Wednesday, January 1 - Matthew 1 - The Virgin Born Son of God

E

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!