BULLETIN ARTICLE
12 January 2020
How Will We Respond to the Saviour of the World?
We have seen that Matthew’s Gospel begins with the genealogy of Jesus Christ, which emphasizes his royal lineage to King David and heritage from Abraham, the father of the nation Israel. We also notice that rather than including the matriarchs of Israel like Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel or Leah, Matthew instead makes mention of four gentile women in the genealogy: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba. This demonstrates how God included all of humanity in His redemptive plan – regardless of their race and gender. The coming of Christ has universal appeal and his work of salvation is good news not just for some, but the entire world. We can praise God that that includes us!
The account of Jesus’ birth shows that he was different from everyone else before or after him. Several of his ancestors were conceived through miraculous means (e.g. Sarah gave birth to Isaac although she was past childbearing age), but they all had a human father. Jesus was born of a virgin, through the Holy Spirit. Jesus means “Yahweh saves”. The angel explained that this name revealed Jesus’ purpose to save his people (v21). The angel also quoted Isaiah 7:14, a prophecy fulfilled by the virgin birth of a son, and the name Immanuel that means “God with us”. This name also reflects Jesus’ deity (v23). Hence, Jesus is special not only because of his earthly lineage; he is also divine! The love of God is seen in Jesus Christ, who even though is divinity, came to earth to be with his people and to save them.
The response to Jesus’ birth was divided. On the one hand, there were the wise men from the East who travelled a great distance searching for Jesus and when they found him rejoiced greatly before falling down in worship. On the other hand, there was king Herod and others in Jerusalem who either saw Jesus as a threat or did not see fit to worship him.
Jesus continues to divide people in the world today, even us. Either we believe that he is ‘God with us’, pledge our allegiance to him and fall down in worship like the wise men or we can reject him as the Saviour of the world. The choice you make will have eternal consequences. What will it be?
