Savior

“He shall save his people from their sins” — Matthew 1:21, NKJV

The purpose of the birth of Christ was the death of Christ. The purpose of the incarnation was the atonement. He went to the cradle so that He could go to the cross. He went from the helpless manger in Bethlehem to the helpless misery of Calvary. The little baby who was silent in a feeding trough would one day be silent as He was led away to the slaughter. Those little legs that were too weak to support His body would one day be stretched out and nailed to a piece of wood as the weight of our sin was upon Him.
 
His whole life was a mission to express the character of God— a God whom we have rejected and defied, and a God who from eternity past has loved us with an everlasting love. Every thought, word, and deed from the time of His birth showed forth the love of the Father, until the ultimate expression of that love—the shedding of His blood for the remission of our sins. Every step down the Calvary Road, Jesus knew that He was fulfilling His purpose for taking on a human body, and every second on the cross, His veins poured out the unrelenting love of God and His heart remained unoffended at the guilty sinners who put Him on that tree.
 
Moments before He emptied His lungs of His last breath, He emptied His heart before heaven — “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” The mission had run its course, and the Savior King had paid the price. Now what the angel had declared at His birth had come to pass at His death—“you shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.”