Only one thing remains: not to seek for further witnesses, but meekly to add our confession to God’s own. Is this child of Christmas God’s Son? Is He God with us? Then let us acknowledge Him as such. Let us worship Him and show by the obedience of our lives that He is indeed who He is so clearly declared to be.
Only one thing remains: not to seek for further witnesses, but meekly to add our confession to God’s own. Is this child of Christmas God’s Son? Is He God with us? Then let us acknowledge Him as such. Let us worship Him and show by the obedience of our lives that He is indeed who He is so clearly declared to be.
Yesterday’s study concluded with the name given to Joseph for the son that would be born to Mary. It had both a general and specific application, and we mentioned the general meaning then. Today, we continue by describing the specific application.
The second person we wish to question is the angel who appeared to Joseph, as described in the verses immediately following our text. This angel may have been Gabriel, but he is not named. He is only “an angel” who appears to say, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:20-21).
The first person we want to interrogate is Gabriel, the angel of God. He appears at least twice in the Christmas story, once to announce the birth of John the Baptist to John’s father, the aged Zechariah, and once to announce the birth of Jesus to Mary.
The first chapter of Matthew begins with a genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ followed immediately by an account of His birth. So with the exception of this genealogy the first words of the entire New Testament are our text: “This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 1:18). What a remarkable beginning to the account of Jesus’ life!
If a person does believe God, he has an internal assurance that what he has believed is trustworthy. This is the work of God’s Spirit, the testimonium Spiritus Sancti internum, as the Reformers termed it. It is in addition to the assurance provided on other grounds.
In yesterday’s study, we looked at the first interpretation of the expression “water and blood” as a reference to that which flowed from Christ’s side at His crucifixion. We noted a couple of important similarities. Unfortunately, the similarities are not as great under examination as they seem to be on the surface.
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