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VER since the fall of Adam in the
garden of Eden, we have been waiting for a deliverer. Now we have Him. The
Deliverer is Jesus!
Matthew
1 ties the Old and New Testaments together perfectly. This commencement of the
New Testament breaks in with a long list of names, including many of the major
characters that we learned about in the Old Testament. Matthew's gospel is
about Jesus Christ, the king of the Jews. However, the Jews that we have
learned about are by no means forgotten.
Of course, there is no reason to forget them. Boaz, Rahab, Ruth, Jesse,
David, Solomon, Hezekiah, Zerubbabel... these were Christ's
human ancestors.
Now clearly, Matthew 1:16-25 is a section that is given to
emphasize the virgin birth of Christ. His humanity, His deity, His mission and His
position as Savior
are also included,
but these verses
declare first and foremost
that Jesus had a legal ancestry, but no earthly
father; no biological dad. Joseph is called
the husband of Jesus' mother. Mary was pregnant before she and Joseph
consummated their relationship. The Holy Ghost was the agent who miraculously
caused Mary to have a child. Since he knew that he wasn't the child's father, Joseph did consider divorce.
But an angel vouched
for Mary's sexual purity. An Old Testament prophecy had called
for the sign: the virgin
birth of the Messiah. She was not a virgin
permanently or perpetually, but she was “unpolluted” in that sense until after she
had birthed the Christ.
Why
such an unmistakable emphasis on the holy conception and delivery of Jesus?
Three reasons: 1. The miracle of His birth validates the prophecy and commences
the verification of His claims. 2. His deity and preexistence demand a
supernatural conception. 3. The holiness
of His nature required that there be a disconnect between Him and Adam (yet he
had to be human in order to die for humanity). For Him to be a substitute for
the guilty, it was necessary that Christ have no guilt. He was Jesus (Jehovah
the Savior), so even without the judicial and logical reasons for the virgin
birth, there was just no practical way for Christ to save sinners if He was
guilty too. If He had been guilty then He would have needed a savior to save
Him. But He didn't need a savior. He is the Savior, the One and only Savior;
our Savior!
