Your Sneak Preview of Christmas

4th Sunday in Advent, 12/22/19
Matthew 1:18-25


Your Sneak Preview of Christmas
I. Jesus is the fulfillment of prophecy.
II. Jesus is the God-man.
III. Jesus is your Savior.


I think the last time I saw a movie in a theater was about 15 years ago. Are they still showing previews of future movies before they show the movie you actually paid to see? I’m guessing they do. It just makes sense for a number of reasons.

One, it allows people who have just arrived to get seated before the featured film begins. Two, it’s just good marketing. Obviously, sitting in the theater that day are movie-goers who probably enjoy this form of entertainment. So why not take advantage of this opportunity to get them back as paying customers in the weeks ahead? Three, the theater has a captive audience. If you want to see the movie you paid to see, you’re going to have to sit there for a few minutes and watch what they want you to watch.

This Tuesday evening we’ll hear the Bible’s fullest account of the birth of Jesus from Luke 2. Once again this year, our children will recite that account from memory. And if you’re here on Christmas Eve, you’re in for a real treat. I imagine that, as the children recite those beloved words, you’ll be reciting them in your hearts and minds right along with them. It’s the highlight of our Christmas Eve worship.

But today we hear Matthew’s account of that birth. It’s a little less well-known and not as detailed as Luke’s account, but as the inspired word of God it’s just as important for us to hear and take to heart. In effect, God is giving us a preview of what Christmas is all about.

And that’s important for you and me, because millions of people this Tuesday and Wednesday will “celebrate” Christmas and miss the point of Christmas entirely. Your God doesn’t want that to happen to you. So that it doesn’t, he shares this account with you. It’s your sneak preview of Christmas. Follow with me and let’s be sure we catch the saving truths of Christmas so that we’re sure to celebrate them properly when Christmas arrives.

Part I.

I’m sure you’re aware (maybe painfully so) that some plans just don’t work out, even when a tremendous amount of time and money are invested in them. Let me give you one example. Here at church we have a few Christian videos in VHS format. But we don’t have a single one in BETA format. Those of you who remember what BETA is aren’t surprised by that. In spite of the investment of huge sums of money, the BETA format of videos fizzled out of existence after only a few years.

Your celebration of Christmas is an opportunity to rejoice that God’s plans to save the world didn’t fizzle out. But that’s really no surprise. God’s plans never fail. The birth of the Savior of the world was not the outcome of a hasty trinitarian meeting to see what could be done about the problem of human sin. It was the result of divine plans announced almost as soon as sin entered into the world. God didn’t let the world’s first human beings squirm and wilt under the burden of sin for long before he took the pains to meet with them in the newly sinful Garden of Eden and announce to them that he would send the Seed of the Woman who would crush Satan’s head.

And thousands of years later, in the words of Matthew’s Gospel, “This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child.’” This was no ordinary plan. From the start it involved a miracle—a miracle that has occurred only once in history. A virgin will be with child.

And in this account of the angel appearing to Joseph, we hear how that came about. As we confess in both the Apostles’ and Nicene creeds, Jesus was born of the virgin Mary. From Luke’s Gospel we know how the angel Gabriel informed Mary of this miracle, but it’s here in Matthew’s Gospel that we hear how Joseph learned. It started with his doubts and what must have been his shattered hopes and dreams. He could only conclude that Mary had been unfaithful to him. But the angel assured him that she was still the pure woman he had come to know and love.

There you have it—your sneak preview of Christmas. It happened just as God planned. Jesus is the fulfillment of prophecy.

As I reminded you a few minutes ago, you’re painfully aware of how some of your plans don’t turn out. In fact, things might even go tragically wrong for you. And it’s at those times filled with disappointment that we wonder what God has planned for us. How can things possibly get better for us when they only appear to be getting worse? Christmas is God’s answer to that dejected question. Let this sneak preview of Christmas before you this morning assure you that God indeed does have a plan for you, and it turns out eternally well for you. His plan for you ends with you at his side in heaven, an astounding plan considering our daily doubts about his love for us and our unbroken streak of daily sins in our lives. Christmas celebrates the fact that God fulfilled his plan to save you through the life and death of Jesus. It happened exactly as God promised.

Part II.

Let me take you back to the movie theater for a minute. A common theme in dramas or suspense productions is that what you originally thought about a character wasn’t true. The good guy actually turned out to be the bad guy, and vice versa.

Let’s get another sneak preview of Christmas. Is there any chance that the adorable Child of Bethlehem is going to turn out to be something less than we needed, or even an imposter, as many of his fellow Jews would later claim?

God confirmed what Joseph already knew—that Mary was pregnant. She was going to give birth to a son. He knew that this son wasn’t his. But he was certain this child was fully human. He just didn’t realize that this conception was a miracle of the Holy Spirit.

What he also didn’t realize until this encounter with the angel was that this child was also true God. That’s the truth the angel shared with him as he quoted these words of Isaiah to Joseph—words that Joseph, being a devote Jewish man—must have heard before. “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, ‘God with us.’” Immanuel! It’s one of the most meaningful names for Jesus because it fully describes who Jesus is in one word. It’s only one word, but it has meaning that’s eternally astounding. In one person Jesus is both true man and true God. He is fully human and fully God. This week as you celebrate Christmas, let this sneak preview remind you repeatedly just what you’re celebrating—the saving truth that Jesus is the God-man.

Part III.

For most people it takes a couple decades. But there are some who spend their lives pursuing it. I’m talking about their purpose for being here. They ask themselves, “What am I supposed to be doing? What does God want me to do?”

There was never any doubt about the purpose of the person whose birthday we’ll all celebrate this week. As I mentioned earlier, God announced it to the sinful Adam and Eve. And here to Joseph the angel spells it out in a way that can’t possibly be misunderstood. He instructs Joseph, “And you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Joseph must have been stunned. God had formed the Jews as his special people for this one eternally important purpose—to send a Savior into the world. And here was the angel informing Joseph that this child which Mary had conceived is that Savior. That’s what he was coming into this world to do. There was never any question.

And Jesus never wavered in his purpose. Satan himself tried again and again to sidetrack him, to get him to take an easy way out, but Jesus refused. His own disciples—the men who were his closest friends—tried to prevent him from carrying out his Father’s plan to send him to Calvary’s cross for the sins of the world, but Jesus would have none of it.

I’m going to guess that most of you, if not all of you, have been working hard this past week to make sure your Christmas celebration is the best it can be and everything you want it to be. And I’m sure there’s still more to be done between now and Tuesday evening. So, what are the odds that Christmas will “go right” for you this year? How likely is it that, come Thursday morning, you’ll sit in your favorite chair with your favorite morning drink in your hand and be filled with satisfaction over the fact that everything went just as you had planned? Please don’t think I’m Grinch, but that probably won’t happen. The cold, hard truth is that nothing in this life goes as we plan. There will always be problems because we’re sinners living in a sinful world. That means we’ll never be able to plan and produce the perfect Christmas celebration.

But we don’t have to. We don’t have to because your God already did it and he tells us exactly how right here in Matthew’s account of the birth of Christ. Joseph thought his hopes and dreams of a life with Mary as his wife had been smashed by her unfaithfulness to him. But the truth was that Joseph’s God was fulfilling his eternal plans by using Mary to bring into this world Joseph and Mary’s greatest need—a Savior from sin. Your Savior from sin. My Savior from sin.

And nothing can change that, not even if this Tuesday and Wednesday are the “worst” Christmas celebration of your life. So, sit back and take in your sneak preview of Christmas. And then look forward hearing Luke’s account of the birth of your Savior and about the peace—the eternal peace—that the Christmas angels will proclaim for you. When that’s your focus, it’s going to be a wonderful Christmas! Amen.