The Birth Of Christ
First thing I want to establish is the importance of the virgin birth. It would not be of any important details if not for God giving direct prophecy regarding this very subject. First instance we see of this in the Bible is back in Genesis chapter 3.
14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Genesis 3:14-15 KJV
So here we see the declaration from God that he is going to destroy Satan for misleading Adam and Eve. He has cursed him. He says that he is going to put enmity between him and the woman and his seed and her seed. So we have a concept of the seed of the woman. Not only will her seed defeat Satan but it will crush his head. This also means that Satan has a bloodline here on earth. Think about that.
Now we also have another prophecy that makes it even clearer as well. God made sure there is absolutely no question about his method of bringing the redeemer.
10 Moreover the Lord spake again unto Ahaz, saying,
1 Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.
12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord.
13 And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?
14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Isaiah 7:10-14 KJV
So God declares not only will there be a virgin birth but he will be named Immanuel “Emmanuel”, God with us. I hope this establishes that there was prophecy written before his birth testifying to the direct nature of his coming to be.
Now I want to pause for a moment to look at who this is. Who is Immanuel because believe it or not we have a lot of information in the Bible about that subject; as if the whole thing was written about him.
Jesus did not come into being when Marry conceived. She is simply the vessel who carried him into flesh. We can see this demonstrated in John’s writings.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
John 1:1-3 KJV
The word is another name for Christ Jesus this Immanuel. What John is suggesting here that God and Jesus existed before anything existed at all. In fact it is suggesting that Jesus made everything. So not only is he our savior but our creator as well. John makes this more clear as well a little further ahead in his introduction.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
John 1:10-14 KJV
I wanted to point these verses out because it makes it expressly clear. Christ entered the world but was not part of the world and he preexisted the world and made the world. Not only that it expresses the word being made flesh furthering my point the word is another name for Christ Jesus.
I also want to instill upon you that every detail in his life and story was detailed before he was born. How would a God display his power, he will tell you the end from the beginning. That shows his temporal dominance over the dimensional nature of our existence.
Alright now that we got that out of the way let’s continue breaking it down verse by verse.
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.
Matthew 1:17 KJV
This is pretty much a quick summary of what we covered last chapter. Matthew went through extensive detail listing the royal line through Joseph all the way back to Abraham.
From Abraham to David would be 1996 B.C. – 1085 B.C. and from David to the captivity of Israel would by 1085 B.C. – 588 B.C. and from the captivity to Jesus would be roughly 588 B.C. – 4 B.C. This will give you an understanding roughly how much time God chose to use.
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
Matthew 1:18 KJV
Now you can imagine Joseph was a little shocked to say the least. You go to work for a few days and you come home to find your wife is with child, and not only is she with child but by the Holy Spirit non the less. Granted I imagine the conversation was a bit more heated and dramatic than that. We don’t get these details here however.
19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.
Matthew 1:19 KJV
A public example is a nice way of saying she would not be stoned or executed in some way. Adultery was at one point punishable by death. It would also bring a fair bit of difficulty for Joseph to defend her. I could imagine he would be very angry and have some issues with trusting his wife.
20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
Matthew 1:20 KJV
God in his mercy saw that Joseph was troubled by this a great deal and decided it was best to reveal the truth. I believe he also did this for Mary’s sake as well. He could have chosen to show Joseph at the same time as Mary but he did not. The very fact that Joseph did not immediately throw her on the street for the courts to deal with her showed she could trust him with her very life. He indeed deeply loves her. Something that the both of them would need assurance of during the times to come.
21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Matthew 1:21 KJV
Now God names his son Jesus. He even gives Joseph the preview of what his son will achieve. He will save his people from their sins. Something every Hebrew at the time had been longing for. Under Roman rule things were not easy for the Jewish people.
22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
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.
Matthew 1:22-23 KJV
We have the convenience of having a Bible, they however they did not. So instead of using a foot note they placed the text in their own writing. Kind of like what I am doing here.
24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:
25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name Jesus.
Matthew 1:24-25 KJV
So Joseph took this revelation very seriously. This is a beautiful thing. We ask that things be taken on faith. They had it laid before them, however if you ask me faith is far more merciful than the trials they had to endure. Sometimes we say how nice would it have been to be with Jesus during those times. Yes, it would have been nice at times, however other parts of those times was hideous. Most likely you would have been executed for your faith in Christ as well. The worst of it everyone else saw the things you did too. However, still they denied and hated those who followed. Now the only thing we have to worry about here is a troll posting a few memes or someone squawking. Consider yourself lucky you live in the age of grace.
With that I hope you all have a wonderful day and a better tomorrow. Christ is born and he is risen and he is coming again.
Jayce Ran's Sweet Insanity 