Today we begin the last portion of our journey on the road to the resurrection. We started with the creation story and have made several stops on our way to resurrection Sunday. One of the reasons we’re on this trip is to discover what God was doing throughout the Old Testament…right up to the day of resurrection.

When we celebrate the empty tomb on April 4^th—our hope is that we’ll have a better understanding as to why the death of Christ was necessary. We’ll know that His death was not just another unfortunate tragedy in the history of mankind. But, instead—it was part of a carefully orchestrated plan that was in place before the creation of the world. 

The apostle Paul tells us God’s plan involved sending His son when the time was right and that He would be born of a woman (Gal 4:4). Our Scripture passage this morning describes for us how all of this took place, why it was necessary, and what it means to us today.

1. How Christ was born.

Matthew tells us that Joseph and Mary were engaged to be married when they discovered that God had chosen them for a special assignment. Mary was to give birth to the Christ of God. And—Joseph was to be a father too this child as if He were his own.

God’s plan for the birth of His Son was going to require a tremendous amount of faith and trust on the part of both Joseph and Mary. The Bible says they are engaged—but not married when she was found to be with child (v18). Matthew gives us no indication that Mary had said anything to Joseph about what Gabriel had told her concerning giving birth to a son. A child that would be called the Son of the Most High (Luke 1:32).

What we are told is—Joseph is a man of conviction. He is a righteous man. This means that he’s focused on living a faithful life in obedience to the Law of God. But—we also learn something else about Joseph here in this passage…he’s a man of compassion. He does not want to bring any public disgrace on Mary (v19).

Joseph finds himself in the midst of a difficult relationship. Have you ever been there? Some unexpected things enter into your life. Perhaps you had everything planned out for how you expected life to unfold in both the present and the future as well. And then things changed. Ex: I had plans for a career in business…but God had other plans for me.

Joseph and Mary most likely had plans of their own until God changed things in their life. He had plans to do something amazing through them they knew nothing about until the time was right. According to Matthew the time was right for God’s Son to come into the world. The amazing thing is—He came into the world as a child. A child born to a woman named Mary. That’s how Christ was born.

2. Why Christ was born.

One would think the answer to this statement would be various obvious since Matthew comes right out and says why in verse 21. Yet—there are so many today, some who even profess to know Christ as Savior…who speak of things to the contrary.

Some will say things like Jesus was born to be a good example. Born to be someone we can look to and learn from about how to live a good life and treat others. There is an element of truth in that statement…we can learn everything we need to know about life and relationships from the example of Christ.

Some would say that He was born to be a great teacher. He was born to be another great purveyor of wisdom and truth similar to people like Solomon, Confucius, and Aristotle. I recently heard a man say that basically He was born to teach us how to be a good terrorist…since He was good at mentally terrorizing the religious elite of His day.

So—what are we to believe? To whom or where should we to look for the answer to why Christ was born? Since we’re talking about God’s Son…we should look to God’s Word…Amen.

In John 3:17 God sent His Son to save a world that stands condemned. That’s why the angel of the Lord in Luke 2:11 told the shepherds that a Savior had been born in the town of David. Since the world stands condemned because of sin…how will this Savior go about bringing salvation? John the Baptist said He would do it by taking away the sins of the world (John 1:29). The writer of Hebrews tells us that taking away sins requires a sacrifice (10:22) and that sacrifice was Jesus Christ (10:12). This is why Christ was born according to Matthew…to save His people from their sins (v21).

There’s no doubt we need a good example for living right and having strong relationships. We also need someone to teach us about wisdom and truth. And Jesus is the right one to do that. Butthat’s not the primary reason why He was born. He was born to die on the cross at Calvary so that we could have our sins taken away. Had He not been born to die for our sin—we would be separated from fellowship with God and spend an eternity in hell.

3. What Christ’s birth means.

God had promised the people of Israel that a King was coming that would defeat all their enemies. Naturally they were looking for someone like David, a military king, to defeat the Romans and establish the kingdom of God once again.

Like so many people today—the Israelites thought their only enemy was a physical enemy…the Romans. But—their greatest enemy was their sin problem. What God has done through Christ is eliminate the sin problem and praise God He will eliminate the physical threat as well in the near future when Jesus comes again.

Verses 22-23 offer two examples of what Christ’s birth means.

1) Christ’s birth means that God is trustworthy. He promised to send a Savior and His coming would be accompanied by a great sign (the virgin birth). Continually keeping His promises proves that He is trustworthy.

2) Christ’s birth means that God is present among His people. A constant theme throughout the Bible is God’s intention to be present among His people. He’s present in the garden, in the exodus, in the wilderness, in the temple, and now He’s present in the person of Jesus Christ. In the new heaven and earth—we’re told, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them” (Rev 21:3).

The birth of Christ means that God will always do what He says He’ll do…because He always has (Heb 13:8). Christ’s birth means that He’ll save his people from their sins so that they can dwell in His presence. This is exactly what the 2 names mean here in this passage.

In verse 21 Mary is told to name her Son—Jesus. Jesus means…Yahweh saves. In verse 23 we’re told the people will give Him the title—Immanuel. Immanuel means…God with us. If you and I are to ever have an opportunity to be in the presence of God—Jesus will have to take away our sin. In order for that to happen—He had to be born as Jesus…the Christ of God.

As we near the end of our journey on the road to the resurrection—we find ourselves stopping at the cradle of Christ. As we celebrate the birth of Christ—we must remember just down the road, over the horizon, stands the cross.

As terrible as the events of the cross were for Jesus—without His birth, His life, His death, and His resurrection…we would have no hope of heaven. We’re reminded of what Jesus has done for us through the Lord’s Supper. So—as we participate in the meal praise God for how Christ was born, why Christ came, and what Christ’s birth means to us today.