Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Christmas Devotional Day 6

Tuesday-December 6

Our question today is "Why did He come"? There are numerous reasons that we could examine, but today we want to address the most critical!

In the birth story of Jesus that are people such as Mary, Joseph, Sheppard's, wise men, a king, scribes, a cousin named Elizabeth, and a business person. The business person is the innkeeper. There are animals mentioned such as a donkey and flocks. One of the most important connected creatures are the angels who live in the higher spirit world (Matthew 1:20-21, Luke 1:11, 26--38, 2:9, 13-14). It is from Luke that we get the name of the angel, Gabriel, who delivers the message to Mary of her being the choice of God to bring into the world, Jesus. Not only will Gabriel give Mary the name to call the baby but will tie to the name the actions of the child when He reaches maturity (Luke 1:26-38). For Luke, the actions that Gabriel speaks will be that of the baby being a King who will reign over Jacob (1:32-33).

But Matthew gives to us what could be the most important position that the child will hold when the angel gives instruction to Joseph on the actions he should toward Mary. He will be a savior!

Matthew 1:21 (KJV 1900)
21And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

There are a number of propositions as to the meaning of the name of Jesus including YHWH saves, (is) salvation, (is) a saving-cry, (is) a cry-for-saving, (is) a cry-for-help, (is) my help.[1] The bottom life of these definitions is that YHWH is a saving God!

Name are not given in the Bible to an individual or place just because the name sounded good to the human ear. The name will give us much information as to a person's character and purpose. Thus the purpose of this human body is to be a savior of humanity. As a savior, He is meeting the need of sin. His purpose for coming is to provide the pure blood required of sin. (Hebrews 9:22, 1 Peter 1:19).

The Greek word for the action the angels said that Jesus would take is σώζω or sṓzō. It means to save, deliver, make whole, preserve safe from danger, loss, destruction.[2]

When we parse this Greek word, we see it gives us the following information.
It is a verb and as a verb, it is a word that describes an action, state of being, or the production of a result.[3] Salvation is Jesus' acting upon the sins of humanity! It is in the future tense. The future tense is the verb tense where the writer portrays an action or state of being that will occur in the future.[4] The salvation will happen in the future. His birth is the starting point of His purpose. His purpose is to be the sacrifice to take away the sins of the World. He must become a man who understands and experiences temptation yet does not sin to be qualified to become the savior of humanity at His death! Adam the first son of God failed. Jesus must fulfill the obedience that Adam did not do. Adam was not a baby but a man who experienced temptation but failed. The last Adam will be a man who does not fail when tempted by the devil, the world or sin and the lack of failure from temptation will make Him the man that will bring salvation (Romans 5:19, I Corinthians 15:22, 45)!

The voice of the verb is active. The subject will do the action. Jesus will do the saving of His people.
The mood is indicative. The mood is the state of being of the verb. Since the mood is indicative, that means that the writer is describing the action as real. It is the mood of assertion, where the writer portrays something as actual (as opposed to possible or contingent on intention).[5] Salvation will actually happen! It is not a wish or an intention. It will come about in the lives of His people.

One of the most important words to notice in the Matthew 1:21 is the word "for." The Greek word is γάρa or gar. It is a  marker of cause or reason between events. The reason that the baby is receiving the name Jesus is not that it is a unique name, neither the most popular name of its day nor because it was the most recognized name. The reason the baby will be named Jesus is because this child as a man will take action that will give to His people salvation!

The Sanhedrin asks Peter what was the means of the healing of the lame man. Peter states that the healing happened through the name of Jesus.  There is a connection between the name of Jesus and the action of the healing. Peter takes the actions of the name a step farther than healing and states the name of Jesus also has the power to save you. It is the only name connected with salvation!

Acts 4:12 (KJV 1900)

12Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

If you want action from God that deals with your sin, it becomes necessary to use the name of Jesus! That name takes the action of washing your sin away! When you look at Paul's baptism, you see that it was in the name of Jesus and the use of that name caused the action of washing away sins to occur!

Acts 22:16 (KJV 1900)

16And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

The reason we do not baptize in the Name of the Father and Son and Holy Ghost is that these are titles, not names! The introduction of Jesus, speaks that the power of salvation is in His name!

Your Response:

Take time to slowly read the following scriptures. Meditate on the actions of the name of Jesus and how we should use His name in salvation. Act and tell someone today about salvation and how it can only come through the name of Jesus. Encourage them to be baptized in the name of Jesus!

Matthew 1:21 (KJV 1900)

21And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Acts 4:12 (KJV 1900)

12Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Acts 22:16 (KJV 1900)

16And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

Acts 2:38 (KJV 1900)
38Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Acts 10:44–48 (KJV 1900)

44While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.
45And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.
46For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter,
47Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?
48And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.

Acts 19:1–5 (KJV 1900)

1And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,
2He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
3And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism.
4Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
5When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Colossians 3:17 (KJV 1900)

17And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.







1  Ernest Klein, A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language (New York: MacMillan Publishing Company 1987) ; Talshir, M. H. Segal, A Grammar of Mishnaic Hebrew (Tel Aviv: 1936), p. 146; Strong's Concordance H3091; Philo, De Mutatione Nominum, §21; Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gesenius, Hebrew and English Lexicon With an Appendix Containing the Biblical Aramaic (Hendrickson, 1985), ISBN 0-913573-20-5. Cf. Blue Letter BibleH3442

[2] Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament, electronic ed. (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000).
[3] Michael S. Heiser, Glossary of Morpho-Syntactic Database Terminology (Logos Bible Software, 2005).
[4] Michael S. Heiser, Glossary of Morpho-Syntactic Database Terminology (Logos Bible Software, 2005).
[5] Michael S. Heiser, Glossary of Morpho-Syntactic Database Terminology (Logos Bible Software, 2005).

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