Matthew 1:18-25: The Virgin Birth of Christ

"'She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus,

for he will save his people from their sins.'" Matthew 1:21

There was one man and one man alone in the history of the world that was born of a virgin, and his name was and is Jesus Christ. In Matthew 1:18-25, Matthew tells us the story. However, the story is not without meaning and implication. Often, we read the birth narratives of Christ as simply saying telling us how "Jesus is born." Although they are certainly not anything less than that, they certainly are more than that. Each birth narrative tells its own story, and the one in Matthew we are looking at today tells us that yes, Jesus is born, but that Jesus who is born is the Savior of the world as well as the Messiah who was promised.

The narrative begins with Matthew telling us how Joseph and Mary were "betrothed" or engaged to one another. Unlike modern engagement, this engagement would require a divorce in order to dissolve. Matthew then tells us that Joseph finds out of Mary's pregnancy. Knowing that he had not slept with her, Joseph desires to "divorce her quietly" because he did not want to put her to shame. This would have been a very righteous act by Joseph, which the text points out. But before he divorces her, an angel shows up and explains everything that's going on. The angel reveals to Joseph that Mary had not committed adultery, but that her pregnancy had been brought about by the Holy Spirit. Next, Matthew quotes Isaiah 7:14, showing us the reason for this virgin birth, that is, in order for the prophecy to be fulfilled. Next, Joseph wakes up from his sleep and obeys the angel, both in continuing in his engagement to Mary and naming his son "Jesus."

It's a beautiful story, is it not? But what is the main point? Let us note quickly that the main point it not Joseph's righteousness. Now, don't get me wrong, it is a good and wonderful point, it's just not the main one. How do I know this? Well, because the narrative tells us what the main point is in the first verse: "Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way" (18). Thus, the story is not about Joseph, but about Jesus' birth. But what about Jesus' birth? Well, that it was promised and now fulfilled. Matthew quotes Isaiah 7:14 in order to show us how in this very birth that one prophesy was fulfilled, but let us notice here how the entire Old Testament was fulfilled in the coming of Christ. Matthew uses Isaiah 7:14 as a primary example to show this, but his point was thus: the Messiah has come, and he has come to save. No longer will men be hopeless; there is now a hope for the world, and he has come born of a virgin.

Thus, we find that 4,000 years of promise in the Old Testament were fulfilled in one, singular birth: the birth of Jesus Christ. Was Jesus born in this Christmas season? Certainly. But that birth is not just another birth, it was a virgin birth that thus meant the hope of all mankind. Amen!