Introduction: A recurring theme throughout the Bible magnifies God’s miraculous work in the world. When things have gone wrong, and there is a need for God’s great work among his people, the Lord accomplishes his purposes in a most vulnerable and unsuspecting way. There is always a woman who gets pregnant by the miraculous hand of God.
Sarah was old and barren when God promised to give her and Abraham a son.
The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. 2 And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him (Ge 21:1–2)
During the time of the judges, when things were very bad for Israel, the angel of the LORD appeared to a barren woman and promised she would bear a child.
3 And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. (Jdg 13:3)
24 And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him (Jdg 13:25-25)
There is also Hannah, who had no children because the Lord had closed her womb. Hannah knew God loved her, so she lamented, wept, and prayed for a son.
And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. 20 And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, “I have asked for him from the Lord.” (1 Sa 1:19–20)
I love the way theologian Ben Myers sums up this theme, “This is how it goes in the Old Testament: at the great turning point in history, we find a woman, pregnant, and an infant child brought into the world by the powerful promise of God. Israel’s story is a story of miraculous births.”
So when we open the Gospel of Luke, our hearts should begin to beat with excitement when we read about Elizabeth, “But they had no child because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.” (Luke 1:7)
The birth of John the Baptist marked an important turning point in redemptive history as he would prepare the way for the Lord.
What greater turning point in history could there be than the birth of the Messiah, who will save his people from their sins? This birth should be the most miraculous of all, the Son of God in human flesh born of a virgin conceived by the Holy Spirit.
This morning, we will reflect on the Christ of Christmas from the Gospel of Matthew. I want us to think about what it means for Jesus to be born of a virgin and why he needs to be the son of David. I want us to think about how Christmas leads to the cross, as the one born of a virgin is named Jesus, who saves his people from their sins. I want us to think about Jesus Christ being the promised Messiah in fulfillment of the Scriptures, Immanuel, God with us.
As we do so, we’ll see who Jesus is and why his birth is truly the turning point in history. We will see that the Christ of Christmas is a son of David, born of a virgin; Jesus, the savior of sinners; and Immanuel, fulfilling the Scriptures.
I.) The Christ of Christmas is a son of David, born of a virgin (Matt. 1:18-20)
To fully appreciate all that the Gospel of Matthew is doing in these verses, we have to understand the Old Testament hope that God would provide a Messiah, who would be a descendent of Kind David.
The promise begins in 2 Samuel, who promises that a descendent of David will sit on his throne forever.
12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. (2 Sa 7:12–13)
Notice two things about this promise. It is a promise about a coming king and about a kingdom that will be established forever.
Throughout the Old Testament, this theme is developed, especially in the prophets.
7 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. (Is 9:7)
23 And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24 And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken. (Eze 34:23–24.)
Matthew wants to show us that Jesus was born as an Israelite in the line of David. Now, I can’t do the implications of Jesus coming in the line of David justice. Trying in one sermon to capture all the theological connections Matthew makes between Jesus and David is like splashing at the waves, hoping to feel the depths of the ocean.
From the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus’ humanity, especially his being in the line of David, is in view. Look with me at Chapter 1, verse 1.
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham (Mt 1:1)
Although David comes after Abraham in history, Matthew identifies Jesus first as the son of David. It’s as if Matthew is writing in crayon, making it as plain as possible. This is what I want to show you.
He does something similar in verse 20. How does the angel of the LORD refer to Joseph? “Joseph, son of David…” (Matt. 1:20).
Now let’s return to Matthew 1:18-20. Here Matthew is going to show us how Jesus, who is born of a virgin, can be a son of David in fulfillment of God’s promises in Scripture. Key to this part is Joseph himself. So let’s look at these verses together.
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. (Mt 1:18–29)
Mary’s pregnancy comes as quite a shock to Joseph, who would have no reason to assume conception by the Holy Spirit to be the most obvious explanation.
To properly understand what happens next, we must know that the betrothal period before the marriage ceremony and consummation was much more serious than our modern understanding of engagement. Joesph and Mary are already legally bound to one another and this commitment can only be ended by death or through a legal separation under certain circumstances like sexual infidelity.
Based on Joseph’s limited information at the time, he could only assume Mary had been unfaithful; therefore, he was obligated to separate from Mary. Matthew means this when he describes Joseph as a “just man.” Joseph wants to do what is right according to the law. Yet, he wants to do so in a merciful way. Joseph does not wish to make an example out of Mary and not shame her in a public trial. So he seeks this separation, “quietly.”
This raises several problems for Mary and the story of Jesus. If Joseph divorces Mary quietly and never looks back, then Jesus cannot be a descendant of David. If Joseph divorces Mary quietly, Paul cannot speak of the gospel like he does in Romans 1, the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh (Ro 1:1–3)
The Lord intervenes through an angel to assure Joseph knows the truth about Mary and to assure that the Messiah is a descendant of David. Look with me at verse 20, 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, (Mt 1:20–21).
Joseph learns of the miracle of the Virgin’s conception and birth. Notice that the text of Matthew makes it clear that Mary is a passive vessel in this entire miracle: “…that which is conceived in here is from the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is the source of Jesus’s conception, but the Spirit is not an agent who acts in conceiving Jesus. Mary is a passive vessel in the conception of Jesus, not a participant in conceiving Jesus.
Luke describes it this way, 35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. (Luke 1:35)
This is a mystery, and we should allow it to be. Trying to make everything about the Christian life void of mystery is a mistake. It is beyond us because God’s ways are not our ways.
That said, it is helpful to think about how the virgin birth fits God’s ways and works in salvation. Much could be said here, but we’ll mention just a few examples.
For example, the virgin birth by the conception of the Holy Spirit is most fitting because Jesus is one person with two natures. He is fully God and fully man. The miraculous nature of Jesus’ conception fits the miraculous nature of the incarnation.
The virgin birth is fitting because it shows the uniqueness of the Son’s relationship to God the Father. A key theme in the gospels is that Jesus is from the Father. To see Jesus is to see the Father. When we think of Jesus as a son, we are to think of him as the Son of God. The virgin birth prioritizes this relationship over his relationship with Joseph.
The virgin birth is fitting because it fulfills Old Testament prophecy. 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Is 7:14) God ordained the virgin birth and promised it through the prophets, and so it is the most fitting way for Jesus to be born.
The virgin birth of Jesus Christ is an important doctrine that has been treasured by Christians for ages. It should be a source of joy and worship, not embarrassment.
“Don’t be embarrassed by the virgin birth; rather, teach it, preach it, and share it as part of the gospel story so that when a person responds in faith, they will know whom they believe. Pray to see the miracle of Christ conceived in their hearts the way he was conceived in Mary’s womb.”- R. Albert Mohler
Now, let’s get back to Joseph. The angel does not give this information to Joseph just so that he might feel better and sleep easier at night. Joseph is meant to respond to the message. Look at verse 21 again, “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus…”
According to verses 24-25, this is exactly what Joseph does. He does not break off the betrothal, takes Mary as his wife, and names the baby Jesus.
This is significant for two reasons. The first is that Joseph takes him officially as his legal heir by naming the baby. Jesus becomes the son of Joseph, the son of David. The boy born of a virgin now has a lineage and a genealogy working backward from Joseph to David to Abraham.
The Christ of Christmas is a son of David, born of a virgin.
The second reason this is significant is because the name “Jesus” tells us a lot about what God is doing through the son who is born of a virgin. This brings us to our second point. The Christ of Christmas is Jesus, the Savior.
II.) The Christ of Christmas is Jesus, the savior of sinners (Matt. 1:21)
The name Jesus was not an uncommon name. You can see why faithful Jewish mommies and daddies might name their son Jesus because it means “Yahweh saves.” That is religious sentiment. For the baby born of a virgin, it is the reality of salvation because he is the reason for salvation.
Jesus is the name he is given because “he will save his people from their sins.”
To be sure, “his people” immediately refers to Israel, but it will be abundantly clear as Matthew unfolds that Jesus will not be a savior for Israel alone but of people from every tribe, nation, and tongue.
The language that the angel uses is the language of both forgiveness and freedom. Jesus comes to save “people from their sins.”
We are guilty of sin but also in bondage to sin. Sin is something we need forgiveness for, but also deliverance from.
What Jesus is going to do is what Ezekiel promised. Listen to the words of the prophet.
23 They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. (Ezekiel 37:23)
This is what Jesus has come to do. He will do so not by riding a horse and bearing a sword but by riding a donkey and bearing a cross.
So later in the Gospel of Matthew Jesus says, “…the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mt 20:28)
This means celebrating Christmas means anticipating the cross. The cradle and the cross are connected. No Christian celebration of Christmas dares to separate them.
The Christ of Christmas is Jesus, the savior of sinners.
Beloved, when you’re tempted to return to the sins you’ve committed, remember that Christ came to save you from your sins. He was born, lived, died, and rose again so that you can be forgiven and free. So that you can be among the people of God and God can be your God. Beloved, be free from sin.
The Christ of Christmas is Jesus, the savior of sinners.
Transition: As the son of David and the savior of sinners, the presence of Jesus Christ fulfills the promises of God through the prophets. Let’s look at verses 22-25 and see that the Christ of Christmas is Immanuel, fulfilling the Scriptures.
III.) The Christ of Christmas is Immanuel, fulfilling the Scriptures (Matt. 1:22-2)
As is so typical of Matthew’s writing, he connects the event we just read with Old Testament prophecy, “All of this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet…”
Matthew then quotes Isaiah 7:14, most likely because he is reading Isaiah 7:14 in the larger context of Isaiah 7-9.
6 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 (Is 9:6).
I can’t retrace what Matthews seems to be doing, but it is clear that the promise of a baby born and named Immanuel in Isaiah 7 finds its full and ultimate fulfillment when Jesus is born, who is not merely named Immanuel, but who is Immanuel. The presence of Jesus is the very presence of God.
The Christ of Christmas is Immanuel, God with us.
The presence of God in Jesus Christ is important in Matthew’s gospel, as many scholars have pointed out. Matthew stresses the presence of Christ in the beginning, middle, and end of the gospel.
The presence of God in Christ begins Matthew’s gospel here in the virgin birth narrative.
The presence of God in Christ is reaffirmed in Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” (Mt 18:20).
The presence of God in Christ ends Matthews, literally. These are the final words in Matthew 28:20, And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Mt 28:20)
If you’re ever tempted to doubt this, I want you to remember that the Lord has left us some tangible experiences to remind us that he is here.
What do I say after I read Scripture? “This is the Word of the Lord.”
What I say when I invite you to share communion. “This is my body broken for you, do this in remembrance of me. This is my cup of the new covenant in my blood, do this in remembrance of me.”
I can’t think of anything more comforting than this. Christmas reminds us that God is not distant but with us. Beloved, if you’re in Christ Jesus, then he is anything but far from you.
Application
1. Rejoice in Jesus’ humanity- Jesus took on humanity so that he could save a people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. That is not possible without the incarnation. Let it lead us to worship.
2. Trust Jesus as savior- Have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ for forgiveness and freedom from sin? Trust Jesus and respond by professing your faith in baptism.
3. Believe in God’s promises- Christmas is an annual reminder that God is faithful to his promises. Believe in God and trust his word. As sure as Christ was born fulfilling Isaiah 7, so will Christ come fulfilling the promises of his return. God is faithful. Trust him.
4. Rest in Christ’s presence– Christ is always with us. Our circumstances don’t determine God’s presence, but Christ does.
Nathaniel R. Martin 