Matthew 1:18–25

The Jews saw this as just as binding as marriage. Only a divorce could end it. The law gave certain rules about an engaged woman (Exodus 21:8-9; Deuteronomy 20:7; Deuteronomy 28:30). Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus, was engaged to Joseph. He thought about divorcing her quietly, but the angel of the Lord told him the truth about her condition.

Two family lines came down unbroken to those days — the house of Solomon and the house of Nathan. Mary stood for Nathan's family, and Joseph for Solomon's. Naming Mary without her link to her husband would have left no legal right to the throne of David. The Messiah had to be born not merely of a virgin, nor of a virgin daughter of David, but of a woman legally joined to Joseph — in the eye of the law, really his wife. Yet if Joseph had been the real father, there could have been no Saviour at all.

They occur together in Matthew 1:19: Joseph, not desiring to expose Mary publicly, purposed to have put her away secretly. The same pair appears in 1 Timothy 5. Of the younger widows who are not put on the list, verse 11 uses the first word: their desire is to marry. Verse 14 uses the second word for Paul's deliberate judgment and will that they should marry: "I will therefore."

At first it was thought that a great sin had been committed. Joseph was a man of honourable principles, as the Scripture explains, so he decided to separate himself from it at all cost to his own feelings. Yet he would do it privately, to avoid causing unnecessary pain and scandal to one whom he loved. But when God reveals the truth to him, he acts in direct and simple obedience and purity.

I think the word meant the public exposure that would have followed if Joseph had acted on Deuteronomy 22. Humanly speaking, the appearances would have led him there, if God had not stopped this just man by sending Gabriel. Through the angel's blessed message God enabled him to judge righteous judgment.

You must bear in mind that Joseph and Mary had been engaged a long time... Yet he was not hasty or rash. He did not have the jealous nature that many a man would boast of. He did not act with the rashness that others would even admire in such a case. It is good to think matters over well when a difficulty crosses your path.

Here Joseph is a righteous man, but perplexed. He thinks of a half measure: he will give her a writing of divorce without stating the cause, and send her away. But the appearance of an angel to him in a dream resolves his doubt and changes his purpose.

The angel of Jehovah is sent as the instrument of providence. He satisfies the tender conscience and upright heart of Joseph by telling him that what Mary had conceived was of the Holy Spirit.

In the Old Testament, the Greek translation called the Septuagint uses the word Kyrios for the name Jehovah. In the New Testament that word often stands for Jehovah too. It then appears mostly, if not always, without the article "the," as in Matthew 1:20, 22, and 24.

Here the angel appears to Joseph in a dream. In Luke the angel appears to Mary. It is this way in Matthew because Joseph was the important person in the eye of the law. And yet in actual fact the Messiah must not be the son of Joseph. All the cleverness of man could not have understood these ways beforehand. All his power could not have arranged the circumstances. The law required that Jesus should be the heir of Joseph. The prophet required that He should not be the son of Joseph, but of a virgin.

Matthew records the angel's revelation to Joseph, whom he addressed as "son of David." Joseph was the legal heir to the throne of Israel. The announcement made to him fits the way this Gospel presents the Lord. It shows how far the nation had fallen: the representative of the royal house was an obscure workman living in the despised town of Nazareth.

He did as the angel of the Lord told him and took Mary as his wife, without hesitation or further misgiving. In doing so he cast the protection of his name around her. He made her firstborn Son his heir — the legal heir to David's throne.

Believers in every age have been, and are, born of the Spirit. The Lord Jesus, however, as man, was conceived of the Holy Spirit. Born of the Spirit is true of everyone who shares in the new birth. But begotten of the Holy Spirit, as the virgin's child, is true only of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He did take the true manhood of His mother, but He never took manhood in the state of His mother. He took it as the body prepared for Him by the Holy Spirit, who shut out every trace of otherwise inherited evil. In His mother that nature was under the taint of sin. She was fallen, like all others conceived and born in the natural way in Adam's line. In Him it was not so.

The greatest marvel of this birth is that the Holy One of God was born without taint of sin from a woman who was herself born in sin. That state is true of every member of the whole race. The angel of the Lord gave Joseph the explanation of this unique miracle: "that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit."

Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua, or Jehoshua. It means "Jehovah is salvation," or "whose salvation is Jehovah." So there is good reason for the common observation that the name Jesus means Jehovah the Saviour. If that is so, what a subject this sets before our souls to think about and to adore! A child born into the world, of lowly parentage in man's esteem — God Himself declares this child to be Jehovah the Saviour!

The meaning of the name "Jesus" is deep — "Jehovah a Saviour" — and faith takes hold of those glories as being His: JEHOVAH in person, the SAVIOUR in action. Yet the name was not uncommon among the people of Israel. It was rather one of their national names — "Joshua."

This name is precious beyond measure to us because it is His personal, human name. It tells us of His grace and tenderness, His lowly life, His sorrow, and His death. But this name also carries divine glory with it, for it means JEHOVAH THE SAVIOUR. Yes, the very name of His humiliation, the name written in mockery on His cross, declares to us the greatness of His person and the love of His heart.

But He had a title greater than any Joseph could pass on, even from David or Abraham. His own name would show it — His lowly name of Jesus, Jehovah the Saviour. Jehovah's people were His people. He would save them, not merely from their enemies, but from their sins. What a testimony to Him and for them! It is a blessing for any sinful soul to hear. And how they needed it — a people then puffed up with boundless hopes of greatness on earth in the Messiah they expected!

He did not say that He would save sinners, Jew and Gentile. That is wonderfully true, and it comes fully to light as the truth unfolds. But — in perfect keeping with this first Gospel — He said He would "save His PEOPLE." The people of Israel were in view in the angel's announcement… They were Jehovah's people, chosen by God as His own possession, even though they had wandered far from Him. Their sins had separated them from Him, but He would not, He could not, abandon His rights in them. He would undertake their salvation.

This makes it plain that the death of Christ — His finished work, which He accomplished in and through His death — is the only foundation on which He will save His people from their sins… It was written about sins in the old order, "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins." It is just as true now that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, alone cleanses from all sin.

The word is broad, but it always carries the thought of rescue from danger. Sin lies at the root of every danger that threatens us. So the New Testament fittingly opens with salvation from sins. This salvation is not only from the penalty of sins, but from the power of sins, and even from the love of them. The gospel does not offer release from sin's penalty while leaving us free to continue under sin's power, or to enjoy sin's temporary pleasures. If it did, it would be no true salvation. It would only encourage us to continue in sin.

This brings us to notice a marked characteristic of Matthew. He presents our Lord so often as the Fulfiller of the words of the prophet. So we find a typical expression, as we will see later: "to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet."

Notice, it is not merely that the prophet's saying was "fulfilled," showing how true it was as God's own word. It was "spoken by the Lord." Can anything show more clearly that the prophet Isaiah spoke it by inspiration? In the next chapter we find the same expression (verse 15): "to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet" — the prophet Hosea.

The Lord spoke the promise at a time when the house of David was discouraged and downcast. King Ahaz, instead of trusting the Lord, continued in unbelief. The prophet asks him to demand a sign from the Lord. He refuses, with the excuse that he will not put God to the test. Then the prophet said that the Lord Himself will give you a sign. The prophecy spoken then is the sign for the discouraged king and the house of David. In other words, Messiah is to be born, He is to come from Judah, and from the house of David. How could the king fear destruction and extermination?

The facts stated prove its literal fulfilment. Isaiah 7 — 9:7 does contain symbols and figures as well as plain language. But that does not stop the Holy Spirit stamping the prophecy of the Incarnation, not as an "idea" or general principle, but as a real event. There were other children in Israel given for signs and wonders. Shear-jashub was already born, and Maher-shalal-hash-baz was about to be; both were sons of the prophet. But they are as different from the virgin's Son Immanuel as Hezekiah is. Hezekiah was already at least a dozen years old, and he was born before Ahaz came to the throne. Neither he, nor Isaiah's children, were born of the virgin.

His prophetic name, Emmanuel, showed that He would be God manifested in the flesh. He would be God among us in a far more wonderful way than He was ever shown among Israel in the days of Moses. It was far more wonderful too than the way He was with Adam in the days before sin entered the world. The two names are closely connected. To have God with us, without our being saved from our sins, would be impossible. His presence would only overwhelm us in judgment. To be saved from our sins without God being brought to us might have been possible. But then the story of grace would have lost its chief glory. In the coming of Jesus we have both.

Some have seen a difficulty in that the child was to be named Emmanuel, and instead of this name He is named Jesus... We point out that this apparent contradiction is really a proof of the inspiration. How easy it would have been for Matthew to make everything fit so that every word would be in harmony with the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit guided his hand in writing... The name Emmanuel, God with us, is given only in Matthew. He is Emmanuel, and as such Jehovah the Saviour, so that in reality both names have the same meaning.

The same Greek word is often used in the Greek Old Testament for the Hebrew name Jehovah. It carries over into the New Testament without the article. It stands as a proper name in the sense of Jehovah, as in Matthew 1:20, 22 and 24, though English has to render it as 'the Lord.'

Matthew presents Joseph to us as a man of high moral character. He was "a just man," and also of a kind disposition. But an impossible difficulty stood in his way. He formed a fitting plan to remove it, but the Lord stepped in directly and made that plan unnecessary. An angel appeared to him in a dream and gave him an explanation that more than satisfied him. His misgivings left him — and if his did, so should ours — and "he took his wife."

Joseph of Nazareth had staggering problems to face. He faced them as only a just and upright man could, whose heart was as tender as his conscience… He asked no questions, but with the simplicity of faith recognised the message as from the Lord, and obeyed without hesitation or delay. He stands first in the line of New Testament worthies as an example to us of being subject to the will of God.

As Joseph began, so he continued. Think of the journey into Egypt with the young child and His mother, their stay there, and their return to the land. In all of it we see the same simple obedience and trust. He did what he was told to do, never running ahead of the heavenly vision nor lagging behind it. So he fulfilled his great mission, and glorified God and proved Him right in His choice and training of him.

Joseph was the direct descendant of the royal branch of David's house. If Mary had been mentioned without her link to her husband, there would have been no legal right to the throne of David. It was not enough for the Messiah to be born of a virgin, or even of a virgin daughter of David. He had to be born of a woman legally united to Joseph — in the eye of the law, she was his wife… The wonder of divine wisdom shines out here: He is legally the son of Joseph, truly the son of Mary, and in the truth of His nature the Son of God.

Six centuries had passed since the throne had gone from the house of David. But faith holds on to the promises of God, even when human strength has failed and every visible hope has fled. Joseph was a man of faith. Because of that faith he did as the angel of the Lord told him, and took Mary to himself as his wife, without hesitation or further misgiving. By doing so he put the protection of his name around her. He made her firstborn Son his Heir — the legal Heir to David's throne.

The divine intervention does not set aside the Creator's ordinance, nor does God put His seal on human self-denial for its own sake. Judaism, in fact, knew nothing of this dishonour done to the God of nature.