Advent: God With Us
Matthew 1:20-23
Third in our Advent series, this sermon was preached by Rev. Chris Roberts during the morning service on Sunday, December 13, 2009.
Today we enter week three of Advent as we continue to anticipate the celebration of the coming of our Lord. Week one we looked at why we need Advent, why we need a Savior, as we remembered the fall of man and our ongoing sinfulness. Last week we looked at the promise of a coming light, that though we had lived in such great darkness, God would send a light to bring hope and salvation. Today we look at the light himself. Who is this that has come? What is the truth about his nature and what he came to do? In Matthew’s gospel we are early on given an answer to this question. Our text this morning is Matthew 1:20-23 but we will begin by reading the surrounding context.
Matthew 1:18-25
As we enter this text we see a very real, very human couple, Mary and Joseph. It has been revealed that Mary is pregnant. At this point they are not married. Middle Eastern customs of that time included a period of betrothment during which the man and woman would be absolutely committed to one another but not yet married. The commitment was stronger than engagement: marriage was a certainty, but the couple was not yet permitted to have sexual intercourse. So when Mary reveals she is pregnant Joseph knows the child is not his. He had treated her with purity and faithfulness but he learns that his bride to be is expecting a child.
There is little emotion communicated in Matthew but just imagine how this would have felt for young Joseph, most likely a teenager. He faced the sting of betrayal and the shame of a faithless wife. By the Law the best way for him to save face would be to confront Mary before the priests, charging her with adultery and calling for her stoning. But we are told in verse 19 that he was a just man who was unwilling to put her to shame. He did not want this to become public and certainly did not seek her death. So he resolved to divorce her quietly. Again, they were not married, but such was the bond of betrothment that ending it required a divorce process.
It was while in the midst of considering these things that he received a very unexpected visitor. An angel appeared, probably Gabriel who also appears to Mary in Luke 1. He reveals amazing things to Joseph, things impossible to believe if they were not revealed from God’s angelic messenger. The angel first tells Joseph not to be afraid but to take Mary for his wife. This child was no ordinary child and Mary was guilty of no sin. Joseph could marry her knowing her own purity and faithfulness were intact.
The angel then reveals three things about this child: he has been conceived by the Holy Spirit; he will be called Jesus; and he will save people from their sins.
The first revelation is unique in human history: the virgin would be with child. Matthew tells us in verse 22 that all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. The prophecy came in Isaiah 7:14 where we read, Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel. Thus we have prophesied for us the virgin birth.
A short time later in Isaiah we receive another prophecy about this child. In Isaiah 9:6-7 we read, For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
As we saw in week one of Advent, even since the Garden of Eden men knew God would send a deliverer. Who he would be remained a mystery. But as the Old Testament unfolds God reveals a piece here, a piece there, letting us catch more of a glimpse at the coming Messiah. They often misunderstood who and what Messiah would be, expecting a mighty warrior who would lead the political nation to independence and dominance. And who among them would really believe that a virgin would give birth?
But here we have Mary. A young girl, probably a very young teenager, who has remained faithful and pure but is now told she will give birth to the Son of God.
There are many ways God could have come to earth. Why this way? Why did he come in the flesh? Why a virgin birth? Let’s address the first question first – why did God come in the flesh?
We cannot cover this in detail this morning, but here are two reasons why God came in the flesh. First, so that we would have a Savior who has faced what we face. We see this in Hebrews 4:15: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. So God came in the flesh and faced the same struggles we face. We cannot claim that God does not know our sorrow or pain or the fierce power of temptation. He faced all and more and yet he never sinned. When he makes intercession for us, when the Son prays to the Father for the people of God, he has himself experienced what we have been through, yet without sin.
The second reason is so that he could pay for our sins. God could not pay for our sins. Humanity has fallen and humanity must make satisfaction for sin. But because we are fallen and sinful, none of us could pay for our own sins, let alone the sin of another. Jesus had to become one of us before he could pay for us. And because he is the eternal Son of God, he is able to pay for all the sins of his people. His blood is eternally precious and valuable and when he goes to the Father and offers his shed blood for our sins, the price is paid in full. It took a man to pay the sins of men, but not just any man could do. It had to be a perfect man of infinite worth. Only God in the flesh could fully satisfy his own just wrath. This is the judge who steps down from his seat and pays the penalty of the offender.
So God had to take on flesh in order to deal with our sins. But why was he born of a virgin? For many people the virgin birth is a huge stumbling block. They cannot believe that God would work such a miracle. Did he? Can he? And why?
First, of course God can. And we believe that he did since the Scriptures record the virgin giving birth. As the sovereign creator, he is in control over everything he has made. If he wants to create a planet and stick it in space, he can. If he wants to part waters, he can. If he wants to freeze the movement of the solar system, he can. If he wants to have a virgin give birth, he can. We do not believe there is any logical limit to what God can do.
Note that I say logical limit. Some in folly will create inconsistencies to try and trip up the notion that God is all powerful. “If God can do anything, can he make a rock so big even he cannot lift it?” That is an absurd question that has nothing to do with God’s power.
But others will challenge miracles altogether and claim nothing supernatural or miraculous has ever taken place on the earth. We believe that miracles can and do happen because we serve a sovereign God. And we trust the Scriptures are true so we believe the Word of God when it says that God has violated the laws of the universe and has done something miraculous. Something like a bush that burns but is not consumed. Something like a virgin giving birth to a child.
So we believe in the miraculous. But why this miracle? Why did the virgin give birth? In ways this is a more difficult question because the Bible never explicitly gives a reason. But here are four reasons I want to offer you.
The first is actually a “not”. That is, the virgin birth was not to give divine patrimony. We might think that Mary somehow became impregnated by God so that the child she bore contained a mix of her DNA and God’s DNA. No, the child she bore was fully God and fully man. We read in John 1:1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This eternal word is the one who in John 1:14 became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. The eternal Word always existed and the Word is the Son of God. The Son has always been with the Father. His being the Son of God has nothing to do with him being born of Mary. What God did was create a child in Mary’s womb, one who was fully man, formed from Mary’s womb, and also fully God.
A second reason for the virgin birth is to demonstrate clearly that this child was something special. If the child were the offspring of Mary and Joseph it would be harder to demonstrate that there was something miraculous about him. But when a virgin has a child, that will get people’s attention and show that God is doing something unique with this child. By the virgin birth God made it clear that this was no ordinary child.
Third, by the virgin birth God fulfilled a prophecy. We noted this already, that in Isaiah 7:14 God promised that the virgin would come and give birth. God is shown to be faithful to his promises and when the virgin gives birth we know that this is the promised Messiah who would rule his people forever.
The fourth reason I want to give cautiously. We have said that Jesus lived a sinless, perfect life. But I have noted in the past that Scripture tells us we are all born in sin. From birth we receive the guilt of Adam and in our very being, our nature, are corrupted and sinful. Somehow Jesus is the exception. He could not have been born with a fallen nature and still lived a sinless life. But what is the connection between a virgin birth and avoiding a sin nature? We see the connection in 1 Corinthians 15:21-22: For as by a man dame death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. Note also Romans 5:12: Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin… Through Adam comes sin and death. Those born under Adam receive that curse and corruption. Mary was not perfect. Contrary to the Catholic teaching of the immaculate conception, Mary was a sinner. But it seems that the sinful nature is passed from father to child so that Jesus, not having a human father, does not receive the curse of Adam.
We have spent most of our time looking at the virgin birth but the angel made two other points with Joseph and I want to look at them in closing. Both are in verse 21: She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. His name will be Jesus, and he will save his people from their sins.
The one who came in the flesh is God himself. Immanuel, God with us! But why did God come? Jesus tells us in John 12:47, I did not come into the world to judge the world but to save the world. Jesus Christ came into the world to save his people from their sins.
The name Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew Yeshua or Joshua which means Yahweh saves. The people of Jesus’ day expected a Messiah who would deliver them from political oppression but he came to deliver them from a far greater enemy. He came to set them free from their sins. God himself took on flesh and made his dwelling among us so that we might have life with him, life not under the curse of sin or the threat of the wrath of God.
Those who turn from Jesus will still have to face their sin. They will bear on their own shoulders wrath for their disobedience. Finite beings sinning against an eternal God will forever pay for their sins. They will never be able to satisfy his wrath. The judgment is eternity in Hell. But two thousand years ago God the Son left his throne above and entered the womb of Mary. He would be born and live a sinless, righteous life, showing us how to live. And he would die to set us free, to save us from sin and rescue us from the wrath we deserve.