Jesus is our Savior and He is with us

(Matthew 1:18-25)

1) The birth of Savior

The Gospel Matthew chapter 1starts with the birth of Jesus Christ, that Jesus was born by the power of the Holy Spirit. The passage tells that Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph. In order to understand the passage we have to know the Jewish marriage. In Jewish tradition, there are three steps of marriage.

1) The first step was engagement

   A contract arranged by the family members.

2)  2nd is that there was a betrothal, the public ratification of the engagement with a period of one year for the couple to become known as belonging to each other but not having the rights of living together as husband and wife. The only way a betrothal could be terminated was by divorce.

3)  Third stage is the proper marriage which took place at the end of betrothal.

And so it was during the years of their betrothal, that Mary was found to be with a child by the power of Holy Spirit and she told Joseph. Joseph, who was a righteous man, he had in mind to divorce her secretly. As he had in mind the angle of the Lord appears to him in a dream. And give him message that, “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.

Giving name is very important. Often times, you see when people give names to their babies, they think a lot. They want to give names to their babies depending on the meanings that what the name means.

But here we see, that the angel of the Lord is giving name, Jesus,

The very name of the child tell us the purpose that what this child is going to do. "He will save his people form their sins"

 In Luke 2:11, angel declared to the shepherds that a savior is born in the city of David.

Jesus is our savior. Jesus comes at the stage of Israel drama at an hour, when the nation has long been groaning under spiritual exile and bondage to the foreigner rule and Jesus came to save them.

2) Jesus is our savior.

In the OT, God was with his people and God saves them.

In the book of Daniel, when king Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to worship the image. King told that if you will not worship the image you would be thrown into the blazing furnace. But they refused to worship the image and said to the king "God we serve is able to save us from it"

And king ordered and thrown them into the blazing fire and what happened God save them.

The book of Daniel 3:27 tells that, The fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed, their robes were not scratched and there was no smell of fire on them. It is God who saves them from the blazing furnace.

 The life of Israel is in front us, what happened to them. They were slaves in Egypt. God saves Israel from the hands of Egypt. God saves them from the bondage of slavery. And when Israel is going to enter the promise land, they fought with the nations those are living there. Those people are strong warrior but God was with them. God fought for Israel. His presence saves Israel from their enemies and then they enter into the promise land. The Psalmist in Ps. 44:3 describes the victory of Israel and says.

      "It was not by their sword, that they won the land,

       Nor did their arm bring them victory

       It was your right hand, your arm

       And the light of your face, for you loved them"

So it is God who gives them victory.

By his own effort Israelites are unable to enter in the promise land. But it is God’s presence with them that saved them and leads them into the promise land.

But brothers and sisters think about yourself, how much God loves you.

To save you from the blazing fire of the hell, to set you free from the slavery of sins and to lead you into the perfect promise land, God sent his Son. In John 3:16 says,

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son"

God showed his love not for one nation. God showed his love not for one part of the world but for the whole word. Because God loved the world and sent his Son Jesus for the whole world. This Christmas time reminds us the love of God that God loved the world and sent his Son Jesus to save his people from their sins.

So it is only Christ that saves you. You can not save yourself. Man is sinner, he cannot save himself. Through your own effort you cannot enter into the kingdom of God. It is Christ who bears God’s judgment on the cross; it is Christ who bears God’s wrath on the cross to save you, to set you free from your sins and lead you into the kingdom of God, the heaven. It is through Christ, your relation with God is restored that were broken in the Eden. It is Jesus, who reconciled you with the heavenly Father. It is through Christ now you are able to enjoy the blessings of the heaven. So that’s why He is your Savior, because he is the atoning sacrifice of your sins.  Paul in Eph. 2:8 says,

"For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourself, it is the gift of God"

This salvation is a gift. You don't have to do anything in order to get salvation, in order to enter the promise land. Christ paid all the price for your sins. That's why he is your Savior.

3) Jesus is with us

Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14. That,

"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and they will call him Immanuel which mean, God with us"

During Isaiah time the king of Aram and the king of Israel armed against the king Ahaz, the king of Judah. They are going to fight with the king Judah. The hearts of the king Ahaz and his people were shaken. They thought that they are alone. At that time God is giving them hope, God told them that, don't loose heart. God is giving them a sign; God is giving them a prophecy of the future Messiah that he will come and he will save you and he will be with you.

Jesus is the Immanuel, born by the Virgin Mary. Jesus is the God, who is always with us; He is not separate from you. He is always with you. May be sometimes when you are in problems, or in difficulties, may be you think, that God forgot me; he is not here with me. He is not helping me. But he did not forget you. He always remember you and always with you.

In Isaiah. 49:15 God says, "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have not compassion on the child, she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you, see I have engraved you on the palms of my hands and your walls are ever before me".

So he never forget you, he always remember you and always with you.

In the book of Exodus God take Israel out of the Egypt with his mighty hand. God was with them in a pillar of clouds to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light. But Israel rebel against God. They made golden calf as their god. God was angry with them and what God said to Moses.

God said, you are stiff-necked people so I will not go with you, my presence will not go with you.

But Moses said to God, O Lord, remember this nation is your people, if you will not go with us,  if your presence does not go with us, then don't send us from here, we will not go to that land. Then Lord said, my presence will go with you.

But brothers and sisters we don’t have to say like Moses, Lord if you will not go with us or if your presence will not be with us, we will not go there, we will not do that work, or we will not do the missionary work.

Because he has already given you his Spirit and his Spirit is within your heart.

Paul in 1 Cor. 3:16 says, "Don’t you know that you yourself are God’s temple and that’s God’s Spirit lives in you"

So God gives you Holy Spirit that lives in you and guiding you. Through His Spirit He is always with you.

The Gospel Matthew that starts with a theme in 1:23 that “God is with us” also ends beautifully. After resurrection, when Jesus was commissioning his disciple he said,

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teach them to obey everything, I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always to the very end of the age. (Math. 28:19).

So he is always with you. Why did he save you? Why did he give you the Holy Spirit?

He saved you so that you must live a holy life.

Paul in 2Tim. 1:9 says, He saved us and called us to a holy life not because of anything we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace.

Brothers and sisters, at Christmas time, what you have to do now, you have to proclaim the love of God, you have to proclaim Jesus, who is your savior, not only yours but the savior of the world and He is always with you.

His Spirit is with you in your weakness, in you problems and in your difficulties, to guide you, to help you and to lead you on the way which takes to heaven. So now you have to live a holy life to glorify his name then He will bless you abundantly. Amen.