“Mary” is the New Testament equivalent of “Miriam” in the Old Testament. It was a common and honour name in Israel, having been first introduced to us in the sister of Moses. This Mary, or Miriam, was young, probably less than fifteen years old, if the customs of the day were being applied to her.
Although she may have been young in years, she showed a great deal of maturity. For example, she was not terrified by the visit of the angel, when most grown men usually were. But her lack of fear wasn’t due to some sort of simplicity, stupidity or gullibility. She calmly asked the angel some intelligent questions and thought about the answers. And she was even willing to suffer the serious consequences of the privilege that was being given to her. Mary knew her Bible, which is definite an oddity today. Like most young, spiritual, Judean girls in her day, she was hoping to be the mother of the Messiah. And she was trained to take care of that eventuality, because her mother raised her to be a good mother.
Joseph and Mary were betrothed to be married – something far different from an engagement today. There hadn’t been any dating. The arrangements had probably been made between Mary’s parents and either Joseph’s parents or Joseph himself, with Mary having no input in the negotiations at all. There was no engagement ring; no party, and not much in the way of an announcement.
Although this betrothal was not the same thing as marriage itself, it was a lot closer to marriage than is an engagement today. For example, the couple were considered to be essentially married, although they were not living together. At this point, any immorality was called “adultery” rather than “fornication.” And it took more for this espousal to be broken than simply to return the ring; there had to be a public and shameful “divorce.” They were married, and yet, not married, so to speak.
In this case, before the marriage ceremony, the marriage feast, and the move into Joseph’s house, Mary was visited by an angel of God. That angel said, “The Holy Ghost 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.” After that meeting, probably about a month later, Mary told her husband-to-be. Those must have been very difficult words to pronounce. I doubt that she got any sleep that night after the angelic visit, or for the next few weeks. Mary’s heart was probably filled with a combination of thrill and terror. And yet, on the other hand, Joseph was no Philistine, and perhaps his betrothed knew that he was a just and godly man.
When the news was shared, Joseph was probably stunned and just a little doubtful. He obviously mulled over in his mind what she had said and what options were open to him. He appears to have had great affection for Mary, and couldn’t believe that she had betrayed him, but this talk about angelic visitations and the coming of the Holy Spirit confused him. In the old days, he might have had her stoned to death for adultery, but the Roman government now considered capital punishment as something belonging strictly to them. I’m sure that Joseph was horribly disappointed in his fiancé. As a moral and honest man, he apparently felt that he had no alternative: a divorce was necessary. Moral and godly people cannot condone sexual immorality. So Joseph was minded to put her away quietly.
It was at that time he, too, was visited by this angel of God. And like a witness in a court of law, it testified that Mary’s confession was the truth. “For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.” Joseph was told that this was in fulfillment of Old Testament prophesies. The angel even told the man that Mary had even been given the baby’s name. “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS.” And why will this be the name? “For he shall save his people from their sins.” As we said last Sunday night, this is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14: “Behold a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name Immanuel.” And of course this is the Messiah – “God with us.” With his doubts removed, this man of faith took Mary to be his wife, to raise this baby as his own son. They may have even moved up the wedding day to try to allay some of the inevitable gossip.
It is verse 21 that I’d like to spend a bit of time on this morning. “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS; for he shall save his people from their sins.” We have here a predicted birth, a pre-named child, and a prearranged plan.
There are a great many things about Jesus’ birth which are important and even miraculous. For example, there is the fact that birth was prophesied by God hundreds of years before the event. As we saw last week those prophecies began somewhat cryptically back in Genesis 3:15: While God was pronouncing judgment upon the serpent for tempting Eve into sin, He said: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” This isn’t a prophecy about the time of Jesus’ birth, but it does say some about its unique nature. It refers to the “seed of the woman” without any mention of the father. Later on, but still centuries before Mary and Joseph, the prophecies got more specific. Isaiah 7:13-14 – “And God said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Isaiah 9:6 – “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Micah 5:2 – “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” Genesis 49:10 prophesies an approximate time by saying that “the sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” That means that “Shiloh” – the King of Peace – would come before Judah lost its right to govern itself. And within a generation of the time of Christ, the King of Peace, the Romans destroyed Israel. It wasn’t that they were taken captive as a nation as they had been under the Babylonians, this time Rome wanted to obliterate Israel as a national entity.
But let’s get back to our text: “Mary shall bring forth a son.” This was still prophecy when it was first spoken, and it is as valuable as that of Isaiah, Micah or the Psalms. For this young woman was still a “virgin,” despite what many corrupt translations of the Bible might say. As Mary said, “How can this thing be, since I’ve not known a man?”
Not only was this to be a virgin birth, but Joseph and Mary were told that this would be the birth of a boy. Of course, in that day there were no sonograms or other tests to determine the gender of the unborn. I suppose that any one could guess, and there would be a nearly 50/50 chance of getting it right. But this was not a guess; it was a revelation from God.
“A baby boy is coming,” said the angel to Joseph, and in the process of time He did come. “In the fulness of time, God sent forth His son, made of a woman, made under the law.” On the day of his birth, there were a handful of people who celebrated that arrival. But in the years after that, there were very few, outside the family, who gave a single thought about it. It certainly hadn’t become a civic holiday, or even a local event in Bethlehem. If the birth of this baby had become a big event, then when Jesus began His public ministry there would have been fewer doubts about who He claimed to be. If His birthday had been a yearly event, everyone could have realized that Jesus was the great- grandson of David. He really is the promised Messiah. No, the birth of Christ became lost in the mists of obscurity, even during his life-time. There is no Biblical argument to make it into a major celebration.
Yet, right or wrong, on the other hand, it is a big celebration two millennia after the fact. But consider this: Do you celebrate the birthday of your great-grandfather? Why not? Don’t you realize that if it wasn’t for him you wouldn’t be here today? He’s an important man in your life, and yet you don’t celebrate his birthday. You probably don’t even know the date of his birth. I don’t know mine. Or can you give me the birth-date of William Shakespeare or Thomas Jefferson? How about the Apostle Paul, or Abraham, or King David. When other births are forgotten, this is one that society refuse to surrender. Why? For the same reason as it was prophesied in the first place.
We are talking here about the incarnation of the Son of God. This is “Emmanuel” whom we’re talking about – this is “God with us.” “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten son of God, full of grace and truth.”
God had prophesied the birth of other babies. There were children like Isaac and Samson, Samuel and John the Baptist. Those predictions were not so much miraculous as they were comforting to their parents, The exception was John the Baptist, who was prophesied by Isaiah, and who had special responsibilities in the up-coming ministry of Christ. As far as I can remember, only John had his name prescribed by God before his birth. That name wasn’t given to us in Isaiah, but rather about nine months before his birth. And again, this was because of his important relationship to the Messiah.
Quite often when a child is born into a family, suggestions are made for a name. My first name, for example, was suggested to my parents to honor a dead cousin. Maybe that’s also the reason why my parents never used the name very much. The honor was given, but they preferred the name “David” over “Kenneth.” Uncles, aunts and grandparents often like to make suggestions for the names of babies. But just as it was in the case of John, this time Jehovah God did the naming. This was an important name, and it must have had specific meaning.
“Thou shalt call His name Jesus,” and additionally they called Him “Emmanuel.” “Emmanuel” is almost a title rather than a name, meaning “God with us.” I personally don’t think that anyone else has a right to wear that name. Although Christians might say that “God is always with us,” only Jesus was “God with us.” I Timothy 3:16 says, “Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness, that God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”
But it is that name “Jesus” which God gave His Son, and that is significant. And isn’t it appropriate that the Father should name the Child? This isn’t the son of Joseph, but the Son of Jehovah. Joseph doesn’t have much of an argument that he should name this baby.
There must have been some special reason for God the Father to give this child this name. And indeed there was: for “Jesus” basically means “Jehovah saves!” That name could have been given as a memorial or commendation. But the fact is, this Jesus actually was Jehovah; and He is the Saviour. This name is more important than any other name ever given to a child. We can illustrate that importance rather poorly, this way. If you found my check book, pulled out a check and put your name on the line at bottom, There wouldn’t be anyone but a fool who’d cash it for you. But if you forged my name, it might get cashed. In this case, that name “Jesus” is much like Jehovah’s signature at the bottom of the check.
The Lord was saying a couple things in this: First, This is the Saviour that all humanity needs. “Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby the must be saved.” “And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.” And then, God was also saying that in this tiny bundle of human flesh is Deity. “This is my beloved Son, hear ye him.” It is the person behind the name “Jesus” who is the Saviour of sinners. It’s not Allah, Joseph Smith, Krisnha, Peter, Paul, or Mary. It is Jesus – and Jesus only. “And thou shalt call his name JESUS; for he shall save his people from their sins.”
If you die without this One called “Jesus,” you shall die a second death, facing nothing but Hell for eternity. The person, the lamb, Jesus, has a book, in which are registered all the names of all his people. “And whosoever is not found written in the Lamb’s book of life shall be cast into the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.”
You need this man who was born with the names “Jesus,” “Immanuel,” and “the son of Mary of Nazareth,” because He is also the “Son of God,” “the Saviour,” “the Messiah.”
Have you ever looked into the face of a baby, and wondered what it would become? Probably every mother has done that, but not necessarily many people outside the family. “Jesus, Immanuel,” came into this world with his whole life planned, and much of it prophesied. His birth in Bethlehem, his stay in Egypt, his youth in Nazareth; were all pre-written before His birth. His teaching ministry, His preaching journeys, His crucifixion and eventually His resurrection. All of it was prearranged and much of it predicted.
Jesus didn’t come to give us an excuse to have Christmas, and today He’d probably attack it just as he did the money-changers tables in the temple. Christ didn’t come to establish an economic system or to tell the future.
Christ came to do something which only He could do. And that was to save His elect people from their sins. And “Who can forgive sins, but God only?” No one, none. Not many who celebrated Christmas three weeks ago will be rejoicing with Christ throughout eternity. There is a huge difference between the baby in the manger and the Man upon God’s throne. Nearly all normal people love to cuddle a little baby, but man by nature hates the living and sovereign Christ.
The question is: are you one of those people for whom Jesus came and for whom He shed his blood? How does one become such property of the Messiah? Well, to tell you the truth, that is God’s business. Your business is to repent of your sins and to love and trust the Christ who died on the cross. Not the babe in the manger – but the Divine Son who gave His life a ransom for many.
Look at the credentials of this Saviour. Look at the prophecies of his coming, and look at the fulfilment. Look at the miraculous birth; the death and the just as miraculous resurrection. No wonder at the close of his account of the life of the Lord, John wrote: “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” Study the angelic explanation of the birth of Christ again and again if you like. But make sure that you humbly bow your knee before the King of Kings and Saviour of Souls – not the baby. Our message at this season and every season of the year is – “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”