Table Talks: Matthew 1:21

Table Talks on the Synoptic Gospels 1

Jesus Christ, the Great Liberator

Matthew 1:21

The Old Testament leaves us with a certain emptiness. We wonder:  What next? Something more surely needs to be said.

Promises to Abraham:  “In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 12:3), and:  “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 22:18), remain unfulfilled.

So also of God’s promise to David that his kingdom would be established for ever; that it would not be taken from the house of David as it was from Saul (2 Sam. 7:11–16).  But David’s throne was cast down and a psalmist wondered how long such conditions would last (Psalm 89).  The prophets reassured believers that God had not forgotten his promise (Isaiah 9:6–7; 55:3–4). But the Old Testament closes with the throne vacant and promises unfulfilled.

But the first New Testament book proclaims the fulfillment of Old Testament hope. Matthew 1:1 identifies Jesus Christ as “the son of David, the son of Abraham,” and the first page of the New Testament establishes the heir both to the covenant with David and the promise to Abraham (Matt. 1:1–17).

But if Jews expected a king like David to reign on an earthly throne and lead an army against the Roman overlord, Matthew would quickly disillusion them. Early on, an angel appears to Joseph in a dream, explaining that he must not fear to take his betrothed and pregnant bride Mary. She had not been unfaithful to him, but had conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. “And she shall bring forth a son; and you shall call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:20–21).

Jesus is the New Testament equivalent of the Old Testament name Joshua, meaning “Jehovah is salvation.” But the angel’s explanation puts the reader on notice that the liberation to be accomplished was not political, but spiritual.  “He shall save his people from their sins.”  Bondage to Rome was not their problem. It was nothing compared to the bondage to sin. And the deliverance to be accomplished by their Savior was not a liberation from Rome, but from sin. It could not be accomplished by an army, but required the death of the Savior.