- Jesus- “Jesus” is from the Hebrew Jehovah is salvation. Joshua (Jehovah saves) is the Old Testament name for Jesus. “Jesus” is the human name and “Christ” is His official title. The name “Jesus” occurs 150 times in Matthew.
Matthew announced that God would act uniquely and graciously through Jesus. Jesus’ most single role is that of Savior. The word “He” is emphatic, demonstrating that “He and no other” will save people from their sins.
- save- has the basic meaning of rescuing one from great peril. Additional nuances include to protect, keep alive, preserve life, deliver, heal, be made whole.
- sins- the penalty thereof......
Randy Alcorn:
"I have written about Hell in a number of my books, both nonfiction and fiction. It is an unpleasant subject, one which modern Christians are tempted to avoid and deny. And the church’s avoidance of it inevitably leads to many church-goers denying it.
I wrote in my book If God Is Good that if we regard Hell as a divine overreaction to sin, we deny that God has the moral right to inflict ongoing punishment on any humans he created to exist forever. By denying Hell, we deny the extent of God’s holiness and the extent of our evil. We deny the extreme seriousness of sin. And, worst of all, we deny the extreme magnificence of God’s grace in Christ’s blood, shed for us on the cross. For if the evils he died for aren’t big enough to warrant eternal punishment, then perhaps the grace he showed us on the cross isn’t big enough to warrant eternal praise.
The greatest kindness we can offer people, coming out of a life of humility and faithfulness to Christ, is the good news about Jesus and his saving grace. Spurgeon said, “If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies; and if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay....If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned or unprayed for.”
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