A Christmas Sermon WHEN GOD ARRIVES RIGHT ON TIME
INTRODUCTION
“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son…” (Galatians 4:4)
History tells us that when Michelangelo first began carving the statue of David, people walking by the workshop thought he was wasting his time. The marble was flawed—so flawed, in fact, that two sculptors before him had rejected it outright. But Michelangelo saw what no one else could see. He said the figure was already inside the stone; all he had to do was set it free.
In the same way, when the world looked hopeless—flawed, rejected, burdened by sin—God saw what no eye could see. In the fullness of time, He sent forth His Son. Not too soon, not too late, but at the exact moment when redemption would shine the brightest.
Matthew 1:18–25 shows us that God steps into the mess, the confusion, and the impossibilities—and He brings forth the Savior we didn’t even know how to ask for. Like the sculptor who saw beauty locked inside broken stone, God sees redemption where we see ruin.
I. THE PROBLEM DISCOVERED
Matthew opens the story of Jesus’ birth with a quiet earthquake: “Before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:18). Joseph faces a problem he did not create and cannot explain, a burden that seems to break upon his character and his heart.
But even in the confusion, he responds with righteousness, not rage; tenderness, not accusation. Scripture shows us that the people God uses most deeply are often those who walk through seasons that make no sense at all—Mary in Luke 1:34–35 asking, “How can this be?”; believers in Proverbs 3:5–6 urged to trust when the path is unclear; the faithful in Isaiah 55:8–9 reminded that God’s ways rise far above our sight.
Every divine intervention begins with a moment that human wisdom cannot untangle.
II. THE PLAN DECLARED
While Joseph wrestles with what he cannot understand, heaven speaks. The angel interrupts Joseph’s anxious sleep with a revelation that shifts the whole landscape of the story: “That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:20). God reveals not only the miracle but the meaning—“You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
Suddenly Joseph learns that his personal crisis is part of God’s cosmic rescue. The same truth echoes in Luke 1:30–33, where Gabriel announces Christ’s eternal kingdom; in Galatians 4:4–5, where Paul speaks of the Son sent to redeem; and in 1 Timothy 1:15, which proclaims the purpose of Christ coming into the world. God’s plans often arrive wrapped in confusion, but they always unfold as salvation.
III. THE PROPHECY DEMONSTRATED
Matthew pauses the narrative to remind us that this moment is not random—it is rooted in ancient promise. “All this was done that it might be fulfilled…” (Matthew 1:22). Isaiah had foretold it: a virgin would conceive; a Child would be born; His name would be Immanuel—God with us (Isaiah 7:14). In that stable, centuries of longing converge in the cry of a newborn Child.
John echoes this mystery when he writes, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). And Paul affirms that all the promises of God find their “Yes” in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20). Every prophecy is a thread, and in Jesus they are all woven into a tapestry of redemption and presence.
IV. THE PURITY DISPLAYED
Joseph steps into obedience with a purity that honors God’s work. He takes Mary as his wife, yet “did not know her” until she had brought forth her firstborn Son (Matthew 1:24–25), preserving the testimony of the virgin birth. It is a quiet obedience, the kind that does not need applause; it simply trusts God enough to walk in His will.
In Luke 2:4–7, we see Joseph continuing in that same faithfulness as he leads Mary through the journey to Bethlehem. James calls this the essence of authentic faith—being doers of the word, not hearers only (James 1:22). And the psalmist echoes the heartbeat of Joseph’s life when he says, “I will run the course of Your commandments” (Psalm 119:32). Purity is not the absence of struggle; it is the presence of obedience.
V. THE PERSON DELIVERED
At last, the Child is born. And Joseph, in obedience to the angel’s command, names Him Jesus (Matthew 1:25). In that moment Joseph publicly acknowledges the identity and mission of the One lying in the manger. Luke records this same faithfulness in Luke 2:21, where Jesus is named on the eighth day.
That name—Jesus—stands at the center of salvation, for “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Paul declares that God has exalted that name above every name, so that all creation will bow and confess Him as Lord (Philippians 2:9–11).
The story of Joseph ends with the story of Jesus beginning, and everything God has promised now rests in the arms of a carpenter who chose obedience over understanding.
CONCLUSION
“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15)
During World War II, a group of prisoners in a Japanese labor camp secretly built a makeshift radio out of scraps of wire and bits of metal. For months they risked their lives just to hear a few faint words from the outside world. One night the news came across the static: the war was over.
The prisoners had not yet been released, their circumstances had not yet changed—but everything was different. Men who had been starving began to smile; men who had been hopeless began to sing. They were still in the camp, but freedom was already theirs.
That is the power of the gift God has given us in Jesus. The world may not yet look like heaven, but because Christ has come, the victory is already secured. In the manger, God announced the end of the war with sin. In the cross and resurrection, He sealed that victory forever. Truly—His gift is beyond description.
G.K. Chesterton once joked that if you want to test a man’s humility, give him a gift he cannot possibly repay; it will either make him grateful or grumpy. He said the only person he ever saw get truly offended at a gift was a man who received a fruitcake for Christmas every year.
The gospel is God’s gift—far better than fruitcake—and certainly not one we can repay. Our only task is to receive it with joy. When Joseph named the Child Jesus, he acknowledged that salvation had arrived, wrapped not in bright paper but in swaddling clothes. And all we can say, with Paul, is: “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!”
BDD
