The Virgin Birth

Matthew 1:18-25

INTRODUCTION

Matthew 1:18-25 deals with the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. Matthew begins his Gospel with this very important passage:

"Now the birth of Jesus Christ was in this way: When, as His mother, Mary, was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately. But while he thought on these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary, thy wife; for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS; for He shall save His people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which, being interpreted, is God with us. Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife, and knew her not till she had brought forth her first-born son; and he called His name JESUS."

A. The Deity of Christ's Being Denied

1. BY PEOPLE OF THE PAST

In Matthew 22:42, Jesus asked the Pharisees a question that has been voiced in every generation since then. Jesus said, "What think ye of Christ? Whose son is He?..." That's the question which needs to be asked in every age, to every person. Now the Jewish leaders believed that the promised Messiah would be the son of David. They believed, from a human viewpoint, that He would be a member of the royal lineage of David. And frankly, they weren't sure of much more than that. For the most part, they didn't perceive that the Messiah would be God in human flesh, though there is some indication that a few of them may have believed that to be true. The preponderance of the Jewish people at that time seemed to have been convinced that the King they were going to gain would be of the seed of David, a human being in every sense of royal lineage, so much so, that when Jesus claimed to be both the son of David and the Son of God, they accused Him of blasphemy. They expected Him to be of the royal line of David, but apparently not to be deity in human flesh.

2. BY PEOPLE OF THE PRESENT

People today are still denying that. They are willing to let Jesus be of royal seed as a son of David, but they're not anxious for Him to be deity--God in human flesh. It's alright for Him to be the son of David, but not the Son of God. I am often reminded of the lip service people give to a doctrine they don't believe when, at Christmastime, they sing:

Christ, by highest heaven adored; Christ the everlasting Lord!

Late in time behold Him come, Offspring of the virgin's womb.

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; Hail the incarnate Deity,

Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel,

Hark, the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King.

Now that verse of the Christmas carol is a verse that is built around the theme that Christ is God. And even though the world may sing the song, they're not really ready to receive the reality of that truth.

B. The Virginity of Christ's Birth Discussed

1. THE STATISTICS EXAMINED

Over ten years ago, Redbook magazine took a poll of students in Protestant seminaries. 56% of those students studying for the ministry rejected the idea of the virgin birth. (That's the legacy of modern liberalism.) The Survey Research Center of the University of California at Berkeley polled the denominations to get their view on the virgin birth: 69% of the American Baptists believed in the virgin birth, 66% of the Lutherans believed in it, 57% of the United Presbyterians, 39% of the Episcopalians, 34% of the Methodists, and 2l% of the Congregationalists. If the liberal church is not even ready to accept the deity of Jesus Christ and His virgin birth, it seems rather obvious that the world wouldn't be beating a path to embrace this truth either.

But you shouldn't be surprised at such a response. The Apostle Paul said in Romans 3:3-4a, "For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar...." Don't ever base your theology on majority rule. And besides those who deny the virgin birth and the related deity of Jesus Christ, there are people who just ignore that truth. But as we simply open our eyes and look at Matthew 1:l8-25, we find that we cannot be honestly objective and still doubt it, deny it, or ignore it, because it is clearly there.

2. THE STANDARD EXPRESSED

Dr. Walvoord, president of Dallas Theological Seminary, says, "The incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ is the central fact of Christianity. Upon it the whole superstructure of Christian theology depends." The whole essence of Christianity is predicated on the fact that Jesus is God in human flesh, something that is made clear at the very birth of Christ. The virgin birth is an essential doctrine, for if Jesus had a human father, then the Bible is untrustworthy, because the Bible claims He did not have one. And if Jesus was born simply of human parents, there is no way to describe the reason for His supernatural life. His virgin birth, His substitutionary death, His bodily resurrection, and His Second Coming are a package of deity. You cannot isolate those truths, accepting only one and leaving the rest, or accepting them all but one. You must either believe all of those realities that are the manifestation of His deity or you are guilty of being inconsistent, because those truths are inseparably interrelated. And so we must face the question that Jesus posed to the Pharisees again: Whose Son is He? The son of David in humanity, and the Son of God in deity. Both of those are essential to a proper understanding of the incarnation. Jesus is God in a human body. Humanly through the lineage of David He gains the right to rule the world, and from the standpoint of deity He gains the very essence of the nature of God by having been born without a human father through the agency of the Spirit of God Himself.

So Matthew, in writing his Gospel, squarely faces his Jewish readers and the readers of all the ages as he gives them the answer in chapter 1. The genealogy of Jesus tells you that Jesus is David's son, and the birth of Jesus tells you that He is God's Son. Now if the genealogy were all that could be said with reference to His identity, then Christ would have had the legal right to be the King, but He could have never redeemed men. He could have never conquered death, sin, and Satan in hell. To accomplish that, He had to be God, and such became Jesus, the God-Man -- lOO% deity and lOO% humanity. Chapter 1 presents both the human and the divine natures of Christ.

3. THE SLANDER ENCOUNTERED

Matthew may have been writing in an apologetic manner. By that, I don't mean he was apologizing for what he was saying. Apologetics comes from a Greek word apologia, which means "a speech in defense of," and it may be that he was actually writing not only to lay out the facts, but to counter a certain slander. For example, we know that at the time of Jesus'life, there were some who accused Him of being an illegitimate son born out of wedlock, the son of a Roman soldier who cohabitated with Mary, who consequently was an adulteress. That kind of slander was in existence at that time. And Matthew purposed in this text to set such a slander right. The virgin birth was essential enough for the Apostles' Creed to speak of Jesus as conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary. That's always been a cardinal fact of Christianity, and it's always been one that has been attacked by false doctrine.

4. THE SUPERNATURAL EXPLAINED AWAY

Now the world has had its unusual births. I remember reading about the first quintuplets and more recently about some sextuplets. I even thought the birth of our first son at over ten pounds was unusual until I read about a baby that was born at over sixteen pounds. So, there have been some unusual births -- we are aware of that -- but there is no birth ever in the history of humanity that is as singularly spectacular as the birth of Jesus Christ. And any rejection of Christ's supernatural origin leaves His supernatural life, death, and resurrection inexplicable. You must have it all, or none of it makes sense. And if Jesus wasn't virgin born, then the claim that He can save is highly questionable. This is why Matthew begins with the affirmation of the virgin birth.

By the way, it's most interesting how certain liberal theologians deal with this problem here. They say, "Well, yes, we do agree that this is an account of a virgin birth, but after all, the Gospel of Matthew was written by a well-meaning fellow who was not inspired by God." They say that at around the time which he wrote it, between A.D. 40 and 70, there were a lot of virgin birth myths floating around. And because it was a popular thought of that period, they say that Matthew chose one such myth and incorporated it in his story about Jesus.

There have always been a number of virgin birth myths from time to time, and guess who designed each one of them? Satan, the master counterfeiter and deceiver. Even many writers from as far back as Origen in the early centuries of Christendom have clearly shown us the incredulity of such tales, which can hardly be compared with the historicity of the virgin birth. Let me offer one example:

There was a legend that Alexander the Great, the son of Philip of Macedon, who conquered the world for Greece, was virgin born. It was believed that the god Zeus, in the form of a serpent snake, cohabitated with Olympias, the wife of Philip of Macedon. Frequently in Greek legend you find Zeus taking the form of an animal to interact with humanity, and sometimes as a bird or even as foam on the sea. About the legend in view, it is said that when Philip discerned what his wife had done, his own sexual desire was so dulled that the product of the union had to have been born of the snake. Consequently, Alexander the Great was the child of Zeus. Needless to say, such an asinine story can hardly be compared with that of the Word of God.

Now to say that Matthew just happened to utilize one of those myths and applied it to the life of Jesus is to do two things: to accuse Matthew of being a blatant liar, and to say that the Word of God is in fact not the Word of God, but merely the word of man. But let me assure you, beloved, that Matthew's account is not fantasy -- it is history.

5. THE SCRIPTURES EVIDENCED

There wasn't really a lot of talk about the Messiah being virgin born, because it was somewhat veiled in the Old Testament, appearing in some places like Isaiah 7:14 or Jeremiah 31:22. There was also evidence that the Messiah would be God, but it was somewhat veiled as well. It really wasn't until the New Testament that the full "mystery of godliness" (1 Tim. 3:16), God being manifest in the flesh, was unfolded. Naturally then, if it is clear in the New Testament that Jesus is God in human flesh, what will be the number one point of attack of every false system? The deity of Jesus Christ -- invariably they all do it. Now the facts are clear in the narrative that from the very beginning, Jesus was the Son of God, God in human flesh...no matter what the Jews may or may not have believed, no matter what the legends were, no matter what the critics said, no matter what the slander said -- Matthew records the facts.

Now, let's see how this incredible event occurred by examining five distinct elements appearing in the narrative: the virgin birth conceived, confronted, clarified, connected, and consummated. Those are not profound words, but merely hooks to hang your thoughts on. First of all...

I. THE VIRGIN BIRTH CONCEIVED (v. l8)

This miracle is so incredible! I hope you haven't heard it so often that your senses are dulled to the spectacular unbelievable nature of this supernatural event. Verse l8 says, "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was in this way: When, as His mother, Mary, was espoused [betrothed] to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit." Here Matthew tells us that Mary was impregnated by the Holy Spirit. Let me just show you something about the verse that I think is fascinating. The word "birth" is the very same term in the Greek as the word which is translated "genealogy" in 1:1. In other words, Matthew is simply giving the genealogy of Jesus from the human side in 1:1: "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham," and the divine side in 1:18: "Now the birth [genealogy] of Jesus Christ was in this way...." And then follows the statement about Jesus being conceived by the Holy Spirit. So Matthew 1 presents two sides of the same genealogy.

A. The Bride Of Joseph (v. 18a)

"Now the birth of Jesus Christ was in this way: When, as His mother, Mary..."

1. HER IDENTITY

We don't know much about Mary, but let me see if I can pull together some information about her.

a. John l9:25 -- "Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene." Within her immediate family, we know that Mary had a sister, who apparently was also named Mary--a practice which was not necessarily uncommon.

b. Luke 1:36a -- The angel speaking to Mary said, "And, behold, thy cousin, Elisabeth, hath also conceived a son...." And who was her son? John the Baptist. So, besides evidence of Mary's sister, we also learn that she had a cousin, Elisabeth.

c. Luke 3:23 -- If we can safely assume that the genealogy in Luke is actually of Mary, we can conclude that her father's name was Heli.

2. HER INTEGRITY

Her early life being spent in Nazareth, Mary was probably poor, hardworking, and no doubt a very righteous lady. If you want a good character study of Mary, all you need to do is simply listen to her. In Luke 1 you have a parallel account of the birth and its annunciation: "And the angel answered, and said unto her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (v. 35). Mary's response to this news in verse 38 tells us something about her character:

a. Submission to the Word of God

"And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to Thy word...." And about Mary, Elisabeth said, "And blessed is she that believed..." (v. 45a).

We learn a second thing about Mary: not only did she submit to the word of God, but she was a woman of...

b. Faith in the Promise of God

If an angel came and told you that the Son of God would miraculously be born to you, what would you say? Would you have said, "Be it unto me according to the word of God"? Today, the natural response of most women would be: "Say Joseph, I had this weird dream. I've gotta go see a counselor." But the great faith of Mary is characteristic of a righteous person, who submits to the authority of the word of God and who lives by faith in that word, even when it makes absolutely no sense. There was no human historical precedent of a virgin birth for which she could say, "This is true"--that's a woman who's righteous. She accepted it. And most lovely was her response, known as the Magnificat: "And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. For He hath regarded the low estate of His handmaiden; for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For He that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is His name" (Lk. 1:46-49).

Oh, what a godly lady! There was no doubt or misgiving in her mind; only an instant submission in belief that this in fact was God's truth. This righteous lady was a true Old Testament saint, who perceived when God's truth was spoken and praised God for what He was going to do. Ironically, her name in Greek is Mariam, which comes from a word meaning "rebelliousness." The poor lady had been badly named, because she wasn't rebellious at all.

B. The Betrothal Of Mary (v. 18b)

"...Mary, was espoused [betrothed] to Joseph, before they came together..."

1. THE BRIDEGROOM

About Joseph we know very little. He is described by a Greek term that can be translated "carpenter" or "mason." It may have been that a man did both. If he built houses, he would need to be able to lay the bricks and frame the windows and the doors, too, so perhaps he did both. At any rate, he was undoubtedly a poor, hardworking man, who is identified in verse 19 as having been a righteous person. He was a godly man, and like Mary, was a true Old Testament saint.

2. THE BACKGROUND

Joseph and Mary were probably young, most Bible scholars believing that they were in their teen years since marriages in that day were commonly initiated when a girl was age twelve or thirteen. These two were most likely older teenagers when they were espoused (or more accurately, betrothed) because of the tremendous maturity we see in their responses recorded in Scripture. What exactly does it mean that they were betrothed? Does that mean they were engaged, or that they were going steady, with Mary wearing Joseph's ring around her neck on a chain and his letterman's jacket as well? To get a better cultural understanding of the betrothal practices, let me give you a little background.

The Old Testament and the rabbinical writings distinguish two stages in Hebrew marriage. One was called the Kiddushin, the other, the Huppah.

a. The Kiddushin

This first stage was the betrothal period, mentioned in Deuteronomy 2O:7. If after two families or individuals had drawn up a binding contract that promised marriage, and during the betrothal period the contract had been violated, then an official divorce would take place. Such a practice means that a betrothed couple was constituted as legally married, even though there were no physical relationships whatever. This period, normally twelve months in duration, served as a period of protection for the would-be husband and wife so each partner's fidelity could be established. If the girl became pregnant through being unfaithful, it would become manifest in that period. It was also a time in which any potential problems could be worked out, even though social contact between the couple was relatively limited.

So, the betrothal was primarily a promise or contract that was made. Now at the end of the betrothal period was...

b. The Huppah

When the first stage was completed, the second stage took place, which was the actual wedding. The weddings back then lasted for approximately seven days. If those of you who have to marry off your daughter now think it's a big procedure, how would you like to have the neighborhood over for seven days? You would have to feed them and provide drink like at the wedding at Cana, where they ran out of wine until Jesus performed His miracle (Jn. 2:1-10).

When a daughter was given away in marriage, the father expected payment in exchange, called the mohar, which could vary in amount depending on the girl. It might be anything from a couple dozen sheep to a lame chicken, I suppose. There may have been some girls whose fathers just said, "You can have her for nothing. In fact, I'll throw in a couple sheep." Seriously, though, the price that was payed served several purposes: It compensated the father for the expense of the wedding; it also acted as life insurance for the wife (Normally, the father would hold it in trust and if the husband died, he would give it back to the daughter.); and thirdly, it was kind of a divorce insurance, because the husband of course would have to give it up unless he stayed married to the girl and received it back by inheritance after the death of the father.

So the betrothal period then, was the period prior to the actual wedding when the marriage was finally consummated physically. It was a period of testing and probation to insure the bride's virginity and the fidelity of both partners. The use of the words husband and wife with reference to Joseph and Mary (cf. Mt. 1:19-20) merely indicates the validity of their betrothal, not that their marriage had actually been consummated. This is clear from verse 25a, which says, "And [he] knew her not till she had brought forth her first-born son...." Similarly, verse l8b says, "...before they came together...." In other words, it was in this betrothal period that Mary was made to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And on the evidence of Joseph's righteousness, as a man who would have not violated God's standard, there should have been no question that Joseph was not the father (1:20, 24). God looks with great concern on purity, and virginity is highly valued by God. It's a sacred thing, and not something to be trifled with. I'm reminded of how beautiful virginity is when I see how honored Mary was because of it.

C. The Birth By The Spirit (v. 18c)

"...she was found with child of the Holy Spirit."

Let's look at the more detailed account in Luke 1 concerning...

1. THE REVELATION TO MARY

a. The Appearance (vv. 26-29)

"And in the sixth month [of Elisabeth's pregnancy] the angel, Gabriel, was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou who art highly favored, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered in her mind what manner of greeting this should be." I can imagine her reaction to such an unusual event. Mary was just a simple girl up there in the hayseed part of the country where everybody was a farmer. And in this relatively insignificant place (when compared with Jerusalem), the great glorious angel Gabriel, the hero of Yahweh, appeared to Mary, who wondered at the reason she should be honored with his presence.

b. The Announcement (vv. 30-35)

"And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary; for thou hast found favor with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call His name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father, David. And He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? [Here Mary clearly affirms her virginity.] And the angel answered, and said unto her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." What an incredible announcement to a nobody lady living in a little dinky place called Nazareth! And so, when Mary became pregnant, she knew why. Poor Joseph didn't know why because the angel hadn't appeared to him yet. Let's look at...

2. THE RESPONSE BY JOSEPH

When he found out, he was shocked, because he knew the quality of Mary's character and the righteous standard by which she lived. Infidelity was totally out of character for her -- it made no sense at all. He was shocked because he knew Deuteronomy 22 well enough to know that when a woman became pregnant with a child outside of wedlock, the punishment was death: "If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her, and give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid [virgin] ....then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die, because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the harlot in her father's house; so shalt thou put evil away from among you. If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman. So shalt thou put away evil from Israel. If a damsel who is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her, then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them..." (vv. 13-14, 21-24a). Understanding that Old Testament law demanded Mary's death if she were guilty, Joseph was literally rocked to the very core of his heart, because he loved Mary.

3. THE REACTION OF THE PEOPLE

It would have been difficult for Mary to protect her reputation. If she had gone out and said, "Listen folks, this baby is conceived by God," people probably would have replied, "Sure. That's a good excuse, Mary. We thought we had heard them all, but that's a new one." The blessed Spirit of God protected it for her, right here in the pages of the Word of God. Let there be no reproach on Mary ever.

If Jesus were not virgin born... If Jesus was only an ordinary man, then we can conclude that He was probably born like all other men; but He isn't like anybody else, and He wasn't born like anybody else. If He was simply the illegitimate child of Mary's infidelity or if He was the child of Joseph's natural sexual activity with Mary, then He is not God. And if He's not God, His claims are lies, and if His claims are lies, His salvation is a hoax, and if His salvation is a hoax, then we are damned. So Matthew clearly records for us that God entered the flesh by a virgin, in which seed was planted by the Holy Spirit.

You say, "Well, how does that work?" Don't ask me that. People always want to ask those kind of questions for which the Bible doesn't give answers. I don't even understand how normal human birth works, and I don't know any doctor who really understands the mystery of it either. Don't ask me how the virgin birth could occur. God did it.

So a cloud of suspicion, shame, and scandal soon hung ominously over Mary. In all of human history there had never been a virgin birth, so when the people saw an unwed mother, there was only one conclusion that could be made...except in this case. There was another conclusion:

4. THE RESULT OF GOD'S WORKING

The Holy Spirit was responsible for this conception, as the angel said. This would be nothing new for the Holy Spirit, because His work was commonly one of creation, wasn't it?

a. In Creation

In Genesis 1:2, He is identified as the One who actually carried out the creation of the heavens and the earth. In Acts 2, He moved upon the believers gathered in the upper room and created the church. Therefore, why shouldn't He be able to create the marvelous miracle of the virgin birth? Such a miracle shouldn't have been shocking, but rather expected.

b. In Redemption

1) Genesis 3:15 -- In this verse, the Lord God was cursing Satan behind the serpent for having caused Adam and Eve to fall: "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." He said, "Look Satan, someday there will come a woman, who will have a child that you will wound at Calvary, but that child w