When we pick up Luke 1, we are not stepping into a sentimental Christmas scene. We are stepping into a moment where Heaven interrupts earth. God sends Gabriel to a real place, to a real young woman, with a real message that will change the world. Luke is careful to give details that might seem ordinary at first, but they are loaded with meaning. Mary is in Nazareth. She is espoused to Joseph. She is a virgin. None of that is random. God is keeping promises, and this announcement is not about warm feelings. It is about the foundation of our faith.
That matters because we live in a world of broken promises. People mean well, but human promises fail. God never does. Every promise He has made either has already come to pass or will come to pass. And in Luke 1:31–35, God gives Mary a promise that carries a name. This Child will not arrive nameless. There will be no debate, no short list, no personal preference. Heaven says, “Thou shalt… bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.” In a passage where everything is specific, the name is the clearest statement of all.
Before we even get to the name, Luke shows us something about Mary that is worth pausing on. Gabriel tells her she has found favor with God (Luke 1:30). The only Person we should be most concerned about pleasing is the Lord. We spend so much energy worrying about what people will think, what friends will approve of, what coworkers will say, and what family will criticize. But Mary’s life reminds us that God sees, God knows, and God honors faith. The Bible says, “But without faith it is impossible to please him” (Hebrews 11:6). Mary’s story calls us back to that kind of simple, steady faith that obeys God even when we cannot see the outcome.
Then Gabriel delivers the heart of the promise:
“And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.” (Luke 1:31)
With that name and those titles, Pastor Howell pointed out three things the announcement reveals about Jesus: His origin, His identity, and His destiny.
1. His Name Reveals His Origin
Jesus did not originate with man. He was not Joseph’s son in the earthly sense, and He was not created in Mary’s womb. Gabriel explains the miracle plainly: “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee” (Luke 1:35). Those phrases show the source of this birth. It is supernatural by origin, sinless by nature, and sovereign by design.
This matters because every person with an earthly father inherits a sin nature. But Jesus is “that holy thing” who “shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). The Spirit did not create God the Son. He clothed God the Son in human flesh. The picture of an ambassador helps to explain it: an ambassador lives in a foreign country and speaks its language, but their citizenship and authority come from where they were sent. Jesus came to earth, but He was not of earth. His authority was not inherited from man. He came with Heaven’s passport.
Here is the practical comfort for us: if Jesus’ origin is truly holy and heavenly, then His power is not limited like ours. The same Holy Spirit power connected to this miracle is also the power God gives to believers. If God can overshadow Mary for the miracle of Christ’s coming, He can overshadow your life with strength, help, and faith to obey Him in the middle of spiritual battles, temptations, and fear.
2. His Name Reveals His Identity
Gabriel says, “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest” (Luke 1:32). Pastor Howell explained that “shall be called” is not a title Jesus earned later, or a label given for convenience. It is simply who He is. Jesus is the Son of God by nature. He is King by right. He is Lord by authority.
In the world, identity can be confused or even mistaken. With Jesus, there is no confusion. Heaven made the identity public from the start. Mary may have carried shame and misunderstanding from people around her, but God had already settled the truth. Christmas is not God sending a representative. Christmas is God sending Himself.
And that should steady us. When life feels uncertain, Jesus is not. When culture shifts, Jesus does not. When people misunderstand you for obeying God, remember Mary. God knows what He is doing. He makes no mistakes about who His Son is, and He makes no mistakes about what He is doing in your life.
3. His Name Reveals His Destiny
Finally, the name itself is a mission statement. “Thou shalt call his name Jesus” (Luke 1:31). In Scripture, names are never accidental. God changed Abram to Abraham. Jacob to Israel. Simon to Peter. The names of God are full of meaning. And in this passage, the name Jesus means “Jehovah saves.”
That is what He came to do. Jesus saves people from their sins. Remember, as you read the Gospels, Jesus rescued people in many ways: from sickness, blindness, and even death. He even rescued people from themselves. Most importantly, His saving work is not only something we look back on once. Scripture speaks of salvation in a past sense (delivered from sin’s penalty), a present sense (God’s ongoing deliverance as we still struggle), and a future sense (one day free from sin forever in His presence). One day, we will see Him, and we will worship Him without the battle of sin weighing us down.
Think of the labels on the presents under the Christmas tree. The label tells you who it is for, and it tells you something about what is inside. Heaven put the label on Jesus. If you are lost, you do not need to understand everything first. You need to understand that He is the Son of God, that He died and rose again, and that when you come to Him by faith, He will save. Like a drowning person grabbing a life preserver, you do not stop to analyze it. You cling to it.
But then he turned the question toward Christians, and it was pointed. What does the name of Jesus mean to you? If the name of Jesus is only a “get out of hell free” idea, or a weekly routine, or a label with no real effect, something is wrong. Jesus did not come to give us empty religion. He came to save, and He calls the saved to live for Him. Do not shrink His name into tradition, reduce it to convenience, or bury it under the noise of your life. Christ gave everything for us. We should live for Him with gratitude, obedience, and daily devotion. If He could pray, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34), then we cannot excuse holding grudges, clinging to grievances, or living a small life that never moves beyond comfort.
Reflection QuestionIf someone watched your week, would they be able to tell that the name of Jesus is precious and powerful to you, or would it seem like “just a name”? What is one specific way you need to live for Him today because Jehovah saves?