Matthew 1:18–25
Last week in our First Advent study, we covered the angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary. Gabriel told her that she would conceive Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Mary replied, “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.”
Today’s passage shifts the focus to Mary’s fiancé, Joseph.
Joseph, too, was someone chosen by God. As we reflect on the decision he made as God’s chosen servant, and consider what the birth of Jesus means for us, may our hearts be prepared for the coming Christmas.
Let’s pray.
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Look at verse 18 “This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.”
Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph. Under Jewish law, engagement was considered the first legally binding stage of marriage. In practice, Mary and Joseph were already recognized as husband and wife. In those days, couples held their wedding ceremony about one year after the engagement. During that year, they lived separately, maintained sexual purity, and prepared for the life they would build together.
Like Mary, Joseph must have lived each day dreaming of their sweet married life. As a carpenter, he likely prepared their home and crafted what they would need with his own hands.
Rebekah and I were married in July 2020, although our original plan was to marry in April. At that time, we lived two hours apart by car. I had already signed the lease for our new apartment and moved in first in February 2020. But because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to postpone the wedding until July. For almost six months, I lived alone in our new home, waiting for our wedding ceremony. I remember filling the empty apartment with furniture and daily necessities, imagining the day we would finally live together. Like many couples preparing for marriage, those months were filled with anticipation, excitement, and gratitude.
But what unexpected problem did Joseph face?
“but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.”
Before Mary was married, she became pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Last week we learned that the angel Gabriel told Mary she would conceive Jesus by the Holy Spirit.
But Joseph did not know this.
We don’t know exactly when or how Joseph learned about Mary’s pregnancy.
But one thing is certain: the joyful marriage he had been dreaming of suddenly faced a major crisis.
Joseph did not yet know that Mary had conceived through the Holy Spirit. Naturally, he would have believed that Mary had been unfaithful with another man and became pregnant.
How would Joseph have felt? It is unimaginable for me. He would have felt betrayal and frustration to say the least. Crying out, “Why is this happening to me?” his heart would have been deeply wounded. The days that had been filled with anticipation, happiness, and gratitude as he looked forward to the wedding were suddenly overturned into sorrow, despair, and anger.
Look at verse 19.
“Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.”
Joseph was faithful to the law. Jewish law required divorce in the case of adultery, which includes sexual relations with another partner even during engagement period.
Joseph could have made Mary’s pregnancy a public matter and formally accused her. He could have publicly condemned her and subjected her to shame. This could leave her socially isolated, economically vulnerable, and possibly at risk if the community pushed for the strict penalty.
But what did Joseph resolve to do? He had in mind to divorce Mary quietly because he did not want to expose her to public disgrace. He chose the most lenient legal option available—a quiet divorce—not to subject her to public shame. Joseph wanted to follow the law while also showing compassion to Mary.
In verses 20–21, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a 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.”
The angel explained to Joseph that what Mary conceived was from the Holy Spirit. He also told him to name the son Mary would bear Jesus, because “he will save his people from their sins.” The name Jesus means “the LORD saves.”
Do you know whom people in the first century called the savior?
They believed the Roman emperor was their savior. They thought a powerful ruler would bring true peace and happiness to the people, so they deified and worshiped the emperor. They made statues of the emperor and inscribed beneath them, “XXX the Emperor, he is the savior.”
But emperors, living in extravagant palaces, committed moral corruption and died even earlier than ordinary people. They could not even save themselves.
Many people look for their own savior to solve their real-life problems. A common example is money. People believe that if they have enough money, they can live a happy and trouble-free life. Students may think a high GPA, awards, or attending a prestigious school or getting a nice job is their savior.
But let us look again at what the angel said about Jesus.
He will save his people from their sins.
From what does Jesus save his people? From their sins.
What is sin in the Bible?
In Scripture, sin does not simply mean morally wrong actions.
In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit with the desire to be equal with God who created them. It was the creature’s desire to be equal with the Creator. Through this, the relationship between the Creator God and human beings was broken. Humans, who received life from God, lost their spiritual life because of the broken relationship with Him. Even physical life becomes limited, and every person eventually dies. Humans separated from God are like flowers placed in a vase—appearing alive for a time, but destined to wither and return to dust. What destroys the proper, life-giving relationship between God and us is what the Bible calls sin.
Sin, and death as its consequence, has kept humanity under sorrow and darkness from the fall until now. No matter how much wealth a person has or how much they achieve in this world, they still eventually die.
Here we need to understand clearly the fundamental cause that leads humans to commit sin. Returning to Genesis 3, sin was committed because Adam and Eve wanted to put themselves on the throne in place of God. They loved themselves more than God and sought to exalt themselves above Him. As a result, even in the abundant environment of the Garden of Eden, they ate the one fruit God had forbidden. They rebelled against the Creator.
In Genesis 11 the tower of Babel story, people tried to build a tower that reaches to the heavens so that they may make a name for themselves.
The beginning of all sin, the root cause that ruins the spiritual order between God and us, is the self.
From the first human sin until now, Satan has deceived us into loving ourselves the most and centering everything on ourselves. Our feelings and thoughts become the standard of good and evil. Because each person has a different standard, conflicts arise, relationships break, and even wars occur.
What is the consequence of living according to my own standards and desires?
Ecclesiastes 11:9 "You who are young, be happy while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment."
On the final day, no one can escape God’s judgment. The result is eternal separation from God and eternal death.
In Jesus’ time, the people of Israel longed for a political savior, someone powerful who would free them from Roman rule. In the same way, people today also seek a savior who can rescue them from their difficult circumstances. But salvation from sin is the most essential and urgent need for every human being.
However, no one can save themselves from their own sin. Living a moral life, doing many good deeds, or living a religious life and even biblical knowledge cannot remove sin.
Only Jesus can save all humanity from their sins.
Hebrews 9:22 says,
“In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
The price of sin is the shedding of blood, which is death.
In the Old Testament, a spotless lamb was offered as a sacrifice again and again for forgiveness. But this was temporary. Every time a person sinned, another lamb had to die.
In place of that incomplete atonement, Jesus, though completely without sin, shed His blood on the cross and offered Himself as the ransom. Through His death, all my sins were washed away once for all, fully and forever. Jesus redeemed me, who once lived as a slave to sin and death, purely by His grace.
This is the gospel.
Romans 3:23–25: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.”
God gave His own Son, Jesus, as the atoning sacrifice. Through the blood of Jesus, all people are justified freely. We contributed nothing to this salvation; it is entirely by God’s mercy and grace that we are rescued from sin.
“He will save his people from their sins.”
These few words spoken by the angel are brief, yet they contain a profound and astonishing gospel.
Verses 22 and 23 are the author Matthew’s comment: 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”).
Here Matthew quotes Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
Immanuel means “God with us”.
Philippians 2:6,7 “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.”
1 Timothy 2:5–6 “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.”
Jesus is the Son of the Almighty God and has been equal with God from the very beginning. He came to this earth in human flesh to restore the broken relationship between humanity and God. The only mediator who can reconcile holy God with sinful humanity is Jesus, both God and fully incarnate in human form.
Heb 4:15–16 “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
The Creator of the universe came in the flesh and experienced temptation in every way, just as we do. He can empathize with our weaknesses. Jesus fully understands all our struggles and sympathizes with us no matter what challenges we face.
Romans 15:12–13 And again, Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; in him the Gentiles will hope.” May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
When we trust in Jesus the God of hope will fill us with all joy and peace.
1 Peter 1:3–4 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,”
Moreover, when we believe in Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, we are given new life. We can now live with a living hope and look forward to an imperishable inheritance in God’s kingdom. Our hope, through Jesus, has been moved from this temporary world to the eternal heavenly realm. Salvation from sin and eternal life through Jesus’ cross is the true gospel—the truth we must always hold on to.
Look at verses 24 and 25 “When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.”
When Joseph awoke from the dream, he did as the angel commanded: he took Mary home as his wife and named her son Jesus. Even after hearing the angel’s explanation, it would not have been easy for Joseph to accept this and continue with Mary. He had to face the judgments of others, and this situation was far from the marriage he had imagined. Yet Joseph accepted it as the mission God had given him. To do so, he must have prayed earnestly, asking God to remove all his fears and worries and give him strength to fulfill this calling.
Just as Mary declared herself the “Lord’s servant” in last week’s passage, Joseph shared the same identity. He accepted the mission with gratitude, knowing he would be part of God’s great plan of salvation for humanity.
The life God calls us to may be completely different from the life we imagine. When Joseph first learned of Mary’s pregnancy, it must have been an overwhelming shock. He may have thought that his life was completely off course. Yet it was, in fact, God’s sovereign and deliberate choice. Being the earthly parent of the Savior and raising Him from childhood was a mission no one could have chosen for themselves. God had planned the salvation of humanity through Jesus from the very moment humanity first sinned thousands of years before.
God works through those who obey. When we pray and seek to understand the life God wants for us, He will give us the mission and also the heart to obey and carry it out. May we also be able to obey and receive God’s grace when He calls us to be used for His purposes.
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When I look back on my past, I see how deeply I was bound by selfish desires and sinful passions, chasing empty hopes in this world. Yet the Lord rescued me purely by His sovereign grace. He opened the eyes of my spirit to recognize that I was a sinner and helped me believe that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was because of my sin. He then led me into a shepherd’s life I had never imagined and called me as a missionary to the United States. I originally came on a one-year contract, but through remarkable and unexpected ways the Lord allowed me to remain in my current position and even granted me permanent residency. None of this was imaginable when I first arrived three and a half years ago.
I remain a weak sinner who still stumbles before temptation, often thinking of myself first and placing my hopes in worldly possessions and recognition. Even so, I give thanks for the grace of God, who faithfully uses someone like me whenever He chooses to work.
Through today’s passage, I’m grateful that the Lord reminded me again that Jesus came to save us from our sins. Although I myself have experienced the amazing grace of salvation, I confess that once life became more comfortable, I began to look for other false saviors. Yet without salvation from sin, nothing in this world can give true joy or eternal peace. I praise and thank Jesus, who came to this earth to bring us the most essential and life-giving salvation, freedom from sin.
Right now, I am watching and praying as the Lord guides our family’s path regarding my faculty position. The reality is that very little of this process is truly in our control. Just as God sovereignly led our family to Austin, I trust that He will also lead us to the next step. Whatever direction He chooses, I pray for the heart to obey with the clear identity of a servant of the Lord, just as Joseph and Mary did. And I pray that my life will continue to be used in the precious work of saving souls that God is accomplishing.
Amen.