Matthew’s gospel was written to Jewish disciples in the years prior to Jerusalem’s destruction (AD 70). Tension between the synagogue and the church was continuing to escalate, and life was difficult for the follower of Jesus. By beginning his gospel with a genealogy connecting Jesus to Abraham and David (1:1), Matthew was, in a sense, credentialing Jesus and showing those disciples that He was indeed the Messiah. The same is true regarding his account of Jesus being born of a virgin in fulfillment of prophecy (v. 18-22). All this would have the effect of reassuring anxious disciples and helping them to stand firm in the face of opposition.
But Matthew’s introduction serves more than just apologetic purposes. He tells us in v. 23 that Mary’s son would be called “Immanuel” (which means ‘God with us’) v. 23. And with that, Matthew has peeled away all the layers and laid bare the cosmic essence of his gospel—it is the profound and powerful news that in the birth of Jesus, God has visited our planet and its people. God is with us!
And yet even this doesn’t exhaust everything that Matthew is telling us in these marvelous words. In Isaiah’s time, the boy was a sign of Immanuel’s presence among them and how the Syria-Israel coalition wouldn’t prevail against Judah (and to a lesser extent how Assyria wouldn’t either). In the midst of appearances that suggested otherwise, they were to see the boy and be reminded that God was with them in the sense that He would be faithful to the promises He had made (Isaiah 7:4-9, 8:9-10).
So it is with Christ who appeared to an oppressed people whose leaders were more interested in appeasing Rome than pleasing God (see John 11:47-53). But more to the point, He appeared to a nation worn down by sin. No one was sitting on the throne of David. The temple was a den of robbers rather than a house of prayer. The whole country needed to be called back to God but there was no prophet to do so. It very much appeared that God was not with them.
Then a virgin was with child! Yes, a virgin was to have a child–how could that happen? There’s only one way it could happen and only one thing it could mean—God was now with them! There may not have been a descendent of David on the throne, but they were to have Immanuel among them. And while it’s true that His kingdom would bring an end to Rome (see Daniel 2, especially v. 31-45), the larger truth was that He would bring an end to the reign of sin and deliver them into a new life (Matthew 1:21).
When all is said and done, that’s what we really need, isn’t it? We’ve been programmed to think that what is of ultimate importance is success, status and significance—but I’m not sure that isn’t what we need to be delivered from. What we really need is God with us because that is life in all its richness and abundance!
A Taste of Grace with Bruce Green 