Thou Shall Call His Name Jesus

DECEMBER 26, 2021 STUDY NOTES MATTHEW 1:18-21 BIBLE TEACHER: CLIFTON JONES THOU SHALL CALL HIS NAME JESUS INTRODUCTION Matthew’s gospel begins with a record of the ancestry of Jesus Christ (1:1-17) Concluding with the fact that Joseph was in a legal sense the father of Jesus But in a legal sense only and in no way was Joseph the physical father of Jesus That Jesus had no earthly father is revealed in verses 18-25 Through the family tree of verses 1-17, Matthew shows that Jesus is the legitimate seed of David The conclusion being that Jesus is the “Savior of the world,” that Jesus is Christ In verses 18-25, Matthew proves who Jesus really is, beginning with His birth Throughout the ages Satan has introduced many myths of humans giving birth to a god There are many legends of gods who have been born to virgins Stories of children who were half god and half man In our day there has been movies and television shows that mock and ridicule the birth of Jesus They are all of Satan and represent Satan’s counterfeits to the truth found in this passage This is the true story of Christmas, the “Virgin Birth of Jesus” as Gabriel revealed to Mary, Luk 1:26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, Luk 1:27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. The virgin birth of Jesus is the mighty hand of God working through the “Grace of God,” Luk 1:30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. In the original the word “favor” is the word most often translated “grace” The birth of Jesus was the “Grace of God” bestowed upon sinful mankind, Luk 1:31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. Mat 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. This is the true story of Christmas, the truth of how Jesus the Messiah was born This is the way it really happened, regardless of how many other stories you might hear Satan does not want you to believe the Biblical truth about the birth of Jesus Satan has strongly attacked the truth related to the birth of Jesus Especially during the Christmas season, turning minds away from the thought of Jesus People are encouraged to celebrate Christmas in many different worldly ways The advertising world encourages you to have a Christmas party and give Christmas gifts In-order to do that you have to go shopping and be sure you have made a Christmas list Don’t forget anyone, the boss, your family, neighbors, those that gave you something last year Satan seeks to take the “Joy of Jesus” from Christmas and turn it into a “Happy Holiday” “Happy Holiday” is what you will now read in many stores instead of “Merry Christmas” Rarely will you hear a store employee say, “Merry Christmas,” they are not allowed to say it Satan wants to get your mind off-of the truth of Jesus’ birth during the Christmas season He doesn’t care how you celebrate Christmas as-long as you don’t represent the Truth of Jesus Matthew tells us what we are to celebrate, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise” We are to celebrate the birth of Jesus, Jesus was the “Christ” The birth of Jesus was the birth of the promised “Messiah” Page 1 of 5 What is the truth of His birth? His earthly mother was Mary, When as his mother Mary The first promise of the Messiah stated that He would be born of the seed of woman, Gen 3:15 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. God selected “Mary” to be the mother of Jesus There are at least 6 women found in the NT named “Mary” The most popular and the most important one being, “Mary, the mother of Jesus” But we do not know a whole lot about “Mary,” the mother of Jesus We know that she had a sister who also was named Mary, Joh 19:25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. To have two children with the same name was not uncommon in that day We know that Elizabeth, the wife of Zacharias, was kin to Mary, Luk 1:36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. Mary was among those followers of Christ who were instructed to wait in Jerusalem, Act 1:14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. But the most important thing to know about Mary is, she was a virgin when Jesus was born Matthew begins with a genealogy, the word “begat” is found 39 times up to Matthew 1:16 The word “begat” is used to name the man who was the father of another man When you get to verse 16 you will find an abrupt change, Mat 1:16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. Jacob is named as the father of Joseph, but Joseph is not named as the father of Jesus Joseph is identified as “the husband of Mary,” and Mary is identified as the mother of Jesus Jesus was the physical child of Mary, but Joseph was not his physical father Joseph or no other man was the earthly father of Jesus, He had no earthly father No other Jewish boy or any boy of any nationality was born like Jesus It is clearly stated that Jesus was born of Mary, and He already was the “Christ” The man Jesus who was born of Mary was the “Eternal Christ” Matthew tells us that “Mary” was espoused to Joseph, “Espoused” or “betrothed” means to be promised in marriage, a legal binding arrangement A Jewish wedding consisted of 3 basic stages, engagement, betrothal, and the marriage service The engagement stage was first agreed on by the parents Sometimes without the knowledge or consent of the bride and groom A payment or dowry was paid to the bride’s parents The betrothal stage was when the parents would make a public announcement Announcing that the couple were pledged to one another The betrothal stage was much more serious and binding than our present-day engagement period Marriage vows would be spoken at the betrothal There would be a written contract and it was a binding contract The betrothal contract could only be dissolved by a written divorce From the moment of her betrothal a woman was treated as if she was married A betrothed woman was called a wife (vs. 24) a betrothed man was called a husband (vs.19) The woman would continue to live with her family and the man with his family There was to be no sexual relations between them during the betrothal stage There would be a waiting period for up to one year to prove the faithfulness of the virgin The marriage stage is when the wedding ceremony took place The husband would go to the woman’s home to claim his bride Page 2 of 5 He would lead her back to his house in a great processional march attracting attention There would be a great feast and at that time the couple would begin living together Matthew tells us that Joseph and Mary were in the betrothal waiting period prior to marriage They were not living together during the betrothal period, before they came together “Came together” refers to sexual intercourse There had been no sexual relations between Joseph and Mary Joseph and Mary had been faithful to the betrothal agreement And Mary had not been sexually involved with any other man The truth that is going to be presented by Matthew is that Mary was a Virgin She was a virgin in the true sense of the word, but even though she was a virgin--she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Exactly as Gabriel had announced to the virgin Mary, Luk 1:31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. Mary did not understand how that could be, Luk 1:34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? Mary had a point how can it be possible? She was saying, “I am a virgin” Then Gabriel explained, Luk 1:35 And the angel answered and said unto her, 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. Gabriel assured Mary that she could believe it, Luk 1:37 For with God nothing shall be impossible. So, Mary accepted Gods will for her, Luk 1:38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. That is the Biblical explanation of how a virgin became pregnant Matthew and Luke both describe a supernatural conception, an act of the Holy Spirit of God The father of this child was God through the work of the Holy Spirit The life imparting power in the womb of Mary was the Holy Spirit No human father was responsible for the birth of Jesus, the birth was not of the seed of man Mary praised God for what He had done, Luk 1:46 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, Proclaiming that it could only be of God, Luk 1:49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. It is customary for a pregnant woman to announce that she is going to give birth Usually, the first one she wants to tell is her husband Mary did not tell Joseph herself, would he had believed her if she had? Joseph knew that Mary was pregnant according to verse 19 Mat 1:19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. We are not told how Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant, but we can guess Joseph knew that he was her husband and that he had no part in Mary’s pregnancy Joseph could only come to one conclusion at this time, Mary had been unfaithful For the woman to be unfaithful during the betrothal stage was considered adultery According to the law, such an offense could be punishable by death Death for the betrothed woman and the man who lay with her, Deu 22:24 Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you. Matthew 1:19 centers on the character of Joseph, “being a just man” He was a man of principle, a righteous man, and a man of mercy He was a man who feared and respected God and wanted to be right with God Page 3 of 5 He certainly wanted to do what was right before God concerning Mary and not willing to make her a publick example, Because of the character of Joseph, as just described, he found himself in a dilemma Evidently, he loved Mary and did not want to put her to public shame or public disgrace Yet he loved God and felt that he would be disobeying God by marrying Mary Joseph was a kindhearted man and did not want Mary to be hurt Joseph had the right and power to make Mary a public example, but he was minded to put her away privily. Joseph did not want to expose Mary to public shame, to be the talk of the town Gossip sessions were not held at McDonalds in those days, they would meet at the well The pregnancy of Mary would have been a hot enough subject to boil the water at the well His choice was a legal divorce, but he wanted it to be in secret, he wanted to divorce her quietly Yet he did not really want to divorce her, so what should his decision be? God gave him an answer, there is a great lesson here, a message for us today God knows about our situation and whatever it is, it is important to God God knows our thoughts, God listens to our prayers, God honors the desires of a righteous heart God can change things, God can work all things for the good of those who love Him, Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Joseph had a visitor from Heaven, a messenger from God, God came to Joseph to explain it all Mat 1:20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. Joseph was giving serious thought to what he needed to do, it must be the right thing to do He was mulling this over, trying to make his plans, what to do about this serious situation He decided to sleep on it and make his decision in the morning But while he was asleep, he had a dream that gave him information and instructions behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, Literally, “An angel” of which we do not know his name Dreams were often an OT means of divine communication There are times in scripture we find God giving guidance through dreams God may still do that on certain occasions, but we must be careful Remember that God uses His Word to guide our decisions today through the Holy Spirit Many who claim to have received a revelation from God while sleeping need to be careful A large spicy meal of pizza or Mexican food can also cause dreams and even nightmares Joseph knew that the message was for him and was from God saying, Joseph, thou son of David, That was a meaningful statement to Joseph which had scriptural significance The promised Messiah was to be a legal heir of David There was Old Testament prophecy related to the descendant of David To speak of the Messianic lineage of David got Joseph’s attention An angel was speaking of OT truths which related to his relationship with Mary fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: The Angel’s “fear not” does not refer to the possible fear because of the Angel’s presence Rather, Joseph, don’t be afraid to do what I tell you to do, follow my instructions The angel tells Joseph not to divorce Mary, go ahead and marry her That is not what a professional counselor would have told Joseph to do According to man that was the most unlikely thing to do Page 4 of 5 But Joseph knew that he was listening to a heavenly messenger who spoke “Heavenly Truth” for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. The Angel explains to Joseph that Mary had not been unfaithful to him Imagine how those words comforted the heavy heart of Joseph and lifted a troublesome burden There was no reason for Joseph to fear what people would say, he must give attention to God The Angel said that Mary’s child had been supernaturally conceived, just as Gabriel also said, Luk 1:30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. God had “graced” Mary and would “Grace” the world through Mary’s womb Prophecy was being fulfilled God was doing what He had promised to do, Isa 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Emmanuel means “God with us”) Who else but God could fulfill such promises as those which were given to Israel? Mary, the virgin, would give birth to the “Promised Messiah” Mat 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. “She” yes “She,” referring to Mary the virgin, “She shall bring forth a son” The virgin will give birth to “a son,” fulfilling, Isa 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. The “child born” was the “Son” which was “given,” the “Son” was the preexistent “Christ” Compare Matthew 1:21 with the heavenly announcement of the birth of John the Baptist, Luk 1:13 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. The angel did not tell Joseph “your wife will bear your son,” listen to what he said “She shall bring forth a son” and thou shalt call his name JESUS: A miraculous life filled with miraculous works must begin in a miraculous way There is a reason why He must be given the name “JESUS” for he shall save his people from their sins. Mary had been told the same thing, He is given the name that means, “The Lord is salvation” His name announces why He came to the earth as man, Jesus came to save sinners from their sins A strong emphasis must be placed upon “HE” He alone, “HE” and no other He is named Savior because HE is “the Savior,” and HE is the “only” Savior of man’s sins Never-before has there been one who could save us from our sins, never will there be another Jesus is the only one who can “save” us from the guilt, the penalty, and the punishment of sin Act 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. CONCLUSION His name is most high, Psa 7:17 I will praise the LORD according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the LORD most high. Psa 8:9 O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! The name you can trust for all things today and for eternity, Psa 9:10 And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. SHE SHALL BRING FORTH A SON, AND THOU SHALL CALL HIS NAME JESUS The name that is to be praised, honored, glorified, exalted, and magnified, Psa 34:3 O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together. Page 5 of 5