The Birth of the King

Introduction

In Matthew 1:1-17 we saw that Matthew purposefully framed his genealogy to accomplish two major things: 1. to prove Jesus is central to all of history and 2. to prove Jesus is the rightful king in the Davidic line. And thus, the names he chose and the way he framed them were not accidental, nor a mere recording of history. This is important to keep in mind as we continue read through the Gospel of Matthew.

First of all, what Matthew records is historical, these things did actually happen. At the same time, the way Matthew arranges things and the details he gives are not just for us to sit back and ponder the history, but rather to teach specific truths about who Jesus is.

And so when we get to the birth narrative, we are going to see the same things. The birth narrative is true history and Matthew gives details to teach important things about Jesus. It is my goal to prove this point to you over and over again as we walk through this Gospel.

In the 600’s BC in the region now known as Nepal, which boarders modern-day India, there was a young boy born into aristocratic royalty named Sidartha Guatamma. An elderly hermit journeyed a long way to see this new baby and found in him 32 marks of a great man. He predicted baby Sidartha would either become a great king or a great religious leader. His father sheltered him from the outside world to ensure he would become a great king.

But journeying outside his home one day he came in contact with an elderly person and was shocked at the process of aging, which he had never apparently seen. He also saw a decaying corpse, a diseased person, and a hermit. All of this lead him to leave his life of luxury.

Zeus, the chief of the Greek gods was so infatuated with a human woman that he pretended to be her husband and ordered the god of the sun not to rise for three days. Through this affair, he made his wife jealous, and fathered a son named Hercules.

Whether these stories were known to Matthew or not is unknown. More than likely Matthew would have known of the Greek stories due to the hellenization of his day. But I share these stories with you to show a great contrast between them and the narrative in the Gospel.

18-19

Matthew 1:18–19 ESV

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

Mary and Joseph are betrothed. Being engaged at that time is not like it is today; as you can see, the only way to end such engagement is divorce.

So, this marriage would have been planned. They would not live together until they had a “coming together” ceremony. The engagement would last a year then the woman (usually 13-14) would go and live with her husband. But before such a ceremony can take place, Mary is with child, and Joseph knows he is not the father. Notice at the end of verse 18 it says, “found to be wit child from the Holy Spirit.”

Notice the great contrast between this story and the story of Hercules? The miraculous birth of Jesus is not the result of some god’s insatiable lust. Rather, it’s all a part of God’s wonderful plan. Luke’s account focuses more on Mary and her perspective, but even then there is nothing weird or grossly romantic about the story. Matthew purposefully keeps it to the point, “from the Holy Spirit.”

The Holy Spirit, who is truly God and deserving of our worship, was active in creation. The Holy Spirit is also active in recreation. Jesus says in John 3:8 “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”” And so, we see the Spirit gives new life mysteriously and powerfully.

But Matthew turns to focus on Joseph. v. 19 mentions that Joseph is a just man. This, for me, harkens back to the book of kings where the normal formula to transition to a new king is to mention how many years he reigned and if he did right or evil in the sight of the Lord. “Just” here had to do with Joseph’s relationship to the Law of the Lord. Because Joseph is a man who desires to uphold the law, and because Mary has been unfaithful (at least as he understands), he only has one lawful course of action: to seek a divorce.

But Joseph is wise and compassionate. Joseph can go to what would essentially be like the Judge Judy of his day and put Mary to open shame. But instead, as the text says, he resolves to divorce Mary quietly. I find it an extremely positive character trait that Joseph is willing to lay aside his lawful rights for the benefit of others.

20-23

Matthew 1:20–23 ESV

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. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

The phrase “as he considered” should probably be best understood as this dream takes place after he decided divorce Mary. Angels are commonly used throughout the Bible as God’s messengers. Remember that angels are separate spiritual beings from humans and unlike what It’s a Wonderful Life would teach (and other pop culture esp. throughout that time), humans don’t become angels when they die.

Notice how this angel addresses Joseph as “son of David.” This is a detail that can be easily skipped over in a casual reading of the text, but consider its importance for a moment. Matthew has already given a lineage of Joseph not to just give biological facts. Matthew was tracing Joseph’s royal lineage: the fact that Joseph would rightfully sit on the throne.

The angel discloses to Joseph the fact that Mary had not been unfaithful, the conception of the Christ is miraculous. And because no such sin took place, there is really no grounds for divorce.

The angel says in v. 20, “for that which is conceived in her if from the Holy Spirit.” This miraculous conception Christians call the incarnation which refers to the taking on of humanity. Jesus always existed, he is eternal, he is fully God. However, there is a point in history when Jesus, being fully God, also became fully human.

Notice the doctrine of incarnation is not reincarnation. Jesus did not exist before in a different life. He was not a different person before he was born to Mary. There is continuity between who he is before and who is after. Jesus was also aware of his divine identity and purpose in his life. He knew he was destined to die for the sins of the world and predicted this many times to his disciples.

Athanasius was an early church father who defended the truth of Scripture against a false teaching known as Arianism. Arianism taught that Jesus was not fully God and there was a time when Jesus did not exist. Athanasius says, “The results of the incarnation of the Savior are such and so many, that anyone attempting to enumerate the should be compared to a person looking on the vastness of the sea and attempting to count its waves.”

I too want you to be able to marvel at the beauty of the incarnation.

A few centuries earlier, Ignatius a church father who lived from 35-107 said, “Look for Christ, the Son of God; who was before time, yet appeared in time, who was invisible by nature, yet visible int he flesh; who was impalpable, and could not be touched, as being without body, but for our sakes became such, so that he might be touched and handled in the body, who was impassible as God, but became passible for our sakes as man, and who in every kind of way suffered for our sakes.”

This truth we will consider some more at our conclusion. Now, look at verse 21, “She will bear a son. . .you will call his name.” This formula is very similar to Isaiah 7:14 which is quoted in v. 23. But, before we get to the significance of Jesus’s name, I want you to note the Jewish expectation of Jesus’s day. The prophets promised a remarkable reinstatement of the great Davidic king after the return from exile. This did not occur in any spectacular way, and they were again eventually conquered by the Romans. They were anticipating the Messiah to come save them from Roman oppression and establish an earthly kingdom.

Look at what the child is to be named, “Jesus.” This name means “YHWH is our salvation.” And what will he save the people from? Sin. For many Jewish people at the time this would be quite anticlimactic. Somewhere along the way, the biggest problem had stopped being sin and had instead became oppression and lack of freedom.

It’s very easy for us to do the same thing. It’s easy for us to identify some other problem other than sin as being the biggest problem in our life. In the introduction, I shared with you the origin of Siddartha Guatamma. After seeing all the suffering, perhaps motivated by guilt for living a life of luxury, he decided to move off by himself in the jungle and become a hermit. He trained for a while using yoga, then he decided to meditate forever until he could find the solution to suffering. Then he became enlightened and was known as the Buddha.

He “discovered” the root cause of suffering was desire. So the answer? Don’t desire. Stop wanting and of course you won’t suffer for the things you don’t have. He came up with an 8-fold path one can travel to stop desiring: watch what you say, your actions, livelihood, know that your actions have consequences, and on and on. Just keep doing better then you can stop wanting so that you can end suffering.

There are so many problems with this understanding. First of all, desire in and of itself is not bad. Wrong desires we have are. It is good to aspire to achieve and dream. Second, suffering is not the root problem, it’s only a symptom of sin. The human race lives under a curse for rejecting God, and that curse is evident. But the curse itself is not the main problem, sin is, the rebellion is. So many people in the world acknowledge the curse and strive to solve it without acknowledging the cause: rebellion against a holy God. Third, Buddhism offers no real solution to suffering. Do more and more and more. Live the most righteous life that you can possibly live. Will that stop you from aging? Will it stop you from dying? Will it stop other people from abusing you or taking away your rights?

Jesus frees us from the curse not because he gives us a placebo or so other “curse management program,” but because he “saves us from our sins.” Humanity’s greatest problem is not death, suffering, abuse, politics, poverty, and on and on the list can grow. Humanity’s greatest problem is sin, rebellion against a holy God. Our only solution is Christ. 1 Peter 2:24 “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

And what’s mind-blowing to me is that there’s so many preachers out there who don’t discuss sin! How can you preach the Bible and miss the main point? Instead America’s pulpits are filled with “how to do your finances,” “how to be good parents,” “how to feel encouraged.”

Preacher Joel Osteen mentioned in an interview why he never preaches about sin, “.. most people are beaten down enough by life. They already feel guilty enough. They're not doing what they should, raising their kids — we can all find reasons. So I want them to come to Lakewood or our meetings and be lifted up, to say, 'You know what? I may not be perfect, but I'm moving forward. I'm doing better.' And I think that motivates you to do better.”

Let me bring your awareness to something. Maybe you can disagree with me, but I pray you turn your disagreement from me and wrestle with God’s words. Look at verse 21. It does not say Jesus will save us from our suffering, our political problems, our poverty.

Jesus did not come to be born on this earth and suffer and die to make us feel better about miserable lives! He died to save us from our sins! All this silly American Christianity has been so consumed with being positive and being encouraging.

How about instead of pretending to be encouraging, let’s be real! Is discouragement a problem? Yes! But is the solution plastering a smile on your face and pretending to be happy or manipulating your emotions while listening to uplifting music? No! It’s a facade! The solution for discouragement is not primarily manipulating your emotions because it’s not primarily an emotional problem, its a sin problem. You want to be encouraged? Don’t fake it until you make it. Go to the manger where your king was born in humble circumstances for your sake. Go to the cross where your savior bore all your sins on that tree; he took on your discouragement and brought it to the grave where your sins went to die. Go to the empty tomb where your savior was raised to life and know that your sins and discouragement will one day be no more!

The text goes on and Matthew mentions that all these events have taken place to fulfill prophecy. Matthew will mention a number of times when something fulfills prophecy. There are three things specifically in Isaiah 7:14 that are here in Jesus’s birth story: the virgin birth, the naming of a child, and God (literally) with them.

The name Immanuel means “God with us.” This again points to the full divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, after Matthew’s aside, the text is left with a big decision on Joseph’s mind. What will he do? Will he continue with the divorce or will he trust God?

Matthew 1:24–25 ESV

When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

When it says “he took his wife” this does not mean that he kidnapped her or something strange, this is referring to the “coming together” ceremony I mentioned earlier. But this “coming together” did not involve any other “coming together,” again Matthew is emphasizing the virgin birth. The virgin birth is a core Christian doctrine not only because it attests to Jesus’s divine origin, but also because it makes Jesus truly free from any sin, and free from the sin of Adam.

The last phrase of v. 25 can be easily read over, “And he called his name Jesus.” But the significance of this is great. Giving someone a name in the ancient context was much more significant than it is today. When Joseph names Jesus, he is formally adopting him as his own son. And thus it is Jesus, Joseph’s firstborn, who carried on the Davidic royal line. Jesus is the Davidic king who is reigning now and will reign forevermore because his reign will never be stopped by death.

I want you to consider Joseph for a moment who was featured heavily in this story. Joseph was a man of character. He was willing to lay aside his right for the sake of another. He was also willing to use his status to further God’s kingdom.

Having compassion like Joseph means that we would have the best interest of others in mind. Wisdom dictates for us what that best interest would be. Compassion is not a soft and passive virtue. In Joseph’s case, compassion withheld him from doing something to openly shame Mary that he legally could have done. But compassion does not always mean not doing something. I think about a news article that I read the other day about a man, a teacher I believe, who came out of his house with a gun to prevent the assault of a young girl. Was that man compassionate? Of course. And that compassion led him to act.

So compassion is a virtue that can cause us to lay aside our rights, to be passive, or to be active, all with the best interest of another in mind. The question of course then becomes, “What is the best interest of others?” It takes a lot of wisdom to answer that question in various circumstances. But we do know the greatest problem every person faces: sin. And we know the only solution is Jesus Christ. The greatest act of compassion we can do is to share Jesus with a lost and dying world.

This act of compassion requires action. Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

So the question of application: what rights, privileges, comforts are you willing to lay aside to be compassionate in sharing the good news of Christ? I hope that you can be encouraged by Christ’s example of compassion.

The incarnation is a supreme example of Christ’s compassion. Philippians 2:6–7 “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”

Jesus, as you see this verse teaches, is fully divine. But he did not count or consider that equality a “thing to be grasped” or something the he could take advantage of and use selfishly. Instead, he emptied himself. How did he empty himself? Did he stop being truly God? Was he no longer a person in the Trinity? No. He emptied himself by “taking on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”

This is compassion. Jesus who existed always, has all power and wisdom; of whom Scripture says Revelation 5:12 “saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”” and Philippians 2:10–11 “so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” This Jesus became man, born in the humblest of circumstances, for you and for me. That is compassion.

How do I have this compassionate King in my life?