Some things in life are a mystery to me. Quantum physics is a mystery to me. You want to have your mind blown? Watch somebody on YouTube explaining to you the double slit experiment. I won't even try to explain it. What they found is absolutely stunning. Did you know that according to what's called quantum entanglement, if an atom is entangled and then broke apart, the two parts can be separated by hundreds and hundreds of miles, but still function as one? So if one is spinning in one direction, the other one hundreds of miles away will be spinning in the exact same direction. And if they make a change on one, it will be reverberated in the other instantaneously. They have no idea how they're connected, but they are. It's a mystery. Quantum physicists have had to come to terms with mystery. And this is upsetting to us because we're scared of things that we don't understand. We like the Newtonian world machine. where everything just works by these natural laws, they all keep us all safe, and they keep gravity, and they keep everything moving at a certain motion, and these laws are easy for us to determine and to observe, and they're fixed, and they're firm. But then we look just below the surface at the atomic level, and those laws don't work. Quantum physicists have had to be comfortable with mystery. And I think that is good. Mystery is good. If for no other reason than to maintain the creator and the creature distinction. The dogma that drives some scientific pursuits is almost bordering on idolatry. We believe that we can exhaustively understand everything. And if we were to do so, who would we be? We would be God. But we are not, and so we have to be content and learn to live with mystery. There are three mysteries in the Scriptures that are mind-boggling. The Trinity, that God is one God in three persons, but nevertheless one God. The Incarnation, That God, the second person of the Trinity, came and took on flesh? Fully God? Fully man? Two natures in one person? The sovereignty of God is a mystery. How God can be sovereign over every atom in creation and yet we are still responsible for our actions. These are mysteries that we confess. We don't try to get behind them to understand them. If we did, we would be God. But we confess them to be true. The Council of Chalcedon, which took place in 581, had this confession about who Christ is. And I know the language might be difficult, but I will explain these things. I want you to just listen to the way they define the Incarnation. They say, therefore, following the Holy Fathers, we all unite in teaching that we should confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. This same One is perfect in deity, and the same One is perfect in humanity. The same One is true God and true man, comprising a rational soul and a body. He is of the same substance as the Father according to His deity. And the same one is of the same substance with us according to his humanity, like us in all things except sin. He was begotten before the ages from the Father according to his deity. But in the last days for us and our salvation, the same one was born of the Virgin Mary, the bearer of God according to his humanity. He is one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, and only begotten, who is made known in two natures, unconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably. The distinction between the natures is not at all destroyed because of the union, but rather the property of each nature is preserved and concurs together in one person, in one hypostasis. He is not separated or divided into two persons, but is one and the same Son, the only begotten, the God, the Logos, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the way the prophets spoke of Him from the beginning, and Jesus Christ Himself instructed us, and the counsel of the fathers has handed the faith down to us. Now that might sound confusing, but what the fathers were trying to do is confess a mystery. And what they're trying to guard against is heresy. You see why they articulate the doctrine of the Incarnation? They are attempting to steer the course between a whole host of heresies that cropped up since the resurrection of Christ and the Apostolic Church. Heresies that taught Jesus had only one nature. That somehow His divinity and humanity mixed together to make one new nature. That's called Eutychianism. But on the other side, there were some that maintained too much distinction. Like Jesus is some kind of bipolar. Like they don't communicate the two natures. That was called Nestorianism. He was uncomfortable calling Mary the mother of God. Theotokos. He preferred to call her the Christotokos. saying that she gave birth to the human nature of Christ and the divinity just kind of floated alongside the human nature. Of course, earlier at Nicaea in 325, Arius was condemned because he didn't believe Jesus was the pre-existent Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, but was a creature. And then there was Apollinarius who so emphasized the divinity of Christ that he thought his divine nature replaced his human nature. But the council determined that whatever Jesus did not assume, that if he didn't take on flesh, then how could he heal us? How could he take on our sin? So if he was not fully man, he could not save us. I outline this to show how vital it is for us to confess the creed and not to attempt to press beyond it to something else. We must embrace the mystery and learn to live with it. In telling the story of the birth of Jesus Christ, Matthew does not try to solve all of our problems. He presents the story mainly from Joseph's perspective. He doesn't dwell on Mary or her subjective experience of being called to bear God's Son. Instead, he gives us Joseph's personal experience. What it was like to wrestle with what seemed like the huge problem of Mary's infidelity. Matthew has a straightforward question that he is answering, and that is, how did the birth of Jesus take place? He leaves us with mystery, but he shows that the birth of Jesus took place by the Holy Spirit in accordance with the Scriptures, because God the Son became incarnate by the Holy Spirit, just as His Word promised, we must believe that Jesus is the Son of God. So turn with me to Matthew chapter 1. We're going to begin at verse 18. Look at the birth of Christ. Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to his son. And he called his name Jesus." This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray together. Father, we give you thanks for the incarnation of your Son, Jesus Christ. Although this is a mystery to us, we confess it to be true that Jesus came as a man, fully God, fully man, took on flesh and dwelt among us to be Emmanuel. So as we open up this text this morning, we pray that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened so that we would see God with us, Emmanuel. For we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Matthew begins very nondescript. Before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And just imagine that. Imagine that you were in Joseph's shoes. And somehow he begins to notice that Mary is looking a little thicker. Soon it's clear that she's not just put on weight, but is pregnant. Imagine the heartache and turmoil that Joseph must be going through. The fact that your betrothed tells you the child is by the Holy Spirit and that she has been faithful would not console you. Instead, it would raise more questions than it answered. Joseph didn't do something quickly. The family may think that he was the one who had got her pregnant. He might ruin his reputation and be publicly shamed. Worse, that would expose both of them to the prospect of death by stoning. But if he sought to put her away silently, he would remove the shame and disgrace from himself and partly from her as well, although her future prospects of marriage would be nearly impossible. and would likely be costly to her family rather than to their benefit. And as Joseph considers these things, as he thinks about this, he's a just man, the angel of the Lord comes to him to assure him. He says, Joseph, son of David, linking us to the genealogy. Remember, Jesus is the son of Abraham and the son of David. And Joseph is the son of David. Matthew is linking Joseph to that rich heritage in which he stood. Jesus was the son of David, not just from Mary's line, but also from Joseph's. He's not genetically related to Jesus, but by adoption, we may say covenantally, he represents Jesus. And the angel assures Joseph that the child was from the Holy Spirit and that he should name him Jesus, clarifying not only what he was to be, but what his mission was as well. And when Joseph woke, he did exactly as the angel told him. He took Mary as his wife, but did not know her sexually until after Jesus was born. I want you to notice a couple of things here. The incarnation of the Son of God by the Holy Spirit was in accordance with the Scripture. But before we look at the Scripture's fulfillment, the text Matthew quotes is from Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14. Isaiah begins that statement with this. He says, So quickly I want to highlight four ways that the birth of Jesus by the Virgin Mary from the Spirit is a sign. First, the fact that Mary is a virgin and the conception is the result of the Holy Spirit highlights the supernatural character of Jesus' birth. Jesus is set apart early on in the gospel as being different. He's not the same. The word that Matthew uses in verse 18, now the birth of Jesus, that word is Genesis. Now the genesis of Jesus Christ took place in this way. Jesus Christ began in this way. And He begins not as normal babies come into the world. Highlighting the supernatural character of His birth. If you cannot accept the virgin birth as so many liberals of the 19th and 20th century couldn't, then how will you take His miracles? How will you deal with the fact that He raises Lazarus from the dead? What about His own resurrection? You see, if you lose the supernatural character of Jesus' birth, then it's easy to lose the rest of the Gospel. The Gospel highlights the genesis of Jesus. The birth narrative of Christ has its origins in the plans and purposes of God, which are anything but normal. Anything but highly possible for us to work out on our own entailing mystery Secondly the incarnation of the Son of God through the miraculous virgin birth by the Holy Spirit is a judgment on humanity specifically on our inability to save ourselves and Not only did Adam, who was created perfect with the ability not to sin, fail to obey God, but every one of Adam's sons failed. Even the promising ones, Abraham and Joseph, David, Moses, none of them can save us from the predicament that we find ourselves in. All of them failed. Jesus would not. Pointing to the undeniable fact that salvation belongs to the Lord. So while Jesus' birth as a man qualifies him to be a son of Adam, its supernatural character highlights the fact that Adam is not his father. God is! And that gives us the third sign. Divine Sonship. Jesus it is clear by Joseph naming him in verse 25 is Adopted into Joseph's family and therefore into the family of David, but his father is God The supernatural virgin birth by the Spirit points towards this and the rest of Jesus's life bears this out Just a few chapters later in Matthew 3 the voice come from heaven. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased and Here we can't help thinking about the most beloved scripture in the Bible. My daughter was just coming telling me how much she loved it. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes on Him should not perish but have everlasting life. God shows His great love for us by giving us His Son, His only Son. Reminding us of Abraham and Isaac. And Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his only son Isaac. God was willing to do that too. And sent the Eternal Son, the second person of the Trinity, to take on flesh, formed in the womb of the Virgin Mary, the God-bearer. It staggers the mind. And it causes the heart to soar at the heights and the depths of the love of God towards us. Fourthly, the incarnation of the Son of God through the miraculous virgin birth by the Holy Spirit was necessary for Jesus to be sinless, perfect in every way. He needed to be in the likeness of men so He is formed from Mary. And that means that Jesus, if He goes on Ancestry.com, can trace His lineage, His genetics, to Mary. That might be astounding. God is His Father, and so He's not federally related to Adam. He has God as his Father, making him pure and blameless. He can't say with David, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Jesus cannot say that. Like all the rest of the sons of Adam can. Of course, being sinless and perfect qualifies Jesus to be the Lamb of God, the one without blemish or spot that takes away the sins of the world. Many, many people have struggled over the virgin birth. It has been a stumbling block that kept them from belief. But if I were to try to remove that stumbling block, you would be left with a Jesus who isn't divine. A Jesus who is destined merely to be a good teacher. One voice among many offering you a way to be at peace with God through moral action. And we have all tried that. We've all tried to clean up our act. We've tried to bootstrap theology. But that's not the Jesus who saved us. Who would be excited for a Jesus that wasn't a Savior? Who would give their life and follow someone who did not offer them eternal salvation? None of us would. I cannot demystify the Incarnation or make it easier for our finite minds to grasp, but I can proclaim to you the wonder and joy of God-made flesh and dwelling amongst us. That is the joy of sins forgiven. The wonder of inheriting a world with no more pain, and no more sorrow, and no more death. A world where God dwells with us, and we with Him. And that is worth your belief in the miraculous virgin birth. Belief that God has drawn near to us in the incarnation of His Son. Because God the Son became incarnate by the Holy Spirit just as His Word promised. We must believe that He is the Son of God. And all of this took place in accordance with the Scriptures. All of this, that is the birth of Jesus Christ, took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophets. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel. The incarnation did not just arise out of thin air. It was and is a mystery, but it wasn't unknown. In just the next chapter in Matthew's Gospel, the wise men come to Herod to find out where the Messiah was to be born. And they know the Scriptures. They point to Micah 5, verse 2. Oh, Bethlehem Ephrathah. And they say the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. They know the Scriptures. And they can point the wise men in Herod to exactly where the Messiah would be born. Throughout redemptive history, God had revealed bits and pieces of his plan of salvation, never leaving his people in the dark. He spoke to them through his prophets, but oftentimes the prophets were not clear about what God was telling them. We might say it like this. They knew the outline, but they lacked the specificity. Peter said in 1 Peter 1.10, concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. They were praying and trying to discern, just like you or I, to know when it was and who it was that God was going to send to be the Messiah. But they knew He was coming. They were aware that Jesus would come. One of the greatest Bible study tips I got as a new Christian, which has been with me ever since, is this. Every time you run across the quotation in the New Testament from the Old Testament, underline it. And then right in the margin, this comes from Isaiah 7, verse 14. And then go to Isaiah, underline that verse in Isaiah, and put this verse as quoted in Matthew 1, verse 23. And in that way, you are building yourself an apostolic study Bible. You're beginning to read the scriptures with the apostles. You're looking where they looked. You're going and seeing what they saw. And that will shape the way that you read your Bibles. And so, we want to see what Matthew saw, so we need to go where Matthew went. But first, You may not have even noticed it, but after the angel commands Joseph to name the son Jesus, he explains why. For as his name is Jesus, so is his mission. Jesus means Savior. For as the angel has said, he will save his people from their sins. And that is a subtle reference to Psalm 130 verse 8. I will include verse 7 for context, but we need to go back to Psalm 130. We need to understand what is the angel describing? And who is he identifying Jesus with? You see, all of these are data points that are filling out our picture of who Christ is and what he came to do. And just by hearing the name Jesus, we should think of these things. Psalm 130, verse 7. Oh Israel, hope in the Lord. For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with Him is plentiful redemption. Listen to verse 8. And He, that is Yahweh, He will redeem Israel from all His iniquities. And the angel, the angel changes it and he says, and He will save His people from their sins. Jesus will save His people because He is God. He is God with us. He is able to save. The angel gives the name that the Son of God should be called, and it is a name pregnant with meaning. Jesus, as you may know, is the Greek spelling and pronunciation for a shortened Hebrew of Joshua. Joshua, the name means Yahweh saves, the Lord saves, or the Lord is salvation. There are several Joshua's in scripture, but two stand out. The first was Joshua, the son of Nun, the assistant to Moses, who led Israel on a new exodus out of the wilderness and into a conquest of the promised land. There are obvious parallels between Jesus and Joshua. Joshua is leading his people. Jesus is the greater Joshua, leading his people in a new exodus out of the wilderness. Our final exodus. out of our wandering wilderness of this life into the new heavens and the new earth as our sojourn here in this life is a conquest to put down the last remaining Canaanites that remain in the land under the captain of our faith, Jesus, Joshua, Jesus Christ. You see, we're supposed to think of that. You hear Jesus, you hear Joshua, and you think of all that Joshua did, and you think that he was a type of the Christ. He is doing something that Jesus would do finally, that he would do better than Joshua. So the angel says, his name is to be Jesus, and you think, It's going to be staggering. We're going to have someone who's going to lead us on a new exodus, the final exodus. There's another Joshua, not as well known. He was the high priest who returned with Zerubbabel and Ezra and helped rebuild the temple. He was a contemporary of Haggai and Zechariah. And there is a remarkable word given to him by the prophet Zechariah, which bears reading. beginning in verse 12 of chapter 6. And say to him, that is, say to Joshua, thus says the Lord of hosts, Behold, the man whose name is the branch, for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord. It is he who shall build the temple of the Lord, and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. See, what Zechariah is doing is encouraging Joshua. Joshua is part of the people that return to Israel from the exile. And they return to the land, a small remnant, and everything is decimated. Some of them remember what the land looked like. They remember the previous glory of the Solomonic Temple. And they set about to rebuild it, but they don't have the resources that Solomon had. And they build a much smaller temple. And sometimes they're grieved at that. Why should God dwell in this little temple? And Zechariah comes and encourages them. He says, the one who is called the branch, and that one is a Davidic ruler. And the imagery here is from the prophets because they saw David as a stately cedar. But he was cut off in the exile. His kingdom was no more. But, from the stump of Jesse would come a branch. Just a little branch. Seems insignificant, but that branch, not only is he going to be a king like David, sitting on David's throne, but he's going to be a priest. What do priests do? They atone for sin. Not just is He going to rule and reign over His people, but Jesus is a priest-king who will carry His people into salvation. You see, just by hearing Jesus, you're supposed to think of all these men. You're supposed to remember these things, because you inhabit the Scriptures, and you know them. You know the prophecies concerning the Messiah. So they say His name is going to be Jesus, and you think Joshua. You think a high priest and a king sitting on David's throne, finally bringing salvation. You're filled with joy. And we miss it. We miss it because, one, we don't read the Bible like we should. We don't inhabit it. We don't dwell in it so we can make these connections. The mere mention of Jesus should make us think of the captain of our faith, like Joshua, and the great high priest and king who sits on David's throne. Our hearts should stir and be warmed at the thought of this little baby, wrapped in humility, who would come and save His people from sin. The same can be said for the quotation from Isaiah. Isaiah 714 comes in a discourse that stretches all the way to chapter 9 of Isaiah. And there Isaiah promises King Ahaz a sign, even though he had refused. God said, ask of me a sign. And Ahaz says, no, I won't. I won't ask for you a sign. And God said, fine, I'm going to give you a sign anyway. Ahaz was Arrogance and the nature of the sign has to do with the covenant that God made with David in 2nd Samuel 7 we talked about this last week that God would never Remove his covenant with David his sons may be unfaithful and they might be disciplined They might be drug off to Babylon so that it seems hopeless, but God would never remove his covenant love from David so there would always be a ruler on his throne and Ahaz is facing Assyria. And although Assyria would be a tool that God would use to discipline Israel, He would not obliterate Judah. And the sign was a prediction of the future Davidic ruler, whose coming would signal to the nations that God had been faithful to the covenant He promised with David. We talked about that last week. That Jesus fulfills that covenant. He keeps the promises that God made. And he's the proof of it. The virgin would conceive and bear a son whom she would name Immanuel. And the flow of Isaiah leads to an identification of the land of Israel with this Immanuel. Which it spells out in chapter 8 verse 10 as meaning God is with us. Isaiah continues the flow of thought with chapter 9 and these famous verses from verse 6. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of the peace there will be no end. the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this as students of the word we should know this We should know that when Matthew quotes Isaiah 7.14, he's not just quoting Isaiah 7.14, but he's talking about Emmanuel. He's talking about God dwelling with us. He's talking about this promised ruler of David, whose the government would set on his shoulders and he would usher in peace. same Emmanuel that sums up the entirety of redemptive history. God with us. And if you can read that, if you can read the word Emmanuel and not be stunned and drop to your knees in praise, then you have not understood the Scriptures. And you proved that you have not steeped yourself in the faith-arousing Word of God. And this is your homework. Go and meditate on Immanuel. What does that mean? What does it mean to you that God dwells with us? What does it mean to you that God has come near to you in the person and work of Christ? And let that good news grip you. And I'll tell you what, there's only one response. It's doxology. It's praise and adoration, but not just praise and adoration, it's proclamation. You cannot help but tell the world, God has come. God has come and has dwelt among us. This is the whole point of history. We draw others in to our worship when we explain the good news that in Christ God has dwelt with us. That's still true by His Spirit. So, take that one word, which is so pregnant with meaning, meditate on it, and think about the fact that you live in the presence of a God who dwells with you. And let that shape your actions and attitudes. How can you talk to your spouse knowing that God dwells with you? How can you not honor and respect other people? How can you engage in that sin that so easily besets you when God dwells with you? You see, Emmanuel will change your life. There's no way around it. You are either going to reject Him as God, you're going to reject the Incarnation, you're going to say, it's impossible, the virgin birth couldn't have happened, and that will still change your life. Or you're going to accept it, and you will never be the same again. So in your exuberant celebration of the incarnation of the Son of God by the Holy Spirit in accordance with the scripture, go and tell other people. We all will have celebrations throughout this holiday season. And I guarantee you, you will come in contact with somebody who does not believe that Jesus is the Son of God who came in the flesh. Tell them! Tell them about Emmanuel! and have the kind of passion that means that it changed your life. That's infectious and it will change theirs too. Don't just sit on the good news. Don't just keep it to yourself. Tell the world this is the one time in American culture where we can go out and sing theologically rich hymns and others will join in. They don't even know what they're singing, but they're testifying to the greatness and the glory of God. So do that. Sing carols and draw people in to the worship of God. Because God the Son became incarnate by the Holy Spirit, just as His Word promised, we must believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Amen? Let's pray together. Father, we are overawed at the truth of the Incarnation. That God, the Second Person of the Trinity, has wrapped himself in frail humanity, taking on flesh, sympathizing with our weakness, and you laid on Him our sins, and He paid the full penalty for all of them. We are in awe and worship at the feet of that Savior, Jesus Christ. Change our hearts because of Emmanuel. Soften them and allow us to see the effects that it makes everywhere. For we pray this in His name. Amen.