Thoughts from the Hour Part 1: "Thou Shalt Call His Name Jesus"

What was the point of Jesus' being our Sacrifice? Some might answer, "It was to die for my sins." That is true, and praise God He was our substitute! Praise God He died so that we don't have to! That's not the only reason, however. It goes far deeper than that.

 Matthew chapter one records that Mary was "found with child of the Holy Ghost" before she and Joseph "came together" (v. 18). Joseph, of course, wasn't aware of that. He thought Mary had committed adultery, and wanted to privately divorce her. While he contemplated this, an angel came and explained the situation, thus stopping him from doing any such thing (vv. 19-20). The angel went on to say, "And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins" (v. 21).

"And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins." Notice the angel did not say, "He shall save His people only from the penalty of their sins." Oh, no. He said, "from their sins." Not in them, but from them. That is the other all-important reason why Jesus lived and died and rose again — to deliver us from our sins! That means that He came so that we might be the clean and good and noble people He intended us to be in the first place. People that love and worship Him, and that love and respect their fellow men, everywhere and all the time. He came so that we could have the power to stop killing each other (imagine — no wars!) ; so that children (young and old) could have the power to be good kids instead of brats; so that spouses could have the power to always be faithful to each other...Isn't it beautiful? I love thinking about it.

This is what Jesus was referring to when He said, "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). The thief, or devil, only wants to steal us from God, to kill and destroy us; but Jesus came that we might live. Live physically, yes, but live aright as well. I could go on and on about this beautiful subject, but that might get a little tiring, so I will leave you to ponder it. In the end, I hope we'll have all let Jesus save each and every one of us from our sins, that we may happy, and be with Him forever.

Sincerely,
Jean