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.
That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. Turn to verse 22 & 23.
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."
All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son. And lastly, they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us."
You see, Matthew was not interested in giving a detailed account of Jesus' birth.
His concern was simply to draw the reader's attention to two important facts.: First, the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah's birth were fulfilled in Jesus Christ; Second, the Jews needed to know that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, especially those who misinterpreted the Old Testament prophecies and who were not expecting the Messiah to be virgin born.
One of the slanderous reports facing the early Christian believers was that Jesus was born out of wedlock, a bastard. We have already read Isaiah 7:14.
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.
But also turn to Isaiah 9:6.
Isaiah 9:6 (NKJV)
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.
We should also turn to John 1:14.
John 1:14 (NKJV)
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
There was a time during the most horrible persecutions of the Jews by the Nazis in Poland that an old Jewish cemetery keeper came into the cemetery one morning and found that during the night a woman had crept into an open grave and there given birth to a son. And she had died. He found this child, and he said to himself and to others about, "This must be the Messiah, for only the Messiah could choose to be born in a grave." Well, it wasn't the Messiah; the child died before noon of that day. But the truth of which that cemetery keeper spoke is absolutely accurate. Only the Messiah of God could choose to be born in a grave. Only a God who loves as our God loves could come into the midst of all the pain of life and death and here bring his grace.
The one thing we must understand, Jesus did not come to fulfill prophecy. Jesus came to fulfill the meaning of His name, Jesus, Jehovah Saves. But we must also remember that Jesus birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and present place as the mediator is the fulfillment of many prophecies. Turn to 1 Timothy 3:16, note the mystery of godliness.
1 Timothy 3:16 (NKJV)
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.
Turn to Galatians 4:4
"Without controversy [undoubtedly, it must be admitted] that great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh."
Galatians 4:4 (NKJV)
But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
Turn to Hebrew 2:14 - 17
Hebrews 2:14-17 (NKJV)
Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, {15} and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. {16} For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. {17} Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
Now lets turn to Matthew 1:24 - 25
Matthew 1:24-25 (NKJV)
Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, {25} and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name JESUS.
Our last point in this passage is that Jesus’ birth acted to cause great obedience. Very simply, Joseph obeyed God. Despite the predicament. Despite the appearance of things. Joseph obeyed. He did exactly what God said.
Just imagine how difficult it might have been. Mary was pregnant, but they were not married. How much gossip was there. What did the neighbors think. What did the neighbors say. What did Joseph and Mary tell every one. Would people have believed the story of angels and of a virgin birth from two people whom they knew so well?
What a situation. But, Joseph did exactly as God said-despite all. Turn to John 14:21
This is a great lesson for obedience on the part of every believer!
John 14:21 (NKJV)
"He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."
Consider this, Joseph acted as God would have a man to act. He was merciful and gentle and tender toward one who had hurt him so much. He forgave as one who had been forgiven. Turn to Galatians 6:1
He had the attitude that is needed by believers when a loved one or a fellow believer is found in sin.
Galatians 6:1 (NKJV)
Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.
Many babes in Christ die in infancy because of their inability to live up to the impossible standards which are thrown upon them by more mature (?) believers, who so often fall short in those standards themselves. It has been said that rivers and men become crooked by following the line of least resistance. Consider this, here in Galatians Paul is telling us to restore a fellow Christian. Alert, Loving, And forgiving.
For the most part, the areas in which we expect others to be consistent are those areas in which we have no trouble with being consistent. If certain sins are no problem for us, we cannot understand how in the world they could be a problem for anyone else. Of course, the sins with which we struggle are sins which require the utmost patience and understanding from our brothers and sisters (either that, or we take the easy way out by simply hiding our sins and praying that no one ever finds them out).
