The Birth Of Christ Series

Introduction

A fourth-grade teacher was giving her pupils a lesson in logic. "Here is the situation," she said. "A man is standing up in a boat in the middle of a river, fishing. He loses his balance, falls in, and begins splashing and yelling for help. His wife hears the commotion, knows he can't swim, and runs down to the bank. Why do you think she ran to the bank?" A girl raised her hand and asked, "To draw out all his savings?"

I started this last week and I said that we would complete this message today. Remember that our passage could be outlined this way: The coming of God's Son into the world was one of the most phenomenal events in all of history. It necessitated and caused some very unusual events. His birth was of the Spirit (v.18). His birth created a predicament (v.18-19). His birth necessitated a special revelation (v.20-21). His birth was a fulfillment of prophecy (v.22-23). His birth required great obedience (v.24-25).

We have been through the first three elements of our outline. We won’t reiterate those points right now. But we should begin by turning to verses 22 & 23 of Matthew, chapter 1. After reading this Matthew Passage turn to Isaiah 7:14.

Body

His birth was a fulfillment of prophecy.

Matthew 1:22-23 (NKJV)

So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: {23} "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us."

Turn now to Isaiah 7:14, this is the prophecy predicting His virgin birth.

Isaiah 7:14 (NKJV)

"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

There are versions of the Bible which do not use the word virgin. They will probably use the phrase maiden or young woman. The Hebrew word can be translated maiden or damsel as well as virgin. The thought is to use the word, which is al-maw in the Hebrew, one must be referring to a virgin.

In Jewish society such sexual purity is absolutely necessary to be considered a maiden or a damsel. Other wise a very different word would be used, the Hebrew ish-shaw, which means woman, but with the nuance of harlot. But, Matthew has used the Greek word which means specifically, a virgin. That should clear up any question.

You see it was prophesied that Christ would be born of a virgin. J.I Packer writes, The Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as this truth of the Incarnation.

This prophecy also predicting He would be called Emmanuel. Now we might wonder about this because His name was Jesus not Emmanuel. We could say, because of the various interpretation of the Hebrew and Greek words use that it might well be interpreted, He shall be known as Immanuel. Spurgeon wrote, Emmanuel, God with us in our nature, in our sorrow, in our lifework, in our punishment, in our grave, and now with us, or rather we with Him, in resurrection, ascension, triumph, and Second Advent splendor.

Matthew then interprets the word Emmanuel, God with us. Lets turn to Micah 5:2. There is the prophecy that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.

Micah 5:2 (NKJV)

"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting."

These are just two prophecies concerning the birth of Christ.

Turn to Matthew 1:18. But, Matthew points out four amazing and convincing things about the virgin birth of Christ. First take note of verse 18.

Matthew 1:18 (NKJV)

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.

Note the concern and great pains to which Matthew went in pointing out the supernatural birth of Jesus. He said very pointedly, "Now the birth of Jesus Christ, not just Jesus, but Jesus Christ, the Messiah happened like this." "Mary...was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Turn to verse 20.

Matthew 1:20 (NKJV)

But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.