Scripture: ”Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The
virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Emmanuel.” Isaiah 7:14
Today’s Reading is Matthew 1:18–25 and
Matthew 2:1–12
Observation: It is not always easy to obey God! Mary and Joseph were pledged to be
married. When Joseph found out about
Mary being pregnant he knew that God’s law required action. Joseph wanted to give honour to God in his
life so he was going to put Mary away quietly – to divorce her. BUT GOD!
These are some of my favorite words.
God got involved. He showed
Joseph through a dream that it was going to be okay, that the baby was
conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit – the Ruach HaKodesh.
Joseph
had a choice to make and it required him to be bold and brave. There would be people who would talk about
him and Mary and come up with all sorts of conclusions, but Joseph knew the
Scriptures chose to follow the Scriptures and because of that was blessed to be
a part of God’s plan – a bigger picture.
Following God is not always easy, but oh so worth it!
Matthew
did not tell us about Jesus’ birth like other gospels. He had a different perspective. He wanted to
explain why it was important
so he described the events that followed his birth.
We
have already seen Isaiah 7:14 fulfilled.
If you are keeping track of fulfilled prophecy you will want to note
this verse. Now Matthew describes another
fulfilled prophecy in Micah 5:2. The prophet
Micah lived more than 800 years before Jesus and yet he promised that a great
ruler would come out of Bethlehem.
Matthew
then records the gifts that the Magi (wise men) brought to the child
Yeshua. This is thought to be (not as
most nativity scenes show) when Yeshua was around two years old. The Magi brought him:
Gold
= signified royalty (King)
Frankincense
= used by Priests in the temple
Myrrh
= used to reduce pain or in burial customs
There
were also three types of people in the story:
1. Herod who knew
the Magi would find Jesus (see 2:8 “when you find him”) but wanted to find Yeshua
for his own good with an ultimate plot to kill him
2. The Priests and
the Teachers of the Law who knew the OT prophecies, but showed little interest
in the Magi’s news.
3. The Magi who
had seemingly little knowledge, but really wanted to find this special
child. They traveled great distances and
dealt with difficulties, but did so to worship the King.
For
the application section I’ve included some questions to think about and respond
to and comment on.
Application:
God called Joseph to do a very brave thing. Is there any part of your
life where you are like Joseph? What could you learn from this passage to
encourage you? People in this passage
had different reactions to Jesus. What lessons can we learn from them? Jesus came into this world for a purpose. What does that mean for you today?
Prayer: Heavenly Father, Thank You for sending
Yeshua, Emmanuel, God with us, to be born of a virgin just as Your word
prophesied. Thank You for Mary and
Joseph who were willing to follow You despite people around them that would
talk bad about them. Thank You for the
Magi who were willing to go to great distances to seek You and to worship
Yeshua with their gifts. Thank You most
of all for our salvation and for Your grace.
Through Christ I pray, Amen & Amen.
This section is for those who want to
go deeper:
In my Christian Doctrine class that I
am currently taking we are studying why it was important that Jesus (Yeshua)
become human for us.
Theological Significance of the Virgin
Birth:
1. It shows that our salvation is a
supernatural thing. (John 1:13)
2. It shows that God’s salvation is a
gift of grace. Did Mary do anything to
deserve being chosen by God?
3. It shows evidence of the uniqueness
of Jesus. He is like us...yet He is
unlike us!
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