The Birth of Christ.
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. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man,
and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away
privily. 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. 21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou
shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of
the Lord by the prophet, saying, 23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child,
and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which
being interpreted is, God with us. 24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep
did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:
25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he
called his name JESUS.
The mystery of Christ's incarnation is to be adored, not pried into.
If we know not the way of the Spirit in the formation of common persons,
nor how the bones are formed in the womb of any one that is with child
(Eccles. xi. 5), much less do we know how the blessed Jesus was formed
in the womb of the blessed virgin. When David admires how he himself was
made in secret, and curiously wrought (Ps. cxxxix. 13-16), perhaps he speaks
in the spirit of Christ's incarnation. Some circumstances attending the
birth of Christ we find here which are not in Luke, though it is more largely
recorded here. Here we have,
I. Mary's espousal to Joseph. Mary, the mother of our Lord, was espoused
to Joseph, not completely married, but contracted; a purpose of marriage
solemnly declared in words de futuro--that regarding the future, and a
promise of it made if God permit. We read of a man who has betrothed a
wife and has not taken her, Deut. xx. 7. Christ was born of a virgin, but
a betrothed virgin, 1. To put respect upon the marriage state, and to recommend
it as honourable among all, against that doctrine of devils which forbids
to marry, and places perfection in the single state. Who more highly favoured
than Mary was in her espousals? 2. To save the credit of the blessed virgin,
which otherwise would have been exposed. It was fit that her conception
should be protected by a marriage, and so justified in the eye of the world.
One of the ancients says, It was better it should be asked, Is not this
the son of a carpenter? than, Is not this the son of a harlot? 3. That
the blessed virgin might have one to be the guide of her youth, the companion
of her solitude and travels, a partner in her cares, and a help meet for
her. Some think that Joseph was now a widower, and that those who are called
the brethren of Christ (ch. xiii. 55), were Joseph's children by a former
wife. This is the conjecture of many of the ancients. Joseph was just man,
she a virtuous woman. Those who are believers should not be unequally yoked
with unbelievers: but let those who are religious choose to marry with
those who are so, as they expect the comfort of the relation, and God's
blessing upon them in it. We may also learn, from this example, that it
is good to enter into the married state with deliberation, and not hastily--to
preface the nuptials with a contract. It is better to take time to consider
before than to find time to repent after.
II. Her pregnancy of the promised seed; before they came together, she
was found with child, which really was of the Holy Ghost. The marriage
was deferred so long after the contract that she appeared to be with child
before the time came for the solemnizing of the marriage, though she was
contracted before she conceived. Probably, it was after her return from
her cousin Elizabeth, with whom she continued three months (Luke i. 56),
that she was perceived by Joseph to be with child, and did not herself
deny it. Note, Those in whom Christ is formed will show it: it will be
found to be a work of God which he will own. Now we may well imagine, what
a perplexity this might justly occasion to the blessed virgin. She herself
knew the divine original of this conception; but how could she prove it?
She would be dealt with as a harlot. Note, After great and high advancements,
lest we should be puffed up with them, we must expect something or other
to humble us, some reproach, as a thorn in the flesh, nay, as a sword in
the bones. Never was any daughter of Eve so dignified as the Virgin Mary
was, and yet in danger of falling under the imputation of one of the worse
crimes; yet we do not find that she tormented herself about it; but, being
conscious of her own innocence, she kept her mind calm and easy, and committed
her cause to him that judgeth righteously. Note, those who take care to
keep a good conscience may cheerfully trust God with the keeping of their
good names, and have reason to hope that he will clear up, not only their
integrity, but their honour, as the sun at noon day.
III. Joseph's perplexity, and his care what to do in this case. We may
well imagine what a great trouble and disappointment it was to him to find
one he had such an opinion of, and value for, come under the suspicion
of such a heinous crime. Is this Mary? He began to think, "How may we be
deceived in those we think best of! How may we be disappointed in what
we expect most from!" He is loth to believe so ill a thing of one whom
he believed to be so good a woman; and yet the matter, as it is too bad
to be excused, is also too plain to be denied. What a struggle does this
occasion in his breast between that jealousy which is the rage of man,
and is cruel as the grave, on the one hand, and that affection which he
has for Mary on the other!
Observe, 1. The extremity which he studied to avoid. He was not willing
to make her a public example. He might have done so; for, by the law, a
betrothed virgin, if she played the harlot, was to be stoned to death,
Deut. xxii. 23, 24. But he was not willing to take the advantage of the
law against her; if she be guilty, yet it is not known, nor shall it be
known from him. How different was the spirit which Joseph displayed from
that of Judah, who in a similar case hastily passed that severe sentence,
Bring her forth and let her be burnt! Gen. xxxviii. 24. How good it is
to think on things, as Joseph did here! Were there more of deliberation
in our censures and judgments, there would be more of mercy and moderation
in them. Bringing her to punishment is here called making her a public
example; which shows what is the end to be aimed at in punishment--the
giving of warning to others: it is in terrorem--that all about may hear
and fear. Smite the scorner, and the simple will beware.
Some persons of a rigorous temper would blame Joseph for his clemency:
but it is here spoken of to his praise; because he was a just man, therefore
he was not willing to expose her. He was a religious, good man; and therefore
inclined to be merciful as God is, and to forgive as one that was forgiven.
In the case of the betrothed damsel, if she were defiled in the field,
the law charitably supposed that she cried out (Deut. xxii. 26), and she
was not to be punished. Some charitable construction or other Joseph will
put upon this matter; and herein he is a just man, tender of the good name
of one who never before had done anything to blemish it. Note, It becomes
us, in many cases, to be gentle towards those that come under suspicion
of having offended, to hope the best concerning them, and make the best
of that which at first appears bad, in hopes that it may prove better.
Summum just summa injuria--The rigour of the law is (sometimes) the height
of injustice. That court of conscience which moderates the rigour of the
law we call a court of equity. Those who are found faulty were perhaps
overtaken in the fault, and are therefore to be restored with the spirit
of meekness; and threatening, even when just, must be moderated.
2. The expedient he found out for avoiding this extremity. He was minded
to put her away privily, that is, to give a bill of divorce into her hand
before two witnesses, and so to hush up the matter among themselves. Being
a just man, that is, a strict observer of the law, he would not proceed
to marry her, but resolved to put her away; and yet, in tenderness for
her, determined to do it as privately as possible. Note, The necessary
censures of those who have offended ought to be managed without noise.
The words of the wise are heard in quiet. Christ himself shall not strive
nor cry. Christian love and Christian prudence will hide a multitude of
sins, and great ones, as far as may be done without having fellowship with
them.
IV. Joseph's discharge from this perplexity by an express sent from
heaven, v. 20, 21. While he thought on these things and knew not what to
determine, God graciously directed him what to do, and made him easy. Note,
Those who would have direction from God must think on things themselves,
and consult with themselves. It is the thoughtful, not the unthinking,
whom God will guide. When he was at a loss, and had carried the matter
as far as he could in his own thoughts, then God came in with advice. Note,
God's time to come in with instruction to his people is when they are nonplussed
and at a stand. God's comforts most delight the soul in the multitude of
its perplexed thoughts. The message was sent to Joseph by an angel of the
Lord, probably the same angel that brought Mary the tidings of the conception--the
angel Gabriel. Now the intercourse with heaven, by angels, with which the
patriarchs had been dignified, but which had been long disused, begins
to be revived; for, when the First-begotten is to be brought into the world,
the angels are ordered to attend his motions. How far God may now, in an
invisible way, make use of the ministration of angels, for extricating
his people out of their straits, we cannot say; but this we are sure of,
they are all ministering spirits for their good. This angel appeared to
Joseph in a dream when he was asleep, as God sometimes spoke unto the fathers.
When we are most quiet and composed we are in the best frame to receive
the notices of the divine will. The Spirit moves on the calm waters. This
dream, no doubt, carried its own evidence along with it that it was of
God, and not the production of a vain fancy. Now,
1. Joseph is here directed to proceed in his intended marriage. The
angel calls him, Joseph, thou son of David; he puts him in mind of his
relation to David, that he might be prepared to receive this surprising
intelligence of his relation to the Messiah, who, every one knew, was to
be a descendant from David. Sometimes, when great honours devolve upon
those who have small estates, they care not for accepting them, but are
willing to drop them; it was therefore requisite to put this poor carpenter
in mind of his high birth: "Value thyself. Joseph, thou art that son of
David through whom the line of the Messiah is to be drawn." We may thus
say to every true believer, "Fear not, thou son of Abraham, thou child
of God; forget not the dignity of thy birth, thy new birth." Fear not to
take Mary for thy wife; so it may be read. Joseph, suspecting she was with
child by whoredom, was afraid of taking her, lest he should bring upon
himself either guilt or reproach. No, saith God, Fear not; the matter is
not so. Perhaps Mary had told him that she was with child by the Holy Ghost,
and he might have heard what Elizabeth said to her (Luke i. 43), when she
called her the mother of her Lord; and, if so, he was afraid of presumption
in marrying one so much above him. But, from whatever cause his fears arose,
they were all silenced with this word, Fear not to take unto thee Mary
thy wife. Note, It is a great mercy to be delivered from our fears, and
to have our doubts resolved, so as to proceed in our affairs with satisfaction.
2. He is here informed concerning that holy thing with which his espoused
wife was now pregnant. That which is conceived in her is of a divine original.
He is so far from being in danger of sharing in an impurity by marrying
her, that he will thereby share in the highest dignity he is capable of.
Two things he is told,
(1.) That she had conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost; not by the
power of nature. The Holy Spirit, who produced the world, now produced
the Saviour of the world, and prepared him a body, as was promised him,
when he said, Lo, I come, Heb. x. 5. Hence he is said to be made of a woman
(Gal. iv. 4), and yet to be that second Adam that is the Lord from heaven,
1 Cor. xv. 47. He is the Son of God, and yet so far partakes of the substance
of his mother as to be called the fruit of her womb, Luke i. 42. It was
requisite that is conception should be otherwise than by ordinary generation,
that so, so though he partook of the human nature, yet he might escape
the corruption and pollution of it, and not be conceived and shapen in
iniquity. Histories tell us of some who vainly pretended to have conceived
by a divine power, as the mother of Alexander; but none ever really did
so, except the mother of our Lord. His name in this, as in other things,
is Wonderful. We do not read that the virgin Mary did herself proclaim
the honour done to her; but she hid it in her heart, and therefore God
sent an angel to attest it. Those who seek not their own glory shall have
the honour that comes from God; it is reserved for the humble.
(2.) That she should bring forth the Saviour of the world (v. 21). She
shall bring forth a Son; what he shall be is intimated,
[1.] In the name that should be given to her Son: Thou shalt call his
name Jesus, a Saviour. Jesus is the same name with Joshua, the termination
only being changed, for the sake of conforming it to the Greek. Joshua
is called Jesus (Acts vii. 45; Heb. iv. 8), from the Seventy. There were
two of that name under the Old Testament, who were both illustrious types
of Christ, Joshua who was Israel's captain at their first settlement in
Canaan, and Joshua who was their high priest at their second settlement
after the captivity, Zech. vi. 11, 12. Christ is our Joshua; both the Captain
of our salvation, and the High Priest of our profession, and, in both,
our Saviour--a Joshua who comes in the stead of Moses, and does that for
us which the law could not do, in that it was weak. Joshua had been called
Hosea, but Moses prefixed the first syllable of the name Jehovah, and so
made it Jehoshua (Num. xiii. 16), to intimate that the Messiah, who was
to bear that name, should be Jehovah; he is therefore able to save to the
uttermost, neither is there salvation in any other.
[2.] In the reason of that name: For he shall save his people from their
sins; not the nation of the Jews only (he came to his own, and they received
him not), but all who were given him by the Father's choice, and all who
had given themselves to him by their own. He is a king who protects his
subjects, and, as the judges of Israel of old, works salvation for them.
Note, those whom Christ saves he saves from their sins; from the guilt
of sin by the merit of his death, from the dominion of sin by the Spirit
of his grace. In saving them from sin, he saves them from wrath and the
curse, and all misery here and hereafter. Christ came to save his people,
not in their sins, but from their sins; to purchase for them, not a liberty
to sin, but a liberty from sins, to redeem them from all iniquity (Tit.
ii. 14); and so to redeem them from among men (Rev. xiv. 4) to himself,
who is separate from sinners. So that those who leave their sins, and give
up themselves to Christ as his people, are interested in the Saviour, and
the great salvation which he has wrought out, Rom. xi. 26.
V. The fulfilling of the scripture in all this. This evangelist, writing
among the Jews, more frequently observes this than any other of the evangelists.
Here the Old Testament prophecies had their accomplishment in our Lord
Jesus, by which it appears that this was he that should come, and we are
to look for no other; for this was he to whom all the prophets bore witness.
Now the scripture that was fulfilled in the birth of Christ was that promise
of a sign which God gave to king Ahaz (Isa. vii. 14), Behold a virgin shall
conceive; where the prophet, encouraging the people of God to hope for
the promised deliverance from Sennacherib's invasion, directs them to look
forward to the Messiah, who was to come of the people of the Jews, and
the house of David; whence it was easy to infer, that though that people
and that house were afflicted, yet neither the one nor the other could
be abandoned to ruin, so long as God had such an honour, such a blessing,
in reserve for them. The deliverances which God wrought for the Old-Testament
church were types and figures of the great salvation by Christ; and, if
God will do the greater, he will not fail to do the less.
The prophecy here quoted is justly ushered in with a Behold, which commands
both attention and admiration; for we have here the mystery of godliness,
which is, without controversy, great, that God was manifested in the flesh.
1. The sign given is that the Messiah shall be born of a virgin. A virgin
shall conceive, and, by her, he shall be manifested in the flesh. The word
Almah signifies a virgin in the strictest sense, such as Mary professes
herself to be (Luke i. 34), I know not a man; nor had it been any such
wonderful sign as it was intended for, if it had been otherwise. It was
intimated from the beginning that the Messiah should be born of a virgin,
when it was said that he should be the seed of the woman; so the seed of
the woman as not to be the seed of any man. Christ was born of a virgin
not only because his birth was to be supernatural, and altogether extraordinary,
but because it was to be spotless, and pure, and without any stain of sin.
Christ would be born, not of an empress or queen, for he appeared not in
outward pomp or splendour, but of a virgin, to teach us spiritual purity,
to die to all the delights of sense, and so to keep ourselves unspotted
from the world and the flesh that we may be presented chaste virgins to
Christ.
2. The truth proved by this sign is, that he is the Son of God, and
the Mediator between God and man: for they shall call his name Immanuel;
that is, he shall be Immanuel; and when it is said, He shall be called,
it is meant, he shall be, the Lord our righteousness. Immanuel signifies
God with us; a mysterious name, but very precious; God incarnate among
us, and so God reconcilable to us, at peace with us, and taking us into
covenant and communion with himself. The people of the Jews had God with
them, in types and shadows, dwelling between the cherubim; but never so
as when the Word was made flesh--that was the blessed Shechinah. What a
happy step is hereby taken toward the settling of a peace and correspondence
between God and man, that the two natures are thus brought together in
the person of the Mediator! by this he became an unexceptionable referee,
a days-man, fit to lay his hand upon them both, since he partakes of the
nature of both. Behold, in this, the deepest mystery, and the richest mercy,
that ever was. By the light of nature, we see God as a God above us; by
the light of the law, we see him as a God against us; but by the light
of the gospel, we see him as Immanuel, God with us, in our own nature,
and (which is more) in our interest. Herein the Redeemer commended his
love. With Christ's name, Immanuel, we may compare the name given to the
gospel church (Ezek. xlviii. 35). Jehovah Shammah--The Lord is there; the
Lord of hosts is with us.
Nor is it improper to say that the prophecy which foretold that he should
be called Immanuel was fulfilled, in the design and intention of it, when
he was called Jesus; for if he had not been Immanuel--God with us, he could
not have been Jesus--a Saviour; and herein consists the salvation he wrought
out, in the bringing of God and man together; this was what he designed,
to bring God to be with us, which is our great happiness, and to bring
us to be with God, which is our great duty.
VI. Joseph's obedience to the divine precept (v. 24). Being raised from
sleep by the impression which the dream made upon him, he did as the angel
of the Lord had bidden him, though it was contrary to his former sentiments
and intentions; he took unto him his wife; he did is speedily, without
delay, and cheerfully, without dispute; he was not disobedient to the heavenly
vision. Extraordinary direction like this we are not now to expect; but
God has still ways of making known his mind in doubtful cases, by hints
of providence, debates of conscience, and advice of faithful friends; by
each of these, applying the general rules of the written word, we should,
therefore, in all the steps of our life, particularly the great turns of
it, such as this of Joseph's, take direction from God, and we shall find
it safe and comfortable to do as he bids us.
VII. The accomplishment of the divine promise (v. 25). She brought forth
her first-born son. The circumstances of it are more largely related, Luke
ii. 1, &c. Note, That which is conceived of the Holy Ghost never proves
abortive, but will certainly be brought forth in its season. What is of
the will of the flesh, and of the will of man, often miscarries; but, if
Christ be formed in the soul, God himself has begun the good work which
he will perform; what is conceived in grace will no doubt be brought forth
in glory.
It is here further observed, 1. That Joseph, though he solemnized the
marriage with Mary, his espoused wife, kept at a distance from her while
she was with child of this Holy thing; he knew her not till she had brought
him forth. Much has been said concerning the perpetual virginity of our
Lord: Jerome was very angry with Helvidius for denying it. It is certain
that it cannot be proved from scripture. Dr. Whitby inclines to think that
when it is said, Joseph knew her not till she had brought forth her first-born,
it is intimated that, afterwards, the reason ceasing, he lived with her,
according to the law, Exod. xxi. 10. 2. That Christ was the first-born;
and so he might be called though his mother had not any other children
after him, according to the language of scripture. Nor is it without a
mystery that Christ is called her first-born, for he is the first-born
of every creature, that is, the Heir of all things; and he is the first-born
among many brethren, that in all things he may have the pre-eminence. 3.
That Joseph called his name Jesus, according to the direction given him.
God having appointed him to be the Saviour, which was intimated in his
giving him the name Jesus, we must accept of him to be our Saviour, and,
in concurrence with that appointment, we must call him Jesus, our Saviour.
