What is in a Name? Matthew 1:18-25
Richard Dawkins, the High Priest of Neo-atheism was in a discussion with Ayaan Hersi Ali, an ex Muslim who became an outspoken atheist but ended up becoming a Christian. They are friends and in this discussion that took place only 6 months after her conversion, Richard expressed his disbelieve that she had become a Christian and asked,
“Do you really believe in the virgin birth and the resurrection?”
Her reply was very simple,
“If God is God, he can do anything.”
How often we face crises that we cannot find an answer to. There always is help at hand - that help is always available from God. ‘Help me I’m desperate’ is a very sensible prayer.
Joseph lived in Nazareth and there he faced a crisis. The possibility of a virgin birth never occurred to Joseph when he discovered that his fiancee was pregnant. He knew it wasn’t his child so who was the father? In ancient Israel, betrothal was as binding as marriage. A betrothed woman was legally regarded as her fiancé’s wife, even though the marriage had not yet been consummated. This is reflected in the terminology used in texts like Deuteronomy 22:23-24, which treats a betrothed woman as though she were married. This passage teaches that if a betrothed woman engaged in consensual sexual relations with a man other than her fiancé, both parties were considered guilty of adultery. The penalty was death by stoning for both, reflecting the severity with which adultery was viewed.
No wonder Joseph was shocked and in a dilemma. He was a decent, kind, considerate man who felt deeply for Mary. He was not willing to put her through the humiliation of a public court case. Doubtless his mind was in a spin, he was stunned and would have felt let down.
Mary would surely have told Joseph about the visit, some months before, of the angel Gabriel who had come and told her,
“You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever.
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” Luke 1:31-35
It is not difficult to understand Joseph’s concern as there was only one natural explanation for the pregnancy. This is why God needed to explain to Joseph what was happening. Every major work of God mentioned in the Bible has been linked to a spoken explanation. He does not leave his people in the dark. Without a word from God we would never understand what he is doing.
God’s breaking into his world with the virgin birth of his own Son was extraordinary - but God is God and he can do anything.
God intervened and an angel gave Joseph a message in a dream that consisted of two parts:
He said Mary was going to have God’s Son. Matthew 1:20-21
He reminded her that the Scriptures are God’s word. Matthew 1:22-23
In the first four chapters of his book, Matthew included 10 direct quotes from the Old Testament. By doing this he emphasised that Jesus recognised the Jewish Scriptures to be the Word of God.
By telling us how Joseph was reassured, Matthew gives us God’s framework for understanding who this child was and what he had come to do.
At the start of Matthew’s book he gives us some evidence that Jesus is God’s long promised Messiah, the Christ, God’s eternal ruler and king by recording the genealogy of Jesus. He was the son or descendant of King David and the subsequent kings of the Jews. This was a repeated prophecy about how to recognise the Messiah.
In this passage we are introduced to God’s explanation, this child will save his people from their greatest problem, he can only do this because of who he is.
1. The Name that Encapsulates his Mission
Matthew records Jesus’ birth very simply as a straight forward historical event, with a minimum of comment or detail.
To Matthew it was utterly reasonable that a loving God should break into his creation but he gives not a single comment on the wonder of this incarnation. He simply says,
“What is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 1:20
At 6 weeks an embryo is the size of an apple pip, at 8 weeks it is still only 0.6 inches in length. Jesus had left the glory of heaven to be embodied in this little being and to become a helpless baby.
The real message that Matthew wants to dwell on is the question ‘Why?’. Why was it so important for God to take such an extraordinary step. The answer is given in the next verse:
“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21
The name ‘Jesus’ that encapsulates his mission. Many parents agonise over the name of a new child, or they should. In Wales, one woman in 2016 was banned from naming her baby daughter Cyanide. A judge ruled the name was unacceptable "even allowing for changes in taste, fashion and developing individual perception”. How did Paula Yates come up with the names Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily for her daughter, sister to Peaches and Cream?
In the first century, names really meant something. Verse 21 repeats what Gabriel said to Mary as recorded early Luke’s gospel, but note that in both places it is God who has named this child. It is a command:
“You are to give him the name Jesus . ..” Matthew 1:21
It was a common name at that time, rather like John is for us now but it had great significance.
Jesus is the anglicised form of Jeshua which means ‘Jahweh saves’ or ‘The Lord rescues’. It is the same name that Moses gave to Joshua before he took over from Moses to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. When Joshua was born in Egypt his parents had named him Hosea, which means ‘Saviour’.
“These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.)” Numbers 13:16:
So Hoshea, Saviour, was altered to Je-shua, the Lord saves. This change in name holds significant theological and symbolic meaning. By renaming him, Moses explicitly attributes salvation to God rather than human effort, emphasising that God alone can save people.
Jesus was also on a mission, a rescue mission. He came to save his people from their sins,
An Archbishop was giving a sermon Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. He told of a group of young lads who decided to have a joke and they bet one young man that he wouldn’t dare to make a false confession. He accepted the bet and went into the confessional. and made up, on the spur of the moment some horrendous sins. The priest however realised what was going on and said to the young man.
“As you know, with every confession there is a penance. You are to go to the crucifix at the front of the cathedral, kneel down and say these words ten times: ‘You did all this for me, and I don’t care at all.’”
The lad went back to his friends to claim his reward but they insisted that he had to complete the penance so off he went to the cross. He looked up and started to say those words:
‘You did all this for me, and I don’t care at all.’
The boy started but found he couldn’t complete the words. Instead, he broke down, realizing that Jesus had entered this world and died for his sin. The Archbishop finished this story by saying.
“I know that story is true as that lad was me.”
2. A Problem with disastrous consequences
If you put a finger over the last two words in verse 21, how would most people expect it to finish?
“He will save his people from _____ ______.”
In first century Israel most people would probably say, ‘from Roman occupation’. Today people would come up with a variety of answers such as ‘Financial instability’, ‘International wars’, ‘natural disasters’, ‘Russian invasions’, ‘Islamic fundamentalism’,’social inequalities’ or possibly some ‘personal difficulty’.
When a patient comes to a surgeon with some symptoms he will only help that patient if he gets to the root cause of the problem. The presenting symptom may reveal a serious underlying problem that requires radical treatment.
God has told us what the root cause of all our problems are, and he has also provided the perfect treatment. Sin is the root cause and he says that we all need to be rescued from our sin. Sin is a profound rebellion against God’s rule in our life. A person can be religious or even an evangelical and yet not allow the Lord to rule. This diagnosis matters because if left untreated it will result in awful eternal consequences.
The problem of our sin required a loving God to cause his Son to leave heaven and come down to earth on a divine rescue plan.
Sin is a technical term that requires some explanation. In his letter to the Romans Paul gives this definition:
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.” Romans 1:18-20
Sin is the rebellious suppression of the truth of God. We refuse to allow him to reign in our lives.
Some may remember the video about Muhammad Ali called ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ about a great boxing fight for the World Championship in the Congo. Throughout the film there is one recurring feature, Ali is standing there with his fist clenched, proclaiming,
“I am the greatest!”
Sin is the spiritual expression of this, it is the suppression of the truth of God in our lives. Quietly we claim,
“I am the greatest!”
Nothing is more important than me!
We are reminded of the consequence of our sin in Romans 1:18:
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven . . .”
The consequence of our sin, our rebellion against God, is his anger and our exclusion form his eternal kingdom. In Matthew’s gospel we are told at least 13 times than any person rejecting Christ’s rule and his truth will be thrown out of God’s presence at the end of their lives and be sent to a place of utter desolation, where there will be “. . . weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
God knows that the long list of issues that we think are the major problems in the world are not the root problem. Underlying the political unrest, loneliness, low self esteem or lack of purpose is the widespread problem of sin. You can treat these problems superficially, like a nurse putting a sticking plaster on a wound, when there is really a life threatening disease present. God repeatedly tells us that our sin is our fundamental problem and unless dealt with will affect our eternal destiny.
This anger of God can be felt by God shunning us and leaving us alone to go down hill. Isn’t this what we are seeing in the West today? Some like the idea of God but then say ‘I want to serve my God my way.” How stupid! At the final judgment, that we will all have to face when we die, this wrath will be felt much more acutely. Then God will endorse our decision to turn our backs on him and he will leave us all alone.
Esther Ransome, the Moral Maze, Oprah or Killroy all raise issues of symptoms but their so called experts never talk about the root cause or the real solution, they go round and round in confusion, as if lost in a maze. ‘Moral Maze’ is a great name, we are lost with no answers. If anyone does talk about the real problem or the real solution they will quickly be shut up or isolated.
When God broke into his world there was no discussion, no confusion, just an authoritative word of explanation from God:
“You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21
Jesus has come on a mission. His operation will be radical. He has come to get right to the heart of the matter. He alone can rescue people from the consequences of their sin.
Is that how you and your family would have completed verse 21? If someone suggests there is another solution, they haven’t understood the essence of God, his holiness, or the essence of man, our sinfulness.
3. The Word that Reassures
The Lord sent an angel in a vivid dream to reassure Joseph and said,
“Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 1:20
Joseph was told that the child was conceived by the Holy Spirit and not in the natural way. He refers to Joseph as ‘Son of David’ which reiterates the start of the book which gives Joseph’s family tree. He also, as the legal parent of Jesus was, like Mary, a direct descendent of King David. It is David whom the Old Testament prophets had repeatedly said would be the ancestor of the Messiah. Jesus qualified in this respect both through Mary and through his legal parent Joseph. ‘Do not be afraid’ suggests that Joseph wanted to marry Mary but had been wracked with doubt.
The sending of a Saviour had always been God’s plan for fallen humanity. God had previously explained this through his prophets where we are informed how this mission was going to be accomplished. Matthew has over 40 direct quotes from the Jewish Scriptures confirming that Jesus is God’s Messiah, confirming that Jesus and his apostles believed the Scriptures to be the ‘very words of God’ (Romans 3:2). Here Matthew quotes some words from Isaiah chapter 7, saying
“All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).” Matthew 1:22-23
This wording confirms that the Lord speaks through a prophet acting as God’s mouthpiece. Isaiah tells us how God will provide for the rescue of all mankind - ‘A virgin will conceive’. To Joseph this must have been startling as the idea of a virgin birth was completely foreign to Jewish and other religious thinking of the time.
In Isaiah 7, the Hebrew word translated ‘virgin’ is ‘almah, means a young unmarried woman, a maiden. If Isaiah had meant a young married woman he could have used another word. Isaiah was announcing a remarkable sign that answers the doubts of King Ahaz. At the time Judah was being threatened by a coalition of the king of Israel, Pekah, and the king of Syrian, Rezin, and Ahaz didn’t know what to do. Isaiah’s answer for those with doubts is the virgin birth of a special child!
Matthew uses a Greek word that specifically means a ‘virgin’. This sign, a virgin birth, is truly extraordinary and utterly significant. He is explaining how God will provide a son to rescue humanity. Matthew is summarising that Jesus is truly God’s son as a result of God’s miraculous intervention but he is also Mary’s son from Mary’s womb.
“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”
Joseph and Mary were to call him Jesus,’ The Lord Saves’, but another title is ‘Immanuel’ which means ‘God with us’. God was entering his world in the flesh. Jesus was conceived in her so was fully human but he was also conceived by the Holy Spirit so is fully divine.
God knew he would be a boy, without ultrasounds, because this was all ordained by him. Jesus was fully God and fully human. If he was anything less than divine he couldn’t have satisfied God and pay the price for our sin when he died on that cross. If he wasn’t fully human he couldn’t have represented us on that cross.
We all face problems and dilemmas in life but the God who created us has given us all two wonderful gifts that this verse talks about, God’s Son, Jesus the Christ and God’s word that we have in Scripture.
A Challenge that we Face
To know our Bibles
I recently visited another church and was amazed at how ignorant many people, especially the young people, were of the Scriptures. When asked to turn to Romans 1 many were looking in the Index to see where it was. May I urge everyone here who claims to be a Christian to read the Bible every day. Use some scheme such as ‘Explore’ notes that many of us here use. Ask us or look it up on-line.
2. To commit to Mission
Many companies have Mission Statements to focus on their purpose. Consider this one,
“Our mission is to ensure every chicken has a life worth living and a death worth dying for, while making the tastiest fried chicken on Earth.”
Obviously this is appealing to people’s natural concern for nature and our appetites! God gives his people the perfect mission statement:
“You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21
This is the Lord speaking. This is the purpose of Jesus’ life. When in Joseph’s carpentry shop, when teaching his disciples and the crowds, when in the Garden of Gethsemane, when betrayed by Judas, when carrying the cross and when hanging on it, he was always Jesus, ‘The Lord who saves’.
But please do note that he doesn’t save everybody, he only saves ‘his people’, those who have made that specific decision to follow Jesus and take him into their lives as their Lord and Saviour.
Just think to yourself,
“Am I sold out to Jesus? Am I commissioned to live for him for the rest of my life?”
If anyone here is unsure about how they stand before God what better time is there to turn to him today, simply ask him to come into your life and take over. When you do this your sins are immediately all forgiven because the penalty for them has been transferred to Jesus on that cross. He is our sacrificial lamb. What wonderful news this is to share. One of the evidences that Jesus is our Lord is that we long for others to turn to him so we love to talk about him and invite others to hear about him.
So please ask yourself,
“Is my mission the same as Jesus? Do I long that others should be saved?”
Is this the mission of all of us in Christchurch Baldock. Is pleasing Jesus the goal of my life? Is the mission statement of all of us to see people saved from their sins? It is so easy to be satisfied with a lesser mission, to give people social and psychological support, to be wise counsellors, to have a mission for the ethical improvement of our society or for social justice. Jesus has given us his Spirit so we can continue his mission to save people from their sins. Are we all on-board?
We heard two weeks ago that there is a shortage of people willing to commit to overseas mission. There is also a shortage of people willing to train to lead churches in the UK. The root problem is that there is a shortage of ordinary men and women who are seriously committed to fulfilling Christ’s mission through their local church. Yet this is what all Christians have been ordained or commissioned to be. Are we all clear about this?
A casual conversation is followed up
A Christian, working in Thailand, was travelling along a dirt road in the local bus, a converted truck. It was very hot. He started chatting to a small, wiry man sitting next to him. After a while the man told him about a dream he had just had. He dreamt that he was suffering from leprosy but had been cured through a western man who apparently looked like his fellow traveller!
“What do you think of the dream?” The Christian asked. “Could it be that you are about to experience something special?”
The local man’s name was Mr. Gram and he lived in a nearby village. He clearly did not have leprosy so the Christian reasonably wondered if God was preparing him for something deeper than physical healing.
As the journey continued the Christian explained that he had a responsibility to share the news that God had provided new life, a very different life, for those who trust in Jesus, God’s Son. The man was keen to learn more but the noise of the bus and the swirling dust made conversation difficult so they arranged to meet up later in his village home.
A little later the Christian did visit Mr. Gram in his home and received a warm welcome and he returned several times over the following weeks. He was introduced to the family and was able to explain the gospel to them all. They committed their lives to follow Jesus.
One one occasion asked about Mr. Gram’s life and work. He replied,
“I assemble a group of workmen, and we go and build houses.” Then he added, ‘But I also have another job - I’m an assassin! On the day you met me on the bus I was going on a job to kill someone! After meeting you, though, I changed my mind. Something must have spoken inside me. So I got off the bus, crossed the road, and took the next bus home.”
The Christian was astonished to learn that his presence on that bus that day had not only prevented a murder but resulted in Mr. Gram and his family changing the direction of their lives. Those who are led by the Lord are the fragrance of life and death to those we meet day by day.
“For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.” 2 Corinthians 2:15
Having given up his sideline in assassinations, Mr Gram became a key figure in the small Christian group that began meeting in the village. He was later chosen to be the builder of a new church in the local town.
What fruit from a chance meeting on a bus and then following this up!
Can we all say:
“Lord please save me from my sins and fill me with your Holy Spirit so I go out into your world to love and serve you because you have forgiven me.”
The final words of the Tridentine Mass in Latin are ‘Ite missa est’. ‘Ite’ means ‘Go’, an imperative, an order. ‘Missa est’ means ‘You are sent’. Some think it just means ‘Go, the mass is over’ but the Bible’s message is much more, ‘Go. you are sent - sent to bear fruit for Jesus Christ.”
Prayer
Thank you Lord for your great love for us, that you should send your son from heaven, to rescue those of us who have turned to you. Thank you that you love to help us when we face crises. But we thank you particularly for freeing your people from both the penalty of sin and from the power of sin so that we can go out into this world with your mission statement, to share with people that their sin can be forgiven and they can be empowered to live as you want. In the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
Appendix - The Reality of Hell
This is doubted by many today so it is worth stressing that there is a real hell for those who reject the rule of God and of his Son Jesus Christ. Jesus repeatedly warns us about hell in the Sermon on the Mount:
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’” Matthew 5:22
“It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” Matthew 5:30
“But if you do not forgive others their sins, your father will not forgive your sins.” Matthew 6:15
“Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evil doers.” Matthew 7:23
This is a hard teaching but subsequently Jesus repeatedly warns us that this judgment and penalty will really happen to those who do not truly follow him in their lives. Later in Matthew he repeatedly stresses this fact:
“ I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 8:11-12
“The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.” Matthew 13:41-4
“. . . and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 13:50
Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ Matthew 22:13
“He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 24:51“And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 25:30
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’” Matthew 25:41
This is the warning of the whole Bible, beginning with Adam’s expulsion from God’s presence in Genesis. It is well described in Psalm 2 where people who conspire against God are described as laughable. This psalm finishes with this summary,
“Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” Psalm 2:11-12
