Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”(which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus. (Matthew 1:18-25)
Most of us know the story of Jesus’s birth quite well. Even those who didn’t grow up in the church encounter it this time of year. It shows up in movies, books, and songs. Something is striking about this season: as much as popular culture tries to secularize the holiday and strip away its Christian roots, Christ remains unavoidable. Even unbelievers sing about his birth on the radio. People love to quote the angelic words, “Peace on earth, and goodwill toward men,” often without knowing their context. And we cannot even name the holiday without speaking the title of Christ; it’s right there in Christmas.
Still, knowing the story of Christ’s birth is not the same as understanding it. Many have lived their entire lives under the general influence of Christianity without truly knowing Christ or why he came. We recognize the elements of the story: the virgin birth, the promise of peace, the shepherds, the wise men, and the star. But what do these things mean? Who is Jesus? Why did he come? Why the virgin birth? What are we actually singing about when we sing “O Holy Night” or “Away in a Manger”?
The Miracle at the Center of Christmas
In Matthew 1, Mary is betrothed (engaged) to Joseph. But before their marriage was consummated, she became pregnant. Matthew tells us plainly, “She was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:18). This was a miraculous, supernatural conception.
Naturally, Joseph was troubled. He didn’t yet understand the miracle behind her pregnancy, so he assumed that Mary had been unfaithful. Being a just man, he intended to divorce her quietly.
But God intervened.
“Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20–21)
Matthew then reminds us that this moment fulfills an ancient prophecy spoken through Isaiah: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us) (Matthew 1:23).
This is the heart of Christmas. It isn’t primarily about decorations, gifts, family gatherings, or cherished traditions. Christmas exists because Christ was born. We are still celebrating it two thousand years later because God kept his promise to be with us in human flesh. As Paul writes, “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4–5).
Or, as the angel told Joseph, “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus [meaning, Yahweh saves], for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
Moving Beyond Sentimentality
When many people hear the story of Jesus being born and laid in a manger, they nod, smile, and think, What a nice story. Who doesn’t love a baby, especially a miracle baby? Their sentimental attachment to the holiday gives them warm feelings. They sing about him. They belt out “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” They decorate with Nativity sets because that’s what Mom did and what Grandma did.
But once the New Year arrives, the singing stops. Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus are packed back into the attic. Life moves on. They’ll give Jesus another passing nod next December, and perhaps on Easter, they’ll put on their pastel best and find a service to attend. But in the meantime, Jesus carries about the same influence in their lives as Santa Claus. He makes for a great story, but only within a particular season.
If that’s how we treat Jesus, we have missed the point entirely. This is far more than a quaint holiday tradition. When the angel tells Joseph, “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins,” that is a life-altering, eternity-shaping announcement. All of history hinges on it. Eternity hinges on it. Your very soul, and the souls of your parents, siblings, children, and grandchildren, hinge on it.
So please hear me: we must move beyond the sentimentality. In fact, we must move beyond the birth story itself if we are to understand why any of this matters. Notice that God does exactly that. When he speaks to Joseph, he doesn’t say, “Congratulations, Mary will have a baby boy.” He gives the purpose: this child is coming to fulfill a mission—“he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
That mission would not be accomplished in the manger. His virgin birth is significant, but the birth itself does not save. The story begins here, but we have to move beyond it to see the whole meaning of why Christ came.
Clues Pointing Beyond the Manger
Even in this familiar story, we’re given several vital clues about what is really happening.
First, the virgin birth shows that this child is utterly unique. This miraculous conception is not a divine publicity stunt meant merely to get attention; in fact, very few people at the time even knew about it. Later in Jesus’s life, most assumed he was Joseph’s biological son.
But if Jesus had been conceived in the ordinary way, he would have inherited what every descendant of Adam inherits—a sinful nature. And a savior born in sin could not be the spotless Lamb who dies for sinners to “save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
Second, the angel insists that this child be named Jesus. In Scripture, when God gives someone a name—or a new name—that name carries purpose. Jesus means “Yahweh saves.” Yahweh is God’s covenant name, represented as LORD in all caps throughout the Old Testament. God himself declares what this child has come to do.
Third, Matthew reminds us that the virgin birth is not a new idea. It was foretold in Isaiah 7. This child is fulfilling a plan God set in motion long ago.
Fourth, consider what the prophecy says: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). Matthew explains the meaning: God with us (Matthew 1:23).
We might be tempted to read that figuratively—God with us spiritually but not physically. Yet Scripture quickly corrects that assumption. John begins his Gospel not with Bethlehem, but with the dawn of creation:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. (John 1:1, 14)
When Isaiah calls this child Immanuel, he means it literally. Jesus is God in the flesh. The Word became flesh.
All these clues signal that something enormous is happening. If we read the Old Testament carefully, we see that all of human history has been moving toward this moment. But the story does not end with his birth, and it cannot. The angel said, “He will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). That is the most direct clue of all.
If our approach to Jesus is to celebrate his birth in December, pack up the Nativity set on January 1, and leave him as a baby in a manger for the rest of the year, we have missed the point entirely. A baby in a manger cannot save. A seasonal tradition cannot forgive sins. A sentimental nod toward Jesus once or twice a year cannot reconcile us to a holy God.
We have to move beyond the Christmas story. We have to move beyond the birth of Jesus to understand why we celebrate it. Christmas is God breaking into human history for the clear purpose of saving sinners. And that means at least three things:
We are sinners.
We need saving.
Jesus came to save.
But that raises some crucial questions. Whom have we sinned against? What kind of trouble are we in? What exactly do we need to be saved from? And how does Jesus save?
The Heart of the Gospel in Romans 3
To answer these questions, we turn to Romans 3. In Matthew 1, the angel announces Christ’s purpose. In Romans 3, Paul explains how that purpose is fulfilled. This passage is one of the clearest, richest expressions of the gospel in all of Scripture, so much so that many theologians call it the very heart of the Bible.
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21–26)
“But now”— This marks the great turning point in human history. Paul has spent the first two and a half chapters of Romans laying out the universal guilt of humanity. Gentiles are guilty. Jews are guilty. The moral person, the religious person— Every one of us stands guilty. As Paul summarizes, “Whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law … so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God” (Romans 3:19).
Notice the standard. God does not judge us by an arbitrary or relative measure of righteousness. People often reassure themselves, “I’m a relatively good person.” But God does not use our cultural ideas of goodness, and he does not grade on a curve. Our Creator is utterly holy, sinless, morally pure, and completely set apart. His purity is absolute. Though he is loving and merciful, he cannot ignore or tolerate anything that violates his holy law. Sin, as defined by his law, is repugnant to his nature.
God himself is the standard of what is good and right. He is the moral Lawgiver, and his commands reflect his perfect character. That is the “righteousness of God” Paul speaks of. And when Paul says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” he means we have all missed that standard. Our mouths are stopped. We have no excuses. The case is open and shut.
But this is not how most people think about God. Many imagine him as a lenient grandfather who shrugs at our faults. Yet Scripture reveals a God who is utterly holy and a consuming fire. When Isaiah stood in the presence of the Lord, he did not erupt in praise; he collapsed under the weight of his own sin. As the angels sang, “Holy, holy, holy,” Isaiah cried out, “Woe is me! For I am lost … for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:3, 5). Pure holiness exposes our impurity instantly.
Still, many think, I don’t feel that. I’m a pretty good person. I think God will accept me as I am.
Then hear Jesus: “You … must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
You may be better than the next person. You may not be an Adolf Hitler or a Charles Manson. But are you perfect—perfect as God is perfect?
No. None of us are. “There is no distinction … all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
Scripture tightens the net even further:
Have you ever lied? Exodus 20:16—guilty.
Have you ever stolen? Exodus 20:15—guilty.
Have you looked with lust? Matthew 5:27–28—guilty.
Have you harbored hatred or unjust anger? 1 John 3:15—guilty of murder in the heart.
Have you spoken of God carelessly or irreverently? Exodus 20:7—guilty of blasphemy.
James 2:10 states the conclusion plainly, saying, “Whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it,” because he has fallen short of the perfection of God.
The Sobering Reality of God’s Justice
This leads us to a necessary truth: the justice and wrath of God against sin.
Because God is holy, he cannot shrug off our sin. To ignore it would violate his nature. Scripture says, “God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day” (Psalm 7:11). He is not indifferent to evil. He is not neutral about our sin. He is a righteous Judge.
Exodus 34 declares that the Lord is “forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,” yet in the same breath we read that he “will by no means clear the guilty” (Exodus 34:7). In other words, God does not forgive by overlooking sin. True justice demands that every violation of his law receive a just penalty. If he failed to punish sin, he would cease to be just.
And what is that penalty? Paul says, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). This includes physical death, but it also refers to spiritual death, separation from God forever. Scripture calls this the “second death” (Revelation 20:14), a conscious eternity under righteous wrath. In a word, it is hell—literal, eternal hell.
I know this is not pleasant to consider. Some might think, This Christmas message has taken quite a turn. But we must talk about the consequences of sin. This is precisely why Jesus came. This is why that baby was born in Bethlehem—to “save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). To ignore the danger would be like a doctor withholding a terminal diagnosis because he doesn’t want to upset you. The most loving thing I can do is warn you of the wrath to come.
Remember, no one in Scripture spoke more about hell than Jesus. He described it as outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 25:30). He called it unquenchable fire (Mark 9:43). He called it eternal punishment (Matthew 25:46). The severity of hell corresponds to the severity of sin committed against an infinitely holy God.
Hebrews tells us, “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). What excuse could we offer on that day? Paul says, “Every mouth may be stopped” (Romans 3:19). And Hebrews adds, “No creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13).
We will die. We will stand before the judgment seat. And the verdict is inevitable: we are guilty, and the debt of sin must be paid.
The Great Turning Point of the Gospel
Paul begins with a phrase that signals a decisive shift in human history: “But now” (Romans 3:21). It’s as though he steps in front of us before we reach the courtroom of heaven and announces hope:
“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law … the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” (Romans 3:21–22)
God has mercifully provided a way for sinners to be made right with him apart from keeping the law. Why apart from the law? Because we cannot keep the law perfectly. And this wasn’t a new plan. Paul says the Law and the Prophets were already pointing toward it. God always intended to save in a way that did not depend on our performance, because he knew we couldn’t meet the standard.
And what is this plan? The angel already announced it: “Jesus … will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Paul explains how:
“The righteousness of God … through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe … for all have sinned … and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood.” (Romans 3:21–25)
Here we reach the very core of the gospel. How does God save guilty sinners? How can he declare the condemned “not guilty” and still remain a righteous Judge? Paul answers with some of Scripture’s most precious words: “We are justified by his grace as a gift.”
That word justified is legal language. Picture the scene: blatantly guilty sinners stand before the Judge, mouths stopped. Then the gavel falls. The Judge declares, “Not guilty.”
How can this be? How can a just Judge declare guilty people innocent?
Paul grounds this justification entirely in Christ. “There is redemption in Christ Jesus.” Redemption means a price has been paid to set captives free, and Christ paid that ransom. How? “God put him forward as a propitiation by his blood” (Romans 3:25).
Propitiation means a sacrifice that satisfies wrath. It turns away righteous anger. But unlike pagan attempts to appease their gods, this is God himself providing the sacrifice. God puts forward his own Son to satisfy the justice of God on our behalf.
At the cross, love and justice meet without compromising either. Justice says, “The soul that sins shall die.” Love says, “Father, forgive them.”
At the cross, justice is not denied; it is satisfied because sin is punished. Love is not withheld; it is unleashed. God does not set aside his wrath; he pours it out on Christ. He does not overlook sin; he punishes it in Jesus. Instead of destroying the sinner, he saves the sinner through the blood of Christ.
Isaiah saw this centuries earlier:
He was pierced for our transgressions;
He was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)
His piercing—our transgressions. His crushing—our iniquities. His chastisement—our peace. His wounds—our healing. His punishment—our pardon. His death—our life. This is propitiation. This is substitution. This is the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world.
When Jesus cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” he was experiencing everything sinners deserve (Matthew 27:46). He endured judgment, wrath, separation, and the curse reserved for rebels. And when the full price was paid, he declared, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Paid in full. Nothing left to earn. Nothing left to add.
Then the temple veil, symbolizing the barrier between a holy God and sinful people, was torn from top to bottom. God tore it. The way into his presence was opened because Christ’s flesh was torn. Justice was upheld. Wrath satisfied. Mercy poured out. Love displayed with breathtaking clarity.
Three days later, God raised Jesus from the dead. The resurrection is the Father’s public declaration that the sacrifice was accepted, the mission accomplished, and redemption complete. Death itself surrendered.
This is the gospel. This is why Jesus came. This is why the angel said, “You shall call his name Jesus [Yahweh saves], for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
This is why we celebrate his birth: because he is the God-man—fully God and fully man—who lived perfectly, died in our place, bore the wrath we deserved, and rose again in triumph.
The Prescription for the Cure
If I’ve been playing the role of the doctor, I’ve told you the diagnosis—a fatal disease—and I’ve told you there is a cure. Now I need to write the prescription.
Many people already know the truths we’ve covered. They know more than the birth story. They know we are sinners. They know Christ died to save. But they automatically assume that Christ saved them, as though salvation applies to everyone by default. Listen to conversations at funerals. Even unbelievers speak as if their loved ones are surely in heaven. The assumption is that heaven is our natural destination.
But what does Paul say? How does the righteousness of God come to us? It is not through law-keeping. It is “through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe” (Romans 3:22). The saving benefits of Christ are not automatically applied to all people. They are received through faith alone in Christ alone.
What kind of faith? Not merely saying, “I believe Jesus exists,” or, “I believe he died on the cross.” Even Jesus’s earliest opponents acknowledged he lived and died. Scripture says, “Even the demons believe” (James 2:19).
Faith is personally resting on Christ alone for salvation. It is the response of a humble, contrite heart that confesses sin, turns from it, and clings to Christ like a drowning man grasping a lifeline. This is the faith of the tax collector in Luke 18, who “would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’” Jesus says that man “went down to his house justified … For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:13–14).
Paul writes that God is “the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). He does not justify the “relatively good” person, or the one who feels no weight of sin, or the one who goes through life with no sense of spiritual need. He does not justify the person who thinks he can earn God’s favor. He justifies the one who knows his desperate need and turns to the only Savior, Jesus Christ, trusting him alone for salvation, for hope, for joy, for everything that flows from being reconciled to God.
And if you genuinely come to Christ like that, something extraordinary has happened. God has caused you to be born again. He has given you a new heart and placed his Spirit within you. You are not the same. Yes, you still sin, but now you fight it, because the direction of your life has changed. Your affections have changed. Your flesh pulls you toward sin, but your renewed heart pulls you toward Christ, whom you now love above all else. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation,” Paul writes. “The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Our justification through faith is only the beginning. Paul says, “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion” (Philippians 1:6). A genuine believer’s life begins to bear fruit.
I mention this because I have known many who profess Christ, yet their lives show little evidence of it. They do not commune with their Savior in prayer. They do not read his word. They show little interest in learning from him or in joining his people, the church. They cannot give him even a small portion of their week in worship, even though he is our “great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people … zealous for good works” (Titus 2:13–14).
He redeemed us not only from sin, but to obedience—to follow him, keep his commandments, join his church in worship, and labor with his people to advance his kingdom. We are not saved by keeping God’s commandments, but we are saved to keep them. And those who love him will. In the end, God the Judge will judge them on the merits of Christ, not their own sin, and they will inherit eternal life.
So I “implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20). Pray to him. Confess your sins. Plead for his forgiveness. Trust that Jesus died and rose for your salvation. And then rise and follow him.
