Matthew chapter 1, we'll be reading verses 18 through 25.
As we're turning there, let me pray, and then we'll read together.
Father, thank you for your word.
Thank you for this season that we can remember and celebrate your first coming.
We pray that as we do that, that we would at the same time live with longing and hope
for your return and look forward to the day when you will come and make all things new.
Bless us as we look into this passage this morning, and we pray that you would speak
to us and help us to be strengthened and equipped.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Matthew chapter 1, beginning at verse 18.
Now, the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.
When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to
be with child from the Holy Spirit.
And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to
divorce her quietly.
But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying,
Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife.
For that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She will bear a son.
And you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet.
But behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son.
And they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us.
When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.
He took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus.
One of the most profound and awe-inspiring experiences that a human being can have is to see a new human
being come into the world.
From the moment of realization she's pregnant, through the months of preparation, as the baby
gradually develops to the climactic moment of birth, there is a sense of mystery and wonder
at the fragility and the beauty of a new human life.
Now, sometimes the birth of a particular child is seen as particularly unusual or providential.
I think of children born to couples in their mid-forties who thought they were past the age of childbearing,
or couples who for years thought they were infertile, yet conceived multiple children,
or children who were born several weeks premature and yet survived with the aid of modern technology.
I think of a child who, by God's grace, survived an attempt to abort him,
or children born after a previous miscarriage or stillbirth.
But the reality is not only in unusual circumstances, but every time that any child is born into the world,
something amazing and extraordinary has happened.
Most things that have happened over the last ten years I have long since forgotten,
but I have distinct memories of watching each of my children be born
and of the circumstances surrounding their birth.
It's something you don't quickly forget.
Now, sometimes we are surprised and rightly grieved
when someone has a miscarriage or stillbirth,
but perhaps we should be even more amazed
every time that a baby is born,
considering all the perils that attend the development of the tiniest human lives
from the moment of conception onwards.
This morning we're looking at Matthew's account of the conception and birth of Jesus.
And Matthew wants us to know that of all the unusual and providential births
that have ever occurred in human history,
the birth of Jesus was the most unusual of all.
Matthew wants us to know that of all the people that have ever occurred in the world.
Matthew wants us to see that the conception and birth of Jesus was not just unusual,
not just providential, not just amazing and awe-inspiring,
but it was positively supernatural and miraculous.
Verse 18 begins,
Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.
That word translated birth is the same word that in verse 1 is translated genealogy.
It is the Greek word Genesis,
what we call the first book of the Bible.
It could also be translated origin, right?
In chapter, in verse 1, the book of the origin of Jesus Christ.
Verse 18, the origin of Jesus Christ took place in this way.
So Matthew's telling us in this chapter about Jesus' origins.
Now last week, the first half of the chapter in the genealogy,
we saw Jesus' human origins.
He was the son of David, the son of Abraham,
descended from the genealogical line of the people of Israel
to whom God had made his promise long ago.
That a descendant of Abraham would be the means through which
all the nations of the world would be blessed.
That a son of David would arise as a righteous and victorious and merciful ruler.
So we saw Jesus' human origins last week,
but in the second half of the chapter,
what we're looking at today,
Matthew emphasizes Jesus' divine origin.
Verse 18, now or but,
the origin of Jesus Christ took place in this way.
Matthew's saying he's making a contrast
between all the other births recorded in the genealogy,
all 42 of them in the chapter 1,
and the birth of Jesus.
If you look at the genealogy, it follows a typical pattern.
A is the father of B.
B is the father of C.
C is the father of D.
In some unusual circumstances,
the mother is also mentioned.
But at the end of the genealogy,
in verse 16, Matthew breaks the pattern.
Verse 16 says,
Jacob, the father of Joseph,
the husband of Mary,
of whom Jesus was born,
who is called Christ.
That word Christ is the same word for Messiah.
So Matthew carefully avoids saying
that Joseph was the biological father of Jesus,
even though the rest of his narrative
in chapters 1 and 2
focuses far more on the character of Joseph
than on Mary.
So in verse 16,
he's alerting us to something unusual.
Then verse 18, he picks up that thread.
It happened in this way.
How exactly did Jesus originate?
In a supernatural and miraculous way.
And throughout the second half of the chapter,
Matthew intentionally points out
Jesus' divine and supernatural origin.
Verse 18,
Before Mary and Joseph came together,
Mary was found to be with child
from the Holy Spirit.
Verse 20,
The angel says to Joseph,
That which is conceived in her
is from the Holy Spirit.
Verse 23,
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son.
Verse 24,
Joseph took his wife but knew her not
until she had given birth to a son.
So Matthew repeatedly points out
that Jesus did not originate
in the normal human way.
In the words of the Apostles' Creed,
Jesus was conceived by the power
of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
This is something that Christians
have always and everywhere believed
ever since the beginning
of the Christian movement.
Now this morning,
I want us to consider two things.
First, I want us to consider
whether this is actually plausible.
Right?
Can we really believe this?
Second, I want us to consider
why does it matter?
Why is it important
that Jesus was born of a virgin,
that he was supernaturally conceived?
So first,
is this actually believable?
Is it plausible?
Ever since the beginning of Christianity,
right, Christians have always
proclaimed this and believed this
and confessed this,
but many people have been skeptical.
Also ever since the beginning
of Christianity,
not just in modern times.
some people,
some of the Jewish people
who did not accept Jesus
as the Messiah
accused him of being born illegitimately.
There was a rumor
that he was born of a Roman soldier
getting together with Mary.
Right?
So from the beginning,
people were skeptical.
And so we have to ask,
is this plausible?
Right?
Some people say today,
a virgin birth,
scientifically impossible.
Now, parthenogenesis,
that's the scientific term
for virgin birth,
does occur occasionally
in some animals,
but how could a woman
with XX chromosomes
give birth to a man
with XY?
Where does the Y come from?
Without any male involvement.
That seems unbelievable, right?
But the search
for a scientific explanation
is misguided.
Because Matthew is not claiming
that God used
a very unusual
or previously unrecognized
set of natural processes
to produce a very statistically
unlikely outcome.
No.
His claim is
that the God
who made the world
chose to intervene
within it.
The Christian claim is
God acted supernaturally.
He did something
that would never have happened
through natural processes alone.
So we then have to ask,
well,
could God intervene
in the world?
Can God step in
and do something
that would never happen
through natural processes alone?
Well, if you believe
in the God of the Bible,
or really if you believe
in any kind of God at all,
or even if you're agnostic,
you can't rule out
the possibility
of divine intervention
in principle.
You have to evaluate
on a case-by-case basis.
Now, that doesn't mean
that you should believe
everyone who tells you
that they have seen a miracle
or that God has spoken to them
and told them
to do them something
or appeared to them
in a dream.
In fact, the Bible
instructs us to be discerning,
not to just believe everything,
not to be naive.
The Bible instructs us
neither to dismiss
all such claims out of hand.
It says,
don't despise prophecies,
but test everything,
hold on to what is good.
Don't dismiss everything
out of hand,
but also don't naively believe
anyone regardless of,
without checking
into their story.
So the question isn't,
is the virgin birth
of Christ possible,
but more like,
is it fitting?
Is it plausible?
Does it make sense
given what we know
of the character of God?
Is this the kind of thing
that the true God
would actually do?
Now, some people say no.
Some people say
the idea of a virgin birth
sounds like a pagan legend,
right?
They say,
pagan legend imported
from Greek and Roman legends
and created long after the fact.
Doesn't the Roman writer Ovid
have stories of the gods
copulating with mortals
and producing demigods?
Well, yes.
Although,
there are stories
of pagan gods
who take on the bodies
of men or of animals
and produce demigods
born of human mothers.
Those are not stories,
however,
of virginal conceptions,
and they are very different
from what we see here.
All that Matthew tells us
is that Mary was found
to be with child
from the Holy Spirit.
There are no sensational details
or wild speculations.
It's seen as something
that was real
and yet mysterious.
Further,
other stories
of supposedly miraculous births
were written down
hundreds of years
after the hero died.
So,
there's a legend
that Alexander the Great
was born of the Greek god Zeus.
That legend
was written down
400 years
after Alexander died
by the Roman writer Plutarch.
The Gospel of Matthew,
by contrast,
was written at most
50 or 60 years
after Jesus died,
perhaps even before that.
And most scholars
believe that Matthew
was drawing on
earlier traditions.
Matthew is the most Jewish
of the Gospels,
so,
most likely,
those traditions
came from Jerusalem
or Judea,
the most Jewish area.
Now,
for the first 30 years
after Jesus' death
and resurrection,
guess who was leading
the church in Jerusalem?
Jesus' own brother James.
Unfounded legends
about miraculous births
do not usually originate
when family members
who know the truth
are there.
to set the story right.
Now,
other people say
Matthew created
the idea of a virgin birth
out of Old Testament prophecies
like the one he quotes
in verse 23.
Isn't that what he's doing?
He finds an Old Testament text
and then he makes
a story around it
to show the people
that the prophecy
has been fulfilled.
But really,
he made the story up.
But,
there's a problem.
Prior to Matthew,
we have no evidence
that anyone interpreted
Isaiah 7,
which is the chapter
he's quoting from,
as a prophecy
of a literal virgin
giving birth to the Messiah.
So,
in fact,
nobody even saw it
as talking about
the Messiah.
So,
why would Matthew
take a verse
that no one
had previously seen
as a messianic prophecy
and invent a story
around it
that had no historical basis?
That's just stupid.
If you want to persuade somebody,
that won't persuade anybody.
People will be like,
what?
Nobody even thinks
that text is talking
about that at all.
Right?
It only makes sense
the other way around.
It's much more likely
that Matthew received
a report
from reliable sources,
perhaps from Jesus'
family members
or relatives themselves,
that Jesus was born
supernaturally,
born of a virgin,
and in light of that report
and that reality,
he saw that the prophecy
of Isaiah
had been fulfilled
in a way
that no one
had previously expected.
You see,
many things in life
only become clear to us
in hindsight
when we're looking back
on them.
We never could have guessed
how they would turn out
in advance.
And that's true
with many Old Testament prophecies.
We wouldn't have guessed
exactly how they would
be fulfilled in advance.
But when we look back
on them,
we see something
that we couldn't see before.
Now, if you're interested
in Isaiah chapter 7
in particular,
what was its meaning
in Isaiah's time
and how was it fulfilled
in the birth of Jesus,
I preached a sermon
about a year ago
on that chapter.
You can listen to it.
It's on the church website
and you can ask me about
or you can ask me
about it afterwards
if you have questions
because I'm not going
to get into all the details today.
So,
many reasons
why people reject
the virgin birth
are not actually
that convincing.
But are there any
positive reasons
to think
that the virgin birth
of Jesus
actually is
fitting
and plausible
and appropriate?
Well, imagine
if you were one
of Matthew's
first readers.
You would have
already been familiar
with the Old Testament
because Matthew's gospel
is the most Jewish
of all the gospels.
Almost everybody agrees
that he was writing
to people
of Jewish background,
whether they were Jews
who had come to believe
in Jesus as the Messiah
or whether he was writing
to persuade Jews
to believe in Jesus
as the promised Messiah.
But he's writing
to a largely,
though not exclusively,
Jewish audience.
And so,
they would have known
that in the Old Testament
we have a few examples
of unusual
or even miraculous
births.
Periodically,
the people of Israel
found themselves
in desperate straits.
Things were going badly
and it seemed like
everything was going
to fall apart.
But God demonstrated
his kindness
to his people
and his faithfulness
to his promises
by providing a child.
And that child
would later grow up
to lead and teach
and deliver
the people of Israel.
So, a few examples
from the Old Testament
of this.
We might think of
the founders
of the Jewish nation,
Abraham and Sarah.
Right?
God had called them.
They had left behind
everything they had ever known,
left behind their home country,
followed the call of God,
and God had promised
that through
one of their descendants,
that one of their descendants
would eventually become
the ancestor
of a great nation.
And yet,
they get older and older,
they get into their
80s and 90s,
and still,
they have no child
of their own.
Until,
God provides a son,
Isaac,
when Abraham is 100
and Sarah is 90.
Or,
you might think of
a few hundred years later.
People of Israel
are oppressed
and enslaved in Egypt.
Pharaoh is attempting
to exterminate them.
But then,
baby Moses was born.
Now,
his parents were likely young,
no unusual circumstances
in that regard,
but Moses particularly
was preserved
in a time
when his very life
was threatened.
He was preserved
through childhood
and was able to grow up
and grew up
to deliver God's people.
Or,
a couple hundred years later,
the people of Israel
are in the land of Canaan
and they're defeated
and oppressed
by the Philistines
and the angel of the Lord
comes to a couple
who are previously infertile
and says,
you will have a son,
call him Samson.
And he will begin
to save Israel
from the hand
of the Philistines.
Not long after that,
God answered
the prayers of Hannah,
another infertile woman,
she and her husband
and gave her
and her husband
a son Samuel
who grew up to be
a prophet
and teacher
of God's people.
So,
we see,
periodically,
on multiple occasions,
God's people
find themselves
in desperate circumstances
and God shows
his kindness
and faithfulness
to them
through the gift
of a child.
And Matthew's readers
would have known that
and they would have said,
yes,
that's the God
we believe in.
We believe in a God
who sees us
when we are in desperate straits
and who hears our prayers
and who answers our prayers
and sometimes the way
he answers prayers
is by providing
in unusual ways
for a child
to be born
and to grow up
and to fulfill his mission
and to lead the people.
They would have said,
yes,
that's the God
we know and trust.
And Matthew says to them
and he says to us,
look here.
Here's the same God.
The one true God
showing his kindness,
showing his faithfulness
through the greatest gift
of all.
The same Holy Spirit
who quietly hovered
over the formless emptiness
in Genesis 1
who gave life
to all that God had made
is still alive
and now active
in bringing Jesus,
the Messiah,
into the world.
Of all the unusual
and providential births
that have happened
in human history,
isn't it fitting
that the birth
of the Messiah himself
would be the most unusual
and directly supernatural
of all?
So I think it is fitting
and plausible
and appropriate
to believe
in the virgin birth.
But second,
I want us to ask,
why does that matter?
Why is this important
that Jesus was born
in a supernatural way,
not through
the natural means,
not through natural way
of being conceived?
I think at its core
when we say
Jesus was conceived
by the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary,
what we're saying
is that our Savior
and Lord
is fully divine
and fully human.
He's fully divine,
conceived by the Holy Spirit,
or as Peter will say
later in the Gospel of Matthew,
the Christ,
the Son of the living God.
He's also fully human,
born of a human mother,
Mary,
and here adopted
and raised
by his legal father,
Joseph.
By marrying Mary,
Joseph takes on
the legal responsibility
of being
the adoptive father
of Jesus.
So he's fully divine
and fully human.
And we see this union
of human and divine
in the two names
that are given
to our Savior
in this passage.
First, verse 21,
the angel says,
you shall call
his name Jesus.
Now, Jesus is
the Hebrew name Joshua.
It's a common name
in the Old Testament
and still today.
Joshua was the successor
of Moses
who led the people of Israel
into the promised land
later on after the exile.
Another Joshua
was the high priest
who led the people
in rebuilding the temple
and several other
less important characters
in the Old Testament
also shared that name.
So at one level,
the name Jesus
or Joshua
emphasizes his human nature.
Jesus came from
the people of Israel.
He's connected to them.
But the name Jesus
also points
to his divine nature
because the name Jesus
or Joshua means
the Lord saves.
Verse 21 says,
he will save his people
from their sins.
Now, human beings
have many problems,
right?
We have sickness
and pain,
weariness
and loneliness,
relational conflicts,
frustrations,
unfulfilled longings.
But the Bible says
that the deepest problem
of all
is our sins.
Our sins
are everything
that keeps us
alienated from God.
Everything that corrupts us
from the inside out.
Everything that's
contrary to God's
intent and purpose
for us
as human beings.
Our sins
are the deepest
and most intractable
of all human problems.
And Jesus
has come
to save us.
Not just from
our day-to-day
challenges,
not just from
the occasional
frustrations
we face
or sorrows
we endure,
but He
hasn't just
come to save us
from some
of our sins
but from
all of our sins.
And only God
can do that.
In fact,
Psalm
chapter 130
verse 8
says,
the Lord Himself
will redeem
Israel
from all
their
sins.
And verse 21,
maybe echoing
that Psalm,
He will save
His people
from their sins
and the people
would have remembered
in that Psalm
that they would
frequently sing,
the Lord Himself
will come
and redeem
us from
all our sins.
Jesus is
the Lord Himself.
Now,
the second name
given to the Savior
is in verse 23.
They shall call
His name
Emmanuel,
which means
God with us.
Now,
this is a less
common name.
It only appears
here and in Isaiah.
And at one level,
the name Emmanuel
obviously indicates
Jesus' divine nature,
right?
He is God.
God with us.
God Himself.
We read earlier
in Isaiah
that prophecy
of that the child
to be born
will be called
Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace.
Those titles
are far too exalted
for a mere human being.
You don't call
a normal guy
Mighty God
or Everlasting Father.
No,
those titles
indicate that
we're dealing
with somebody
much more
exalted than that.
And yet,
what does Emmanuel mean?
God with us.
Again,
it points to
Jesus' divine nature
but also to
His human nature
that He has come
to share
our humanity.
He's the fulfillment
of the Old Testament
promise that
God Himself
would come
to dwell
and rest
with His people.
And we can call
Him Emmanuel
because He is God
who has come
to be with us.
In verse 23,
Matthew quotes
from Isaiah chapter 7
verse 14.
And he quotes
the verse
almost exactly
but He changes
one word.
Isaiah
says,
Behold,
the virgin
shall conceive
and bear a son
and
she
shall call
His name
Emmanuel.
But Matthew
says,
Behold,
the virgin
shall conceive
and bear a son
and they
shall call
His name
Emmanuel.
You see,
it's not just
Mary
who can call
Jesus
God with us.
it's all
the people
who He has
come
to save
from our sins.
Right?
Who's they?
Well,
you look up
at verse 21.
He will save
His people
from their sins
and they
shall call
His name
Emmanuel.
Every one
of us
who have
received
Jesus' forgiveness,
who have
looked to Him,
we can know
and call
Him
God
with us.
J.C. Ryle
put it this way.
He said,
If we
want to have
a strong
foundation
for our
faith
and hope,
we must
keep
constantly
in view
our Savior's
divinity.
We must
remember
that Jesus
is fully
God.
He in
whose blood
we are
invited to
trust
is the
Almighty
God.
All
power
is His
in heaven
and earth.
If we
are true
believers
in Jesus,
our heart
need not
be
troubled
or afraid.
But then
He goes
on,
He says,
And if
we would
have
sweet
comfort
in
suffering
and
trial,
we must
keep
constantly
in
view
our
Savior's
humanity.
He is
the man,
Christ
Jesus,
who lay
on the
bosom
of the
Virgin
Mary
as a
little
infant.
He
can be
touched
with the
feeling
of our
infirmities.
He
has
experienced
Satan's
temptations.
He
has
endured
hunger,
shed
tears,
and felt
pain.
He can
sympathize
with
us.
Brothers
and sisters
in Christ,
this is
very good
news.
That we
have a
fully
divine
and fully
human
Savior.
And He
has been
this way
ever
since
His
conception.
You know,
I want you
to just
consider
for a few
moments
what some
of the
implications
would be
if Jesus
had come
into the
world
in some
other
way.
What if
God had
instead
chosen
to send
Jesus
into the
world
as a
fully
formed
adult?
What if
He had
bypassed
the long
years of
childhood?
We don't
know exactly
what He did
as a child
anyway,
for the
most part.
What if
He had
gone more
directly to
the culmination
of His
mission,
to die on
the cross
for our
sins?
But in
that case,
He would
have had
no human
parents.
He would
have been
neither a
son of
David nor
a son of
Abraham.
So He
couldn't have
fulfilled any
of the
Old Testament
prophecies.
So that's a
problem.
But even
more,
if Jesus
had come
into the
world as
a fully
formed
adult,
could we
really say
that He
had been
made
like
us
His
brothers
and
sisters
in
every
respect,
as the
author of
Hebrews
says?
Would He
really be
one who
in every
respect has
been tempted
as we
are,
yet without
sin?
Would it
really reflect
His merciful
will to
save
children as
well as
adults?
Now,
children,
I know
you're out
there.
I want to
talk to
you for
a minute.
So look
up at me.
If you've
been drawing
or coloring,
that's fine,
but I
want to
talk to
you directly
for a
minute or
two.
Right?
Maybe you're
younger,
maybe you're
older,
but you're
living at
home,
you're under
the authority
of your
parents.
Let me
ask you
a question.
Do you
ever feel
like your
parents don't
completely
understand you?
That maybe
they've
forgotten what
it's like
to be a
kid?
Now,
Jesus knows
exactly what
it's like
to be
a kid
because he
was once
a kid
too,
and Jesus
never
forgets
anything.
He hasn't
forgotten what
it's like
to be a
kid,
and he
understands
the challenges
you face,
and he's
always available
to help
you.
When Jesus
was a kid,
he had to
honor and
obey his
parents,
even though
his parents
weren't perfect
and he was
a lot smarter
than them.
And he
can help
you to
honor and
obey your
parents too,
even when
they fall
short,
because that's
one of the
responsibilities
that God
has given
to you.
Jesus died
on the cross
for children,
not just
for adults,
and so he
invites you
to talk to
him in
prayer,
and he
promises
that he
will always
listen.
So it's
good that
Jesus
didn't just
come into
the world
as an
adult.
But let's
think about
one other
possibility.
What if
Jesus had
come into
the world
in the
normal way?
What if
this story
about being
born of a
virgin
wasn't true
at all?
He just
came with
the normal
contribution
of a
human
father
and a
human
mother,
and then
maybe at
birth or
maybe later
on he
was anointed
by the
Holy Spirit
like King
David?
Now that's
what many
people say
who find
the virgin
birth too
hard to
swallow,
but they
still want
to believe
that Jesus
was somehow
special.
But again,
that option
creates big
problems.
For one
thing,
it would
mean that
both Matthew
and Luke,
who both
tell us
that Jesus
was born
of a virgin,
that both
Matthew and
Luke are
lying to
us,
or at the
very least
carelessly
passing on
unreliable and
fanciful accounts
of Jesus'
origins.
Even more
than that,
if Jesus was
conceived by
purely natural
means,
then the
Savior of the
world would
then be the
result of a
joint human
effort.
Mary and
Joseph could
look at each
other and
say,
we produce
the Savior,
just the two
of us.
Aren't we
special?
We've
accomplished
something really
great.
But the
whole message
of the
Bible is
that God's
salvation is
not the
result of a
human initiative
using natural
means.
God's grace
is not just
the frosting on
the cake of
our human
accomplishments.
God sent
Jesus to
save us
because all
of our human
efforts to
make things
right have
fallen short
and failed to
produce the
redemption that
we need and
long for.
God's salvation
is carried out
by the power
of the Holy
Spirit within
all those who,
like Joseph and
Mary,
simply receive
His Word
and respond to
Him with
trust and
obedience.
An early
Christian writer
whose name
has been lost
to us wrote
this,
Humanity is
born out of
the necessity
to exist.
Today we
might say
humanity
reproduces out
of the struggle
to survive.
He continues,
Christ,
however,
was not born
out of the
necessity of
nature to
exist,
but by His
merciful will
to save.
not out of
the necessity
of nature,
but by His
merciful will
to save.
That's what it
means that Jesus
was conceived
by the Holy
Spirit and born
of a virgin.
It shows us
God's merciful
will to save.
Or as another
early church
father,
Origen,
put it,
His birth was
both like
ours and
above ours.
To be born
of a woman
is like our
birth,
but to be
born not
of the will
of the flesh
or of man
is above
ours.
There is
here a
hint,
a prior
announcement
of a future
birth to
be bestowed
upon us
by the
Spirit.
You see,
what Origen
was getting
at was
this,
because Jesus
came into
the world
in a divine
and supernatural
way,
the salvation
that He gives
us is a
divine and
supernatural
gift.
Jesus was
conceived by
the Holy
Spirit within
the womb
of Mary in
a wonderful
and mysterious
way,
and similarly,
we are born
again.
We are brought
into new life
in Christ
through the
same Holy
Spirit in a
wonderful and
mysterious way
that we can't
even fully explain.
Jesus says,
the wind blows
where it pleases,
and you can see
its effects,
but you can't
grasp onto it.
You can't…
There's a mystery
to it.
There's a mystery
to how God
brings us
out of ourselves
and out of our
darkness
into the light
of Jesus,
but boy,
is it real.
Just because
it's mysterious
don't make it
any less real.
The early
church father
said over and
over,
He has taken
on what was
ours,
our humanity,
even our sin
and our death,
in order to
generously share
with us what
was His,
His divinity,
His righteousness
and life.
He's taken
on what was
ours to give
us what was
His.
Have you
received God's
grace in Jesus
as a gift?
Have you
turned away
from trusting
in yourself
and trying
to save
yourself
through your
own efforts
and your
own accomplishments?
Have you
come to
trust in
Jesus,
the fully
divine
and fully
human
one,
as your
and the
only Savior
and Lord?
Hail,
the heaven-born
Prince of
Peace.
Hail,
the Son
of Righteousness,
light and
life to all
He brings,
risen with
healing in
His wings,
born to
raise the
sons of
earth,
born to
give us
second birth.
Let's pray.
Father, thank
You for the
gift of Your
Son.
Thank You for
the power of
Your Spirit.
Thank You for
Matthew and
His faithful
report.
We pray,
Lord, that we
would know the
power of Your
Spirit working
in our hearts
today.
Lord, that we
would know
the joy
and peace
that You have
come to
save us from
our sins,
that You have
come to be
God with
us,
the God
who has
promised never
to leave us,
never to forsake
us, to be with
us to the very
end of the age.
We thank You,
Lord, for who You
are.
Pray this in Your
name.
Amen.