Savior From What?

These words to Joseph by the angel explain precisely what Jesus came to do: To save His people from their sins. Notice that Jesus did not come primarily to save people from sickness, though He did heal all who came to him. Nor did He protect them from other types of suffering. In fact, He promised that His followers would face persecution and affliction of all sorts. Nor did He guarantee that believers in Him would have no sorrow. Otherwise, why would He say, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted”? No! The eternal Son of God became a man, the God-Man, Jesus, for a particular purpose: To save His people from their sins. First, He delivered them from the penalty of sin by dying on the cross that they might be forgiven. Now, He frees them from the enslaving power of sin by the work of the Holy Spirit, who lives within all who trust in Christ. Finally, at His return, He will bring freedom from the very presence of sin. The new heaven and new earth, in which His people will live with God, will know nothing but full delight in, and obedience to, our Make and Lord.