The King Who Would Be Man

Christmas Series

Matthew 1:22-25; Luke 2:6-7

Herod the Great began to rule in the year 37 BC. Caesar Augustus began to rule in 31 BC. Archelaus, Herod Antipas, and Herod Philip II each began to rule in the year 4 BC. Tiberius Caesar began to rule in AD 14, Caligula in AD 37, and Claudius in AD 41. Pontius Pilate began to rule in AD 26.

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Now what does this litany of “beginnings” have to do with Christmas?

I want you to notice something. All earthly rulers have a birth date and then a later date of rule. They each have a beginning and an end. But Jesus Christ is different. Jesus has always ruled and He never had a beginning… and He never has an end. He was in the beginning and through Him all things were created (including all the other rulers in history). They were created by Him and for His glory.

This Jesus, who never had a beginning, took on human form. He entered our world through the womb of the Virgin Mary and became a man. This took place historically around late 5 or early 4 BC… just prior to the death of Herod the Great. Of all other rulers it could be said that they were the men who would be king; but only of Jesus Christ could it be said, He is the King who would be man.

We began looking at Matthew chapter 1 last Sunday and we’ll pick it up with verse 22 this morning. Plus, I want to read two verses from Luke 2 that describe the actual birth of Christ. Matthew 1:22-25 and then Luke 2:6-7. In honor of God and His Word, let’s stand. This is after Mary and Joseph were told by the angel that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and that He was born to save His people from their sins.

Matthew 1:22-25  22 Now all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.” 24 And Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took her as his wife, 25 and kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus. [NASB]

Luke 2:6-7  6And it came about that while they were [in Bethlehem], the days were completed for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her first-born son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. [NASB]

[Prayer] The Gospel of Matthew was primarily written to a Jewish audience to demonstrate that Jesus Christ is the promised King of kings, the true Messiah of Israel. With that as our context, let’s consider Matthew’s birth narrative of the King who would be man. In verses 22-23 we see that…

I.          The birth of the King was a clear fulfillment of OT prophecy (22-23).

22 Now all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.”

“All this” refers to all the events surrounding the birth of Jesus. Matthew draws a direct link between these events and the earlier prophecies of Scripture. The key text he uses comes from Isaiah 7:14. The reason the Virgin conception and birth took place in this way is that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled. Matthew loves to demonstrate the fulfillment of OT prophecies in his Gospel. He uses the word “fulfilled” at least 12 times.

Matthew’s reference to the fulfillment of prophecy is a reminder to his Jewish readers that God always keeps His promises. The Word of God is breathed by God and entrusted to human agents, like the prophets, and later, the apostles. The prophets and apostles don’t originate the message; they merely convey God’s Word to His people. No true prophet ever prophesies on his own behalf. A true prophet must declare the Word of God exactly as he received it. God ensured this process by personally creating and choosing and calling His prophets and apostles. He knows their nature because He created them for His own good purposes.

So Matthew loves to remind God’s people of the power of God’s Word through the fulfillment

of His promises. Verse 23 is the quotation of Isaiah 7:14 which Matthew quoted directly from the Septuagint. That’s the Greek translation of the OT Hebrew Bible completed some 300 years before the birth of Christ. The reason we should note the Septuagint here is because those 70 scholars correctly translated the ambiguous Hebrew word “alma” with the more specific Greek word “parthenos” which means virgin in Isaiah 7:14. Matthew confirms under inspiration that this translation is what God intended from the beginning: “a virgin shall be with child and bear a son.”

Then he says: “And they shall call His name Immanuel, which translated means, God with us.” Now Matthew has already said in verse 21 that His name was to be Jesus; now, here, in verse 23 it says His name shall be called Immanuel. So which is it? It’s really a false dilemma. His proper name was and is Jesus. That’s what they named Him and that’s what they called Him. There’s no record that Jesus was ever called by the name Immanuel… at least, not as a proper name. Rather, Immanuel is one of the titles of Christ, since Jesus is literally “God with us”. Immanuel is inherent to the deity of Christ, which is one of the most basic confessions of Christianity. So Jesus is who He is… Immanuel is what He is. And He was indeed referred to as “God with us” by all who knew Him by faith. For us this means that God is actually with us through faith in Jesus. He is with you to secure your destiny in Him. For Jesus Christ is God!

Then we get to the response of Joseph in verses 24-25.

24 And Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took her as his wife, 25 and kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus. In these two verses we marvel that…

II.        The timing and integrity of the King’s birth were sovereignly guided and guarded by God (24-25).

Everything about Jesus elicits a breath-taking thought… as God, Jesus Christ created both Mary and Joseph! Try to get your mind around that! Jesus created the womb that carried Him to birth. He created the innkeeper who reportedly said, “No room”. He is the King of Angels who created and sent Gabriel to inform the anxious couple that “All is well”. Jesus created both the sheep and the shepherds who heard the angelic host. You see, Jesus is the King of Caesar and of Herod, and even though neither bowed to Him in this life… both bow to Him at the White Throne.

The same LORD who created all things for His pleasure and glory is also the sovereign Potentate of Time. As the last stanza of the hymn says:

Crown Him the Lord of Years, the Potentate of Time;

Creator of the rolling spheres, ineffably sublime.

All hail, Redeemer hail! For Thou hast died for me;

Thy praise shall never, never fail, throughout eternity.

He chose the precise moment for Mary to conceive and give birth. But on the surface, the timing looked anything but good; there was a wicked king named Herod on the throne of Israel; there was an inconvenient census by Caesar Augustus that “just happened” to coincide with Mary’s delivery time; then there was a registration requiring a painful donkey ride to Bethlehem, and an arrival in the town after every hotel was booked solid… it seemed like a timing fiasco. And the Lord planned it all… forcing them to fulfill one prophecy after another. The hands of Jesus are sovereign over the hands of time.

And the integrity of the King’s birth was also sovereignly guarded by God. Verse 24 tells us that Joseph awoke from his sleep – meaning: God communicated to him through a dream. Joseph then “did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, and” verse 25 “kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son…”

Notice that God chose Mary and Joseph; not just Mary. Joseph was God’s chosen step-father to raise and feed His Son. Not only that, but Joseph was Christ’s legal claim to the throne of David because of his ancestry. Joseph was chosen by God to be engaged to Mary at this precise moment in time. This kind and righteous man was of the house and lineage of David! And just to make sure there’s no doubt about the integrity of the Savior’s birth, Matthew communicates that Joseph did “take Mary as his wife” but only in a legal sense; not in the sense of physical consummation – after their wedding, it says he did a most unusual thing – he kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son.”

The words “until she gave birth” indicate that normal marital relations began after the birth of Jesus. This is further verified by the names of numerous half-brothers and sisters of Jesus in Mark 6:3 and elsewhere. The Bible nowhere teaches the so-called perpetual virginity of Mary.

Chapter one closes with the words… “And Joseph called His name, Jesus.” Joseph was a trustworthy and righteous man. He obeyed God in the face of an unexplainable miracle while surrounded by fierce misunderstanding. But God’s Word was sent to him to explain all he needed to know in order to obey God and rest in His purposes through this. The birth of King Jesus was a fulfillment of OT prophecy… and the timing and integrity surrounding that birth was sovereignly guided and guarded by God. Jesus Christ is the only eternal and immortal King; He is the King who would be man.

Let’s pray…

(c) Charles Kevin Grant 

November 10, 2006