Matthew begins his account of the birth of Christ with a strikingly simple, matter-of-fact announcement of a momentous, profound and incomprehensible mystery: “When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.” O, is that all Matthew? A virgin is pregnant…from the power of the Holy Spirit of God. When Joseph finds out about this pregnancy, he’s in a quandary. How to balance justice and mercy, moral integrity and selfless love? He decides on a private divorce from his betrothed, protecting, as much as possible, Mary’s reputation in the community. Then, an angel pays Joseph a visit. He brings a message that explains, yet doesn’t explain, the situation. “That which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” That explains the pregnancy. Mary is absolved of any wrong-doing, and the way is now clear for Joseph to take Mary, fully, as his wife. She has not been unfaithful, and Joseph will raise this child as his own, even though he’s not the biological father.
Yet, the angel’s message, in one sense, raises new questions – deep questions. As a bewildered Mary asked the angel Gabriel, “How will this be?” The Bible teaches the virgin conception of Jesus quite clearly. However, the how is left as a deep mystery, except that it was the work of the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary. This much we can say with certainty, that God the Holy Spirit formed the humanity of Jesus – a human soul and body – in the womb of Mary so that this child was truly one with her humanity. Yet, at the same time, the Eternal Son of God was united, perfectly, with this humanity, and the second person of the Trinity came down to earth, in union with mankind. He became one of us without ceasing to be fully God. He is, in the fullest sense, as Matthew goes on to explain, Immanuel, God with us.
The title by which the angel calls Joseph, here, is significant. He calls him “Joseph, son of David.” Matthew has already demonstrated in the first part of chapter 1 that Joseph is descended from the royal line of David. Since Jesus will be considered his son, He has the legal right to David’s throne and kingdom. Indeed, Israel had waited long for salvation to arise from the house and lineage of David. God had promised a descendant of David who would sit upon his throne as the anointed king and would bring peace, blessing and salvation to His people. But a careful reading of the genealogy from Matthew 1:1-17 serves as a reminder that, so far, hopes of a righteous Davidic ruler were disappointed. The history of David’s line was, for the most part, a story of failure. Even the best of the best out of the kings in Judah had had their “moments.” David hit his low point with Bathsheba. Solomon was led astray by many wives. Godly Hezekiah trusted in the strength of Babylon. The line of Davidic kings ended in Babylonian captivity. Jesus, however, was different. He was, legally, David’s descendant and heir, but he did not share David’s sin-nature. The failures and sins that plagued all previous kings would not befall this great son of David. Since He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, He had no sin-nature. In His very person He was (and is) God Himself. He could and would effect the great deliverance and salvation promised by the Lord.
Indeed, this, too, is a central part of the angel’s message. “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” Salvation is what God’s people needed and what was promised from the very beginning, as far back as the garden of Eden. There, God had promised a seed, from the woman, who would crush the head of the serpent. In other words, the curse and judgment of sin would one day be undone.
The announcement is rather specific. Whom will He save? His people. What will He save from? Sin. This didn’t align with the expectations of many Israelites at the time. They were looking for a Savior, a son of David, who would save them from the oppressive Gentile power, the Romans. Many were expecting a Messiah who would be a military deliverer – who would lead an uprising against the Roman legions and restore earthly Israel to her former glory, like the days of David and Solomon. They would be disappointed. For that’s not what Jesus came to do. He came to bring spiritual salvation. He came to save His people from an enemy far worse than the Romans or any other foreign power. He came to bring salvation from sin. When He failed to carry out the agenda of many of the Jewish people, they rejected Him and, ultimately, demanded His death by crucifixion. They would choose Barabbas, an insurrectionist, over Jesus, the Son of God.
We must take care not to make a similar mistake. Jesus will not serve our personal agenda. He came to save people from sin through His atoning death and resurrection life. He didn’t come to save us from discontent or political strife or other worldly problems and issues, apart from salvation from sin. Sin is the real source of all our problems. If we would have Jesus, at all, we must trust Him as the Lord of glory and Savior from our sin. We must face the reality of our sin and guilt, confess it, turn from it and trust in Jesus for forgiveness, righteousness and peace with God. The true people of God, whom Jesus saves from sins, will have deliverance from every other source of suffering, pain and struggle in due time, for the King is making all things new. All that sin has perverted and destroyed will ultimately be set right again in a new world.
As for those hated Gentiles – the outsiders and foreigners that the Jews were anxious to see the Messiah conquer and destroy – it turns out that many of them, too, were among “His people” whom He came to save. It’s hinted at in the coming of the magi from the east. It’s stated plainly by Jesus in Matthew 8:11-12, “I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness.”
This is good news for us Gentiles, as Paul writes in Ephesians 2:11-13:
Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands – remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (ESV)
How wonderful! The outsiders are brought in. The “enemies” are made brothers, because God, in Christ Jesus, saves sinners.