Born of a Virgin

Everything about Jesus is important. There is nothing insignificant about Him.

His eternal existence is important

His thirty-three years on this earth are important

His miracles are important

His teachings are important

His death is important

His resurrection is important

His ascension is important

His birth is important. It’s so important that Matthew says in verse 18 “This is how the birth of Christ happened.” Many of you are familiar with Larry King. For the young folks out there, he was a very well-known interviewer of celebrities in days past. He is also an atheist. He was once asked who he would interview if he could interview anyone. His answer was Jesus Christ. He was then asked what he would ask Jesus. King said that he would like to ask Jesus “If he was indeed virgin-born.” He added, “The answer to that question would define history for me.”

Mr. King is right. We have liberal preachers who believe the story about Jesus being virgin born is a myth. We even have so called conservative preachers who tell us the virgin birth is not something people necessarily need to believe. Matthew would not agree. The circumstances surrounding the birth of Jesus matter and they matter tremendously. This morning we’re going to see three things that Matthew makes perfectly clear concerning the birth of Christ:

1. Joseph was not the father of Jesus.

2. Mary was a virgin when Jesus was conceived in her womb.

3. The child born to Mary was God in the flesh.

I. Joseph was not the father of Jesus.

A. Mary and Joseph were espoused to be married.

Betrothal was the common method of marriage for Jewish people in this day. A betrothal was a contract between two families involving the marriage of their children to one another. Normally these were arranged marriages. That does not mean the couple was not in love. A loving father would not force his daughter to marry someone she did not love. It meant, more than anything, that the parents approved of the spouse. When you read the story of Mary and Joseph it is clear they are in love. In a moment we will see the tenderness of Joseph toward Mary.

A betrothal generally lasted between 6-12 months. This was what we might call a probationary period to determine if the couple was chaste. There were no paternity tests in that day. This period would reveal to the groom that the woman was not pregnant with someone else’s child before they were married.

The wife would live in her parents’ home during this time. The husband would work, preparing the couples new home.

There would also have to be a payment from the groom’s parents. Joseph’s family would have paid Mary’s family a sum of money. The amount was determined by the father of the bride. This payment was for a few reasons:

1) It helped to cover the expenses of the wedding. Weddings could be expensive in those days. Sometimes the celebration lasted for up to seven days.

2) It served as a type of life insurance for the wife. If something happened to her husband, the father would have a portion of that money to give to her.

3) It combatted divorces. Who could afford to keep paying fathers a sum of money for their daughter’s hand in marriage?

There was a binding contract between Mary and Joseph. This wasn’t like the engagements of our day. The two were not free to date other people. They couldn’t just call off the engagement. They were virtually already married.

B. Joseph discovers that Mary is pregnant.

I think Mary told him. She had been visited by an angel who told her she would become pregnant with the Christ child. It’s clear that Joseph didn’t believe her story. Don’t be hard on Joseph, you wouldn’t believe that story either. I’m sure all he heard was “I’m pregnant.” This must have devastated him because he knew he was not the father.

Verse 19 says that Joseph was a just man. Everything we see about him in Scripture confirms that. He is a man of God. With that being said, we shouldn’t think that Mary is the only virgin in this story. Joseph was likely a virgin himself. This would have added to his agony.

Joseph was a godly man who thought he had found a godly girl. He may have been wondering if he even knew Mary at all at this point.

C. Joseph decided not to marry Mary.

There were probably a few reasons for this.

He thought she was lying to him.

He probably didn’t want to raise someone else’s child.

Marrying Mary would have been an admission of guilt on his part. People would believe that he got her pregnant out of wedlock. He had his own reputation to think about.

He had a couple of choices concerning how to dissolve the betrothal contract.

He could take the matter to a public court. By the time the first century rolled around stoning a person in the case of adultery was very rare for the Jews. Other ways to deal with adultery had been developed. One of the ways was known as the public example. A person was taken to court, evidence of the infidelity was brought forth and the adulterer was publicly shamed in the community. It didn’t kill the person, but it killed their reputation. It would have an impact on their future regarding things like work & marriage.

Another way to dissolve the contract was to have a private hearing in front of a few people and be granted a bill of divorcement. This was the option Joseph was considering. We see the mercy of Joseph. He thought she had been unfaithful to him. But rather than respond in anger and revenge he wanted to take the route that hurt Mary the least. He loved her.

Look at verse 20. “While he thought on these things”. Matthew wants you to see that Joseph is struggling with this decision. His world has ben turned upside down. He’s trying to process this information. He doesn’t want to call off the wedding, but he can’t imagine marrying a woman who has done this to him.

God intervenes. The Lord speaks to Joseph in a dream and explains that the child she is carrying doesn’t have an earthly father. God put this child in her womb. God says, “Fear not!”

Joseph is convinced. He is convinced:

Mary has not been unfaithful to him.

The child she is carrying is the Savior of the world.

Joseph takes Mary as his wife and commits to being the earthly father of a child that does not belong to him.

II. Mary was a virgin when Jesus was conceived in her womb.

A. The integrity of Scripture rests upon this truth.

There are those who doubt the virgin birth. Many believe it’s not an essential doctrine. But the fact is the Bible clearly says that Mary was a virgin when Jesus was conceived. If she was not a virgin, then Scripture cannot be trusted. If Scripture cannot be trusted the gospel cannot be trusted.

Moses hinted that Jesus would be born of a virgin. In Genesis 3:15 he called the Messiah “the seed of a woman”. In Scripture the seed comes from the man.

Isaiah clearly said a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a Son (Isa. 7:14).

Galatians 4:4-5 says Jesus was born of a woman, not a woman and a man.

Both Matthew and Luke tell us that Jesus was born of a virgin.

The virgin birth matters because if Jesus were not born of a virgin then Scripture cannot be trusted.

B. The integrity of Mary rests upon this truth.

If Mary were not a virgin think of all the ramifications that would follow.

She lied to Joseph. She would have been a liar.

She cheated on Joseph. She would have been an adulteress.

She duped Joseph into marrying her.

She told her son He was the Son of God.

She used a lie to exalt herself and her son, which resulted in the deaths of many people, namely her own son. If Mary was not a virgin, then she was certainly not the noble woman Scripture paints her to be. She is a manipulator and power-hungry woman that used others for her own profit.

If you don’t believe in the virgin birth, then you can’t believe Mary was a good woman. Her integrity rests upon her claim. The entire Christmas story falls apart if Mary was lying.

When we look at the rest of Mary’s life it was consistent with righteousness. She has other children with Joseph. Mark 6:3 tells us that Mary had at least seven children. She never claimed any of those children were the Son of God.

She lives a righteous life. She remains a widow after Joseph dies and she herself is a devout follower of Christ. By all accounts Mary was a righteous woman. Those who claim Jesus was not virgin born cannot say she was.

C. The integrity of Jesus rests upon this truth.

Jesus claimed to be without sin in John 8:46. In order to be without sin you have to be born without a sin nature. The only way to be born without a sin nature is if you don’t have an earthly father (Romans 5). Because Christ did not have an earthly father, He did not inherit the sin nature the rest of Adam’s descendants inherited.

You remember what the angel said in Luke 1:35? He said,

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.”

He says the child will be called the holy Son of God because of the way He is conceived.

The perfect life that Jesus lived is also proof that Jesus was not born with a sin nature. No one born in a normal manner could live a perfect life. We are born sinners. Christ was not born a sinner. He was born as the holy Son of God, unstained by original sin.

It seems that the talk around town was that Jesus was not born of a virgin. There were people who believed Mary had become pregnant out of wedlock because of sin. We see this hinted at in John 8:41 when the religious leaders in anger said to Jesus ‘We be not born of fornication!” I think they were implying that He was born of fornication.

But if Jesus had been born in a natural way, He would have been like the rest of us. Clearly Jesus was a Man unlike any other man before Him. Peter spent three years with Him, and he said Jesus never committed a sin (1 Peter 1:22).

Mary was virgin when Christ was conceived:

The integrity of Scripture, the integrity of Mary and the integrity of Jesus rests upon this truth.

III. The Child conceived in Mary’s womb was God.

A. He is called the Savior.

Joseph is told to name the child Jesus. The reason he is told to name the child Jesus is because this child will save His people from their sins. The Bible is clear that God is our Savior. Isaiah 43:11 says

“I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no savior.”

If God is our Savior and Jesus is our Savior, it only follows that Jesus is God. What has He done to save us?

He lived a perfect life. The life He lived He lived on our behalf. His righteous life is imputed to us through faith.

He suffered for our sins. He was punished on the cross for the sins we have committed. Justice has been served.

He died. The wages of sin is death. He died our death for us.

He rose again. Just as He came into this world in miraculous fashion, He left this world in miraculous fashion.

Jesus is the One who has saved us.

It was His redemptive love that sought us.

It was His redeeming blood that bought us.

We were purchased by the Lamb’s blood.

We are published in the Lamb’s book.

In heaven:

Our eyes will be on the Lamb’s throne.

Our music will be the Lamb’s song.

If Jesus is not God then heaven is filled with idolatry. The bible says in heaven we worship the Lamb. Revelation 5:11-12 says:

Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 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!”

The child conceived in Mary’s womb is God because He is called the Savior and there is no Savior other than God Himself.

B. He is called God with us.

Matthew gives us the name and the interpretation of the name in verse 23. Emmanuel means God with us. This child will be God in the flesh. This is the most amazing truth of Christianity. The hymn writer said

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail the incarnate deity

God wrapped Himself in human flesh so that humanity could look upon Him. Every child born is a new creature. Every child born comes into this world with no experiences at all. The first face they see is when they exit the womb.

That wasn’t the case with Jesus. Micah said a child would be born in Bethlehem who has existed for all eternity. Christ is the Ancient of Days. In John 8 Jesus was teaching the religious leaders some things about Abraham. They said mocking Jesus “You aren’t even fifty years old, have you seen Abraham?” He told the religious leaders “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58).

Jesus knew Moses

Jesus knew Abraham

Jesus knew David

He knows everyone and He knows everything. This is God with us. The Bible says the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. This shows the heart of God. God initiates salvation.

We did not send an Ambassador to God, He sent one to us. We did not send a Peacemaker to God, He sent one to us. We did not send a Lamb to God, He sent one to us.

The One He sent to us was God Himself.

C. He is also man.

This is the mystery of godliness. God took upon Himself a human nature. Christ was 100% Divine and 100 % human. We call this the hypostatic union. Jesus was one being who had both a divine and human nature. The wisdom of God is shown in that because of this amazing truth Jesus can both:

Represent man as a human.

Save man as God.

This is what we need to understand. Humans could have never produced a person like this on our own. Human beings cannot produce a divine being. Had God not became a human and entered the womb of Mary the world would have never had a Savior.

Perhaps someone will be born someday that discovers a cure for cancer.

Perhaps someone will be born someday that discovers a cure for Alzheimer disease.

Perhaps someone will be born someday that discovers a cure for COPD or HIV.

But it is impossible that anyone would ever be born who develops a cure for sin. This is no ordinary man. This is the God Man.

If God had come like He did in the garden with Adam and eve we would have all run and hidden.

If God had come like He did on Mount Sinai with Moses, we would have all wrapped our heads in a veil.

If God had come like He did in the Temple with Isaiah, we would have all fallen on our faces and said, “Woe is me!”

But God came as a baby. He grew into a man. We beheld His glory. Some in person. Some through Scripture. The virgin birth proves that God cares for us. If God had come to judge us, He would not have become a man. God came to save us. Thank God for that! The incarnation proves that God loves us and that He will save us from our sins. Has He saved you? Have you turned from your sins and to Christ? Is your faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ?