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Born of the Virgin, Mary

Joe Harby on December 21, 2014

Introduction

The doctrine of the virgin birth does not so much show us Mary’s absence of a relationship to a man—although it does do that. This doctrine centrally points to her Son’s relationship to God. Jesus was born the normal way, but He was not conceived the normal way. This tells us something of His identity as the holy Son of the Most High God.

The Text

“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Is. 7:14).

Summary of the Text

The text before us has a double meaning. King Ahaz, despite his resistance to it, was being given a word of reassurance by the prophet Isaiah. He was worried about an alliance between the Syrians and the northern kingdom of Israel. Isaiah tries to reassure him, and tells him that he can ask for any sign he pleases (vv. 10-11). Ahaz refuses to do so in a display of faux humility (v. 12), and so Isaiah gives him a unilateral, unasked-for sign.

The rising power of Assyria was a real problem. In 738, the king Tiglath-pileser started to move against Syria and Israel. Judah wanted to stay out of it, and so Syria and Israel tried to depose Ahaz in order to force Judah to join their coalition. That is what Ahaz was worried about. The sign being given to Ahaz was not the sign of a remarkable conception, but rather the sign of a remarkable fall of the nations he was so worried about, within a very short time frame. A woman would conceive, but before her child had grown to the age of ethical discretion, knowing to refuse evil and choose the good, the kings that Ahaz was so worried about would both be gone. Before that child got to the age of being able to eat solid food, this northern challenge to Ahaz would be removed. The woman is unnamed, but she was clearly known to both Isaiah and Ahaz—it could have been one of their respective wives, or some other woman known to them.

Young Woman or Virgin

The word used here for young woman is almah, which can mean young woman or virgin. The word does not require virginity, but it does allow for it. Now this creates a very interesting translation and hermeneutical issue for us. The Hebrew word is more general, and it refers to two women—one a virgin and the other not. The Greek word that is used to cite this passage in Matt. 1:23 is parthenos and this is a word that has only one meaning, virgin. It also means that as far as Matthew is concerned, the sign of the first woman, the one given as reassurance to Ahaz, has dropped out of the picture. Parthenos does not refer to her, but it does refer to Mary.

Matthew is saying that Isaiah was talking about Mary. The language of fulfillment here is very strong. Mary has turned up pregnant, and Joseph knows that he was not the father. He is contemplating divorce (Matt. 1:20), but an angel reassures him. Mary is pregnant, but still a virgin, and all of this was done in order to fulfill what Isaiah had said. Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled,accomplished, completed, filled, finished in the conception of Jesus, which is quite a different thing than the conception of Jesus being projected onto a verse in the Old Testament that looks like it might be talking about something in the ball park. Additional support for this approach, rejecting the idea that Matthew’s reading is simply special pleading, is the fact that the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, rendered this as parthenos also. Before the Christian doctrine of a virgin birth resulted in God-with-us, there was a Jewish doctrine of a virgin birth resulting in God- with-us.

But Why?

It might be easy to assume that God was just performing random marvels so that everybody would know that Jesus was remarkable. Well, the point was to reinforce and demonstrate His remarkable identity, but it wasn’t just a random act of power.

“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” (Luke 1:35).

This is what Mary is told about how she will conceive. The Holy Ghost will come upon her. The power of the Most High will overshadow or cover her, with the result that the holy one born of her would be called Son of God. Jesus was born this way so that He could be a human being who was truly holy.

A Sinless Christ

We know from Scripture that Christ was sinless. He not only withstood the devil in the temptation in the wilderness, but He also remained sinless throughout the course of His entire life.

“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21). “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth” (1 Pet. 2:22). “Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?” (John 8:46).

A virgin birth was necessary to produce a genuine human being who was at the same time not entailed in Adam’s sin. This apparently means that our covenantal participation in Adam’s rebellion is passed down through the human father. Men are the problem, as has been suspected from time to time. Not through any human ancestors who happened to be male, because Jesus had a grandfather on Mary’s side. Covenantal responsibility for sin is passed on through the human father.

This is the problem that Roman Catholics are trying (unnecessarily) to solve with their doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. This doctrine refers to Mary’s conception, not the conception of Jesus, and is trying to keep Jesus from being tainted with Mary’s sin. So their doctrine says that a miracle was performed so that Mary was born without original sin, thus making her a fit vessel to bear Jesus. But that is not how sin is passed down. We are not sinners because we were borne by a sinful mother. We are sinners because we were begotten by a sinful father.

A Savior Without Blemish

We have been saved because we have a Savior. But we need more than someone willing to be a Savior—we need someone qualified to be a Savior. That qualification has to be absolute purity. We are redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Pet. 1:19).

The Light from Galilee of the Gentiles

Joe Harby on December 14, 2014

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Introduction

Sometimes familiar words run down well-worn grooves. The words from our text have graced countless Christmas cards, but at the same time it is important for us to realize that this doesn’t make them any less true. But, as the truth of Scripture, it is given in such a way that whenever we come back to it in faith, regardless of how familiar it might be to us, we can always find fresh glory.

The Text

“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, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, Upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, To order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice From henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this” (Is. 9:6–7).

Summary of the Text

The condition of Israel is set out at the last part of chapter 8, and it is the same condition that the world was in—great darkness (Is. 8:22). Behold trouble and darkness, and dim anguish. But light is coming—this will not be like an earlier affliction (Is. 9:1). In Galilee of the nations, the people who were in that darkness have seen a great light (Is. 9:2). Galilee had two sections, upper and lower Galilee. Upper Galilee is called Galilee of the Gentiles because it was the borderland, and had many Gentiles living there. This was close to Tyre and Sidon, and was the area where Solomon had given 20 cities to the Phoenician king Hiram. Coming back to the text, God has given them great joy (Is. 9:3); He has broken the yoke of oppression that was on them (Is. 9:4). All military gear shall be rolled up and burned in a fire (Is. 9:5).

And so we come to our two verses. The child had been first promised two chapters earlier, when the prophet told us that Immanuel, God with us, would be born of a virgin (Is. 7:14). Now we learn more about Him. A child is born, a son is given. The first thing mentioned about Him is that the government will be on His shoulder. He will have a series of glorious names—Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace (Is. 9:6). The increase of His government will have no end, and it will be the government of the throne of David. It will be established and well-ordered forever and ever. All of this will be done by the zeal of the Lord Himself (Is. 9:7).

Spiritual Darkness

The darkness spoken of by the prophet is a spiritual darkness, a moral blindness. The darkness was so profound that men in the grip of it could not see this text.

When Nicodemus challenged their right to condemn Christ without a hearing, they called him a dummy. “They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet” (John 7:52). Nicodemus was being so stupid —no prophet comes from Galilee. Then how was it that the people walking there had seen a great light (Is. 9:1-2)?

His Humility

He was Immanuel, God with us, but never forget that Almighty God was content to be twenty inches long. He was content to suckle at a virgin’s breast. The mighty God is born here, in a stable, as a little child. He humbled Himself and took the form of a servant (Phil. 2:5-8), formed in the likeness of men. He condescends to become one of us.

His Exaltation

Because He humbled Himself in this way, God has given Him the name that is above every name. Not only so, but He has given Him all these names. He shall be called Wonderful. Wonders accompanied Him wherever He went, and He Himself was the central wonder. He was astonishing(Matt. 7:28). He gives glorious counsel; He is the great counselor. Among other things, He counselsus to gain true wealth, to put on clean raiment, and to anoint our eyes with salve (Rev. 3:18). He is the Wisdom of God; He is the true Understanding (Prov. 8:14). Listen then to His counsel. He is the mighty God; this is not the Immanuel-like presence of some tiny god. This term (El) is also applied to the Messiah in Psalm 45:6. He is the everlasting Father. As He told Philip, those who had seen Him had seen the Father.

Moreover, as the Church is His bride, and our mother (Gal. 4:26), He is our Father as we are considered as individual sons and daughters. But in the collective and corporate sense, He is our husband and brother (Eph. 5:32; Heb. 2:11).

And finally, He is the Prince of all peace, and so it is that peace will come to our sorry world. Isaiah has already spoken of this (Is. 2:4).

His Dominion

His government here is described in two ways. One, it is His burden. He carries it. The government is upon His shoulder. He takes responsibility for it. A similar image is found later in Isaiah, also describing the rule of the Lord. “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with his arm, And carry them in his bosom, And shall gently lead those that are with young” (Is. 40:11). So the Lord does not rule by “sitting on,” but rather He rules by carrying. What does the Lord do with His “strong hand” (Is. 40:10)? His arm rules for Him, and yet, that strong arm is our salvation. That strong arm picks us up.

The governments of men, apart from Christ, however proud their talk, are nothing but maimed lambs. Christ comes down to us, climbs over the crags to retrieve us, picks us up, and takes the government on His shoulder. He carries us home. Secularism is what we call it when that bleeding lamb kicks.

And secondly, it is a government that will never cease growing. It will grow forever and ever, and a Son of David will reign forever and ever. It cannot be reversed. It cannot be undone. It cannot be rewound. The battle cannot be fought over again, with the Lord losing this time. Christ cannot be tempted again. He cannot be flogged again. He cannot be nailed to the tree again. He cannot be buried again. He cannot be raised from the dead again because His resurrection was once for all, and was the inauguration of His kingdom which cannot stop growing.

This thing will be done, and will be everlastingly done, because it will be done by the zeal of the Lord of hosts. How is that not enough for us?
“And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, Which shall stand for an ensign of the people; To it shall the Gentiles seek: And his rest shall be glorious” (Is. 11:10).

Sons of the Light

Joe Harby on December 7, 2014

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Introduction

Have you ever stumbled through a dark house at night? Ever tried to change a flat tire in the dark? Then you understand the importance of light, the necessity of light. You need light to see. You need light to find your way. Frequently, when hardships come, we say that we didn’t see it coming. We were completely caught off guard. I was blindsided. Christmas is the announcement that the most necessary, most important Light has come into the world, and because of that, Christians are to be a ready people, a prepared people – ready for whatever our Lord has for us.

The Text

Thessalonians is a letter of encouragement from Paul to the Christians in Thessalonica, and where we pick up, Paul has just reviewed the hope of the resurrection (4:13-18). Now whether the “day of the Lord” Paul has in mind in chapter five ishe same event or another, Paul’s point stands: Christians are to be people on the look out, ready, prepared, awake. He says that the Thessalonians already know this (5:1), but the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night (5:2), and sudden destruction will arrive just when people are saying that everything is safe and secure (5:3). But Christians are not in the dark and so they will not be caught off guard (5:4). This is because Christians are sons of the light, sons of the day, and therefore they are not of the night or the darkness (5:5). So the exhortation is to stay awake and be sober like you do during the daytime (5:6). You sleep at night and drunkards drink at night, but we belong to the day (5:7). Christians stay awake and alert specifically by putting on the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet of the hope of salvation (5:8). That hope is specifically that God has determined to save us (5:9) through the death of Jesus in our place so that in life and in death we are safe with Him (5:10). And Christians encourage each other with this hope (5:11).

People Love the Darkness

What’s striking about this passage is that the “day” of the Lord comes like a thief in the “night” (5:2). But it comes like a thief in the night because it’s unexpected not because it’s actually shrouded in darkness. The night is here presented as false peace and security (5:3) as well as inattentiveness and drunkenness (5:6-7). The reason the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night is because people were drunk and sleeping. But Paul says that the day of the Lord is not like a thief for Christians because Christians are not in the darkness (5:4). Christians are sons of light, sons of the day (5:5).

The irony is that spiritual darkness simultaneously breeds (false) confidence and confusion. The reasoning goes something like this (follow it closely): Since I can’t see any danger, I must be safe. Ouch, I just hit my head, how’d that happen? Proverbs says, “The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble” (Prov. 4:19). Jesus said, “he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going” ( Jn. 12:35). This is also the warning attached to wine, “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long at the wine, those who go in search of mixed wine” (Prov. 23:29-30). And the central problem is that people love the darkness because their deeds are evil ( Jn. 3:19). And this is because they prefer the surprise of destruction to the acknowledgement and repentance of their sins. Which is to say that they prefer being unprepared and caught off guard; they prefer to stumble and fall.

The Light of Vigilance

Many of the passages in the NT warning of coming destruction are specifically concerned with the coming judgment on Jerusalem in 70 A.D. But that doesn’t
render those passages useless for Christians of other ages. In fact, arguably, God intentionally birthed His Church in those very circumstances to set a tone for

His people. The first Christians faced particular temptations in their historical circumstances, but all Christians are called to be sons of the light by staying
awake and being sober (5:5-7). This vigilance is the light that they are called to be. But in order to be sons of the light and sons of the day, their Father must be the light and the day. And so He is: “Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of His creatures” ( Js. 1:17-18). Or Jesus says: “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Mt. 5:14-16). The light comes from your Father in heaven who has revealed Himself in Jesus who says, “I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” ( Jn. 8:12).

The Armor of Light

Paul says that Christians who are called to be sons of the light must arm themselves with faith and love and hope in the gospel of Jesus (5:8-11). Christians are the kind of people are ready, people who are vigilant, people who are prepared for whatever the Lord has for them. We do not know the exact coordinates of our mission, but we know that the day of the Lord is coming, and we are sons of the Day, sons of that day. And we are sons of that day by being awake, alert, sober, and we do this specifically by reminding one another of this comfort, building one another up in this hope. And this is why we celebrate Advent and Christmas.

Moses told the Israelites to put signs on their hands and foreheads and all over their houses and gates to remind their families that they had once been slaves in Egypt (Dt. 6:7-12). So how much more ought we to string up lights and decorate trees and bake cookies and sing carols and invite friends and neighbors to our table to feast together? When your children ask you why you put socks up on the mantel piece, why there’s a tree

in the living room, and why you keep kissing under the mistletoe in the entryway – you say to them, “Because we are the sons of the light, the children of the day, and we want to be ready for whatever the Lord has for us.”

Word Made Flesh

Joe Harby on December 7, 2014

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Introduction

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

The Word

In John 1:1-5, we learn that the Word was with God and was God. The Word comes to us to reveal what God is like ( John 14:9, Col. 1:15, Heb. 1:3). This is how the Word has worked from the very beginning, working to show us what God is like. He is like light and life ( John 1:4-5, Gen. 1, Prov. 8). Both light and life are images that show us what God is like. And both are things that we are accustomed to wait for (Ps. 130:5-6). This waiting is what Advent is all about, waiting for the coming of Jesus, the light and life of the world (Lk. 2:25, 29, 36).

Became Flesh and Dwelt Among Us

Flesh can sometimes be used to describe the sinful desires that we wrestle with. But here it is used to describe human mortality (Ps. 78:39, Is. 40:6). God the Son, who is life itself, took on the nature of a man, a man’s body and a man’s soul (Phi. 2:7, Heb. 2:17).

And We Beheld His Glory

The face of God, which could not be seen by Moses or Elijah (Ex. 24:9-122, 33:18-23, 1 Kings 19:11-12), was finally shown to us in Jesus. The Word came to reveal the Father (John 1:18).

The Glory as of the Only-Begotten Son of the Father

Although we are all children of God, there is only one only begotten Son, the eternal Son, who has been generated of the Father from all eternity. So think for a moment of the irony of waiting for something to happen, which has eternally been the case.

Full of Grace and Truth

If you think about this for a moment, grace and truth are two things that do not naturally go together. We can either have both the truth and war, or grace and lies. But to hold grace and truth together is to try and hold together two identically charged magnets (Ecc. 7:21-22, Ps. 130:3).

But the Word came to reveal God to this world. The Son came to show us his Father, to show us what had always been the case, but what we could not grasp. And that was that grace and truth can come together, righteousness and peace can kiss (Ps. 85:10), and the Just one can be the one who justifies (Rom. 3:26).

Christmas Dawn

Joe Harby on November 30, 2014

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Introduction

When Christians are discouraged by the corruptions of our time, it is like complaining about a day that is dark gray and drizzly, wet and soggy. It is in fact a day just like that, but it is not a day like that at midnight.

Because Jesus Christ lived, died, rose again, and ascended into heaven, the world and its history have been completely transformed. It was midnight, but the day has dawned. Think about it. Billions of people identify themselves as followers of Jesus Christ. All over the world people take Sunday off because Jesus rose from the dead on this day. And as much as the secularists don’t like it, our whole dating system is divided in two by the man from Nazareth. This is in fact 2014, the year of our Lord. He was the man who split history in two.

But while it is no longer midnight, we are not anywhere close to midday either. What must we do to understand our time?

The Text

“For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; And all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: And the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; And ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts” (Mal 4:1-4).

Summary of the Text

In the previous chapter, Malachi had compared the Lord’s work to a refiner’s fire. All the dross was consumed. This chapter begins in a similar way. A day is coming that will burn like an oven. The proud and the wicked will be consumed like stubble, and with nothing left for them (v. 1). But for those who looked forward to the Lord’s promised deliverance, the sun of righteousness will rise. A ball of flaming righteousness will come up, and healing will extend all along the horizon (v. 2). Those are the healing wings, stretched out to embrace the world. The response of God’s people will be to gambol out into the meadow like calves just released from the stall (v. 3). Our response is not at all dignified. When this all comes to pass, the wicked will be trampled underfoot (v. 4).

Christ the Son, Christ the Sun

Few metaphors are as fittingly biblical as comparing Christ to the sun. In reading the sun

in this way, we are letting the New Testament instruct us on how to understand the Old Testament. The heavens declare the glory of God, the psalmist tells us (Ps. 19: 1-4), and the chief ornament of those heavens is the sun. This is why God sets up a tabernacle for the sun, and the sun comes out of that tabernacle, out of that tent, like a bridegroom on his wedding day (Ps. 19:4-5). But then, in the 10th chapter of Romans, the apostle Paul takes these words and applies them to preachers of the gospel.

Spurgeon summarizes Paul’s thought this way, “So that what was here spoken of the sun by David, is referred by Paul to the gospel, which is the light streaming from Jesus Christ, ‘the Sun of Righteousness.’”

This is why Paul can refer to Christ as the bridegroom in the fifth chapter of Ephesians, and can also say the sleeper should rise and wake up because Christ will shine upon him. “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (Eph. 5:14). He says this, and just nine verses later he is comparing Christ to the bridegroom.

Christmas Dawn

What do we then learned about Christmas from this great word from Malachi? What is the point?

First, the advent of the Christ means the destruction of the proud. There is heat that burns like an oven, and there is heat that makes calves want to play in the sunshine. When God is praised, whenever God is glorified, the humble hear it and are glad (Ps. 34:1-2). The entire cosmos—in heaven, on earth, and under the earth—has been transformed by the birth of this child, and that is why we have celebrations with tinsel, cocoa that is too hot, stupid and overdone Christmas tree ornaments, and way too much fudge. All of this because this baby was born, and if you don’t rejoice in all these apparently insignificant ways at these apparently insignificant tidings, then something needs to be done to your heart. It looks like a three-quarter inch piece of leftover beef jerky, and this is not consistent with the apostle’s desire that our hearts be enlarged. Pride puffs up, and love builds us up in humility.

Second, the sun is a sun of righteousness. God is holy, righteous, and altogether good. Going back to Psalm 19, the structure of the poem compares the law of God to the sun, and that law is perfect, converting the soul. God’s righteousness is not our enemy. God’s righteousness embodies what we were created to be in the first place. But God’s righteousness is the enemy of all that would corrupt us. His righteousness consumes our dross, and refines our silver. We only take it so badly because we don’t know which is the dross and which is the silver, but it all feels like me.

This relates to the third point, which is that God’s righteousness brings healing in its wings. What God’s righteousness destroys is that which was destroying us. Our unrighteousness is the cancer, and God’s righteousness is the chemo. It isn’t always pleasant, but it is always good.

And it is important here to say a word about our justification—because we are forgiven, because we have been declared righteous, God can work on the sin that we have to deal with in a spirit of no condemnation. Every sin that He mortifies in us is a sin that has already been crucified, two thousand years ago.

Last, you shall “go forth.” Righteous that rises in the sky is not debilitating. The night is over, and as the psalmist says, joy comes in the morning (Ps. 30:5). The meaning of Christmas dawn is the meaning of every dawn. Christ is risen, and He has risen from the dead because once in the dead of night, He became a boy child so that it might be said of Him “that of the increase of His government there will be no end.”