The Christ of Christmas
Who is the real Jesus whose birth we celebrate at Christmas?
David Leaf
Matthew 1:18-23
John 1:1-18

Christ by highest heav'n adored
Christ the everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold Him come
Offspring of a Virgin's womb
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

THE CHRIST OF CHRISTMAS
Part 1 His Virgin Birth Matthew 1:18-23

INTRODUCTION

In the Old Testament there are about 300 prophecies predicting the first coming of Jesus Christ, which is the REASON for the SEASON. What are the odds of these prophecies being fulfilled in one man?
George Heron, a French mathematician, calculated the odds of one man fulfilling only 40 of those prophecies is one chance in 1 followed by 157 zeros. In America, the odds of winning the state lottery are one chance in 14,000,000. Mathematician Dr. Peter S. Ruckman claims the odds of 60 of these prophecies being fulfilled by one man is one chance in 10 followed by 895 zeros.

1. ALL OF THE OLD TESTAMENT POINTS TO JESUS

"Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, we have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote ? Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph." John 1:45

"If you believed Moses, you would believe me [Jesus]; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" John 5:46, 47

"And [Jesus] beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." Luke 24:27

"Then he [Jesus] said to them, 'These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.'" Luke 24:44

We will highlight some of these prophecies, especially those speaking of the virgin birth of Christ.

2. THE MESSIAH WOULD BE A PART OF THE HUMAN RACE.

God speaking to Satan said: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." Genesis 3:15

The virgin birth of Christ is anticipated in this verse thousands of years before Christ. The offspring or "seed" of the woman would defeat Satan, "bruise your head", by being bruised himself.
In a patriarchal culture descendants were traced through their father (see the genealogies in Gen. 5 and 11). Even in Mat. 1 the genealogy is traced through Joseph, Jesus' legal father. But here where it speaks of the "seed of the woman", it is an early indication that the messiah would come by a woman and not a natural father. "But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law." Galatians 4:4

3. THE MESSIAH WOULD BE A PART OF THE HEBREW RACE.

"Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation and all nations on earth will be blessed through him." Genesis 12:3

"And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, 'Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed." Acts 3:25

4. THE MESSIAH WOULD BE FROM THE TRIBE OF JUDAH.

"The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from before his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his." Genesis 49:10

"Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers," Matthew 1:2-3

5. THE MESSIAH WOULD BE HEIR TO THE THRONE OF DAVID.

"Of the increase 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." Isaiah 9:7

"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 the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." Luke 1:32-33

6. THE MESSIAH WOULD BE BORN IN BETHLEHEM, THE CITY OF DAVID.

"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 ancient times." Micah 5:2

"Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold wisemen came from the east to Jerusalem, saying where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come here to worship him. When Herod the king heard this he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him, and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, 'in Bethlehem at Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.'" Matthew 2:1-6

7. THE MESSIAH WOULD BE BORN OF AVIRGIN.

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Isaiah 7:14

The Hebrew word for "virgin" is "alma" which usually means a young maiden who has never had sexual intercourse. Thus critics argue this verse doesn't HAVE to mean "virgin."
But when the Old Testament was translated into Greek by 70 Hebrew scholars (This is called the Septuagint or LXX, the Latin number for 70), they translated "alma" into the Greek, "parthenos" which can ONLY mean virgin. They knew their language better than anyone does today.

"Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, 'Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.' All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 'Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us).'" Matthew 1:18-23

"In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, 'Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you.' But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.' And Mary said to the angel, 'How will this be, since I am a virgin?' And the angel answered her, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called Holy -- the Son of God." --Luke 1:26-35

There is no question that the Bible teaches that Jesus was born of a virgin. Yet many professed "Christians" have a difficulty believing it. Why is the virgin birth important?

1. Jesus came to earth to die for sinners. In order to do this he had to be truly human, because God cannot die. But if Jesus was a sinner like all other humans, he could not pay for anyone's sins but his own. He needed to be a perfect man. Therefore HE NEEDED TO BE A MAN TO DIE, AND HE NEEDED TO BE GOD TO BE PERFECT.
2. If Jesus was born from a physical union of both a human father and mother, he would have inherited a sin nature. The virgin birth was a way for God to become a man without being a sinner.
3. In summary: If the virgin birth of Christ is denied, then the deity of Christ, the atonement, the bodily resurrection, and the second coming are denied with it. In short, it would be the end of Christianity.

The common objection to the virgin birth, is the disbelief in miracles.

A WORD ABOUT MIRACLES

1. If you believe in an all-powerful creator-God who spoke the universe into existence from nothing, then you should have no problem with miracles. Remember Gabriel's words to Mary, "For nothing will be impossible with God." --Luke 1:37
2. Miracles are unique events that appear to violate the laws of nature.
3. Science has NEVER disproven a miracle. Science only studies observable and repeatable natural phenomena. Miracles, by definition cannot be repeated in the laboratory to be tested. If they could be, they by definition, would no longer be miracles.
4. Though miracles cannot be tested by science, they have been observed by people in history. Therefore the historian, not the scientist, can check out historical, eyewitness testimonies of miracles to be verified.

We have such a testimony in the New Testament.

Continues next week