Matthew 1:18 - 25 - The birth of Christ
Why didn't God let Joseph and Mary get married first before making Mary pregnant with Jesus. It would have saved them both a lot of pain, humiliation, societal shame, etc.
One simple reason is that God wanted to remove any doubt that Mary was a virgin. But no one believed that anyway.
I think part of the answer lies in God making opportunities for us to grow in faith and obedience. Mary worshiped God by accepting His will in her life, even though it was going to ruin her socially. Joseph showed mercy by not having Mary brought before the Sanhedrin, and later believed God and married Mary.
We value our comfort and reputation above all else. God values our faith, obedience to Him, and the things we do that will last into eternity. Thus God will happily destroy our reputations and make us uncomfortable in exchange for producing eternal fruit in our lives.
What does Isaiah's prophecy in vs 23 say to us about the Bible?
It's amazing that you have enough archeological records to prove that Isaiah was written before the birth of Jesus. It's hard to not believe the Bible just based on this. I suppose that skeptics would say that Matthew was made up by people who knew these prophecies well.
ReplyDeleteYou really must read Cold Case Christianity by JW Wallace.
DeleteCareful. With comments like that, I may segue to that book, and we will be on Matthew 1 forever.
ReplyDeleteIsaiah 7:14 and Matthew's use of it seem weird to us. Reading Isaiah makes it sound as if this is all to be fulfilled within a few months or years of Isaiah giving the prophecy (800 BC or so). So it seems rather odd for Matthew to think this prophecy to be about Jesus. Some answer that this is a dual prophecy which had meaning for King Ahaz and then 800 years later for Matthew's day. Another interpretation (for example http://deeperwaters.wordpress.com/tag/isaiah-714/ ) says this is not really a prophecy about Jesus but Matthew is paying homage to the prophecy and expressing his belief that Jesus was born of a virgin.
ReplyDeleteNot trying to hide my identity. It just comes up as unknown unless I modify my profile.
DeleteThanks for finding this Von. Whenever I read this, I always interpreted that it was about Jesus (don't worry about Assyria, for when the Savior comes, Assyria won't even be around). However, I am willing to accept the article's premise. I do see quite a few examples of prophesies being fulfilled multiple times. This is not the first time by any means that New Testament authors use prophecy that has already been fulfilled. This does take the wind out of my sails concerning my comment about "how cool is it that the O.T. so clearly points out Jesus", though.
Delete