Birth of the King – Matthew 1:18-25

Good morning church! Hope you’re well. As a church we began a new Advent series titled Receive the King. And what we’ve been trying to do is reflect on what it means to receive Jesus into our lives – not just as a baby or as a holiday symbol but as the King of our lives!

Couple of weeks back we spoke about the Prophecy about the King – prior prophecies were given to God’s people to prepare them for this coming King. Last week we spoke about the Lineage of the King – Jesus is the centre point of human history & all the covenant promises given to Abraham & David – and his lineage and genealogy is evidence for it.

Today we’ll talk about the Birth of the King. One thing we can all agree to is that in terms of the prophecy & lineage regarding Jesus, it’s nothing short of extraordinary. Similarly, even the birth of Jesus is nothing short of extraordinary! It was an extraordinary event! There was nothing ordinary about how Jesus came into the scene & what He came to do. But before we move ahead, I’d love to pray for us.

In many movies, they introduce a surprise character entry somewhere in the middle of the movie. It’s usually the point of the movie where the tension has built up to its peak.

It seems like the bad guys are winning, and the good guys are losing. And when we least expect, is when the surprise character bursts into the scene & lowers our blood pressure.

And in some ways that’s how Jesus Christ is being introduced into the biblical storyline. The only difference here is that God’s people have been given hints throughout the Old Testament about a coming King. In that sense, it’s not really a surprise.

But yes, the surprise was in terms of the timing because people didn’t know when Jesus would appear & also in the details of what He was going to come and do. Hints and clues were dropped in the Bible but people didn’t have the full picture.

So what Matthew is trying to do here is after laying down the foundation of Jesus’ lineage, is unravel the details about this King! He’s beginning to show how this King is no ordinary king. Everything about him is extraordinary!

So today we’ll look at 3 extraordinary aspects from the Birth of the King:

1. Extraordinary circumstances (v18-20)

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed[f] to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

The circumstances in which Jesus was born was in no way ordinary! V18 introduces us to this recently engaged or betrothed couple Joseph & Mary.

Just to help us understand the context – a betrothal was different from how we perform engagements nowadays. In those days, betrothed couple would need to have a marriage agreement in place which was legally bound & it was done in front of a witness.

The only way you could be break the betrothal is through a process of divorce. That’s way different from how we view engagements today. In our modern day and age, engagements are simply a formality indicating our intention to marry someone but there’s no marriage agreement which is being signed.

And now you can imagine the difficult, confusing situation that this recently engaged couple finds themselves in. Joseph gets to know that Mary is already pregnant – and the only plausible rationale is that she probably had committed adultery with another man. All the expectations that Joseph was building up to his wedding day immediately came crashing down. All he can experience now is betrayal, hurt and confusion. How was he going to respond?

And yet in V19 it tells us something interesting about how Joseph responded. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

The punishment for adultery was not just shame & humiliation but was death! According to the OT, any person involved in adultery was to be stoned to death!

The easiest thing for Joseph to have done was to shame & humiliate Mary who he thought did all this to him, but we can see the character of this man that even as he was experiencing deep betrayal and hurt, he wanted to protect Mary. He didn’t want her to be shamed. So he contemplated a quiet divorce.

But as he contemplating through this. As he wrestled through his emotions, V20 tells us that an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. We see God’s providence to comfort this newly engage couple but not just that, to advance His plan of redemption. Yes, protect their marriage off course but the big picture is to move forward God’s plan of redemption!

How does the angel address Joseph? Joseph, son of David. It’s not by coincidence that the angel calls him that. Joseph – in the lineage of David – he’s playing a part in God’s redemptive plan to unveil the coming King.

And then the angel goes on to instruct him to not fear, to not be frightened to take Mary as a wife because her conception is from the Holy Spirit not a result of adultery.

The angel is making it abundantly clear that the child who is in Mary’s womb is not a result of physical, sexual relations between 2 individuals but a miracle of God to set God’s redemptive plan into motion.

The obvious question is why did it have to happen this way? Why did it have to happen through a virgin birth? Why was it necessary to conceive by the Holy Spirit and not by natural means?

The reason was to preserve this truth about Jesus – that He was fully human & fully divine at the same time. It wasn’t as though Jesus suddenly came into existence during His earthly birth. No, He’s the eternal God who Has always existed. This is how apostle John refers to Jesus in John 1:

John 1:1-3: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Everything else in creation has been created with a start date. But not Jesus, He’s always existed. He is the pre-existent God. That divine nature had to be preserved even as He entered into the world, and so the only way that could be done is through the virgin birth where He was conceived with the help of the Holy Spirit.

And so as we think about the Birth of the King, let this truth of the extraordinary circumstances of Jesus’ birth amaze you & draw you to worship. That the pre-existent God would chose to enter into our shoes, put on the clothes of humanity while still maintaining His divine nature. What an amazing, extraordinary God we serve?

But not only do we extraordinary circumstances during the Birth of the King, but we also see

2. Extraordinary calling (v21)

21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

In biblical times, the name given to person had a much greater significance than just identifying that person. To know a person’s name was to know something about that person’s character & nature.

And here the earthly parents didn’t get to choose from a catalogue of baby names but the angel told them precisely what to name the child – he told them to name him Jesus which means “God saves” – for He will save his people from their sins.

Right at the start itself, we have clarity on what is the calling of the King – what is the mission of this King – what is the purpose of the King – to save His people from their sins!

That word “save” means to be “delivered, rescued, protected”. It’s the idea of people being in grave danger like drowning in an ocean and desperately needing someone to rescue them.

What do we need to be saved from? We need to be saved from our sins. This ocean in which we are drowning, suffocating and struggling to breathe is our own sins.

That’s something that we don’t readily acknowledge. Even referring ourselves as sinners doesn’t come naturally to us. If we had to describe ourselves: we’d first list out all our accomplishments, all our good works and then maybe leave a couple of line for a few sin mentions.

But that’s not how the Bible views it. Look at the way in which our sinful condition is described in Ephesians 2:1-3

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body[a] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

This passage takes it one step further by saying that we’re not just drowning in sin, we are dead in our sins. We are lifeless.

And this life of sin is not just minor faults or mistakes that we make through the day, sin consumes every aspect of our lives and a result of that is that we are objects of God’s wrath. And we know that being an object of God’s wrath and punishment is not a good thing. That’s why we’re in grave danger!

But for Jesus – “for He will save His people from their sins”. What’s expected from God is wrath, judgment and punishment for all that we’ve done. What’s unexpected from God is to be the Same One who saves, rescues and protects us from that judgment. That’s unbelievable.

That’s why Jesus came – to boldly go up and that cross and bear the wrath of God to save, rescue and protect us from our sins.

That’s Jesus’ single-minded calling. He didn’t come to be a healer – though He did heal people. He didn’t come to be a teacher – though He taught quite a bit. He didn’t come to change the politics of the land – though rulers and kings became quite threatened by Him. He didn’t come to give people a better, comfortable life – though He promised people of a better life in the afterlife. He came to save people from their sins!

Do you recognize the extraordinary calling & mission that Jesus came to fulfil? You’ll only find that calling precious and valuable if you see yourself as someone drowning in the ocean of sin.

If you feel like you’re on a boat or on a cruise, then you’ll never value and appreciate the single-minded calling and purpose and mission of Jesus Christ. But if you see yourself as drowning in sin, then be hopeful and assured because your Saviour has come. He has come to save His people from their sins. His name is His mission statement.

Not only do we see extraordinary circumstances and extraordinary calling, but in the Birth of the King we also see

3. Extraordinary commitment to be with us (v22-23)

22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel”(which means, God with us).

The word “Immanuel” is a word that we often hear said or sung during Christmas season especially with songs like “O come O come Emmanuel”. We’ve become very familiar with the term Immanuel but I feel like the impact sometimes gets lost.

So the word means “God with us” as defined in V23. But let’s take a minute to understand what a big deal this truth is for broken sinners like us. Broken sinners like us have no business being around Holy God & that’s what makes this such a big deal!

Let’s rewind back to the creation story where we see the first glimpses of “God with us”. After creating Adam and Eve, we see that God spoke to them, walked with them & provided for them. They looked forward to being with God. There was immense safety and security in their relationship with God.

But all of that quickly changed after their rebellion in the garden. Genesis 3 tells us that after sinning, they hid from God! They no longer looked forward to being with God. Instead of safety and security, they now experienced immense fear & guilt in their relationship with God.

That feeling of fear and guilt in front of God has been transferred to every single human who has ever lived. All of us know what fear and guilt means.

Just when the idea of “God with us” seemed impossible, God introduced an arrangement of the tabernacle / temple where God could still be with us but it wasn’t the same. Everyone didn’t have access to God, only a select few during certain times of the year after observing certain rituals. Still not the same as it was earlier. “God with us” at this point seems like a distant dream.

But then we come to the New Testament, and we find out that this God is so committed to be with us that He sends His Son to step into the shoes of humanity & then die on the cross for us so that every barrier that stood between us and God could be removed once and for all.

For those who trust in Jesus, no more fear and guilt in our relationship with God. He’s restored back the safety and security which was lost. We can finally look forward to being with God. And to top it all, He’s placed His Holy Spirit within us to remind us that “God with us” is a definite reality!

And don’t assume that this “God with us” is a temporary reality, Jesus tells us this in Matt 28:20: And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Revelation 21:1-4 ESV

[1] Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. [2] And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. [3] And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. [4] He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

From start to end, this is a story of God’s extraordinary commitment to be with us! What’s your response going to be to this King who has shown such extraordinary commitment to make “God with you” a reality? Do you look forward to being with God today? What defines your relationship with God today? Is it safety and security or is it fear and guilt?

Brothers and sisters, the Birth of the King is no ordinary event! It tells us about:

• Extraordinary circumstances surrounding His virgin birth
• Extraordinary calling to save people from their sins
• Extraordinary commitment to be with us