Chapter 1 Part 8

"And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins."

The above verse states the main purpose for which Jesus came into the world. The angel was God's messenger and was relating God's message to Joseph and ultimately to us.

The name, JESUS, means saviour. He came into this world as a saviour. He came for the purpose to save his people from their sins.

We can gather a lot of information about the purpose of God by taking each word in the phrase, "he shall save his people from their sins." "He" is the subject of the sentence and indicates who is doing the acting. "He" refers to Jesus. We are told later in this chapter that his name is also called Emmanuel which is interpreted to be God with us. Thus, God came down to perform the action in this sentence. Jesus Christ is the Son of God and he came for a purpose.

Second is the word "shall." This word, connected with the fact, that it is God, who is doing the action, gives us the certainty of the action being completed. Notice it did not say that he might save his people, or he would try to save his people, or he would like to save his people, but the word "shall" speaks of the certainty of the accomplishment of this action. One of the things that we know about God is that he cannot fail nor lie. Thus, when the scriptures say that God shall do something, it is as good as done.  "Save" is the verb of the sentence. "Save" indicates what is going to be done. Save means to deliver. Thus, there is a promised deliverance. Since God made the promise the deliverance is sure.

"His" is a possessive pronoun indicating that God has possession of the object. The object belongs to God. The object is "people." From this, we know that they were already His people. They were his people before he ever come into the world. They belonged to him. It was "His people" that he came to save. There is no promise that he would save anyone but his people. He did not come to save a people that might become his people sometime in the future, because these were already his people. He came to save a people that were already his.

"From their sins" indicates what he came to save them from. His people were sinners and had need of saving from their sins. Since they could not save themselves from their sins, it was necessary that God come and save them from their sins. If it had been possible for his people to save themselves from their sins, then there was no need for Jesus to come.  There were no conditions attached to this sentence. It did not say that he would save a people if they would let him. It also did not say that he would save them if they would cooperate. It stated without condition that He shall save his people from their sins. There is no condition placed upon His people. The noun, sins, is in the plural. He did not come to save his people from some of their sins, or most of their sins, or from all of their sins but one. Rather it is stated that he shall save his people from their sins meaning all of their sins.

All of this implies that Jesus was capable of saving his people from their sins. He came holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. He also came without sin.

Chapter 1 Part 9

"22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."

Sizeable groups of people who claim a belief in Christ deny that Christ is God. They deny the deity of Jesus Christ. The above scripture plainly teaches that Jesus Christ is God. The name Emmanuel is interpreted to mean God with us. Thus, Jesus Christ is God with us. Couple this with the following verses and we prove that the scriptures teach that Jesus Christ is verily God:

1. Jesus said in John 8:58 "Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am." I AM was the name that God told Moses was God's name.
2. Is. 9:6 "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
3. John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men."
4. 1 Tim. 3:16 "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory."
5. Heb. 1:8 "But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom."
6. John 5:18 "Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God."
7. Phil. 2:5 "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God."
8. Col. 2:9 "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."
9. 1 John 5:7 "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one."
10. Rev. 19:13 "And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God."
11. Heb. 4:12 "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do."

These verses directly speak of Jesus Christ being God. There are also numerous verses of scripture when connected together also prove that Jesus Christ is God.

Chapter 2 Part 1  The Wise Men

2:1 "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, 2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him." It is generally believed that there were three wise men that came to the manger where Jesus lay shortly after that he was born. We will show in a later section that they did not come to the manger, but rather it was approximately two years after the birth of Jesus that the wise men came to where Jesus lived. Many people assume that there were three wise men because of the three gifts that were brought. However, most likely four or more wise men came to Jesus.

Some people depict the wise men as being three kings based on Old Testament prophesies:

1. Ps. 68:29 "Because of thy temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto thee."
2. Ps. 71:9 "They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust. 10 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. 11 Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him."

If indeed the wise men coming to Jerusalem is the fulfillment of the above prophecies then there were at least four kings who came including the kings of Tarshish, the isles, Sheba and Seba. From the above we cannot tell if "the isles" is referring to one or more kings.

This we know, there were wise men that came from the east to Jerusalem. They were "wise" men. We know they were wise, first, because the scriptures tell us they were wise. Second, we know they were wise because they came seeking for Jesus. Furthermore, they must have feared God, because the scriptures say, Ps. 111:10 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever."

Though the wise men were wise, yet, they made a faulty assumption. They assumed that Jesus would be at Jerusalem. They had followed a star and when they came near Jerusalem, they assumed that is where they would find him. People make this same kind of faulty assumption today concerning Jesus. They go to the most popular and widely acclaimed places and assume that Jesus must surely be there. Yet Jesus was in the small town of Bethlehem. They lost sight of the star when they came to Jerusalem. We lose sight of the truth when we assume whatever we have been previously taught is the truth rather than following the word of the Lord to find the truth. 

Next, the wise men were spirit born children of God even though they were not of Israel, nor had they heard any gospel preached. We know this because the scriptures teach that a person who has not been born of the Spirit will not seek the Lord nor fear him. Yet the wise men were doing both. Furthermore, the Spirit was leading them by a star and Rom. 8:14 says "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."