READ: Matthew 1

I love Matthew 1:21–”[Mary] will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”  What a wonderful reminder that while Jesus will fulfill Luke 1:68-75 for Israel and ultimately for all His people (i.e., save them from their enemies), Jesus primarily came to redeem us from our worst enemy–sin.  O glorious reality!  While the Messiah was indeed very holy and powerful God of very holy and powerful God (notice the lofty descriptions of Jesus in Luke 1:32-35), He was named Salvation (or “Yahweh Saves”–the meaning of the name, Jesus) to declare to all that He had first come in gracious humility to bring them back to Himself.  The next thirty years would be His “saving” work of perfect righteousness in life and vicarious propitiation in death, so that redemption from sin and reconciliation to God could be ours.  Believer, in both worship and evangelism, be not silent, but “let the redeemed of the Lord say so” (Psalm 107:2)!

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READ: Luke 1:1-4; John 1:1-18

In Luke 1:1-4, Luke demonstrates painstaking care in describing “the things that have been accomplished among us.”  He uses statements like “undertaken,” “eyewitnesses,” “followed all things closely for some time,” “orderly account,” and “have certainty” to communicate the carefulness with which he and others have passed along what they witnessed from Christ.  Yet, John’s Gospel suggests a special blessing for those “who have not seen and yet have believed” (20:29).  While we may at times quietly wish to have been alive during Jesus’ time so that we could have benefited more fully from physical interaction with Him (or wished this for unsaved loved ones), John 1:9-13 demonstrates that spiritual blessing does not necessarily come through physical interaction with Christ, but rather through whole-hearted belief in Christ.  While there were several eye-witnesses that expressed faith in Christ (as Luke demonstrates), the general rule was that “He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him” (John 1:11).  So, physical interaction with Christ never guaranteed spiritual blessing.  Faith was the key!  Eternal, spiritual blessing comes to those who “believe in His name…who [are] born…of God” (1:12).  So, while physical interaction, one the one hand, didn’t guarantee spiritual blessing, neither does physical removal, on the other hand, render us disadvantaged.  A relationship with Christ is still by grace (v. 13) through faith (v. 14).  And, because Christ is the unending Word (v. 1) and manifestation of God (v. 14, 18) who ministers life (v. 4), grace, and truth (v. 14, 17), we can know Him fully and personally, albeit not yet physically.  So, dig into the Word, and with eyes of faith see the risen Savior and cry “My Lord and my God!”


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