Naylor Community
Christian Church
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Matthew 1:18-25
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the
Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but
before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy
Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not
want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an
angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do
not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her
is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give
him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the
Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth
to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the
angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he
did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave
him the name Jesus.
-- the story is told of a mother who
walked into her living room to find her young daughter lying on the floor and
intently drawing on a blank sheet of paper -- she asked her what she was doing
-- “I’m drawing a picture of God,” the girl replied -- “That’s nice,” the
mother said, “but no one knows what God looks like.” -- the girl said, “They will
in a minute.”
-- how nice would it be to be able
to see our God in person? -- a few weeks ago, we talked about this when we were
discussing idols -- one of the reasons why we are so prone to create idols in
our lives is because we worship a God that we cannot see and cannot touch and
cannot feel -- we relate to Him in faith -- trusting in Him and experiencing
Him through His word and through His presence in us and through us -- but there
is still a longing in our heart to see Him -- to know Him -- to touch Him as we
can others that we love, like our family and our friends
-- how wonderful would it be to walk
with God as Adam did? -- to see Him with our eyes? -- to hear His voice with
our ears? -- to reach out and take His hand in ours? -- to know Him and to know
that He is truly with us forever?
-- as all of you know, today is
Christmas -- the day that we celebrate the birth of Jesus -- the day we celebrate
God becoming a man and living with us so that we might come to know Him in a
new way and so that He might save us from our sins and bring us to live with
Him for eternity
-- there are only two places in the
Bible where we read about the birth of Jesus -- there is, of course, the
familiar passage from Luke 2, where we read of Jesus being born in a stable and
laid in a manger because there was no room for Mary and Joseph in the inn --
it’s in this same passage that we read of the angels appearing to the shepherds
in the fields outside Bethlehem and telling them of the good news of great joy
that has come to them on that first Christmas night -- many believe that Luke
received this story from Mary herself, and so we hear of the birth of Jesus
from her perspective
-- the second place where we read about
the birth of Jesus is here in Matthew Chapter 1, where Matthew tells us of the
coming of Jesus through the eyes of his earthly father, Joseph -- this story
doesn’t get told as much during the Advent and Christmas seasons, so I wanted
us to spend some time in this story this morning, paying particular attention
to what the angel tells Joseph about the name of the Son that Mary is to bear
-- so, if you would, look back with
me at Matthew 1, starting in verse 18
II. Scripture Lesson (Matthew 1:18-25)
-- verse 18-19
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the
Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but
before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy
Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not
want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
-- so, as Matthew opens the story of
how the birth of Jesus came to be, he tells us that Joseph was engaged to be
married to a young woman named Mary -- Mary, as you recall, had been visited by
the angel Gabriel, who told her that she had been chosen to bear the Son of God
and that she would become pregnant through the Spirit even though she was a
virgin
-- as this passage in Matthew opens,
evidently Mary has shared the message from Gabriel with Joseph and had broken
the news to him that she was currently pregnant -- you can imagine how Joseph
received this news -- it’s one thing to hear the message that an angel had
visited your fiancé and she that she was now pregnant through the Holy Spirit
-- and it’s another thing to actually believe it -- there had never been an
instance in all the history of mankind where a virgin had gotten pregnant, so
you can understand Joseph’s doubts about Mary’s story of how she came to be
pregnant
-- Matthew tells us that Joseph was
a righteous man and did not want to make a spectacle out of Mary’s condition,
so he decided the best thing to do was to quietly divorce her
-- now the idea of divorcing someone
you are engaged to seems strange to our modern ears, but it makes sense if you
know something about the Jewish marriage procedures in that day -- when someone
was going to get married in that time, there were three steps that were
followed:
-- first, there was the engagement
-- this was the decision that the two people were to be married -- this was
often decided by the parents when the couple were still children as a type of
arranged marriage -- often to join families together for wealth or power or for
other cultural reasons
-- following the engagement, there
was the betrothal -- you might call this the ratification of the engagement --
at this point, either the parents or the engaged couple could call off the
wedding -- but once they were betrothed, the relationship became absolutely
binding -- the betrothal lasted for one year, and during that year the couple
were known as man and wife, although they did not have the rights of a man and
wife and did not live together or have relations with one another -- the only
was for a betrothal to be terminated was by divorce
-- this was the stage Joseph and
Mary were in their relationship -- they were betrothed, and if Joseph wished to
end the relationship, he could only do so by divorcing Mary
-- the third stage of the Jewish
marriage ritual was the actual wedding, which took place at the end of the year
of betrothal
-- so, here’s Joseph -- he is
betrothed to marry Mary, and she comes along and tells him, “Oh, by the way, an
angel came to see me and said I was highly favored of God and now I’m pregnant
with God’s Son” -- and after hearing that, Joseph reached the decision that it
was time to divorce her and move on with his life -- a very reasonable plan of
action
-- but sometimes God gets involved
in our plans and takes them in a whole other direction
-- verse 20-23
20 But after he had considered this, an
angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do
not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her
is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give
him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the
Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth
to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
-- just like his namesake from the
Old Testament, Joseph had a dream that would change his life -- in his dream,
an angel of the Lord appeared to him -- presumably, this was Gabriel, the same
angel that had appeared to Mary -- but the Bible doesn’t give this angel a name
-- it’s just a guess on our part
-- this angel appears to Joseph and
verifies everything that Mary had told him -- he tells Joseph that, yes, Mary
was pregnant through the Spirit, and would have a son, who was to be named
Jesus, because He would save His people from their sins
-- as a righteous and faithful Jew,
Joseph would have understood that the angel was telling him that Mary’s son was
the long-awaited Messiah -- the Savior of the Jews -- the King who was to come
-- He was to be called Jesus,
because He would save the people from their sins -- Jesus is the Greek form of
the Hebrew name Yeshua or Joshua -- Yeshua literally means “The Lord Saves” --
and His name speaks of why the Messiah was coming to earth in the form of
Mary’s baby -- He was coming to save us from our sins and to lead us into
eternal life with Him
-- the angel goes on to tell Joseph
that the birth of Jesus by Mary was in fulfillment of prophecy -- this was a
reference to a prophecy that had been given by Isaiah back in the Old Testament
-- in Isaiah Chapter 7, we read that the
nation of Judah was being threatened by two northern nations -- Israel and
Syria -- and Ahaz, the king of Judah, feared for his country -- Ahaz and all
the people of Judah cried out to the Lord for deliverance and protection, so
God gave Isaiah a prophecy for the nation that would be a sign to them that He
was with them and would protect them
-- let me read Isaiah 7:14-16 to you right
now
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give
you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him
Immanuel. 15 He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject
the wrong and choose the right, 16 for before the boy knows enough to reject
the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be
laid waste.
-- this prophecy had an immediate
fulfillment in the days of Isaiah -- as the promise from God stated, a young
girl would have a child, and before this child was grown, the nations that were
threatening Judah would be destroyed
-- this prophecy was fulfilled when Isaiah
married a young woman in Judah, who bore him a son and who was still a young
child -- too young to know right from wrong -- when the nations of Israel and
Syria were conquered by the Assyrians and were no longer a threat to Judah
-- the sign that God promised Ahaz and
Judah had come to pass and the promise was fulfilled
-- but we learn in the rest of the book of
Isaiah and through the message of the angel to Joseph here in Matthew that this
prophecy from Isaiah 7:14 of a coming child that would be born to a virgin also
pointed to the coming Messiah and the promise that the Jewish people would
ultimately be saved forever through this child, who would be their anointed
deliverer and redeemer
-- we see more of the prophecy of a
child who would be the Messiah revealed a couple of chapters later in Isaiah
9:6-7, as we read the familiar passage:
“For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His
shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of
Peace.
Of the increase of His government
and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over
His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with
judgment and justice
From that time forward, even
forever.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will
perform this”
-- all Israel knew this prophecy --
they knew the promise of God that a Messiah would come who would redeem His
people and deliver them from their enemies
-- this child of Mary, the angel tells
Joseph, is that Messiah -- He will be the One through whom the Lord saves His
people -- He will be known as Immanuel -- for He is to be fully God and fully
man -- God with us in the flesh of Mary’s baby boy
-- which brings us back to our
opening illustration of the little girl drawing a picture of God and our desire
to see Him with our own eyes
-- Jesus was given to us for many
reasons -- to save us from our sins -- to redeem us from the power of sin and
death -- but the main reason Jesus came was so that we might know the Father and
that we might see the Father -- Jesus came so that we might know that God was
with us
-- in John 14, Jesus is speaking to
His disciples in the upper room on the night that He was betrayed -- He’s
trying to get them to understand who He is and why He came and where He is
going
-- at one point, Philip says, “Lord,
show us the Father and that will be enough for us” -- to which Jesus replies in
John 14:9, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a
long time? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.”
-- what Jesus told Philip that night
is the same thing that the angel told Joseph in his dream -- to see Jesus is to
see God, because Jesus is God -- He is Immanuel -- God with us
-- D.A. Carson puts it this way: “Do
you want to know what the character of God is like? Study Jesus. -- Do you want
to know what the holiness of God is like? Study Jesus. -- Do you want to know
what the wrath of God is like? Study Jesus. -- Do you want to know what the
forgiveness of God is like? -- Study Jesus. Do you want to know what the glory
of God is like? Study Jesus all the way to that wretched cross. Study Jesus.”
-- for He is God with us -- He is Immanuel
-- as William Barclay wrote in his
commentary: “Jesus is the one person who can tell us what God is like, and what
God means us to be. -- In him alone, we see what God is and what man ought to
be.
-- “Before Jesus came men had only vague
and shadowy, and often quite wrong, ideas about God; [at best] they could only
guess and grope [at who God was] -- but Jesus could say, "He who has seen
me has seen the Father" (John 14:9).
-- “In Jesus we see the love, the
compassion, the mercy, the seeking heart, the purity of God, as nowhere else in
all this world -- With the coming of Jesus, the time of guessing is gone, and
the time of certainty is come.
-- “Before Jesus came, men did not really
know what goodness was. In Jesus alone we see true manhood, true goodness, true
obedience to the will of God. Jesus came to tell us the truth about God and the
truth about ourselves.”
-- when you think of what the angel told
Joseph -- that this young virgin girl would have a son -- and that this son
would be the Messiah -- God Himself wrapped in human flesh -- God with us --
God one of us -- I am reminded of a story that explains why Jesus would humble
Himself and lay aside the rights of His deity to come to earth to be with us in
this way
-- in the 1700s, a Moravian missionary
once went to the West Indies to preach to the slaves -- but he found it
impossible to reach them in his position as a white missionary -- the slaves were
driven into the field very early in the morning, and returned late at night
with scarcely strength to roll themselves into their cabins, and in no
condition to spend time listening to his preaching and with no hope of being
moved by his message -- additionally, because of their condition and state,
they were set against anyone who was like their masters, including the
missionary
-- so, the missionary decided he would
follow the Apostle Paul’s words from 1 Corinthians 9:22, “I have become all
things to all people so that by all possible means, I might save some” -- the
missionary surrendered himself to slavery and became a slave in that place, so
that he might have the privilege of working by their side -- and while he
toiled and worked with them -- as one of them -- he preached to them and shared
with them the good news of Jesus Christ
-- no one else could reach the slaves with
the message of Christ except for the one who became one of them -- who placed
himself in their condition, and went among them, and lived as they lived --
suffered as they suffered -- toiled as they toiled -- so that he might carry
the gospel to them
-- This missionary followed the example of
the Lord Jesus Christ, who took on Him the nature of men on Christmas Day --
who came to live among us -- to live as we live -- so that He might save us
from our sins -- so that we might know Him as our Immanuel -- God with us
[modified from Beecher, as cited in The Biblical Illustrator, https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/tbi/matthew-1.html]
-- look back at verse 24 here in
Matthew 1, and let’s finish our thoughts
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the
angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he
did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave
him the name Jesus.
-- when Joseph woke up from his
dream, the words of the angel continued to run through his mind -- he knew the
word of God when he heard it -- and being a righteous man, Joseph did what God
told him to do
-- even though it went against his
human nature -- even though it went against what his culture would tell him to
do -- even though it meant going against the advice of his family and friends
-- Joseph chose to follow God
-- he took her home to be his wife
-- and we all know the story -- after traveling to Bethlehem to fulfill the
commands of the Romans for the census, Mary gave birth to Jesus in a manger and
wrapped Him in swaddling clothes -- and they called Him Jesus and the world
came to know Him as our Immanuel -- God with us
III. Closing
-- Florence, Italy is known for its
unparalleled collection of Renaissance art, and by far the most famous item on
display is Michelangelo’s sculpture of David -- the massive five-meter marble
statue is located in the Accademia Museum which requires a paid ticket to enter
-- many tourists purchase their tickets in advance, not realizing there is an
exact duplicate of Michelangelo’s David which can be viewed for free.
-- When Michelangelo completed the statue
in 1504, it was erected outside in the city center, the Piazza del Duomo, where
it stood for 400 years. In 1910, however, the decision was made to move the
sculpture inside to protect it from the weather, pigeons, and vandals. An exact
replica is now in the piazza where the original once stood and can be seen by
anyone without cost.
-- writing about this, Skye Jethani
pointed out that many people have gotten the idea that like Michelangelo’s
David, God must be difficult to see and costly to encounter -- but that is the
reason Jesus came -- that is the great reality of Jesus’ advent and the
incarnation of Mary and Joseph’s baby
-- God was not hiding -- He did not want
to be separated from His people -- but despite the many messengers He sent --
despite the prophets and the priests -- the kings and the miracles -- the
people refused to come near and see Him and know Him
-- their eyes remained closed to the very
presence of God -- so God sent His one and only Son to us -- to be born as a
baby in a manger -- to become one of us so that we might come to know Him as
our Immanuel -- to see God and to know God -- and to finally understood who God
is and what He is like -- so that we might be delivered from our sins and saved
for eternal life in Him
-- that is the message of Christmas --
Immanuel -- God with us always and forever
-- let us pray
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