1. Matthew 1:18-25 (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. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. 20 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. 21 "And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins." 22 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." 24 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."
2. In the first four months of this year, a high percentage of our sermons will come from texts in the book of Matthew. We begin today with two lessons having to do with the birth of Christ.
a. You might think, "You’re a couple of weeks late preaching about the birth of Christ." I disagree. People associate "Christmas" with Christ’s birth, but the Bible does not teach us anything about the day on the calendar when Jesus was born. Certainly gospel writers such as John and Matthew who knew Jesus intimately could have provided information about the time of His birth, but they did not do so. It is right for us to think and study about the Lord’s birth, but there is no reason to think that study should take place in December and not in January. Matthew begins with the background leading up to the birth of Christ and so shall we.
b. Matthew and Luke are the only gospel writers who discuss Christ’s birth. Luke writes from Mary’s perspective, but Matthew approaches the story with Joseph as the focal character.
3. The Bible tells us very little about Joseph. This Joseph is mentioned only 17 times in the New Testament. Tradition says that he was much older than Mary and that he had died by the time that Jesus reached adulthood. We don’t know whether or not that is true, but he is not present with Jesus any time after the incident in the temple at Jerusalem when Jesus was 12 years old. I want to pay special attention to the statement that Joseph was a just man.
I. JOSEPH AND MARY
A. Mary is identified as the mother of Jesus Christ [Matthew 1:18]. Joseph is not called His father. [Other people sometimes called Jesus the "son of Joseph" and the genealogy in Luke 3:23 identifies Jesus as "supposedly the son of Joseph." ] Bible writers were very careful to make it clear that Joseph was not truly the father of Jesus.
B. Mary and Joseph were betrothed [Matthew 1:18].
1. Betrothal in Bible times was a more official relationship than modern-day engagements. Note that Joseph is referred to in verse 19 as the "husband" of Mary even though their marriage had not been consummated. Betrothed couples couldn’t simply break up. Their relationships had to be ended by divorce [Deut. 22.23]. Joseph intended to put Mary away when he learned she was pregnant [Matthew 1:19].
2. Betrothals began after the groom (or in some cases, the groom’s parents) had negotiated a bride price with the parents of the bridge. At least some of the bride price had to be paid before the betrothal was announced. The betrothal usually lasted at least a year, sometimes considerably longer. Sometimes very young children were betrothed in arrangements made by the parents and it was necessary to wait until the children reached an appropriate age to marry. Roman betrothals used engagement rings, but it is not certain whether or not the Jews did in the time of Mary and Joseph.
C. Mary was "found with child" while she and Joseph were in the betrothal stage [Matthew 1:28]
1. After Mary learned from the angel Gabriel that she would be the mother of Jesus, she went to visit her relative, Elizabeth, in the hill country of Judah [Luke 1:26-40]. Mary remained with Elizabeth about three months before returning home [Luke 1:56].
2. Before long after this, Mary’s pregnancy became obvious. Her intended husband, Joseph, knew the child was not his. The Bible teaches plainly that Mary was a virgin. That means that Joseph had not committed fornication with her. This "just man" found himself with three options:
a. He could have gone ahead with the marriage plans. It is not unknown for a man to marry a woman who is expecting another man’s child. However, Joseph was not interested in this course of action.
(1) In the time of arranged marriages, betrothed couples were not necessarily in love with one another. Joseph could be excused for thinking that Mary was unworthy to be his wife because of what he assumed to be her immoral behavior.
(2) Joseph might also have felt that it would have been condoning immorality to marry Mary when he thought she had committed fornication with another man and conceived a child in that sinful act.
b. Joseph could have insisted that the letter of the law be carried out and had Mary stoned to death. [Deuteronomy 22:23-24 (NKJV) "If a young woman who is a virgin is betrothed to a husband, and a man finds her in the city and lies with her, 24 "then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he humbled his neighbor’s wife; so you shall put away the evil from among you.] An unmarried pregnant woman provides what one presumes to be absolute proof that she has been guilty of fornication. However, Joseph did not want to hurt Mary or to make her a public example.
c. His solution was to "put her away secretly." [Deuteronomy 24:1 (NKJV) "When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house,]. As we have seen, there was a sense in which Joseph and Mary were already considered married although they had not actually had a wedding or consummated the marriage. However, a divorce was required. A husband could have presented the "certificate of divorce" in a very public manner designed to cause the greatest degree of shame and embarrassment to the woman. However, Joseph did not want to do that to Mary. He "was minded to put her away secretly" [Matthew 1:19].
II. AN ANGEL OF THE LORD APPEARED TO JOSEPH IN A DREAM.
Angels are messengers and this angel had several important messages for Joseph.
A. Do not be afraid to marry Mary.
1. Joseph needed to know that Mary’s virtue was intact. She was still a virgin even though she was expecting a child!
2. The astounding message was "that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit." The Scriptures offer no explanation of how this conception took place.
B. Mary’s Son will be the Savior.
1. Call His name Jesus. Jesus is not a unique name in the Bible; it is simply the Greek form of the Hebrew Joshua or Jeshua. However, it is an appropriate earthly name for the Son of God. It means "The Lord is my helper" or "The Lord is my salvation."
2. The reason God decreed that He would be called Jesus was stated by the angel -- "He will save His people from their sins." Joshua helped Israel, but it would be Jesus who saved Israel and the world from sin.
C. Prophecy is fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. [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.]
1. A virgin shall be with child -- never happened before; never happened since
2. Translation -- virgin or young woman. The Hebrew is Isaiah 7:14 is ambiguous possibly allowing the translation "young woman." However, there is no sign in a young woman having a child . . . such a thing happens all the time. The sign is found when a virgin conceives and bears a Son.
3. The Greek word used in Matthew 1:23 is parthenos -- this word plainly means "virgin."
III. JOSEPH IS PRESENTED AS A JUST MAN.
A. The word Matthew used is dikaios which can be translated "just," "righteous," or "upright." He was a man who wanted to do what was right . . . toward other people and toward God. He wanted to treat Mary in a way that was acceptable to God.
B. As we study the biblical story of Joseph, we are left with three strong impressions:
1. He must have been hurt by what he thought Mary had done, but he was not hurtful in his response to her.
a. He did not seek revenge [Romans 12:19 (NKJV) Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord.]
b. Joseph did not compromise his integrity, but he acted with honor and compassion toward Mary even when he thought she had betrayed him.
2. He was able to believe an incredible story.
a. Modern skeptics reject the Bible because they claim it is filled with unbelievable myths . . . it is, to them, a book of fairy tales.
b. Joseph had a deeply personal stake in what had happened to Mary . . . and he was being asked to believe that she was still a virgin although pregnant.. . that the child in her was conceived by the Holy Spirit.
c. Joseph understood that accepting that story and marrying Mary would make him the object of ridicule. If he knew that she was pregnant, others also knew -- or soon would. They would think either that he and Mary had sinned by having sex before they were fully married OR they would think that Mary had been unfaithful to Joseph and had slept with someone else. Neither alternative could have been pleasant for Joseph to contemplate. But he believed what the angel said!
3. He was willing to obey whatever God wanted him to do.
a. Joseph awakened from his sleep and "did as the angel of the Lord commanded him."
b. He "took to him his wife." He went ahead and completed the process of marrying his betrothed. They had their wedding day, although no details are given in the Bible. However, Joseph did not "know" Mary in a sexual way until after the birth of Jesus. The Bible does not teach that Mary remained a perpetual virgin. The natural understanding of verse 25 is that after Jesus was born, Joseph and Mary had a normal marital relationship. This is totally consistent with the information given to us later about Jesus’ brothers and sisters [Matthew 12:47; Matthew 13:55-56].
c. Joseph obeyed instructions.
(1) He named the child Jesus -- just as the angel had commanded.
(2) When Herod undertook to kill the babies in Bethlehem, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in another dream and told him to take his family to safety in Egypt [Matthew 2:13]. The next verse says, "he arose and went." After Herod died, an angel again revealed to Joseph that it was safe to return to Israel. Joseph again obeyed. Unlike so many people today, Joseph never tried to argue with God. He did what he was told!
CONCLUSION
