Jesus Is His Name

 

Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD! O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. (Psalm 130 ESV).

 

We all have times when we choose our own way instead of God’s way. That’s when we need the truth of our reading today. This psalm is a prayer for personal forgiveness. “God, I really messed up this time! I can’t sleep because of my sins. So, I keep watching for some sign that you forgive me.”

 

We all commit personal sins. But those sins don’t stand alone. Every personal sin is embedded within a larger web of sinfulness. That sinfulness infects all our culture. It infects families, churches, businesses, prisons and police departments, courtrooms and classrooms. It governments, constitutions, and culture. It is often left untreated and merely grows to threaten our foundations.

 

Psalm 130 reflects this bigger picture. It may start with personal sins, but it moves on to the sinfulness that has infected Israel as a nation. That sinfulness troubles Israel from their time of slavery in Egypt all the way to their exile in Babylon! Israel needs to be saved from this sinfulness. And there is only one hope. The psalm ends on that note: “[The Lord] himself will redeem Israel from all their sins” (v. 8).

 

The angel of the Lord speaks of this hope when he tells Mary what to name her baby. “Jesus” means “the Lord saves.” But not only will Jesus save Israel; he will also take away the sin of the world (cf. John 1:29). And that includes all of us. Have you turned to Him for forgiveness? It is our only hope!