The Birth of Jesus Christ

“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”)” (Mt 1:21-23)
 
We're now in the second week of Advent, when we remember and celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ. So I want us to read some passages about the birth of Jesus Christ and reflect on the meaning behind His coming.
 
There are 4 gospels in the Bible, but only two of them—Matthew and Luke—talk about how Jesus was born.
 
The Genealogy of Jesus (Mt 1:1-17, Lk 3:23-38)
The New Testament provides two accounts of the genealogy of Jesus: one in the gospel of Matthew and the other in the gospel of Luke.
 
Matthew begins his gospel with the genealogy of Jesus in chapter 1, which gives us some important insights into who Jesus is.
 
1) Jesus, the Descendants of Abraham and David
Matthew 1:1 says,
“This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Mt 1:1)
 
And, at the end of Jesus’ genealogy, Matthew says,
“Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.” (Mt 1:17)
 
Matthew begins and ends Jesus’ genealogy by saying that Abraham and David were His ancestors. By doing so, Matthew intentionally emphasizes the fact that Jesus was a descendant of Abraham and of David. So, what does that tell us about Jesus?
 
To answer this question, we need to understand covenants in the Bible. In Scripture, God's relationship with His people is primarily based on covenants. The covenants reveal who God is, what He wants His people to be, and how He wants them to live, along with the promises and blessings that would be given to them as a result.
 
There are several covenants in the Bible, but the most important ones are the ones God made with Abraham and David. They are called the Abrahamic covenant and the Davidic covenant, respectively.
 
a) The Abrahamic Covenant
First, when God called Abraham with the purpose of saving the whole world, God told him, “I will bless you… and you will be a blessing…all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gn 12:2-3)
 
Here, the blessing that God wanted to give Abraham and all people on earth through him and his descendants is salvation by faith. As Paul said in Galatians 3,
 
“So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith… [Christ] redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus” (Gl 3:9, 14)
 
So, by emphasizing the fact that Jesus was a descendant of Abraham, Matthew is saying that Jesus came into the world to bring the true blessing of salvation to everyone on earth, as God had promised to Abraham.
 
b) The Davidic Covenant
Second, Matthew points out the fact that Jesus was the son of David. This also has an important meaning.
 
David was the first king who wanted to build God’s temple. He told the prophet Nathan that he wanted to build the house of the Lord, and that night, God told David through the prophet,
 
“Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in?… I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.” (2 Sm 7:5, 12, 16).
 
This is called the Davidic Covenant. God was so pleased with David’s desire to build a temple for Him that He promised to raise up David’s offspring to succeed him and establish his throne and kingdom forever.
 
But God didn’t just mean a physical kingdom or throne. What He really had in mind was the eternal kingdom of God which would be fully established by one of David’s descendants, who is called ‘the Messiah’ in Hebrew and ‘Christ’ in Greek.
 
God repeatedly affirmed this covenant through many prophets. The prophet Isaiah said,
 
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” (Is 9:5-6)
 
The prophet Jeremiah said, “The days are coming, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land… This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior.” (Jr 23:5-6)
 
And the prophet Ezekiel said, “David my servant will be their prince forever… I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will put my sanctuary among them forever. My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. Then the nations will know that I the Lord make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.” (Ezk 37:25-28)
 
These were the things that God promised to do through the descendant of David, the Messiah. He would rule over the world with His justice and righteousness. He would bring true peace on earth. Through Him, God would dwell among His people again.
 
That’s what Matthew emphasizes by pointing out the fact that Jesus is a descendant of David. Matthew implies that Jesus is the Messiah promised in the Scriptures who reigns over the kingdom of God forever with His justice and righteousness.
 
Therefore, the fact that Jesus came as a descendant of Abraham means that He is the Savior who brings the blessing of salvation to the whole world. And the fact that Jesus came as a descendant of David reveals that He is the true Lord and King of the world who will bring peace on earth and rule with His righteousness and justice.
 
We must not separate the two. Jesus is both our Savior and our King. To accept Jesus as the Savior and not as the Lord is not a half-hearted faith, but a false faith from the beginning. That’s the first truth we know about Jesus from His genealogy.
 
2) Jesus Came to Save Everyone
Furthermore, Jesus’ genealogy in the gospel of Matthew reveals not only who Jesus is but also whom He came to save.
 
An interesting fact about Matthew’s version of Jesus’ genealogy is that it lists a few women's names. It’s amazing that we find women in Jesus’ genealogy because women were rarely included in genealogies in Jewish history.
 
But, what’s much more surprising than the inclusion of women in Jesus’ genealogy is who those women were. There are four women listed in this genealogy—Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba.
 
Tamar was Judah's daughter-in-law, but she disguised herself as a prostitute and had relations with Judah and bore him sons. Rahab was a prostitute who lived in the city of Jericho during the Israelites' conquest of Canaan. Ruth was a Moabite widow who followed her mother-in-law to live in Israel.
 
Moreover, Matthew deliberately mentions that the mother of Solomon, David's son, was originally Uriah's wife. Anyone who read it would remember the terrible sins David committed to take her from Uriah, who was his loyal officer.
 
So, why did Matthew intentionally include their names in Jesus’ genealogy? We know from the list of the women that his purpose was definitely not to make Jesus sound like He came from a perfect Jewish lineage. By listing their names, Matthew showed readers the reason Jesus came to the world.
 
Jesus came not only to save the Jews but also to save the Gentiles. He came to the world not only for the righteous but also for sinners. So, Jesus’ genealogy implies that there’s no one Jesus can’t save and that there’s no discrimination in the gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ embraces everyone, whether Jew or Gentile, righteous or sinners.
 
The fact that Jesus came not only for Jews but for everyone on earth is also found in the gospel of Luke. The biggest difference between the genealogy in Matthew and the one in Luke is that Luke’s version starts with Jesus and traces His genealogy all the way back to Adam and to God, while Matthew starts with Abraham and traces the lineage down to Jesus.
 
Luke 3:23-28 says, “Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph…. the son of Adam, the son of God.” (Lk 3:23,28)
 
So, Jesus’ genealogy in Luke affirms the fact that Jesus came for everyone on earth regardless of age, gender, race, cultural background, social status, or anything else.
 
As Paul said, “We have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people” (1Tm 4:10)
 
That’s the second truth about Jesus we know from His genealogy.
 
Announcement of the Birth of Jesus (Lk 1:26-38, Mt 1:18-23)
Now, let’s move on to the next part. Jesus’ birth was announced both to Mary and Joseph by the angel Gabriel.
 
First, in Luke 1:30-33, Gabriel told Mary,
“Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” (Lk 1:30-33)
 
Mary couldn’t understand this because she wasn’t married at that time. So she asked the angel, “How will this be since I am a virgin?” (Lk 1:34) and the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (Lk 1:35)
 
3) Jesus Was Conceived by the Power of the Holy Spirit
    So, what do we know about Jesus from this? The third important fact about Jesus is that He was conceived in a virgin's womb by the power of the Holy Spirit without a human biological father. We call this event the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
 
We’ve talked about how important the virgin birth of Jesus Christ is. In His unimaginable power and wisdom, God made His Son born of a virgin so that He could be fully human and at the same time fully God. As Paul said,
 
 “In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Col 2:9).
 
Because Jesus is fully human and fully God, He can lead us to God as a human and He can also deliver God’s message to us as God. That’s the reason the apostle Paul calls Jesus the only mediator between God and human beings.
 
The virgin birth of Jesus also tells us that He is the only man without sin. Adam’s sin, which applies to all other human beings, didn’t apply to Jesus because even though He descended from Adam as a man, His divinity made Him pure and sinless. This is also very important in understanding His salvation because it tells us how His sacrifice on the cross could perfectly wash away all people’s sins.
 
Because He is the Son of God, He could represent all people on earth. And because He is the only man without sin, He could make atonement for all people’s sins through His sacrifice and death. So, the virgin birth of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit tells us that He is the only one through which we can be saved.
 
As Jesus Himself said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn 14:6)
 
Even though Mary didn’t understand the angel’s message, she humbly accepted it. She said, “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.” (Lk 1:38). Then the angel left Mary, and she soon became pregnant.
 
At the time, she was engaged to be married to Joseph. He soon found out that his fiancée had become pregnant before they were married. At first, he didn’t know that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit.
 
So Joseph planned to divorce her quietly so that she wouldn’t be exposed to public disgrace because in those days, adultery was a very serious offence punishable by death.
 
But then an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in his dream and said,
 
“Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (Mt 1:20-23)
 
4) Jesus, Immanuel
This passage is very important in understanding who Jesus Christ is and the purpose for which He came into the world.
 
The passage mentions two names: Jesus and Immanuel. The angel told Joseph to name the baby ‘Jesus’, which is the Greek form of the Old Testament name Joshua, which means “Jehovah is salvation.”
 
So the name Jesus reveals the purpose for which He came into the world. Just as Joshua in the Old Testament saved the Israelites by bringing them into the promised land, Jesus would save His people and bring them to the kingdom of God. And in order to do so, He would make a way for their sins to be forgiven because no sinner can stand before God.
 
Immanuel is another name for Jesus. It means “God with us,” and it also reveals His purpose for coming to the world. He came as the way through which we can be reconciled with God and be with Him.
 
The apostle Paul said, “In [Christ Jesus our Lord] and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence” (Eph 3:12)
 
The only reason we, as sinners, can approach God with confidence and stand before Him is because His Son, Jesus Christ, set us free from our sins through His atoning sacrifice and death. That's the whole point of salvation. The forgiveness of sin is only for the greater purpose of being reconciled with God.
 
That’s the fourth truth we know about Jesus from His birth. The reason Jesus came to earth was to save us from sin. And the ultimate goal is for us to be with God.
 
5) Jesus’ Birth Was Planned by God
What we also know from the fact that Jesus’ birth was announced by the angel is that His birth was planned by God. The name ‘Immanuel’ appears in the Old Testament in the book of Isaiah.
 
The prophet Isaiah said,
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” (Is 7:14)
 
This was prophesied around 700 years before Jesus’ birth. At God's appointed time, He fulfilled this prophecy by causing His Son to be born of the virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit.
 
What we see here is God’s sovereignty in salvation. From the time that sin entered the world, God planned to save people from their sins through His Son, continued to make that plan known through the prophets, and accomplished it by His wisdom, power, and faithfulness.
 
The Birth of Jesus (Lk 2:1-7)
We’ve talked about 5 facts about Jesus from His genealogy and what the angel announced about His birth.
 
Now, let’s move on to the birth of Jesus itself. Jesus’ birth is written about in Luke 2:1-7. This is how Jesus was born. Let’s read it together.
 
(Lk 2:1) In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.
(Lk 2:2) (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)
(Lk 2:3) And everyone went to their own town to register.
(Lk 2:4) So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.
(Lk 2:5) He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
(Lk 2:6) While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,
(Lk 2:7) and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
 
According to this passage, Jesus was born in Bethlehem and placed in a manger. It also tells us some important things we need to know about who He is.
 
6) God’s Sovereignty in Salvation
First, we see God’s sovereignty in salvation through the fact that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Hundreds of years before Jesus was born, God had already foretold through the prophet Micah that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.
 
Micah 5:2-4 says,
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor bears a son, and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites. He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth.” (Micah 5:2-4)
 
According to this prophecy, Jesus would be born in Bethlehem. What's interesting is how Joseph and Mary ended up in that area. Luke reveals that Joseph went to Bethlehem, the city of David, because the Roman emperor at the time, “Caesar Augustus, issued a decree that a census should be taken of the whole Roman world.” (Lk 2:1)
 
By saying this, Luke implies that God could use even the most powerful person in the world at that time, the Roman emperor, to fulfill His plan of salvation. God foretold that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, and He fulfilled it by using the Roman emperor's decree, which shows that God controls everything that happens in this world.
 
7) Jesus’ Humility
Jesus’ birthplace also reflects His  humility. As the Son of God, Jesus has all the authority and power of heaven, but He laid aside all of His privileges and humbled Himself to come to earth in human form and was born and placed in a manger or feeding trough for animals, a lowly and disgusting place.
 
And, later, He even laid down His life on the cross, where the worst criminals were killed. That’s the humility of Jesus we see from His birth to His death.
 
Paul said in Philippians 2:5-8, “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross!” (Php 2:5-8)
 
So, we’ve talked about 7 facts about Jesus we know from His genealogy, the angel’s announcement of His birth, and how He was born.
 
That Jesus is the descendant of Abraham means that He is the Savior who came into the world to bring the blessing of God's salvation through faith to all people.
 
And the fact that Jesus is the descendant of David tells us that He is the Messiah, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who will rule the Kingdom of God with righteousness and justice forever, as promised in the Old Testament. The names of the women in Jesus' genealogy show that Jesus came to save all people, regardless of gender, race, or anything else.
 
That Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit shows that He is fully God and fully man, sinless and therefore able to save the world from all sin.
 
The name Jesus tells us that He came to save us from sin, and His other name, Immanuel, shows us that we are blessed to dwell with God as a result of the salvation Jesus offers.
 
All this was planned by God according to His good will and promised in the Old Testament through His prophets. And every promise was completely fulfilled.
 
What we see from this is that God is sovereign over our salvation. Salvation is not something that we initiate, but something that God initiates and gives to us as a gift. Salvation is given to us only by God's grace.
 
Today is the third Sunday of Advent. I want us to remember who Jesus Christ is more deeply today, so that we may have stronger faith in Him and receive all these precious blessings of salvation.
 
Let’s pray.
 
 Ending prayer
Dear God, we thank You for giving us this chance to know who Jesus Christ is through Your word. As we remember who He is, why He came into the world, and what You’ve planned, prepared, promised, and fulfilled through Him, we can’t help but be amazed by Your unimaginable power and wisdom and give thanks to You for all that You’ve done to save us.
 
We thank You, Lord, for Your mercy. We deserved only death as a consequence of our sin, but You allowed us not to receive what we deserved and redeemed us by giving us a way for our sins to be forgiven through Your Son, Jesus Christ.
 
We profess that He is the only Savior You sent us for our salvation, and that He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords who will reign with His righteousness and justice forever. We thank You for Your faithfulness and love.
 
Let us remember Jesus Christ more during this advent season, so that we may truly understand the reason He came into the world and receive the blessing He wants to give us. As we celebrate His coming, we want our lives to be aligned with His character, His teachings, and His will. Continue to guide us to the truth of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, so that our knowledge of Him and faith in Him may be deepened during this season.
 
We give You thanks for all the things You’ve done.
We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, the Savior and the King of the world, Amen.
 
[Reflection Questions]
1. What facts about the birth of Jesus spoke to you the most? What did you learn about God through the story of Jesus' birth that you want to apply to your life?
 
2. When Jesus was born, angels sang His praises, shepherds worshipped Him, and magi from the east came and gave Him gifts. How would you like to celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ this Advent?