A Promise Fulfilled

Introduction

Biblical context — explanation of the 4 gospel accounts.

Mark: Probably first written. Emphasizes the humanity/servanthood of Jesus.

Luke: Written by a Gentile. Emphasizes the humanity of Jesus, and Jesus as the savior of all people.

John: The only gospel that doesn’t provide a synopses of Jesus’s life/ministry. More theological/philosophical. Emphasizes the divinity of Jesus — sets out to prove he’s the Son of God.

Matthew: Written by Matthew, one of the 12. He’s a tax collector, but we don’t know much more about him. Written by a Jew, for Jews. Uses extensive Old Testament references to show that Jesus is the Messiah — God’s promised savior.

With that in mind, lets look this morning at Matthew’s gospel, in chapter 1. For the sake of reading, we’ll read the first 17 verses, but just know that we’re going to jump around quite a bit in chapters 1-2.

In doing so, we’re going to see that Matthew shows us in these opening chapters that Christ is both King, and Messiah.

READ: MATT. 1:1-17

PRAY

Jesus As King

Proves Jesus to be king by connecting him to David.

David was 2nd king of Israel, regarded as the greatest king Israel had ever seen.

God makes a promise to David that his bloodline would be the ruling family in Israel, but more importantly that one day the Messiah-King would come from his line.

2 Samuel 7:8–16 CSB

“So now this is what you are to say to my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord of Armies says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, to be ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed all your enemies before you. I will make a great name for you like that of the greatest on the earth. I will designate a place for my people Israel and plant them, so that they may live there and not be disturbed again. Evildoers will not continue to oppress them as they have done ever since the day I ordered judges to be over my people Israel. I will give you rest from all your enemies. “ ‘The Lord declares to you: The Lord himself will make a house for you. When your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up after you your descendant, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with a rod of men and blows from mortals. But my faithful love will never leave him as it did when I removed it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and kingdom will endure before me forever, and your throne will be established forever.’ ”

Matthew is showing us that Jesus is the promised king.

Connection to David

He points back to David in a few ways....

v.1 — Comes right out and links Jesus to Abraham (He’s Jewish) and David (He’s royalty).

David is present in the geneology.

Gematria — The practice of assigning a numerical value to the letters of an alphabet. If you have a word, you add all the values of the individual letters together, and the sum was the numerical value that represented that word.

We miss this because it’s not something we do in our culture, but it was common practice at this time.

Hebrew alphabet has no vowels — they use marks and dots to indicate the sound a letter is to make.

So in Hebrew, David becomes DVD.

Forget English for a moment. That’s not a letter D, it’s a letter called dalet. And that’s not a letter V, it’s a letter called vav.

Now, if we take the gematria of the Hebrew language, dalet had a value of 4. Vav had a value of 6.

4 + 6 + 4 = 14

The value of the name David is 14.

Look at v. 17 again...

14, 14, 14 — David, David, David

It’s practically screaming off the page that Christ is the fulfillment of the promise made to David so long ago — the King who’s kingdom would have no end.

But that’s just it — Matthew doesn’t just show that Jesus is King — he shows that he’s a perfect king, the Greater David.

Remember, David was the greatest king Israel had ever seen. They enjoyed economic prosperity, military conquests, they were at their height under David’s rule.

David was a righteous king — he loved God, and ruled with God’s laws in mind. He was even called a “man after God’s own heart.”

And yet, in all his splendor, David had a catastrophic failure.

Story of Bathsheba — saw another man’s wife, and decided he had to have her. So he committed adultery with her. To cover up his sin, he has her husband, Uriah the Hittite, killed — essentially murdered — in battle.

Look again at v. 6 in Matthew 1…Keyword: Uriah’s wife.

This is very intentional wording. By the time Solomon is born, David has taken Bathsheba to be his wife, he’s repented of his sin, God has punished him, and it seems like everyone has moved on.

So why then would Matthew choose to call her Uriah’s wife, rather than her name? There are other characters in the family tree that led less than stellar lives. Why seemingly single out this one issue?

Becuase it’s a flashing reminder of David’s flaws.

Sometimes when someone is successful or popular, it’s easy for us to sweep moral issues to the side and only remember the positives. Matthew’s making sure this isn’t the case with David.

Why? Because he’s showing us that Christ is greater than David. He’s not just a great king, he’s a perfect king.

Go back to our gematria values for David for a moment. In v. 17, Matthew repeats 14 generations 3 times, emphasizing that Christ is from the line of David.

But there’s a deeper implication here as well...

In Hebrew literature, triplets — repeating something three times — indicates completeness, or perfection.

This is why the angels are seen singing “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God almighty.

He’s not just holy, or holy-holy, but he’s holy, holy, holy. Completely holy. Perfectly holy.

So when Matthew uses the value for David 3 times, he showing us this isn’t just another king. This is the king — he’s not flawed like David was, he’s a perfect king. He’s the King of Kings, the promised King whose kingdom has no end.

Jesus as Messiah

Matthew shows us in his opening chapters that Jesus is King, and he shows us that Jesus is the Messiah — the savior that God promised so long ago. And he does this by showing how Jesus is a fulfillment of prophecy.

Matthew 1 and 2 is riddled with prophecy, and I’d encourage you to do a deeper study on it. But for the sake of time, this morning we’re going to look at 2 prophecies in particular that deal with the birth of the Messiah, and show that Jesus is a fulfillment of them.

Prophecy: When we say prophecy or prophet in biblical terms, these aren’t just divine fortune tellers. They were sent with a specific message from God, for the people.

So when we say prophecy in regard to future events, or at least future events at the time, these aren’t guesses about what’s going to happen. These are promises from God detailing exactly what he’s going to do.

He would be born of a virgin.

Isaiah 7:14; ca. 700BC

Matt. 1:22-23’

To set the backdrop for us we need to understand the wedding/marriage practices of the day.

Not like our practice today...

Find someone you like, ask them out on a date, or drop hints until they ask you out.

Date for a while, eventually the guy puts a ring on it, and you’re engaged.

That engagement can last as long as desired, and can be broken at any time the couple chooses, right up until they’re married.

We have a big ceremony and celebration, and the couple is married.

The marriage practices of the New Testament era were totally different.

Most marriages were arranged. The fathers of the couple-to-be would get together (sometimes when the couple were still children) and make an agreement that the couple would be married.

Some of you parents are looking around thinking that may not be such a bad idea after all.

Part of that agreement was setting the dowry. The father of the groom would agree to pay a price to the father of the bride for her hand in marriage. Could be money, land, livestock, etc.

This was important! If something happened to the groom, or the marriage dissolved, this dowry would be given to the bride so that she could support herself.

Once an agreement was made and the dowry was paid, they were in a contractual agreement. When the couple became of the appropriate age for marriage (Girls — around 15-16, Boys — around 18), they would exchange vows. At this point, they were betrothed. We equate this to engagement because it’s what we know, but it was really much more serious. On paper, a betrothed couple was legally married. If they wanted to end their betrothal, they would have to get a divorce, which was much more difficult to do in those days.

This is where we find Mary and Joseph, by the way.

It’s important to not that during the betrothal period, the couple was not to be intimate with each other, and certainly not with anyone else.

At that point, the groom would go back to his father’s house and add a room onto it for he and his new wife. This typically took about a year.

Once this was completed, he would go and get his bride and bring her back.

As a side note, this is the image Christ gives us when he promises “In my Father’s house there are many rooms. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

Jesus is the great bridegroom and he’s coming again for us. It’s beautiful imagery used over and over again in the New Testament.

There would be a celbratory feast, and only then they would be allowed to consummate their marriage.

So here’s Mary and Joseph, betrothed, not sexually intimate with each other, and Mary ends up pregnant.

Matthew emphasizes Mary’s virginity to show that this child is not from natural events, but supernatural.

This is no ordinary child. It’s no ordinary birth. What’s happening is first miraculous, and second a fulfillment of God’s promise.

Some teachers will try to discredit the virgin birth, or explain it using human logic.

Argument: word used in Isaiah 7 for virgin is almah. It can be translated as “young woman,” having nothing to do with virginity.

Here’s the thing: OT was written in Hebrew, NT is written in Greek. To get from one language to the other, we have to translate. Sometimes translations get messy, especially when words don’t line up exactly.

HOWEVER: When Matthew quotes Isaiah 7, he translates that word almah with a very particular Greek word, parthenos.

Same word used in 2 Corinthians 11:2. Paul is addressing the influence of false teachers on the church and writes, “For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.”

In other words, you’re not be defiled by all this stuff happening in the culture around you. You’re to remain pure, undefiled to be presented that way to Christ as his bride.

When we see this word, it indicates purity. It is always translated as virgin.

If Matthew wanted to call her a “young woman” and leave doubt about her virginity, there are other words he could have chosen.

Instead, he emphasizes her virginity to show that what’s happening is miraculous, supernatural event.

The virgin birth is essential because if Jesus had been born with a human father, he would have been born with a sin nature.

If we look at the fall of man in Genesis 3, we see the curse of Adam includes every person being born with what we call a sin nature — a propensity to sin and disobey God.

It’s already at work within us, from the time we’re children. Don’t believe me? Spend some time with a toddler. I’ve got one you can borrow anytime.

I didn’t have to teach my kids to lie. That’s their natural development. On the contrary, I have to teach them that lying is wrong and sinful.

That’s a sin nature — an innate bent toward sin.

From the fall, the curse of Adam…the curse is passed from generation to generation on the father’s side.

If Jesus had been born with a human father, he would have inherited a sin nature. If he was born with a sin nature, he would not have been a perfect sacrifice, and therefore an inadequate savior.

Instead, God bypasses original sin with virgin birth to provide a perfect sacrifice — a sinless savior.

He would be born in Bethlehem.

Micah 5:2; ca. 700BC

Matt. 2:1-6’

Understand a little of what’s happening here...

Herod, a puppet king installed by the Roman government, is threatened when these wise men come telling him that a new king has been born.

We know from history and other biblical accounts Herod was a jealous and ruthless king when it came to his power. He had one of his wives and 2 of his sons killed because he thought they were trying to usurp his authority.

So Herod calls in the religious scholars. “What do your scriptures say about the Messiah being born?”

They go on to correctly quote the prophet Micah.

Notice somethis…the chief priests and the scribes knew their Bible, but they didn’t believe it.

The wise men from the east showed up asking about the Messiah before the religious leaders of his own people!

There’s a lot of people who read and can quote the Bible, but there’s a difference in reading it and believing it.

Micah 5:2 “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.”

The Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem.

Bethlehem is a small town, about 5 miles outside Jerusalem.

3 Things Make This Noteworthy:

Bethlehem is the City of David

Go back to Jesus’s lineage. He’s of the house of David.

This reinforces again that Jesus is a fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant.

Bethlehem literally means “House of Bread”.

There’s a lot of grain and wheat grown around Bethlehem on the hillsides. As a result, Bethlehem produced a lot of bread.

That’s how it got its name. But watch this: The very one who said “I am the bread of life, no one who comes to me will ever be hungry” is born in the House of Bread.

Bethlehem had a very special flock of sheep.

These weren’t just any sheep. These were the sheep raised for sacrifices in the temple.

The religious leaders had bred a line of sheep to have spotless lambs, suitable for sacrifices.

These were the lambs that would be offered on the Day of Atonement for the forgiveness of the sins of the people.

In the town that produced spotless lambs destined for sacrifice, the lamb of God was born, who would take away the sin of the world, one time once and for all.

Conclusion

Matthew connects the dots for his Jewish readers, showing how Jesus is a fulfillment of the promises of the Old Testament.

This is all very cerebral information, but with a spiritual application.

Matthew’s connections do 2 things for us as believers:

It validates that God is faithful to his promises.

Psalm 145:13 “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. The Lord is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.”

Isaiah 46:11 “I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.”

If God’s promises were never fulfilled, we would begin to question everything God says.

We’ve all got people in our lives that have proven themselves untrustworthy.

They’re full of empty promises. They don’t keep their word on commitments. They make promises they can’t back up.

What happens eventually? After a couple of promises that are broken, you start to lose trust in that person.

Eventually, you recognize they’re full of hot air. They’re not trustworthy to keep their word.

Our reaction towards God would be the same. If he never kept his promises, he wouldn’t be a trustworthy God.

Instead, Matthew shows us how God keeps his promises.

Here’s the takeaway: If he’s faithful to his promises concerning the Messiah, he’s faithful to his promises concerning us.

He loves us.

He’ll provide for us.

Our salvation is secure in him.

He’s gone to prepare a place for us, and is coming back to get us.

He’s faithful to his promises.

It verifies that Jesus is the promised Messiah.

It’s physically impossible for one person to fulfill the messianic prophecies accidentally.

Peter Stoner, Science Speaks, 1958. Seeks to validate scripture with science. He assembled a team of mathematicians to determine the mathematic probability of a single person fulfilling the messianic prophecies.

For reference, in Oct. 2018, the Millions jackpot hit $1.6b. The probability of winning was 1 in 302,575,350.

8 Prophecies: 1 in 10^17, or 1 in 100 quatrillion.

Silver dollars cover Texas 2ft. deep.

16 Prophecies: 1 in 10^45

Silver dollars in a ball, 30x the size of the earth.

48 Prophecies: 1 in 10^157

Electrons— it takes 2.5 quadrillion electrons to from a 1” line.

If we counted day/night, it would take us 19m years to count the electrons in that line.

To get 10^157, we would take our electrons and make 500 giant balls, each 6b lightyears in radius.

That’s just for 48 prophecies.

There are over 300 prophecies in the OT related to the Messiah. Jesus fulfills every single one.

That means one thing for us: Jesus is exactly who he said he was:

King of Kings

Lord of Lords

Prince of Peace

Emmanuel — God with us.

Son of Man, who came to seek and save the lost.

The Lamb of God, slain for you and me.

THAT’S why we celebrate Christmas.

God sent his Son, born of a virgin, the promised Messiah — sent to redeem you and me.

This morning — is he your Messiah? Have you trusted in him for the forgiveness of your sins?

He offers hope, peace, life abundant and eternal — all you have to do is surrender to him.

Some of you he’s your savior, your Messiah, but he’s not your king.

You’ve not followed in obedience to him.

Baptism — not what saves you, but an important first step of obedience and surrender.

Join this body in membership — this is where God wants you, and you’ve put it off.

Surrender to a call to ministry.

Something else you’ve not surrendered to him in obedience.