THE VIRGIN BIRTH
Matthew 1:18-25
When the fulness of time came,
God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law (Galatians 4:4).
Paul uses a rather
non-descript phrase in this verse when he speaks of Jesus as being born of a
woman. After all, everyone is “born of a
woman.” The Old Testament uses this phrase
as a way of describing all men.
Man
who is born of woman
Is short-lived and full of turmoil. (Job 14:1).
What
is man, that he should be pure,
Or
he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? (Job 15:14).
How
then can a man be just with God?
Or
how can he be clean who is born of woman? (Job 24:4).
In Old Testament language, to
be “born of a woman” was to be a mortal man, doomed to die. It was to be part of all of humanity. And yet, I think that there might be
something more than this when we speak of JESUS being “born of a woman.”
You see, when we speak of HIS
being born of a woman, there are echoes that go back even before writing of the
book of Job. A promise
that was given at the very dawn of history. Words spoken in a Garden named
And the Lord God said to the
serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all cattle, and
more than every beast of the field; on your belly shall you go, and dust shall
you eat all the days of your life. 15 And I
will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”
(Genesis 3:14-15).
The promise is that One would come. He is
known here by the cryptic title: “Seed of the Woman.” What makes that title so cryptic is that
women do not have seed. Throughout the
rest of the book of Jesus, we read of Noah’s seed and we read of Abraham’s seed
and we read of the seed of Isaac and of Jacob, but there is no mention of the
seed of the wives of those men. When
used of humanity, the idea of seed was largely a masculine concept. The Greek term is sperma
and corresponds to our English term carrying the same masculine concept.
Yet this promised one is
called the seed of the woman. The rest
of the prophecy shows us that this would be no ordinary man. He would do to Satan what a man does to a
serpent. He would crush its head beneath
His heel. He would overturn the works of
the Serpent.
Jesus was that promised
Seed. Why is he called by that
designation? I think that at least one
aspect is that He was born of a woman in a way that no other man has ever been
born of a woman.
Matthew’s account of that
birth is given to us in the first chapter of His book, following the detailed
genealogy.
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was
as follows. When His mother Mary had
been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with
child by the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18).
This passage tells us that
Mary and Joseph had been BETROTHED. The
Jews referred to this as the TENA'IM - the "Conditions."
On a certain day, Joseph and
Mary would have gathered in the presence of family and friends. In the presence of witnesses, Joseph would
give a ring to Mary along with a written document in which he promised himself in
marriage. Vows would be exchanged,
sealing their betrothal.
They were now considered
legally married. However, the marriage
would not be consummated for a year.
Joseph would return to his home and Mary would continue to live in the
home of her parents.
And yet, this was more than a
mere engagement. The only way that a
betrothal could be nullified would be through either death or divorce. The legal penalty for unfaithfulness would be
the same as the penalty for adultery - death by stoning. In the event that this penalty was carried
out, all of the woman's possessions would go to the husband. This stopped being merely theoretical when
Mary was discovered to be with child.
...before
they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. (Matthew
1:18).
Many years ago, Paula was
teaching a Sunday school class of high school girls and they came to the
subject of Mary and the birth of Christ.
Paula had one of those young girls wear a maternity dress to church that
Sunday with a pillow secured underneath to show a bulging tummy. You can imagine the looks and double-takes
when she walked into the class.
Similarly,
you can imagine the small-town reaction as news of Mary's pregnancy began to be
rumored about. It is not long before the
news come to Joseph. He knows that he is
not the father. This can only mean one
thing to him - his beloved has been unfaithful to him!
You
see, there is no indication that Joseph realized that Mary's pregnancy was due
to the Holy Spirit. WE know that it was
from our perspective. We can read it
right here in Matthew 1. But Joseph did
not know that. Matthew 1 had not yet
been written. And so, Joseph was
confronted by a decision. What to do?
And Joseph her husband, being a
righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her, desired to put her away
secretly. (Matthew 1:19).
There was one of three things
that Joseph could have done in this situation.
a. He
could denounce Mary publicly and have her stoned to death in agreement with the
Law of Moses. In such a case, any dowry
or possessions of her would automatically revert to him.
But
Joseph did not want to do this. He had
been hurt, but he was not out for revenge and he did not want to disgrace her
in this way.
b.
He could divorce
her privately.
Remember,
they were legally bound through the betrothal and that bond could only be
broken through death or divorce. Because
of what he considered to be unfaithfulness, he could divorce her privately in
her parents' house and save her from the humiliation of condemnation and
death. Indeed, it seems from the text
that this is exactly what he HAD determined to do. What he apparently did not even consider was
the third option.
c. He
could marry her and adopt her Child as his own.
He made his decision. He resolved to divorce her privately. He would do it in secret. He would write out a bill of divorcement and
he would deliver it in private to her home.
But the Lord had other ideas.
But when he had considered this,
behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son
of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for that which has been
conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will bear a Son;
and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from
their sins.”
Now all this took place that what
was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, 23
“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall
call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.”
And Joseph arose from his sleep, and
did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took her as his wife, 25 and
kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.
(Matthew 1:20-25).
|
Joseph is a role-model for
step-fathers. Our society doesn't have
many kind things to say about step-fathers.
But Joseph was a godly step-father.
He adopted a child that was not her own, raised Him as his own and
even taught Him his own trade. |
That is the story. A virgin became pregnant. Heaven leaned down and placed its most
precious treasure within the womb of a young Jewish girl. God as a fetus. The world will never again be the same.
What I want to do is to
explore the implications of the Virgin Birth.
What does it mean to us today that Jesus was born of a virgin?
1. The
Virgin Birth Means That God Became Specific.
We
knew that God was concerned with man in general. After all, God is love and He is the giver of
life. It is easy to believe that God
loves and even that He loves people. But
to say that He loves ME - that is something else.
God
could have written about His love in the sky.
He could have printed the words, "I love you" in the clouds
where all could read. He could have had
the stars line up to broadcast that message.
That would have communicated His message. But it would not have done so with the personableness that He did in the incarnation.
How
specific did God get? One teenage girl
and her carpenter fiancé. Two ordinary people - or so it seemed. This brings us to our second point.
2. The
Virgin Birth Means That Jesus Has Both the Legal and the Moral Right to the
Throne of David.
Notice
how Joseph is addressed by the Angel of the Lord. He is called, “Son of David.” If we had read the first 17 verses of this
chapter, we would have seen the genealogy of Joseph. It was a very distinguished genealogy. There are some exalted names here.
Abraham.
Jacob.
David.
Solomon.
It
was a kingly line. And Joseph was a
descendant of King David. He was
royalty. Of course, this line was no
longer in power. An Idumean
by the name of Herod the Great was on the throne. He is a puppet of the Roman government. But this Galilean carpenter is the true royal
line of David. And he is going to take
Mary's son and he will adopt him as his own.
Because of this, Jesus will have the legal right to the title,
"KING OF THE JEWS."
That
is not all. There is another name in
that genealogy which has a special significance. It is seen in verse 11.
And
to Josiah were born JECONIAH and his brothers at the time of the deportation to
Did
you hear about the fellow who looked up his family tree, only to find that he
was the sap? Jeconiah
was the sap of HIS family tree. He was
one of the last kings of
Jeconiah.
Jehoiachin.
Coniah.
His
was a very short reign, lasting only a few months. Even within those few months, he did so bad
that the Lord pronounced a curse upon both him and his descendants.
Is
this man Coniah a despised shattered jar?
Or
is he and undesirable vessel?
Why
have he and his descendents been hurled out and cast into a land that they had
not known?
O
land, land, land,
Hear
the word of the Lord!
Thus
says the Lord,
"Write
this man down childless,
A
man who will not prosper in his days;
For
no man of his descendants will prosper
Sitting
on the throne of David
Or ruling again in
Do
you see what God promised? He said that
none of the descendants of Jeconiah would ever
prosper on the throne of David.
This
means that, while Joseph had the legal right to sit upon David's throne, he did
NOT have the spiritual right to do so.
But his adopted Son DID. Jesus is
the only One who has both the legal as well as the spiritual right to sit upon
David's throne. If Jesus is not the
rightful Messiah of Israel, then there IS NO Messiah.
There
is no second choice. There is no understudy
waiting in the wings. There is no other
name under heaven, given among men whereby you can be saved.
3. The
Virgin Birth Means That the Prophets Were Right.
Now all this took place that what
was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, 23
“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall
call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, "God with us."
(Matthew 1:22-23).
The
Bible is NOT a unique book because it contains prophecy. There are other religious books which contain
prophecy. But the Bible is distinctly
unique in that it contains specific prophecies which were fulfilled independently
of the author.
Consider
for a moment only those prophecies which relate to the coming of the Messiah.
• He would be a Jew from the tribe of
• He would be the Son of David.
• He would be born in
• And yet He would come out of
• And also be known as a Nazarene.
• Even the date of His coming is alluded
to.
• As well as Herod's assassination attempt.
But
the most unusual prophecy of all was the one that is quoted here in this
chapter. He was to be born of a virgin.
There
were other Jews from the tribe of
Do
you see the implication? It is that our
God is a God who keeps His word. He
speaks and it comes to pass. That means
you can believe Him when He makes a promise to YOU. He has never yet broken a promise. He won't start with you. You can believe Him. Look in the manger - He's there. Look in the tomb - He's gone!
4. The
Virgin Birth Means That God Is with Us.
Behold, the virgin shall be with
child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which
translated means, "God with us." (Matthew 1:23).
A
little boy was out walking with his father.
The father said, "Son, do you know where we are?" The son replied, "No." The father asked, "Do you know how far
it is to home." And the boy
admitted that he did not. "Son, do
you know the direction we ought to turn if we were going home?"
"No,"
replied the boy. "Son, you appear
to be lost," the father commented.
The boy responded, "How can I be lost when you're with me?"
When
the Father is with us, we may not know where we are, but we can never be lost. This is what Christmas is all about. It isn't about gifts or credit cards or
wrapping paper or or jolly old Santas. It is about a time when God came near. It is about a time when heaven touched
earth. Because of that, earth can now
know heaven.
Not everyone
is all that fond of Christmas. There are
a lot of people who become gloomy and depressed at that time of the year. The next time you feel that way, remember
that the party is not for you. It is for
HIM.
5. The
Virgin Birth Means That We Have Salvation.
And she will bear a Son; and you
shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their
sins. (Matthew 1:21).
Notice
that the name "Jesus" is said to have a special significance. It is the English form of the Hebrew name Yashua
(Joshua). It means "Yahweh
saves." This name presupposes
several things.
First,
it presupposes that there are sins from which we need to be saved. Not merely mistakes. Or alternative lifestyles. Or psychological aberrations. But SINS. Active and outright
rebellion against God.
We
all have sinned and we all continue to fall short of that to which we were
created. We are real people who commit
real sins. That is the bad news.
To
make it worse, our sins separate us from God.
They cry out for the justice of God to judge them. He IS a just judge who will not permit sin to
go unpunished.
The
bad news is really bad. But the good
news is really good. The good new is
that we have a SAVIOR. Not merely a good
example. Or a teacher. Or a probation officer. But a SAVIOR.
Several years ago, a
petroleum ship floundered and broke up in heavy seas off the coast of
They were wakened the next
morning by a crewman rushing into the room to dig out a life jacket, don it,
and rush out again. You don't need to be
an expert to know this is not a good sign.
They went out on deck and found that the vessel was already
listing. A quick SOS was sent out and
then they were in the water as their vessel sank into the depths of the
sea. They were 60 miles away from
land. No lifeboats. Just a few flotation
devices in rough, 12-16 foot seas.
An hour passed and then
two. They saw a rescue helicopter in the
distance, but it passed by and was gone.
An hour later they saw another, but it also passed by. The day passed. Those in the water were seasick and
exhausted. They were beginning to lose
hope. The sun had passed its zenith and
was lowering in the west when another helicopter was spotted. It also began to pass by. And then, the pilot happened to spot the
bobbing heads out of the corner of his eye.
They were rescued. They were
saved.
What would you think of the
rescuers if they had come over those in the water and called down, "You
guys are doing okay.
Just keep swimming in that direction and you will be okay." This would not be a Savior. It would merely be a GUIDE. How about if the rescuers tossed down a book
on "How To Swim"? This would have been a TEACHER, but not a
Savior.
Perhaps one of our rescuers
might have jumped into the water, demonstrated the Austrailian
Crawl - showed the right form? This
would have been an EXAMPLE - but not a Savior.
Let's say that they took the
victims up into the helicopter, dried them off, and flew them halfway back to
land than then pushed them out, saying, "You can make it the rest of the
way on your own!" This would not be
a Savior - it would be a PROBATION OFFICER.
Fortunately for them, their
rescuer was not a...
Guide
Teacher
Example
Probation Officer.
They had a SAVIOR. And you have One,
too. His name is Jesus. He came as a baby. But He didn't stay that way.
The virgin birth took place
so that God could taken on flesh and die in our place. He took on flesh so that He could take on the
guilt of our sin. He made the supreme
sacrifice. He paid the ultimate price.
He made Him who knew no sin to be
sin on our behalf, that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Such an act calls for a
response on your part.
If you have never come to
Jesus Christ in faith and repentance, then I invite your response. If you are a Christian who has been caught up
in the hustle and bustle that this world generates, I invite your
response. If you are plagued with guilt
and weighed down in sin, I invite your response. If you are feeling lost in the crowd and as
though your prayers aren't getting past the ceiling, then I invite your
response. I invite you to come to Him
today.
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