Text: Mathew 1:18-25
Theme: Remember the Saviours’ birth. God gave us His Son.
Intro:
- This evening, since this is Christmas week, I want to do a short study of Mathew’s account of the birth of the Lord Jesus.
- We will focus specifically on the immaculate birth of the Lord Jesus.
Main:
- Mary was espoused to Joseph (Vs 18a)
a. To the Jewish people in that day, betrothal (engagement) was equivalent to marriage—except that the man and woman did not live together. They were called “husband and wife,” and, at the end of the engagement period, the marriage was consummated.[1] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 14.
b. Since, in the setting of the day, espousal was equivalent to marriage, this would be like marrying someone and then finding out they were already pregnant. This would be seen by Joseph and by the people around them as the result of adultery. - Mary was a virgin (Vs 18b)
a. The inclination to immediately assume Mary had committed adultery is the reason for the Bible’s clear statements regarding the immaculate birth of Jesus by the Holy Ghost.
– Verse 18 tells us that Mary was found with child, “before they came together.”
– This is a very clear reference to the consummation of the marriage. The timeline is being very carefully laid out for us so that there is no confusion about what happened.
b. The Bible makes it absolutely clear that conception and birth of the Lord Jesus was perfectly pure and holy. This is known as the immaculate conception. - Mary was with child of the Holy Ghost (Vs 18c)
a. Verse 16 states that Jesus was born of Mary but does not say he was born of Joseph.
b. In this case, the father’s lineage is stated, all the way down from Abraham until we come to verse 16.
– Verse 16 says that “Jacob begat Joseph” but then it switches and states that Joseph was “the husband of Mary of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.” This change makes it clear that Joseph didn’t beget the Lord Jesus, but rather, he was begat of God.
– 1 John 5:1 “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.”
c. The Lord Jesus Christ had to be born of the Holy Ghost, because he had a Divine nature which could not be passed down from Joseph.
– Everyone who is a son of Adam has inherited the sin nature of Adam. We are all born into sin and are, by our own nature, the children of wrath.
d. The Lord Jesus Christ was perfect and without any sin. - Mary was almost rejected by Joseph (Vs 19-21)
a. If you were in any doubt that Joseph had not consummated his marriage with Mary at this time, verse 19 should dispel those doubts.
– For Joseph, this would have been shocking and completely gutting. The woman he was about to take as his wife is found to be carrying a child and the only assumption he could make was that Mary has been unfaithful to him.
– Joseph was a just man, which means he was innocent and just. Because of this, he wanted to privately break off his espousal to Mary. He didn’t want to make a public example out of her, so he planned to quietly and privately break off the engagement and be done with the situation.
b. By his actions, Joseph testifies to us that he was not the progenitor of the child in Mary’s womb. If he was the father, he would have moved quickly to make the consummation of their marriage official and to cover up the impropriety in these events, but Joseph made no such move.
c. The Angel of God had to intervene in the situation to explain things to Joseph.
– If not for the intervention of this Angel of God, Joseph would have walked out of the situation, and the world would have assumed that Mary has just been unfaithful to her espoused husband.
d. Mary remained a virgin until the birth (Vs 22-25)
Conclusion:
- As we celebrate Christmas this week, we should be reminded of our God who took on human flesh, was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life and died a perfect death all for our salvation. To reconcile us unto Himself.