Long before His birth an angel announced our... - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2026

You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.
Matthew 1:21

Long before His birth an angel announced our Saviour's Name. As a Man on earth the Son of God was to be called Jesus. This name itself reveals God's wonderful plan, for it means "The Lord is salvation". And that was the great purpose of His coming into the world. For this reason God became Man in the Person of Jesus Christ. He wished to "save his people from their sins.

Christ came primarily to His earthly people Israel. The nation needed salvation, for they had distanced themselves from God. Did they really know that they were still His people, the people of the living God? They were no longer living in the blessing that He had promised them, even if they served Him. Like all other people they were sinners and needed nothing more urgently than to be saved.

That the Son of God should live on earth as a Man did not suffice to achieve this purpose. He had to die on the cross of Calvary as a "ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28).

There He had to bear God's punishment for sin. His incarnation cannot therefore be separated from his atoning death.

In His plan of salvation God had decided that redemption could be offered to mankind only in the Person and work of Jesus. So shortly after Christ's ascension to heaven Peter announced that the name of Jesus is the only name given by God "by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). And the time will come when "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord" (Philippians 12:10.11).

Today's reading: 2 Chronicles 31:9-21 · Revelation 18:1-10