What have you been waiting for? There are many different types of waiting, and different objects of waiting. Here’s why it is important - what you are waiting for will determine how you live, and whether your life is worth living. Read on to find out what God’s people waited for, and are waiting for!
(A) Who is He? Jesus is the long-awaited Deliverer-King (Matt 1:18a)
The first part of verse one tells us two things that Matthew wants us to pay close attention to. There’s something special about the event that took place when Jesus was born, and there’s also something special about Jesus - so much so that Matthew would write a whole book about Him.
We also learn that Jesus is called the Christ, or the anointed one. “Christ” is a title accorded to Jesus. It speaks of a Messiah, a salvific King. But what sort of connotation does it have? Consider the words of Isa 64:1-6, which is part of a petition from God’s people to their God. Do you hear the emotions and the expectations of the Jewish people? These are a people desperate, eager, begging for mercy, and yearning for something divine. What was it that they were yearning for? For God to show His power to his people and the world. Isa 64:1-3 isn’t just metaphorical language. It looks back at a prior event in Exodus. In Exo 19, God’s people met with God at Mt Sinai. It wasn’t a casual, light-hearted meeting, but was solemn and fearsome. Thus, these verses are not just figurative but was also a historical event.
Understanding these verses helps us see the attitude and the heart of waiting of God’s people. These were a people desperate for deliverance, and expectant for their God to show Himself again in fearsome power and judgment. For the Jewish reader, this would meant some sort of divine-kingly intervention, where God would raise up someone to deliver the Jews, and mediate God’s rule.
When we read this in light of the birth of Jesus and remember how the people’s waiting for God to reveal Himself in fearsome, powerful and magisterial ways, Jesus’ birth comes as a shock. For the God of power to be feared and reverenced reveals Himself in an unlikely form – a baby.
(B) What will He do? Jesus will save His people from their sins (Matt 1:18b-21)
Now that we have a clearer understanding of the posture behind God’s people’s waiting, let’s see what actually happened. We learn about Jesus’ conception in 3 phases (Matt 1:18b-19).
First, we learn that Mary was betrothed to Joseph. Betrothal was a really serious thing. It meant that the man would seek the father’s blessings, and go off to prepare a house to prove that he’s fit and ready to care for his wife. This process took one year on average, after which the man would return for his bride. Throughout this time, his wife was practically be considered as married.
But then we learn that Mary became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. This does not imply sexual intercourse. Rather, the point here is that God Himself works out a divine miracle, in order to accomplish His purposes.
However, this births a problem. Joseph isn’t the father of the child. Consider what this must have felt like for Joseph, who lived in a culture where reputation reigned as a primary social marker. On top of that, there were also strict laws that called for an adulterer’s death! However, we are also told that Joseph was a just man and unwilling to put her to shame. Although the law allowed him to punish Mary, Joseph was just in the sense that he did not pursue the law to its entirety, but he understood the heart of the law.
This problem finds its resolution in Matt 1:20-21, and the following table details the happenings and their significance:
Still, Jesus’ purpose might sound weird to us because we have different ideas of what sin is. Before we get to what sin is, let us think about salvation: That which we need saving from is our greatest problem, and different people have different answers for what the world’s greatest problem is. It could be power or the lack of education. Others might point to systems of government. Or it could be something as complex as intersectional power differentials.
Contrary to these beliefs, the Bible tells us here that our greatest problem is sin, for it is our sin that Jesus comes to save us from. So what is sin? Many of us associate God with a set of rules and sin is therefore moral failure where we breaking these rules. If this is how we think of sin, the solution is probably education, where it is imperfect knowledge about the right things that lead to our sin. And we are prone to think about education holistically so we also need a good example. Maybe that’s it. Maybe we just need more good role models and better environments. Therefore, to trace this thought, Jesus is the best example and affirms and encourages us to obey and live it out. If this is true, we may be tempted to try harder and seek good company.
But there are some habits in our lives that we might not be able to break despite how much we know and despite the company we keep. And that also points to the fact that the Bible doesn’t speak of sin in this way. Sin is not just moral failure. Sin is how our hearts are set and wired in a certain way that prizes our autonomy. Autonomy is spoken of positively in our society but the Bible speaks against this self-rule. Our deepest desires are about self-preservation and asserting ourselves as kings over each other, and most grievously, over God. Therefore, everyone we meet are people whose law goes against ours. And God’s laws are to be despised.
3 things result from this.
Firstly, it crushes us. All’s fair and good when we enjoy the fruit of asserting our rights but we can also realise how woefully inadequate we are to be king. It leads to anxiety and fear about losing control over our own lives. It doesn’t just crush us, but also the people around us. If you don’t think you are self absorbed, answer these question: How have you been spending your time this past week? What are your patterns of consumption this past week (all that you’ve watched, done, thought about)?
Secondly, if sin is not just moral failure but also asserting our own rule, then sin is rebellion against God, which creates a deep problem. In setting up my own rule, I am setting myself up against God. This relational aspect of sin puts me against a righteous, just God and surely His wrath against me, a rebel, is justified.
Thirdly, it causes us to think about how Jesus saves. How can Jesus save a wretched sinner? Something from the outside must break into the inside of me and reshape my heart. The price of sin – rebellion against God – has to be paid as well. Jesus has to save by doing these 2 things. And the Bible tells us that Jesus accomplishes it for us through one decisive event (c.f. Matt 27:32-46) - the Cross. When Jesus came down to earth, He chose to associate Himself with sinful mankind and bore our sin. He walked that lonely road and hung on that cross. The worst part wasn’t the pain, but His deepest moment of suffering is something that none of us who place our faith in Christ will ever know – the separation from God. God poured out all of His wrath and judgment on Jesus. This is the Jesus that we speak of in Matt 1.
See also how Jesus who is strong and powerful use his power. Jesus is the King of power and majesty who wins through weakness. He’s the God who saves by laying down His own life. It might sound puzzling - ridiculous almost. But can I suggest that this is what our hearts truly need? For our deepest desire is to be loved, and true love always comes at a great cost. This love is not the love of fickle teenage romances. It is not the love that flatters its object. It’s not the love that merely seeks to put us on a pedestal. But it is the radical sort of love that knows us at our worst while embracing us still. Put another way, we are not loved because we are lovable. We are made lovable because God has chosen to set His love upon us. This is the desire in our heart of hearts. It is what we truly need - what else can change a human heart?
If you’re a Christian today and this is the gospel you profess and this is the Lord you claim to be your Lord, you have to be the most humble type of person! You have been saved despite of your wretchedness therefore, every ground of boasting has been removed. What will it look like in school where social prestige, academic accomplishment are important? What will it look like in the workplace where we are caught up with career progression? How does this change your interaction with other humans?
(C) Why does He do it? Jesus proves God’s faithfulness and brings us into relationship with Him (Matt 1:19-27)
Finally, Matthew tells us that all of this took place to fulfil God’s word spoken through the prophet Isaiah.
In Isa 7, Israel is under a bad king but in the midst of the king’s unfaithfulness, Isaiah prophesies that "the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Matt 1:22 tells us that God does all of these to prove that He is faithful to Himself. It also tells us that God is with us.
And God is with us not just a a fuzzy idea. For Christians believe that God didn’t just die, but that He has also risen from the dead! This is profound. It shapes a Christian’s joy! It shows us that death has been conquered, and that there is a life beyond this life. There is a hope beyond what is laid in front of us right now. This should radically change the life of Christians.
It also shapes a Christian’s hope. Matthew, by quoting Isaiah, also hopes to tell us that God’s words are true. At the end of this book in Matt 28:20, we are also told by Jesus Himself “Behold, I am with you..”. The desire of being known fully and being accepted and right in this world is fulfilled in Him and He is with us! This gives us a hope beyond our present calamities. It is the type of hope that gets us through relational duress, cancer, and just difficulties in life. It is a hope that helps us see how all that is broken in our life and in this world will finally find restoration and every tear will be wiped away and death will be defeated. Whatever your circumstances are today, you can look to the cross, and somehow find yourself not lost, but say together with the hymn writer:
“Christ leads me through no darker rooms
Than He went through before;
He that unto God’s kingdom comes
Must enter by this door.
My knowledge of that life is small,
The eye of faith is dim;
But ’tis enough that Christ knows all,
And I shall be with Him.”
There’s also something for us to learn from Joseph’s response in Matt 1:24-25. It states simply that Joseph responded in obedience, but remember that Joseph’s obedience cost him something. Joseph had a faith that acted on the certainty of faith’s object. Many think that faith means suspending reason and just blindly believing. But this was not what Joseph was doing here! His actions were based on what he knew about God and His word. If you are a Christian, what does your faith look like? We don’t live our life in perfect accordance to all that God commands, but how certain is Christ Himself to you? Your responses to Him is only as real as His reality is to you.
As we look forward to Christmas, remember this: the object of your deepest waiting has already arrived. Jesus Himself stands with His arms wide open to all who are weary and need rest, to all who mourn and long for comfort, to all who feel worthless and wonder if God even cares, to all who are weak and fail and desire strength, and to all who sin and need a Saviour. He promises that He will return, and it is this Jesus -the mighty friend of sinners, the ally of his enemies, the defender of the indefensible, the justifier of those who have no excuses left - whose return that we are now waiting for.