Every year around this time you can walk into just about any public place or any home and find some kind of celebration that points to Jesus’ birth as the reason for the season. Christmas music comes on the radio right around Halloween and from that point forward the entire world seems to be caught up with the Christmas story we see in the Bible.
Matthew 1:18 – 25
18 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. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 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. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from his sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus is the story of how Jesus came into the world. It’s a wild story of a young virgin becoming pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. This young virgin, Mary, had a fiancé named Joseph who was a really good man. He was a just man and when he found out that Mary was pregnant even though they were not yet married and had not yet been together sexually, he planned to break it off with her.
But he didn’t want to embarrass Mary publically, even though he had every emotional and religious right to. So he planned to break up with her privately. But as he was making his plans to set Mary aside, the Lord came to him in a dream and commanded Joseph not to break up with her but to instead go ahead and marry her because her pregnancy wasn’t a sign of her unfaithfulness but it was a sign of the Lord’s miraculous faithfulness.
Now, as shocking as this dream might have been, the Lord actually took things a step further and he revealed to Joseph that they would have a son and that they should plan to name him Jesus because he would save his people from their sins. I don’t know about you, but this sounds like an extremely juicy story.
And furthermore, Matthew explains that all of this happened to fulfill what the prophet Isaiah had already predicted many years earlier. So not only do you have what appears to be the beginnings of a jacked up marriage, but you also have the claim of a miraculous virgin conception and you also have the Lord appearing to Joseph in a dream that wasn’t drink or drug induced and you also have an old prophecy being fulfilled.
Put yourself in Joseph’s shoes for a minute. How do you wake up the next day after an emotional roller coaster like this? You had plans to get married the right way. You do everything possible to walk in purity with your soon to be spouse. Your soon to be spouse turns up pregnant. You make plans to drop them privately like a hot rock. You go to sleep, pondering your decision and plan to break the relationship off. And then you have a dream where God tells you not to break up with your soon to be spouse and that your obedience to him will help to bring about the fulfillment of a nearly forgotten prophecy from the old days about the salvation of mankind.
What do you do after an encounter with God like this? What do you do after an encounter with God in the midst of the swirling circumstances and carefully thought out plans? For Joseph, this encounter with God caused him to wake up the next morning and reorient his plans in obedience to the Lord’s commands. When was the last time your plans were reoriented by the Lord’s plans? Have your plans been characterized by fear or obedience lately?
Joseph’s obedience was over the top. He didn’t just go through with the marriage as God had commanded. He went through with the marriage and he committed to abstaining from sexual intimacy with Mary until Jesus was born. Joseph’s purpose in marrying his wife was obedience to God not sexual pleasure.
There would be no question whatsoever in Joseph or Mary’s minds in regards to the miraculous conception of Jesus. And the final act of faithful obedience on Joseph’s part was that he actually named their son, Jesus just as God had commanded him to do. In this story we see humanity and divinity coming together in the flesh and when humanity meets divinity, miraculous, superhuman things happen.
#1: Think about the humanity of Joseph and Mary…
It’s human to want to get married. It’s human to plan a breakup when things go south especially in the case of unfaithfulness. But, it’s superhuman and miraculous to do what Joseph and Mary did. Most human relationships fall apart when there’s even the smallest hint of possible unfaithfulness. But Joseph and Mary experienced the miraculous intersection of God stepping into humanity in the form of a miraculously conceived baby in Mary’s womb. When humanity meets divinity, miraculous, superhuman things happen.
#2: Think about the humanity and divinity of Jesus…
Jesus was born of a virgin therefore he was a human being. But at the same time, Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit so he was also divine. The prophet Isaiah among many other prophets had predicted this very event many years earlier. The prophecy stated that God would come to be among his people in a very special way as God in the flesh that would save his people from their sins.
It’s not as though God ceased to be present with humanity. God is omnipresent which means that he is constantly present with us everywhere. But in this story, we see God becoming present with his people in a very special way in the form of a baby named Jesus. When humanity meets divinity, miraculous, superhuman things happen.
Why Does This Matter?
Every year around this time you can walk into just about any public place or any home and find some kind of celebration that points to Jesus’ birth as the reason for the season. Christmas music comes on the radio right around Halloween and from that point forward the entire world seems to be caught up with the Christmas story.
As Americans it’s easy to become numb to the importance of this story because of the annual celebration in our country that oftentimes reflects more of our preoccupation with extravagant spending and partying rather than the Savior of the world. So why does this story matter? What significance does this story hold for a group of people who live in a country that at least gives a head nod to this story in this season every year?
#1: This is a story of reoriented human plans…
We’ve already talked about how Joseph and Mary had a plan for their marriage that included absolute purity. We’ve already talked about how those plans appeared to be shattered when Mary turned up pregnant. We’ve also talked about how Joseph planned to divorce Mary privately until God appeared to him and turned those plans upside down.
But to get at the heart of this story you have to go way back to the book of Isaiah. You might remember the prophecy that Matthew refers to here is from Isaiah 7:14. But what you might not know is the context of that prophecy and the significance of that context in regards to reoriented human plans.
Simply stated, when God reorients a man’s plans, that man’s life is like an Oak tree that is firmly rooted and bearing much fruit. But when you or I resist God’s reorientation of our plans then our lives are a lot more like a field that gets eaten by a swarm of locusts.
When Isaiah gave his prophecy about the virgin conceiving a child who would be Immanuel (God with us) there was a king named Ahaz who found himself in a real pickle and he needed to make some plans. I should say that he already had a plan for the pickle he found himself in.
Ahaz was the king of Israel in the bloodline of David. The same bloodline that Joseph the adoptive father of Jesus was part of. And king Ahaz was in a serious pickle because the enemies of Israel were preparing to attack Israel and he was afraid. So God sent Isaiah to king Ahaz to tell him what to do when their enemies attacked them. And the essence of God’s instructions were to trust that he would be with them and that he would redeem them and bless them.
But king Ahaz had already devised a plan that included enlisting the help of other enemy nations instead of trusting God and going alone. He even couched his plans in religious language while rejecting what the prophet Isaiah commanded. And the result was not that God’s presence wasn’t with king Ahaz. God is omnipresent. It’s just that because of Ahaz’s rebellion and disobedience, God’s presence was no longer a presence that brought redemption and blessing it was a presence that brought cursing.
When we don’t allow our plans to be reoriented by God’s commands we might experience momentary happiness that seems like blessing but in the long run we will experience the devastation of God’s righteous judgment upon our sin. There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it will lead to death. (Prov. 14:12; 16:25) And unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. (Ps. 127:1)
I need my human plans to be reoriented. Left to myself I will choose plans that are motivated by my fear and my sin and my insecurities and my selfishness. This is the story of Ahaz. It was almost the story of Joseph and Mary. It’s the story of the nation of Israel.
It’s the story of humanity’s struggle with sin ever since the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve’s plan was to get some juicy fruit into their bellies and that plan lead to destruction. Humanity every since the garden has been on a collision course of human plans that are tainted with sin. And this is why I say that when humanity meets divinity, miraculous, superhuman things happen. Superhuman things like redemption.
#2: This is a story of God’s faithful plan…
None of this story catches God by surprise. He knew Adam and Eve would rebel. He knew king Ahaz wouldn’t listen to him. He knew Israel would continue running headlong after every other love that we could imagine. He knew that humanity as a whole would run after every other god possible.
He knew every detail of your life before you ever took a breath. He knows the very number of the hairs upon your head. He knows your thoughts, your desires, your dreams, your fears and your plans. He knows right where you are at today. He knows every intimate detail of your heart. He knows how you have tried to medicate your pain and he knows how you’ve planned to pursue that particular sin. He knows because he knows everything and he’s always present.
And yet, as we see in the story of the virgin conception and birth of Jesus, God, though he knows every intimate detail of your life and he knows every intimate detail of your plans, he has a plan for your redemption. And his plan for your redemption doesn’t look like him just sending a check in the mail to pay the price for your sin. His plan of redemption looks like God himself becoming present in a unique way among us in the form of Jesus Christ who is the Savior of the world, Immanuel, God with us in a redemptive way. When humanity meets divinity, miraculous, superhuman things happen.
Conclusion…
This is the story of God’s faithful plan. At the right time God came in the form of a baby named Jesus to become the Savior of the world. To die upon the cross and to pay the penalty for our sin. To be buried in a tomb and to leave that tomb empty three days later. To ascend back to Heaven and to send us his very own Spirit to live with, in and through us until he returns to take us home to be with him.
I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a divine plan that could reorient every human plan I make. From the way I approach my job to the way I plan to spend time with my wife. From the way I plan for my financial future to the way I plan out my vacation. When humanity meets divinity, miraculous, superhuman things happen and my plans get reoriented by God’s faithful plan.
I don’t know what you walked in here with today. Not sure what plans you had when you walked in the door. Not sure where your heart was when you woke up this morning. Not sure how the Christmas season affects you. But my prayer is that in the midst of all the craziness of this season, is that you will hear this message and that you will encounter the presence of the living God who came in the form of a baby to be our Savior and our Immanuel. And my prayer is that as the presence of Immanuel meets you in your human place that something miraculous and superhuman would happen as a result.
Your failures don’t catch God by surprise. Your sin doesn’t scare him away. Your rebellion doesn’t change his love for you. Your religious faking doesn’t intimidate him. Your depression and your fear doesn’t change who he is. And your human plans don’t change his plans for you. When humanity meets divinity, miraculous, superhuman things happen. The question I want to leave you with today is this: How is God speaking to you right now about how he wants to reorient your plans?