P. 3 January 1, 2012

 2. All of this he did so that he could be our savior. The event of this child’s circumcision was indeed significant, as was every single moment of his life in perfect obedience to the Father’s will for us. But even more significant in this single verse in our text for this Festival of the Name of Jesus is his name itself. “On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived.” The circumcision was just a subordinate thought for the more significant truth. This child’s name is Jesus.

We know why the name of this child is such a significant name. The angel announced it to Joseph when he appeared to Joseph and told him of the miraculous import of this child’s virgin birth. “You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Mt. 1:21). The name Jesus means salvation. And the salvation this child would bring would not be for an earthly deliverance. He would save his people from their sins. This was the spiritual savior. His name means, “The Lord who saves.” This child was properly named, “The Lord, the Savior of All Mankind.”

This was God’s plan and purpose from the start. The Lord is not a God of punishment. The Lord is not a God of vengeance. The Lord is a God of full and free salvation. No other God in all the earth is a God who gives. No other God in all the earth is a God who saves. Every other God of every other religion takes. Every other God of every other religion demands. But the Lord is the God who saves. The Lord is the God who gives of himself to be the Savior for all mankind. That is what the name “Jesus” means. “He will save his people from their sins.” His very name is “The Lord who saves.” His name was Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

Do you know why people don’t come to their pastor for confession any more? Because they have been given the impression that there is where I will finally get in trouble for my sins. There I will finally be punished for the wrong I have been doing. And so if I continue to lie about it my life, then I can go on living however I want. But if I go to the pastor he’ll make me feel really guilty and bad. I’ll have to stop sinning and change my whole life.

First of all, shame on us if we have given that impression. Shame on us for abusing God’s Word and violating God’s name. Shame on us for not communicating, “The Lord who saves.” When the burdened conscience comes into these doors weighed down with the awful load of sin and guilt, let them see Jesus, the Lord who saves. Let them see the sin and the punishment met out in Jesus who suffered that great punishment of death for them. Let them feel that weight of guilt lifted and released from their shoulders. Let them truly feel that because of Jesus, the Lord who saves, every year—even every day—is a new day. A clean slate. A gift of grace from the Lord who saves to live in fullness to Jesus. When the guilty child, brother, or friend comes to you bearing their heart and unloading their guilt, you exercise the keys God has rightly given to you. Forgive them. Let them see Jesus—the Lord who saves.