Matthew1:21

The typical way to say this would be, “bear you a son,” but that does not apply here since Joseph was not the biological father. Therefore the word “you” is omitted. To the Jews this omission would have screamed for their attention; it was to them a powerful way to highlight the fact that this was no ordinary birth, and no ordinary child.

Usually parents named the child according to some event surrounding his birth; it could be the mother or the father that decided on the name. Here is a second occurrence of divine intervention when God told a couple what to name their child, such intervention regarding the naming of a child is rare in Scripture. Because of the circumstances surrounding his birth, the human tendency would have been to name him “trouble, disgrace, or rejected,” but God wanted to make very clear the life-purpose of this one He had sent from heaven.

Here the nature of the salvation intended by God is clearly stated. It is far bigger than freeing the Jews from their Roman oppressor, only to fall to another oppressive regime at some point down the road. This was a much bigger plan, a more personal plan, a more eternal plan.