Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ,
The OT has many prophecies about the coming of Christ. We read one of them earlier in the service from Micah 5. It says that the one who will rule over His people will come from BETHLEHEM. And we know from the Gospels that this prophecy was known by the people of Jesus’ day. When the wise men came to Jerusalem and asked about the whereabouts of the one born King of the Jews, the OT experts told King Herod that the Christ was to be born in Bethlehem. And Micah 5 is even quoted in that account.
But the account before us today reveals that other prophecies were not well known and understood. Isaiah 7:14 is quoted in v23 of our text: “Behold, the VIRGIN shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” And what we shall see is how this prophecy was fulfilled despite a lack of knowledge about its significance.
And we see this as we consider JOSEPH’S RESPONSE TO THE NEWS OF JESUS’ FIRST COMING. And our chief aim today will be to learn from history. You see, what the NT makes plain is that the Lord Jesus is going to come again. What we read about here is the first Advent or the first coming of Jesus. But in the NT we have prophecies about the second Advent or the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus. Do we know them? Do we understand them? Do we believe them? Do they affect how we live?
So let’s begin with Joseph’s response to the news of Jesus’ first coming.
I. We read that Mary was BETROTHED to Joseph. In the Jewish society of that time, betrothal meant that you were considered married. In v19, Joseph is husband and in v24 Mary is wife. The only way out of a betrothal was by divorce. But during the year of betrothal, the couple did not live together in the same house or engage in sexual intimacy. So Joseph and Mary were seeking to honour the Lord by remaining apart until their wedding.
II. But three months had passed now since the angel had come to Mary to tell her about her miraculous pregnancy by the Holy Spirit. And Mary had spent those three months at the home of Elizabeth, her relative. But now Mary had returned to Nazareth and to Joseph. And we read, “Before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.” Now, those words are a kind of HEADING for all that is to follow. They tell us that Joseph also eventually came to understand and believe the circumstances of Mary’s pregnancy. And we are told how this unfolded:
A. And we start with the practical details of how Joseph responds to the discovery of Mary’s pregnancy. The way this whole account is recorded suggests that Mary offered no explanation to Joseph for her condition. So his assumption is that Mary has been with another man. And so, “being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, [Joseph] resolved to divorce her quietly.”
1. Now, these words reveal a couple of things about Joseph. First of all, the description of him as a “just man” reveals that he loved the law of the Lord. Holy living was important to Joseph. And this was a serious sin that couldn’t be ignored. The obvious assumption that the community would make once Mary’s pregnancy became obvious was that Joseph was the father. So the only way for him to publicly declare his innocence in this matter was to divorce her.
2. But there were two ways to do this in those days – one was very public and very embarrassing for the woman – it involved shaming her in public court. The other was much more private and LESS SHAMEFUL – just two witnesses needed to be present. So, while Joseph was a just man who sought to honour the law of the Lord, he was also a gentle and considerate man who chose the less humiliating way of doing what he believed he needed to do.
B. But what this account also reveals is that the Lord has permitted Joseph to come to the wrong conclusion about Mary’s pregnancy. It will not be Mary who convinces Joseph about what has happened. It will not be Joseph’s careful study of the OT that gives him an explanation for what has happened. It will be a direct word from the Lord that convinces Joseph. And this happens, as we see in vv20-21, as an angel of the Lord appears to him in a DREAM. And the angel says to him, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for He will save his people from their sins.”
1. Now, THE DREAM ITSELF IS IMPORTANT, first of all. The Jews knew that dreams were one of the ways that Lord gave revelation about His plan of salvation to His people. We know from Jewish commentators of this time that people regularly prayed that the Lord would speak to them in their dreams. And the Lord does this now to Joseph!
2. But look also at how Joseph is addressed – “SON OF DAVID.” That is a title with significant religious meaning. Son of David is a messianic title – The promised Messiah would be a Son of David. All Jews knew this and prayed for this Son of David to come. So the angel already had Joseph’s undivided attention with the dream itself and this title.
3. And then the angel reveals that Mary has not sinned; her child is from the Holy Spirit.
B. So because Joseph believes what the Lord has revealed through the angel, we see from v24 that “when he woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.” Joseph’s trust in the revelation of the Lord and his obedience to the word of the Lord was immediate.
II. Now, ONE OF THE ACCUSATIONS LEVELLED AGAINST CHRISTIANITY, way back in NT times and still today, is that Jesus was really just the child of Joseph and Mary, but they or others invented the myth of the virgin birth to cover it up. However, the Gospel writers and the Holy Spirit have taken great care to explain that this is not at all what happened. When Mary was told she would bear a son, she didn’t think to herself, Oh, this must be Isaiah 7:14 coming to pass! Cool! No, we read instead that she simply could not understand how she could be pregnant when she was a virgin. And Joseph also didn’t remember Isaiah 7:14, from his days in Sabbath school classes, as a likely explanation for what had happened to Mary. He assumed she had sinned. What we are being told here is how the Lord fulfilled His prophecy despite the complete ignorance of those He used to fulfil it! It is only after the event, whenever that was, that they or others came to understand that this was a fulfilment of a prophecy made hundreds of years before.
A. Last Sunday morning, I asked THE DUTY ELDER TO READ ISAIAH 33 in the afternoon service. And when we came to church in the afternoon he commented that he was really struck by the content of the passage and couldn’t really remember what it said even though he had read it before. Have you had that experience? I know I have! So, even if Joseph and Mary had heard Isaiah 7:14 read sometime, it did not spring to mind in connection with Mary’s pregnancy. So, I know this is just speculation, but I like to picture in my mind a scene where Joseph and Mary are doing devotions one day and they read Isaiah 7 together and they have the WOW! moment to end all WOW! moments! There it is – the prophecy of a virgin birth – right there in the Scriptures!
The key point though is that “all this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means God with us).’” What was prophesied around 700 years before it happened, happened with the birth of Jesus. He came exactly as it had been prophesied that He would come – a child was born to a virgin.
But as the saying goes, that was then, this is now! That was the First Advent or the First Coming of Jesus but the Bible speaks also about the SECOND ADVENT or the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus also. So let’s conclude with some comments about what the Bible says about the Second Coming and some related questions.
I wont give you all the references because you can read them quite plainly as you read through the NT yourself, which most of us can do quite easily in a day or two at the camping ground or at home during these Summer weeks. But we are told that Jesus is going to come down to earth from heaven and be seen by everyone.
We read, “They will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.”
“The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”
And then will come the Day of Judgment when some go to eternal life and some go to eternity in hell.
Now, there are places in the NT that appear to give more detail about EVENTS that will lead up to the return of the Lord Jesus. And if you listen to many TV preachers, you will hear all sorts of explanations about Russia and the European union and a temple being rebuilt in Israel and a rapture and the battle of Armageddon and one world government and the mark of the beast, and on and on it goes. The problem is that much of this can lead a person to think that there is zero chance of Christ’s return anytime soon.
But what have we seen today from Matthew’s Gospel? We have seen that very few were expecting or ready for Christ’s first advent. They knew of some prophecies but they did not know others and only understood them with the benefit of hindsight. And even then, there was a lot of muddled thinking about it all for a long time. And so, as one commentator has remarked, “What makes us think we’re any better placed regarding the second advent? Given humanity’s record in interpreting prophecy, it’s a pretty major gamble to base our non-expectation of Christ’s return upon a timeline of events that must happen first.”
Let me encourage you instead to focus on these very plain words of the Lord Jesus: “Concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.”
And just in case you are one of those who thinks that 2000 YEARS have passed since Jesus said that He was coming back soon, so if it hasn’t happened by now, it probably never will, let me encourage you to read 2 PETER 3, where that kind of wrong thinking is specifically addressed.
But remember also that the Jews expected the first coming of Messiah soon after they returned from exile, because the Lord had promised that Messiah would come after the return from exile. But over 500 long years passed by between those two events!
Again, it is far better to be guided by the very plain words of Jesus, “Concerning that day or that hour, no one knows … Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.”
So I hope you understand the prophecies of Jesus’ Second Coming. Do you? I hope you believe that the Lord Jesus will come again. Do you? That is a part of what it means to be on guard and to be awake.
But it also means this: The angel said to Joseph, “YOU SHALL CALL HIS NAME JESUS FOR HE WILL SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM THEIR SINS.”
As I said a moment ago, the coming of the Lord Jesus will be followed by the Day of Judgment. Some will enjoy eternal life in heaven but others will spend eternity in the horrors of hell. So to be on guard, to be awake, means to know and understand that we human beings have a big problem; and the problem is our sin. We break God’s commandments. We break them in thought, in word, and by our actions. God is a God of absolute perfection and holiness. So the tiniest impurity in our motives, or just a moment of lust or hatred or envy, or a failure to keep His commandments as perfectly as possible is enough to make us guilty sinners who deserve hell. But God sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross to save His people from their sins. And our sins are forgiven if we believe that Jesus came to save us from our sins.
So to be on guard, to keep awake, is to believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins.
But once we have done this, being on guard and keeping awake then becomes A WAY OF LIVING:
COLOSSIANS 3 says, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth … Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry … [and] put on … compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and … forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you … And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts … and be thankful.”
Now there is a good Christmas or New year’s resolution if ever I heard one – Lord, help me to live Colossians 3!
When Jesus came the first time it was as a baby, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born to a virgin. It was a coming of very lowly and humble circumstances that was very private.
But when Jesus comes again it will be a coming of glory and power that will be as public as you can get for it will be seen by everyone.
You know about this now. Are you on guard? Are you ‘awake’? If so, another verse in Colossians 3 says this: “When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”
What a beautiful Christmas promise. Come Lord Jesus! Amen.