"This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her fiancé, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.
As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus,for he will save his people from their sins.” All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus." -Matthew 1:18-25 (NLT) Story of stories. The Wonder of wonders. The King of Heaven and all creation came to us in the form of a baby. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary. She was a virgin. Joseph was her betrothed husband. The two were already espoused (under declaration of getting married) but not yet official. No sexual relations had transpired as that would only occur after the official ceremony. Can you imagine how the news had to grab Joseph. I could imagine what I would be thinking. That is why the angel had to appear to him to verify Mary's story. Nothing like this had ever occurred before or since. The importance of this is utterly significant. Jesus has to be sinless. His blood had to be untainted by the curse of fallen man. As the father of the child, so did God the Father determine Jesus blood type. God is sinless. Jesus' blood was sinless. Jesus was God in human flesh. Immanuel means literally "God With Us". He had to be born as a baby to experience life as a human from conception to adulthood in order to be qualified to die a substitutionary death for us (Hebrews 4:15). As humans we had fallen to sin in Genesis 3:1-7. Under satan's bondage, we had to be redeemed (ransomed by payment) by a perfect human sacrifice. This is why Jesus was born - to die for us. Praise God! The love of God has payed the ultimate price for undeserved sinners. Accept "The Gift". Come to the real Christmas Tree.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Author
![]() Rev. Curtis Norris Archives
March 2020
|