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CHRIST’S BIRTH, AS I UNDERSTAND IT
A virgin named Mary, who was engaged to a man named Joseph, was
pregnant with the Son of God, which was the result of the miraculous
working of the Holy Spirit. When Joseph, to whom she was engaged, found
out, he, being a just man and not wanting her to be stoned to death for
having committed adultery, was trying to think of how he could quietly
break off their engagement.
But while he was thinking about it, he fell asleep, and the Angel of the
Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, of the family of
David, do not be afraid to take Mary to be your wife. The Child she is
carrying is a miracle, conceived of the Holy Spirit. And she shall
bring forth a Son, and you are to call His name JESUS: for He shall save
His people from their sins.”
Now all this was done that Isaiah 7:14 might be fulfilled, which was
spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Behold, a virgin shall
be with Child, and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call
His title, “Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.” [Note: Mary's
pregnancy, like all pregnancies, involved a child, not a fetus, not an
embryo, not even a fertilized egg; she was with Child!]
When Joseph woke up, he did as the Angel of the Lord had told him,
and he married Mary. And Mary remained a virgin until she gave birth
to her firstborn Son: and Joseph called His name
“JESUS” (Mt. 1:18-25).
And there were, in the same country, shepherds abiding in the field,
keeping watch over their flock by night. And suddenly, the Angel of the
Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord surrounded them: and
they were so afraid. And the Angel said unto them, “Fear not: for,
behold, I bring great news, which shall be a blessing to all people.
Just as the Word of God promised, your Messiah, Christ the Lord, has
been born today in Bethlehem, the City of David.”
And this is
how you will recognize Him; you will find the Baby wrapped in a
receiving blanket, lying in an animal’s feed trough. And suddenly,
there was with the Angel, a multitude of the heavenly host praising God,
and saying, “Glory to God in heaven, and on earth, peace and good will
to all men.” And it came to pass, after the angels were gone, the
shepherds said one to another, “Let us go and see this thing which has
happened, this thing which the Lord hath made known unto us.”
And
when they arrived in Bethlehem, they found Mary and Joseph, and
the Baby was lying in an animal’s food trough, just as they had been
told. And when they had seen Him, they told everyone what they had been
told concerning the Child, Israel’s Messiah (Lk. 2:8-17).
Reblogged from Paul Mutschler on http://skipslighthouse.blogspot.com/2013/12/christs-birth-as-i-understand-it.html
When we struggle to forgive
those who hurt us, we’re encouraged to remember how great God’s
forgiveness is for us. Jesus warned that God expects forgiven people to
forgive. But what Jesus said about refusing to forgive might feel more
than a little disconcerting for those struggling to forgive. Jesus added a warning that those who refuse to forgive should not expect to receive forgiveness from their Heavenly Father.
“For if you forgive other
people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive
you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not
forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:14-15).
Is it easier to see ourselves
as candidates for God’s forgiveness than to see our offenders as
deserving of our forgiveness? This is exactly what Jesus confronted and
reversed in his parable of the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18:21-35. Read it.
We all have a tendency to
provide larger margins of moral allowance for ourselves (and for those
we love as extensions of ourselves) than for others. This is the problem
of having clear vision for the splinters in the eyes of others and
blindness about the logs in our own eyes (Matthew 7:1-6).
Yet when badly hurt by others,
we don’t hit a forgiveness switch and move on. The sting of pain can
linger for a long time depending upon the depth of the hurt. We need to
hear reminders about how great God’s grace and forgiveness is toward us —
but applying them is sometimes more challenging. Listen again to these
words calling us to the radical love of our Heavenly Father.
“But love your enemies, do good
to them… Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of
the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be
merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:35-36).
“Be
kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in
Christ God forgave you. Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly
loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and
gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God
(Ephesians 4:32-5:2).
One of the most powerful
examples of forgiveness is found in the life of the OT character,
Joseph. Here is a man who was sold as a slave by his envious brothers.
Years later, when he had the power and authority to get revenge, Joseph
made telling confessions that unlocked the secret to forgiveness.
Joseph said to his brothers, “You
intended to harm me but God intended it for good to accomplish what is
now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20). Here
Joseph confessed that God (not his offenders) is Lord of his
circumstances. His brothers were clearly responsible for their evil
deeds (and he did not deny nor minimize this truth). Yet he recognized
that God sovereign ruled over their evil actions even though their evil
actions did not conform to God’s moral will (see Acts 2:22-24; 4:27-28).
Life happens between two intentions: “You intended….” (horizontal) “but God intended….” (vertical).
Joseph learned to trace the hand (and presence) of God through the
painful twists of a life that seemed to be controlled by the evil
intentions of others. Connect the horizontal to the vertical or you’ll
lose perspective quickly. The same is true of the temporal and eternal (II Corinthians 4:16-18).
Extending forgiveness is far
more difficult for those who do not often celebrate their own
forgiveness and for those who cannot confess that God is Lord of their
circumstances, not their offenders (Relate: Hebrews 12:7).
God,
we need your help to live by grace when hurt by others. Help us to get
perspective — to see as you see. Please draw our hearts into deep
contemplation and exclamatory celebration of your grace and forgiveness.
Steve Cornell
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