rest in the promised land.
There is no sharper contrastconceivable than betweenJoshua and Jesus. The
contrastand the parallel are both most significant.
(a) The contrast.
Joshua is perhaps one of the leastinteresting of the Old Testamentmen; a
mere soldier, fit for the fierce work which he had to do, rough and hard,
ready and prompt, of an iron will and a brave heart. The one exhortation
given him when he comes to the leadershipis ‘be strong and of a good
courage,’and that seems to have been the main virtue of his character. The
task he had to do was a bloody one, and thoroughly he did it. The difficulties
that have been found in the extermination of the Canaanites maybe met by
considerations ofthe changedatmosphere betweenthen and now, and of their
moral putrescence. But no explanation can make the deed other than terrible,
or the man that did it other than fierce and stern. No traits of chivalrous
generosityare told of him, nothing that softens the dreadfulness of war. He
showedno touch of pity or compunction, no lofty, statesmanlike qualities,
nothing constructive;he was simply a rough soldier, with an iron hand and an
iron heel, who burned and slew and settled down his men in the land they had
devastated.
The very sharpness ofthe contrastin characteris intended to be felt by us.
Put by the side of this man the image of Jesus Christ, in all His meekness and
gentleness.

103. Does not this speak to us of the profound change which He comes to establish
among men?
The highest ideal of characteris no longerthe rough soldier, the strong man,
but the man of meekness, andgentleness, andpatience.
How far the world yet is from understanding all that is meant in the contrast
betweenthe first and the secondbearers ofthe name!
We have done with force, and are come into the region of love. There is no
place in Christ’s kingdom for arms and vulgar warfare.
The strongestthing is love, armed with celestialarmour. ‘Truth and meekness
and righteousness’are our keenest-edgedweapons—this is true for Christian
morals; and for politics in a measure which the world has not yet learned.
‘Put up thy swordinto its sheath,’
(b) The parallel.
It is not to be forgotten that the work which the soldier did in type is the work
which Christ does. He is the true Moseswho leads us through the wilderness.
But also He is the Captain who will bring us into the mountain of His
inheritance.
But besides this, we too often forgetthe soldier-like virtues in the characterof
Christ.
We have lostsight of these very much, but certainly they are present and most
conspicuous. If only we will look at our Lord’s life as a real human one, and
apply the same tests and terms to it which we do to others, we shall see these
characteristicsplainly enough.
What do we call persistence which, in spite of all opposition, goes right on to
the end, and is true to conscienceandduty, even to death? What do we call
the calmness whichforgets selfeven in the agonies ofpain on the cross? What
do we call the virtue which rebukes evil in high places and never blanches nor
falters in the utterance of unwelcome truths?
Daring courage.

104. Promptness of action.
All conspicuous in Jesus.
Iron will.
It has become a commonplace thing now to saythat the bravery which dares
to do right in the face of all opposition is higher than that of the soldier who
flings awayhis life on the battlefield. The soldiers of peace are knownnow to
deserve the laurel no less than the heroes of war.
But who cantell how much of the modern world’s estimate of the superiority
of moral courage to mere brute force is owing to the history of the life of
Christ?
We find a further parallel in the warfare through which He conquers for us
the land.
His own struggle (‘I have overcome’), and the lessonthat we too must fight,
and that all our religious life is to be a conflict. It is easyto run off into mere
rhetoricalmetaphor, but it is a very solemn and a very practicaltruth which
is taught us, if we ponder that name of the warrior Leaderborne by our
Masteras explained to us by Himself in His words, ‘In the world ye shall have
tribulation; but be of goodcheer, I have overcome the world.’
Ps. cx. ‘Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of
holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.’
II. The significance ofthe name.
Joshua means God is Saviour. As borne by the Israelitishleader, it pointed
both him and the people awayfrom him to the unseenand omnipotent source
of their victory, and was in one word an explanation of their whole history,
with all its miracles of deliverance and preservationof that handful of people
againstthe powerful nations around. It taught the leader that he was only the
lieutenant of an unseen Captain. It taught the soldiers that ‘they gotnot the
land in possessionby their own arms, but because He had a favour unto
them.’

105. 1. God as Saviour appears in highest manifestationin Jesus.
I do not now mean in regard to the nature of the salvation, but in regard to
the relationbetweenthe human and the divine. Joshua was the human agent
through which the divine will effecteddeliverance, but, as in all helpers and
teachers, he was but the instrument. He could not have said, ‘I leadyou, I give
you victory.’ His name taught him that he was not to come in his own name.
But ‘he shall save’—notmerely God shall save through him. And ‘his
people’—not‘the people of God’
All this but points to the broad distinction betweenChrist and all others, in
that God, the Saviour, is manifest in Him as in none other.
We are not detracting from the glory of God when we say that Christ saves us.
Christ’s consciousnessofbeing Himself Salvationis expressedin many of His
words. He makes claims and puts forward His own personality in a fashion
that would be blasphemy in any other man, and yet all the while is true to His
name, ‘God is the Saviour.’
The paradox which lies in these earliestwords, the greatgulf betweenthe
name and the interpretation on the angel’s lips, is only solved when we accept
the teaching which tells us that in that Word made flesh and dwelling among
us, we behold ‘God manifest in the flesh,’ and ‘in Christ reconciling the world
unto Himself.’
The name guards us, too, from that very common error of thinking of Christ
as if He were more our Saviour than God is. We are not without need of this
warning. Christ does not bend the divine will to love, is not more tender than
our FatherGod.
2. The Salvation brought by Jesus is in its nature the loftiest.
It is with strong emphasis that the angel defines the sphere of salvationas
being ‘their sins.’The Messianic expectationhad been degraded as it flowed
through the generations, as some pure stream loses its early sparkle, and
gathers scum on its surface from filth flung into it by men. Mere deliverance
from the Romanyoke was all the salvationthat the mass wanted or expected,

106. and the tragedy of the Cross was foreshadowedin this prophecy which
declares aninward emancipation from sin as the true work of Mary’s unborn
Son.
We candiscern the Jewisherrorin externalising and materialising the
conceptionof salvation, but many of us repeat it in essence. Whatis the
difference betweenthe Jew who thought that salvationwas deliverance from
Rome, and the ‘Christian’ who thinks that it is deliverance not from sin but
from its punishment?
We have to think of a liberation from sin itself, not merely from its penalties.
This thought has been often obscuredby preachers, and often neglectedby
Christians, in whom selfishness and an imperfect understanding of the gospel
have too often made salvationappear as merely a means of escapefrom
impending suffering. All deep knowledge ofwhat Sin is teaches us that it is its
own punishment, and that the hell of hell is to be under the dominion of evil.
3. God’s people are His people.
Israelwas God’s portion—and Joshua was but their leader for a time. But the
people of God are the people of Christ.
The way by which we become the people of Jesus is simply by faith in Him.
III. The usage ofthe name.
It was a common Jewishname, but seems to have been almostabandoned
since then by Jews from abhorrence, by Christians from reverence.
The Jewishfanatic who during the siege stalkedthrough Jerusalemshrieking,
‘Woe to the city’, and, as he fell mortally wounded, added, ‘and to myself
also,’was a Jesus. There is a Jesus in Colossians.
We find it as the usual appellation in the Gospels, as is natural. But in the
Epistles it is comparatively rare alone.
The reason, ofcourse, is that it brings mainly before us the human personality
of Jesus. So when used alone in later books it emphasises this:‘This same
Jesus shallso come’. ‘We see Jesus, made a little, etc.’

107. Found in frequent use by two classes ofreligionists— Unitarian and
Sentimental.
We should seek to get all the blessing out of it, and to dwell, taught by it, on
the thoughts of His true manhood, tempted, our brother, bone of our bone.
We should beware of confining our thoughts to what is taught us by that
name. Jesus is the Christ, the Sonof God. Even with thoughts of His lovely
human characterletus blend thoughts of His Messianic office and of His
divine nature. We shall not see all the beauty of Jesus unless we know Him as
the Christ, the Son of the Highest.
And besides the name written on His vesture and his thigh, He bears a name
which no man knowethbut Himself. Beyond our graspis His
uncommunicable name, His deep character, but near to us for our love and
for our faith is all we need to know. That name which He bore in His
humiliation He bears still in His glory, and the name which is above every
name, and at which every knee shall bow, is the name by which Jewish
mothers calledtheir children, and through eternity we shall call His name
Jesus becauseHe hath finally and fully savedus from our sins.
« Prev
Aa ▼ Aa ▲ Next »
Expositions of Holy Scripture: Ezekiel, Danieland the Minor Prophets;and
Matthew Chaps. I to VIII
R. C. SPROUL
Jesus the Savior
“Joseph, sonof David, do not fearto take Mary as your wife, for that which is
conceivedin her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call
his name Jesus, forhe will save his people from their sins” (vv. 20–21).

108. - Matthew 1:18–21
Moving on in its expositionof the gospelvia the Apostles’Creed, the
Heidelberg Catechismturns to the secondmajor sectionofthat ancient creed
in question and answer29:“I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.”
The question focuses onChrist’s role as Savior, looking to the name Jesus and
its significance.
Today’s passageis one of the proof texts for seeing Jesus’role as Savior
revealedin the name given at His birth. We read in this familiar passagehow
an angel of the Lord came to Joseph, a descendantof King David, to assuage
Joseph’s fears that Mary had been unfaithful and to revealthe true meaning
of her pregnancy. The angeltold Josephto name the child Jesus, explaining
that it was the proper name for the boy because “he will save his people from
their sins” (Matt. 1:21). Iēsous, the Greek name for “Jesus,” is actuallya
transliteration of the Hebrew name Yehoshua, or “Joshua,” whichmeans
“Yahwehis salvation.” Being a faithful Jew and a “just man” (vv. 18–19),
Josephcertainly would have known the meaning of this name, although at the
time he may not have been fully aware ofthe significance ofgiving it to
Mary’s son. In that child, the name “Yahwehis salvation” reachedits
fulfillment because it was given to the incarnation of Yahweh Himself.
When the angelsaid that Jesus would save His people from their sins, he was
speaking oftwo aspects ofsalvation. First, Jesus saves His people from the
penalty of their sins in their justification. Bearing the wrath of God against
sinners on the cross, Jesus took the condemnation we deserved so that by faith
alone His righteousness might be imputed to us, granting us eternal life (John
3:16; Rom. 3:21–26;5:1). Second, Jesus saves His people from the power of
sin in their sanctification. Having been exalted to the Father’s right hand,
Christ pours out His Holy Spirit on His brethren that they might receive new
hearts, empowering them to stare down sin and live in holiness (Acts 2:32–33;
Rom. 8:1–11;Gal. 5:16; 6:8).
Finally, let us note that the phrase his people in today’s passageis one of the
key texts on the intent and extent of the atonement. Jesus’died for a
particular people, not to atone for every personwho will ever live. If He had

109. atoned for every person, then all people would be forgiven and God could not
justly send anyone to hell.
Coram Deo
Matthew Henry comments that Jesus saves His people “from the guilt of sin
by the merit of his death, from the dominion of sin by the Spirit of his grace.
In saving them from sin, he saves them from wrath and the curse, and all
misery here and hereafter.” We often focus on the role of Jesus’death in
saving us from guilt, but let us never forget that He also died so that by His
Spirit we might be empoweredto live in a manner that pleases Him.
Passages forFurther Study
Isaiah59:15b–21
Luke 1:67–79
John 10:11
1 Thessalonians 5:9–10
PHIL NEWTON
Call His Name Jesus
Matthew 1:18-25
December23, 2001
In the early centuries of the Church, the fate of Christianity hung on the
smallestGreek letter, an iota. The difference betweenthe prefix homo- (same)
and homoi- (similar) determined whether generations ofChristians that
followedwould believe that Jesus Christ is the same substance as the Father

110. (homoousios-ofthe same nature) or only similar (homoiousios-ofa similar
nature). The first declares the equality of the Son with the Father, the latter
makes him part of the creationnot the Creator. Everything relatedto the
gospeldepends upon this truth.
All along the way in the early days of gospelproclamation, there were those
who denied either the deity or humanity of Jesus Christ. Paul certainly
addressedsuch skepticismin Colossians,as did John in his first epistle. But
the controversydid not end in the first century, and for that matter, it has not
ended today. The church must be ever vigilant to stand for "the faith which
was once for all handed down to the saints" (Jude 3).
The 4th century was the high watermark for the swirling controversy
concerning the nature of Jesus Christ. A popular Alexandrian bishop named
Arius (A.D. 325)taught that Jesus Christ's nature or substance was only
similar to the Father. In Arius' thought, Jesus existedbefore creationand was
greaterthan all creation, but was himself a createdbeing who was not equal
to the Fatherand therefore not divine. Many embracedthis teaching as a
show of intellectualism, known as Arianism, without grappling with its
implications. If Christ is not God then God alone cannot receive the glory for
salvation. If Christ is not God then there is no qualified mediator between
God and men. If Christ is not God then there is no infinite value to his
sacrifice atthe cross to satisfy God's righteous demand for justice. If Christ is
not God then there is no gospelof salvation.
A twenty-nine year old named Athanasius stood againstthis false teaching,
first at the Council of Nicea where he servedas secretaryto Alexander, the
leading Bishopof Alexandria, and later as the Bishop of Alexandria himself
(A.D. 328). "He was hounded through five exiles embracing seventeenyears of
flight and hiding," writes one historian, but with unflagging zeal, "almost
single-handedly Athanasius savedthe Church from paganintellectualism"

111. [S.J. Mikolaski, quotedby Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 245].Later,
the Athanasian Creed, though not written by him but named for him,
declared,
It is necessary, however, to eternal salvationthat he should also believe in the
incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now the right faith is that we should
believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is equally both
God and man.
He is God from the Father's substance, begottenbefore time; and He is man
from His mother's substance, born in time. PerfectGod, perfect man
composedof a human soul and human flesh, equal to the Fatherin respectto
His divinity, less than the Father in respectof His humanity.
Who, although He is God and man, is nevertheless not two but one Christ. He
is one, however, not by the transformation of His divinity into flesh, but by the
taking up of His humanity into God; one certainly not by confusion of
substance, but oneness ofperson. For just as soul and flesh are one man, so
God and man are one Christ.
So as we may take for granted the magnificent celebrationof Christmas as
God entering the world to take on the nature of man that He might" save His
people from their sins," the 4th century Church wagedtheologicalwarto
ultimately conquer on the side of Holy Scripture. Had the side of truth fallen,
we would not be celebrating Christmas today as "Immanuel-God with us."
There would be no gospelstoryproclaimed through the joyous hymns and
reading of the birth narratives.
Christmas celebrates the reality that God entered the human race to redeem
His people from their sins. With the angel and Joseph, we call His name Jesus,

112. for it is He alone that saves His people from their sins. How does the
Christmas story relate the gospelstory?
I. Jesus Christ: an explanation
While we have theophanies in the Old Testament, appearances or
manifestations of God as He did with Abraham and Moses, Godnever became
a man. God did manifest himself to these ancient brethren, but in the
Incarnation, God became one of us. He entered humanity so that forevermore,
the SecondPersonofthe Trinity is the God-Man, the divine-human Head of
the redeemedpeople of God.
1. Birth not beginning
The angeldid not tell Josepheverything but he did tell him enough for his
faith and obedience. No finely detailed explanation of the Incarnation was
given. When God speaks He does not need to explain His actions to sinful
men! Yet the shock of the divine words began to dawn upon Joseph:"for the
Child who has been conceivedin her is of the Holy Spirit." Josephwrestled
with sending Mary awaysecretly(v. 19), which means that as a couple that
was engagedhe would have to legallyend their relationship in Jewish custom.
The news of her pregnancystunned him, yet "being a righteous man and not
wanting to disgrace her," Josephsoughtfor a quiet dismissalof their
betrothal. How did this happen? "Forthe Child who has been conceivedin
her is of the Holy Spirit," thus the Holy Spirit overshadowedMary's womb so
that she conceivedthe Child without the contribution of man. What would
happen? "She will bear a Son," and thus an actualbirth would take place so
that God would enter humanity as one of the human race he came to redeem.
How was Josephto respond? "And you shall call His name Jesus,"that is,
Josephwould legally adopt Jesus by naming him, and thus identifying him

113. with the kingly/messianic genealogyof David (1:1-17, which is the reasonfor
the genealogyin showing Jesus to be a legalheir to David's throne). Joseph
understood this to be a Messianic designation. Why would this happen? "For
He will save His people from their sins;" the birth of the Child encompassed
the whole redemptive plan of God for His people in every age.
The Incarnation vividly demonstrates that God initiates and carries to
completion our salvation. Forthe Incarnation is always setforth ultimately in
light of the redemption securedat the cross. Thus in announcing the birth of
Christ, the angeldeclared, "ForHe will save His people from their sins."
2. Conceptionby the Holy Spirit
We are left to ponder how such a thing can take place. Matthew introduces
this narrative by telling us, "When His mother Mary had been betrothed to
Joseph, before they came togethershe was found to be with child by the Holy
Spirit." The angelfurther explains to Joseph, "Forthe Child who has been
conceivedin her is of the Holy Spirit." To Mary, the angeladds, "The Holy
Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the MostHigh will overshadow
you; for that reasonthe holy Child shall be calledthe Son of God" (Matt
1:35).
Severalfacts are obvious: first, an actual birth took place with Mary giving
birth to a Son. Second, for a birth to take place there had to be a conception.
Third, the explanation given for Mary's conceptionin her womb apart from
the contribution of man points to the Holy Spirit as the source ("by the Holy
Spirit" uses the preposition ek, carrying the idea, "the source from which
something arises"). Fourth, the conceptionof Jesus took place without the
contribution of a man but not without a contribution-the overshadowing of
the Holy Spirit. Mary was no surrogate mother, so that the Holy Spirit merely

114. implanted a substance in Mary's womb foreignto her genetic makeup. She
was not an incubator that waited the removal time of the "foreignbody" that
had invaded the darkness of her womb. "She will bear a Son," the angel
declares, one who was of her own genetic materialand who is of the same
substance as Mary.
Some in church history state that Jesus Christwas conceivedin Mary but He
was not of Mary. The idea is that the Holy Spirit produced a totally separate
nature for Jesus that had nothing to do with her or the rest of humanity. He
was born as a human-at leastin kind-but not in any respectof the same
substance as Mary and the rest of the human race. In this line of thinking, the
infant Jesus simply passedthrough the body of Mary without assuming any of
her substance. His conceptionis considereda miracle, but Mary was only a
surrogate that incubated the child until delivery [cf. William Cunningham,
Historical Theology, vol. I, 313]. He could be calledhuman because ofhis
physical features, but not part of the human race.
But the Scripture speaks otherwise:"Therefore, He had to be made like His
brethren in all things [lit. 'in all respects'], that He might become a merciful
and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for
the sins of the people" (Heb 2:17). Without being an actualpart of the human
race Jesus would be unqualified to redeem us. The Incarnation declares God's
intention to save "His people from their sins." But why was the Incarnation
necessary?
(1) Scripture affirms that "salvationis from the Lord" (Jonah 2:9). In both
Testaments, Godis always seenas the initiator and provider of salvation. So
God therefore must be the One who effectivelysaves sinners, otherwise man
could boastin his achievements (I Cor 1:26-31). As Herman Witsius expressed
it in the 17th century, "None but Godcan restore us to true liberty.... None

115. but God cangive us eternal life.... None but God can give God" [The Economy
of the Covenants betweenGodand Man, vol. 1, 198].
(2) The measure of the divine penalty againstman for his sin required that
someone ofinfinite capability satisfyGod's wrath. The penalty declaredbefits
the crime of the Fall. So a finite man cannotbear or satisfyan infinite demand
for justice:"but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been
manifested to put awaysin by the sacrifice of Himself" (Heb 9:24-28). The
Incarnation explains the infinite capability of the God-Manas our Substitute
and Sin-bearer.
(3) The ones needing salvationare men; the penalty for sin is againstmen;
therefore moral justice requires that the penalty be satisfiedeither by all the
human race or by One who is qualified to representmen before the justice of
God (Heb 2:10-11). We find this qualification in the Incarnation, as God
became a man.
(4) For a human to satisfy the penalty for sin requires that he be qualified in
(a) nature and (b) moral constitution as one who perfectly keeps the divine
law. He must be one who feels fully the effects of sin yet be without sin (Heb
2:14-18). Jesus qualified.
(5) The Redeemermust be capable of dying since the penalty for sin is death.
Yet He must be of such value as to secure by His death pardon for all whom
God would redeem. Thus Jesus, qualified in every respect, declares, "I
glorified You on the earth, having accomplishedthe work which You have
given Me to do" (John 17:4).
3. God with us

116. So how does Matthew explain all this amazing story of the Incarnation?
"'Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall
call His name Immanuel,' which translated means, 'God with us'." The
obvious meaning is not that God is with us spiritually, but that through the
Incarnation, God has come in the flesh! Anything less would be inadequate to
secure the salvationof God's people through the ages. Godcame in the flesh to
satisfy his own just requirements to declare sinners to be righteous before
him.
In the process ofthe Incarnation Goddid not abandon His divine nature, i.e.,
God did not quit being God in order to become man. He could not do this
anymore than you can quit being a human. Nor did Godfuse togetherthe
divine and human natures, thus creating a strange hybrid that is neither fully
divine nor fully human. Nordid God simply appear to be a man, but whom
was really only a divine spirit masquerading in human clothes (the error of
Docetism). Norwas there an illusion involved in which Christ was really not
who He appeared to be. Nor was the human nature absorbed into the divine
nature so that its human properties were lost to the divine and a third nature
emerged(the error of Eutychianism). Nor did He assume a human person or
else there would have been two persons (the error of Nestorianism);rather He
assumeda human nature so that He might redeem those who are partakers of
this same nature.
The divine nature and the human nature of Christ remain two distinct
natures in one personality. We do not appeal to Christ as God without
appealing to him as the Man Christ Jesus (I Tim 2:5). When the disciples
spoke to the Man Christ Jesus, theywere speaking with God. When the
followers of Christ worshiped Him they were not committing blasphemy by
worshiping someone otherthan God. This is why the writer of Hebrews
declares, "Letall the angels ofGod worship Him" (1:6). And it is why John's
vision in Revelation5:13 refers to the simultaneous worship of the Fatherand

117. the Son, "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and
honor and glory and dominion foreverand ever." "Godwith us," provides
the simplest wayof explaining the wonder of the Incarnation. PeterLewis
sums it up best, "ThoughHe became what He was not, He did not cease to be
what He was. He who continued to fill all things and to sustain all things, also
became containedin a virgin's womb, and was sustainedby a human mother;
living simultaneously the massive life of Godheadand the creaturely and
painful life of humanity" [The Glory of Christ, 133-134].
II. Jesus Christ: a declaration
Having seenthe necessityof the Incarnation explained we must now turn our
attention to the messagedeclaredby the angelwho announced the Incarnation
of Christ.
1. Certain destiny
The birth of Christ and His death at the cross are inseparable. One loses
meaning and effectivenesswithout the other. Both the Incarnation and
crucifixion took place because ofthe certaindestiny of mankind. It is unveiled
in the words, "Forit is He who will save His people from their sins." It is
apparent that Jesus Christ came to "save His people," but from what enemy?
In Jewishhistory we find the nation crying out to God over and over to save
them from various enemies, Egyptians, Assyrians, and Babylonians. And in
the first century many Jews wouldhave welcomeda messiahwho would save
them from the Romans!But the angel's declarationpoints to a greaterfoe
than all the nations and military hardware combined: "from their sins."

118. We locate sin's origin into humanity at the Garden of Eden, as our
representative, Adam, fell prey to the serpent's temptation and sinned. As the
father of the human race, all of us were in Adam. His actions carried weighty
results for all of his posterity. His sin separatedmankind from God the
Creator. God who is altogetherholy and righteous, who cannotsin nor
approve sin, justly declaredthe whole of humanity condemned. Such was the
gravity of Adam's sin againstthe infinite righteousness ofGod that the weight
of eternal judgment fell upon all men. And like Adam, all of us "have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23).
Who can deliver us from the destiny of judgment? Who can rise to the top of
the human race and qualify to representus, as a Mediatorwithout being
under the same condemnation that humanity deserves? The prophecy quoted
by Matthew from Isaiah7:14 refers to a period when the ungodly King Ahaz
sought deliverance for Judah againstAram and Israel through the Assyrians
and not from the Lord. So Isaiah spoke ofa temporal deliverance againstthe
enemies of Aram and Israel, but had a greaterdeliverance in mind for future
generations. Indeed, in three years Judah was delivered. But it was eightmore
centuries before the virgin bore a Son, Immanuel, who would deliver God's
people from the greaterenemy-our sins. The sign of God's saving work for
sinful men would be found in the virgin bearing a Son: "Behold, the virgin
shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name
Immanuel...God with us."
2. Christ alone
The angelmakes a point in describing the reasonfor the Incarnation that we
must not slide over. "Forit is He who will save His people from their sins."
The Greek has the pronoun at the beginning of the clause for emphasis, "He
and no other will save His people from their sins," is the message. Orin the
language ofthe Reformation, "Christ alone." Has this truth shakenloose

119. every excuse and idolatrous reliance in your life? Everyday people are trying
to add something to what Christ has done for their salvation. We see this
frequently at Christmas, as men do not mind making some mention of Jesus
Christ in hope of finding temporal blessing, but they fail to trust in Christ
alone as their only hope for eternity.
Jesus alone cansave us from our sins. The angelic messengerpoints to the
perfect obedience ofChrist and his atoning death at the cross on behalf of
sinners so that we can be reconciledto God. Divine justice was satisfied, not
by the Incarnation nor without it, but by the death of the Incarnate
Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
3. The implications
So, what are the implications declaredby the angel? First, there is salvation
from the penalty of our sins through Jesus Christ. "Forit is He who will save
His people from their sins." Our sins defile the image of God, and thus the
glory of God in our lives. But Christ's death on the cross has borne the
penalty due us for our sins, and begins a sanctifying work of conforming us to
the image of Jesus Christ. John reminds us, "You know that He appearedin
order to take away sins" (I John 3:5). And Hebrews affirms, "But now once at
the consummationof the ages He has been manifested to put awaysin by the
sacrifice ofHimself" (9:26).
Second, this same statement tells us of a definite, securelyaccomplishedwork
of Jesus Christ for all of the redeemedin every age, "Forit is He who will save
His people from their sins." We hear a lot of argument about Jesus Christ
dying for everyone and for the whole world, but that is really a mute
argument. The bottom line is that there is no effectiveness in the death of
Christ for those who do not believe. Here we find the declarationof the

120. effectiveness ofthe death of Christ for all who will be calledchildren of God.
It tells us that the death of Jesus Christ did not have mere potential to save,
but declares the assurance that His death will save His people-allwho believe,
from their sins.
Third, this statementdeclares that every detail of our salvation resides in one
person, "He who will save His people from their sins." We do not look to the
Church to save. We do not look to our parents or godly heritage to save. We
do not look to ourselves, and the whole measure of our gooddeeds. "He who
will save" is Jesus Christ alone. The exaltedHuman now seatedon His throne,
who invaded humanity in the Incarnation though existing from all eternity,
awaits the day when all whom He has savedwill be gathered togetheras His
Bride for eternity.
Conclusion
There is really one final implication in this whole story: you. God became a
man so that you might be delivered from your sins, and brought into
relationship to Him. It does matter that you believe God became a man. But
the messagedoes notstop with the mangerscene. It points to a cross where
Christ fulfilled the reasonfor his coming in the Incarnation, and to an empty
tomb that declares the effectivenessofhis death on the cross. Do you believe
this?
Permissions:You are permitted and encouragedto reproduce and distribute
this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any
way and you do not charge a fee beyond the costof reproduction. For web
posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to
the above must be explicitly approved by South Woods BaptistChurch.
Please include the following statement on any distributed copy:

121. Copyright South Woods BaptistChurch. Website: www.southwoodsbc.org.
Used by permission as granted on web site. Questions, comments, and
suggestionsaboutour site canbe senthere.
3175 GermantownRd. S. | Memphis, Tennessee| 38119| (901)758-1213
Copyright 2011, SouthWoods BaptistChurch, All Rights Reserved
Spurgeon's Morning and Evening
"Thou shalt call his name Jesus."
- Matthew 1:21
When a person is dear, everything connected with him becomes dear for his sake.
Thus, so precious is the personof the Lord Jesus in the estimation of all true
believers, that everything about him they consider to be inestimable beyond all
price. "All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia," said David, as if
the very vestments of the Saviour were so sweetened by his personthat he could
not but love them. Certain it is, that there is not a spotwhere that hallowed foot
hath trodden-there is not a word which those blessed lips have uttered-nor a
thought which his loving Word has revealed-which is not to us precious beyond all
price. And this is true of the names of Christ-they are all sweet in the believer's ear.
Whether he be called the Husband of the Church, her Bridegroom, her Friend;
whether he be styled the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world-the King, the
Prophet, or the Priest-every title of our Master-Shiloh, Emmanuel, Wonderful, the
Mighty Counsellor-every name is like the honeycomb dropping with honey, and
luscious are the drops that distil from it. But if there be one name sweeter than
another in the believer's ear, it is the name of Jesus. Jesus! it is the name which
moves the harps of heaven to melody. Jesus! the life of all our joys. If there be one
name more charming, more precious than another, it is this name. It is woven into

122. the very warp and woof of our psalmody. Many of our hymns begin with it, and
scarcely any, that are good for anything, end without it. It is the sum total of all
delights. It is the music with which the bells of heaven ring; a song in a word; an
ocean for comprehension, although a drop for brevity; a matchless oratorio in two
syllables; a gathering up of the hallelujahs of eternity in five letters.
"Jesus, I love thy charming name,
'Tis music to mine ear."
Spurgeon's Morning and Evening
"He shall save his people from their sins."
- Matthew 1:21
Many persons, if they are asked what they understand by salvation, will reply,
"Being saved from hell and taken to heaven." This is one result of salvation, but it
is not one tithe of what is contained in that boon. It is true our Lord Jesus Christ
does redeem all his people from the wrath to come; he saves them from the fearful
condemnation which their sins had brought upon them; but his triumph is far more
complete than this. He saves his people "from their sins." Oh! sweet deliverance
from our worst foes. Where Christ works a saving work, he casts Satan from his
throne, and will not let him be master any longer. No man is a true Christian if sin
reigns in his mortal body. Sin will be in us-it will never be utterly expelled till the
spirit enters glory; but it will never have dominion. There will be a striving for
dominion-a lusting against the new law and the new spirit which God has
implanted-but sin will never get the upper hand so as to be absolute monarch of our
nature. Christ will be Master of the heart, and sin must be mortified. The Lion of
the tribe of Judah shall prevail, and the dragon shall be cast out. Professor!is sin

123. subdued in you? If your life is unholy your heart is unchanged, and if your heart is
unchanged you are an unsaved person. If the Saviour has not sanctified you,
renewed you, given you a hatred of sin and a love of holiness, he has done nothing
in you of a saving character. The grace which does not make a man better than
others is a worthless counterfeit. Christ saves his people, not in their sins, but from
them. "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." "Let every one that nameth
the name of Christ depart from iniquity. " If not saved from sin, how shall we hope
to be counted among his people. Lord, save me now from all evil, and enable me to
honour my Saviour.
The Name Jesus.
Thou shalt call His name Jesus; for it is He that shall save His people from their
sins.
Mat_1:21
Even today the naming of a newborn child is an event full of interest. The
principles of choice are varied in these complex and somewhat superficial days.
Children are given names because the names have been borne by their fathers
before them. Sometimes names are still given to children as expressing a hope on
the part of the parents, but as a rule they are simply given on the basis of
preference.
The Hebrews meant far more by their names than we do. That will be discovered
as the Old Testament history is read. They were often wrong in their naming of the
children. The very first name, Cain, was a wrong name. Eve called her first-born
Cain’97Acquired. She was doomed to disappointment. She had hoped that the
promised seed had already come. And the second name was also a mistake. She
called her next boyAbel’97Vanity. There was far more to satisfy the mother’s
heart in the coming years in Abel, even though he suffered death, than in Cain.

124. Sometimes the names were tragic names. Hosea, that prophet of the wounded spirit
and the broken heart, as children were born into his home named them, and in their
naming is seen the terrible conditions of the chosenpeople. He called the first
Jezreel, judgment threatened! He called the second Lo-ruhammah, mercy not
obtained! He called the third Lo-ammi, not My people!
When Mary’s Child was born, Joseph named Him Jesus. And this was by special
instruction conveyed to him by the angel. That angel was the messenger of
heaven’s thought, and of God’s will. The Babe was registered Jesus in heaven.
And that name, given by Josephin obedience to the instruction of the angel who
had received his command in heaven’s own high court, was a name which
expressed heaven’s confidence in the Child now born. Earth’s salvation will come
as earth shares heaven’s faith in Jesus; and the giving of the name at the first was
expressive of this confidence of God in the newborn Child.
This story of the giving of the name is one of supreme interest. Do not be angry
with me for bringing to you a text you have known from childhood, but let us come
back to this name, which every child here who has begun to read at all, can spell,
and try to understand some of the things signified by the giving of this name. A
few moments first, then, with the name given; and, second, a consideration of the
reason for giving this name to this Child.
I would have you, first of all, remember the humanness of this name. It was a very
common Hebrew name. Doubtless many a boy living in Judea in the days when the
Babe was born was called Jesus. And doubtless it had been for long years, for
centuries, a popular name in Jewish families; for of courseyou remember that
Jesus is but the Greek form of the Hebrew name "Joshua." There were many boys
called Joshua, and in the Greek dialect obtaining at the moment, many boys
doubtless bore this name of Jesus. There is nothing startling in the name. When the
neighbors heard that Mary had called the newborn Boy Jesus, they did not stop to
ask what she meant. Many another Jesus was running about in Nazareth and Judea,
and all through the countryside it was one of the most common names, almost as
common as John is today.

125. Thus God took hold of a name perfectly familiar, which set the newborn Child
among the children of men, rather than separated Him from them. He took hold of
a name that men were using everywhere, "Thou shalt call His name Jesus," the
name that the boy next doorhas, the name that men have been calling their boys by
for centuries. "Thou shalt call His name Jesus."
But how came it that this name was so familiar? What were the associations of the
name in the Old Testament history? It was a name associated with two men pre-
eminently’97the one who first received it, a leader; and, then, another who made it
conspicuous, a priest.
The first man who bore the name was the great soldier who succeeded to the
leadership of the people after the passing of Moses, the man to whom there was
committed the stern, hard, fierce fight that was necessary to establish the people in
the land. This man was born in Egypt, in slavery, lived there about forty years, and
then followed Moses as he led the people out of Egypt; then spent the next forty
years in the wilderness, passing through all its experiences. Finally, he led the
people with the sword and terrific conflict into possessionofthe land. That is the
man who first received this name. So far as the Bible is concerned, and in all
probability so far as Jewish history is concerned, the name had never been known
before. It was made for him by Moses. His name was originally Hosea or Hoshea:
but Moses changed it and called him Joshua.
The next man who bore the name conspicuouslywas a priest in the days of
restoration under Haggai and Zechariah.
Now this Child is born, and heaven, taking a name familiar in the homes of Judea,
a name conspicuous in Hebrew history becauseof its connection with the soldier
leader and the restoring priest, commands, "Thoushalt call His name Jesus; for it is
He that shall save His people from their sins."
Let us examine the matter more closely. We have seen that the name was common
among Hebrew boys. We have seen that the name was thus popular because of the
historic association. Now, what does the name mean?

126. In the story to which I have already made reference, in Numbers 13, it is told how
men were sent to spyout the land: princes of the tribes. Among them was the
prince of the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea, which name means salvation, or
deliverance. In the course of that story in Numbers we are told, as I think
parenthetically, that Moses changed his name from Hoshea to Joshua, and the
reason for it will be found presently when the spies returned. You know the story
well, how the majority report was against going up to Canaan; but the minority
report’97and it is a very interesting thing to notice in human history how minority
reports are almost always right’97the minority report was, We can possessthe
land. Joshua was the spokesman, and what did he say? He declared that Jehovah
was able to bring His people into possessionin spite of all the difficulties. I think it
was becauseof that word, and because of that fact and of that confidence that
Moses with insight and foresight, seeing what this man meant to the nation,
changed his name. It was a good name before: Hoshea: salvation. Yes, but this man
was not depending on his own right arm. He had no dream in his heart that he
could bring salvation to his people. He declared that it must be the work of
Jehovah; and, consequently, Moses weaving the two names together, Jehovah and
Hoshea, called him Joshua, for Joshua is the combination of the two words,
Jehovah and Yawshah, which is Hoshea, and which as we have said means
salvation. The name Joshua signifies Jehovah saves, or Jehovah will save, or
Jehovah’s salvation. Jehovah and salvation are thus woven into one name. It was
high honor conferred on the new leader to bear such a name as that, and a
wonderful revelation of the insight of the man who gave it to him. The original
name, Hoshea, salvation, is a fine one, but this man knew that he could not lead the
people in, even though his report be a true one; but he also knew that God could,
and Moses said, Your name is changed, and into it is brought the name of the God
Who can save. So the name was made. And Joshua led them in, but he never gave
them rest.
The high priest of a later day, who had the name, came very near fulfilment of
some of its significance as he bore the iniquity of the people, the filthy garments
signifying this fact. Presently he was crowned. It was all prophetic and symbolic,
but he failed, as the subsequent history of the people proves. The centuries have
gone, and the high and noble thinking of the name has never been realized in actual

127. life. There is a hush in the outer court of the inn, and a little Child has come into
the world, and the world is quite careless, but heaven is not. Stars are shining,
angels are singing, wise men are feeling the touch of the upper spaces, and are
journeying toward the manger. Who is it? "Thou shalt call His name Joshua; for it
is He that shall save His people from their sins."
God took hold of a common name of the boys playing about, and called His Sonby
that name. God took hold of the great historic name of the past, the name of the
great leader and the name of the priest of the past, and gave it to His Son new born.
Yes, but what is the deepest thing? Call Him Jehovah, Yawshah; Joshua, Jesus.
Call Him by His own Father’s name, Jehovah, and so indicate the truth about His
nature. Call Him by the supreme passion of His Father’s heart, salvation, and so
indicate the meaning of His work in the world.
We pass it on from age to age in printed page, and from mouth to mouth in spoken
word: Jesus! But in that name is wrapped up essential truth concerning Him.
Jehovah, Yawshah. Call Him that. He is my Son. He is My Servant Who shares
My nature. He comes to do My work. Now I understand Him when in the coming
years I hear Him say, "I and My Father are One." Call Him Jesus, and I understand
Him when I hear Him say, upon another occasion, "My Father worketh even until
now, and I work." Call Him salvation, and link your two names together into the
infinite music; whether it be Hebrew, Greek, or Anglo-Saxon, matters nothing.
You cannot rob it of its music. Carry it into all languages and dialects, and in sweet
tones it breaks upon the listening ear of humanity.
Jesus, the name high over all,
In hell, or earth, or sky,
Angels and men before it fall
And devils fear and fly.
That is the tone of His triumphant march to victory. But there is another tone.
Jesus, name of sweetness,
Jesus, sound of love;

128. Cheering exiles onward
To their home above.
Jesus, oh, the magic
Of the soft love sound,
How it thrills and trembles
To creation’s bound.
This name has appealed to every generation, and to all classes of men because it is
a great name. It is the name of the boy who plays in the street. It touches you. It is
Jehovah, Yawshah. Call Him that, said the Father to the angel, and the Boy’s name
was registered in heaven, God’s name linked with the great word that declares His
mission in the world.
Second, the reason for giving this name. "Thou shalt call His name Jesus; for it is
He that shall save His people from their sins." You notice that slight variation in
translation, certainly a great gain. The real thought is that of a contrast. "Thou shalt
call His name Jesus; for it is He that shall save His people." I repeat, the form of
the sentence really suggests a contrast. A contrast with what? With all the
aspiration of the past, which had never becomeachievement. With all the strong
and strenuous attempt that had ended in defeat.
Take the man who first bore the great name. Joshua is one of the greatest men upon
the pages of the Old Testament in many ways. And yet in all full realization, he
failed; and the writer of the letter to the Hebrews tells us, "Forif Joshua had given
them rest, he would not have spoken afterward of another day." So the great leader
of the pastfailed. He led them in, he led them with great sternness and severity,
and magnificent triumph against Jericho, and Ai, and on, but he certainly never
gave them rest. And all the history of the coming years was the history of perpetual
restlessness. Joshua never led them into rest. Well, call His name Joshua, for it is
He that shall save His people from their sins.

129. And Joshua, the high priest in the days of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, not
much is said of him, but there he appears, the representative of religion, urging the
people under Zerubbabel to their building, helping the office of the prophet with
his priestly intercession. There he is seen in symbolic language, clothed with the
filthy garments, representing defiled Israel. But he could not take away sin, and the
filthy garments remained upon Israel, and Israel failed to fulfil the great function
for which she had been created a nation, that of speaking the message of God;and
Joshua the priest failed, as did Joshua the leader.
Very well, then, call His name Joshua, for He shall save His people from their sins.
And so, brethren, that emphasis of contrast leads us to see that this name indicated,
or the declaration associated with the name indicated, not merely a mission, but a
method. The angel did not say to Joseph, "Thou shalt call His name Joshua," for
He shall lead the people in. He did not say to Joseph, "Thou shalt call His name
Joshua," for He shall bear away the filthy garments, and enable the people to bear
their testimony. He might have said these things, but what He said was deeper. "He
shall save His people from their sins." My brethren, this is a revelation of the
assured success.Joshua failed to lead the people into rest, why? Because of the
people’s sin, with which he could not deal. Joshua the priest failed to realize in
Israel God’s purpose, that which should be his message to the nations, why?
Because of his people’s sin, which he could not carry. So that instead of dealing
merely with the surface of things, or speaking of issues, the angel’s message goes
down to the depths and says, "Thou shalt call His name Joshua," for He will lead
His people into rest, and to the fulfilment of their vocation by saving them from the
sins which prevent rest, and which give the adversary power.
Call this newborn Child Jesus, "for He shall save His people" from these things
and from the consequent ruin. If His people are saved from sins, they will find rest;
if His people are saved from sins, they will fulfil their vocation, and be and do all
that God means they shall be and do.
"Thou shalt call His name Jesus; for it is He that shall save His people from their
sins." I pray you remember that the phrase, "His people," is significant at this
point. It marks limits, and indicates limitlessness. What are the limits it marks? His
people. No, brethren, I will begin with the other word. How does it indicate
limitlessness? It does not say, He shall save the people of His own nation. It does

130. not say, as has often been pointed out, He shall save God’speople, but His own
people. "His people." He is coming to make a position, to create a people to be a
Kingdom, and to set up the Kingdom; and the people who are His He will save
from their sins. There is your limit, but there is your limitlessness. How may a man
become one of His people? Simply by believing on Him and crowning Him. It is a
statement that overlaps the boundary line of Judaism. It is a statement that includes
the wise men who come from afar to Him, as well as shepherds singing on
Bethlehem’s plains. This is the story of the first naming of the Child.
But as you take the story you will find this Child grows up, and He stands amongst
multitudes of men, and He comes out of the borderline of Judea, and touches Tyre
and Sidon, and Phoenicia. He goes to Samaritans finally, and at the last
commissions His disciples to go everywhere. Standing amongst men, He says,
"Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
"Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise castout." It is a universal invitation that
He utters. Will you come? Are you coming? I am addressing in imagination the
whole nation, and from here and there they come, they crowd. Who are those that
come? His people. What will He do? Save them from their sins. Unless you make
yourself His by birth, He cannot save you from your sins. Unless you yield to Him,
you cannot be His. It is the call of Christ which constitutes human opportunity.
That opportunity taken, and men yielding to it, what then? Then they becomeHis,
and He saves such from their sins. So that He brings men into rest, who come to
Him, and that Joshua could never do. So that He enables a man to fulfil the Divine
vocation who comes to Him, and that the high priest, Joshua, could not do. But our
Jesus does it by saving us from our sins.
Brothers, when this name was given to Josephby the angel it was, so far as man
was concerned, a prophecy. So far as God was concerned it was an affirmation of
faith, of absolute assurance and certainty. Thou, Joseph, shalt call His name
Jehovah’97Salvation, for He shall save His people from their sins. So spake
heaven; and as men heard it, it was a prophecy, it was an indication, it was a hope.
There is a sense in which it is true that He did not receive that name finally until
He went back into heaven, and Paul tells us all the gracious story when he writes,
"Who, being in the form of God, counted it not a prize to be on an equality with
God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness
of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming

131. obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the Cross. Wherefore, also God highly
exalted Him, and gave unto Him the name which is above every name." What
name? "That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow."
The angel uttered it, heaven’s confidence, a prophecyof hope to men; and the
Babe bore it, and carried it through the simplicity of childhood, one Boy among the
many who bore it in those Judean villages; and the Boy passed out into youth, and
bore the same name, Joshua, Jesus, in purity, and in resistance to all evil. And He
bore it on through the years of public ministry, and He bore it on the Cross, and
never so universally as there. Who is this upon the Cross?The Babe Whose name
is Jesus. But Who is He? Joshua, Jehovah, Salvation.
Can He do it? Can He take sins away, and bring rest? Can He take sins away, and
enable me to fulfil my vocation? I do not know. He is dead. They have buried Him.
I do not know. I am one of the disciples, I am afraid. I do not know. I hoped, but I
am not sure. What is this the women say? He is risen? He has appeared first to
them, and then to the eleven, and then to Peter all alone, and then to others, and to
five hundred at once. He gathered them about Him on Olivet, the risen One, and
He went up, bearing with Him the same sweet human name that boys bore at their
play in Judea, bearing up the name the leader of the past bore, who failed to bring
into rest, bore it up triumphant into heaven itself; and He received it there anew, no
longer a prophecyfor men, but an evangel!
And there at the center of God’s universe at this moment of human time is the Man
Who bore the name, glorified, our Joshua, Hallelujah! He is able to lead us into
rest. He is our High Priest, clothed no longer with the filthy garments, for He bore
them away on the Cross;but with the miter on His head, and many diadems upon
His brow, Jesus, the enthroned One. May God help us to hear the evangel of the
name, and to know assuredly that what the name prophesied He has perfectly
accomplished.
Autor: G. CAMPBELL MORGAN
The Name of Jesus

132. Matthew 1:21
By the time that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, He had already been given three
names. In Isaiah 7:14, He is given the name of God (Immanuel or God with us)
"Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive,
and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."
In Isaiah 9:6, He is given the name of a King "Forunto us a child is born, unto us a
son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be
called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince
of Peace."
And in our text this morning we see the message of the angel to Mary that gives
Him the name of Savior, "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his
name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins." This morning I want us
to consider four things about the name of Jesus.
I. It Identifies Him With His Person.
A. "JE" is the abbreviation for Jehovah.
1. The first syllable of His name identifies Him with the manifestation of Jehovah-
God.
2. The Word of God clearly indicates that there is only one savior...Jehovah!
3. Is 43:11, "I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour."
4. The word LORD in all capitals in our Bible is always a translation of the
Hebrew word 'Jehovah'.
5. Since Jehovah is the only savior, then it is appropriate that Jesus' name as savior
is Jehovah.
6. This is who He was and is, Jehovah God in flesh!
B. "Sus" is the abbreviation for Savior.
1. This second syllable of His name speaks of the mission, manner, and method of
the Lord Jesus Christ.

133. 2. It speaks of His love, compassion, kindness, unselfishness, and self- sacrifice.
3. As Savior, He lived to save sinners, He died to save sinners, He rose from the
dead to save sinners, He is now interceding in heaven to save sinners, and one day
soon, He is coming again to complete His mission to save sinners!
4. His name identifies His person...Heis Jehovah-Savior...Jesus!
II. It Identifies Him With His Purpose.
A. The mission of the Savior.
1. The name 'Jesus' explained the statement of the angel, "...forHe shall save his
people from their sins."
2. Christ came to deal with man's number one problem: SIN.
3. That was man's problem then and it continues to be our problem even today!
4. Jesus said that He came to seek and to save that which was lost. cf Lk. 19:10
5. This He did in His life, death, and resurrection.
B. The meaning of the word 'Savior'.
1. A variety of connotations for the word exists.
2. One who delivers, preserves, keeps, protects, and secures.
3. This is exactly what Jesus Christ was and is.
4. His name identifies Himself with His purpose:to totally and completely be "the
savior of the world".
III. It Identifies Him with His People.
A. The Jewish people are considered 'his people'.
1. The Lord Jesus belongs to the Jewish people and the Jewish people belong to
Him.
2. He was born a Jew.

134. 3. His name is a Jewish name and this identifies Him with them.
4. When the gospel was first preached, it was preached to the Jews.
5. His first disciples were Jewish.
6. Jn 1:11-12, "He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many
as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name:"
7. In spite of Christ's national rejection by Israel, God still loves the Jew and
desires for them to be saved.
B. All who believe in Him for salvation are considered to be 'His people'.
1. Jn. 6:37, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to
me I will in no wise castout."
2. He will save all who come to Him for salvation.
3. "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should
be called the sons of God..."
4. Have you come to Him by faith? If not, why? What more can He do than that He
has already done for us?
5. His name, Jesus, identifies Him with His people.
IV. It Identifies Him with His Praise.
A. Jesus is His manger name.
Mt. 1:21, "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for
he shall save his people from their sins."
B. Jesus is His ministry name.
Jn. 1:45, "Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of
whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of
Joseph."
C. Jesus is His redemption name.

135. Jn. 19:19, "And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was,
JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS."
D. Jesus is His resurrection name.
Mk. 16:6, "And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth,
which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid
him."
E. Jesus is His gospelname.
2Co. 4:5, "Forwe preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves
your servants for Jesus' sake."
F. Jesus is His glorified and exalted name.
Ph. 2:9-11, "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name
which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of
things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
"...and thou shalt call His name Jesus."
Do you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? The name of Jesus says much
to us about Him. It identifies Him with His person, with His purpose, with His
people, and with His praise. Will you be willing to identify with Him? We identify
with Him through our profession of faith, our baptism, our witness, and our daily
life. Do others know we are 'His people'? Come this morning, whatever the need,
and let Jesus Christ have His way in our lives.
http://www.brandonweb.com/sermons/sermonpages/matthew32.htm
The Name "Jesus"
Contributed by David Scudderon Dec 23, 2008

136. based on 6 ratings
(rate this sermon)
| 3,435 views
Scripture: Matthew 1:21
Denomination: Independent/Bible
Summary: “Truly, no name can banish fear like the name of Jesus: it is the
beginning of hope and the end of despair.” Spurgeon
1 2 3 4
Next
The Name “Jesus”
Matthew 1:21
Purpose:To display Christ’s role as savior.
Aim: I want the listener to glory in who Jesus is and worship Him passionately.
INTRODUCTION: "There are two hundred and fifty-six names given in the Bible
for the Lord Jesus Christ, and I supposethis was because He was infinitely beyond
all that any one name could express." [Billy Sunday, in a sermon, “Wonderful,”
quoted in The Real Billy Sunday]
“Truly, no name can banish fear like the name of Jesus: it is the beginning of hope
and the end of despair.” Spurgeon
Who was Jesus? Gregory, an early church father, answered:

137. • He began His ministry by being hungry, yet He is the Bread of Life.
• Jesus ended His earthly ministry by being thirsty, yet He is the
Living Water.
• Jesus was weary, yet He is our rest.
• Jesus paid tribute, yet He is the King.
• Jesus was accused of having a demon, yet He castout demons.
• Jesus wept, yet He wipes away our tears.
• Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver, yet He redeemed the world.
• Jesus was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, yet He is the Good Shepherd.
• Jesus died, yet by His death He destroyed the power of death. [Gregory of
Nazianzus, A.D. 38110,000 sermon illustrations. 2000 (electronic ed.). Dallas:
Biblical Studies Press.]
Todaywe are going to look at the name that was given to our Savior even before
He was born.
➽ I. Who Named Jesus?
➽ A. God announced His name
As a rule, parents name their children. They usually pick a name for their child
based on its meaning or in order to honor a family member.
In our text we see that Christ is given the name Jesus. This was a very common
name among the Jews in that day, but the way Jesus received His name is unique in
all of human history. Joseph and Mary were not allowed to name the child born to
Mary, although, it could be said that the real Father did name the Child because
Jesus had no human father.
Sermon Collection of the Week
Full access to weekly curated lists with sermons, illustrations, and new media.

138. Free With PRO →
When Joseph was asked if he was the father of Jesus, he could well have replied, “I
am not his father, but he is mine!”
Jesus is a name that was chosenby God and revealed to both Mary and Joseph, so
it must have great importance. The name “Jesus” came directly from heaven.
Matthew 11:27 … no one knows the Sonexcept the Father… (NAU)
➽ B. Believers proclaim His name
God announced the name of Jesus, but it was Joseph and Mary who proclaimed it.
So it must be with us. Romans 10:9-10 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus
as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be
saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with
the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. (NAU)
Moses sang, 3 “ForI proclaim the name of the Lord; Ascribe greatness to our God!
4“The Rock! His work is perfect, Forall His ways are just; A God of faithfulness
and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He. (Deuteronomy 32:3-4 NAU)
It was not long after Paul met Jesus that Acts 9:20 immediately he began to
proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Sonof God.”(NAU)
By the grace of God I will proclaim the name of Jesus every opportunity I have. I
have vowed to never pray in private or public without acknowledging the name of
Jesus.
➽ II. What is the Meaning of the Name Jesus?
Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua which means “Yahweh is
Salvation.”
➽ A. The name Jesus pictures His purpose
Joshua in the OT is a picture of Jesus in the NT. Not only do they both have the
same name, but as Joshua brought the Jews into a new land and inheritance Jesus is
the One who leads us into a new relationship with our God. 2 Corinthians 5:17-18
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed

139. away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who
reconciled us to Himself through Christ… (NAU)
➽ B. The name Jesus points to our need
It is interesting to note that Joshua followed the lawgiver Moses. In the same way
Jesus came after the Law because the Law cannot save us. Otherwise there would
be no need for Jesus to die for our sin. We don’tneed rules, we need grace.
The Law cannot provide a right relationship with our God, but Jesus can bring us
into a relationship with our God, into a spiritual land flowing with milk and
honey.
The Law has failed to save us becausewe have failed to keep the Law. Galatians
3:24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may
be justified by faith. (NAU)
Out text makes it clear why the name Jesus is used for the Christ child. Matthew
1:21 “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His
people from their sins.” (NAU)
The Jews were looking for a savior, but they want someone to free them from
Rome. They saw little need to be free from their sin.
Jesus, though, came to save us from our sins. He did not come to save us from our
poverty as many television evangelists will lead you to believe. Jesus did not come
to save us from bad politicians. Jesus did not come to save us from all heartaches.
Jesus didn’t even come primarily to set a good example.
“The angelic annunciation makes clear that the Lord did not come to earth merely
to be a good example, but to provide the atoning sacrifice that would save His
people from sin and hell.” [Custer, S. (2005). The Gospelof the King : A
commentary on Matthew (11). Greenville, S.C.:BJU Press "This is a devotional
commentary on the bookof Matthew"--Provided by publisher.]
Paul made the reason for Jesus coming to earth very clear when he said, 1 Timothy
1:15 It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. (NAU)

140. Sermon Collection of the Week
Full access to weekly curated lists with sermons, illustrations, and new media.
Free With PRO →
As Martin Luther says,Jesus never gave Himself for our righteousness, but He did
give Himself for our sins.
The simple and lovely name of Jesus has long been hated. Acts 26:9-11 9 “So then,
I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of
Nazareth. 10 “And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many
of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also
when they were being put to death I castmy vote against them. 11“And as I
punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and
being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities.
(NAU)
The name of Jesus continues to be hated today. Public prayers are often tolerated
only as long as the name Jesus is not mentioned.
Mankind hates the name of Jesus because the very name implies that they are
sinners. John 3:19-20 19 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the
world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
20 “Foreveryone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for
fear that his deeds will be exposed. (NAU) The Jewish religious leaders hated the
name of Jesus. Acts 4:17 “But so that it will not spread any further among the
people, let us warn them to speak no longer to any man in this name.” (NAU)
At one point the rebellious Jews refused to hear any more about their God. Isaiah
30:9-11 9 Forthis is a rebellious people, false sons, Sons who refuse to listen To
the instruction of the Lord; 10 Who say to the seers, “You must not see visions”;
And to the prophets, “Youmust not prophesyto us what is right, Speak to us
pleasant words, Prophesyillusions. 11 “Get out of the way, turn aside from the
path, Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.” (NAU)
➽ C. The name Jesus shows His sufficiency

141. I was fascinated to learn that there are three men in the OT named Joshua that we
know anything about. Joshua who followed Moses was called a prophetlike
Moses. In the bookof Haggai we learn of another Joshua who was the High Priest.
Then in second Kings 23 we learn about another Joshua who was the governor of
Jerusalem. So, one was a prophet, one was a priest and one was a king.
These are the three offices we see Jesus holding. Hebrews 1:1-3 1 God, after He
spokelong ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2
in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all
things,[i.e. The King] through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the
radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all
things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat
down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,[i.e. Priest] (NAU)
The point is that Jesus is all that we need!
➽ D. The name Jesus proves that He is God
The OT taught that only God could provide salvation. Psalm 3:8 Salvation belongs
to the Lord… (NAU).
Yahweh is the mostsacred name for God that we have. When God spoketo Moses
through a burning bush in Exodus 3:13-14 13 Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I
am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has
sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to
them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall
say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” (NAU) “I AM that I AM”
teaches us that God is eternal and that He needs nothing outside of Himself.
Later Jesus said John 8:24 “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins;
for unless you believe that I AM [He], you will die in your sins.” (NAU)
Pastor, have you claimed your 14 day PRO trial?
Enter your church name and email addess to begin, plus get updates & offers from
SermonCentral.com. Privacy Policy.

142. Verse 23 makes the deity of Jesus very clear. Matthew quotes Isaiah 7:14, Matthew
1:23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call
His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.” (NAU)
➽ III. How Important is the Name Jesus?
➽ A. You must call on His name if you want forgiveness
We ignore the name of Jesus our God to our own peril. Psalm 145:18 The Lord is
near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. (NAU)
When God calls sinners to Himself they will call on Him. 1 Corinthians 1:2 To the
church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ
Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours(NAU)
Jeremiah 29:11-13 11 ‘ForI know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord,
‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 12 ‘Then
you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 ‘You
will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. (NAU)
➽ B. Everyone must submit to His name
When Jesus comes the second time He will make all wrongs right, and everything
unfair fair. In Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus he records the words of the angel
Gabriel to Mary. Luke 1:31-33 31 “And behold, you will conceive in your womb
and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. 32 “He will be great and will be
called the Sonof the Most High; and [this refers to Jesus’ second coming] the Lord
God will give Him the throne of His father David; 33 and He will reign over the
house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” (NAU)
Philippians 2:10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are
in heaven and on earth and under the earth, (NAU)
“If he was Jesus in the cradle, what is he now that he is exalted in the heavens?”
Spurgeon
Psalm 2:7-12 7 “I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, ‘You
are My Son, Today I have begotten You. 8 ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the

143. nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. 9
‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’
” 10 Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the
earth. 11 Worship the Lord with reverence And rejoice with trembling. 12 Do
homage to the Son, that He not becomeangry, and you perish in the way, ForHis
wrath may soonbe kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him! (NAU)
Charles Spurgeon said, “Climb ye up to heaven, and behold the snow-white host,
glittering like the sun in spotless purity. I ask them whence came they? The reply is
that they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
It is most true that Jesus saves his people from their sins-earth knows it, hell howls
at it, and heaven chants it; time has seen it, and eternity shall reveal it. There is
none like to Jesus in saving power. All glory be to him! When he shall come from
heaven with a shout, and all his hosts shall be with him, when the day of the supper
of the Lamb shall come, and the bride hath made herself ready, and she that is the
queen all glorious within, wearing her raiment of wrought gold, shall sit down at
the table of God with her glorious husband then shall it be seen that he has saved
his church, his people, from their sins.”
Sermon Collection of the Week
Full access to weekly curated lists with sermons, illustrations, and new media.
Free With PRO →
CONCLUSION: Before Jesus was even born, He was named Jesus which pointed
to His death on the Cross. Wecan live because this Child would die. 1 Peter 3:18
For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might
bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;
(NAU)
Do you feel guilty before God? If so, then call on the name of Jesus for a pardon.
If you have called on Jesus for your pardon, then you want to join the thousands of
angels who said: Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace
among men with whom He is pleased.” (NAU)

144. The Birth Names OfJesus Lesson6
Contributed by Elmer Towns on Dec 14, 2018
based on1 rating
(rate this sermon)
| 824 views
Scripture: Matthew 1:21, Isaiah 7:14, John 1:14
Denomination: Baptist
Summary: Birth Names of Jesus
1. Jesus. “Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their
sins” (Matt. 1:21). The Greek name Jesus comes from the Hebrew Joshua.
“Jehovah Saves.” Links His birth to His purposeto provide salvation.
2. Immanuel. “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin
shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isa. 7:14). The
name Immanuel means “God with us.” The name has three meanings:
a. He takes our human (limited) nature.
b. He identifies with our sufferings.
c. He comes near to us to save us.
3. The Word. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).

145. a. This title reflects incarnation, the miracle of God becoming human flesh. This
happened at conception.
b. It became a reality at the virgin birth. “A virgin shall be with child, and bring
forth a son” (Matt. 1:23).
c. Jesus is called The Word because: He communicates God to us and He defines
what God is like.
4. The Dayspring from on High (Luke 1:78).
a. Dayspring: from the Greek Anatole meant the point on the horizon at which the
sun first shines.
b. Jesus is the first glimmer of hope to a world in the blackness of sin. “The light
shined in darkness” (John 1:5).
“Forunto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; And the government will be
upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty
God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6).
5. Wonderful. “His name shall be called wonderful” (Isa. 9:6).
a. The “sonis given”- supernatural, and “the child is born” natural.
b. The word wonderful is a noun, not an adjective, so it is not “a wonderful
counselor.”
c. Jesus is called Wonderful as:
(1) Wonderful is a title for miracles, i.e., “signs and wonders,” Jesus is omnipotent.
(2) Wonderful refers to mystery or secret, “We will never understand the
conception.”
Sermon Collection of the Week
Full access to weekly curated lists with sermons, illustrations, and new media.
Free With PRO →
(3) Wonderful refers to majestic, i.e., “Worship His majesty.”

146. 6. Counselor. “His name shall be called . . . Counselor.”
a. Refers to one who advises or helps solve a problem.
b. Christ is the sourceof all wisdom (Prov. 8:14; I Cor. 1:30).
7. Mighty God. “His name shall be called . . . mighty God.”The child will be El
Gibbor referring to using His power for His people.
8. The Everlasting Father. “He shall be called . . . everlasting Father.”
a. Jesus is separate from the Father, “Equal in nature, separate in person,
submissive in duties.”
b. Means “Father of eternity” as a founding father, i.e., the one beginning a
movement. Jesus establishes eternal life for those who believe.
9. The Prince of Peace.
a. Jesus is a prince who will ascend the throne in the future. Technically Jesus is
not yet the King who will rule in the millennium.
Jesus
He makes peace
He is our peace
b. Refers to Jesus making peace between God and man (Eph. 2:15).
c. Refers to inner peace He gives us (Eph. 2:14).
If you have never really accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, would you do it
right now? Do not delay or put it off. If you would like to receive Christ by faith,
pray this simple prayer in your heart:
Dear Lord, I acknowledge that I am a sinner. I believe Jesus died for my sins on
the cross, and rose again the third day. I repent of my sins. By faith I receive the
Lord Jesus as my Savior. You promised to save me, and I believe You, because
You are God and cannot lie. I believe right now that the Lord Jesus is my personal
Savior, and that all my sins are forgiven through His precious blood. I thank You,
dear Lord, for saving me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

147. If you prayed that prayer, God heard you and saved you. I personally want to
welcome you to the family of God and rejoice with you.
All PBC lessons are available online at trbc.org/pbc. Go to www.Hopenow.tv for
the current program schedule.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Intro: A name is the title by which one personis designated from another. It is a
way for us to tell people, places and things apart. In our day, manes do not hold
much significance. William Shakespeare said, “A rose by any other name would
smell just as sweet.” Forus, names are just a way to tell thing apart.
It was not always this way. In Old Testament times, a name stood fora
person’s “reputation, their fame and their glory.” Parents often gave children
names that described the parent’s hopes and future expectations regarding that
child. The word translated “name” in the Old Testament literally means “A mark
or a brand.” People were given the names they were given for a reason. A study
of Bible names often reveals much about the personality of the people mentioned
in the Bible. For instance, David means “Beloved.” Abraham means “Father of a
multitude.” Jacob means “Trickster.” Goliath means “Splendor.” All of these
people proved true to their names!
In this message, I want to talk about a name we all know. I want to look at the
name of the One mentioned in Matthew 1:21-23. There must be something special
about the name Jesus. After all, it was a name given to Him by God the Father,
Matt.1:21; Luke 1:31. The name Jesus is a name that has been exalted by the
Father, Phil. 2:9-11. when that name is mentioned, men should bow before Him
and confess Him as Lord. His name is a special name!
I want to preach for a while on the subject: What’s In A Name? I want to give
you some biblical reasons why His name is a name above all others names. When

148. we finish, I hope we will be able to understand some of the glory contained in that
blessed, wonderful name.
I. HIS NAME REVEALS HIS PERSONALITY
(Emmanuel – God With Us)
A. Reveals A Supernatural Baby – Not just another child, but God in human flesh,
John 1:1, 14; Phil. 2:5-8.
B. Reveals A Supernatural Birth – Not a normal birth, but a virgin birth, Isa. 7:14,
which produced a child without a sin nature, 1 Pet. 2:22.
C. Reveals A Supernatural Battler – Why would God enter this world? He came
to fight a battle that humanity could never wage or win. He came to do battle with
Satan and sin. (Ill. Eph. 6:10-18; 1 Sam. 17:47.)
II. HIS NAME REVEALS HIS PURPOSE
(Jesus – Jehovah Is Salvation)
A. Speaks Of His Desire – The name Jesus reveals a God with a desire to save
sinners. We are told that Jesus came into this world not to condemn the lost, but to
save them, John 3:16-18. This was not a new desire, but it was the heartbeat of
God even before the world was formed, Rev. 13:8; 1 Pet. 1:18-20. God’splan was
conceived in eternity and consummated in time.
B. Speaks Of His Deliverance – The name Jesus reminds us that He came into this
world for the sole purposeof setting the “captives” free, Luke 4:18. He came for
the redemption of the lost, Titus 2:14.
C. Speaks Of His Death – The name Jesus reminds us of the fact that He came into
this world to die for our sins. The only way the sin problem could have been dealt
with is through the shedding of blood, Heb. 9:22. Jesus came that He might die on
the cross to set us free from sin! (Ill. Gal. 1:4, “for us”; Gal. 2:20, “for me”.)
III. HIS NAME REVEALS HIS POWER

149. (Ill. “His name shall be called…” Note the word “name” is singular and not plural.
Not His “names”, His “name.” Jesus displays all the following characteristics at he
same time.)
A. He Is The Supernatural One – This word means Miracle, Supernatural, Secret
and Extraordinary, Ill. Judges 13:18. He is the Miracle Man! Men cannot
comprehend Him, but He can be believed on by the smallest child. He is
wonderful!
B. He Is The Supervising One – This word mans “to advise, counsel, purpose,
devise and plan.” It refers to His role as the leader and guiding force of our lives.
He is wonderfully qualified for this job. He is the Planner of the Path, Psa. 37:23;
Job 23:10. He is the Giver of Grace, 2 Cor. 12:9. He is the Worker of Wonders,
Rom. 8:28; 2 Cor. 4:17.
C. He Is The Sovereign One – This word means “Hero.” It refers to “one Who is
strong, mighty and invincible.” He alone is worthy to be our Hero for He has
defeated all our enemies, Ill. 1 Cor. 15:57; 2 Cor. 2:14. He alone is worthy of our
worship.
D. He Is The Sustaining One – As “Father” God is our “produceror generator.”
In other words, He is our source! He created us through Adam and He recreated us
through Jesus. As our Father, He sustains us by His mighty power, Luke 12:32;
Matt. 6:25-34. We are His children; therefore, we are His responsibility.
He is “everlasting.” There was never a time when He was not and there
will never be a time when He is not. He is the great “I AM.” He is the eternal,
self-existent One! Our lives are directly tied to His; because He lives, we live!
E. He Is The Satisfying One – The word “peace”refers to “a state of happiness,
well being and prosperity.” The word “prince” speaks of “a captain, a steward and
a keeper.” He is the Creator and the Sustainer of our peace. He accomplished
peace with God when He died on the cross, 1 John 2:2; Rom. 5:1. He extends His
peace to all who receive Him by faith, John 14:27. He provides His peace to all
those who trust Him in the valleys of life, Phil 4:6-7. He is the Keep of our peace
and the guarantee of continued peace throughout eternity.

150. Conc: What’s in a name? If that name is Alan Carr, not very much. But, if the
name is Jesus, everything is in that name! His name is the sourceof our salvation.
His name is the hope of our hearts. His name can break sin’s bondage and coolthe
fevered brow. His name can lift the greatest burdens. His name can comfort the
broken heart. His name is a name worth knowing, becauseis speaks of a Savior
worth loving. His name is everything. His name unlocks the doorof heaven and
closes the gates of Hell. His name saves the vilest sinner; redeems the blackest
soul; and secures the precious saints. His name may be Jesus, but that name cannot
tell us all there is to know about Him. Listen to some of the names He wears in the
pages of the Bible.
What Does the Name Jesus Mean?
The name Jesus means "Savior." It is the same name as Joshua in the Old
Testament. And it is given to our Lord because"He saves His people from their
sins," (Matthew 1:21).
Jesus is a very encouraging name to weighted-down sinners. He, who is the King of
kings and the Lord of lords, might lawfully have taken somemore high-sounding
title. But He does notdo so. The rulers of this world have often called themselves
great, conquerors, bold, magnificent, and the like. The SonofGod is content to call
Himself Savior.
Where the Name Jesus Came From: Hebrew and Greek Origins
According to Easton’s Bible Dictionary, the name Jesus is the Greek form of the
Hebrew name Joshua, which was originally Hoshea (Numbers 13:8, Numbers
13:16). Moses changed this version into Jehoshua (Numbers 13:16, 1 Chronicles
7:27 ), orJoshua. Then, after Israel’s exile to Babylon, it assumed the form Jeshua,
from which we get the Greek form Jesus. It was given to our Lord to denote the
object ofhis mission, to save (Matthew 1:21).

151. The Importance of Jesus’ Title as Christ
Many people have been named Jesus before and since the biblical Jesus. But only
this Jesus is referred to as Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus. The word Christ further
signifies his unique identity and mission.
Christ means anointed, according to Easton’s Bible Dictionary. Anointed is the
Greek word for the Hebrew "Messiah," which is Jesus’ official title. In the New
Testament, this title is linked with Jesus 514 times. Here are a few examples: Acts
17:3, Acts 18:5, Matthew 16:15-16.
This Christ/Anointed/Messiah part of Jesus’ name is significant becauseof the Old
Testament prophesies aboutthe Messiah.
A Messiah was prophesied throughout the Old Testament (Psalm 22, Deuteronomy
18:15-18, Genesis 3:15), specifically calling him anointed in Isaiah 61, Psalm 2:2,
Daniel 9:24-26.
The Meaning ofJesus’ Name as Savior
As stated above, Jesus means savior. This is His special role. He saves his people
from the guilt ofsin, by cleansing them in His own atoning blood. He saves them
from the dominion of sin byputting in their hearts the sanctifying Spirit. He saves
them from the presenceof sin, when He takes them out of this world to rest with
Him. He will save them from all the consequences ofsin, when He shall give them a
glorious bodyat the last day.
Thoseseeking salvation may draw near to the Father with boldness and have access
with confidence through Christ. It is His role and His delight to show mercy. "For
God didn'tsend his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should
be saved through him," (John 3:17).

152. Jesus is a name, which is especially sweet and precious to believers. It has often
donethem good. It has given them what money cannot buy – that is, inward peace. It
has eased their wearied consciences and given rest to their heavy hearts. The Song
of Solomondescribes the experience ofmany, when it says, "Your name is oil
poured forth" (Songof Solomon 1:3). Happy is the personwho trusts not merely in
vague notions ofGod's mercyand goodness, butin "Jesus."
Why Do Christians Pray “In Jesus’ Name”?
Watch Don Whitney, professor ofbiblical spirituality at Southern Seminary, talk
about why Christians often end prayers “in Jesus’ name” in this video.
“To pray a prayer in Jesus name is to recognize that we’re coming in the
righteousness ofChrist, not our own. We don’tdeserve to be heard by God, but
Jesus does, and we comein his name.
“It also means that we are coming and asking what we believe Jesus would ask if he
were in or situation. So that’s a lesser truth to the greater truth that we comein the
righteousness ofChrist. God hears us becauseofJesus.”
Listen to the rest here.
What Does it Mean to Take the Name of Jesus in Vain?
Commandment number three of the 10 Commandments says not to take God's name
in vain (Exodus 20:7). The words “in vain” mean "empty, idle, insincere, or
frivolous." So to take God's namein vain means to say it in a way that is empty, idle,
insincere, or frivolous. And one ofthe most obvious ways this is done is through the
use of profanity. We all have heard people use the name of Jesus to punctuate a
point. Because Christians believe in the divine nature ofJesus, taking his name in
vain is taking God’sname in vain.

153. Philippians 2:9-11 reminds us, "Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and
given Him the name which is aboveevery name, that at the name ofJesus every
knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of thoseon earth, and of those under the
earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of
God the Father."
The name ofJesus has power. God wants His people– His followers to never take
His name in vain, but to honor it instead.
This content was adapted from “The Name with Power?” byGreg Laurie.
Research Source:
GordonConwell Theological Seminary, Jesus in the Old Testament, Dr. Walter C.
Kaiser Jr.
No Other Namebut Jesus,
the NameAbove All Names
Summary: “Jesus” — a name uttered in anger and cursingby someand in
devoutworship by others. The name Jesusis searched for on Google over 16
million times a month (January 2011). Two billion inhabitants of this earth
identify themselves as followersof Jesus. WritingRomeo and Julietmore than
400 yearsago, William Shakespeare asked, “What’s in a name?”Comeand see
God’sanswer for every race, nation, and tongue.
Subscribe
Matthew 1:21 She will give birth to a son, and you areto give him the name
Jesus, because he will save his peoplefrom their sins.
•• The name Jesusis akin to the Hebrew word for Joshua, which means“the
Lord is salvation”.

154. •• What morefitting namecould there be for our Savior than “Jesus”? The
angel told Josephto namethe child Jesus, “because he will save his people
from their sins.” I will never forget the day in February 1969, when Icame to
active, personalfaith in Jesusand He forgavemy sins and received me into the
family of God. From that day to this, the nameJesusrests very comfortably on
my lips.
Mark 9:39 “Do notstop him,” Jesussaid. “No onewho does a miracle in my
namecan in the next momentsay anything bad about me.”
•• There is such power in Jesus’name that it can enable those who invokeHis
namein faith to accomplish even miracles.
•• I recall seeing that nameabove all names, the name of Jesus, called upon in
deliveringa woman possessed by four demons. In submission to the authority
of Jesus' name, the four evil spirits came out of the woman. She was quickly
saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, laughing and crying
with joy, and declaring, “This is what I’ve always wanted!” She washappily in
church the next Sunday, completely delivered, saved, and Spirit-filled in
responseto that name above all names — Jesus!
•• Countyourself amongthose believers in the Lord who may do a “miracle in
[Jesus’] name.” The Christian Church through the centurieshas recognized the
miracle-workingpower of His namein great songs of the church — such as
the classic "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name" and the stirring contemporary
worship song "There Is Power in the Name of Jesus."
Mark 16:17-18 [Jesussaid] And thesesigns will accompany those who
believe: in my namethey will driveoutdemons; they will speak in new
tongues; [18] they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink
deadly poison, it will not hurtthem at all; they will place their handson sick
people, and they will get well.

155. •• Right in the famousGreatCommission, JesusempowersHis followers —
includingyou if you are His follower! — to do supernaturalsignsin His name.
By faith in Jesus’ nameyou can “driveoutdemons... speak in new tongues...
place [your] handson sick peopleand they will get well.” How? — “In [Jesus’]
name”!
•• With the nameof Jesuson your lips, you can minister as a Spirit-
empowered ambassador for Christ, with authority over both sickness and the
devil.
John 16:23-24 In that day you willno longer ask me anything. I tell you the
truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. [24] Untilnow
you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you willreceive, and
your joy will be complete.
•• Answered prayers!What’sthe key? Pray to God the Father in Jesus’ name.
Don’tbe hesitant or timid. James wrote, “Ye have not because ye ask not”
(James4:2, KJV). Jesus said our partis to “ask” in His name. God’spart (and
promise) is to answer.
•• While it is certainly not inappropriateto speak to and pray to Jesus(Acts
7:59; Rev. 22:20), HeHimself encouraged usto pray to God the Father in
Jesus’name — which speaks of the direct access we have to the Father
through the Son. Asyou invokeJesus’ namein faith, “ask and you will receive.”
John 20:31 Butthese are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
•• Life! In vain did the explorerscross oceans seeking the mythical “fountain
of youth”. And yeteternal life lay right within their grasp without ever leaving
their home countries. How? — “...by believing you may have life in his name”.
That is, in the nameabove all names, the name that impartseternal life to
those who accept Him, the wonderfulnameof Jesus!

156. •• Not simply biological life, but eternal life in heaven, in the wondrous
presenceof God the Father, JesusHis Son, the Holy Spirit, the holy angels, and
the millionsof redeemed believers from all ages. And again, where is that life
found? — “...in his name”, in the nameof Jesus.
Acts 2:21 And everyonewho calls on the nameof the Lord will be saved.
Romans10:13 ...for, “Everyonewho callson the nameof the Lord will be
saved.”
•• The biblical oppositeof “saved” is “lost”. Lost in our unforgiven sins, and
under pendingjudgmentfor them. Lost in our broken relationship with God.
Lost in our inability to do anything to reconcile ourselveswith God.
•• Buttake courage! Jesus specifically said that He had come “to seek and to
save what was lost” (Luke19:10). Areyou still“lost” in your unforgiven sins?
Then hear the gracious offer of God: “Everyonewho calls on the name of the
Lord [Jesus] willbe saved.” Call on His name. Reach out from your heart in
faith to Jesusfor His mercifulforgiveness. I can guaranteewith 100%
certainty that He will respond with His "great salvation". The Bible promises
that you “...willbe saved”.
Acts 2:38 Peter replied, “Repentand be baptized, every oneof you, in the
nameof JesusChrist for the forgivenessof your sins. And you will receive the
gift of the Holy Spirit.
•• Callingon Jesus, repentof your sins... be baptized in water ... experienceHis
forgiveness... and receive the mighty baptism with the Holy Spirit. All these
blessings and more come into your lifein His wonderfulname.
Acts 3:6 Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do nothave, but what I have I give
you. In the nameof JesusChrist of Nazareth, walk.”
•• The man had been crippled from birth. Relegated to begging in order to
survive, he asked Peter and John for some money. ButPeter had something for

157. the cripplethat was far better than money. Peter had faith in the healing
power of Jesus. So he called out that name and commanded theman to walk.
And he did!The man lame from birth jumped up and began to walk and leap
around asJesus poured strengthand healing into his crippled limbs.
•• “Jesus” — there is limitless power in that holy nameabove all names. Let
Jesus' namebe often on your lips. Callupon it in every time of need —
physical, emotional, spiritual, whatever!
Acts 3:16 By faith in the nameof Jesus, this man whom you see and know was
madestrong. It is Jesus’nameand the faith that comes through him that has
given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.
•• Jesusdoes all things well (Mark 7:37), includingprovidingcomplete
healing for those who have faith in the power and authority of the nameof
Jesus. Remember how this healing came about (vs. 6) — “In the nameof Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, walk.”
•• I am reminded of another miraculoushealing that the Lord used Peter to
minister. A man named Aeneas had been a bedridden paralyticfor eight years.
Peter came up to him and declared, “Aeneas, JesusChrist heals you. Get up...”
and Aeneas stood up healed! Peter understood theirresistible power of Jesus’
name.
Acts 4:10, 12 ...then know this, you and all the peopleof Israel: It is by the
nameof JesusChrist of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised
from the dead, that this man standsbefore you healed.... [12] Salvation is
found in no one else, for there is no other nameunder heaven given to men by
which wemust be saved.”
•• A worshipfulsongthat is often sungin church goes like this: “No other
namebut the nameof Jesus...” Contrary to the “inclusive” spirit of the age we
live in, God has determined that it is only through Jesus that we may be saved.
Not by good works, nor by exemplary character, although those things are

158. good and important. No, the only way to be “saved”, said Peter, is by Jesus.
There is “no other name” that God has given whereby we are to be saved from
our sins and ushered into the family and the kingdom of God.
Acts 4:18 Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak
or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
Acts 5:40 His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had
them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the nameof Jesus, and
let them go.
•• The Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem were so opposed to Jesus that
they ordered the apostles notto speak or teach in Jesus’name in Jerusalem.
•• Let me bring that forward to the 21stcentury in America. The vast majority
of Americansclaim to be Christians. Yet there is a furious, unrelentingattack
in our nation against Christianity. Jesus’ nameis a common cussword. Sincere
followersof Jesusare mocked. Nowadaysit’s not Jerusalem’sreligious leaders,
but the USA’s courts, who seem bent on removingevery referenceto Jesusin
the publicarena.
•• If you’renot convinced, justtry this. In the next secular context you are in
— say, a sportingevent, a social gathering, or something like that — just
interject the name “Jesus” in a positive way into the conversation two or three
times. Moreoften than not, you willfind that a chill seems to settle upon some
of those around you. Unlikeany other name associated with religion, the name
“Jesus” tends to stir up animosity and mockery — a dead giveaway of how
much Satan hates that name!
Acts 4:30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculoussignsand
wonders throughthe nameof your holy servant Jesus.

159. •• Wehave spoken sufficiently above about healing in the nameof Jesus.
Through His namewe have access to heaven’s limitless supply of supernatural
signs, wonders, healings, and miracles.
Acts 9:27 ButBarnabastook him and brought him to the apostles. He told
them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken
to him, and how in Damascushe had preached fearlessly in the nameof Jesus.
•• Anointed preaching, courageouspreaching, effective preaching is that
which is focused upon JesusChrist.
• Acts 5:42 ...they never stopped teaching and proclaimingthe good newsthat
Jesusis the Christ.
• Acts 8:35, KJV Then Philip...preached unto him Jesus.
• 2 Corinthians4:5 For wedo not preach ourselves, butJesusChrist as Lord.
Acts 15:26 ...men who haverisked their lives for the nameof our Lord Jesus
Christ.
•• Some sourcesestimate that there are morethan 170,000Christian martyrs
every year in our modern times. These have paid the ultimate price for their
faith in Jesus. And justthink how many moreare “risking their lives” daily in
nations hostile to the Gospel. How can they do this? What motivates them?
The answer is simple: their lives are fully committed to our Lord JesusChrist.
Acts 16:18 She keptthis up for many days. Finally Paulbecame so troubled
that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I
command you to come out of her!” At that momentthe spirit left her.
•• Jesus’name, spoken in faith, gives you power and authority even over
demon spirits! A large group of Jesus’ disciplesreturned from ministeringand
said to him, “Lord, even the demonssubmitto usin your name” (Luke10:17).

160. •• A pastor I knew in Anchorage wasknown to many as a man with great faith
to deal with the devil. He was given the nickname“devilwhupper”!He
understood wellthe power and authority Jesusgave His followersto
overcomethe devilin Jesus’name.
• Recall again that the timeless Great Commission containsa promisefrom
Jesusof this power and authority: “In my nameshall [believers] cast out
devils...” (Mark 16:17).
Acts 19:17 When this became known to the Jewsand Greeksliving in
Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the nameof the Lord Jesuswas
held in high honor.
•• Let this be ever true in your life. Hold Jesus’ name“in high honor”. May it
alwayscross your lips in reverenceand respect. Let it be regularly invoked in
prayer. Speak that name to your unsaved friendsand family, for ithas the
power to change their lives forever.
•• Let me add a personalreflection here. I have noticed that Christians find it
fairly easy to speak the name“Christ” in conversation. Butfor some reason
many seem less comfortable speakingthe name“Jesus”. For sure, Jesus is the
Christ (Matthew 16:16). Butrecallthe wordsof the angel to Joseph: “You are
to give him the name Jesus...” (Matthew 1:21).
•• I love, honor, and often speak the full name“Lord JesusChrist”. It occurs(in
any order of those three words) 84 times in the New Testament. Butby
comparison, the name “Jesus” all by itself occurs 903 timesin the New
Testament. His namein any of its forms(“Jesus... Christ Jesus ... Lord Jesus ...
Lord JesusChrist ...”, etc.) is wonderful, and nothingin this sermon is intended
to minimizethat in any way whatsoever. My hopein this message is simply to
focusour attention for today on the wonderfulname"Jesus", the nameabove
all other names(Philippians2:9-10).

161. • Sometime try this devotional recommendation — in a worshipfulmood,
simply speak the name“Jesus ... Jesus ... Jesus ...” slowly and with the deepest
reverence. Say it as often and for as long as you feel to. I guarantee that you
will sense the holiness and power of that name and of that holy Person, your
Savior.
1 Corinthians 5:4 When you are assembled in the nameof our Lord Jesusand
I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesusis present...
•• This is a vital key to spiritually upliftingchurch services. Assemble in Jesus’
name, to honor Him, not just to go through somehumanly contrived “order of
service”. And expect Jesus’presenceto be powerfully manifested when you
gather together with your hearts turned to Him.
• Matthew 18:20 For wheretwo or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.
Philippians2:10 ...atthe nameof Jesusevery knee should bow, in heaven and
on earth and under the earth...
•• On TV and in the movies I have watched as the citizens of variousnations
courteously bow (or ladies curtsy) beforetheir king or queen. ButI, as a
citizen of my country, am not obligated to bow before the kings of other
nations. They are not “my” king.
•• ButJesus, by contrast, is “Lord of all” (Acts 10:36). Heis the “Kingof kings”
(Revelation 17:14; 19:16). Even thekings of this world’snations must
acknowledgeHis kingly authority over all. After He had accomplished our
redemption, Jesusdeclared, “Allauthority in heaven and on earth has been
given to me” (Matthew 28:18).
•• It is our obligation, privilege, and joy to bow the kneein reverenceand
obeisance to King Jesus, the Lord of all.

162. Colossians3:17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in
the nameof the Lord Jesus...
•• I like the letters on the WWJD bracelet, signifying“What Would JesusDo?”
That thought appropriately causesusto ask: Will this thought (or word or
deed) please Jesus? Will it honor Him? Will it cause others to be drawn to Him,
or to pullback from Him? Will my conductglorify Him ... or just draw
attention to me?
•• “Whatever you do...do it all” — thought, word, or deed — “in the nameof
the Lord Jesus”, that wonderfulnameaboveall names(Philippians2:9-10).
https://www.jimfeeney.org/Jesus-name-above-all-names.html
The Destiny of a Name
Matthew 1:18-25
Todaywe generally pick children’s names based on preference. But in Old
Testament times Jewish parents chosenames according to what they desired that
child to become or what was taking place at the time of birth. Names carried a
sense of the child’s history or destiny. And this is true of Jesus’ name as well.
God the Father chosethe name for His Sonand communicated it to Joseph, saying,
“You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matt.
1:21). The name literally means “Jehovah is salvation,” which is exactly what
Jesus came to do. His work of salvation can be summed up in four words:
Atonement. Our sins have made us enemies of God, but His Son came to pay our
penalty by shedding His blood. As a result, all who believe in Him can receive
forgiveness and be reconciled to the Father (Rom. 5:10).

163. Access. Jesus opened the doorso we can have a relationship with the Father and
confidently come into His presence, knowing that He hears and loves us (John
14:6; Heb. 4:16).
Adoption. We have been adopted as children of God through Jesus Christ and are
heirs with Him (Eph. 1:5; Rom. 8:16-17).
Assurance. Through Jesus, we have been given eternal life, which can never be lost
(John 5:24). Our future is secure in His name.
Jesus’ destiny was death on a cross so that ours could be eternal life in glory.
Whenever we say or hear His name, our hearts should overflow with love and
gratitude for our gracious Savior, who sacrificed Himself to save us.
https://www.intouch.org/read/magazine/daily-devotions/the-destiny-of-a-name
Philippians 2:4-11
Jesus is a name that elicits all kinds of reactions. Some people show indifference,
others feel hatred, and many think of it only in a profane sense. But to those of us
who know Jesus as Lord and Savior, His name is precious and higher than any
other—and one day in heaven we will eagerly bow before Him.
In biblical times, names were given to represent the nature of the person, and this is
certainly true of the titles by which our Savior is known:
Lord signifies His deity. Jesus existed before time as the eternal Son of God, and
His divinity was never put on hold—not even when He humbled Himself to take
the form of a man.
The name Jesus shows His humanity and His mission. This was a very common
name among the Jews and the one by which our Savior was known as a man. Jesus
means “Jehovah is salvation,” and that’s exactly what He came to do—“saveHis
people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21).

164. Christ means “Messiah.” Jesus perfectly fulfilled all the Old Testament prophecies
that spokeof the Messiah’s first coming. And the remaining messianic prophecies
will be fully realized when He returns to reign on the earth as King.
When Pontius Pilate addressed the Jews, he uttered one of the most crucial
questions in the Bible: “What shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” (Matt.
27:22). We must each answer this same question, and the way we do will
determine our eternal destiny. You’ll bow before Him one day, but will it be by
choice and in grateful worship?
https://www.intouch.org/read/magazine/daily-devotions/the-name-of-jesus
The Name 'Jesus' (Matthew 1:20-21)
December 19, 2010
This sermon was preached on 19/12/2010
Two of the four Gospels refer to the birth of Jesus. Luke’s account is more detailed
and narrates it from the perspective of Mary (he describes her visit to her relative
Elizabeth and the meeting she had with the angel Gabriel in Nazareth). Matthew’s
account is from the perspective of Joseph, at least in the first chapter, and Matthew
presents Jesus as a King from the line of David (Matt. 1:1-17). So we will consider
first some aspects of the character of Joseph before making some comments on the
instruction he received regarding the name of Mary’s son.
A Great Privilege

165. Joseph belonged to an illustrious family line – like all Jews he was descended from
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but in addition he was a descendant of David which
meant royal blood was in him. Circumstances had brought great changes to the
descendants of David – they were no longer living in palaces. Josephhimself was a
humble carpenter.
Joseph’s involvement in the birth of Jesus brings to focus some important matters.
First, we can see the kind of personthat God uses in the work of his kingdom.
Matthew says that Josephwas a just man; this means more than suggesting he
wanted to act fairly. This description points to his relationship with God. Joseph
possessed arighteous standing with God that worked itself out in a righteous
lifestyle. The point is, God always uses such persons in the work of his kingdom.
Second, when did God inform Joseph that he was to play an important role in the
divine purpose?The Lord made known his will during a period in which
everything in Joseph’s life seemed to have turned upside down. He had been
looking forward to marriage with the woman to whom he was engaged. Now it
looked as if she had been unfaithful, which meant that all his hopes for the future
had been dashed. Is it not often the case that God comes with life-changing
purposes at the very moment when many things seem to be going wrong? It may
be a time of disappointment or it may be a period in which other changes are going
on. Then at that time, God intervenes and reveals that he has another plan for one’s
life.
Third, we should note how Joseph responded to this sudden problem. He did not
show a spirit of self-righteousness, instead he reacted with compassiontowards
Mary. Although he could have reacted angrily, he maintained an attitude of grace
and determined to make things as easy as possible for her. Further, he responded
with careful thought and did not rush into things (no doubt, part of his careful
responsewould have been earnest prayer for guidance). There is an important
principle here – if we want God to use us, we must always respond in grace and

166. never in self-righteousness. And grace always is accompanied by careful
consideration, even when we suspectwe know what we should do.
Fourth, God will reveal his will to those who seek it from him. In Joseph’s case,
God sent guidance when an angel spoketo Josephin a dream. The appearance of
this angel is a reminder that God can speak to us anywhere at any time. Of course,
we may wish that God would appear to us in such a manner, but I don’tthink he
will. Special events require special guidance, and Joseph’s situation was very
special. He could not abandon the Saviour of the world, even if at that time he was
unaware of the identity of Mary’s baby. God will usually speak to us through his
Word, through his providences, and through the advice of wise Christians.
So Joseph’s predicament about Mary was solved by divine intervention. And the
message from heaven revealed that Joseph had been selected for a special role. He
was going to be the husband of the mother of the Saviour and therefore a guardian
of him as he grew up. Not only did he have a special role, he was given a particular
requirement, to name the baby according to the mind of heaven. This naming
would be a departure from the way things were normally done because infants
were usually called after relatives. But Josephput God’s command above
traditions and gave to the infant his divinely-chosen name.
A Great Promise
The command given to Joseph also contained a marvellous promise – Jesus would
save his people from their sins. The promise contains three details: there is a need
of rescue – from their sins; there is the way of rescue – saved by Jesus; and there is
the certainty of rescue – shall save his people.
The need of rescue concerns sinners. What do they need to be rescued from? We
can answer this question with three brief comments. First, they need to be
delivered from the penalty of their sins which they incurred by breaking the law of

167. God. The penalty for their transgressions is endless divine judgement, which is an
awful destiny. Second, they needed to be set free from the power of sin. Sin is
involved in all that they do, it affects their thoughts, words and actions. Its
involvement is seen in many ways but can be summarised as including everything
that is not done for the glory of God. Third, they need to be set free from the
presence of sin. As long as sin is there in them and around them, they cannot know
complete happiness. These three features mean that the child born to Mary would
have to deal with each of these aspects of sin. How would he be able to do it? What
made him different from all others?
The passagein Matthew mentions two differences between Jesus and others. First,
it says that Jesus would be divine (Emmanuel, God with us) and, second, he would
have a miraculous conceptionby the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary.
These two distinctions mean that the child was sinless at birth and would remain
sinless in life. It is impossible for God to sin and Jesus avoided the heredity state of
sin that had been the nature of all descendants of Adam. The young child was
unique in his origins and therefore unique in his life – he is divine and sinless.
In order to save his people, he became a member of their race. He did so in order to
live a perfect life on their behalf and pay the penalty of sin when he suffered divine
justice on the cross as their substitute. By his life and death, he also purchased for
them the Holy Spirit and he becomes the power that enables them to defeat sin. He
comes under the authority of Jesus and regenerates his people, enables them to
trust in Jesus and then sanctifies them. As far as deliverance from the presence of
sin is concerned, they experience it in their souls when they die and are made
perfect in holiness and dwell with Jesus in heaven. Concerning their bodies, the
day will yet come when Jesus, when he returns, will fully deliver his people from
the presence of sin by resurrecting them, changing them into his likeness, and
providing for them the new heavens and earth in which only righteousness will
dwell. So Jesus will save his people from their sins.

168. The certainty of his salvation has been shown in different ways. We see it in the
Bible as it describes those who trusted in him in the days of the early church. We
see it historically as we read about those who trusted in Jesus throughout past
human history. We can see it communally as we live in a Christian church and
observe those who are members of it. Hopefully we can sense it personally because
we have individually committed ourselves to Jesus for salvation. In the future, we
will yet see the number that no one can count who will have exercised faith in
Jesus and discovered that he took all of them safely to the eternal world of glory.
A Glad Response
We can imagine the moment when Joseph said about the infant, ‘His name is
Jesus.’ In our mind’s eye, we can see him telling the shepherds and the wise men –
later on he would tell neighbours and friends. He would have revealed it with
wonder, with thanksgiving, with faith. The boy in his home was his Saviour and
Joseph depended on him for arriving at the heavenly home. I wonder how Joseph,
who seems to have died when Jesus was young, felt on the Ascension Day when
Jesus arrived in heaven, and on all other days since, as the one he named saves his
people from their sins. And has he been informed, when the inhabitants of heaven
rejoice over conversions, that yours has taken place?
https://greyfriarssermons.blogspot.com/2010/12/name-jesus-matthew-120-21.html
In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus,
we have the victory.
In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus,
Satan, you have to flee.
Oh, what can ever stand before us
when we call on that great name?

169. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus,
we have the victory.
https://hymnary.org/text/in_the_name_of_jesus_in_the_name_of_jesu
Sinach - The Name of Jesus Lyrics
Artist: Sinach
How majestic is your name
Oh Lord
In all the earth
Your name is strong and mighty
Your name is glorious and great
In Him we are saved
The name of Jesus is higher than other names
King of all kings
No other name like His
The name of Jesus
Higher than other names
Alpha and Omega
No other name like His

170. Your name like sweet perfume
Poured upon my soul
In your name we overcome
In His name there is victory
His name is powerful
The name of Jesus
Higher than other names
King of all kings
No other name like His
The name of Jesus
Higher than other names
Alpha and Omega
No other name like His
The name of Jesus
Higher than other names
King of all kings
No other name like His
The name of Jesus
Higher than other names
Alpha and Omega
No other name like His

171. Every other name you're better than them
Jesus died and roseagain
We lift Him higher
In your name every knee shall bow
In your name all men are saved
We call upon the name
Call His name Jesus
Call that name Jesus
Call that name Jesus
Oh oh oh Jesus
Call that name Jesus
Mighty God Jesus
Call the name Jesus
Oh oh oh Jesus
Jesus Jesus
Jesus Jesus
Jesus Jesus
Oh oh oh Jesus
Call that name Jesus
Jesus
Jesus
Oh oh oh Jesus

172. That name is a miracle
That name is salvation