Advent Devotion || Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son
Matthew 1
Hello once again. During these days leading up to Christmas, we’ve been considering three times that angels appeared in the days leading right up to the birth of Jesus the Savior. The first time was to Agent Zechariah, who is in the temple offering up incense, when all of a sudden the angel appeared and said, “You and your wife Elizabeth are going to have a child who is going to be the forerunner of the Savior.” The angel then goes to Mary and prophesies to her that she, although a virgin, would be with child and that she would give birth to a miracle baby who is Jesus. Well, Joseph, her fiancé, doesn’t know what’s going on, and Mary shows up pregnant. And if you’re Joseph, what’s the only conclusion you could logically come to? Well, it’s of course that your fiancé has been unfaithful. Joseph was a righteous man. He didn’t want to cause Mary any kind of public disgrace. And so he had in mind to break their relationship very quietly when all of a sudden the angel makes the third appearance. Joseph, son of David, why does he call him son of David? It’s a reminder to him that God had made a promise to King David that King David’s line would give birth to the Savior. Joseph was a person in the line of King David. So was Mary. So what the angel’s about to tell him should not surprise him. Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She’s not been unfaithful to you whatsoever. She’s been faithful. Why? Because the child that’s in her is from the Holy Spirit, and she’s going to give birth to his son. And then the angel says to Joseph, “You are to give him the name Jesus.” Why? Because he will save his people from their sins. The name Jesus is from the Hebrew verb yasha. The Hebrew verb yasha means to save. And so in the name Jesus we hear, “The one who came to save me.” You know there’s all kinds of things we can call Jesus. We can call him the Good Shepherd. We can call him the Christ. We can call him the Redeemer. There’s all kinds of things we can call him. But may I suggest that our favorite name for Jesus really ought to be Jesus. Not only is that his name, but when we hear the name Jesus, what do we hear? We hear, “This is the one who saves me. This is the one who came to save. This is the one who saves the world.” And so in these days leading up to the birth of Jesu,s may the name Jesus ring in our heads and in our hearts over and over again because he’s the one who has come to save.
