This post is “Christmas – Day 12”, if you haven’t already read Day 1, please click here.
Please comment below with your own thoughts about each verse and how you will be acting on each thought. Also, if you haven’t yet signed up to receive the notifications of new studies, please do that today (the form is at the bottom of the page).

Christmas – Day 12

Matthew 1:20-21

An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. The angel said to him, “Joseph, descendant of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She is pregnant by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

The Thought

Matthew 1:20-21 The angel said to him, “Joseph, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She is pregnant by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. We return to our Christmas story with the assurance that God is in control.

We return to our Christmas story with the assurance that God is in control.

This name was not the choice of the parents, but the name given by the angel who was speaking to Joseph in the verse quoted above.

The angel Gabriel had given the same name to Mary during that visitation right at the beginning of her pregnancy (Luke 1:31).

At least that made sure there were no arguments between husband and wife!

The name Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua which means the Lord saves, and it was of course who this baby grew up to be, The Saviour of the world.

How were the names in your family chosen? Do you know? Do you think it is important? Why do you suppose that many families have names that pass from generation to generation?

This name, Jesus, was given as a sign of the fulfilment of the prophecy in Isaiah which we will look at tomorrow.

Action

Consider today the names of the people around you. What do they mean, are they appropriate to the character of the person? Could it be that using the name of a child many times affects who they grow up to be? Remember Proverbs 18:21 “The tongue has the power of life and death.”

If all christians took this verse seriously the world could be a different place. Ask the Lord to stop you, and help to discipline you when you use words that are not helpful either to yourself or to those around you. We are all guilty of that sometimes!