God with Us
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· 73 viewsJesus is "God with Us." What implications does that have today in your life? Join Pastor Steve as he looks at Matthew 1:18-25.
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
The Bible says in...
“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.”
That is a quotation from Isaiah 7:14 and Isaiah 8:8.
In this passage, Jesus is called “Immanuel” which means “God with us”
This is not the only title for Jesus
There are over 200 names and titles given in the Bible for Jesus
Some identify His nature, others identify His position in the Trinity while others identify His works
For example He is called:
Chief Cornerstone (Eph.2:20)
Firstborn over all creation (Col.1:15)
Head of the Church (Eph.1:22)
Holy and Righteous One (Acts 3:14)
Judge (Acts 10:42)
King of kings and Lord of lords (1 Tim.6:15)
Light of the world (Jn.8:12)
Prince of peace (Isa.9:6)
Son of God (Lk.1:35)
Son of man (Jn.5:27)
Word (Jn.1:1)
Word of Life (1 Jn.1:1)
These title talk about His nature
There are other titles that talk about His position in the Trinity:
He is called:
Alpha and Omega (Rev.1:8)
I AM (Jn.8:58)
Lord of all (Acts 10:36)
True God (1 Jn.5:20)
Other titles talk about His work on earth:
Author and Perfecter of our Faith (Heb.12:2)
Bread of Life (Jn.6:35)
Deliverer (Rom.11:36)
Good Shepherd (Jn.10:11)
High Priest (Heb.2:17)
Lamb of God (Jn.1:29)
Mediator (1 Tim.2:5)
Rock (1 Cor.10:4)
Resurrection and Life (Jn.11:25)
Savior (Mat.1:21)
True Vine (Jn.15:1)
Way, Truth, and Life (Jn.14:6)
All of these titles tell us who Jesus is
As Matthew 1:23 clearly states, He is “Immanuel, God with us”
All of these titles point to Jesus being God in the flesh
In John 1:1 He is called...
John 1:1 (NASB95)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Herbert Lockyer says, “Language has no meaning if these four words do not clearly teach that Christ is very God of very God.”
This is John’s theme—Jesus is the God-man—God manifest!
John uses the imperfect verb “was” to express the continuous existence of the Word as God. It could be read, “And the Word was always God.”
This phrase is “perhaps the clearest and most direct declaration for the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ to be found anywhere in Scripture” (MacArthur). Yet many heretical groups have twisted their meaning to support their false doctrines concerning the nature of Christ.
The Greek word theos (God) is in the anarthrous construction, meaning it is not preceded by the definite article. “Some argue that it is an indefinite noun and mistranslate the phrase, ‘the Word was divine’...or...the Word was a god.’”
“The absence of the article before theos...does not make it indefinite. Logos (Word) has the definite article to show that it is the subject of the sentence” (MacArthur).
So it is not “God was the Word” because “the Word,” not “God” is the subject and it would be theologically incorrect since it would equate God with the Word, thus denying that they are two separate persons.
John calls Jesus the Word again in verse 14...
14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
He uses the term a third time in...
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.
12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself.
13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.
These 3 passages with the names and titles just mentioned clearly reveal who Jesus is. He is “Immanuel, God with us.”
The text I read to you from Matthew 1:23 begins in verse 18.
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.
19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.
20 But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of 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 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
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 awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife,
25 but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.
This text gives us Matthew’s version of the events for the birth of Christ
It begins in verse 18, “Now the birth of Christ was as follows:”
It doesn’t give the angelic visit to Mary
But it does mention two times her being “with child by the Holy Spirit” (vv.18, 20) and states that this occurred “before they came together” (v.18)
The entire text is about Joseph her betrothed husband (vv.18-19) and his response to Mary’s pregnancy
The word “Betrothed” (mnesteuo), is translated “engaged” (Lk.1:27; 2:5)
They were not married but their engagement was as binding as “marriage”
Notice in verse 19 Joseph is called “her husband”
In verse 20, Mary is called Joseph’s “wife”
Betrothals or engagements were common among the Jews and were arranged by the parents
There was commonly an interval of ten or twelve months, among the Jews, between the contract of marriage and the celebration of the nuptials (see Ge. 24:55; Ju. 14:8; De. 20:7). (Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament: Matthew & Mark, ed. Robert Frew, (London: Blackie & Son, 1884–1885), 4–5.)
The only way the engagement could be broken was if there was infidelity
But such unfaithfulness was deadly
23 “If there is a girl who is a virgin engaged to a man, and another man finds her in the city and lies with her,
24 then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and you shall stone them to death; the girl, because she did not cry out in the city, and the man, because he has violated his neighbor’s wife. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you.
Verse 19 says that Matthew was a “righteous man”
As such he knew the Law and the punishment for adultery
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
10 ‘If there is a man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, one who commits adultery with his friend’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
Joseph loved Mary and did not want to “disgrace her” (v.19)
So he planned to “send her away privately” (v.19)
Lenski says, “Two courses were open to Joseph: the one harsher, to charge Mary with adultery and thus to make her a public example (παραδειγματίσαι), letting such Jewish law as was in force at that time take its course; the other course, far more gentle, was to make use of the lax divorce laws of the Jews and without charging her with any crime give Mary a letter of divorcement, stating the cause in a veiled way or stating none at all. Joseph resolved on the milder course.” (R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel, (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1961), 43.As he is considering this, “an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream” (v.20)
Before Joseph took any action, “an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream” (v.20)
Dreams were one of the ways that God communicated to people (Dan.7:1)
Here an angel communicates to Joseph in this way
After Jesus was born, there are two other occasions when an angel communicated with Joseph in a dream (Mat.2:13, 19)
According to Hebrews 1:14 angels are “ministering spirits sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation.”
In verses 20-23 the angel explains Mary’s pregnancy to Joseph in a dream
He first tells him not to “be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit” (v.20)
Mary had not been with any man and the angel confirms this
She was a virgin (Luke 1:34)
The child conceived in her is “of the Holy Spirit” (v.20)
“of” (ek) is a preposition of causation
Joseph wasn’t given any other explanation
He also didn’t know what the angel Gabriel said to Mary in Luke 1:35
35 The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.
The angel continues in verse 21 tEllington Joseph that Mary “will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
According to verses 24-25 Joseph believed the words of the angel
Going back to verse 21, we hear the purpose of Jesus’ birth, to “save His people from their sins.”
His name “Jesus” occurs 700 times in the Gospels, 100 times in the epistles and Revelation (Francis Derk, The Names of Christ, p.26). It is the Greek equivalent of Jehua, or Jehoshua, which means, “Jehovah (Yahweh) saves.”
Both His name and work of salvation reveals who He is
But first, verse 22 reveals that...
LESSON
LESSON
I. Jesus Fulfilled Prophecy (v.22)
I. Jesus Fulfilled Prophecy (v.22)
22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
What is the prophecy?
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.”
This is a quotation of Isaiah 7:14
It was given “700 years before Christ” (MacDonald)
It was originally “given to a child born in the time of Ahaz as a sign to the king that Judah would receive relief from attacks by Israel and Syria.
The name symbolized the fact that God would demonstrate his presence with his people in this deliverance.
The larger application…is that this is a prophecy of the birth of the incarnate God, Jesus the Messiah...” (Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, Baker encyclopedia of the Bible, 1988, 1, 1020).
There were a total of 333 prophecies about Christ in the Old and New Testament
109 were fulfilled at His first coming
224 will be fulfilled at His second coming
The name Immanuel is applied and fulfilled in Jesus 700 years later
Notice the prophecy says…
II. Jesus is Immanuel (v.23)
II. Jesus is Immanuel (v.23)
Matthew sees the bigger picture
Yes it applied to then but Matthew applies it to Jesus
There is no record of Christ ever being called “Immanuel” while on earth; He was always called “Jesus.” However, the meaning of the name Jesus implies the presence of God with us. (William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed. Arthur Farstad, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 1206).
But what is revealed about this prophecy is…
III. Jesus is God (v.23)
III. Jesus is God (v.23)
Matthew defines what the name Immanel means, ”God with us” and adds it to Isaiah 7:14
Scripture refers to Him as God
“God” (Rom.9:5)
1 I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit,
2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.
3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh,
4 who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises,
5 whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.
“Our God our Savior” (2 Pet.1:1)
2 Peter 1:1 (NASB95)
1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:
“The true God and eternal life” (1 Jn.5:20)
20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
“God” (Heb.1:8)
8 But of the Son He says,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom.
“Lord and God” (Jn.20:28)
“Our great God and Savior” (Tit.2:13)
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,
12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,
13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,
“God our Savior” (Tit.2:10)
10 not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.
YHWH (Rom.10:13; cf. Joel 2:32)
13 for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
32 “And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord
Will be delivered;
For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
There will be those who escape,
As the Lord has said,
Even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.
He is called God by Others
Thomas called Him “My Lord and my God” (Jn.20:28)
28 Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”
Paul said He was “God manifested in the flesh” (1 Tim.3:16)
16 By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness:
He who was revealed in the flesh,
Was vindicated in the Spirit,
Seen by angels,
Proclaimed among the nations,
Believed on in the world,
Taken up in glory.
John said “the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit...are one” (1 Jn.5:7)
God the Father called Him “God” in Heb.1:8
He refers to Himself as being God
He said that “God was His Father” (Jn.5:18)
18 For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
He said He was the “I AM” (Jn.8:58)
58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”
He said “I and My Father are One” (Jn.10:30)
30 “I and the Father are one.”
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
Some say He was just a good teacher, but good teachers don’t claim to be God.
Some say He was merely a good example, but good examples don’t mingle with prostitutes and sinners.
Some say He was a madman, but madmen don’t speak the way He spoke.
Some say He was a crazed fanatic, but crazed fanatics don’t draw children to themselves or attract men of intellect like Paul or Luke to be their followers.
Some say He was a religious phony, but phonies don’t rise from the dead.
Some say He was only a phantom, but phantoms can’t give their flesh and blood to be crucified.
Some say He was only a myth, but myths don’t set the calendar for history.
Jesus has been called the ideal man, an example of love, the highest model of religion, the foremost pattern of virtue, the greatest of all men, and the finest teacher who ever lived. All of those descriptions capture elements of His character, but they all fall short of the full truth. The apostle Thomas expressed it perfectly when he saw Jesus after His resurrection, and exclaimed, ‘My Lord and My God!’ (Jn.20:28).
There is no doubt that Jesus is God
His birth reveals it
His name reveals it
His titles reveal it
Others referred to Him as God
He referred to Himself as God
This is essential!
This is who we are calling people to believe in and call on
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.”
12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him;
13 for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Have you believed in Him?
Have you called on Him as Lord?
I urge you to call on Him now!
Let’s pray