Christ’s Only Mission - Matthew 1:21

 “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” - Matthew 1:21

    His goal. His purpose. His end is and only is to save us from our sins. I think that message often gets lost today. With all the chatter about love and compassion and tolerance, the real impetus behind Christ’s incarnation is the extirpation of our sins. Jesus doesn’t love the sin. He doesn’t have compassion for the sin. And He certainly doesn’t tolerate the sin. And many of us have lost touch with that portion of the Gospel or simply choose to ignore its implications.
    We tend to see Jesus as a loving, compassionate, and tolerant Savior; not necessarily even our Lord. We tend to bypass His Lordship in lieu of the aforementioned more “comfortable traits.” All the while, misinterpreting the message. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” - John 3:17.
    Of course, the message is reassuring, focusing our attention on the salvific mission, but “saved” from what? Sin! If we are going to take comfort in His word then we must also understand His reason, His prime directive, for being born to us in the first place. And to understand we must turn our attention to the subject of His mission: our sin. “Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins . . . .” - Acts 13:38.
    Today sin is too often thought of cavalierly and with the wink of an eye as though it were some insignificant joke from years gone by. An outdated code of behavior from a heavy old book best used as a doorstop now. The moral standards, the laws today, are as malleable as wax melting beneath the afternoon sun. I mean, come on; if it isn’t explicitly “against the law” it can’t really be that bad, can it? With that attitude we need not be pulled down into the darkened caverns of hell; with that attitude we’ll all happily dance our way into the furnace, our laughter, fading into a scream. “So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” - Matthew 13:49-50.
    We must ask ourselves -“How often do we think about our sin?” How important is it? From a worldly perspective think about it this way. Sin is the reason we have law enforcement, jails and prison, a standing military presence in the world and their ancillary parts. Sin is the reason for crime and war. Sin is the reason we have addiction and broken families. Sin is important enough.
    From the heavenly perspective, sin is important enough for God to send His only begotten Son to atone for it, because as fallen human beings subject to sin, we could never atone for it ourselves. It took Christ’s beaten and broken body on the cross to draw God’s wrath away from our sin. “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” - Isaiah 53:5. Why? Why was Christ so treated? Why did He willingly lay down His life? For what purpose did He die? The simple answer: sin, our sins because He, being the Son of God, lived a life sinless and obedient perfection. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” - 2 Corinthians 5:21. This is the atonement of Jesus Christ. This is the entire reason He was born the incarnate Son of God; for this reason and for this reason only!
    To suggest that Christ came to us for any other reason is not only a sacrilege but also a grand heresy. “And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” - 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12.
    Yes, Christ loves us and has so loved us from before the beginning of time. And His love for us is exhibited by His willful death at the hands of the crowd for one reason alone: to save us from our sins! “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” - 1 John 4:10. That love is a lesson of the Gospel is a byproduct of Christ's divine mission; it is not the reason for His incarnation.
    This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that He came to us and for no other reason: to save us from our sins! Let us all prayerfully thank God with our whole being in mind, body, and soul.