Born to Save: The Ultimate Purpose Driven Life!

  Very early in John's Gospel, we read Jesus' Mission Statement (italics mine): 

  “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. 

  For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him." John 3:16-17

  The purpose of the life of Messiah was to save, but the Bible tells us there is only one Savior: YHWH Himself. However, as is the practice of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, YHWH never does anything without first revealing His plans to His prophets (Amos 3:7). He most definitely did not depart from this practice when He sent us His Son.

  It is always good to look out for patterns as you study your Bible as these typically indicate that the writer or speaker is making an important point. 

  For example, whenever Jesus would say, "Truly, truly...," He was calling His hearers to pay particular attention to what He was about to say. 

  Here is one such instance:

  Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” John 8:58 NASB

  Jesus is essentially calling them to pay attention to what He is about to say, and in this case, it's a doozie. Paraphrasing Him: "I existed before Abraham was even born, because I Am YHWH." That is why the Jews picked up stones to stone Him to death (v. 59).  

  W
e find a similar repetitive pattern in Matthew's account of Jesus' birth. Take a look at the passage and see if you spot it:

Matthew 1, HCSB


18 The birth of Jesus Christ came about this way: After His mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, it was discovered before they came together that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. 


19 So her husband Joseph, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly.


20 But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is by the Holy Spirit. 


21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to name Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”


22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:


23 See, the virgin will become pregnant

     and give birth to a son,
     and they will name Him Immanuel,  
     which is translated “God is with us.”

24 When Joseph got up from sleeping, he did as the Lord’s angel had commanded him. He married her


25 but did not know her intimately until she gave birth to a son. And he named Him Jesus.


  Did you see it? The pattern is in verses 21, 23 and 25 (italics mine).


  The angel of the Lord first tells Joseph,  


21 "She will give birth to a son

      and you are to name Him Jesus, 
      because He will save His people 
      from their sins.” 

  Matthew then proceeds to quote Isaiah, who had prophesied about this momentous event more than 700 years prior:


23 See, the virgin will become pregnant

     and give birth to a son,
     and they will name Him Immanuel,
     which is translated “God is with us.”

  And he sews it all up by recording Jesus' birth and Joseph's obedience to God's call (text in brackets mine):


25 "[Joseph] did not know her intimately until she gave birth to a son. And he named Him Jesus."

  So, in the passage, Matthew relates for his readers how the prophetic word had been spoken hundreds of years before, and how in their day an angel had announced its imminent fulfillment, until finally the promised word had come to pass and the Child was born amongst them.  


  But the Gospel deviated from the pattern on one key point: it differed as to the Name by which the Child would be called. 

  While the angel and Matthew had said He would be (and was) named Jesus, Isaiah had said the Child would be named Immanuel.

  But this is no contradiction at all as everything continues to flow in one unbroken line from the very first Book of the Bible all the way to the end. Everything is just as God has planned it.  

  Matthew hasn't made a mistake here, and neither has the angel. 

  Rather, the Divine Author of the Bible is making a very important point to His readers, a truth which He has revealed through His prophets before and is now reaffirming.

  Let's look at the passage again in the Complete Jewish Bible:

21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Yeshua, [which means ‘Adonai saves,’] because he will save his people from their sins.”


22 All this happened in order to fulfill what Adonai had said through the prophet,


23 “The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call him ‘Immanu El.” (The name means, “God is with us.”)


24 When Yosef awoke he did what the angel of Adonai had told him to do — he took Miryam home to be his wife, 


25 but he did not have sexual relations with her until she had given birth to a son, and he named him Yeshua.


  This is no mere human being that is being discussed here. In the thousands of years of Jewish history which preceded this event, there was never a prophet who was accorded this much attention or honor, much less the kind of heavenly fanfare lavished upon Jesus. 

  Clearly, this was no ordinary prophet, no ordinary child. 

  This was Immanu El, God with Us. 

  Matthew added the explanation of this name precisely to highlight Who this Child was to be. Before we have even met the Child or the Man Jesus in Matthew's Gospel, we are already told that He is "God with us."

  But there is still more to be learned from the name that the Child is to be given.

  His name is Jesus, or in Hebrew, Yeshua, which means "The Lord Saves."


  The angel had commanded, "You are to name Him Yeshua, because He will save His people from their sins."

  The name had been specifically chosen to match the Man's Mission. 

  The Man was to be named Jesus, because The Lord Himself was going to save His people from their sins.

  Yeshua the Savior is YHWH!


  We take a look at how the Gospel of Luke also lines up with Isaiah's prophecies here:

  http://apologika.blogspot.com/2013/12/comparing-isaiah-9-with-luke-1.html


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