Matthew 1:18 – Now the birth of Jesus 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.
Luke 1:30-31 – And the angel said unto her, fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call His name JESUS.
The purpose of the birth of Christ was for the redemption of the whole world. In the beginning of time God created the world for His glory. He created mankind to praise and worship Him. After the result of sin, the world incurred the need of a savior. God, with His eminent love, so loved this world that He devised a plan, so every soul could be completely liberated from sin. This plan led to Jesus Christ being born and later to His death. The birth of Christ was a world changing event that took place over two thousand years ago. This special event was designed to happen only once and to never happen again. Many years prior to this extraordinary event, it was predicted that, “A virgin shall bring forth a son and His name shall be called Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). Centuries later, that prophecy came to past. Jesus was born of a virgin birth in Bethlehem, to a virgin name Mary. However, Mary did not know that she would be included in such a remarkable occurrence. Gabriel, an angel of God, “who stands in the presence of God” (Luke 1:19), greeted her and conveyed the news concerning Jesus’s incredible birth. The message was, God ‘highly’ favored her to be the chosen vessel to bring forth the Savior of the world. He further stated, that she would be blessed by the Holy Ghost (God’s Presence) to conceive a son, and His name was to be called JESUS. When Mary heard the report, she was puzzled and did not understand. With pondering thoughts and questions in her mind, she openly asked, “How can this be, seeing I know not a man” (Luke 1:34)? Mary knew this process for childbirth was not customary but was out of the ordinary. Nevertheless, she told the angel “Be it unto me according to thy word” (St. Luke 1:38). In other words, whatever God wanted to do in her life she would be obedient to His will. She undoubtedly perceived that she was going to be the center of attention because she would be found with child ‘before’ she and Joseph came together as husband and wife, but she was willing to take on the challenge.
God knew the feelings of Joseph about Mary bringing forth Jesus before their marriage was consummated and that it would be hard for him to fathom any part of the Divine events. Therefore, He sent a message by Gabriel to tell him “to not be afraid to take Mary for his wife” (St. Matthew 1:20). Joseph, being a righteous man received the message and obeyed the command. He accepted what God allowed regardless of the discomfort. Though the experiences may have been difficult Joseph and Mary knew in their hearts that they were totally in the perfect will of God. God’s approval was upon everything that materialized during that time. God’s unique plan was perfect to bring forth His son. This matchless birth did not include a man, yet Jesus was related to mankind. It was prophesied many hundreds of years before that, “A woman shall compass a man” (Jeremiah 31:22). Jesus’ birth was the occurrence that unveiled that prophecy. Jesus did not have an earthly father. Pretty perplexing I know, but sometimes God’s Divine plans include mind-boggling thoughts that are difficult to comprehend, yet His ways are ‘perfect’. He has specific plans that are custom made for each of our lives. When we are faced with difficult situations, we may perhaps ask the same question as Mary, “How can this be?” but this is where our trust in God is to be released. He knows what is best for every soul in His creation. There are some things that befall us that we do not understand but we must be ready to, “Trust in the Lord with all our heart; and lean not unto our own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). He, and only He, holds the blueprint to our lives. If we don’t have full confidence in God, then we should not endeavor to serve Him.
I can recall a time in my life when God revealed to me, (before it happened), that something distressful was going to befall me. Like Mary, I pondered this in my heart because I did not understand why this would happen to me. I was living Holy and righteous to the very best of my knowledge. But then I thought, living a life pleasing to God is ‘the reason why’ Mary became a chosen vessel: God honors righteousness. So, I armed myself likewise. At times, the circumstances became very difficult, but God trusted me with such trial, in return I had to prove to Him that He could trust me. The things I encountered were by no means delightful, so I added more time to my prayer life. Though things were very unpleasurable, I thank God because it was those things that brought the best out of me. In my distress, I was reminded that “All things work together for the good of those that love the Lord and the called to His purpose” (Roman 8:28). Everything I contended with worked out for my good. Let us keep in mind, the things Mary and Joseph encountered was for the good of every soul in the whole world. It did not matter what Mary and Joseph had to endure they persisted to embrace God’s word. When we know we are in the absolute perfect will of God, we have no need to worry. Joseph nor Mary could change anything, no matter what was publicized, and neither can we, but they were assured that Christ’s birth was God’s Holy plan. Joseph and Mary’s marriage was not consummated until ‘after’ the birth of Christ.
You might be plagued in your mind with questions and wondering who is Jesus Christ? Why was His birth so different and why was it so important? Well, Jesus is fully God the Son and He is Devine. He was born into humanity therefore, He became human. When Jesus put on humanity He became as one of us but exceedingly anointed. He is ‘a’ complete perfect human and He is ‘the’ complete Son of God. Keep in mind the prophecy from many years before. It expressed that a child would be born of a human virgin through Devine conception and His name would be called JESUS. He is beyond doubt the Son of God, born in the flesh, the complete eternal God the Son. He is the central element for the salvation of the whole world and He is in full harmony with God’s magnificent plan. “Not willing that any man should perish” (2 Peter 3:9), Jesus stepped out of eternity into time and became flesh, to show the world how much God loves the people He created and to model the lifestyle our Heavenly Father expects us to live. Spiritually, He is so close to us that we can so easily contact Him. He is so knowable that there is no place on earth one can go that His presence cannot be felt. There is no specific date or time recorded for this extraordinary birth, but it was so essential that hundreds of years later we are still celebrating it on the 25th of December of each year, (the date set aside). He was not born in the most acceptable place, but Jesus was the greatest King ever born and ‘NO ONE’ can dethrone Him. ‘HE REIGN SUPREME’ and there is ‘NONE’ like Him. He was ‘born’ to ‘die’ for the sins of the whole world “that whosoever believe in Him should not perish but have life everlasting” (St. John 3:16). The Old Testament pinpointed numerous details about how the birth was to take place, and hundreds of years later it was exact. Every eventful thing that happened during and around Christ’s birth fulfilled the Old Testament prophesies. It is so miraculous how everything fell perfectly into place at the time appointed. God’s approach to deliver the world from sin was so incredibly outstanding: Only He could design such a plan. God meticulously made provisions for all humanity to be saved from sin. Prophecy was spoken that Jesus would be born to save the whole world and His birth confirmed it, yet ‘the people didn’t know who He was.’ At the age of 12 Jesus’ teaching was so impressive that He astounded many as He spoke, ‘but they still didn’t know who He was’. When He reached adulthood, He preached and taught as one having the authority, ‘yet and still they didn’t know who He was.’ It wasn’t until He died that cruel death on the cross at Calvary that someone cried out and said, “Surely this must be the son of God” (St. Matthew 27:54; St. Mark 15:39). Now, may I ask a question? DO YOU KNOW WHO JESUS IS AND WHY HE WAS BORN? Well, may I answer? JESUS CHRIST IS THE HOLY SON OF GOD AND HE IS SO UNIQUE IN ‘ALL’ RESPECTS THAT HE ‘CANNOT’ BE COMPARED. HIS BIRTH ‘WAS’ AND ‘IS’ GOD’S GREATEST GIFT TO THE WHOLE WORLD. He was born to die for every man’s sin.
Let Us Pray: Dear Heavenly Father. I thank You for the Birth of Christ. I thank You for allowing me the opportunity to know who Jesus is and His purpose to be born. I thank You for letting Your son be born to die for the sins of the whole world. Help me to abide in Your perfect will and to obey Your every command. I thank You for letting me know what I know about You but help me to get to know You even better. In Jesus Name, Amen.
