Matthew 1:18-25 – Round Yon Virgin Mother and Child
Pastor Ben Patterson tells the following story:
My 5-year-old niece, Olivia, and her best friend, Claire, were participating in a nativity play at school. Claire was playing Mary, and Olivia was an angel. Before the show, a young boy was going around the dressing room repeating, "I’m a sheep, what are you?" Each child responded politely, including Olivia, who proudly declared she was an angel.
The boy then turned to Claire, still struggling into her costume with her mother’s help, and repeated the question to her: "I’m a sheep, what are you?"
Claire simply said, "I’m Mary."
Realizing he was face to face with a lead character, he felt he needed to justify his own role. "It’s hard being a sheep, you know," he said with all the seriousness of a 5-year-old actor with a big part.
Claire’s equally serious response was humorously profound. "Yes," said Claire innocently, "but it’s also hard being a virgin, you know."
Last week we began looking at a 2-week series on why Jesus was born of a virgin? Why did the virgin birth matter? Last week we looked at the Virgin Birth as fulfillment of prophecy. It was prophesied in the OT that the Messiah would be of a woman but not of a man. It was also prophesied that the Messiah would come from the right lineage. Jesus fulfilled these by being born of Mary.
Well, tonight we are looking at what difference this makes for us. Why does it matter that Jesus was born of a virgin? I don’t want to limit God by saying that there was no other way for Him to bring Jesus into the world. Likely God could have done it another way. But why did He do it this way? Is this way the best way? Probably.
There are a few things that I want to look at tonite. This is a smorgasbord of reasons why God chose a virgin to bring Jesus into the world. I want to look at several things under 3 categories. The categories are: 1) Safeguards - that is, what did the Virgin birth protect? What essential truths did it keep secure? 2) Symbols – that is, what can the Virgin Birth show us about other truths that God wants us to understand? And 3) Sanctification – that is, what did the Virgin birth sanctify, or make holy? What did the Virgin birth bring value and worth to? What can we see is important, in light of what the Virgin birth stood for?
Well, 1) safeguards. What did the Virgin birth protect? What essential truths did it keep secure? We can see that the Virgin Birth acted as a safeguard, a protection, an insulation of 3 attributes of Jesus. The 1st attribute of Jesus that the Virgin birth safeguarded was His deity. You see, Jesus was God. That’s what deity means. Jesus was God. God is God, but He displays Himself in ways to help us understand His nature.
And He reveals Himself to us as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Jesus is God the Son, and the Son of God. He is both. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The passage goes on the say that the Word is Jesus. So, Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God.
John 1:14 says that, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” The Word, Jesus, lived with us. Jesus, the Son of God, became flesh – human. Now, how could God become human? If Jesus had been born of Mary and Joseph, there would have been 2 human parents, so how then could Jesus have been God? How could He have been God with 2 human parents?
You see, thing begets thing. Elephant begets elephant. Lion begets lion. Sea turtle begets sea turtle. Human begets human. And God begets God. That’s how the Son of God could be God – because God begets God. That’s how Jesus could be God. Because God begets God. And that’s also how Jesus could be human. Because human, Mary, begets human. This doesn’t happen if Joseph were the father. The Virgin Birth safeguards Jesus’ deity.
In the same breath, the 2nd attribute of Jesus that the Virgin birth safeguarded was His pre-existence. Now, I don’t know exactly how pre-existence works – that is, how long a soul is in existence before it enters a fetus. I don’t know about all that, and I don’t care to speculate. But I do know that Jesus was around before Mary ever knew anything.
John 8:58 says: "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" That means that Jesus applied the age-old name of God, YAHWEH, commonly called Jehovah in English, to Himself. He was saying that He was God, long before Abraham was around.
Colossians 1:16-17 say this about Him: “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Jesus was there when creation happened. He was part of it. He was not part of creation, as we are, but He took part in creating it.
And Philippians 2:5-11 shows that Jesus was with God before He decided to step out of heaven onto earth. All this says that He was not a newly created individual, but was the eternal Son of God. He didn’t step out of history; He stepped into it. The Virgin Birth safeguards Jesus’ pre-existence.
And the 3rd attribute of Jesus that the Virgin birth safeguarded was His sinlessness. Jesus needed to be sin-free in order to be a perfect sacrifice for our sins. And since our race is contaminated with sin, the only way that He could be sin-free would be to have at least one sin-free parent. That would be God the Father. Mary was not sinless, but Jesus’ Father was. A miraculous birth was necessary in order for Jesus to be sinless.
Now, we get to the 2nd part of the message tonite as to why Jesus had to be born of a Virgin. It’s about symbols – that is, what can the Virgin Birth show us about other truths that God wants us to understand?
Well, we’ll look at 2 anyway – there is probably more. The 1st truth that the Virgin Birth symbolized is the new birth. John 1:13 describes the process of becoming a child of God – “children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” That describes Jesus’ birth. It was not a husband’s will. It was not a human decision. It was because of God.
The new birth is our entrance into life. We don’t get it by having the right parents. We don’t get it by what others do. We get it by faith in Him as He speaks to our hearts. It’s from Him. The Virgin Birth symbolizes the new birth that each of us should experience.
And the 2nd truth that the Virgin Birth symbolized is God’s ability to do the impossible. God took a virgin and caused her to have a baby. That’s impossible, but it happened. God took an infertile old woman and caused her to have a baby. That too is impossible, but it happened. To raise someone from the dead is impossible, but it happened.
It’s no wonder that the angel told Mary: “With God all things are possible.” It means that if God can make a virgin have a baby, He can do whatever He promises to you too. Nothing is beyond God’s powers or control. That should be something to cause you to rejoice. Nothing is beyond God’s abilities.
And now, we get to the 3rd and final part of the message tonite as to why Jesus had to be born of a Virgin. It’s about sanctification – that is, what did the Virgin birth sanctify, or make holy? What did the Virgin birth bring value and worth to? What can we see is important, in light of what the Virgin birth stood for?
Well, it’s not that there was anything wrong with these in the 1st place, but the Virgin Birth showed that they matter. The 1st thing that the Virgin Birth sanctified is purity. Mary had never been with a man, and God chose her to be part of His plans to save the world. Today purity, virginity, is not held too highly. In truth, I never assume that a couple has remained pure until marriage. Purity is scoffed at today.
But the Virgin Birth shows how much value purity has. God applauds it. He celebrates when people wait for marriage. God blesses patience and perseverance and self-control. In every issue, not just this one.
Well, secondly, the Virgin Birth also sanctified marriage. Mary was engaged to be married. God’s plan is for children to be raised in the context of marriage. Now, that doesn’t mean God has no Plan B. It doesn’t mean that forgiveness doesn’t happen for those who step out of His original plans, nor does it mean that they are second-class Christians. It means that marriage is God’s best plan for children.
Hot on the heels of this is the 3rd thing the Virgin Birth sanctifies: adoption. God blessed the extended family. God blessed Joseph with a child not biologically his own. That was part of God’s plans. Purity. Marriage. And raising children that are not your own as if they were. Clearly God is in support of all these.
After all this, I hope we get a better glimpse of what God did so long ago with Jesus’ birth. It was clearly a miracle. It was obviously a sign that there is something special and purposeful about Him. The Virgin Birth shows us that Jesus was God, and pre-existent, and sinless. The Virgin Birth shows us that Jesus’ birth reminds us of our spiritual birth, and of God ability to do anything. And the Virgin Birth shows us that God values purity, marriage, and extended families.
The Virgin Birth is a reflection of God’s power to do miracles. It shows us that Christmas is certainly not about trees and lights and presents. Christmas is about Jesus being born in us, which is equally impossible. Christmas is about giving Jesus 1st place in our lives – in our time, in our thoughts, in our resources, in our plans. Christmas is about Jesus. And that’s what we need to remember this season.
