Matthew 1:18-2:1-12
During the last African Pastors conference we hosted, one participant asked a question that startled me: “Did Moses know about Jesus?” I was startled because the question was in response to a statement that “All of the Scriptures points to Christ?” Now if you are asked that question, what will be your answer? When Moses under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote the five books, did he know of Christ? Did he know of a coming Messiah? The answer is an absolute yes.
Last two weeks, I began what I called Redemption History, where based on Jesus’ words in Luke 24:27,44; Jesus gave an indication that all Scriptures indeed pointed to him.
What we then attempted to do is comb the Scriptures to find out where all the Scriptures spoke about him. We started from Genesis and pointed out Christ as the offspring or seed of the woman promised in Genesis 3:15. Last week, Felix dealt with Christ Our Righteousness where God clothed Adam and Eve with garments of skin from Genesis 3:21 and he pointed out that the animal skin used to cover Adam and Eve represents Christ’s covering of righteousness in contrast to their human effort of fig leaves.
Now the text we read is Matthew’s Gospel account of the events surrounding the birth of Christ. So today, I will bring our Redemption History series to a close with a simple title The Birth of Christ. There are indeed a lot of debates around the observance and celebration of Christmas with the charge of it been pagan festivity, however, the most important reason for the celebration of Christmas for us is the birth of Christ. It is a real historical event that happened. Jesus Christ is a real historical figure. He was Announced. He was Anticipated. He Arrived. Just in case you are a Christian who doesn’t believe in Christmas, keep that to yourself. We don’t want to hear your unending rumblings about Christmas is a pagan festival and all that. Granted your pagan assertions are right (and they are not), the celebration is still about Jesus Christ. During this period, the whole world at least will hear about Christ. Listen to this from Donald Macleod in his book from Glory to Golgotha
It would be easy to be critical. Yet, in a day of small things, the festive season, so called, has one advantage: it reminds the public of at least the name and the fact of Jesus Christ. The pity is that men seldom go beyond that and that the church itself appears content to leave the supreme mystery of its faith only vaguely hinted at in the glitter and gaiety of what it calls its greatest festival. Christmas is a lost opportunity, a time when the world invites the CHurch to speak and she blushes, smiles and mutters a few banalities with which the world is already perfectly familair from its own stock of cliches and nursery rhymes. 1
His Announcement
In our everyday life, we don’t just show up in peoples houses, be it friends or family to visit them. There is always a prior arrangement. Apart from people being unprepared and perhaps you may not receive the hospitality due you, you may not meet them at home and you will have traveled in vain. In the political world, it is said that when Presidents of powerful nations (if there is anything like that) are visiting a place, months of preparation and security details goes into the visit. One of the road signs I find so consistent on our roads is the speed ramps. You first see a red one cautioning you of a speed ramp ahead. Then a blue one that shows the speed ramp. I want to believe this idea of announcement and warning is a divine principle before it even became a human protocol so to speak. God always announces his actions ahead of time.
In that sense, the Lord Jesus Christ didn’t just show up in the world. He was not an unannounced guest or visitor. Long before his birth, word had gone ahead of him announcing his coming into the world. We saw this in Genesis 3:15 which I pointed out as the first gospel that was preached.
Now there is something unique about Jesus’ birth. It is certain he wasn’t the only one born on that day. There were other babies born the same day, the same hour, the same time Jesus was born. But his birth was unlike theirs. His birth was miraculous. He was born not in the normal conception of a man and woman coming together (vv. 18-20). Notice how Matthew is careful to tell us of the uniqueness of Jesus’ birth: “before they came together [that is before the marriage was [consumated] she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.” This is the Christian doctrine of the virgin conception of Jesus. The second line of the Apostles Creed captures this clearly:
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary
This is a foundational doctrine of the Christian faith. We believe in Jesus Christ who was born of the virgin Mary for the purpose of the salvation of sinners. He was born as the verse 21 says: to save his people from their sins. This is the message of Christmas. That God took upon himself human flesh to deal with our sin problem. Now before this event of Jesus’ birth will happen, the Scriptures have announced it. Observe how Matthew says the birth of Christ was a fulfilment of Scripture (vv.22-23). Matthew was quoting Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel”.
And this is the main reason I speak of The Announcement of Christ’s birth. Many centuries before his birth, he was spoken of. In the 1st three chapters of Matthew, we see Matthew constantly pointing to the birth of Jesus’ as fulfilment of prophecy (vv. 1:23; 2:3-6;2:13-15; 2:16-18; 2:23). All these Scriptures, which are from various places in the Old Testament are all considered as referring to the birth of Christ and events surrounding it. This affirms that long before he was born, the Old Testament saints knew of him. Moses knew of Jesus. And Jesus affirms Moses wrote about him. Abraham knew of Christ for he was also promised an offspring through whom the whole world will be blessed and Paul tells us in Galatians this offspring is Christ (Genesis Chapter 12 and 17). Jacob knew of Christ (Genesis 49:10).
Christmas brethren is the fulfilment of the promise of the son of God who was announced to come and deal with the problem of sin.
Hail the heav’nly Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Ris’n with healing in His wings.
Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die;
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.
We can draw some lesson in this. God is faithful to his word. Every promise of God in his word will be fulfilled. No word of God will be left unattended to. This has great encouragement for those of us who have come to faith in Christ. Our life is a part of God’s Redemptive History and as Paul tells us in Romans 8:28 “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” Christmas
His Anticipation
This past week I have been feeling very tired and exhausted. I keep asking myself whether it is psychological, maybe because the year is coming to an end my brain is anticipating rest. But I am really tired and I look forward to the Christmas break. We have a family tradition where every Christmas holiday, we leave the house to spend the Christmas holidays away from home. It is for us a moment of rest and family bonding. And I am really looking forward to it. I believe all of us have things we look forward to. The unmarried young men and women I am sure look forward to when they will settle down in marriage. The children perhaps are anticipating when they will become adults and have freedom. Anticipation is part of life. We all have things we look forward to.
And this was exactly what followed the Announcement of the birth of Christ. There is in Genesis 4 a picture of anticipation of Christ that I want us to look at. An anticipation may not be obvious to the casual reader. But if we pay attention to the text and what was going on, we will see this anticipation of Christ beginning to build up. This is the account of the Birth of Cain, Abel and Seth.
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord” (Genesis 4:1)
And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him (Genesis 4:25)
I believe that anticipation for the fulfillment of the promise of the seed of the woman who will crush the head of the serpent had already kicked in when Cain was born. Perhaps Eve thought this is it. This is the moment. But she will soon realise the wickedness of Cain in killing his own brother. Then again another child was born. With the same hope of expectation, she said of the child “God has appointed for me another offspring.” Anticipation for the birth of this child runs through the whole Scripture. The apostle Peter aptly tells us of this anticipation
Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look (1Peter 1:10-12).
His Arrival
Christmas is the arrival of the son of God on earth. Look at the latter part of verse 23: “which means God with us”. In Jesus’ birth, God condescended to live among his people bodily. Throughout the Old Testament, God has lived among his people in various symbols and manifested himself in different ways. We can speak about the Ark in the Tabernacle for example. We can speak of the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. But never in the history of humanity has God come to dwell among his people physically or bodily but in the birth of Christ.
This is the greatest event in human history that God will take upon himself human flesh. This is what is called in theology the incarnation. God becoming flesh. But why was this necessary? It was necessary because God in his love and mercy provided a way by which sinful humanity will be reconciled to him. Christmas is God’s love displayed towards sinful humanity. A Gift was given on Christmas. The Gift of God’s Son. God has fulfilled his promise of salvation to reconcile his people unto himself, forgive our sins and save us from eternal destruction. We can be confident that those of us who have come to faith in Christ have joined the family of God. We have been gloriously reconciled to God through faith. And have a hope of eternal life.
And for those who havent believed in Jesus, God’s gift of salvation is still available in Christ. He was born so that he will die to pay for the penalty of sin. The penalty that is yours to pay. Will you turn to him?
Note
1 Donald Macleod, From Glory To Golgotha:Controversial Issues In The Life Of Christ (Christian Focus, 2002)
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