Episode 669

TODAY’S READING

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with Child and bear a son, and she will call His name Emmanuel.

Isaiah 7:14

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she was found to be with Child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 1:18-25

The actual name is so important to God. When we read that in Matthew chapter one, verses 18 through 25, it says, Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. When his mother, Mary, betrayed to Joseph before they came together. She was found to be with Child by the Holy Spirit, and Joseph, her husband being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her plan to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the Child who was conceived in her is the Holy Spirit. Now, that right there, can you imagine being Joseph kink? Can you imagine being patrolled? And you know, you have not been together, and she tells you that she’s pregnant Mary tells you that she’s pregnant. I love the Bible because, one, it is my sustaining life source. It is my truth, and it is the story and the love story between God and us. But I love the Bible. Because it is very, very particular with the details that it gives, and so it says here that Joseph was her husband. He was a righteous man, and he would send her away secretly. He didn’t want to displace her. So I think right off the bat that this shows you the kind of person Joseph is; he wasn’t going to make a show about it. He was going to silently remove her so that she wouldn’t get further harmed in the scandal of being pregnant before being married. Now, the second thing they tried to outline there is that he is the son of David. So his lineage is King David. And we know that the Bible was very clear about the lineage down with Jesus. And so we must know that he is from David’s lineage because we know that through that lineage Jesus Jesus would come, so there are two details that stand out to me. But more than that, the entirety of this story is a miracle. It is a miracle that Joseph listens to the angel after he appears to him. It is a miracle that Mary conceived this baby via the Holy Spirit. It is a miracle that the two of them were able to give birth in a manger during tax season when they had to go all the way to Bethlehem. For the census, there were a lot of obstacles that they had to come or overcome together. And so the entirety of the story is a miracle. And what is beautiful about it is that we celebrate that this week because it is a signal to Oh Jesus is what he came here to do, and how he was very significant. From the start of conception. He was unlike prophets. He was unlike anybody who had come before him. He was different. He was set apart. He was 100% God and 100% man. So today, as we go about our days and as we continue to get ready for Christmas, it will remember the reason that we are celebrating this season. I’ve said it every day because we need to be reminded that it’s not just about the gifts and the trees, and it’s not about the traffic getting to the mall, but it’s about the birth of a son in his name Jesus.

Prayer:

Father God, we thank You, Lord, for this beautiful Thursday. We thank you for this beautiful season as we celebrate the birth of your Son, Jesus. Lord, you performed a miracle. You can save the Child to a virgin, and she brought to life the Savior that would forever change history. We thank you for sacrificing him for us. We thank you for his life. Jesus, we love you. We thank you for absolutely everything. We thank you for the ability to talk directly to the Father because of what you did. Today we go about our days, and we try not to get flustered by the stress of the season. But we bask in the joy of the season and the peace of the season, knowing that we are all celebrating the birth of you, Jesus. Thank you for absolutely everything; we pray this all in your mighty Name, Amen.