| Introduction The Bible deals with real life. What happens in the pages of this book doesn't take place in an idyllic world, but in the real sin-cursed world among suffering and hurt. What we read here is the real story of teenage woman who was engaged to be married and found herself pregnant. Can you imagine the conversation at home? Mary: Dad, I am pregnant. Dad: Oh, I'm going to kill that Joseph! Mary: No, dad. It was God who got me pregnant. At the same time, Joseph knows that he didn't do anything wrong in the relationship and he is convinced that his wife-to-be cheated on him. He is conflicted. "If I marry her, I'll be admitting that I committed fornication with her. If I make a big deal about it in a public divorce, she will be disgraced. What do I do?" If Mary had gotten pregnant today, she would have faced tremendous pressure to abort this baby. Maybe that was part of the fullness of time being back then instead of now. It was into this broken world that Jesus was born. When we understand the brokenness and limitation of the human condition, we can really understand what Paul said concerning Christ: 2 Cor. 8:9 – For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. When we understand what sin has done to us, and how sin separates us from God, we become very thankful and excited about Christ's mission: "For he will save his people from their sins" (21). I. Now the birth of Jesus was as follows, 18. A. The history of the world had been moving for thousands of years to this point, to this place, in this little piece of dry land, in the little towns of Nazareth and Bethlehem. B. From the day Adam and Eve fell into sin, history was all about preparing the world and a particular people for the coming of the one who was going to crush Satan's head and redeem his people from their sins, 21. 1. The world, the devil, and flesh tried to derail God's plan of redemption, but God powerfully preserved his seed. 2. In Gen. 3:15, God promised Satan that the seed of the woman would bruise (grind/crush) his head, while all Satan would be able to do was bruise the seed's heel – that seed was Christ. Heb. 2:14-15 – Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 3. God worked through Seth à Noah à Abraham à Isaac à Israel à Judah à David àChrist! C. Matthew introduces this grand event by just saying, "Now the birth of Jesus was as follows." 1. This simplicity points to the veracity of what he is about to say. 2. There is no embellishing as in pagan myths – just the plain truth of the gospel. II. What we read here is the story of Jesus's birth from Joseph's perspective. A. The longer narrative in Luke (120 verses) describes the story from Mary's perspective. 1. That's why the annunciation and the Magnificat dominate the narrative. 2. That's where we find her visit to her cousin Elizabeth. B. The genealogy that preceded our text traces Joseph's lineage back to David through the kings of Judah, a point that the angel emphasizes when talking with Joseph, 20. 1. Luke's genealogy is Mary's family tree. 2. Thus, both legally (through Joseph) and biologically (through Mary), Jesus had rightful claims to the throne of David, to rule over the people of God as their eternal King. 3. Paul picks up on this theme of the kingship of Jesus when he describes Jesus and the King of kings and the Lord of lords. 1 Tim. 1:15-17 – This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. 1 Tim. 6:13-16 – I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and beforeChrist Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ's appearing, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen. 4. That is the one whose birth we celebrate during this season! Col. 1:15-18 – He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. III. Joseph as the father of God, 18-19, 24-25. A. God picked a righteous, kind, compassionate, gracious, and merciful man to be his Son's legal father on earth – Joseph was a just man (same word for righteous), 19. B. In his mind, he couldn't marry Mary because she was unfaithful to him, and to marry her would be to admit his own guilt in the matter of the baby. C. Righteousness demanded that the law be kept, but would be the most gracious application of the law? 1. Joseph probably remembered that portion in Dt. 24, which allowed him to quietly give Mary a certificate of divorce and be done with the situation. 2. That would keep the law and be gracious to Mary. D. Now, you may be asking yourselves what it means to be betrothed to somebody, 18. 1. To be betrothed is to be engaged to somebody; therefore, technically Joseph and Mary were not yet married. 2. But in Jewish culture of the time (and with good biblical support from Dt. 22:23-24), being engaged to somebody was a very serious thing. "The pledge to be married was legally binding. Only a divorce writ could break it, and infidelity at that stage was considered adultery." D.A. Carson 3. Later Jewish sources tell us that the engagement period was 9 months and that is the case, Mary got pregnant sometime during those 9 months. E. Joseph was obedient to the Word of God, 24-25. 1. Once the angel spoke to him the message from God, he obeyed immediately, 24. a. The next day he married her. b. He no longer cared about his reputation because he knew he was doing what was right in the sight of God. c. He waited till after the baby was born in order to consummate their marriage, 25. 2. That is a lesson we must learn from Joseph – prompt and complete obedience. a. You might say, "If God spoke to me like he spoke to Joseph, I'd be jumping up and obeying too." b. The thing is that God speaks to you much more directly and powerfully through his Word and through the Spirit that dwells in you. 1) Joseph didn't have the whole Bible. 2) Joseph didn't have the illuminating effect of the cross and resurrection. IV. The Main Feature of This Story Is the Message of the Angel of the Lord, 20-23. A. Unlike the Lukan narrative, the angel is not named here, but Matthew makes sure that we know that the angel's message is from God by calling him the angel of the Lord. 1. This is a term used often in the OT for the messenger from God who brings revelation from God. 2. Particularly revelation about the unfolding of God's plan of redemption. B. The baby in Mary's womb is not the fruit of adultery; rather, the baby was conceived by God the Holy Spirit, 20, 22-23. 1. This was a miracle, not some pagan myth of deity and humans having a physical relationship. 2. The virgin conception (more accurate than the virgin birth) is a big deal for two reasons: a. The Scriptures prophesied that the coming of the Messiah would be marked by a virgin bearing a Son, 23. 1) This verse quotes Isaiah 7:14, where it specifically says that the sign given of the coming of the Messiah is that a virgin shall conceive. 2) Much effort has been made to try to show that the words don't require us to understand it as virgin, just a young woman, but there is no convincing textual reason for us to do that. a) In the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, theologically liberal scholars felt the need to deny the virgin birth of Christ because they felt the need to deny all supernatural aspects of Christianity. b) The modern mind required that what could not be proven through the scientific method be discarded into the realm of fiction – a requirement impossible to apply consistently. c) This denial of the virgin birth alongside the denial of the inspiration of the Scriptures, the deity of Christ, the miracles of the Bible, and the bodily resurrection of Christ (and future resurrection of believers) led to the publishing in 1909 of 90 essays in several volumes called The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth. d) Belief in these five doctrines became the litmus test whether you were a conservative or a liberal, a fundamentalist or a modernist. e) Eventually, the general assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States decided in 1927 that the church should not require pastors to believe in "these theories of interpretation." 3) But we believe that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary because the Bible says so. "… although these events are fully historical, they are also supernatural, for this is the supreme moment in human history when the supernatural broke into the normal flow of historical events by the grace of our good God." James Boice 4) The virgin conception/birth is important because the Bible said it happened. b. The virgin conception/birth is important because it was the instrument that God used to guarantee the sinlessness of Christ. 1) We all receive the guilt and the pollution (corruption) of that first sin of Adam. 2) God imputes that to us through our fathers – impute to us = count as ours. WCF 6:3 – They being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed, and the same death in sin and corrupted nature, conveyed to all their posterity, descending from them by ordinary generation. WLC 22 – Did all mankind fall in that first transgression? The covenant being made with Adam as a public person, not for himself only, but for his posterity, all mankind descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him in that first transgression. 3) Jesus did not descend from Adam by ordinary generation. 4) His generation, his conception was special, it was by the Holy Spirit. 5) To deny the virgin conception is to deny that Jesus is sinless. 6) To deny that Jesus is sinless is to deny that he is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. 7) So, the virgin conception/birth is an essential element of who Jesus is and what he does. C. The baby in Mary's womb is the Savior of God's people, 21. 1. Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua. a. Joshua means Yahweh is salvation or Yahweh saves. b. This name is important for the mission of Jesus. 1) There are four Joshuas in the OT. 2) Two of them are note very significant, but the other two are used in the NT as types point to Christ. a) One was Joshua who followed Moses as the leader of Israel and led the nation into the Promised Land – Heb. 4 says that points to the rest that we are going to have in Christ. b) The other one was Joshua the high priest during the time of Zerubbabel who built the temple of the Lord as a type of the one whose temple would be destroyed and rebuilt in three days – Zech. 6:11-13, Jn. 2:19. 2. But here, instead of referring to either Joshuas, the angel explains the significance of the name by referring to Psalm 130:8 – last clause in 21 Ps. 130:8 – And He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. a. He refers back to the LORD (Yahweh) in Ps. 130:1. b. The mission of Jesus is to save his people from their sins. "There was much Jewish expectation of a Messiah who would 'redeem' Israel from Roman tyranny…. But there was no expectation that the Davidic Messiah would give his own life as a ransom… to save his people from their sins." D.A. Carson Mk. 10:45 – For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. Lk. 19:10 – …the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. c. We tend to have similar expectations as the Jews did – we want a Messiah that will give us: d. But we tend not to be very excited about a Messiah who saves our souls from hell, but may not do any of these other things for us. 1) What are you trying to get out of Jesus? 2) Is it going to be good enough for you if all he does is save you for himself? Jn. 6:67-68 – Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?" But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Ps. 73:25-26 – Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 3) Jesus doesn't promise you a better marriage or more peace in your life, but he does offer himself to you. 4) Is that enough for you? "The Son of God was content to call himself 'Saviour.'" J.C. Ryle D. The baby in Mary's womb is God in the flesh, 23. 1. He is Immanuel, which means God with us. 2. He is the final and ultimate demonstration of God's presence, not only with his people, but with humanity. 3. Through Jesus God dwells, speaks, and reveals himself to us. Heb. 1:1-3 – God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high… "The people whose sins Jesus forgives (1:21) are the ones who will gladly call him 'God with us.'" D.A. Carson 4. So, to know Jesus is to know God – that is the only way of knowing God.
This is who he is. And his name is Jesus for he came to save his people from their sins.
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