Three Breif Mediataions on the Birth of Jesus and the Soverignty of God

God is sovereign

The word sovereignty means that God is free and able to do whatever he wants whenever he wants. The Psalmist says,

Psalm 115:3 HCSB

Our God is in heaven and does whatever He pleases.

That might sound like an outlandish claim considering the world we live today. It feels like the social, political, and economical ground we are standing on today is becoming soluble like quick sand creating uncertainty with every step. Uncertainty is a close sibling to anxiety, and anxiety likes to rob you of your peace. Nothing today feels like God is sovereign. If anything, some might contend that He is sleeping at best and turned away at worst.

People in Jesus’ day may have felt the same way. The Jews were no longer a free people. They were living under Roman rule, which had little to no respect for Jewish culture. The temple was not what it once was and God had not directly spoke to his people in over four hundred years. There was social, political, and economic unrest during the days of Jesus’ birth. Some of them might have said nothing feels like God is sovereign. maybe He is sleeping at best and turned away at worst.

We get the privilege of looking back at the story of Jesus to see God’s sovereign hand in bringing the Prince of Peace into the world. I want to offer you three brief meditations on God’s sovereignty in Jesus’ birth to help you on the one hand to shore up your faith so you can believe another day, and on the other hand celebrate Christmas with a sense of peace.

There are three ways God tells the world that he is sovereign with the birth of Jesus.

God is sovereign over the womb. (Matthew 2:1-6)

Matthew 2:1–6 ESV

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: “ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ”

The child was to be born in the City of David according to the prophet (Zechariah 9:9-17).

Isaiah the prophet promised long ago that a virgin would bear a child Isaiah 7:14

Isaiah 7:14 ESV

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Luke identifies the young virgin as Mary. Luke 1:26-33

Luke 1:26–33 (ESV)

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,

to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.

And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”

But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.

And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,

and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

The angel told Mary that she would conceive and bear a child. Mary asks, “How can this be? I am a virgin. I do not have a husband.” The angel says the Holy Spirit will come upon her and she will have a son.

God is free and able to use the womb for His good purpose. The psalmist says God is in control of every pregnancy.

Psalm 139:13–16 HCSB

For it was You who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise You because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know this very well. My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began.

God promised the virgin Mary she would have a son, a special Son conceived by the Holy Spirit. Mary says, “How can this be?” God responds, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” God’s sovereignty ensures He could make the promise to send his son into the world as a human being and keep his promise int he most spectacular way, a child born of a virgin.

God is sovereign over ancestry. (Matthew 1:2-14)

John Flavel once said,

“Sometimes providences, like Hebrew letters, must be read backward.” John Flavel

That is true when you see God’s sovereignty in ancestry or the genealogies of the Bible. Matthew opens his gospel with a long list of genealogies. He is proving to the Jews that Jesus is of the line of David. He is the long awaited Messiah. You will notice in Jesus’s ancestry, there are all kinds of broken people.

Jewish genealogies do not feel obligated to mention woman. Moreover, they it would seem outrageous to include scandalous, even Gentile women. And yet, Matthew includes women like Tamar, Rehab, Bathsheba, and Ruth. Tamar’ first husband was so wicked that God put him to death. As a cultural practice, Tamar’s husbands brother was charged with giving her an heir for her husband. He’s so wicked that he uses her and God smites him as well. She has to dress herself as a temple prostitute, trick her father-in law, Judah to sleep with her, so as to hopefully provide him a grandson. OF course she is accused if harlotry but now has to expose her Father in law as the her twins father (Gen 38). Her son Perez became part of Jesus’ family tree.

In Joshua 2, Rehab was a Gentile prostitute running a brothel in Jericho when two spies from Israel showed up. She wisely shelters them from the city soldiers trusting God’s deliverance, which paid off. She goes on to live with Israel and marries a Jewish man. As one commentator put it, “The former madam became a mother and a grandmother, also finding a place in the lineage of Jesus (Matt. 1:3).”

Then there was Ruth the Moabite. She was a descendent of Abraham’s nephew Lot. Lot, as you might remember, was delviered from Sodom and Gomorrah with his two daughters. His wife, however, broke the angel’s command to not look back at the city. She became a pillar of salt. Not long after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot’s daughters got him drunk and had an incestuous relationship with him. He was the father of his grandchildren. They became the Moabite people from which Ruth came. Ruth is widowed and without any children, so she moves back to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law, where she is resented as a Moabitess. In God’s providence, she meets a godly man named Boaz who happens to be connected to Naomi. He marries her and they have a son named Obed. From Obed comes Jesse. Ruth’s great grand son was King David, from which comes Jesus.

Everyone knows Bathsheba. Matthew refers to her as the wife of Uriah because she was a Hittite by marriage and she was the woman King David had an affair, and murdered her husband. She would become the mother of King Solomon, from which Jesus would eventually come. Ironically, all of these woman are connected to sexual scandal, and yet Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, and it as likely that though she was innocent, she was accused of sexual scandal by being with child that was not Joseph’s child.

Why would Matthew include such a crazy genealogy in his story? By the providence of God, as one commentator says, “the family of Jesus is made up of people who come from less-than-respectable backgrounds and have less-than-perfect records.” God’s sovereignty ensured he could work His will, even through sinful and shameful people, to bring into the world a Son who would redeem His elect.

God is sovereign over the decisions of men. (Matthew 1:15-16; 2:1-23)

The Bible says,

Proverbs 21:1 HCSB

A king’s heart is like streams of water in the Lord’s hand: He directs it wherever He chooses.

When Joseph was contemplating leaving Mary because he thought she had committed adultery, God sent an angel to set the record straight (Matthew 1:16-15), and change his mind. When Herod tried to have Jesus killed, God ensured the child would be safe until his hour would come (Matthew 2:1-18). God sent an angel to warn Joseph and Mary to leave fulfilling prophecy that the Messiah would come out of Nazareth (2:13-23). God is sovereign over the will of mankind.

God’s sovereignty led Simeon to Jesus (Luke 2:25-35)

God’s sovereignty led Simeon to embrace the promised Messiah as a child.

Luke 2:25–28 ESV

Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,

In the providence of God, Simeon was told by God that he would not see death until his eyes saw the Christ. God gave him the Holy Spirit who filled him and led to the temple. At the temple, the Spirit of God brought Mary and Joseph and the child to Simeon, and Simeon was able to recognized that Jesus was the Messiah.

Luke 2:30–32 ESV

for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”

Tonight, God’s sovereign goodness has led you to hear of his salvation. Just as Simeon was led to see Jesus, it is God’s sovereign grace that draws you to His Son, opens your heart to understand your need for a Savior, and reveals His son as absolutely irresistible. Tonight, it is God’s good sovereignty that led you here to hear his good news and trust that he is able to save you and keep you for all eternity because he is sovereign. He is sovereign over the barren womb. He is sovereign over genealogies and ancestry filled with shame and sin, and he is sovereign over the decisions of men. Nothing can thwart God’s sovereign plan to save sinners. Tonight, if you hear him calling, listen to his voice. If you feel him pulling your heart, come to Jesus.