101. What's In a Name? Why Jesus is called Jesus (Matthew 1:18-25)

G', day, Dave here.

Welcome to Stories of a Faithful God for Kids.

Why were you given the name that you were given?

My parents called me David because they liked the name David.

That's nice, but it's not a very exciting story.

I know one man who was named after his Viking ancestor from a thousand years before.

I've met a bunch of people who were named after people in the Bible.

I've even met a dog who was called highway because his owners found him lost on the side of a highway.

Do you know why you were given your name?

Jesus wasn't given his name because his parents thought it sounded nice.

They didn't just pick any name at random.

Jesus was given the name Jesus for a very important reason.

His name means something very important, something very wonderful.

When you understand why he's called Jesus, you'll understand so much about him.

Get ready for our next episode of Stories of a Faithful God for Kids.

At the end of our last episode, we saw how God had guided and shaped Abraham's family and King David's family so that it would finally come to Jesus.

In Jesus, God was going to fulfil all his promises in the Old Testament.

Now, as we saw last time, the the mother of Jesus was named Mary.

Back before the first Christmas, Mary was engaged to marry Joseph.

These days, if people are engaged, they can call off the marriage anytime up until the wedding.

But back in those days, if you were engaged to be married, you were kind of treated as though you were already married, even if the man and woman don't actually live together yet.

Before Mary and Joseph marry, Mary discovers something amazing.

She discovers that God's holy Spirit has made a baby inside her.

She's pregnant.

And her child is going to be very special.

That's super wonderful news for her.

For Joseph, it's really weird.

Normally God does not make babies like that.

Normally God uses a mum and a dad.

So when Joseph hears the news, he's like, mmm, I know I'm not the dad.

I don't believe this story about there being no dad.

Which means Mary must have been treating another man like her husband.

That would be heartbreaking for Joseph.

He's so sad.

And according to the law, he could have Mary arrested and possibly even put to death.

But you know what?

Matthew tells us that Joseph is a good man, a righteous man.

Even though he feels like Mary's hurt him really badly, he doesn't want to hurt her.

And so even though he could make a really big fuss and really embarrass Mary, that isn't what he does instead, he decides to call off the wedding quietly, with no fuss.

That's kind of him.

But it's also really sad because actually Mary hasn't done anything wrong.

I mean, it's totally understandable why he thinks she has, but she hasn't.

Joseph ends up really sad, but he doesn't need to be.

Thankfully, God's going to help him accept the truth of what's really happened.

God sends an angel to Joseph.

An angel is a messenger.

And the angel comes to Joseph in a dream.

In Matthew 1:20, he says to Joseph, joseph, descendant of David, don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife.

The baby in her is from the Holy Spirit.

Oh, what a relief.

Mary wasn't lying.

It really is true.

God really did put the baby inside her.

Then the angel gives Joseph more news.

He tells Joseph that the baby is a boy baby and he even says what name to give the baby.

In verse 21, the angel says she will give birth to a son.

You will name the son Jesus.

Give him that name because he will save his people from their sins.

Hmm, that seems like a weird kind of thing to say.

What has Jesus name got to do with what he'll do?

It's like if you said to a dad, name your baby George because he's going to be a really great footballer.

Or name your baby Alison because she's going to be great at sit ups.

Or name your baby Wing a ding a ding a ding a ding because he's going to have really big nostrils.

We don't normally give babies their names based on what they'll do in the future because we don't know what they're going to do in the future.

God knows though.

And God knows that this baby has come to do an incredible job, a very kind job, a job that no one else can do.

He's going to save his people from their sins.

Do you remember from back in our Genesis series, how stuck people are in sin?

Once humans had done the first sin, we became trapped by it.

Adam couldn't get us out of sin.

Noah couldn't get us out of sin.

Abraham couldn't get us out of sin.

In the last episode, we looked at the long line of Abraham's family and we saw that there was sin everywhere, even in King David himself.

We can't save ourselves from sin.

We can't decide not to do it.

We can't work our way out of it.

We're trapped.

But Jesus has come to save his people from their sin, which is why he's Given the name Jesus.

Do you know what Jesus means?

It means God saves.

God loves to save.

He sent Jesus to save us.

And so it's appropriate for Jesus to be called God Saves.

Whenever you think of Jesus name, remember, God saves.

Jesus also has another name, a sort of nickname.

Do you have a nickname?

At school, I could have had a cool nickname like Thunder Warrior or Bulldog, but people just called me Ham Jesus nickname is much cooler than that.

It actually tells us something really important and wonderful about who he is.

The name is Emmanuel.

Emmanuel.

You see, hundreds of years before Jesus was born, God let people know through his prophet Isaiah that this Savior was coming.

And he called this Savior Immanuel.

But what does that name mean?

Well, let me read it to you.

From verse 22.

Matthew tells us all this happened to make clear the full meaning of what the Lord had said through the prophet.

The virgin will be pregnant.

She will have a son, and they will name him Emmanuel, which means God is with us.

Hmm.

God is with us could mean a couple of things.

It could mean God's working to help us.

Like if you're stuck on a tricky number problem and your teacher says, don't worry, I'm with you to help you.

And in Jesus, God is with us like that.

Jesus is the way God helps us by sending Jesus to save us from our sin, even though we can't get out of our sin ourselves.

Don't panic.

God is with us to help us through Jesus.

The fact that Jesus is Emmanuel God with us does mean that.

But it means even more than that.

It also means that in Jesus, God is actually here on earth as a human.

Jesus is God the Son.

When people walked with Jesus, they were walking with God.

When they talked with Jesus, they were talking with God.

When they ate with Jesus, they were actually eating with God.

You see, there was no one else who could save us from our sin.

No one else is strong enough.

No one else is powerful enough.

No one else is good enough.

If you ever ask yourself, can I really ever be saved from my sin?

I've done so many bad and naughty things, I don't deserve it.

That's true.

But it doesn't mean you can't be saved.

Not because of how great you are, but because of how great Jesus is.

Jesus is Emmanuel.

God with us.

There is no greater saviour.

And remember what Jesus name means.

God saves.

God doesn't have to save.

There's no one twisting his arm and forcing him to save people.

It's just that God saves.

That's what he does.

He loves to save, and that is why he sent Jesus.

Once Joseph had received the message about who Jesus is, thankfully he was much more willing to marry Mary.

And he did exactly what God told him to do.

Verse 24 says, When Joseph woke up, he did what the Lord's angel had told him to do.

Joseph married Mary, but he did not have intimate relations with her until she gave birth to the Son.

And Joseph named the Son Jesus.

Jesus coming is such good and wonderful news.

Unfortunately, not everyone was excited that he'd arrived.

In fact, one man was very, very scared and very, very angry.

But that's a story for next time.