Jesus Christ: His Identity and Birth

Jesus, His Identity and Birth – Manuscript Matthew 1:1-25 Our Scripture this morning is Matthew 1:1-25. This morning, we are looking at Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth. This is probably a familiar passage for most of us and it is familiar for most of us as we look at those names and think, “How do you say that?” This morning, we will look at that long list of names, see why they matter, and then hear Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth. The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, 4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, 8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. 12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. 17 So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations. 18 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. 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. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 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). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus. 1 This is the word of God, for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Prayer of Illumination: Loving God, you provide for our every need. You feed our bodies and our souls, yet we hunger to know and love you more and more. Nourish us with your Word today. Through Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit we pray. Amen. 50 years ago, the counter-culture movement was in full swing. Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, and many others were leaders in the movement. The counter-culture was a challenge to post-World War II American culture. They challenged clothing styles, music styles, moral norms, and rejected traditional religion. While the counter-culture famously rejected much of traditional religion, they still proclaimed a salvation. It’s summed up neatly in the song “Age of Aquarius” from the musical Hair. The song begins with these lyrics: When the moon is in the seventh house And Jupiter aligns with Mars Then peace will guide the planets And love will steer the stars This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius…2 The song, and a lot of the 60s counter-culture, expounded a salvation. The salvation was found in the ancient hope of Eastern mysticism mixed with psychedelic drugs. Many of the musicians were the prophets proclaiming a new star-fated salvation. We are continuing our series looking at the Apostles’ Creed. We will begin looking at the section on Jesus Christ. This is the longest section of the Creed; it is also the defining aspect of our faith. This is section of the Creed is what separates us from Judaism and Islam, both of whom would have agreed with the first section about God the Father. This section of the Creed defines our salvation and redemption by a Triune God in contrast to a star-fated mystical salvation. Today, we will be looking at the part of the Creed that says, “I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary”. We will see who Jesus is, how Jesus came, and why Jesus came. Who, how, and why. Who Jesus Is Matthew opens his gospel with these words, “This is the book of genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham”. He begins by telling us who Jesus is. He is the son of David, the son of Abraham. Matthew begins his gospel account by telling us that Jesus is the descent of the two most important people in Jewish history. Every Jew was a descendant of Abraham, so it’s not shocking that Jesus is a descendant of him. But God had made a covenant with Abraham that through Abraham’s seed the families of all the earth would be blessed (Genesis 9:3). What is shocking is that Matthew tells us that Jesus is a descendant of David. David was the greatest king that Israel had ever known. Under David, Israel was united like it had never been united and never would be united again; Israel’s borders stretched from the edge of Egypt all the way to River Euphrates; the Philistines, Moabites, Edomites, and Ammonites were all subjected to Israelite rule. In addition to that, God had made a covenant with David that one of his descendants would always rule over Israel. David had wanted to establish God’s house, meaning he wanted to build a temple for God, but God responded that because he sought God’s glory God would establish David’s house. God goes on to state just what we have just said, that someone from David’s house would always rule over Israel (2 Samuel 7). By stating that Jesus is the descendant of both David, the great king, and Abraham, the one whose seed will bless all families of the earth, Matthew is making a big statement about Jesus. He is telling us, “This Jesus guy, he’s important. He’s important enough to be placed in the same sentence as David and Abraham”. It would be like putting a quarterback’s name next to John Elway and Tom Brady. By doing that you would be implicitly saying, “This quarterback is important”. That’s what Matthew is doing. He is telling us who Jesus is by placing him next to David and Abraham. Now it’s not just that Matthew places Jesus next to David and Abraham in the first verse that tells us who Jesus is. He also tells us who he is with the genealogy. Matthew’s genealogy is unique. If you were to go back and look at Old Testament and follow the line of Abraham, you would see there are many more names than what Matthew gives us. Is he misinformed? From Abraham to David covers 750 years, while the fourteen generations from David to Babylon covers 40 years. Are the people between David and Babylon living half as long as those during Abraham’s days? Is he cutting out some people from the family tree that are embarrassing? What is going on? What Matthew is doing is dividing history into sets of seven. Seven is the perfect number in Hebrew thinking. It was the number of days in the week; it was the number of words in the first verse of Genesis 1. Seven was the perfect number. If we look at the genealogy Matthew has given us, he has given us six sets of seven that end with Joseph. That means Jesus begins the seventh set. Matthew is telling us who Jesus is; he is the son of David, the son of Abraham. But he is also the seventh seven; he is the one who will usher in the perfect age. Who Jesus is is someone who is infinitely more important than David the great king and Abraham the one who received the promise. Jesus is the one who will be the greatest king, the King of kings; Jesus is the one who will bless all the families through his work; Jesus will bring about the perfect age. That is who Jesus is. Matthew directs us next to how Jesus came. How Jesus Came This is what Matthew tells us in verse 18, “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.”3 At this point, Mary and Joseph aren’t legally married. They’re betrothed. Betrothal is something that is more formal than engagement, the couple was considered to be husband and wife by the community. But the marriage ceremony hadn’t taken place yet; which meant that the betrothed couple didn’t live together or enjoy marital relations. So for Mary to be found to be with child before the wedding was a breach of social norms. It meant that Mary had been unfaithful to Joseph; that she had committed adultery. Traditionally, in our culture, the bride and the groom weren’t allowed to see each other the day before the wedding. The reasoning was the same as the betrothal period. In the eyes of the community, the couple is considered husband and wife but the ceremony hasn’t taken place that permits the couple to enjoy the full benefits of that union. But we’re also told that Joseph was considering divorcing Mary. Word reaches Joseph that Mary is pregnant and he knows that he hasn’t been intimate with her so he assumes what almost everyone of us would assume. He assumes that Mary has been unfaithful and had an affair with someone else. Levitical law allowed for someone caught in adultery to be stoned. But Matthew tells us that Joseph was “a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly”. Joseph, upon hearing that Mary is pregnant and not by him, thinks he is unable to marry someone guilty of an obvious sin. But instead of taking the law to its fullest measure and exposing her as an adulteress to the community and shame her, he decides to divorce her in private. Joseph shows his desire to show his righteousness and to show grace to Mary. And just as Joseph has decided to divorce Mary, God intervenes. As Joseph sleeps, an angel from God tells Joseph how Jesus was conceived, how Jesus came to be. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. We’re not told the details how God did this, it’s a mystery. But the God who created the heavens and the earth and all life with his mighty word can certainly cause someone to conceive. Maybe as you hear this, you roll your eyes and think, “This is exactly why people can’t believe in Christianity anymore. It was easy to believe this 2,000 years ago when people didn’t know how women became pregnant but now we know better”. First, let’s not assume that because we live in a more advanced time people didn’t know how a woman became pregnant. That is cultural snobbery at its finest. Secondly, the ancient world understood exactly how babies were conceived. They might not have understood all we understand about the inner-workings of human anatomy but they knew the basics. That’s exactly why Joseph considered divorcing Mary. Maybe you’re wondering why this matters; wondering why the angel makes such a big deal about Jesus being conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. It matters for three reasons. First, it matters because it connects Jesus’ ministry with the prophesies found in the Old Testament. The angel tells us explicitly in verses 22-23 that this has taken place to fulfill what Isaiah prophesied. The hopes of redemption found in the Old Testament are being placed squarely on Jesus’ shoulders. Secondly, it matters because people would certainly talk and say Mary had an affair. That’s hinted at in John 8 that some of his critics were implying Jesus was the offspring of an illicit union between Mary and another man. Some even went as far as to say that Jesus’ father was a Roman soldier, intending to imply that Jesus was not for the Jews. The third reason why it matters is that it states that Jesus is fully divine and fully human. Throughout the history of the Church, people have denied the fully divinity of Jesus. Two major heresies concentrated on the divinity of Jesus. The first is a heresy called Arianism. Arianism basically states that Jesus is not God but the first created being. They deny what John tells us in John 1:1 that “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”. Arians deny that. The other major heresy denying the fully divinity of Jesus is called adoptionism. They say that Jesus was just like every other human, conceived the same way each of us were. But at his baptism, God the Father adopted him and then elevated him to the status of god. Others said that Jesus was fully divine but only appeared to be human; they denied his humanity. They say, “Jesus only appeared to eat and drink. Jesus only appeared to die on the cross”. No. Matthew clearly tells us that Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit disregarded the normal laws of conception to conceive Jesus; God the Son took on flesh in the womb of Mary. He was fully God. And he was fully human. By doing this God was writing himself into human history. Dorothy Sayers was a British novelist. She’s most known for writing crime novels with her star character Lord Peter Wimsey an amateur sleuth. Over time, Sayers came to be in love with Lord Wimsey. So she wrote herself into the novels. She developed the character Harriet Vane who bore many of her characteristics and inserted Vane into the novels to help Lord Wimsey solve murders. With the conception and birth of Jesus, God is writing himself into our history. God condescended and took on human flesh for our benefit. Why? Why Jesus Came Why Jesus came is actually answered by his name. Many of us, in our culture, pick names that sound nice or names that we like. Or maybe we pick a name to honor someone. We don’t really choose a name because it has a special meaning. In the Bible, names are important and when someone is given a name it is important. In Genesis we see that God gave Abraham’s son the name Isaac because both Abraham and Sarah laughed when God said they would have a child. A year later when Sarah gave birth to a son at the age of 90 she laughed and named her son laughter, Isaac. Two generations later, Isaac’s son Jacob had spent his entire life wrestling with people. He wrestled with his brother for his birth rite; he wrestled with his father-in-law for his wives and income; then he wrestled with God. When Jacob refused to let go of God during the match, God changed his name to Israel, one who wrestles with God. So names in the Bible are important, especially divinely chosen names. The name chosen for Mary’s son is Jesus. Jesus is the Greek version of the Hebrew name Joshua, YHWH saves. With this name God is telling us why Jesus came; he came to save his people. His name tells us exactly why he came. What his name tells us is that we need someone to save us. No matter how good we think we are, no matter how moral we think we are, we are naturally at odds with God. We reject God as the sovereign lord and assert of ourselves as kings in place of God. That is not something new; it’s not something that has happened in the last twenty years. This rebellion has been happening since Adam and Eve took the fruit and ate. For all of human history we have been rebelling against God. So when we say, “I don’t believe in organized religion; I don’t believe any religions have it right. So I’ll decide what I believe about why we’re here” we are rebelling against God. So when we say, “I live by my own moral code”, we are rebelling against God. So when we say, “I know I should do this” or “I know I should do that but it just feels so good I’m going to do it anyway”, we are rebelling against God. And because we have rebelled against God and rejected his rule, we are at odds with him. By our own sinful nature, we are opposed to God. That opposition cannot stand; that opposition will not stand. God does not allow those who have rebelled to stand in his presence. So Jesus came to save us. But for Jesus to save us, he needs to be fully God and fully human. If Jesus was just another human and not conceived by the Holy Spirit, he wouldn’t be able to save us. He wouldn’t be able to save us because the stain of original sin would have tainted him. That would mean he rebelled against God just like we do. That’s why Matthew and the Creed are so adamant that Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit. If he had been conceived by an affair between Mary and any man, Jesus would be just another person in opposition to God by birth. No, what we need is someone who hasn’t rebelled against God. The only person to never have rebelled against God is God. So we need God to save us. But we need a savior who is fully human or else it can’t be credited to us. God needed to take on human form and live the life we never could live or else the salvation wouldn’t be credited to us. So Jesus took on human flesh in the womb of Mary. That’s why Matthew and the Creed are adamant that Jesus was born of the virgin. This is why Jesus came, to save his people. That means three things for us. First, it means that Jesus is the God-man. This is an essential of our faith to confess that Jesus is fully divine and fully human. No matter how unfashionable it seems in our culture to confess that Jesus fully God and fully man, it is an essential of our faith. When we modify this or stop confessing this, we no longer confess historic Christianity. We confess something else. Jesus is the God-man, fully God and fully human. Second, Jesus is lord. Jesus is lord over our personal lives and the Church. In our personal lives, Jesus is lord and as such our lives should reflect that. We live for him and live how he calls his people to live. That means he isn’t lord of one part of our lives but not another. He is lord over our entire lives. But he is also lord over his Church. There have been times in the past and there will be times in the future when the Church is asked to divide her loyalties between Jesus and someone or something else. 70 some years ago, Adolf Hitler demanded that the Church submit to him. Some capitulated but others held firm and said that Jesus is lord. If your loyalties are divided by what culture says or what you want, unite them under Jesus as lord. Follow him. Third, Jesus is our salvation. We look to him as savior. We don’t think we can do it or salvation lies somewhere else. Because he is the God-man and lord, he is the only one who can save his people. Next week, we will look at how Jesus accomplishes salvation for his people. Culture will continue to change and write songs that espouse a new salvation just as “Age of Aquarius” did in the 60s. But the Church will continue to confess that Jesus Christ is God’s only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. We will continue to confess salvation comes alone through Jesus. Let us pray.