I want to speak of a very important truth in the Scriptures, and I’m going to start in the first chapter of Matthew. Let’s see if the Lord will speak something to our hearts.
Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.
This is speaking about Mary, a young lady that was a virgin, who was going to bear a child. Don’t you know what that must have done to Joseph at the time? Who’s going to believe she hasn’t known a man? But the angel of the Lord enlightened him in a dream. Then in verse 21 the angel tells Joseph: She shall bring forth a son.
Just as Mary was a virgin and had not known a man, so it will be for the true Church. The true Church of the Lord Jesus Christ will be a virgin that has not known man. The number one problem with the churches of religion is the fact that they are of man. Man has gotten in there and formed its rules and regulations; it’s been built of man. The religious institutions of man are coming down. That is the temple of Matthew 24 Jesus spoke of when He said not one stone would be left upon another. The stones He was talking about are the doctrines of man. Not one is going to be left! Not one! God will not build upon the foundation of man. Not one stone will be left upon another! That literally happened with the temple in Jerusalem when the Roman general Titus came and destroyed it completely. It will happen again to the religious institutions of man as the Lord comes forth in His glory.
The church God is building today will be a virgin church, virgin in the sense that it has not known man. This is why God is dealing with us as He is. He is dealing with our man nature. Now only God can take a whore and make a virgin. Only God can take something of man and make it something that is not of man. That’s what He’s doing with us. God is dealing with our old man nature. God’s nature is going to take its place. It’s not something that’s done in a skinny minute, but He’s working. The first thing you have to realize is you can change. You don’t have to keep that man nature.
So the angel says, “She is going to bring forth a son and you shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.” Now don’t consider His people to be only the Jews. Christians are His people, too. Whether you are Jewish, Christian, or whatever, if you’ve accepted Christ as your Savior you’re one of His people. His people, though, have a problem – their sinful nature. When He talks about saving His people from their sins, He’s not talking so much about the things they’ve done or things said. He’s talking about what you are. What you are is the sin. The sinful acts, the sinful thoughts, and the sinful words – these things come out of a sinful nature. Human nature in its fallen state is sin. That’s the reason John the Baptist indicates that we should not pluck the leaves off the tree, but we should put the ax to the root of it (Matthew 3:10). That’s what the Lord is doing. He is putting the axe of His Word to the root of our tree. Many only repent for what they have done; they were just pulling the leaves off the tree. But the Holy Spirit is saying, “Put the ax to the root and get rid of the tree completely.”
Let’s take a look at verse 21 again. She shall bring forth a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. Notice that it doesn’t say He will save people from their sins but He will “save His people from their sins.” The word order in the Greek is a little different. Rather than “His people,” it says “the people of Him,” which says much more than “His people.” “His people” would mean anyone that is His possession but would not necessarily be “of Him.” All Christians are His possession, but all Christians are not “of Him.” Many Christians have the Lord shut up in heaven. They live their lives apart from Him and hope to be with Him one day. Christians that are of Him are experiencing, at least to some degree, His life in them. The Lord is active in their lives. They are of Him because His nature is coming forth in them. They are not merely His possession; they are becoming as He is, for the Lord is saving them from their sinful nature.
Matthew 1:22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying…
Word order is important for understanding what the Holy Spirit is saying through the Scriptures. The King James translation says “spoken of the Lord by the prophet,” but the Greek reads “spoken by the Lord through the prophet.” There is a big difference in the two. A preacher may speak what he has learned from the Scriptures about the Lord. A prophet, on the other hand, is one through whom the Lord speaks. The words of the preacher present concepts of man. The words of the prophet, on the other hand, carry the life and presence of the Lord.
Saying behold a virgin shall be with child and she shall bring forth a son. Now a virgin church is going to be with child and bring forth a Son Company. This corresponds with Revelation 12 where John sees a woman with the sun over her head, the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head as she travails in birth to be delivered, and she gave birth to a manchild which was caught up to the throne. Historically speaking you can say, “Well, that was Jesus and the woman was the Jewish nation.” But looking at it spiritually we know what it is. It’s a church that God is bringing forth today and that church is becoming a virgin church. When it becomes purely virgin, not of man, then out of it comes forth a Son Company just like Him for He is the pattern son.
Matthew 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
Do not only see this child as Jesus. Mystically, the Virgin Mary being with child is a type of the virgin-church, which brings to birth a son company that will be the many-membered Christ. As Jesus was born of a virgin so will the sons of God. Jesus Christ is the “firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29). The earnest expectation of creation is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God (Romans 8:19). As Jesus is the Messiah, the sons of God will be the many-membered Messiah, with Jesus as the Head of course. And as Jesus is Emmanuel, the sons of God will be a many-membered Emmanuel. This seems to be a difficult concept for many Christians, but it is what the Holy Spirit is revealing through the Scriptures. The Christians that are of Him are the ones who are aware of this truth because they are the “many sons being brought unto glory” (Hebrews 2:10).
Copyright © 2006 by Henry DuBose