The Incarnation of Jesus Christ
Matthew is one of Jesus disciples. Once he was a despised tax collector, but his life was changed by Christ. Matthew wrote this letter to his fellow Jews to prove that Jesus is the Messiah and to explain God’s Kingdom.
Matthews gospel opens with a genealogy to prove that Jesus is a descendant of both King David, and Abraham just as the OT predicted. Shepherds and wise men came to worship him. The Jewish people were waiting for the Messiah, the Savior to appear. However when He was born they didn’t recognize Him because they were looking for a different kind of king.
Phil 2:5-11
5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. 6 Though he was God,[a] he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges[b]; he took the humble position of a slave[c] and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form,[d] 8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. 9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Divine priveleges given up-omnipotence all power, omniscience ability know everything, omnipresence ability to be everywhere at the same time.
Mat 1:18-25
18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, her fiancé, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement[a] quietly.
20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus,[b] for he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:
23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel,[c] which means ‘God is with us.’”
24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. 25 But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.
The Virgin Birth is important to the Christian faith for 4 reasons.
1. Jesus, God’s son had to be free from the sinful nature passed on to all other human beings by Adam. When we were born, we were born into sin, with a sinful nature. When Christ was born, he was born into a sinful world, but did not have the sinful nature, because he retained His divinity or divine attributes through God who did not allow Joseph to be with Mary until Jesus was born.
2. Jesus was supernaturally born of a woman who remained a virgin until He was born
3. Jesus was a sinless human being
4. Jesus was fully divine, or God in the flesh
We all face difficulty in life, and Joseph faced the same with his wife being pregnant. She should have been stoned but God encouraged Joseph through some dreams.
Angels were sent to help declare these occurrences. Being that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, this reveals that Jesus was fully human and fully God. The Infinite God took on the limitations of humanity so He could live and die for the salvation of all who would believe in Him.
Jesus means the Lord Saves. We couldn’t save ourselves from sin and its consequences.
No matter how good we are, we can’t eliminate the sinful nature present in all of us. Jesus is the only one that can do that. He didn’t come so we could save ourselves, but came to be our Savior from the power and penalty of sin.
Your new life in Christ came from the moment you accepted Christ’s death and resurrection, and you asked Him to take control.
Prophesied in Isa 7:14 the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin[a] will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).
Incarnation- embodied in mortal form, give bodily form
God gave Jesus bodily form through the incarnation of the Virgin Birth
Luke 1:26-37
26, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27 to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. 28 Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you![a]”
29 Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 And he will reign over Israel[b] forever; his Kingdom will never end!”
34 Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”
35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. 36 What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she’s now in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God.[c]”
John 1:1, 14
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh, or human and lived among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.
Heb 10:5 you prepared a body for me.
Jesus has this miraculous entrance into humanity
The reason why Joseph had nothing to do with Jesus entrance is very important. Mat 1:25 he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. Here’s why that is important.
Jesus would not of been able to claim the legal rights to the throne of David. Jer 22:28-30, there could be no king in Israel who was a descendant of King Jehoiachin, Mat 1:12 relates that Joseph was from the line of Jehoiachin. Jesus would have been from a cursed lineage.
Objections to the Virgin Birth
1. Miraculous, but if you believe that Jesus fed the 5,000, walked on water, and healed many people, the virgin birth may not be so far out there. If an all powerful God who spoke all creation into existence does exist, than the Virgin Birth may not be beyond His capability
2. Biological impossibility-Virgin Birth contrary to the course of nature
3. Some thought they could trace it to Greek or Babylonian mythology except for the fact that there is no hero in pagan mythology for which a virgin birth is claimed, plus it is unthinkable to the Jewish mind to construct a story from mythology. Deities in mythology were born unusually, but remember, they never actually existed!
There were some objections to the virgin birth, but it doesn’t change the fact that Jesus still came, and came to save us from our sins.
How do we enter the Kingdom of God?
Jn 3:3,5 must be born again to see the Kingdom of God
How is Jesus different from Mohammed, Buddha, and Confucius?
Jesus Christ claimed to be God, and allowed himself to be worshipped as God. Rms 1 declared to be the Son of God with Power! The power of that claim was validated by the resurrection of Christ.
Mohammed believed himself to be a prophet, Buddha-seeker of truth, Confucius never claimed to be anything other than a wise teacher. Jesus alone claimed to be God.
Jn 9:35-38 it is He that is talking to you.
Why does Christ make all these claims?
He loves the people in the world, and Mat 1:21 and wants to save the people from their sins.
Was Jesus Christ always a man? No. He became man at the time of The Incarnation.
Jesus, the son of God, while retaining his divine nature, took upon himself the nature of man. Jn 1:14
Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus, God Himself was. No holy seed either, but a body God gave Jesus. The womb of Mary was the place where Jesus physically grew. But had nothing to do with the inception of Christ.
Example: our house is a place where the boys will grow up, eat, sleep, but the house itself had nothing to do with their initial conception. That was me!
That is what makes the Virgin Birth so supernatural. There wasn't any intervention from Mary’s normal reproductive cycle.
2 natures united in Christ- the divine and the human isa 9:6, mat 28:18, col 2:9, 1 john 1:7
Jesus put a face on God-Jn 14:9 you have seen me you have seen the Father
Jesus emptied himself of his eternal majesty and splendor to come to earth, but did empty himself of his divinity, love, kindness, compassion. His divine nature was undiminished in the incarnation.
It was necessary for him to become man to take our place under the law, and so He might die in our place. Gal 4:4-5, Heb 2:14
It was necessary for Him to be fully God to save us from our sins, and the penalty of sin, overcome death and the devil, and fulfill the law
Jn 1:17 Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment