REFORMED WITNESS
Volume XII, November 2004, Number 12
His Name Is Jesus
By Prof. Robert D. Decker
Professor of Practical Theology at the Protestant Reformed Theological SeminaryPreached in the Protestant Reformed Church of Byron Center, Michigan on Christmas Day in the Year of Our Lord 1994
That's all we see: just a poor, young man and his wife and a tiny newborn baby boy lying in a manger in a stable on the edge of the village of Bethlehem. There's no more! A baby like all other babies, He is frail and subject to all infirmities, as any other. Here are a young mother and her husband, and it has no meaning or significance for us either. We may perhaps rejoice with that young couple upon the birth of their first child. The circumstances of his birth, the manger, the swaddling clothes may evoke a feeling of pity, but that's all!
That's all, unless we see by the grace of God that this baby's name is Jesus! Then everything is changed for us! The night of our sin and death becomes the day of joy and gladness, and we shall go on our way glorifying and praising God for all the things we've seen and heard.
Yes - his name is Jesus! God gave him that name! When he was eight days old, he was circumcised and his name was called Jesus. Mary and Joseph called him Jesus because "he was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb."
This takes us back to Luke 1. Gabriel, God's holy messenger, appeared to the virgin Mary. His message was, "Hail, thou art highly favored among women, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women: Behold thou shalt conceive and bare a son and shalt call his name Jesus." This means, the angel explains, "He shall be called the Son of the Highest, the Lord shall give him the throne of his father David, He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there shall be no end."
Mary doesn't understand, "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" Gabriel answers, "You will conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost; and therefore, that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God."
All this comes to clearer light in Matthew's account. Poor Joseph is at a loss. Mary (to whom he is espoused) before they come together is found with child. Joseph can reach only one conclusion - Mary has committed adultery. He is minded to put her away privily. While he's pondering all this, the angel of the Lord comes to him in a dream and tells him not to be afraid to take Mary to wife. That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. She shall bring forth a son, the angels explains, "and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." All this was done in fulfillment of that which was spoken by the prophet, "Behold a virgin shall conceive and bare a son and they shall call his name, Immanuel, God with us" (Isaiah 7:14).
For this reason they named him Jesus. Jesus is 'God with us'. He is the Son of the living God, the Wonder of all wonders!
Now let us go back to Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass. There went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. This is God's decree. God's decree to send his Son, Jesus, into the world to die on the cross and be raised again to save his people from their sins. Caesar must serve this purpose of God in Jesus. For this reason Caesar issues his decree and all went to be taxed. Mary and Joseph too went to Bethlehem, for in Bethlehem the Savior must be born.
While they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. Of course that means Mary's days were accomplished, but it means so much more! God's days were accomplished. All the Old Testament days were accomplished. This is the fullness of time, the center of all history, the precise point in time when God will send forth his son named Jesus, made of woman, born under the law.
And she brought forth her first born son. Yes, he's Mary's first-born, but he's God's first-born. His name is Jesus, Jehovah-salvation. He's the first born of every creature, the Word by Whom and for Whom all things were created. He's God's firstborn in Whom all things consist. Jesus is the first-born from the dead.
Do you see that? With the natural eye all we can see is a baby in a manger. But by faith we see no ordinary baby, we see Jesus made a little lower than the angels, who for the suffering of death is crowned with glory, the Captain of our salvation. We see God with us wrapped in human flesh.
How wondrous are the ways of God. Unfathomed and unknown! Except, when by grace through faith, we understand that God named him Jesus, Jehovah-salvation.
Why, you ask, does God call him Jesus? The text says, "for he shall save his people from their sins."
His people Jesus shall save! This means not all People shall be saved. He came unto his own and his own received him not (John 1). To many Jesus is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence (I Peter 2). Jesus himself was well aware of this and spoke of it often: The Son of Man is come not to save the righteous (self-righteous), but to seek and to save that which was lost. I lay down my life for my sheep (John 10).
His people! These are they whom God predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son. His elect are they whom God loved in Jesus before the foundations of the world (Ephesians 1), those who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1).
These Jesus saves from their sins, from all their willful missing-of-the-mark of the glory of God, from all their transgressions. Jesus saves them from all their sins, and from all the terror of their death!
This is the gospel of Christmas! Take this away, take sin out of Christmas, and you have no Christmas. Then all you have indeed is a baby in a manger, the son of Joseph and Mary.
Name Him Jesus, God says, for He shall save His people from their sins. He shall lift them up out of the misery of death and hell into the glory of blessed fellowship with God. He shall bear the wrath of God for them and forever lift the burden of sin's guilt from them. He shall destroy him that had the power of death.
Jesus SHALL do this! It's certain. It cannot fail for God named Him Jesus. His name is Jesus! the name of good tidings of great joy!
Fear not! What is there left to fear? God is come in the flesh. Jesus is born and He suffered and died on Calvary's cross, was raised from the dead and exalted to God's right hand in glory! This is good news indeed! Glad tidings of great joy!
Have you heard the glad news? Does it thrill your heart? Do you belong to His people, the ones whom He saved?
You can know! Do your sins rise up against you prevailing day by day? Do you struggle against those sins? Are you burdened under a load of guilt and shame? Come then to Bethlehem. His name is Jesus! Hear His voice, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. His name is Jesus. He's the one who was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God.
Are you grieving? Do the sorrows of death surround you? There's good tidings of great joy for you. His name is Jesus. He's the Man of Sorrows. Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Jesus did that! He entered death's grave and He arose again. Jesus lives! That's the baby in Bethlehem. I hear Him say, don't you? I am the resurrection and the life, he that lives and believes in me shall never die! In my father's house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you and if I go I will come again to receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. His name is Jesus; and therefore, we can sing, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
Are you sick? Do you experience pain and suffering? His name is Jesus. He shall save His people from their sins, from all the effects of sin too. Jesus bore our sicknesses and pains. He heals all our diseases. Perhaps you are depressed, anxious and in despair. Fear not! Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy! His name is Jesus. He saved us from our sins. He was touched with the feeling of our infirmities and tempted in all points like as we, yet without sin (Hebrews 4). Jesus is our merciful High Priest who meets us at God's throne of grace. Surely we shall find mercy and grace to help in time of need!
This is what Christmas is all about! His name is Jesus!
Rejoice, child of God, be exceeding glad! Jesus has come, born of the virgin. From the manger in Bethlehem Jesus went to the cross, and from the cross to the grave. Out of the grave He arose! He is exalted to the right hand of God.
This same Jesus shall come again. It won't be long now, for He said, "Behold, I come quickly", and when He comes there will be no more sorrow nor crying, no more sin or dying. God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes.
I know it's so. His name is Jesus, and that's the only name under heaven, given among men whereby we must be saved!
Amen.
From Holy Writ
Exposition of Matthew
2:1-12
By Rev. G. Vos
From the January 1, 1963, issue of The
Standard Bearer
See more articles by this author
The Bible presents the coming of Christ into this world as the Son of God, and His reception from men as it truly is. We may say that His coming into the world was the fulfillment of the gospel promise, which was first of all revealed by God in paradise, afterwards proclaimed through patriarchs and prophets, portrayed through sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law, and finally fulfilled in His well beloved Son.
Matthew presents this "becoming" of Christ in this world as the salvation which is out of the Jews, from Abraham to David, from David to the Babylonian captivity, and from the Babylonian captivity to the birth of Christ. Christ came forth from the sawed-off trunk of Jesse. A virgin conceived and bore a Son, and they called His Name JESUS. He is IMMANUEL, God with us.
What is strikingly told us by Matthew in his Gospel (the second chapter) is the twofold attitude revealed: the attitude of faith and of unbelief in the Christ of God. This is a noteworthy fact already in Bethlehem, the city of David, where Christ is born. On the one hand there were the shepherds, keeping watch over their flock by night. They are filled with joy and proclaim the tidings far and wide that the Savior is born unto them, who is Christ the Lord. On the other hand there is unbelief which allows no room for Him, and upon whom comes the terrible judgment of the slaughter of the sons of Bethlehem from two years old and under. When we turn to Jerusalem, the city of the great King, we also find this twofold attitude revealed. There were on the one hand the aged Simeon and Anna in the temple waiting for the consolation of Israel, and on the other hand we have Jerusalem, which is spiritually Sodom and Egypt, caring less about the Christ in the same measure that they are assured that the Christ has come.
There is possibly still another contrast. Is there not a great contrast between the heathen wise men, who come from afar, and the Idumean Herod, that true son of Esau, who feigns interest in this Child while he conspires to slay Him? What a contrast there is between these wise men from the east, who come with their treasures (gold, frankincense, myrrh) and their humble and believing adoration, and the attitude of evil Herod.
How simple and wondrous is the account of Matthew: Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him... And when then were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, frankincense and myrrh. (Matthew 2:1-11).
It is of importance to answer first of all the question who these wise men were. The Greek text calls them Magi from the east. We should then notice that the text does not say that there were "three wise men." This is the traditional view and the popular one. It is not supported in the actual wording of the text. That there were three is merely an inference made from the threefold gifts presented to Christ: gold, frankincense and myrrh. However, as far as the text is concerned it could have been but two men, or ten or twenty. Nor does the text say that these men were kings. The song which goes "We three kings of Orient are" speaks indeed of kings; however, the text itself says nothing concerning the fact that they were kings. Neither of these two presentations rests upon solid exegesis of the text. I must also insist that these wise men were not in Jerusalem and in Bethlehem on the night of the nativity of Christ. Such we might gather from the free artistry on certain Christmas cards which we receive in the mail. The fact is that the text gives reasonable assurance that Jesus was already two years old when the Magi arrived in Bethlehem, for Jesus had already been circumcised on the eighth day, and presented by Mary and Joseph on the fortieth day (according to the law of Moses) prior to the coming of the Magi, and Christ is taken immediately after the appearance of the Magi to Egypt upon direction of an angel of the Lord in a dream to Joseph. So much for what we believe the text does not tell us concerning the Magi and their visit to Bethlehem.
It seems quite certain from the text that these men were Magi. They were not simply astronomers, men who studied the stars, but they were evidently astrologers. They were men who were pagans in background, steeped in the study of the meaning of the constellation of the stars and their omens for history and special events. Fundamentally they were no different from those who are engaged in the dark cult of idolatry, the mysterious crafts of Satan, the so-called "secrets" of the Orient, the Mysteries of Lodgism and all "secret" societies. Was not Abraham called from beyond the river, a Hebrew, from the idolatry of his father's house?
Furthermore, they came from the east, or, as the Greek text has it, "from the risings of the sun." They may have come from Babylon, Persia or Media. No definite land is indicated. Evidently, it was not important that we should know this exact detail. I like to think that they came from the midst of the "dispersed Jews," the eastern Dispersion, from the home of Ezekiel and Daniel, who prophesied in that strange country, when the pious did hang their harps upon the willows at the streams of Babylon, and wept! They were men who somehow must have come into contact with the "oracles of God," which spoke of the Christ which was to be born, the Son which was to be given, upon whose shoulders would be the government, whose Name is Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of peace! They must have known about the seventy weeks of the vision of Daniel and concerning the Christ which was to come, "King of the Jews."
For notice that these were men who had faith saving faith, justifying faith; they had a faith that worked by love which was shed in their hearts by the Holy Spirit and which is worked by God through the preaching of the Gospel. Their faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For, mark you well, their faith was such that it combined spiritual things with spiritual, it combined the sign of the "star" with the fulfillment of the word of promise concerning the Messiah which was to come. For do these men not appear in Jerusalem with the certain confidence that the King of the Jews "is born," and that He is born with the intent of becoming the renowned King, promised in the prophetic word? They say to Herod: Where is He that is born King of the Jews; for we have seen His star in the east and are come to worship Him! They are as certain of the fulfillment of prophecy as were the shepherds "that this thing has come to pass," told them by the angels.
Besides, these Magi believe that this King of the Jews is worthy of worship. He is God. He is the mighty God; He is the true God and eternal life. Furthermore, there is not any doubt in their mind that Jerusalem ought to know about the birth of this long foretold King, that His birth has peculiar and unique meaning for this city of the great King.
Thus in faith these Magi are earnest seekers. Small wonder that Matthew writes about the appearance of these men on the streets of Jerusalem at such a time as Jesus' birth. "Behold, there appear wise men from the East"! This was truly a unique phenomenon. It was the fulfilment of Scripture itself. For these do not come as captives of war behind the triumphal wagon in the procession of some worldly monarch and conqueror, but they come drawn by the inner compulsion of the love of God and faith wrought by the Holy Spirit. They ask: Where is He that is born King of the Jews? They seek the Savior. This is not merely an intellectual quest, for they do not rest until they have seen the Lord's Christ! They came to worship Him with a longing, a hunger and a holy thirst of the soul. Is not this Christ the hope of Israel and the light of the nations?! All else has failed to satisfy the longing of their hearts, the need of their souls. The secrets of heathen cults do not show them God; but here is the Mystery of God, hidden in God before endless ages, but now manifest in the fulness of time! Here is not a great teacher amongst other teachers; here lies in Bethlehem in the arms of the blessed among women the Redeemer, the Goel [Hebrew word meaning 'Redeemer'] of Israel and of the Nations, who Abraham saw from afar, and of whom Baalam prophesied saying: I see Him but not now, behold! a star shall rise in Jacob. Here is the day spring from on high!
Their hope is not put to shame. Herod summons the scribes of the people and the priests. They find the passage in Micah 5:2. It is in Bethlehem Ephratha, here is born One whose going forth is from eternity. The wise men depart and wend their way toward Bethlehem. Here the angels had caroled on that wondrous night; here David had kept the sheep of his father, from which sheep cote he had been fetched by God Himself, the man after God's heart. Ah, here Ruth the Moabitess had gleaned in Boaz's barley fields during the time of harvest, and he had become her Goel here in the land of Immanuel!
See these Magi walk, and suddenly, "behold, the star that they had seen in the east went before them until it stood over the place where the young child was."
What a joy of heart this afforded these earnest seekers! After their long journey and experiencing the calloused indifference of the custodians of the Oracles, it must have pleased these Magi no end that God confirmed the reading of the prophecy with the appearance of His wondrous "Star," prepared by Him! Had God's face not gone before Israel in the desert, the cloud of His presence? Is this star not the symbol of the hope of the new day; is it not the harbinger of the eternal morning in the benighted life of these erstwhile pagans?
As they enter the house they see the Child and Mary His mother, and they open their treasures. Their coffers are opened, and what gifts! They were gold, frankincense and myrrh. All of these were gifts which are associated with the altar of dedication in the Temple. Was not the altar overlaid with pure gold, and is frankincense not the symbol of the God accepted sacrifice of the lips and prayers, and myrrh, is that not which we associate with a King Divine?
And they worship! It was not for very long. They soon return to their own country. We never read of them again, they evidently returned to their own country. But now like Simeon they can depart in peace, for their eyes have seen the Savior. Many generations desired to see this from Eve till now, but it was withheld from their eyes; and God suffered the heathen to walk in their own ways. But, wondrous grace! here is the first-fruits of the full harvest of the Gentile world (you and I). Were not my father's fathers pagans? Were we not ingrafted in and did we not turn from Woden, that dumb idol, to the worship of the living God in Christ, God with us, Immanuel?
Now we pour out our heartfelt joys before the throne: worthy is the Lamb! It is the new song which the redeemed of the Lamb have learned by grace to sing.
G. L.
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