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Matthew 1:21, She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.
Without Christmas, there’s no Easter. Without the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the only person in history who was and still is truly God and truly man, the death of the man Christ Jesus would be just another Roman crucifixion. To deny the virgin birth of Christ is to deny Christianity. You cannot be a Christian and reject the truths of the incarnation of the second person of the Godhead. The baby in Mary’s womb was miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit. The Word became human flesh. Matthew’s Gospel begins the unfolding of this incredible story of Christmas. The angel told Joseph to call Mary’s Son “Jesus,” which means Jehovah saves or Jeshua. He will certainly save. Call Him Jesus because He will save His people from their sins.
But why these two young people and why here and now? Christmas teaches us that God is in control and God keeps His promises. Through all the long and winding centuries of history, God has His sovereign and powerful hand firmly on every minute, every moment. He has a love-driven redemptive plan of grace that He is working out for His glory and the blessing of His people. So let’s take a look at His sovereign plan unfolding.
GOD’S PLAN UNFOLDING
Let’s go back to verse 1 in this great first chapter of Matthew:
Matthew 1:1, The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:
This is the striking way the New Testament begins. For most people it is not very exciting; but if you know your Old Testament, this is very exciting. First, God makes sure we know that He is in control of every birth. No one is an accident, even those born out of wedlock. How do we know? Because right here in this genealogy there are people born out of wedlock, and yet they are in the line of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
In verse one the NASB translates Christ as Messiah, which means “anointed One.” Jesus is the Messiah, anointed by the Spirit as Prophet, Priest, and King. Matthew wrote this genealogy to show Messiah’s royal lineage. But why does Matthew begin with the birth record of David and Abraham? Matthew was writing especially to the Jews. He emphasized all the fulfilled prophecies in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ. Abraham lived 2000 years before Jesus was born. And God is telling us right here, regardless of the passing of time, He is working out His redemptive plan. God will fulfill every one of His promises.
SON OF DAVID
Why David? Remember that Davidic covenant we mentioned last week? Look at verse 20 – Joseph, son of David! Joseph wasn’t in the biological line of Jesus. Verse 16 tells us this. It doesn’t say, “Joseph was the father of Jesus.”
Matthew 1:16, Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.
You have the same thing in Luke.
Luke 3:23, When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son of Eli,
It is amazing how the Spirit of God flawlessly preserves the record of the virgin birth of Jesus through Mary, whose biological line does go back all the way to Adam. But Joseph was in the royal line of David so that Jesus was born as the rightful heir of David. God promised David his seed would sit on his throne forever. God keeps His promise.
SON OF ABRAHAM
But Matthew doesn’t begin his genealogy with David, but with Abraham who lived 1000 years before David! Why Abraham? God promised in Genesis 3:15 that the Seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head. That was the first great promise of Christ the Redeemer – called the protoevangelium. And from the time God made that promise, He kept tracking that promised Seed down through Seth, Enoch, Methuselah, Noah, Shem, Eber, Peleg, Nahor, Terah, and finally Abram. Then God called Abram from Ur and Haran to move with Sarah and Lot into the land of Canaan, the land He would later promise to Abram forever in Genesis 17:7-8.
Here’s where it really gets exciting. The Old Testament scriptures show how God was monitoring and overruling every birth from the beginning, and then in Genesis 12:1-3 He calls Abram, a Semite (from Shem) to this land and promises him three things: Land, Seed, and Blessing (LSB). This is the unconditional Abrahamic Covenant with those three steel-girder promises that support God’s redeeming plan through the rest of the Bible, all the way to Revelation.
This is why Matthew started his genealogy with Abraham. Out of all the land masses on planet earth, God promised Abraham the land of Canaan and God hasn’t reneged on that promise to this day. He promised Abraham a seed and the rest of the Old Testament tracks this seed of Abraham through Isaac (not Ishmael) and Jacob (not Esau) and then Judah. Remember Jesus is called the Lion from the tribe of Judah in Revelation 5:5. And Satan has been working hard to extinguish this seed in hopes that God’s promise will never be fulfilled – for example in Herod’s slaughter of all the boys under two in Bethlehem after the Magi left (Matthew 2:16). But Satan will never succeed. Through this seed of Abraham came the blessing of salvation for the world. God guided this sacred genealogy through the next 2000 years right up to Joseph and Mary’s doorstep. Christmas is a spectacular, glorious story!
Matthew tracks Abraham’s seed all the way to David 1000 years later (Matthew 1:6), and then through another 1000 years to Joseph, son of Jacob (in Matthew 1:16). What does all this mean? I’m borrowing thoughts from a sermon by Martyn Lloyd-Jones that he preached on Christmas Eve 1961. What is the Christmas message to you? Here it is. God keeps His promises. He kept His promise in Genesis 3:15 of a coming Redeemer and records his lineage through those winding years and centuries down to Abraham, down to David, and now through Joseph to Mary. God’s promises never fail. Christmas demonstrates this great truth. God promised that head-crushing Redeemer in the very beginning, and then He promised the Redeemer through Abraham and David, and now here is the Redeemer, conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary’s womb, born of the virgin Mary! God always keeps His promises! That’s one of the great messages of Christmas – you can believe every one of God’s promises. They are always true.
SIN DID NOT STOP GOD’S PROMISE
Did God choose perfect people to be in this genealogy? Not even close. Before we get to verse 21 in Matthew, notice even sin did not stop God’s promise. God’s promise didn’t depend on man; it depends on His own sovereign, gracious character. This may be confusing, but if you open your Bible and take notes, you can get it. (By the way, someone reminded me last week that some of the coolest guys in our church take notes, not just the ladies. So guys, if you want to be cool…just saying.) In Matthew 1:3 lists Perez and Zerah. Who are these guys?
Matthew 1:3, Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram.
How did these two enter the Redemptive line? By Tamar. Who was Tamar? She was Judah’s daughter-in-law, wife to his son Er. He was very wicked and God killed him before having a child. His brother Onan refused to marry Tamar, so God killed him. In order to continue the line of her husband, Tamar posed as a prostitute to seduce Judah and behold, she became pregnant with twins: Perez and Zerah. This is the same Perez who appears in verse 3 in the line of the Messiah. God used Tamar’s deception and seduction and Judah’s immoral behavior in this line of the Messiah! Can you believe it? He used sinners to bring in our Redeemer, our Savior. Jesus didn’t come to save righteous people. He came to save sinners.
There’s more. Matthew 1:5 lists Boaz as the child of the prostitute, Rahab of Jericho. In the same verse you have Ruth the Moabite, whose people came from the incestuous relations of Lot by his daughters. Boaz married Ruth, and Ruth had Obed, the father of Jesse in verse 6, who was the father of David. Are you following?
But we’re still not done with this amazing but sordid record. David lived about 1000 BC. Check out verse six.
Matthew 1:6, Jesse was the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah.
Do you see it? Solomon by Bathsheba! Remember, Joseph is to call Mary’s child Jesus. Why? He would save His people from their sins. He came to save sinners, people who were wicked and violators of God’s law. God makes sure Uriah’s name is memorialized in this genealogy of Israel’s Messiah King. David’s child from adultery with Bathsheba died but God still used David’s marriage to Bathsheba to further His promise of Abraham’s seed to bless the world through Solomon. (2 Samuel 12:24) . David confessed in Psalm 51:4, “Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.”
So this record is a record of sinners, all the way. By the way, we are all sinners. You’re a sinner and I’m a sinner. There is none righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10). And there are more grievous sinners in the list: idolaters, polygamists, murderers, child sacrificers. They were all sinners, just like us. This genealogy does more than connect the royal line of David down to the son of David. It exposes the corruption of the human race for all to see and shows God’s sovereign provision of a Redeemer to save His people. God poured out mercy and grace and forgiveness on people who deserve death and wrath. All have sinned and come short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). There is none good, not one. He will save His people from their sins, including his own ancestors. This is the great story of Christmas, the story of God’s sovereign grace, mercy, and love for sinners. The Redeemer has come.
GOD SENT US A SAVIOR
God didn’t send us a self-help program.
–Jesus didn’t come to tell us how wonderful we are; to tell us we can make it if we try, to try harder, or that God helps those who help themselves.
–He didn’t come to boost our self-esteem or to cheer us on in our pursuit of pleasure and self-pleasing.
–He didn’t come as a philosopher, a therapist, or a success guru.
–He didn’t come to assure us that God accepts us no matter who we are or what we do.
–He didn’t come to tell us to imagine there’s no heaven or hell and that all religions are equally valid.
No, God sent us a Savior to save us from our sins.
Matthew 1:20, 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.
Joseph was in a dilemma. He was a godly man betrothed (engaged) to a young Jewess. Betrothal in that day was as binding as marriage and lasted a year. The only way to dissolve a betrothal was by divorce. Now here’s Mary, showing sure signs of being with child. Joseph was crushed that she had been unfaithful to him, or at least that’s what he thought. Joseph was godly and also kindhearted, so somehow he was going to send her away secretly. We don’t know exactly what that means, but he probably wanted to somehow spare her public shame and potential punishment quietly for what he believed was adultery. But then God comes to Joseph in a dream just in time, as God is prone to do, and sends an angel to reveal what has really happened with Mary.
The angel assures Joseph of this unique conception. This is God’s Son entering into the human race, through virgin conception, through the power of the Spirit. This is the Redeemer Savior, the God-Man, the only One who can save sinners. He’s called the second Adam in 1 Corinthians 15:22, “As in Adam all die, in Christ all will be made alive.” “The first man Adam became a living soul” (1 Corinthians 15:45). The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. Romans 5:14 says the first Adam was a type of this second Adam. The first Adam represented the entire human race bringing the curse of sin, death, and condemnation to all people. The second Adam represented all who would believe on Him, bringing justification, eternal life, the abundance of grace, and the gift of righteousness, to reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
Here is God’s assuring message to Joseph.
Matthew 1:21, She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
First: Mary will miraculously bear a Son.
Second: Joseph was to call Him Jesus, which means Jehovah saves.
Third: Jesus’ purpose was to save Hs people from their sins – all of them.
He didn’t come to try to save His people from their sin – Jesus will save His people from their sins. He won’t save His people from their sin if they cooperate and choose to be saved first – no, Jesus alone will save His people from their sins. He won’t save everyone from their sin – Jesus will save His people from their sin. Who are His people? John 6:37 tells us, “All that the Father gives to me will come to Me.” His people are all the elect, chosen sinners that the Father predestined to be His people. And what happens when they come to Him? Jesus said, “The one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out.” He saves them, no question about it. He will save His people from their sin.
But how will He save them from their sin? Jesus will be born without a sin nature. He’ll live a perfect, sinless life, and then in submission to the Father’s will, He’ll deliver Himself up to be crucified on a Roman cross. There He will pay the ransom, the price, the punishment for the sins of all those for whom He came. He will pay for their sins in full. He will satisfy God’s wrath against their sins. He’ll die, be buried, and rise again for our sins. Jesus will save His people from the penalty of sin by taking our sins and giving us His righteousness – that’s the believer’s justification. He’ll save us from the power of sin by sending His Spirit to indwell us and enable us to overcome sin – that’s the believer’s sanctification. He’ll save us from the very presence of sin – that’s the believer’s coming glorification!
This is the Christmas message. Christmas is not just a story to make us feel warm and cozy and enjoy time with family and friends, although that’s all good and wonderful. The Christmas message is that God fulfilled His promise and sent us a Savior and Redeemer to rescue us from our corrupt, wicked hearts. No wonder God told Joseph and Mary to call their child Jesus. What is man’s greatest need? What is your greatest need? Our greatest need is salvation from the curse of sin, from the guilt of sin, from the punishment of sin. That’s why we have Christmas. Christmas is God’s gracious answer to man’s wicked sin…our promised Redeemer is born! God faithfully over thousands of years kept his promise to bless the nations through Abraham’s seed and David’s seed, and finally through Mary’s miracle child, Jesus, the Savior and Redeemer came to save His people from their sin.
THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL
Matthew wrote especially to convince the Jews that this Jesus was their Messiah. So he adds the prophecy from Isaiah 7:14.
Matthew 1:22-23, 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.”
God gave this promise 700 years earlier through Isaiah (Isaiah 7:14). Remember, God always keeps His promises. “Behold” means look, see, listen up, this is important, don’t miss this. God promised a Son through a virgin. We now know that virgin was Mary. But let His name and title Immanuel sink into our hearts. What does it mean? God with us! No matter where you go or what you’re going through, you have this promise that in Jesus Christ your Savior, you have God with you. He even promised before He ascended to heaven in Matthew 28:20, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Those are the last words in Matthew’s Gospel.
J. C. Ryle wrote that Immanuel promises to be with us “daily to pardon and forgive; with us daily to sanctify and strengthen; with us daily to defend and keep; with us daily to lead and to guide; with us in sorrow, and with us in joy; with us in sickness and with us in health; with us in life and with us in death; with us in time and with us in eternity.”
Charles Wesley included this great truth in his Christmas hymn “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.”
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; Hail the incarnate Deity,
Pleased as Man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel [God with us.]
Here’s the perfect conclusion to this great chapter.
Matthew 1:24-25, 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.
SO WHAT?
Remember, without Christmas there’s no Easter. Without the virgin birth there’s no Savior. Without the incarnation of Christ we’re still in our sin. Christmas is a time to remember and celebrate that Jesus, our Redeemer and Savior, came to save His people from their sins. Have you asked Him to save you from your sins? If not, do it now.