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Matthew 1:18
The birth of Jesus was a birth as no other birth in the history of mankind. The mother of Jesus, Mary, became pregnant by way of the Holy Spirit of God. As the miraculous power of God works, Mary became pregnant with a child that was God incarnating Himself as a human being, yet still being a perfect, sinless, all powerful being as He and only He is God Himself. Matthew 1:18 (NKJV) teaches us, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.” We also have a record of the birth of Jesus in Luke 1:26-38 where we find that an angel (Gabriel) vs.26 was sent by God to give Mary this announcement. Luke 1:31-33 (NIV) declares, “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
This is the birth of Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.
In this birth of Christ Jesus is fulfilled the prophecies of Isaiah 7:14 (ESV), “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Immanuel means, “God with us.”
In this glorious prophecy, one would think, as did the people of the nation of Israel, that this coming King would appear in His royal priesthood and kingship, a conqueror of nations that would re-establish the throne of King David with power, not as a baby born to a seemingly poor woman who became pregnant before she was even married. But we do not think as does the LORD God as we have learned from Isaiah 55:8-9 (HCSB), “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways.’ This is the LORD’s declaration. ‘For as heaven is higher than earth, so My ways are higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.’”
God came to lower Himself to our world so that He could experience our temptations and trials of this life. He came to be a sacrifice for all humanity. To do that He must experience the things that we do in this life so that He could take all of it to the cross and pay the price for the sins of this world and overcome it through His purity and holiness as is the requirement for life everlasting (John 3:16-17; Matthew 5:17).
Dear LORD,
Thank You for the gift of Jesus through Your great love for humanity. Thank You for showing us that being qualified to receive the saving power of Christ Jesus is for everyone, being rich or poor or being a Jew or a Gentile. Please help us to learn and grow in our relationship with You through this study of the Gospel of Matthew and the life and ministry of our Savior Jesus. In Jesus name I pray, amen.