Joshua means God is Saviour. As borne by the Israelitish leader, it pointed both him and the people away from him to the unseen and omnipotent source of their victory, and was in one word an explanation of their whole history, with all its miracles of deliverance and preservation of that handful of people against the powerful nations around. It taught the leader that he was only the lieutenant of an unseen Captain. It taught the soldiers that' they got not the land in possession by their own arms, but because He had a favour unto them.'
1. God As Saviour Appears In Highest Manifestation In Jesus.
I do not now mean in regard to the nature of the salvation, but in regard to the relation between the human and the divine. Joshua was the human agent through which the divine will effected deliverances but, as in all helpers and teachers, he was but the instrument. He could not have said, I lead you, I give you victory.' His name taught him that he was not to come in his own name. But he shall save' --not merely God shall save through him. And his people'--not the people of God.'
All this but points to the broad distinction between Christ and all others, in that God, the Saviour, is manifest in Him as in none other.
We are not detracting from the glory of God when we say that Christ saves us.
Christ's consciousness of being Himself Salvation is expressed in many of His words. He makes claims and puts forward His own personality in a fashion that would be blasphemy in any other man, and yet all the while is true to His name, God is the Saviour.'
The paradox which lies in these earliest words, the great gulf between the name and the interpretation on the angel's lips, is only solved when we accept the teaching which tells us that in that Word made flesh and dwelling among us, we behold God manifest in the flesh,' and in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.'
The name guards us, too, from that very common error of thinking of Christ as if He were more our Saviour than God is. We are not without need of this warning. Christ does not bend the divine will to love, is not more tender than our Father God.
The Salvation brought by Jesus is in its nature the loftiest.
It is with strong emphasis that the angel defines the sphere of salvation as being' their sins.' The Messianic expectation had been degraded as it flowed through the generations, as some pure stream loses its early sparkle, and gathers scum on its surface from filth flung into it by men. Mere deliverance from the Roman yoke was all the salvation that the mass wanted or expected, and the tragedy of the Cross was foreshadowed in this prophecy which declares an inward emancipation from sin as the true work of Mary's unborn Son.
We can discern the Jewish error in externalising and materialising the conception of salvation, but many of us repeat it in essence. What is the difference between the Jew who thought that salvation was deliverance from Rome, and the Christian' who thinks that it is deliverance not from sin but from its punishment?
We have to think of a liberation from sin itself, not merely from its penalties. This thought has been often obscured by preachers, and often neglected by Christians, in whom selfishness and an imperfect understanding of the gospel have too often made salvation appear as merely a means of escape from impending suffering. All deep knowledge of what Sin is teaches us that it is its own punishment, and that the hell of hell is to be under the dominion of evil.
3. God's People Are His People.
Israel was God's portion--and Joshua was but their leader for a time. But the people of God are the people of Christ.
The way by which we become the people of Jesus is simply by faith in Him.
