It is fascinating to note that two celestial messengers transmitted two sets of information to two people—Mary and Joseph—and were recorded by two authors, Luke and Matthew. Instead of attesting the copy, therefore, in the mouth of only two witnesses, we may be certain that the account of the virgin birth is nothing but the unvarnished truth of God’s Word.
What are those facts? To Mary, Gabriel said:
1) Jesus will be conceived by the Holy Ghost.
2) He will be virgin-born, for no one knew her physical conditions as did God and she herself.
3) He would be called the Son of God.
4) He was to be the King of Israel: “He shall be great, and shall he called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end” (Lk. 1:32-33). These were the happy words of Gabriel to the believing heart of a Jewish virgin. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary. God become man, the King of the Jews.
To Joseph, the angel said:
1) Jesus was conceived by the Holy Ghost.
2) He will be virgin-born.
3) “They shall call His Name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us” (Mt. 1:23).
4) He would be the Redeemer, “for He shall save His people from their sins.” These were the words of “an angel of the Lord” to a perturbed husband. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, God become man, the Redeemer of the world.
How truly wonderful it is that from His throne in glory God should condescend to convey this double stream of information about His Son, through two angels, through two people, through two writers. The more precious is it that He should preserve this fund of knowledge intact for us through almost two thousand years. Two sets of four characteristics, similar in three respects, by three groups of double witnesses. Surely no one can lightly disregard all this as so much imagination, foolish expressions from hyperactive minds.
The remaining characteristics embody the whole purpose of God’s plan for the world, and can be very concisely stated in two words: Saviour, and King.
Gentile Wise Men Worshiped the King
It is evident from the context of the prophecy that fell from the lips of Gabriel that when Jesus was born He would come a King. He was to have a kingdom, and was to be the kingdom’s King. When the wise men came to Jerusalem and paid Herod a visit, they asked him, “Where is He that is born King of the Jews?”
The nation of Israel had possessed the ancient prophecy of Micah for more than seven hundred years. By it the people knew very well that their Messiah would come to be their King, and the place of His birth had even been located for them. “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (5:2).
Isaiah had told his people long before Micah wrote, that “the government shall be upon His shoulder”; “Of the increase of His government and peace there shall he 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” (Isa. 9:6-7). Whether the wise men knew anything about this prophecy, we do not know. They are looked upon as having been descendants of the people by whom Daniel and his countrymen had been taken and held captive. The Easterners may have learned something about the Promised One from him and his companions while they were held in captivity in Babylon. In turn, the information could have been transmitted by word of mouth to each succeeding generation of Magi.
Because of the activities or these men—Daniel and his friends—as well as others no doubt, and as a result of their zeal for the living God and His Word, many of the Babylonians must have come to know something about the spiritual things in which the they were interested. We feel certain that since Nebuchadnezzar “blessed the most High, and praised and honored Him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation” (Dan. 4:34, 37), if he thought it proper to “extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and His ways judgment,” then many of his subjects would likewise learn something about “the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.” It seems reasonable, moreover, to expect them to be acquainted with the prophecies concerning the coming of Israel’s Messiah and King. They may have become familiar with the Old Testament prophecy, “There shall come a Star out of Jacob” (Num. 24:17).
The wise men who came in search of the King had asked a question which startled Herod and all Jerusalem out of their complacency. In the same breath they made a rather significant statement, one that implied previous knowledge of the One whom they had come to find. They said, “We have seen His star in the East.” However much or little they may have known about Him, the fact remains that they were convinced that a boy was living somewhere in the vicinity of Jerusalem who was destined to be the King of the Jews.
These Gentiles had made a long and arduous journey in order to visit this King. They knew something about His deity, for when they found Him they worshiped Him. They also recognized Him as worthy of the treasures they had carried from afar. It must have been a moment of ecstasy for them not only to find Him but also to place before Him the gifts befitting so noble a character.
Prejudiced Countrymen Rejected the King
The entire Gospel of Matthew presents the kingly aspect of Christ and was dictated by the Holy Spirit to convince the Jews that He was their King. When He rode into Jerusalem on a colt, the foal of an ass, “some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto Him, Master, rebuke Thy disciples” (Lk. 19:39). His prompt and pointed reply demonstrated the inevitableness of that particular situation. “I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out” (Lk. 19:40). Why? Simply because He had ridden into Jerusalem that day as a literal fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9, and His enemies knew it.
He had presented Himself at the beginning of His ministry in the synagogue in His home town of Nazareth as the people’s Messiah. He presented Himself again publicly at the end of His ministry as the Messiah of Israel, and the King of the Jews as well. The populace in Jerusalem understood precisely the challenge that now confronted them, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee. He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass” (Zech. 9:9) must have flashed through their perverse and bigoted minds. This Jesus was undeniably the King of the Jews, and “His own” were aware of it, but were not willing to admit it.
One of the incidents that bears out this thought is recorded by John. Pilate had written the superscription “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS,” and put it on the cross. The chief priests asked him to change it, and make it read, “He said, I am King of the Jews.” But Pilate refused, and when Jesus died the superscription announced to all who could read Hebrew, Greek, or Latin that the agonizing form on the middle cross was none other than the King of the Jews.
A Haughty Governor Questioned the King
But let us ask, where did Pilate get the idea of designating Jesus as the King of the Jews? The answer is to be found in the initial charge that he heard from the Lord’s accusers when He was brought to him. They said, “We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that He Himself is Christ a King” (Lk. 23:2). It seems that the one phrase of the multitude’s varied accusations that made the deepest impression on Pilate was the reference to His Kingship. He hastened to ask Him, “Art Thou the King of the Jews?” It is quite probable that the Holy Spirit desires to impress upon us also the supreme importance of the question that was foremost in the mind of Pilate; for He caused each of the Gospel writers to record it, using exactly the same wording in each case.
The reply that Jesus gave was sufficiently clear to convince not only the governor but the Romans gathered in the judgment hall of the majesty of His claims. “Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth My voice.”
Pilate soon found himself facing the howling, angry mob that was clamoring for the death of Jesus. In his attempt to appease the multitude, he asked, “Will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?” Some time later, again standing before the same crowd, he said, “Behold your King.” At the same time he made one final effort to pacify the enemies of Jesus, and arouse in them an attitude of sympathy toward Him when he asked them, “Shall I crucify your King?”
Reliable Witnesses
The following array of witnesses are unanimous in according Kingship to our beloved Lord: Jacob predicted it; David emphasized it; Micah reechoed it; Gabriel confirmed it; Nathaniel and others believed it; the crowds accompanying Jesus as He rode into Jerusalem proclaimed it; Pilate acknowledged it; and the superscription published it.
What Does It Mean?
Why do we lay so much stress on the kingly claim of Jesus? If we can show that this claim was altogether valid, we can establish a bit of evidence which will completely dispel any possibility that He might have been an illegitimate son. If that were His state in life He could never have been recognized as the King of the Jews, neither could He ever hope to realize such a high place in the history of the world when He returns to earth again to establish His millennial reign; and if He cannot serve in the capacity of Israel’s King, then He cannot be King for anyone else. In that event, the probability of His ruling the earth in equity and peace, from Jerusalem as the political and ecclesiastical center of the world, is certainly very remote indeed.
In that wonderful event, however, lies the solution of this old world’s perplexing problems, including the great question of peace. When He comes in majesty and splendor, with great power and glory, He will be accepted and acclaimed as the “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
His Kingship must be definitely ascribed to His virgin birth, while on the other hand, His virgin birth implied His Kingship. Once more we have but to invoke the Mosaic law to determine just how trustworthy a statement like this may be. For “a bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord, even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the Lord.” In other words, an illegitimate son could never hope to become a magistrate or a judge, much less a priest or king in Israel. The expression, “shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord,” stood between him and whatever aspirations he might have cherished for himself and prevented his ever holding public office, either civil or religious.
With Jesus, however, it was not a question of presumption and vain ambition. Soon after He began His ministry, He substantiated His claims to Messiahship and later to Kingship over Israel. When He did so, He left no doubt in the minds of the people as to His long foretold identity, although He was hated the more for it, since He definitely proved every one of His claims to be altogether sound. It is quite evident, then, in light of the Old Testament passage just mentioned as a commentary on His birth, that there can be no question whatsoever about the legitimacy of it.
When we honestly consider all the conditions that it involves, the only position left for us to take is to acknowledge His unshaken integrity as the virgin-born Son of God; and it becomes a comparatively simple matter for us to understand the correlation between His Kingship and His virgin birth. They stand together.
The Word of God is quite specific about the priestly function that the Lord Jesus Christ now exercises in heaven. “For such an high priest became us, who is holy harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens” (Heb. 7:26). “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us” (Heb. 9:24). These references by no means exhaust the list that the Word supplies concerning His priesthood, a priesthood which has been established not on the Aaronic order, but according to the order of Melchisedek, continually untransmissible, forever. Passages about this phase of Christ’s present office occur again and again, each shouting its commendation of the virgin-born One who serves continually as the High Priest of those who have been born again.
“He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne; and He shall be a priest upon His throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”
Written by Earl H. Tschudy