The Birth of Jesus
Matthew 1:18-25
Matthew opens his gospel with the genealogy of Jesus. From Abraham to Joseph the births of those in the genealogy were natural births, except one. In verse 16 it is written, “Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by which Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.” The birth of Jesus was unlike any other birth in the genealogy. His birth was miraculous.
In verse 18 it is written, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follow; when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.” “Joseph her husband, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her, desired to put her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins."
According to Matthew, all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which translated means, ‘God with us.’” (v 22-23). Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and he took Mary as his wife, and kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son, and Joseph named Him, Jesus.
Matthew tells us Joseph and Mary were betrothed a word we don’t use today. We use the word engagement. We would say Joseph and Mary were engaged to be married. But, this engagement was more serious than engagement today. Today, engagements are broken without any problems from the law. Today, an engagement is not technically legally binding. In the Jewish culture, when a couple was betrothed, they were legally married, even before the marriage day. This is why in verse 19 Joseph is called Mary’s husband. In order to break the engagement Joseph had to “put her away,” divorce her.
According to the Jewish custom, Joseph and Mary had to wait a year before they were married. The purpose of this time was to demonstrate the purity of the wife. If she had a child during this time, it would demonstrate her unfaithfulness and the husband could call off the marriage. When it was found Mary was with child the natural assumption was that she was unfaithful to Joseph and that she was involved in an immoral relationship, through which a child was conceived. The social stigma at this time was great. When a righteous man found out that his wife had been unfaithful during the betrothal, the godly thing to do would be to give her a certificate of divorce. According to the law he could have her stoned (Deuteronomy 22:21). Joseph wasn’t seeking revenge. He was attempting to be gracious and kind to Mary, while doing the thing that was prescribed of him in the law.
Joseph was ready to act when God intervened. An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ’Joseph, son of David do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:20-21. The child in Mary’s womb is not as the result of immorality. Mary had not been unfaithful. Mary conceived a child by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, Joseph could take Mary to be his wife, even though the whole purpose of the betrothal period was compromised.
Joseph’s response is encouraging. He listened to what the Lord had to say to him and than responded to what the Lord had to say to him when he knew what price he would pay for being obedient to God. In our troublesome situations we need to follow the example set by Joseph. He was willing to take the scorn of the world. He obeyed God rather than man.
In verse 25 Matthew makes it very clear that the birth of Jesus was by a virgin. Luke speaks of the virgin birth in his gospel (Luke 1:27, 31, 34, 35). The birth of Jesus was extraordinary and miraculous and important even though the only other place where it is recorded is in Isaiah 7:14, which is quoted here in Matthew. Mark didn’t write about it. John didn’t write about it. It isn’t mentioned in the book of Acts. Paul didn’t write about it. This has resulted in the belief by some professing believers the doctrine of the virgin birth is not important and not essential. The argument is, if the doctrine of the virgin birth was important Mark, John, Paul, would have included it in their writings and Luke would have included in the Book of Acts.
The virgin birth is not found in Mark’s gospel because his purpose was to present Jesus to the first century Christians as the suffering servant. John didn’t write about it, because he presented Jesus to the first century Christians as the eternal Word that became flesh and dwelt among men. There is no reference to the virgin birth in the book of Acts because Acts is a record of the evangelistic mission and messages of the church. Paul didn’t write about it, because he wrote about the problems that the church faced. This does not mean the doctrine of the virgin was not a part of the teaching of the early church. Just as it is today there were non-believers and skeptics who denied the virgin birth, but it was part of the doctrine of the early church.
In the 20th century the doctrine of the virgin birth has come under great attack. The attack really began in earnest in the teaching of German rationalism in the mid 1800’s. Today it is found throughout the modern, liberal, Christian circles. They questioned everything supernatural. The virgin birth is doubted because it was a supernatural act. We need to remember that the life of Jesus is filled with accounts of miracles performed by Him. He healed blind men. He healed deaf men. He healed men with withered hands. He raised people from the dead. He fed multitudes. He was raised from the dead. It shouldn’t surprise us that His birth was miraculous. The birth of Jesus Christ was a miracle. We don’t need it explained all we need to do is accept it and believe it.
Matthew’s purpose in recording the announcement of the birth of Jesus intent is not the explanation of the virgin birth. His intent is to show the faithfulness of God. This child Mary brought into this world was the fulfillment of what Isaiah, the prophet, had said more than 700 years before the birth of Jesus. Where did Isaiah receive the prediction? It came to him from the throne of God.
The world is free to accept or reject the doctrine of the virgin. It is free to twist and bend it to meet its ungodly and unrighteous nature. But it can not escape the consequences of its decisions.
