WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.220 Good morning. We're going to read Matthew 1, 18 to 25. Thank you. 00:00:16.300 --> 00:00:22.039 ! It's on page 965 if you have a church Bible. 00:00:22.039 --> 00:00:26.039 ! 00:00:26.039 --> 00:00:35.920 Joseph accepts Jesus as his son. This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about. 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:43.120 His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she 00:00:43.120 --> 00:00:49.200 was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph, her husband, was faithful 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:56.200 to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce 00:00:56.200 --> 00:01:03.700 her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream 00:01:03.700 --> 00:01:10.620 and say, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what 00:01:10.620 --> 00:01:18.540 is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to 00:01:18.540 --> 00:01:26.100 give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. All this took place 00:01:26.099 --> 00:01:31.859 to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophets. The virgin will conceive and give 00:01:31.859 --> 00:01:39.099 birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph woke up, 00:01:39.099 --> 00:01:45.639 he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and took Mary home as his wife. But he did 00:01:45.640 --> 00:01:53.379 not cause human to their marriage until she gave birth to a son, and he gave him the name Jesus. Amen. 00:01:54.319 --> 00:01:57.640 Thank you, Alexandra. Let's pray together as we come to God's word. Let's pray. 00:02:05.939 --> 00:02:12.699 Heavenly Father, we want to just come to you now this morning, acknowledging the weakness of our own 00:02:12.699 --> 00:02:20.819 minds and hearts, and the seriousness of the task before us this morning. We long to hear from you 00:02:20.819 --> 00:02:26.819 in your word. We long to know you better, to love you more, to trust you more wholeheartedly. We 00:02:26.819 --> 00:02:32.799 long for you to increasingly shape the desires of our hearts and the ways that we live. 00:02:34.199 --> 00:02:39.019 All of these things are beyond us, Lord, but they are possible by your spirit through your word, 00:02:39.020 --> 00:02:42.439 and so we pray that you might be at work this morning for the sake of your glory. 00:02:43.500 --> 00:02:50.980 Give me the right words to say. Give us all tender hearts to you this morning, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:02:53.719 --> 00:03:01.520 Christmas, I think, by very definition, is repetitive, isn't it? We do the very same things 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:08.939 each year. We get the same decorations down from the same shelves, put them in the same place. 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:16.340 Our Christmas tree was put up in the wrong place this year, and so we moved it yesterday to the same 00:03:16.340 --> 00:03:24.040 place that it normally goes. We watch the same Christmas movies, even though we know what happens. 00:03:24.400 --> 00:03:29.860 We know that Kevin will eventually, his family will come back. We know that Bruce Willis will live to 00:03:29.860 --> 00:03:35.300 fight another day. We know that Scrooge will turn good in the end, but still we watch. 00:03:36.480 --> 00:03:44.100 We do our shopping in the same overcrowded shops that have the same crowds as they had last year, 00:03:44.180 --> 00:03:50.300 and we look at each other and say, I can't believe we're doing this again. We listen to the King's 00:03:50.300 --> 00:03:55.840 speech at 3 p.m. on Christmas Day, which sounds roughly like the same speech he gave last year at 00:03:55.840 --> 00:04:02.240 3 p.m. on Christmas Day. And then on Christmas Day, we find that the tubes don't run, which they never 00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:09.420 do, but we were as surprised as we were last year. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Now, I say that not to 00:04:09.420 --> 00:04:13.860 complain. I mean, it might sound like I'm complaining, but I'm not. In fact, the opposite. I want to show 00:04:13.860 --> 00:04:19.699 you this morning that repetition is built into Christmas. It's baked in there right from the very 00:04:19.699 --> 00:04:25.519 beginning, because according to Matthew, at least, the whole point of Christmas is not that Christmas 00:04:25.519 --> 00:04:33.060 is a new story or new news, but that the story of Christmas has been told over and over and over 00:04:33.060 --> 00:04:38.620 generations before. If you were with us last week, we looked at the list of names at the beginning of 00:04:38.620 --> 00:04:45.139 Matthew 1 and saw that they all funneled down into Jesus. All of history comes to Jesus Christ. 00:04:45.139 --> 00:04:52.860 And now this week, we find that all of history has been telling the story of Jesus even before it 00:04:52.860 --> 00:04:58.099 happened. Let me try and show you how this works as we start together this morning. Look down at the 00:04:58.099 --> 00:05:02.680 passage we've read and just have a think. What do you think is the most important sentence in that 00:05:02.680 --> 00:05:08.319 passage? What do you think is the most important sentence? And how would you go about working out 00:05:08.319 --> 00:05:14.219 what is the most important sentence in the passage? Maybe you read it and you think, well, 00:05:14.220 --> 00:05:19.740 Jesus will save people from their sins. That's got to be an important sentence, right? That resonates 00:05:19.740 --> 00:05:25.700 with us. We recognize that Jesus saving from sins is an important idea. Maybe that's the most 00:05:25.700 --> 00:05:33.500 central sentence in the passage. Well, listen, for sure, that is vital, right? We are sinners. We do need 00:05:33.500 --> 00:05:39.660 saving. I don't think, though, it's at the center of what Matthew's getting at. Maybe you read on and you 00:05:39.660 --> 00:05:45.360 hear Jesus is called Emmanuel, God with us. Now, that seems very theologically significant, doesn't 00:05:45.360 --> 00:05:51.560 it? God the man in human flesh dwelling with his people. Perhaps that's the most important idea here. 00:05:52.220 --> 00:05:58.740 Now, again, that is vital here. It's really, really important. And both the salvation of verse 21 and the 00:05:58.740 --> 00:06:03.940 God with us of verse 23 are really important. We're going to think about them some more in a moment. 00:06:03.939 --> 00:06:10.439 But neither of those are Matthew's central idea this morning. Instead, what I want to try and show you 00:06:10.439 --> 00:06:16.300 is that right at the center of what Matthew is saying is verse 22. That what he wants you to notice 00:06:16.300 --> 00:06:22.779 ahead of anything else, he wants you to understand that Jesus the Savior from sin and Jesus Emmanuel, 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:31.220 that the meaning of those sentences is given by verse 22. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord 00:06:31.220 --> 00:06:38.320 had said through the prophet. Now, perhaps you're sitting there thinking, do you know what, Steve? 00:06:38.660 --> 00:06:46.040 This is crazy, right? I knew that already. You know what? Why is this so significant? But this was actually 00:06:46.040 --> 00:06:51.700 a surprise to me when I saw it on Thursday this week. Let me try and show you how Matthew has organized 00:06:51.700 --> 00:06:58.220 all of his material in this section around that single sentence. So notice the way that Matthew begins 00:06:58.220 --> 00:07:03.460 and ends in the same kind of way. Jesus is named three times in the passage and once at the beginning 00:07:03.460 --> 00:07:08.940 and once at the end and once in the middle. Jesus, the birth of Jesus the Messiah is kind of acting like 00:07:08.940 --> 00:07:15.560 a heading of the whole section. And then at the end, he gave him the name Jesus is the conclusion of the 00:07:15.560 --> 00:07:22.180 section. That's what marks off this little piece of material. Then in the rest of verse 18 and the rest of 00:07:22.180 --> 00:07:29.259 verse 25, Matthew is telling you that Mary and Joseph had not had sex together before they came together, 00:07:29.340 --> 00:07:35.160 is how it's put in verse 18. And he did not consummate their marriage, is the phrase that he uses in verse 25. 00:07:35.639 --> 00:07:40.560 And if you didn't know, both of those are a reference to sexual intercourse. And he's saying, no, 00:07:40.960 --> 00:07:44.660 there has not been any sexual intercourse. It's a shock, but it's true. 00:07:44.660 --> 00:07:52.900 After that, verse 19, Matthew tells you that Joseph is faithful to the law. Literally, the word there is 00:07:52.900 --> 00:07:59.820 that he is just or righteous. The sense there is not that Matthew is saying that Joseph has done 00:07:59.820 --> 00:08:04.640 nothing wrong. He's not saying he's perfect. Rather, he is obedient to God, is what he's saying. 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:10.800 He does what the Lord commands. And actually, that's exactly what you find in verse 24, isn't it? 00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:16.060 If you look down at verse 24, you read that Joseph did what the angel of the Lord commanded. 00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:26.639 Joseph is obedient. He is just. He is righteous. He is faithful. After that, in verse 20, you find 00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:34.460 Joseph is asleep, having a dream. And at the beginning of verse 24, what mirrors that is Joseph 00:08:34.460 --> 00:08:39.639 waking up. And in between, you get this visit from the angel who tells him not to be afraid. 00:08:40.799 --> 00:08:45.939 Then in verse 21, you're given the name for Jesus that he will save his people from their sins, 00:08:46.139 --> 00:08:50.459 which is mirrored in verse 23 by an additional name, the name Emmanuel, God with us, 00:08:50.839 --> 00:08:55.919 which leaves you right at the very heart of the passage. All this took place to fulfill 00:08:55.919 --> 00:09:03.599 what the Lord had said through his prophets. Or to paraphrase, hey, this is a story that you've 00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:06.980 been told before. A lot on repeat. 00:09:08.740 --> 00:09:13.680 Now, there's more to this, and we're going to run through all of the detail of it in a moment. But 00:09:13.680 --> 00:09:19.360 what you need to see from Matthew here is that right at the heart of what he's trying to say to you 00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:24.860 is that Jesus does not come in a vacuum, but the story of Jesus has been explained over and over. 00:09:24.860 --> 00:09:30.080 If you run through the cross-references, you'll find that even Matthew's phrasing is driven by 00:09:30.080 --> 00:09:35.320 Old Testament language, especially the promises of Isaiah. And then there are the connections 00:09:35.320 --> 00:09:40.720 between Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joshua. And then in the chapters that come, Matthew repeats 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:45.659 this idea, this was to fulfill what was written. It's not a new story. It's one you've heard before. 00:09:47.340 --> 00:09:53.220 Now, I'm going to hazard a guess that for everyone in this room, this morning was not the first time 00:09:53.220 --> 00:09:59.259 you heard the Christmas story as it was read. Some of you might be really, really familiar with it. 00:09:59.399 --> 00:10:03.139 Maybe you got to read one of the Christmas readings in a carol service as a child. 00:10:03.980 --> 00:10:10.220 Maybe you could even recite most of Matthew 1 off by heart, buried in your memory somewhere. 00:10:11.300 --> 00:10:15.600 But that doesn't mean that there's nothing for you to hear today, because Matthew's point is not to be 00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:21.899 novel. Matthew doesn't think that you've understood what he's saying here if you know the words that he's 00:10:21.899 --> 00:10:26.240 using, or you've heard them before. Really, in a way, and let me try and say this carefully, 00:10:26.620 --> 00:10:32.740 Matthew's point is not the facts. Not because he doesn't believe he's being factual. He believes 00:10:32.740 --> 00:10:38.220 he's being factual. He is being factual. But the point is that you would not satisfy Matthew if you 00:10:38.220 --> 00:10:43.179 were able to recite back to him the words that are written here. He would say something to you, 00:10:43.220 --> 00:10:49.419 well, that's great. But that wasn't the point. Because really, his point is that you consider 00:10:49.419 --> 00:10:56.819 carefully, again and again, that Jesus comes as the culmination of history. That every story in the 00:10:56.819 --> 00:11:02.639 Bible whispers his name. That Jesus Christ stands as the fulfillment of a plan that's been repeated 00:11:02.639 --> 00:11:07.019 over and over. A message of history that cannot be ignored and must be considered. 00:11:07.019 --> 00:11:16.199 I know illustrations give you like a little window, don't they, into just how boring my life and 00:11:16.199 --> 00:11:21.500 imagination is. But let me give you an illustration of this. Imagine you have a broken, smashed up car, 00:11:21.960 --> 00:11:28.899 right? It's been broken beyond all recognition, and you're trying to repair it. But you're not really 00:11:28.899 --> 00:11:35.539 even sure what kind of car it is. It's in that sort of a mess. You're not really sure who made it. 00:11:35.539 --> 00:11:40.059 You're not really sure how it's supposed to go together. But you begin just taking the bits off 00:11:40.059 --> 00:11:45.620 this broken, smashed up car. And you just sort of wonder, oh, I'm sure where that belongs, and 00:11:45.620 --> 00:11:52.059 not sure what that's for, not sure where that goes. But then as you look more closely, you look and 00:11:52.059 --> 00:11:58.360 each part has a little logo on it. It has the words Ford written in the middle of it, and a little 00:11:58.360 --> 00:12:02.919 circle around the edge of it. You know, so for the bits from the bonnet, the bits from the inside, 00:12:02.919 --> 00:12:09.860 the bits from the back, they all have this same Ford stamp on them. What do you conclude? Well, 00:12:09.879 --> 00:12:16.860 you obviously conclude this is a Ford, right? Ford would know how to put this car back together. 00:12:17.559 --> 00:12:23.740 It's not a VW, it's not a BMW, it's not a Mercedes, it's a Ford. So Ford will be able to explain to me 00:12:23.740 --> 00:12:30.659 what I need to do next. They will know. Now, in a sense, Matthew 1 verse 22 is saying that about 00:12:30.659 --> 00:12:38.539 Jesus, every story in history has Jesus' name stamped on it. And if you want to know what it's 00:12:38.539 --> 00:12:46.439 about, what it's for, where it goes, how it belongs, you need to refer to Jesus. Because all of the names 00:12:46.439 --> 00:12:52.059 of history funnel into him. All of the prophets of history speak about him. So Christianity doesn't 00:12:52.059 --> 00:12:56.799 start at Christmas, it starts at the very beginning. It has been building up to this point. 00:12:56.799 --> 00:13:03.039 Matthew says all of this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophets. 00:13:04.079 --> 00:13:08.059 Now, that I think is Matthew's main point here. But let me try and show you two big implications, 00:13:08.059 --> 00:13:12.740 which will hopefully get us into some of the detail of the passage. The first implication is this, 00:13:13.059 --> 00:13:15.759 we have the same problem that people have always had. 00:13:15.759 --> 00:13:24.939 If we've got Matthew's point right, then you need to read verse 21 in the light of verse 22, right? 00:13:25.439 --> 00:13:32.159 You need to read Jesus the Savior from sins in the light of what he's saying in verse 22 about the 00:13:32.159 --> 00:13:39.600 fulfillment of the prophets. Which means, doesn't it, that Jesus is the Savior from sin, is the Savior that 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:46.019 all the Bible has been waiting for. And the salvation that he brings is the salvation that has been required 00:13:46.019 --> 00:13:53.080 by every generation before. You and I love to think of ourselves as complex and unique, as living in a 00:13:53.080 --> 00:13:57.480 significant, very different point in history. Now, there is a sense in which that might be true, but 00:13:57.480 --> 00:14:03.159 still you and I basically face the same problem that humanity has always faced. And Matthew's particular 00:14:03.159 --> 00:14:08.279 point seems to be that we're in the same state as the people of God in Isaiah's day. Isaiah is the one 00:14:08.279 --> 00:14:14.980 he is quoting here in verse 23. He quotes him again in chapter 3, verse 3, again in chapter 4, verse 16. 00:14:15.919 --> 00:14:23.439 Now, that means, as far as Matthew is concerned, our sins are their sins. Our salvation is their 00:14:23.439 --> 00:14:31.079 salvation. So today, we are like the people of Isaiah's day who are, you know this, walking in darkness. 00:14:32.659 --> 00:14:38.100 Not because Isaiah thinks that our main problem is ignorance. Darkness in Isaiah is not that we don't know. 00:14:38.759 --> 00:14:41.779 It's not like you're in the dark about the Christmas presents that you might receive. 00:14:42.379 --> 00:14:48.779 No, the darkness in Isaiah's book is the darkness of judgment. Isaiah says the problem is that people 00:14:48.779 --> 00:14:52.919 have rejected God. They've turned away from him. They've not sought after him. They've gone their own 00:14:52.919 --> 00:14:58.539 way. And God has responded. Listen to how he puts it. This is Isaiah 8, verse 22, just after the bit 00:14:58.539 --> 00:15:00.360 that Matthew quotes. He says this, 00:15:00.360 --> 00:15:18.820 This is it, right? Darkness is where God throws rebels. Rebels who have rejected him. 00:15:18.820 --> 00:15:25.080 So that sense that you and I have that we don't really know, we can't really work it out, that life 00:15:25.080 --> 00:15:28.920 is not really working as it should, that we're not living as we should, that this world is kind of 00:15:28.920 --> 00:15:37.940 chaotic and full of trouble. This is this darkness, the darkness where rebels end, the darkness given 00:15:37.940 --> 00:15:41.480 to all of us because we've rejected the light of God's presence in his room. 00:15:41.480 --> 00:15:49.019 Maybe you've not thought about it this way before. I think perhaps we sometimes think of Jesus, the 00:15:49.019 --> 00:15:56.960 Savior from sins, in only a sort of moral category. You know, that our problem is that God has a set of 00:15:56.960 --> 00:16:03.899 rules. We break the set of rules. We have a thing called sins that need forgiving. Now, that is right as 00:16:03.899 --> 00:16:10.360 far as it goes. But actually, Matthew's point is that it's kind of bigger than that. Matthew reminds us that 00:16:10.360 --> 00:16:16.480 there is a deeper issue, which is the reason that we break God's rules. And that is that we're in the 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:22.620 darkness of judgment. We're estranged from God and his light. We are guilty and condemned. We are cast out 00:16:22.620 --> 00:16:28.259 of the garden. We are ejected from the promised land. We are people in exile from the God to whom we were 00:16:28.259 --> 00:16:34.379 made for. And that has always been the problem facing humanity. You read a Bible and that is the problem 00:16:34.379 --> 00:16:41.659 you confront over and over and over again. Made for God, but outside of relationship with him. 00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:49.960 Created by him and for him, yet living for ourselves and thrust into the darkness of life apart from him. 00:16:51.740 --> 00:16:54.960 It means, doesn't it, that the big problem in the Bible is a relational problem. 00:16:55.799 --> 00:16:58.879 A relational problem between you and I and God. 00:16:58.879 --> 00:17:04.319 And now you know, don't you? You know that relational problems are always the big ones. 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:10.400 And that's what we feel at Christmas. The ache on Christmas morning is not normally because you 00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:15.519 burnt the dinner or because you didn't get the right brand of socks that you were hoping for. The ache 00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:21.740 of Christmas is that the people who are not there that you would love to be there. That's the pain, 00:17:21.740 --> 00:17:28.720 isn't it? Maybe they passed away. Maybe they're no longer on speaking terms with the 00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:33.120 family. Maybe they've just chosen not to come because they didn't really want to be with us. 00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:37.400 That's the ache. It's a relational ache. That's the pain, isn't it? And those are always the most 00:17:37.400 --> 00:17:42.319 significant. And each interpersonal ache that we have like that is a small shadow of this 00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:49.400 great ache of the universe, if you like, that we as creatures made by God and for God to live with God 00:17:49.400 --> 00:17:56.100 don't turn up for Christmas dinner. We choose Christmas on our own, assuming that the life that we 00:17:56.099 --> 00:18:01.179 were given is to be used as we choose, thinking that freedom is life without him, not with him. 00:18:01.759 --> 00:18:07.939 And that brings darkness. And Matthew says that is the story of history. It was the problem of Adam 00:18:07.939 --> 00:18:12.699 and Eve. It was the problem of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, of David and Solomon and Rehoboam and Asa. 00:18:13.240 --> 00:18:17.039 It's the problem of Isaiah's day. It's the problem of Matthew's day. It's the problem of today. 00:18:18.379 --> 00:18:25.039 Our big problem is the same as everyone else's. Secondly, though, Jesus is the savior that everyone needs. 00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:31.359 It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the story of Jesus is the story that history has always been 00:18:31.359 --> 00:18:36.720 telling, then Jesus is the one that everyone needs. He is the savior for everyone who went before. 00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:42.059 And he's the savior for everyone who will come afterwards. And so the question that we need to 00:18:42.059 --> 00:18:48.099 ask is, well, what kind of savior is he that makes him so significant like that? Well, again, I think the 00:18:48.099 --> 00:18:54.180 point comes because Matthew is reminding us that our problem is a relational problem, estrangement, 00:18:54.180 --> 00:19:01.160 exile from God, then the kind of savior that we need is someone who is able to reconcile God and man, 00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:07.860 God and humanity, someone who is able to be a go-between, someone who is able to stand in the gap, 00:19:07.980 --> 00:19:15.080 a mediator. This is how this always works, isn't it? In the course of pastoral ministry, I have on a 00:19:15.080 --> 00:19:20.539 number of occasions sat down with couples who are no longer on speaking terms with one another. 00:19:20.539 --> 00:19:27.680 At times it's been so bad that I've had one person in one room, another person in another room, and I 00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:33.399 have been the only person willing to speak and go between them. I've been trying to sort of stand in 00:19:33.399 --> 00:19:38.159 the gap and help them communicate. Now, I've not always done it very well. It's not actually a 00:19:38.159 --> 00:19:43.299 position that I like to be in. But there is one qualification for a mediator, which is why I think 00:19:43.299 --> 00:19:48.399 I've ended up doing it. And that is that you're trusted by both sides. And as the pastor of the 00:19:48.399 --> 00:19:53.279 church, that's often where you find yourself. You have to have a connection with both. You have to 00:19:53.279 --> 00:19:59.099 know the trouble from both angles. And that's the same here. Jesus, the one sent to save from the 00:19:59.099 --> 00:20:05.960 darkness of our sins, comes to us as one of us, flesh and blood, but also as what? Verse 23, 00:20:05.960 --> 00:20:13.340 Emmanuel, God with us. Now, notice this with me, because Matthew here is at pains to show you these 00:20:13.340 --> 00:20:19.740 two natures of Christ, two natures which qualify Jesus for this role of mediator between God and man. 00:20:20.819 --> 00:20:27.579 So notice these contrasts. Notice that at one hand, Matthew is at pains for you to notice that Jesus is 00:20:27.579 --> 00:20:35.899 very ordinary, very normal. And at the same time, he is also extraordinary, that this ordinary man is 00:20:35.899 --> 00:20:43.000 extraordinarily divine. Take the pregnancy first, right? Mary's pregnancy is obviously very ordinary. 00:20:43.839 --> 00:20:48.599 You can tell that because Joseph's instant reaction to Mary does not give the impression that he thought 00:20:48.599 --> 00:20:55.559 she was pregnant by any other means other than ordinary means. He didn't assume that Jesus has sort of 00:20:55.559 --> 00:21:02.519 beamed down from space into her womb or appeared from nowhere. No, he knew from the circumstances that 00:21:02.519 --> 00:21:10.059 there was a baby in Mary's womb that was being carried in an ordinary fashion, like an ordinary man or woman, 00:21:10.159 --> 00:21:17.700 like you or me. In verse 25, you're told that Mary gave birth. I would assume that that was by very 00:21:17.700 --> 00:21:23.500 ordinary means. She pushed the baby out with all the pain, blood and mess that's normally involved. It's 00:21:23.500 --> 00:21:30.740 ordinary. But at the same time, it's also extraordinary. His mother was a virgin, says Matthew. 00:21:31.460 --> 00:21:37.519 Matthew is so keen that you don't miss this. He repeats it three times. Verse 18, before they came 00:21:37.519 --> 00:21:43.599 together, she was found to be pregnant. Then quoting Isaiah's prophecy in verse 23, the virgin will 00:21:43.599 --> 00:21:51.059 conceive. Then verse 25, talking about Joseph, he did not consummate their marriage. Now let me break it to 00:21:51.059 --> 00:21:57.019 you. Matthew knows exactly what's involved. And so he has not been a prude here. He just wants you to know. 00:21:58.579 --> 00:22:07.539 Virgins don't get pregnant, but this virgin did, because it's extraordinary. Jesus was not born through the 00:22:07.539 --> 00:22:13.480 ordinary sexual intimacy of a man and a woman. And his point is not therefore that Mary is extraordinary. 00:22:14.339 --> 00:22:19.200 This section is not about the perfection of Mary, which Matthew actually denies directly later on. 00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:25.640 Instead, it's about the extraordinariness of Jesus, who though he was a baby in his mother's womb in an ordinary way, 00:22:25.840 --> 00:22:28.319 he got there by divine means. 00:22:30.259 --> 00:22:33.420 Explained in verse 20 as being from the Holy Spirit. 00:22:34.640 --> 00:22:38.920 In other words, this is an ordinary baby with divine origin. 00:22:40.680 --> 00:22:43.819 You see it in the contrast in the details about family as well. 00:22:43.819 --> 00:22:47.659 Jesus here is born into a very ordinary Jewish family. 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:53.720 Joseph comes across as just a very regular, normal young man. 00:22:54.279 --> 00:22:57.200 He's pledged to be married to a young woman. 00:22:57.599 --> 00:23:03.460 And Joseph had the regular response that you would expect from a young man who was pledged to be married to a woman, 00:23:03.819 --> 00:23:06.759 who he discovers is pregnant and he knows it's not his. 00:23:06.759 --> 00:23:07.759 He's pledged to be married to a young man. 00:23:07.759 --> 00:23:10.519 So verse 19, he is faithful to the law. 00:23:10.599 --> 00:23:14.140 Remember, just, righteous, not as imperfect, but as in good. 00:23:14.259 --> 00:23:15.200 He was a good man. 00:23:15.500 --> 00:23:18.259 And his intention is not to expose Mary to disgrace. 00:23:18.460 --> 00:23:19.799 He's not wild like that. 00:23:20.259 --> 00:23:21.720 But he doesn't want to marry her either. 00:23:22.460 --> 00:23:27.140 He's going to divorce her quietly, which is the ordinary response that you would expect. 00:23:28.279 --> 00:23:31.180 The response that would be normal in those circumstances. 00:23:31.180 --> 00:23:38.700 Jesus is born into the web of ordinary relationships, the normal family life where fidelity and honesty matter, 00:23:38.820 --> 00:23:43.120 where Mary and Joseph have very normal interactions with one another. 00:23:43.180 --> 00:23:44.340 That was home for Jesus. 00:23:46.580 --> 00:23:50.519 But notice too that Jesus is subject to a very different set of relationships. 00:23:52.340 --> 00:23:56.840 The arrival of the Lord Jesus is announced by the angel of the Lord in verse 20. 00:23:57.480 --> 00:24:00.720 In other words, it's the Lord God who sends the news. 00:24:01.180 --> 00:24:06.640 This is the Father in heaven announcing the arrival of his Son. 00:24:07.299 --> 00:24:12.860 And the arrival of his Son announced from heaven is achieved in the Spirit's power. 00:24:13.519 --> 00:24:21.080 So that the ordinary family of Mary and Joseph has this extraordinary child whose relationships are connected, 00:24:21.080 --> 00:24:26.680 not to their ordinary family, but to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 00:24:26.680 --> 00:24:33.519 The second member of the Trinity is the first son of Mary. 00:24:35.100 --> 00:24:44.400 Ordinarily human, extraordinarily divine, at the same time, indivisible, not blended together, distinct, 00:24:44.580 --> 00:24:50.299 but true of the same person at the same time, fully man and fully God. 00:24:50.299 --> 00:24:51.440 Why? 00:24:52.319 --> 00:24:55.059 Well, because that's how the ancient prophecy goes. 00:24:55.519 --> 00:24:59.539 That's the exact kind of Savior we need. 00:25:00.099 --> 00:25:03.879 Because he alone is able to stand in the gap between God and man. 00:25:03.880 --> 00:25:15.280 Back in the book of Isaiah, when Isaiah speaks to Ahaz, who is the king at the time, 00:25:16.100 --> 00:25:18.540 he tells him that the virgin will be with child. 00:25:18.620 --> 00:25:19.900 This is going to be a sign to you. 00:25:19.940 --> 00:25:23.540 He says the virgin will be with child and you are to call him Emmanuel. 00:25:24.180 --> 00:25:26.000 That's the verse that Matthew quotes here. 00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:32.200 What happens next in Isaiah's prophecy is that Isaiah's wife gets pregnant. 00:25:33.539 --> 00:25:37.839 And the child is called Meher Shalal Hashbaths. 00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:44.240 And as he grows up, the promise to rescue King Ahaz from the Assyrian army is fulfilled. 00:25:45.140 --> 00:25:46.319 Jerusalem doesn't fall. 00:25:47.779 --> 00:25:52.880 And so in a way, it seems as though what Isaiah has told Ahaz has been fulfilled. 00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:54.660 Except there's going to be a baby. 00:25:55.400 --> 00:25:59.320 And as that baby grows up, the promise to free you from the Assyrian oppression, 00:25:59.460 --> 00:26:00.340 that's going to go away. 00:26:00.400 --> 00:26:01.380 That's going to be fulfilled. 00:26:02.760 --> 00:26:05.700 And as you read Isaiah, you're left with this impression, wait, wait, wait, wait. 00:26:06.980 --> 00:26:10.900 I mean, I don't know everything, but I know Meher Halal Shashbath does not sound like Emmanuel. 00:26:11.960 --> 00:26:13.860 There must be something else going on here. 00:26:14.420 --> 00:26:19.040 And also, you're really directly told that Isaiah went to be with his wife. 00:26:19.039 --> 00:26:24.059 And he knew his wife in a way which means that you know his wife is not a virgin. 00:26:25.079 --> 00:26:31.139 And yet, the prophecy seems to be that she would be a virgin and the child will be called Emmanuel. 00:26:33.099 --> 00:26:35.899 And so what you're left with in the book of Isaiah is this sense that, 00:26:36.339 --> 00:26:39.980 oh, okay, this prophecy has been partly fulfilled, but not fully fulfilled. 00:26:40.079 --> 00:26:41.579 There must be something else. 00:26:41.819 --> 00:26:45.700 And Isaiah begins to kind of explain that and carry on. 00:26:45.700 --> 00:26:58.120 And he tells us that this one who comes will be called, what, wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. 00:26:58.799 --> 00:27:01.059 That's not Meher Halal Shashbath, is it? 00:27:01.840 --> 00:27:06.519 And then you're told that this one who comes, who will have these great names and be exalted, 00:27:06.519 --> 00:27:14.720 will come as a servant, a servant sent from God who will be highly exalted and lifted up, 00:27:14.779 --> 00:27:19.680 but will also be disfigured and marred beyond all recognition. 00:27:21.039 --> 00:27:27.539 The servant will, in the words of Isaiah 53, be pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. 00:27:28.180 --> 00:27:31.359 The punishment that brings us peace will be laid on him. 00:27:31.980 --> 00:27:33.700 By his wounds we'll be healed. 00:27:33.700 --> 00:27:38.480 This then is the Emmanuel of Matthew 1. 00:27:39.279 --> 00:27:41.100 The reconciler has come. 00:27:41.720 --> 00:27:44.680 You and I are out of relationship with the God who made us. 00:27:45.080 --> 00:27:47.860 And God himself has come in the person of the Son, 00:27:48.380 --> 00:27:52.460 putting on human flesh that he might be the perfect reconciler. 00:27:52.460 --> 00:28:04.440 And in that human flesh, suffers, dies, bearing the punishment that our sin deserves, fully God and fully man. 00:28:04.960 --> 00:28:11.039 Knowing the weakness of humanity, the suffering of this life, yet victorious by the power of the Spirit, 00:28:11.140 --> 00:28:17.920 before paying the price on the cross for our sins that have estranged us from God. 00:28:17.920 --> 00:28:24.259 This goes way beyond, doesn't it, me going between two rooms to communicate to two fighting parties. 00:28:25.259 --> 00:28:29.340 This is absorbing in himself all of the relational cost. 00:28:29.339 --> 00:28:59.339 This gives up, you know, Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth 00:28:59.339 --> 00:29:05.779 that he can be the go-between between a sinful humanity and a holy God as Jesus scoops us up in 00:29:05.779 --> 00:29:12.740 himself and gathers us to the God that we were made for. This is the story that all of history 00:29:12.740 --> 00:29:20.819 is telling. This is the story of the whole Bible. God the Son, human flesh, sent to reconcile God 00:29:20.819 --> 00:29:26.139 and man through his death on the cross. It means, doesn't it, that Jesus is the savior that you need 00:29:26.140 --> 00:29:32.220 this morning? Whoever you are, wherever you're from, however old or young, this is your savior 00:29:32.220 --> 00:29:39.820 because you have the same problem that humanity have always had and God has sent just one solution 00:29:39.820 --> 00:29:46.960 in the person of the Son and human flesh. Maybe we can think about it like this as we finish. 00:29:48.100 --> 00:29:55.960 Perhaps if you thought about your life in terms of a story, I don't know where your story is quite up to, 00:29:56.140 --> 00:30:03.180 maybe it has ups and downs, highs and lows, joys and triumphs, failures and sadnesses. 00:30:04.160 --> 00:30:11.120 Maybe this morning you find yourself in a happy chapter. Maybe things have worked out really well 00:30:11.120 --> 00:30:18.620 for you. Perhaps you're successful or popular or you've just received some good news. Maybe you're 00:30:18.620 --> 00:30:23.320 in a different chapter. Perhaps in the chapter that you're in at the moment, there are sadnesses and 00:30:23.319 --> 00:30:29.519 struggles, problems and worries and losses and griefs and pains and anxieties. There are things 00:30:29.519 --> 00:30:36.799 that you think you need which you don't have. Well, whatever page you think you're on in your story, 00:30:37.240 --> 00:30:43.460 I think that the danger is that we begin to think it's just our story, right? We begin to think that 00:30:43.460 --> 00:30:50.339 actually life is about our book that we are writing with our life. And what Matthew is saying to you this 00:30:50.339 --> 00:30:58.679 morning and saying to me is, listen, that is not right. Your story is written into the book that God 00:30:58.679 --> 00:31:06.720 is writing. The story of all history. The chapters of our lives are woven into what he is doing. 00:31:07.659 --> 00:31:12.720 The highs and lows of our lives are paragraphs in the story of what he is accomplishing in the world. 00:31:12.720 --> 00:31:22.200 And in that great story, there is one ginormous problem, the darkness of sins, and one big solution, 00:31:22.980 --> 00:31:30.799 the person of Jesus Christ. And so life for us is not about penning great chapters in our own book, 00:31:30.880 --> 00:31:38.519 is it? But the story of our life is really about finding ourselves in the story of what God is doing. 00:31:38.519 --> 00:31:47.920 Finding the hero to be Jesus Christ, God the Son in human flesh, the one who all of history had been 00:31:47.920 --> 00:31:54.379 waiting for and whom all of history is now pointing to. And there is a sense in which you can say that 00:31:54.379 --> 00:32:00.960 every circumstance in your life, every part of the story that you are now experiencing is there 00:32:00.960 --> 00:32:09.200 to point you to the all-sufficient Jesus, that you might turn to him and find newness of life. 00:32:09.779 --> 00:32:14.019 Let me pray before we sing as we respond. Let me pray. 00:32:14.019 --> 00:32:14.519 Amen. 00:32:14.519 --> 00:32:14.519 00:32:14.519 --> 00:32:14.519 00:32:14.519 --> 00:32:14.519 00:32:14.519 --> 00:32:14.519 00:32:14.519 --> 00:32:14.519 00:32:14.519 --> 00:32:14.519 00:32:14.519 --> 00:32:14.519 00:32:14.519 --> 00:32:14.519 00:32:30.960 --> 00:32:40.960 Heavenly Father, we thank you so much that the Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect mediator 00:32:40.960 --> 00:32:46.120 between sinful people like us and you, a holy God. 00:32:47.799 --> 00:32:52.640 Thank you that there's nothing of our human weakness that he does not know, yet he is without sin. 00:32:52.640 --> 00:32:59.240 And there is nothing of your divine nature which is withheld from him in the person of the Son, 00:33:00.240 --> 00:33:08.259 so that he can be the perfect go-between, that we could be reconciled to you, our creator, our Father. 00:33:10.340 --> 00:33:15.360 Lord, we pray, please would you help us amidst all the different things going on in our lives at the 00:33:15.359 --> 00:33:22.419 moment, to find meaning and purpose and significance, not in the things that we're doing, but in what you 00:33:22.419 --> 00:33:28.079 have done for us in Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.