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What Child Is This?

December 22, 2024 Preacher: Jeff Griffis

Scripture: Matthew 1:21–23

What Child Is This? – Matthew 1:21–23

PRAY

INTRO: What do we celebrate at Christmas? We celebrate nothing less than the beginning of the most important life in history. We celebrate Jesus, who is Lord of all.

But what is the rest of the world celebrating, at least the ones who participate in the holiday season? Honestly, if we aren’t celebrating Jesus as Lord, we’re celebrating (and worshiping) ourselves: the human spirit, and the so-called human potential for goodness and kindness and generosity. And we like the idea of taking a break from the hardness of human living and just sing about joy and peace and love and other platitudes as if the world isn’t mired in hate and war and selfishness.

It is a grave and consequential mistake for us to live like our own lives are the most important, even just to us. It is a grave and consequential mistake to pretend, even for brief windows of time, like everything is good and to ignore reality.

We need something deeper; we need something more sure. That’s why God sent Jesus, and why Jesus is the center of history. Let’s consider together the significance of a few verses from the nativity narrative we read earlier.

Matthew 1:21–23 ESV

21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

From this text, announcing the unique conception of a particular child, what do we learn about him? Who is Jesus and why did he come? What does the name Jesus mean, and the name Immanuel, and why does it matter? 

 Jesus : He Is Savior, Who Is Christ the Lord (Mt 1:21 & Lk 2:11)

Joseph and Mary, a young Jewish couple who were not yet fully married, and who had no other children, were each instructed by angelic messenger, sent straight from God, that this child to be born would be conceived miraculously by the Holy Spirit upon Mary, and he would in fact be the Son of God and the long-awaited Messiah, who would reign on the throne of David forever, and of his kingdom there would be no end (Lk 1:32-33).

Both Mary (Lk 1:31) and Joseph (Mt 1:21) were specifically told to name this child Jesus. Parents in Biblical times often intended for the names to have meaning, even as we sometimes do now.

Jeffery means “heavenly peace,” a sure sign that my parents didn’t know me yet when they chose such a moniker. A couple years in they were wondering if there might not be a name that means “Tasmanian devil.”

When God gives a name, it of course carries special significance. This is true numerous times in Scripture, and yet no where is it more momentous and compelling than this: Mt 1:21

Matthew 1:21 ESV

21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

This unique son to be born of Mary would need a common name, and that name Joseph and Mary were to give him was Jesus. The name Jesus comes from the Aramaic name, Yēshua˓ (or Joshua). In Greek it is the name Iēsous, Jesus. It means “God is salvation,” or “the Lord is salvation,” or simply “Yahweh saves.” 

Other Jewish families might have named their sons Joshua (or Jesus, Greek Iēsous) after the great Joshua of the OT and maybe even in anticipation of the promise of God’s coming deliverance in the Messiah. But none could have known that the one to come would not just save them from the immediate outward consequencesof their sin as Hebrews—which led to subjugation and oppression beneath their enemies—but that this Savior/Deliverer could and would rescue them from the eternal consequence of sin—separation from a holy God. …“that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.” (Jn 3:15)

Jesus’ given name, then, speaks of his central mission on earth at his first advent: It is God who saves, and in Jesus specifically he is saving his people from their sins—not only for the Jews, but for all those among mankind who become God’s children through faith in Jesus. “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

So too, the angelic message to the shepherds was… Luke 2:11

Luke 2:11 ESV

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

In a field nearby Bethlehem, minding their own business, some little-known shepherds, whose names we still do not know, have the night of their lives. I mean, they’ve probably had wild nights where they had to fend off wild animals, and that’s pretty exciting and would yield some stories worth repeating. But this would be a a night, and a story, for the ages!

Suddenly these shepherds are in the presence of an angel and in the spotlight of God’s glory. The angel says to them that he brings “good news of great joy that will be for all people” (Lk 2:10). Is this evangelizing (euengelizomai), this good news, for Jews only? No, it is for all people.

Luke tells us that God gives this insight to Simeon as well, who is waiting for the consolation of Israel (Lk 2:25). God gives Simeon prophetic insight by the Holy Spirit as he holds Jesus in his arms (Lk 2:28), to proclaim that this child is God’s salvation (Lk 2:30), “a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel” (Lk 2:32). 

So this one who is Savior offers salvation to all mankind, and not only to the physical descendants of Abraham. But here we must understand a logical connection, and one that we can help others to make this Christmas season: that if Jesus is Savior, if he offers salvation, then we must need saving.

Why do we need saving? Because we are sinners separated from God by our sin, and we are under God’s just condemnation for our sin. And if we do not repent and turn in faith to God, we will suffer the His wrath against sin in eternal damnation.

Romans 3:10–11 ESV

10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.

Romans 3:23 ESV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 6:23 (ESV)

23 For the wages of sin is death…

 

but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Have you ever received something you didn’t know you needed and now you can’t live without? - Unfortunately, there are a lot of people (not just ‘out there,’ but quite possibly some ‘in here’) who are living like they don’t need Jesus to rescue them b/c they think they don’t need to be restored to God. – That means that they don’t know why they exist: to have a love relationship with their God, to rightly honor and adore him for his supreme worth.

God gave Jesus for a reason. He lived here on earth perfectly, he died here sacrificially, and he rose again here victoriously. Have you submitted to the Savior?

Now why do I say it like that? Because it’s what the Bible clearly teaches is the only right response to Jesus. Again…

Luke 2:11 ESV

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

This comes straight from the mouth of God’s messenger. The announcement concerns the birth of someone truly unique, and the significance of this person is declared in a threefold title: A Savior… who is Christ (which is Gk for Messiah)… and he is Lord. “Savior points to his role as deliverer; Messiah points to his office in terms of [being] the promised Anointed One of God; and Lord indicates his sovereign authority.” (Darrell Bock) 

Now someone can be referred to as “lord”—master, ruler, owner—because they have a measure of authority over another. But to what degree is Jesus the Lord? Is he sovereign master only over Israel, and only in the sense of being Lord over those who choose to accept and follow him? Or is he on another level in which he is in fact Lord as owner over all that exists, and in fact must be honored as Lord? 

Do the Gospels, even from this beginning point of the nativity, describe Jesus as Lord in this sense of being something more than an earthly master? Absolutely. He is Lord, and there is no other right way to respond to him.

In fact, his Lordship connects to the other name described of him in the passage we read to begin. Matthew’s quotation from Isaiah the prophet says, …

Matthew 1:23 ESV

23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

What is this other name that people shall call him, other than his given name, Jesus?

 Immanuel : He Is God With Us (Mt 1:23 & Jn 1:14)

God intervened at a moment in history in a unique way when God the Son became a person. The second person of the Godhead—perfect in unity and coequal with God the Father and God the Spirit—God the Son took on humanity. Real humanity… he was born.

Matthew 1:23 ESV

23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

And his actual birth was just like yours and mine, generally speaking. You were probably born in a hospital… or in some room at home, or maybe even in a car. Jesus was likely born almost outside, in what was likely a cave or a stable used to shelter animals. But his birth was normal in the sense of the way he was delivered into the world.

But human life begins at conception, and that wasn’t normal—his conception. - All indications here in Matthew point to the fact that the child in Mary’s womb was truly conceived by the Holy Spirit (not by the natural, ordinary means - Lk 1:35, Mt 1:20).

In fact, Joseph’s plan was to be kind and divorce her quietly (Mt 1:19), bc the only logical explanation of her pregnancy was infidelity, or so he would have assumed.

But when God’s messenger explains the truth of the miraculous conception by the Spirit upon a virgin, Joseph clearly believes because he obeys. Again, vv. 18, 20, and 25 all confirm that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. [read]

Therefore too, the quote from Isaiah must mean exactly what Matthew intends it to mean here: “the virgin shall conceive.” In the original text, quoted from Isaiah 7:14, the Hebrew word for virgin can simply mean a young woman. But in the Greek Septuagint (Gk translation of the Hebrew OT) and here in Matthew, all doubt is removed, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in using the Greek word parthenos, which can only mean “virgin” in the technical sense of that word.

Furthermore, then, Matthew is explaining how Jesus fulfills the prophecy concerning the name Immanuel from the same passage in Isaiah. The immediate fulfillment (the near, the short term) may well have been in one of Isaiah’s own sons, whose names (we are told in Is. 8:18) are meant to be signs pointing beyond themselves. But then the ultimate fulfillment, Matthew shows (the true fulfillment of which the earlier child is but a shadow), comes to fruition in the Christ, who is truly “God with us”—Immanuel.

So Immanuel’s birth was as unique as his person. God the Son truly became a man. But he was not just any human; he was God in the flesh—the God-Man. – That’s the point of the prophecy and why Matthew brings it up. Immanuel means “God with us.” Not simply ‘God is with us,’ you know, God is present, helping us. No, this is a special case and forms the fulcrum of all of history; God became human and dwelt among us!

Jesus is truly unique: He is Christ, the Lord. He is God with us. “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,” Paul says in Col 1:19, and “For in him the fullness of deity dwells bodily” in Col. 2:9. You know what that word Paul is using in Colossians for “fullness”? It is the Gk word pleroma, the noun form of the verb fulfill(“all this took place to fulfill,” Mt 1:22). Jesus is the Christ, and he is the fullness of God revealed in human form.

Like Paul, Matthew wants the reader to know: Jesus is both the fulfillment of God’s plan, and he is the fullness of God revealed to us in human form.

The Apostle John forcefully puts his stamp of confirmation on this same truth: John 1:14

John 1:14 ESV

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John wrote his Gospel after other good retellings of the good news of Jesus were already in circulation (Matthew, Mark and Luke). So John did not set out so much to only recap the historical evidence that Jesus is the Messiah but to reinforce and explain further the spiritual significance of who Jesus is (the Son of God) and why he came (and did what he did).

Let’s just briefly review some other highlights from John’s prologue that reinforce who Jesus is (He is God), and why he came (to save people from remaining dead in sin and in eternal darkness).

John 1:1–4 ESV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

Jesus is the Word - the logos, the eternal wisdom and truth of God now revealed to us - he is divine reason, he reveals the mind of God, he reveals God’s wisdom in creating, revealing, and saving. Jesus is God the Son, he is God expressing himself in human form.

Jesus is Life - Jesus is God himself fulfilling what is required to grant spiritual life to those who are dead in sin, separated from God. The only one who can give spiritual life is Jesus.

Jesus is Light - This world is covered in spiritual darkness. Because of the fall (when Satan tempted Eve, and Adam and Eve sinned), all of nature, and especially the hearts and minds of every human, are trapped in darkness. … Jesus is the light of God’s holiness and purity and perfection breaking into this evil and corruption, exposing it for what it is. Without this light we would remain in darkness. 

John 1:9–12 ESV

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

John highlights right here in the opening prologue that those who receive Jesus, who believe in Him, can be spiritually born of God and become his children.

[Conclusion] The only right response to who Jesus is and why he came is to recognize that he is truly…

Someone Worth Celebrating… and  Worshiping 

Immanuel, God with us… Jesus, the Savior who is Christ the Lord…

Do you know his worth? Is the center of history the center of your life? Do you submit to Jesus as Lord?

Again I say submit because those who believe, obey. Just like Joseph did when he was told to take Mary as his wife and to name this baby Jesus. He proved his belief by obedience. And just like Matthew himself did when Jesus said to him simply, “Follow me.” Matthew rose and followed Jesus (Mt 9:9), a complete and total surrender to the command of Jesus. Full submission to the Lord is part and parcel with what receiving and believing in him means. If you will submit to Jesus as Lord today, he will save you.

Christians… Without condemning all our other activities at Christmas… Are we celebrating the one who is worthy of our submission, worthy of our worship? What more important things do you have to focus on and talk about this Christmas? And what about the rest of the year? Does your life and voice proclaim this good news?

This child who was born in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago is worthy of our celebration and worship not only in the Christmas season but with our whole lives, and we will worship him as Lord and Savior for all eternity. 

PRAY

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