Matthew 1:18-25 The Birth of the King

A couple of years ago, a sports reporter asked the coach of the Boston Celtics basketball team, Joe Mazzulla, to comment on what it was like to have the royal family in the building watching their NBA basketball game that evening. The reporter also asked if he had had the chance to meet them. Not mentioning names, the reporter was referring to the Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Kate, and there was a photo of them sitting on the side of this basketball game.

With a serious look, seemingly not knowing that the royal family was even in attendance, Joe Mazzulla said, "Oh, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph." The reporter, struggling to maintain composure, then referred to the Prince and Princess of Wales. Joe responded, "Oh, I didn't. I'm only familiar with one royal family. I don't know too much about that one."

Perhaps with that illustration, we actually learn all that Matthew really wants to communicate to us and accomplish from the outset of his gospel account: that we would become familiar with the royal family and that our focus would fall quickly upon the Saviour King, Jesus Christ. Here is the only royal family that has any real lasting importance in the world for all time beyond what we could ever comprehend.

In this morning's passage, we will see Matthew's emphasis on the divine origins of the birth of the Messiah King, Jesus. Even though Jesus shares with us in our flesh and blood, his conception in the womb of Mary was not as any normal person, but by the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit. This means our Saviour, the Lord, did not have an earthly father, only Joseph by adoption.

To impress upon you the divine responsibility behind the arrival of Christ, I want you to notice a clue that Matthew left for us in the genealogy we looked at last week, which drives us towards the importance and significance of the miraculous conception. The clue is found in Matthew 1:11; it is a name mentioned twice, actually, in verses eleven and twelve: Jeconiah, Jeconiah. It's a clue Matthew leaves behind for us.

You see, leading into the Babylonian exile of the southern kingdom Judah, Jeconiah, or sometimes called Coni, was the final king of Judah. Famously, Jeconiah was an evil king for his sin. He had a curse placed upon his line with a promise that none of his descendants, none of his flesh and blood, would ever sit on the Davidic throne. In Jeremiah 22, we read these words: Jeremiah 22:29. "Thus says the Lord: write this man down childless, a man who will not prosper in his days, for no man of his descendants will prosper sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah."

And so Matthew makes very clear at the beginning of his gospel that while Jesus is very much connected to the house of David through his father Joseph, Joseph is not his biological father, but only his father by adoption. Because Joseph is a descendant from the line of Jeconiah, if Joseph was the biological father of Jesus, it would disqualify him immediately from his title of Messiah and of rightful heir to the throne.

So Matthew raises this issue in his genealogy but then immediately solves it. For Jesus is not Joseph's biological son, nor can it be said that Jesus' father is some unknown man. For Jesus was born by divine conception, thereby avoiding Jeconiah's bloodline. His legal connection to the throne of David through Joseph was by adoption only. This is all that Matthew is trying to drive us to comprehend.

And if you are familiar with Luke's genealogy in Luke 3, we further learn that Jesus is also a descendant of David through his mother's side, and that biologically. In Luke 3, Luke sticks to the typical Jewish format of a genealogy. He uses Joseph's name, but as scholars tell us and as I understand, Luke is referring to Mary's line through the name of her husband.

For Mary's line descends through Nathan, one of David's other sons, and not through King Solomon, which would lead to the cursed line of Jeconiah. Therefore, Matthew is drawing our attention to consider the divine origins of Jesus' conception. The central theme of the text is that the birth of Jesus the King aligns with the messianic hope of Israel, and his arrival is the result of God's doing, not through ordinary human means. God's name alone would be written over the story of the coming of the Son of God.

It lays the foundation for our Christian confession that Christ possessed both a human nature and a divine nature, and we call that the hypostatic union of Christ: two natures in one man. So the application of this passage to all of us will be an overflow of the divine origins of Christ into the secondary thrust of this passage, for as the angel of the Lord will tell Joseph, Jesus' coming is stated unequivocally to be for the purpose of being a Saviour for the sins of his people.

So I could have put the title that is on the screen there accurately as the birth of the Saviour King. If you understand him only as the King of Israel, you have yet to even come to the foothills of the purpose for which Christ came, and that is to be a Saviour for the sins of his people. Of all the things that there are to know and love and appreciate about Jesus Christ, the angel knew of the grand cause for which he was coming, announcing to Joseph through veiled revelation as to how it would be so that this child was coming to die for the sins of his people: one who would fulfil the types and shadows of the Old Testament sacrificial system and make the first and only true atonement for sin of all time.

This shows us that not only is it important we recognise the miraculous conception of Christ in the virgin birth, but also the reason why he came, the reason why that divine origin was so important, and thereby ask the all-important question ourselves: do I personally know this Saviour King for my own? Is he my Saviour for sins or will I disregard him?

So moving into the biblical text, what we have in Matthew is the birth of Christ through the eyes of Joseph. If you read Luke's Gospel, it is very much through the eyes of Mary. But Matthew gives us these events through the eyes of Joseph, and so the three headings that I have just to work through the biblical text are concerning Joseph.

Joseph's Distress

And so the first heading is this: Joseph's distress, Joseph's distress, verses eighteen to nineteen. I often think that at Christmas time it is one of the most stressful times of the year for many people, particularly for the women hosting large extended families. I have watched women over my life work tirelessly in the kitchen, usually for two or three days straight, and it is a stressful time for them. Sometimes they just want it all to be over, and understandably so.

The build-up to the first Christmas day was also stressful, and it was stressful for both Mary and Joseph. Their entire lives were abruptly and violently turned upside down. In fact, from Joseph's point of view, the crisis of Christmas is that he learns that his bride-to-be is already pregnant, that he is going to have a baby, and that his bride-to-be is already pregnant. It is Joseph's dilemma; it is as much Joseph's distress. That is how you understand why he is feeling this way.

Mary and Joseph have been engaged to each other, or betrothed in marriage, and this is a far deeper connection already than modern-day engagement as we understand it. They had not yet come together, but they were considered legally married. Betrothal in this first-century context was legally binding at this point already, though they had not yet come together officially. Joseph discovers, or learns rather, that Mary is pregnant.

This would be an arranged marriage. It is possible they had not even spent any time together at this point. It is quite possible that Mary is in no position to be able to talk Joseph through all that has been revealed to her already. At this point in time, before Mary fell pregnant, the angel of the Lord had of course told her that she would be pregnant by the Holy Spirit. But Joseph is unaware of this. Remember that Mary, having learned from the Holy Spirit she was to be with child, has hurried off to the hill country to see her cousin Elizabeth, of course.

In Luke's Gospel, we read, the angel answered her and said, "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." Behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age. And she who was barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing will be impossible with God. That was John the Baptist, of course. And Mary said, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word." The angel departed from her.

Now at this time, Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country to a city of Judah and entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. So Mary has taken flight after this news. She has gone. The Child Christ is now in her womb by divine conception. This presents Joseph, as he learns this news, with two options in accordance with Jewish law: his first option is to take legal action, judicial action against Mary; or secondly, he can hand her a bill of divorce. Deuteronomy outlines the process for both of those. He has the choice to peacefully end her marriage without resorting to the legal system.

Joseph's inclination is to shield his future bride from the shame, ridicule, and embarrassment that she would face if discovered pregnant outside of marriage, a crime that was strictly punishable by death in the Old Testament. Yet, it was unlikely it was enforced in such a way in these times in Israel. We are told that Joseph is a righteous man, verse nineteen. That is to say, he is a God-fearing man. He is a man himself who would be eagerly awaiting the time of promise when God would send the Messiah into the world to fulfil the Abrahamic covenant, the Davidic covenant that Matthew has told us about already at the beginning in verse one.

So Joseph truly knew that the Saviour was coming. He knew the Gospel that we understand with greater clarity on this side of the cross already. As the Apostle Paul writes, the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "All the nations will be blessed in you." The hope of the Old Testament saints was for the coming of the one to whom it could be said and fulfilled: all the nations will be blessed in him. That was Joseph's hope as a righteous man. The prospect of a coming Messiah for the righteous was always a profound reason to hope in God's salvation. But Joseph could have never realised just how much his life was about to change with the coming of Jesus.

Joseph's Dream

The second heading is Joseph's dream, verses 20 to 23. We do not know exactly how long this distress lasted, whether it was weeks, days, or months. We do not know. Again, as I said, we do not know whether he had the opportunity to talk to Mary to hear her account of these events. The Lord sends relief while he is asleep. God opens the expanse of his mind in a dream, and he consciously finds himself in the presence of the angelic witness.

This was no ordinary dream for Joseph. I like how Calvin helps us on this point in his commentary. He says, "We must understand that dreams of this sort differ widely from natural dreams, for they have a character of certainty engraven on them and are impressed with a divine seal so that there is not the slightest doubt of their truth." Joseph's dream essentially has three outcomes. First, the angel of the Lord assures him that he must not be afraid to take Mary as his wife. Second: why? Because the child conceived in her is of the Spirit of God and not by any other man. Third, not only is the origin of this child revealed to him, but in fact the purpose for which God is doing these things is revealed; this will be a boy who is coming to, as a man, be a saviour for his people.

Can you imagine the shock for Joseph? It is shock number two really. The first shock was finding out about Mary's pregnancy. The second shock is the angelic witness. I mean, the angel says to him, "Do not be afraid." He has already been terrified of the fact that his bride, whom he loves and is looking forward to marrying, is already pregnant; the angel says do not be afraid, you can take her for your wife. The angel tells Joseph he has been processing this whole situation all wrong, and undoubtedly Joseph knows something of what this all means.

The angel has revealed enough to him that he knows all the promises of God concerning the messianic child are about to come to pass, and he is going to be intimately involved in the whole ordeal. So whether this is Joseph's relief or still Joseph's dilemma part two all over again, we cannot know other than to note that shortly after he wakes up from this dream, he will exhibit his obedience and faith and follow the word of the Lord.

The one promised in ancient scriptures, even from the very fall of man in the garden, will soon be cradled in the arms of Joseph, rocked by him to sleep at night. He will be the first with Mary to hear his first words, alongside him in Joseph's carpentry workshop in Nazareth. If Joseph had the ability to perceive all that the angel was telling him and the significance of what was about to take place, we do rightly question whether it was really relief to him. But that is how it is for all of us when we come to Christ, is it not? There is no life that comes to Christ that is not drastically uprooted and disturbed. Once Christ comes into your life, nothing is ever the same; and so it is with Joseph. His role to play as the adopted father of the Messiah was to drastically change the entire outlook of his life until he would pass.

You see, a true encounter with Jesus never leaves you the same. At this point, Matthew adds his first quotation in his gospel. Matthew is famous for his use of the Old Testament and particularly this phrase that he will use over and over again to the effect of verse 22. Now all this took place to fulfil; in Matthew's gospel, it is essentially the life of Christ to fulfil, to fulfil, to fulfil, to fulfil. This is the Christ of promise, the Christ of ancient scripture.

Here we have this first notice of fulfilment and an Old Testament quotation to follow. Matthew's selected text here is from Isaiah 7. I did quite a lot of reading on his use of it. There are a number of sermons to preach simply on how Matthew is using this text and even looking at how it appears in the original context of Isaiah. It is as profound as it is a mystery of how to understand how this passage in Isaiah 7:14 applies in both its original context and the way that Matthew uses it.

We do not need to bring any confusion, for there is a simple level to it that can preach. In the original context, Isaiah spoke these things to the wicked king of Judah, King Ahaz. In the original context, there was tremendous anxiety over the survival of the kingdom of Judah and thereby the covenant promises of God bound up in the survival of that dynasty of David.

Isaiah was sent to the wicked king Ahaz, the king of Judah, to admonish him and call him to put his trust in the Lord God and not be concerned about the threat of a coalition between King Pekah, the king of the northern kingdom in Israel, who was trying to make a coalition with the king of Syria, King Rezin. This coalition, it would seem, would come together and then they would wipe out the southern kingdom and install their own king in their place. If that was to occur, then the promises of God would be wiped out and the Davidic dynasty would be no more.

Isaiah the prophet goes to King Ahaz and condemns him for trying to form a coalition of his own with the king of Assyria, not Syria. Even that Ahaz had the gumption to ask for a sign of God's protective care, as if he deserved that, the wicked king that he was. So Isaiah says to Ahaz with indignation that the sign he would receive would be the Lord's sign, one that Ahaz would never be clear about. So Isaiah says then, Isaiah 7:14, "Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call his name Emmanuel."

There is a lot that could be said there; so it is a condemnation, it is a reminder to King Ahaz that God is the one who watches over his word to perform it. Ahaz should not be concerned about any potential coalition between the northern kingdom and the king of Syria that would threaten to wipe them out; if God watches over his word to perform it, then this messianic child promised already would come, and Isaiah reaffirms the fact.

So in the prophetic eye of Isaiah, because it is a text that has application in the original context, he describes something future as if it were already present; so certain are the promises of God, and it tells us that God always watches over his word to perform it.

Joseph's Obedience

Joseph's obedience is seen very briefly, and then we will make a few applications: verses 24 and 25 show Joseph's obedience. He awakes; we do not hear what he says, only what he does. Remember when Abraham awoke and immediately went to carry out and fulfil what the Lord had told him to do concerning taking Isaac to Mount Moriah? We see this in Joseph, a man of action. In obedience, he takes Mary in marriage, thereby accepting the call to father this child born of the Holy Spirit and the Lord. He also names him Jesus, as it says in verse 25, an appropriate name. Remember how we have looked at this: the name Jesus, coming from the Hebrew and Joshua, means Yahweh delivers; God saves, communicating exactly what he would be born to accomplish.

#1 At the Intersection Of Two Paths

Let's make some application points here. The first is this: Joseph stood at the intersection of two roads. He considered first sending Mary away; remember, he was pondering these things in his heart, considering them, and he thought perhaps to protect her, "I'll send her away". But the Lord commanded him to receive Christ, to receive Mary into his home, to be a father to the Messiah, though via adoption. We all stand at a similar crossroad regarding Christ. Will we follow the Lord's command concerning the Saviour King Jesus? Each of us in our lives must arrive at a certain point where we hit the signpost: the narrow way or the broad way; and the scripture says that the broad way leads to everlasting destruction, and the narrow way, which is to follow Christ, to repent of your sins and put your faith in the Messiah, is the narrow way, and there are few who find it.

The Lord Jesus said, "Where do we arrive at this crossroad?" Has Christ come into our lives just as he did for Joseph? Joseph had to put himself on that narrow way and awake and follow in obedience what the Lord had commanded him. So Christ too commands us: repent and believe the gospel.

#2 A Comfort To All Believers

The second application is this: it is a comfort to all believers. Just as Joseph and Mary, we can be assured that those situations that are most perplexing to us are in God's hands. Some of you have lived almost three times my lifespan; you have been in many situations which have appeared to you as infinitely complex, perplexing to the mind, unexplainable. Our doctrine of the sovereignty of God over all things, the doctrine of providence, must guide us in such situations. These situations are not outside God's sovereignty or purposes, and he means them for the Christian's ultimate good. Look at how disturbed the life of Joseph became all of a sudden; yet God was in it, God was behind it. The same thing for Mary. She would have been a teenager; an angel of the Lord visits her, tells her she is going to be pregnant outside of marriage, and this child is going to be of the Holy Spirit. Can you imagine the emotions that run over such a young girl?

This is how it is in our lives sometimes, and we have to learn how to trust in the Lord's providence: that he is the one in ultimate control, and surrender as we put our head on the pillow each night, knowing that he is in control. Those things outside of us are outside of us but not of him. Awake and simply obey, and go in faith each day. Charles Spurgeon has this amazing quote; he says, "I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less than God's wishes." How is that for a quote?

#3 Radical Change

The third application is this: it is not possible to embrace Christ and not see your life radically changed at the same time, just like Joseph and Mary. To have Christ in your life is for him to become all of your life. This was a child that, for Joseph, meant adopting radical change. Joseph fades into, then out of the picture in the gospels; he is mentioned one or two other times, and then he fades away. Perhaps he was an older man; we are not sure exactly. Perhaps he dies; it is possible. But his life from then on would be completely changed, and it will be the same for you.

But the angel says to Joseph, as to us, do not fear. Do not fear getting on the narrow way and following Christ; it is the way that leads to everlasting life. After all, Jesus said, "Oh yes, it's going to be difficult; it's going to be hard; there's going to be suffering; you're going to have to die to self, pick up your cross, and follow Christ; but you're losing nothing. This life is like a blip, and you'll find yourself in the presence of God forever, an everlasting life; so follow him, embrace that disturbance that following Christ brings, the scorn of people in the world laughing at you, mocking you with their subtle undertones of, 'Oh, your religion, your Jesus.'" Embrace it, accept it.

I wish that at Christmas time, especially as this narrative becomes so important to us, the birth of Christ, that Christmas would disturb many more souls. I wonder whether the material, earthly stresses of the Christmas holiday distract the world from ever pausing to consider the implications of the incarnation: the coming of God to dwell amongst us, his perfect life under the law, his atonement for our sins when he died on the cross. God has invaded our world, but who is paying attention? Who is taking notice? How many will say the Redeemer is here? How many will pledge their loyalties to the King of all eternity? Embrace the disturbance of following Christ.

The Greater Miracle

The final application is this: to truly understand the divine origins of Christ is not simply to confess you believe in the virgin birth, but to acknowledge in your heart the greater miracle that God in Christ has made a way for the sins of his people to be forgiven and paid in full. This is the miracle; the great conundrum of scripture has been solved: holy God, sinful man, righteous, everlasting, without iniquity, without spot, without stain; a holy God reconciling himself to this creature of the dirt who defies the everlasting creator God. It is the miracle of miracles; God has performed it on your behalf.

Christ came as a saviour for his people's sins. Matthew is now pointing us, taking us to the latter chapters, where we see this Messiah, this child, Christ as a man raised upon a cross of crucifixion, undergoing the judgment as a man on behalf of his people. This is the beauty of the gospel. I trust, as we have opened for a second time now the account of our King, that you have been encouraged afresh in him.