Matthew 1:1
“The Book of Jesus, The King”
1 Son of David, Son of Abraham,
Intro.
It is in many ways fitting that we start the book of Matthew after we have just completed Genesis, as these are perhaps the two key books in the Bible. This book bridges the gap between the O.T. and the N.T. The O.T. is quoted or alluded to 129 times. In the final two verses of the final chapter of the O.T. We are told by the prophet Malachi that the Lord “will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.” Between this event spoken by these words, 400 years of silence as far as scripture is concerned have passed. The world has changed from being ruled by the Medo-Persian Empire through the Grecian world dominance to now the Roman period to which the N.T. is written. Radical changes have taken place in God’s people Israel as well; they have gone from idolatry to legal holiness as the law becomes an idol to them.
The language changes from Hebrew to Aramaic to Greek. The nation is ruled without Rome, ruled within by warring political factions (Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, and the Herodians). Literary activity has increased, and the scriptures have been translated by six members of each of the twelve tribes called the Septuagint to the Greek language, as most spoken and read it above their native language. With that introduction as to the timing of this book, let me move on now to the author and reasons for it’s writing. Without tipping my opinion yet, we can clearly see that whoever wrote this book had to be from the area, as he was acquainted with the geography of the region.
He had to be Jewish, as he was familiar with the history, customs, and classes of the Jewish people, as well as the fact that he knew the O.T. He had to be familiar with money, as he uses terms for money that no other N.T. writer uses, he was familiar with accounting procedures, as he refers to them with special words not used elsewhere.
Who then fits those criteria for writing this book? Matthew! To further bolster this position, it has been held by all from the first 4 centuries, to by none other than the Apostle Matthew, this being so it is the only book out of the synoptic gospel written by an apostle, John was, but it is not a synoptic (to see together) gospel. I will go out on a limb and suggest to you that I believe that it is the first gospel written and not Mark as many have said, and it could have been written as early as 50 to 70 AD. Most of the reasons for putting Mark in front of Matthew are based upon the opinion that Jesus could not have predicted the fall of Jerusalem, which, as he writes, is still standing at 24:15, 27:8, 28:15, and Mark 13:14. Not to mention that Matthew was an eyewitness of the events of this book; in fact, it was at his house that a banquet was held (9:9–13); why would he borrow from Mark?
Truth be told, Mark was considered to come from Matthew until the early part of the 19th century. So who was this tax collector, slash disciple of the Lord? Well, we will read of that later on in chapter 9, but let me just tell you he is called Levi in both Luke and Mark, and it is an interesting personal touch in the book that bears his name, changes it to Matthew, and he no longer goes by Levi.
From the moment he opens his heart to Jesus, at His words “follow me,” he is forever changed. He then opened his home for that banquet I mentioned, and from there he was used by the Lord to write this gospel. Note: I like that! We are forever wishing we had the talents of others, striving to be like “Mike” or someone else, but God takes us right where we are and uses the talents He has given us. With Moses it was his staff, David it was his slingshot, Peter was a fisherman, and Jesus made him a fisherman of man.
Matthew is a tax collector, good at keeping records; his tool was a pin, and you see God puts him to work with that pin. We can often get a picture as to the reason for writing by doing a word study or a phrase study to see how many times these are repeated. If you did so, you would find, as I did, that he uses the words “might be fulfilled” some 15 times, the word “spoken” in reference to the O.T. The Prophet is mentioned 15 times, “kingdom of heaven” occurs 32 times, and the word “kingdom” occurs 56 times.
So what does this show us? Matthew’s main theme is to show Jesus as the fulfillment of O.T. prophecy, in other words He is the long-hoped-for King, the Messiah, thus, as John the Baptist and Jesus both said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” As Matthew pens this book, he is not so interested in presenting a chronological order as he is that Jesus is the Messiah, thus he presents this book topically. There are five main sections in this book, each having a body of teaching (discourse), how Jesus worked that out practically (demonstration), and how the people responded to the above (debate).
There are many ways to outline this book, but the one that seems the best I have stole from John Courson, where he divides it the following way:
I.) Chapters 1-10, The King Revealed. Here he writes about the Kingdom and the King
2) Chapters 11–13: The King Resisted. This is the section where we see the opposition to Jesus.
3.) Chapters 14-20, The King Retreating. Here we see Jesus take His disciples and pull them away for personal instruction.
4.) Chapters 21-27: The King Rejected. This is where the people say that they don’t want Jesus over them. (
5.) Chapter 28: The King Resurrected. Here we see the King victorious in the beginning of His kingdom.
Son of David Son of Abraham, As we start this section of genealogy, 1-17, I have divided it into three sections, and we shall see that Jesus’ birth answers the failures of each of these so-called 14 generations. Why do we look at another genealogy? Simple, because the whole accuracy of the claim of Christ rests upon the fact that Jesus is from Abraham and David. Note: The words “The book of the generation…” appear only one other time in the Bible, which is Gen. 5:1, where we are given the generations of the sons of Adam. All of us are in the family of Adam; how did you get into that family? Why, you were born into it, and you know what we have taken on his characteristics; furthermore, we are told that in Rom. 5:12 that because of our likeness to him we all die.
Adam’s record is a record of death. So how do you get into the family of Jesus? Why, the same way, you are born into it by new birth, John 1:13, 3:3. It is God’s desire that all of mankind can be born into this “new family,” but He won’t force you; it’s your choice!
Note: We are right here told that “Jesus Christ is the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” Why does Matthew tell us that? Well, every king must be able to show that he has the right to be king, which has to be passed on through the ancestors. What Matthew does here is show that Jesus is the rightful heir royally through God’s promise to David in 2 Sam. 7:12-16, where God says through Nathan, “I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.”
He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son.You say, “Now, wait a minute here. Didn’t Matthew know that Abraham came before David, and didn’t Solomon fulfill this prophecy? ”Yes, Matthew did know that Abraham came before David, but he seeks to establish Jesus as the One whom the Kingdom of Heaven on earth will be established.
Solomon was to some degree the fulfillment of this prophecy, for he did build a temple. His name meant “peaceful,” and that was true of his reign; his two great works were that of wisdom and the building of the temple. But with that said, his story and reign are one of great disappointment and failure.
The key thing about David was his obedience to the Lord; this is seen in the closeness of his walk with Him. We are told in Acts 13:22 that “David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.” That was not what we see in Solomon, his son, but it is true of Jesus, “the Son of David.” Notice as well that the word “seed” is used, not “seeds.” In other words, this is speaking of Jesus as the One who would come and fulfill “the throne of his kingdom forever.
I will be his Father, and he shall be My son.” Now, we come to the fact that Jesus is called the “son of Abraham.” That would put Jesus’ right to the throne racially; He is from the father of the founder of the people. It is here that we look back and remember the promises of God to Abraham in Gen. 12:3 and 22:16–18.
Right after Abraham took Isaac up on the mount to sacrifice him, the Lord said, “By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son; blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.
In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” Again, we see the word “seed” and not “seeds.” Isaac was not the one in whom all the “nations of the earth shall be blessed.” He was weak, unlike his father, whom we are told in Rom. 4:9, “That faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness.”
The crown characteristic in Abraham’s life was his total reliance upon God, so to Jesus he would say in John 5:30, “I can of myself do nothing.” The nation had not produced what it so desperately needed; the natural heirs did not bring about this, thus Matthew proclaims Jesus.
What about you? What are you looking for? Are you still trying to make it on your own? Are you still missing something? Grace has appeared as we are told in John 1:14: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Matthew 1:1-17
Jesus, Son of David, Son of Abraham
Vs. 2-6 From Abraham to David
Vs. 7-11 From Solomon to Captivity
Vs. 12-17
Intro
From Captivity to Joseph prophecy, which looked forward to the Messiah coming and establishing His kingdom. So he sets out and tells us that Jesus is the true son of David and the true son of Abraham; in other words, he has a right to the throne royally and racially. This week we move on and look at the rest of this genealogy.
As some of you are aware, Israel is looking for the Messiah to come even today. If you drive around the city, you will see signs speaking of the coming of the Messiah. Yet with that said, they have a problem, for you see, they don’t have any accurate genealogical records; all the books of their generations were destroyed in AD 70 when the Romans sacked Jerusalem.
There is not a Jew in the world today that could prove that he is a descendent of David. No problem though, because this genealogy and the one in Luke trace Jesus’ roots back to David both by way of his stepfather Joseph and by way of his mother Mary. Further, they are the only preserved Jewish genealogies in the world today. Now, as I just mentioned, we have in the N.T. another genealogy that traces Jesus Christ back to Adam.
And as you read the genealogies in Matthew and Luke, you’ll find that there are differences in the genealogies. In Matthew’s genealogy we are tracing the line of Jesus back to David through Solomon, but as you read Luke’s genealogy you’ll find that it traces the genealogy actually not of Joseph but of Mary. She also goes back to David and to Abraham, but she comes through David’s son Nathan.
So that Mary also was of the tribe of Judah and a descendant of David, but not through Solomon and his line, but through David’s other son Nathan. In Matthew’s gospel, Joseph is actually a descendant of David through the kingly line (Solomon), and as you read the Kings of Judah, you find that they are listed in the descendants of Joseph, thus he was the rightful heir.
With that said, there is a real problem with Joseph being King in Israel because his line goes back through the kings of Israel, which includes Jeconiah, of whom the Lord cursed through Jeremiah the prophet, saying that “none of his seed would sit upon the throne of Israel forever.” (Jeremiah 22:30). So that kingly line that came through Solomon was disallowed from sitting on the throne because of Joconiah’s sin there in Jeremiah 22:30.
Jesus, being the son of Mary, still has a claim to the throne of David, but not through Joconiah, who was cursed as not being able to rule, or any of his descendants to rule upon the throne. So if Jesus were the son of Joseph biologically, He could not reign upon the throne of David because of that curse in Jeremiah 22; that is why we read in verse 16 that Joseph was the “husband of Mary” and not the father of Jesus.
But being the son of David through Nathan, and through a different line, He has the right to the throne, coming from Mary. So why trace His genealogy through Joseph? Because, as far as the Jewish nation was concerned, they would recognize Joseph as the kingly line, and thus the eldest son of Joseph (considered to be the eldest son of Joseph, though He was born of the Holy Spirit) would then have a right to the throne. This then is His legal lineage, not His blood lineage.
Vs. 2-6 From Abraham to David. In this section, which covers Abraham to David and a little over 800 years, we are given the names of the rulers that led up to David. Having just completed Genesis, we recognize several of these names, and there is not much need to comment on them. By the way, Mary’s genealogy in Luke 3 is the same as Joseph’s from Abraham to David, but it starts Mary then goes backward where Matthew starts with Abraham and goes forward.
Vs. 3-6: We have listed something quite unusual in genealogies: women, four of them in fact, and all of them were gentiles, two of them Canaanites, one a Moabite, the other a Hittite. To the Jewish men of that day they had a favorite prayer that went like this: “God, I thank You that I was not born a Gentile, a dog, or a woman.” I don’t think they would have said 1 out of 3 ain’t bad.
This would have been a real shocker to those that read this on that day. So why does the Lord see fit to bring His Son through this line? I think it is because God is saying that He is going to do something that goes against what society thinks ought to be. Christianity is radical from its roots, folks; all too often we interpret based upon our culture what we think truth is instead of what the word of God says. We are all too quick to judge something based upon our own cultural hang-ups. God just likes to get us to look at Him and nothing else.
The first mentioned here is Tamar. You will find her story in Gen. 38; she was the daughter-in-law of Judah, who had some awful things happen to her. First, her husband Judah’s oldest boy, Er, sinned and died before they could produce an heir. The next in line, Onan, the second son, was obligated to take her as wife, but the offspring was to go to Er’s lineage and inheritance.
Onan wanted the pleasure of sex with Tamar without the responsibility, and he was judged by God and died. With these two gone, Judah was not about to let the youngest boy, Shelah, go, so he told her to wait until he got older, never intending to let him marry her. So she took matters into her own hands, dressed as a prostitute, and went to the place where they all hung out, knowing that Judah would show up, which he did.
She asked for and received his staff, signed as a pledge, and took off. Months later, Tamar was pregnant with her father-in-law’s twin children, Perez and Zerah. Here she is right here in this genealogy, with the truth of her background known. You see God chose her, and His choice was not based upon her righteousness but His. 2.)
Next is Rahab: You will find her story Joshua 2, where we find out that she is a prostitute. As the spies came into her city, Jericho took a look at the defenses. The people became aware, and she took them in and hid them. She is placed here, as well as in Heb. 11 For her faith and trust in a God, she risked her life believing that the God of Israel was the true God and not the god that her people followed.
She was a sinner that was saved by faith. 3.) Then we are told of Ruth: You can find her story in the book that bears her name. She was a Moabite, and we are told in Deut. 23:3 that they were excluded from ever entering the temple because of God’s judgment upon them. And yet here we see God’s grace. With an interesting twist, Rahab was Boaz’s mother, who then takes Ruth as his wife. 4.)
The last woman is called the wife of Uriah, whom we know as Bathsheba. There are two men in Jewish history that they are most proud of: Moses and David. Yet here with David comes this heir through his double sin of adultery and murder. So the Lord put into this genealogy these four gentile women to display His grace. I didn’t know anyone who does not fail and, at times, feels that we ought to be excluded from His love and grace.
Let me assure you that He does not wish to exclude anyone from His love and grace, and that He has already made a plan by which to include you, one in which He has set up from the foundations of the world. Maybe you are like me and you have a past; your life has been a failure; why have you failed from day one and you just never seem to make it? Let me tell you that God only chooses failures! He included these four women to remind us of that truth. Jesus was a friend of sinners; don’t you know that he died to set you free?
Vs. 7-11 From Solomon to Captivity
Vs. 7-11 Here we ar given the Kings from Solomon to Jeconiah, at the time of the captivity to Babylon. This list is not remarkable for who is there but for who has been left out. The 17th verse of this chapter tells us that Matthew divided this into three sets of 14, and if we go back to 1 Chron 3 we will find out that he left out some folks. Specifically, Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah.
So who were these three kings? They were the sons of Athaliah, who was the daughter of Jezebel and Ahab, that wicked king and queen of the northern kingdom whose sin actually sealed the fate of the northern kingdom. Athaliah had sought to kill all the royal seed of David, but one of the children escaped and, of course, later became king. But the descendants of Athaliah are left out of this record, and I am certain deliberately so, by Matthew. All he does is point out the landmark names; skipping generations was a common practice in ancient genealogy. These three sets of 14 would have helped in memorization as well.
Vs. 12-17 From Captivity to Joseph Vs. 12-15 Not much to note in these names as they trace the line from after the captivity to just before Joseph. Again, there are names left out, and that it was not a mistake, for he has the same record that we have.
Vs. 16-17 The last thing Matthew does here is show that Joseph was not the father of Jesus. We read that “Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.” You see, we have already been told in the O.T. in Isa. 7:14 that “..the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. “Also we read in Jer. 31:32 “For the LORD has created a new thing in the earth; A woman shall encompass a man.”
Matthew 1:18-25
The Birth Of Jesus
Vs. 18-19 Earthly Situation
Vs. 20-23 Heavenly Pronouncement
Vs. 24-25 Loving Obedience
Intro
We now come to the birth of Christ, a story most are quite familiar, or are we? As I have said already, Matthew, a converted tax collector, uses his pin to give us an extremely important history lesson as to Jesus’ entrance into humanity. There are over 300 prophecies in the O.T. about the First Coming of Jesus, but many of these are repetitious of each other, and when you cut all those out, you are left with 108 specific prophecies all fulfilled by Jesus of Nazareth.
Of those 108 fulfilled prophecies, 39 of them appear in the book of Matthew, more than any other book. So what you may say! Well, in a book titled “Science Speaks,” Peter Stoner calculated the odds of any one man that has ever lived fulfilling just 8 of those specific prophecies as 1 in 10 to the 17th power (Texas silver dollar story). Then he looked at 48 prophecies, of which the odds were 1 in 10 to the 157 power.
Out of all of these prophecies, perhaps the most important of all is the virgin birth, for truly only one person in all of history can say this of themselves, Jesus. The story is told of a 1936 radio broadcast transmitted to America from England. Just before the voice of King Edward VIII was to be heard, someone stumbled over a wire in the control room of WABC, New York, and snapped the only line of communication between the two great countries.
The engineers were frantic, and with only a few moments remaining before air time, a quick-thinking apprentice grasped the two broken ends of the wire and bridged the gap. Seconds later, the King addressed the nation. In a real sense, his words were being transmitted through the body of that man! That’s the story of the birth of Christ, God’s words being transmitted through the body of a man; He alone is that bridge; this then is the story of that bridge!
Vs. 18-19 Earthly Situation
Vs. 18 Luke’s gospel gives us information not recorded here in Matthew, mainly of how the angel Gabriel came to inform Mary of what was about to take place in her life. We shall take a look at that when we get to Luke, but now we are interested in the story that Matthew tells us. 1.) First we are told the time of Mary’s pregnancy: “After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together.” What we don’t perhaps understand is the cultural importance of the Jewish marriage.
There were three stages to it:
1.) First there was the engagement period. This was not at all like our engagement time. At this time, marriages were arranged by the parents at a young age. Perhaps the parents knew each other and decided that their two children should one day be married, so they would make an agreement with each other.
They may only be 2 or 3 years old, but as soon as they could talk, they could tell you who they were going to marry. There are a great many parents today that would not mind at all picking out the future mate for their children.
2.) Then came the espousal or betrothal time, which lasted a year. They were considered during this time legally married, although the relationship would not be consummated until a year later at the marriage festival. It is interesting that the couple was dedicated to each other during this time yet they were not living together, in either a practical sense or a physical sense.
Usually during this time they were both readying themselves for marriage; he would be building the place in which they would live, and she would be learning how to take care of the home. By the way, they were most likely 15–16 years of age by this time. Now during this time, if the couple decided they could not be with each other, they would have to obtain a divorce, and the betrothal could not be broken except by a divorce. Again, I see some wisdom here; there were no children involved yet; no sex had happened; they were both able to go on to another relationship. Think of the advantages of this, folks!
3.) Lastly, there was the marriage itself. On the wedding night the father of the bride would take signs of his daughter’s virginity and keep them in case there was ever a question as to her being a virgin. Now under Jewish law, if there was infidelity during the second stage, it was thought of as adultery and was punished by taking the perpetrator to the center of town, placing them in a box of manure until they were up to their knees, and the people of the city would throw rocks at the person until they fell face down into the manure dead.
It was at the second stage that we are told that “before they came together, she was found with a child of the Holy Spirit.” That is, before sexual intercourse, suddenly Mary finds herself pregnant, and we know through Luke (1:31–35) that she was told that it was by way of the Holy Spirit. 2.) Here is the second thing we notice about this, namely that the pregnancy was super-natural.
There are a great many who wish to take away the virgin birth of Jesus; some say that it is not all that important as to the rest of the gospel. I could not disagree more. Take away the virgin birth, and Jesus plainly is not who He claimed to be, and if He is not who He claimed to be, then we all are still in our sins! The virgin birth points out the deity of Jesus.
You can have a great teacher in Jesus if he was a liar. But what does Jesus say of His own birth? Well, let’s look at John 8:23-24: “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
Look carefully at verse 25 for a moment. Who’s firstborn son was Jesus? It does not say theirs but hers. We will take this up more in a moment, but let us look at Joseph for a time.
Vs. 19: Not much is known of Joseph except what we have here, but think of this moment and the turmoil he must have gone through. He loves her, and Mary comes to him and tells him she is pregnant. Now Joseph is a far better man than I am, for as soon as Donna would have told me that, I would have said, “Your what? ”“How could you do this to me? ”“I have saved myself for you. I thought you loved me as much as I love you.
”Then you could hear her say, “It’s OK, Dale; it’s not yours, and it’s not another man; it’s Gods! ”Picture two 15- or 16-year-olds in high school today and this conversation taking place. Who would believe this? It does not appear that Joseph believed it, yet with that said, I am totally amazed at how he handles it.
We are told that he was a just man. That is better said, a straight or true man. That is better said a straight or true man. He was not cold, or hard, he did not react out of anger toward her as he could have. No he just wanted to see how he could let her go without ruining her emotionally, and physically. You single ladies, this is a great guy, for it is clear that Joseph was concerned with truth, but not at the expense of mercy! Most of us are either moral or merciful, but Joseph was both. Now it appears that he was seeking a solution that would allow the moral character to live with the merciful character.
Note: Before we go on with this glorious story might I take a side road and share the rest of the story of this young couple? It appears that Joseph died early in Jesus’ life some time after their return from Egypt and the 12 year old Jesus’ trip with His parents to Jerusalem to celebrate the Pasover, for we are told in Luke 2:41 that He went with “His parents”. We also know that they had other children, after the birth of Jesus.
The words of verse 25 that Joseph “..did not know her til she had brought forth her firstborn Son.”, certainly does not mean that he never knew her. The obvious fact is that he did not have sexual intercourse with Mary until after Jesus was born. The dogma of the Catholic church of the perpetual virginity of Mary is clearly false. We are told in Mark 6: 3 “Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon?
And are not His sisters here with us?”So it appears that Joseph lived long enough to have four sons and some daughters. The dogma was developed to elevate Mary to the status of deity and was not introduced into their teaching until 5 centuries after Jesus’ death along with Mary’s immaculate conception, that is to say that she was virgin born a well, that she rose from the dead as Jesus did, and that now she is the mediator of all believers.
Clearly this is what Mary would say to all who will listen, John 2:5, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” As to the rest of this, according to 1 Tim 2:5, “..one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,” it does not say Mary! There seem to be two mistakes made when people deal with Mary:
1.) They exalt her too greatly beyond being blessed to the place of worship.
2.) They do not honor her as they ought to as being the most blessed and honored woman that has ever been.
Vs. 20-23 Heavenly Pronouncement
Vs. 20 The angel, perhaps Gabriel, prevents Joseph from making a tragic mistake. Notice that this is not “THE angel of the Lord,” but “AN angel of the Lord.” In all of this, Joseph was in a dream. Note: The angel addresses Joseph from the standpoint of his legal lineage (son of David). Thus this was an assurance against fear as well as an announcement of the miraculous birth by way of explanation.
All of which was accepted without questioning. Again, this speaks to Joseph’s character. What greater thing can we husbands here do than that our wives are totally sold out to the Lord? What’s happening to her is God’s work. Wow! Men don’t get all worked up when your wives come back from a retreat. They want to start going to more Bible studies, because believe me when I tell you this, you are the ones that are going to get the benefit!
Vs. 21: Here we are told the name in which they are to call this child.
1.) First, he is told that Mary is going to have a son.
2.) Next, they are told that they are to call Him Jesus.
This was a common name for boys in that day; it is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua, which means “God is salvation.” Now many people think that His name is Mr. Jesus Christ, but Jesus is His full name, Christ is his official title, and it means “Anointed One.” There were three groups of people in the O.T. that were anointed with oil, prophets, priests, and kings. Jesus was the only person who was all three; this He is the only “Anointed One.”
3.) We are told why he is to have this name, “for He will save His people from their sins.” Now let’s look at this a moment.
A.) “He will save His people”: He is given a common name of the people; he is identifying with them, born in time when they were under the yoke of Rome. A people devastated because of sin—that is where you find Him; they are His people. I love this. He reached down to the human condition and called us His people. Now you may be here and you don’t want to be identified with Him, but He was identified with you;
He is your friend; you may not be His, but He is yours! He is coming to suffer, but because of His suffering, He is going to be able to save His people. Now do you want to be one of His people? And what does He save them from? Is it not themselves; that is their own sin? Look now at this time; listen, won’t you to these words; they are hope for all that receive them.
Vs. 22 Matthew jumps in right now and tells us that all this was being done in fulfillment of the Lord as He spoke through the prophet. 2 Tim 3:16 tells us the same thing when we read that, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God.” From the beginning the plan has been laid out that man needed a savior, and that savior had to be Immanuel, “God with us.” vs. 23. This is a quote out of Isa. 7:14.
Now in some of the versions, the word here is “virgin” in Isa. is rendered “young maiden,” but if you go back to this passage, you will find the context, which is “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign.” What kind of sign is it if a “young maiden” shall be with a child?
This happens all the time. The guy that translated it, Young Maiden, did so because he did not believe in miracles, even though everywhere else it is translated “virgin.” This then is a descriptive title of Jesus, of His earthly ministry, “God with us.” Listen to what the apostle John would say: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Vs. 24-25 Loving Obedience
Vs. 24-25 Notice the prompt obedience. He at once married her, not only in obedience but in tender love. Next, he did not have sexual relations with her until after Jesus’ birth. Lastly, they call the child as they were told. Note: Let me conclude with some observations about His name:
1.) Phil. 2:5-11 “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
2.) Acts 4:12: “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”