Saved by Grace

Two women were informed by our God that our Savior was going to be born in the line of David. But He also informed a man, and even told him what name should be given to the Son of God in our flesh. In Matthew 1:21 we read that to Joseph it was said, "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins...."

This man, engaged to become the husband of Mary, had first thought that she had sinned. He intended therefore to put her away. In verse 19 we read that he, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.

To this Joseph was given the wonderful truth that we should take hold of, and hold on to with all our spiritual strength, namely, "He shall save his people from their sins." By all means take hold of that truth on Christmas Day. That forgiveness of our sins is a most wonderful gift of God's grace. Worldly gifts and presents do not even stand in the shade of that gift of God's grace.

Tomorrow we celebrate Christ's birth, and the chief attraction of that day is not what men or women give us, not what human brothers and sisters do for us, but what Christ, the Son of God in our flesh, did for us and is doing daily for us.

Let us tomorrow sing God's praises. Let us thank Him for what He took from us, and for what He gave us in its place. Let us before the world testify that Christ is the Savior. For that name "Jesus" means "Jehovah Saves." Let us tomorrow, and every day, rejoice that our guilt has been taken away, and that we are given righteousness and holiness as a free gift of God's grace. Let us sing a new song to Jehovah for the wonders He has wrought.

Read: Psalm 98

Meditations on the Heidelberg Catechism

Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
Zechariah 6; Zechariah 7:1-14 
Revelation 15:1-8 
Psalm 143:1-12 
Proverbs 30:24-28 
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Quote for Reflection:

What a glorious and significant festival is the feast of Pentecost!  It is the feast of the union of heaven and earth, the feast of God’s betrothal with redeemed man, the birthday feast of the New Testament Church, the harvest home of those who have been “brought nigh by the blood of Christ.” What would all the other festivals of our Church be without this one? They would be only messengers extolling acts of beneficence in which we ourselves might never hope to share; heralds, inviting us to a marriage supper, the entrance to which we could never find. Whitsuntide (Pentecost!) enables us to enjoy those splendors which the other feasts have disclosed to our view.  Whitsuntide brings to us the cupbearer, as it were, who first crushes the divine grapes of Christ’s merits in the goblet, and presents it to us as a restorative draught.  Let us therefore congratulate ourselves upon the joyous harvest-day of the new covenant, and may the Lord attune our souls to higher songs of gratitude and praise! 

~ F.W. Krummacher, “The Risen Redeemer”