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Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign:
The virgin will be with child and will give
birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
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December 1
The Virgin Birth
The story of the virgin birth is central to the
Christmas story. This unusual story gives
us insight into the hearts of Mary and Joseph.
When told that she was pregnant, Mary did not
question the miracle. Instead, she simply
asked how it could happen. Joseph also
responds well to the news. When he
discovers that his fiancé is pregnant (and he
knew he wasn't the father!) he decided to
divorce Mary quietly. Not only would this
have prevented Mary from public disgrace, it
could have even saved her life as the penalty
for being caught in adultery was death as we see
in John 8.
When Joseph is told that it is ok to take Mary
as his wife, he does so at expense to himself.
Rumors would spread that he wasn't the father of
Mary's baby and those rumors survived to the
point that a later historian referred to Jesus
as the son of a Roman soldier rather than
Joseph's son.
God had a reason for the miraculous birth
however. Not only was there the issue of
sin being passed through the father, there was
also the matter of heredity. Joseph was a
descendant of Solomon and had legal right to the
throne but God had declared that the line was
cursed.
Mary was a descendant of David as well, but not
through Solomon. She fulfilled prophecy of
David's heir to take the throne, and Joseph by
legally adopting Jesus, gave him legal right to
the throne even though his bloodline had been
cursed and forbidden from it. |
