Matthew 1

Sovereign has many definitions; however, the one we want to consider this morning is “free from external control.”

Splendor has to do with that which is brilliant, magnificent, or glorious. It is that which has remarkable greatness.

So if we put the two together, sovereign splendor is brilliance or magnificence that acts upon its own will. It is capable greatness.

I believe in order for Christmas to have become Christmas sovereign splendor had to meet majestic meekness. Glorious capable greatness had to meet God-ward tenderheartedness. I do not believe we would have had Christmas had the two not met.

We can see and read of their meeting in the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.

Verse 25 explains how through their meeting God brought His Son into the world as Jesus, the one and only Savior.

What we want to do this morning is more carefully examine just how this all took place and then ask ourselves how should I respond?

Let’s begin with sovereign splendor in Matt. 1: 1 where we will find God keeping his promises of old.

Matthew mentions Jesus as the son of David. This is in relation to His promise that David’s throne would endure forever and that the Messiah would come from David’s line. cf. 2 Sam. 7:8-16; Psalm 89:1-4

It is worth noting that Jesus Christ is the only Jew alive who can actually prove His claims to the throne of David! All of the other records were destroyed when the Romans took Jerusalem in a.d. 70. ^{^[1]}

Matthew also mentions Jesus as the son of Abraham. This is in relation to His promise to Abraham in Gen. 12:1-3 which states that all families of the earth would be blessed through Abraham.

If we were to carefully trace through the rest of the list of people, we would find at least 40 more prophesies in the Old Testament detailing the birth of Jesus. In addition to His coming, the time, the place, the people involved, the fact that He would be born of a virgin, the events that would take place soon afterward; they are all foretold in the Old Testament.

And they all take place in the context of God divinely working in and through history.

Let’s look at verses 2-17 and see as God divinely works in and through history.

There are many of God’s prophesies and promises we could trace through this list of people. We will only consider the one regarding the Savior to be born of a virgin.

There are five women mentioned in the list. The first four women were not given credit as having someone born to them. In the original language they all say “To ‘the husband’s name’ by ‘the woman’. (Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba)

Note that is says, “Mary, by whom”. The “by whom” is a feminine relative pronoun which clearly indicates that Jesus was the physical Child of Mary but that Joseph was not His physical father. If it were like the others, it would read – “and to Joseph was born Jesus by Mary”.

God kept His promises. God worked in and through history. And He did so over a time span of at least 2000 years.

How many people do you know that can make a promise, and despite 2000 years of history, work in and through time and people and keep the promise?

And God did this not just once but over and over again and is still doing it today.

God will continue to work in and through mankind and time until every single promise He has made has been kept.

This is God’s sovereign splendor, His brilliance and magnificence that acts upon His will; His glorious, capable greatness.

However, God’s sovereign splendor was not the only thing on display at Christmas.

In the midst of God’s sovereign splendor, we meet a simple man who comes and willingly takes part; a man who displays God’s majestic meekness; a man called Joseph.

You are engaged to be married. Culturally speaking you actually already are married.

All of a sudden, your bride to be is pregnant. And you know the child is not yours!

All of a sudden an angel appears to you and tells you all about this baby that is in Mary’s womb and tells you that you are to take Mary as your wife and name the child Jesus because He is to be the Savior of His people.

An angel tells you to do what is the exact opposite of what most would consider to be simple common sense.

You have a choice to make, to do what you think, humanly speaking, is best or to willingly take part in God’s plan.

In the light of God’s sovereign splendor Joseph was quick to display majestic meekness.

First it is majestic because it is meant to honor God. There was a sense in the culture of meekness that was not directed toward God. It was used in a very secular sense.

Joseph’s meekness is majestic because it came from God and is used for the glory of God.

To better understand Biblical meekness, let me start by giving you two ways the word meek is used in the Bible.

Both refer to an inward attitude. It is a condition of mind and heart. It is related to gentleness but not the same. Gentleness is expressed in an outward action. Meekness comes from within.

1. One way it is used is to describe the opposite of self-interest. In other words the meek person considers others before him or herself.

2. A second way it is used is to describe a person who accepts God’s dealings with him or her as good, as God’s wise and loving purpose for him or her, and therefore submits to Him without disputing or resisting.

Verse 19 tells us that Joseph did not want to disgrace Mary so he planned to divorce her secretly.

All Joseph had to do was publicly say, without any further explanation, I am not the father and I divorce her. Mary would be subjected to very public shame and humiliation. She would be condemned as an adulteress and subject to being stoned to death. cf. Deuteronomy 22:13-29; 24:1

Joseph did not do this. In righteousness, not wanting to disgrace Mary and have everyone speak badly about her, he decided to secretly divorce her. cf. Numbers 5:11-31

Verse 24 tells us that Joseph awoke, literally “got up” and did as God commanded him.

In the original language of the New Testament, the construction of the verbs “got up” and “did as commanded,” express the two actions as if they were only one action.

In other words based upon the construction of the verbs in the Greek, it could read – as soon as Joseph got up he went to Mary and kept her as his wife.

Joseph did not look for any further explanation or confirmation. He immediately obeyed God.

The Biblically meek person accepts God’s dealings with him or her as good, as God’s wise and loving purpose for him or her, and therefore submits to Him without disputing or resisting.

Joseph in majestic majesty submits himself to God without disputing or resisting.

In majestic meekness Joseph considered Mary before himself and he submitted himself to God’s plan without disputing or resisting –

The chapter concludes with verse 25 – she gave birth to a son and he called His name Jesus.

Christmas – God’s sovereign splendor, meeting Joseph’s majestic meekness, giving us Christmas, the birth of the Savior, Jesus Christ.

And only in Jesus did sovereign splendor and majestic meekness meet to give the world a Savior.

So this Christmas why not take some time to meditate, why not set aside an hour or so to contemplate Christmas, to contemplate Jesus.

Contemplate Him from Eternity Past to Creation, from Creation to Christmas, from Christmas to Easter, and from Easter to the day He will come again.

As you contemplate, be ever so thankful for the day that sovereign splendor met majestic meekness.

^{^[1]}Wiersbe, W. W. (1996, c1989). The Bible exposition commentary. "An exposition of the New Testament comprising the entire 'BE' series"--Jkt. (Mt 1:1). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.