The Jewish province of Judea in Ancient Rome was an exceptionally conservative, religious place. Gender roles were strictly defined, as were expectations when it came to sex and marriage. Deuteronomy, as a part of traditional Jewish law, pronounced a brutal and strict punishment for women who fornicated:
“Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel.” So, it makes sense why a teenage Mary, after visiting her husband-to-be Joseph for several
Months and then becoming pregnant, would have not been merely in a lot of trouble with society, but facing death as a result of her supposed indiscretion. It also makes sense that if Joseph wasn’t the father, he would have wanted to dust off his hands and say bye-bye to his
Bride-to-be. That is, unless Joseph turned out to be precisely the kind of understanding, stand-up guy that he needed to be. The Bible uses a Greek word meaning “pledged to be married” to describe Mary and Joseph’s relationship in the time leading up to the birth of Jesus. Something between engaged
And married, and similar to “betrothed” this meant that Mary had passed along to Joseph’s rule from her father’s, but they were not yet allowed to have a sexual relationship. So, if Joseph noticed she was pregnant, whether he was the father or not, he could have exposed
Her and had her executed, even if only because he didn’t want to bear the shame of being implicated in a pre-wedlock pregnancy. Before they were betrothed, this right would have fallen to Mary’s father. Overall, the Bible doesn’t have much to say about Joseph, but his response to Mary’s unexpected
Pregnancy might be all we need to know about him and his character. Joseph didn’t rat Mary out, and in fact kept things hush-hush, planning at first to divorce her quietly, according to the book of Matthew. At this point Joseph hadn’t yet come around to accepting his divine fatherly duties, and
It’s understandable why he would have felt this way. Joseph also didn’t want to expose her to public disgrace, which is a nice way of saying that he didn’t want Mary murdered by rocks. Maybe not a high bar to clear, but it was still exceptional for the time.
Before Joseph could leave Mary, however, the book of Matthew states that an angel appeared to him, saying, “Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he
Shall save his people from their sins.” The passage goes on to say that this occurred as prophecy foretold. This heavenly intercession, similar to Mary’s visit by Gabriel recounted in the book of Luke, was all it took to make
Joseph a believer. The Bible says he was a God-fearing guy who, we presume, must have been acquainted with the prophecy. The next morning, Joseph woke up and did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him to
Do, and took Mary home as his wife. Easy-peasy. And just to be extra clear about the whole premarital sex issue, the passage in question goes on to say that Mary and Joseph didn’t have intercourse before they were officially, formally married. In the end, it seems that
The Almighty did a good job of choosing a couple to act as wards for His earthly incarnation. “The baby’s kicking. He’s strong.” “Like his mother.” Despite cinematic depictions to the contrary, this is all supposed to have happened when
Mary and Joseph were teenagers. We know this because only legal adults of ages 18 or higher were required to take part in censuses to pay taxes, which is why Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem around the time of Jesus’ birth. And as the Bible goes on to say, this is around
The time when Emperor Augustus called for the aforementioned census, which more or less forced Mary and Joseph to stick together and not backpedal from their celestial commitment. It would have certainly been a scandalous affair for a young, pregnant, betrothed couple
To take to the road in those days, but Mary and Joseph did it, nonetheless. Mary accepted her role, and Joseph stuck by her side, claiming Jesus as his own child. They set off towards Bethlehem, and the rest of the well-known story unfolds: they find no room at the inn,
Settle into a nice nativity scene, get a visit from three wise men, and chill with some livestock. Despite a challenging, mystical start, Mary and Joseph stayed together, raising Jesus prior to him setting off to preach at age 30.
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I’m always glad when Christmas comes around, because I finally have the opportunity to sing one of my favorite hymns, and it’s only sung around Christmas. That hymn is “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” It is not only my favorite Christmas Carol, but it is one of my very favorite hymns, and I’m not alone.
In 1872 the Church of England selected the four greatest hymns in the English language, and “Hark the Herald Angels” was one of those hymns. I wait all year to sing this hymn, and then I find myself singing it and humming it to myself all through the season.
It is a tribute to our Savior, our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is one of the greatest treasures that the church has musically, and it is a treasure to the mind and soul of everyone who has memorized the incredible words to this hymn.
It was originally written in 1739 by Charles Wesley who wrote it as a Christmas day hymn. Fifteen years later, along came George Whitefield, the great preacher, great evangelist, and he felt that the words needed a little bit of editing, so he Calvinized it.
And fifteen years after the original work of Wesley, Whitefield brought its lyrics into the familiar form that we sing today. It needed a tune, and the years went by, and Wesley had always said it needs a kind of a somber, slow tune. But it never really caught on with that kind of tune.
And then about a hundred years after Whitefield in the mid 1800s there was a famous German Jew who was baptized a Christian, baptized into the Christian faith. This German Jew wrote a cantata in the honor of Johannes Gutenberg who invented the printing
Press, and in that Cantata there was an amazing tune, and that is the tune that since about 1850 has been associated with “Hard the Herald Angels Sing,” and that German Jew who converted to Christ was Felix Mendelssohn.
So when you get a song that has Wesley, Whitefield, and Mendelssohn, it’s going to be good; and it is good. It is the best. I know you know it, but I can’t go any further really without reminding you of the words: “Hark! The herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn King.
Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!’ Joyful, all ye nations rise, join the triumph of the skies; with the angelic host proclaim, ‘Christ is born in Bethlehem!’ Hark! The herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn King!’ “Christ, by highest heaven adored; Christ the everlasting Lord; late in time, behold
Him come, offspring of the virgin’s womb. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; hail the incarnate Deity, pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel. Hark! The herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn King!’ “Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace! Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings, risen with healing in His wings. Mild He lays His glory by, born that man no more may die; born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth. Hark! The herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn King!'”
And there are at least three other verses that are not in the hymnal. Great hymn. Just an incomparable hymn, and every verse ends with, “Glory to the newborn King!” Wesley and Whitefield instruct us concerning the person of Jesus Christ in this hymn.
He is the newborn King, but He is also identified as the Prince of Peace, the Son of Righteousness, the Everlasting Lord, the Incarnate Deity, and most of all Emmanuel, God with us. It’s an almost breath-taking Christology in this magnificent tribute. And, by the way, this is Christianity.
Christianity is that God, the Eternal Son, left heaven, came to earth as a baby born to a woman miraculously without a human father; born to save the sons of earth, born to give them second birth. That is Christianity, and that birth is how the New Testament begins.
So let’s go to the beginning in the book of Matthew and the very first chapter. Over the next four weeks we’re going to look at Matthew’s account of the birth of the King. Jesus asked the Jewish leaders about Messiah one day, recorded in Matthew 22. “He said, ‘Whose son is Messiah to be?’
And they replied immediately, ‘Son of David. Son of David.'” Royalty. They saw Him as a man born in the line of David. That is exactly what the Old Testament declared back in 2 Samuel, chapter 7. We are told that the greater son of David, the Messiah who will establish God’s kingdom
Will come through the royal line of David. Whoever is the Messiah, whoever is God’s anointed king must be a descendent of David. That is why Matthew begins the way he does, verse 1: “The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David.”
And then you have a detailed genealogy coming all the way down to “Joseph” – in verse 16 – “the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.” The Messiah, verse 1, must be a son of David. Messiah is, in David’s line, the royal right, passing through Joseph.
Let me hasten to say this: Jesus was not related to Joseph by blood, but in Luke, chapter 1, there is a genealogy of Mary, and Mary also came from David’s line. Mary gave Jesus the royal blood, Joseph gave Him the royal right, because the royal right always came from the father.
But it’s more than just the son of David that Messiah must be. He must be the son of David. He must have the blood of the line of David coursing through His veins, and He did through Mary.
He must have the right to the throne, which He received through the fact that Joseph was His legal father in the earthly sense. But He had to be more than just the son of David, He had also to be the Son of God.
And that is the message that Matthew gives us, starting in verse 18. Not only was He in the line of David, but He is divine. Not just man, not just royal, but He is divine, He is the Son of God.
Verse 18: “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man, not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.
But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall His name Immanuel,’
Which translated means, ‘God with us.’ And Joseph awake from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.” Mary’s Son is God with us.
Mary’s Son is Immanuel. We are thus introduced to the incarnate God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Here, this account of His birth is a very critical identifying mark that sets Him apart from any and every human being who has ever been born.
He is the only one born of a virgin, conceived by God in the womb, the God-man: fully divine, fully human. But Matthew focuses particularly on His kingship, on the royal right that He has to the throne as God’s Anointed. That’s why he gives the royal genealogy at the very beginning.
And then he gives this remarkable birth that adds to His human royal line: divinity. Matthew presents to us all through his gospel Jesus as King. Let me just give you a little bit of a look at that. First of all, Matthew shows us the King revealed.
The person of Jesus Christ is always painted in royal colors. His ancestry, as we saw, is traced through a royal line. His birth is dreaded by a rival king. Wise men offer Him royal gifts. His herald, John the Baptist, declared that He is a king and that His kingdom is at hand.
His temptation reaches its climax when He is justly offered the kingdoms of this entire world. His great Sermon on the Mount is the manifesto of the King, setting forth the standards of His kingdom. His miracles are His royal credentials. His parables are called the mysteries of the kingdom.
He is hailed as son of David, but also as Son of God. He claims freedom from paying tribute to earthly kings, because He Himself is the Son of the Great King, and is Himself a King. He makes a royal entry into Jerusalem where He declares Himself to be the King.
And while facing the cross He predicts that He will rise again and He will establish His future reign. He proclaims sovereign power to command angels. Even His last words are a kingly claim and a royal command: “All authority has been given unto Me in heaven and earth. Go therefore.”
So Matthew presents Him as royalty, as God’s Anointed King, the revealed King. But Matthew also presents Him as the rejected King. The rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ is emphasized by Matthew all the way through. Before He was born His mother was in danger of being rejected by Joseph.
At His birth, Jesus faced the possibility of death. Jerusalem was troubled by His birth. Herod sought His life. In Matthew’s account, on the plains of Bethlehem, no angel choir sings. But in Matthew’s account, mothers weep as their baby sons are slaughtered in an attempt to kill the true King.
Even as a child He is hurried away into obscurity in Egypt for awhile, and then He’s hurried back up to Nazareth, and obscure town where He stays in obscurity until He’s 30 years of age. His forerunner and cousin John the Baptist is arrested, imprisoned, and beheaded.
During the time of His ministry He has no home of His own, nowhere to lay His head. He is a wanderer. His parables demonstrate the character of His kingdom age, and they are rejected by His people. In His death, He is forsaken by His people, He is forsaken by God.
In Matthew, there’s no penitent thief praying. There’s no word of human sympathy recorded by Matthew as He faces death. But Matthew does describe the reviling, the mocking, and the bribing of the soldiers to lie about His resurrection. No other gospel so chronicles the bitterness of the rejection of the King.
But, finally, Matthew’s focus is not only on the revealing of the King and the rejection of the King, but on the return of the King. No other gospel says as much about the second coming of Christ as does Matthew. It is a gospel of triumph.
The King is to be revealed, He is to be rejected, but He is to return and establish His promised kingdom and reign there forever and ever. Matthew begins at the very beginning with His birth. Just a note about the genealogy. In the genealogy you have many men listed.
But tucked into the genealogy are the names of four women in the first seventeen versus of Matthew 1. Interesting women. There is Tamar, guilty of prostitution and incest. There is Rahab, a prostitute and idolatress. There is Ruth from Moab whose whole line was cursed because it descended from incest.
And there is Bathsheba who was an adulterous woman, and whose husband was murdered out of that adultery. Those are the four women in the genealogy, which is a declaration by God that the King is a gracious King, and the King has come to identify with sinners.
The greatest credential for the King is not His genealogy, as wonderful as it is, it tells us in the royal line, it tells us He will be a gracious King. He will identify with sinners. But the greatest credential is His birth, and that’s what I read you in verses 18 to 25.
This identifies Him as having come from heaven. Now the facts are clear, you saw them there. Joseph and Mary were engaged, betrothed, not yet officially married, not yet having consummated that union. Joseph knew Mary was pregnant, and he knew that was not his child.
We are then told the child was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary. And then Joseph is commanded to marry her and name the child, who is God with us, with the name Jesus. Those are the simple facts of this very understated massive divine work of the virgin conception
And birth of the Son of God. Now let’s look a little more deeply. First of all the virgin birth conceived – and we’ll look at verse 18. “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to
Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.” This is just such a simple explanation of a staggering, incomprehensible, divine miracle. The Bible does that a lot, simply states things that are beyond our comprehension. We don’t know anything about Mary really.
John 19:25 mentions her sister, who was also one who followed Jesus. That’s really all we know. We look at Luke 1 and we get her genealogy, so we know the name of the family behind her. We know she was related to Elizabeth, who was the wife of Zacharias the priest, and
They were the parents of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus. We know she lived in Nazareth, which was a town in the north of Israel up in the Galilee area, a nondescript town of which it was said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” A blue collar down, insignificant religiously, insignificant historically.
That’s all we know about her in terms of biography, in terms of earthly background. We know nothing about her family, what they did. But we do know about her character, which is what is most important, because in Luke,
Chapter 1, in verse 38, Mary says in response to being told by Gabriel the archangel that she’s going to be the mother of the Most Holy Child, the Son of God. She says, “Behold, the slave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.”
This is a 13-year-old girl or so who sees herself as a slave of the Lord, a willing, loving slave of the Lord who wants only to do whatever the Lord asks her to do. She is a worshiper.
Over in verse 46, in response to this, she says, “My soul exalts the Lord, my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior, for He has had regard for the humble state of His slave; for behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.
For the Mighty One has done great things for me; and holy is His name.” And she goes on to quote Old Testament passages in that beautiful Magnificat. She is theologically astute. She knows God, she knows the attributes of God, she knows the Old Testament.
All that she says is drawn right out of the Old Testament. She is a righteous young girl, a slave of the Lord who believes what the Lord says and wants only to do what He asks her to do. She’s a godly young girl.
Now she is, it says in verse 18, betrothed to Joseph. You have to understand Jewish marriage contracts were a little different than we have today. People get engaged and disengaged, then engaged, then disengaged, and we’ve all become pretty used to that happening.
In the Jewish plan of marriage, when you were engaged or betrothed, that was a binding legal covenant. You literally bound yourself for life to the one that you had desired to marry. You can find that back in Deuteronomy 20 in verse 7.
Betrothal was a legal contract demanding, defining two people as committed to one another for life. Betrothal was a trial period. There was no consummation during betrothal. That came after the actual marriage ceremony. There were usually several months during the betrothal period. What was that for?
Well, in some ways, the husband needed to make preparations for the wedding. That would be an extensive responsibility that he would have. But even more than that, it was a trial time to see if the person that you had committed to would be faithful to that covenant.
It was a time to prove your holiness, your virtue, and your righteousness. It was clearly before they came together that they had been betrothed. So they were set by covenant, by legal contract for a marriage. But this was the trial period to find out if the person would be faithful.
And, back to verse 18, before they came together, before they were actually married, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. The worst possible scenario was that a betrothed woman would become pregnant. That’s why you had the trial period to prove her integrity, her virtue. She was pregnant.
She was about three months pregnant, if you calculate what the New Testament says, at this time when Joseph gets the information. And by the way, she knew she was pregnant. How did she know? Luke 1:26, because the angel Gabriel came to her when they were back in Nazareth and
Said, “Behold, don’t be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God” – verse 30, 31 – “Behold, you will conceive in your womb, bear a son; you shall name 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. He will reign over the throne of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” He’s the King. “Mary said, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’
The angle answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the Holy Child shall be called the Son of God.” Nothing will be impossible with God. So she knew, she knew.
But apparently she knew before Joseph knew. Maybe she was just trying to figure out how to explain that since that had never happened. Now Joseph found out that she was pregnant. I can’t imagine the shock and devastation, because this is a virtuous girl that he knows
And loves and is committed to for life, and he finds out that she is pregnant. And according to Deuteronomy 22, verses 23 and 24, if a betrothed woman became pregnant, she was to be stoned to death. So a cloud of suspicion and shame and scandal is hanging over her head, because she doesn’t
Know how to explain this. There’s really no precedent for this, there’s no way to explain it. In all human history there’s never been a virgin birth. And now Joseph is in shock because he’s found out that she is pregnant, and he can’t understand it.
And so in verse 19, “Joseph her husband, being a righteous man, not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.” Righteousness is a wonderful word, It embodies holiness, virtue, morality; but it also embodies compassion. Part of being righteous is being compassionate. This is a righteous man.
You might say, “Well, if he was a righteous man, he’d make a public display out of her. A righteous man would uphold righteousness, and a righteous man would make this public and say, ‘She has been unfaithful; I want to declare her unfaithfulness.
We’re going to bring her before the appropriate witnesses and we’re going to deal with thing publicly, because she needs to be a warning sign concerning this kind of sin.'” But there is inherently within true righteousness compassion and deep affection and love. He loves her, he cares for her.
He doesn’t understand what has happened, he has no explanation for it, but his heart is compassionate toward her. And so we saw the virgin birth conceived in verse 18, and now the virgin birth is confronted in verses 19 and 20. It’s confronted by Joseph. They’re betrothed.
He’s a righteous man, that is he desires to do what is pleasing to God. You could even say that he has been declared righteous by faith in God in the same way that Old Testament saints had. Certainly Mary was one of them.
He is a true Old Testament saint justified before God by faith. The justification of that man and even the transformation of that man’s heart is evidenced in his obedience to God, his desire to obey God, to marry a godly, virtuous woman. And to also demonstrate compassion.
Mary was precious to him, the girl of his hopes. But he had to do what was right. But he doesn’t want to disgrace her – back to verse 19 – wanting not to disgrace her. There’s no bitterness. There’s no anger. There’s no hostility.
There’s no desire to make a display out of her, just confusion and compassion. Two courses are really open to him at this point. The harshest would be to make a public example of her. And even though capital punishment as a punishment for sin had disappeared in the history of
Israel, there was still the threat of a public divorce, a bill of divorce, a public lawsuit against her; and she would be brought into some kind of court, and there would be witnesses coming into the court to testify against her that she was pregnant and that Joseph was not the father.
In ancient times she would have been stoned to death. But in more recent times, during the time of their life, divorce had taken the place of stoning. He could have had a public divorce and sort of exonerated himself, but he doesn’t want to do that.
“So he decided to” – it says at the end of verse 19 – “send her away secretly.” Send away is the word apoluō . It’s the New Testament word for divorce. But not publicly, not with witnesses testifying against her to justify his action, but a very quiet, very private divorce.
He wasn’t going to go through with the marriage to a woman who was unfaithful. He is devastated, he is crushed. It is all unthinkable to him, unimaginable. But he loves her, he cares for her, and so he decides that he is going to just do this very secretly.
However, verse 20 says, “When he had considered this,” – he was in the middle of considering it, meditating on it; apparently he falls asleep, mulling over in his mind what he’s going to do with this love of his life – “behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream.”
I don’t understand the reality of that; I don’t know how to define that. It says a dream, and yet it says an angel of the Lord actually appeared to him in a dream. This is a supernatural experience, that’s all we can say, that’s all we need to know.
“An angle of the Lord appears to him in a dream and says, ‘Joseph, son of David,’ – again reiterating that he is in the royal line – ‘do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.'”
What an unbelievably shocking dream. You know, he probably felt like most men feel, “I’m really not good enough for her.” And then he might have thought for a moment, “Maybe she’s not good enough for me.” And now he hears from an angel that God Himself has planted a life in her womb, something
That has never happened to any woman. And now he goes back to saying, “If I thought I wasn’t worthy of her before, I’m sure not worthy of her now if out of all the world God has chosen her to be the mother of His incarnate Son.”
We think about people being engaged having a difficult time waiting until they’re married to display their affection. I think Joseph must have felt like he needed to stay away from her, because he was some kind of transcendent person beyond anything he could ever imagine himself to be worthy of.
He is told that the child in her has been conceived by the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Trinity. He would know the Holy Spirit from the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit coming on people for all kinds of reasons in the Old Testament, bringing God’s power and God’s presence into a life.
This is stunning, shocking. It’s the same message that Mary heard back in Luke 1: “The child will be produced by the Holy Spirit. This will be a Holy Child. This will be the Son of God.” So Joseph is now trying to figure out just exactly, “How do I fit into that?”
Little wonder then that when the angel said, “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.” Fear was the first reaction of Joseph. “Stop being afraid. You can take her as your wife. She is not so transcendent, she is not so holy, she is not elevated that she cannot be your wife.
What has been conceived in her has been conceived by the Holy Spirit.” Verse 21: “She will bear a Son; and you shall call his name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” She will bear a Son. It doesn’t say, “She will bear you a son.” Never says that.
In Luke 1:13, the Lord said to Zacharias, “Elizabeth will bear you a son, because you are a participating father.” That is never said to Joseph. It’s just, “She will bear a Son.” This is Mary’s Son and this is God’s Son. This is not Joseph’s Son.
By the way, throughout the 2nd chapter of Matthew, Mary is identified as His mother and Joseph is never stated as His father, never. “Arise, take the young Child and His mother and flee into Egypt. Take your Child. Arise, take the young Child and His mother, go into the Land of Israel.”
This is not Joseph’s Son; this is God’s Son, this is Mary’s Son. In fact, in the 2nd chapter of Matthew, God says, “Out of Egypt have I called My Son.” Jesus was God’s Son and Mary’s Son, never Joseph’s Son.
The mystery of all of this is profound and confounding, and when it says down in verse 25 that he kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son, I can fully understand that, that he wouldn’t want to do anything to touch her.
It was not legal to do that anyway, just because they hadn’t had the marriage ceremony. But I think it would have been hard to imagine himself even putting a hand on such a set apart and anointed life chosen by God for such singular calling. But Joseph, you do have a role to play.
Father gives the name, so verse 21, “You shall call His name Jesus Yeshua” – Old Testament Joshua – “for He will have His people from their sins.” Yeshua means Jehovah saves, Jehovah saves. That’s His name, Jesus, Jehovah saves, for He will save His people from their sins.”
There are a lot of names that are given to Jesus in the Old Testament, you’re familiar with them: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Father of Eternity – Isaiah 9, Servant of Jehovah, Yahweh – lots of names of Jesus. But here is a new name. His name is to be Yeshua, Jehovah saves. That’s remarkable.
Back in the 43rd chapter of Isaiah, God claims some singular characteristics. He says, verse 11, “I, even I, am the Lord,” and yet in the New Testament Jesus is declared Lord. God says in the same verse, “There is no Savior besides Me,” and yet Jesus is to be named
Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins. God is a Savior; Jesus is a Savior. In that same chapter, verse 13, God says, “Even from eternity I am He.” John 1:1 says that Jesus was in eternity with the Father. Verse 14 says, “The Lord is your Redeemer.”
In the New Testament, Jesus is the Redeemer. The Lord is the Holy One; in the New Testament, Jesus is the Holy Child. Things that God declares for Himself alone are also declared of Christ, which is to say that He is therefore God.
Chapter 42 of Isaiah, verse 8, “I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another.” That’s true. But He gives His glory to Christ, because glory to Christ is not giving glory to another. Christ is one with God. So He is the Savior.
He’s the only Savior; He’s the Savior of the world. There is no other Savior, it is God and God alone who saves His people, and He does it through the work of His Son Jesus. “There’s no salvation in any other” – Acts 4:12. Who is able to save? Who is mighty to save?
Only the virgin-born God-man, Son of David, Son of Mary. And then in verses 22 and 23 you have the virgin birth connected, connected. We saw it conceived and confronted, clarified in regard to the name as the message came to Joseph.
But here it’s connected, and it’s connected to an Old Testament prophecy: “Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us.'”
That is a direct quote from Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 7:14. Here Matthew shows us that the virgin birth was promised, was promised. And if you go back to Isaiah 7:14 that’s exactly what you read with the addition of just an
Opening statement: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and will call His name Immanuel. The Lord will give you a sign.” The word here “virgin” in verse 23 is parthenos in Greek, and it always means virgin and only means virgin.
It’s used about 12 or 13 times in the New Testament. It always and only means virgin. The text of Isaiah 700 years before uses the word almah , and some people say, “Well, almah can mean a young girl. A young girl doesn’t have to mean a virgin.”
Although it is used nine times in the Old Testament, eight of them, it has to mean a virgin. One time it may be just a reference to a young girl. But clearly the intent of almah in Isaiah 7:14 is to be used at virgin, because that’s
What the Holy Spirit inspires Matthew to write. The New Testament writer under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is interpreting the word almah in the Old Testament as parthenos in the New, which is virgin. And that’s the only thing that makes sense.
Critics like to say, “Well, no, Isaiah 7:14 should simply be stated, ‘A young woman will be with child and bear a son.'” There’s something missing in that. And what is it? The opening statement: “The Lord Himself will show you a sign.”
If I say to you, “A young woman is going to become pregnant and have a son,” what sign in that? That’s not a sign of anything, that happens every day. That’s not a sign of anything. But a virgin becoming pregnant and bearing a son, that’s a sign. That’s the sign of Isaiah 7:14.
“Look for a miracle. Look for a virgin becoming pregnant and bearing a son.” Even from the scientific standpoint, critics love to tamper with this, and some have suggested that Mary had a sort of spontaneous generation, a kind of parthenogenesis on her own and produced
Jesus on her own without God intervening, that there is a scientific natural explanation to this. And if you read any science, any of that – I’m reading a big long book on the history of genes; and in studying that, it’s fascinating to say that you can go back into history in
The nineteenth century, and even back before that, and people were trying to reproduce life. There were all kinds of very fine insects, and there were sea urchins, and they were trying to see if they could generate without the normal male-female coming together.
And there had been some indications in history where this could happen, and then there was Pincus and his rabbits, and there’s some machinations done with animals like that. But the problem is this: even in those cases where you have that, you have a problem.
Mary, if she spontaneously generated Jesus, could only have a daughter, because there’s no Y chromosome. Y chromosome comes from the man. That’s what’s so important about, “She will bear a son, she will bear a son.” And this son will be the one prophesized in Isaiah 7:14, “And the sign will be that she
Will be a virgin bearing a son, and you shall call His name Immanuel, which translates into God with us. She will have the Son of God.” You know, the rabbis kind of hovered around this notion that Messiah would have a unique birth. They said Messiah may not have an earthly father.
Some rabbis said Messiah will be born without defect. One rabbi said Messiah’s birth will not be like the birth of other men. One other rabbi, one other rabbi said that Messiah’s birth will be like the dew of the Lord as drops on the grass without the action of man.
The book of Enoch 150 years before Christ says, “Of the Messiah, He appears by the side of the Ancient of Days.” In other words, they even seem to acknowledge Messiah’s pre-incarnate existence. But they really didn’t understand it and they rejected, they rejected Him. “He came to His own, His own received Him not.”
But the prophecy was fulfilled. The coming of the King, the virgin-born Son of God, son of David, fulfills the sign prophecy of Isaiah 7:14. Galatians 4:4, Paul puts it this way: “In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son,
Born of a woman,” – born of a woman, but the Son of God. A final word, the virgin birth completed in the last two verses: “Joseph awoke from his sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, took Mary as his wife.” They had the wedding ceremony.
Kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.” He got the message, believed it, and named her Son, Yeshua, Jehovah saves, because He came to save His people from their sins.
He kept her a virgin, by the way, until she gave birth to a Son, which means that He didn’t keep her a virgin after that, and that’s clear in the New Testament, because Jesus had brothers and sisters born to Joseph and Mary, and they’re named and referred to.
She was not a perpetual virgin, and she was not immaculately conceived without sin. Those are fantasies of the Roman Catholic system. She had many other children, but not until after Jesus was born did Joseph come near her. So that’s the story. That’s the story from Matthew.
Paul looks at that same story in these words: “He, the Lord Jesus Christ, existed in the form of God. Did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave and being made in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man.
He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason God highly exalted Him, bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, those in heaven and earth, under the
Earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” The supernatural birth of Jesus is the only way you can account for His life. An unbeliever once said to a Christian, “If I told you that a child had been born without
A father, would you believe it?” The Christian answered, “Yes, if he lived as Jesus lived.” The King is revealed. His birth proves who He is. In Christ, God came to dwell with us – with the sick, to heal them; with the demonized,
To liberate them; with the poor in spirit, to bless them; with the meek, to lift them up to His kingdom; with the fearful and guilty, to free them from care and dread; with the lepers, to cleanse them; with the diseased, to cure them; with the hungry, to feed them;
But most of all, with the lost, to seek and save them. Through His poverty we are made rich. The King is born. Next week, we’re going to see who and why the wise men were. Father, thank You again this morning for an incredibly wonderful, rich time in fellowship and beautiful music and worship.
Fill our hearts with joy and thanksgiving through this season as we contemplate the wonderful gift of Jesus Christ who came to save His people from their sins. We are His people by grace, through faith, and we rejoice. May that joy be unbounded and demonstrate itself in our faithfulness to You, we pray
This is the story of how Jesus Christ the Saviour of the world was born the story begins in a place called Nazareth Nazareth was a quiet sleepy little town where most people were farmers and shepherds in this town there lived a young Jewish woman named Mary
She was a very obedient and God fearing woman she helped her parents in the field and did her chores in the house she was kind and helpful to everyone and people liked her very much Mary was going to get married soon to a good and honest man named Joseph
A few days before Mary’s engagement she had a visitor he was a very special guest an angel sent by God from heaven the holy angel Gabriel visited her in her room and called her in her sleep when Mary opened her eyes
She saw a heavenly figure bathed in a pool of white light floating beyond her window it wore bright white robes and had big silver wings fluttering behind him at first she thought she was dreaming but later when she heard the angels voice she realised this was no dream Mary do not be afraid
I am Gabriel God has sent me to you he loves you and you have been chosen for something very special your kind heart and pure soul is of great value to the Lord you are fortunate that God has chosen you above everyone else for this special task I’m not afraid
I’m honour to know that God has chosen me to carry out his wish I am lucky to be a favour to God bless you Mary God is pleased with you I have come to tell you that soon you will have a son
He will be a great King one day and he will be loved by everyone he will be called the son of God Mary was at first shocked at what Gabriel had to say however she remained calm and listened to everything that the angel had to say then she spoke to Gabriel
But how was this possible I’m not yet married do not be afraid Mary the Spirit of the Lord will take over you and you will be blessed with a son he will be called the Son of God he will do great things for the people
He will be hailed as the king of Jews and the Savior of mankind I’m grateful for whatever the Lord has done for me I’m happy to have as a wish come true through me the Lord is with you Mary you are blessed go in peace
Gabriel then left the house of Mary and returned to heaven in a few days Mary became pregnant in those days it was very unusual for a girl to become pregnant before marriage however Mary explained everything to Joseph about the angel and God’s wish and the son they were going to have
Joseph was a good man and he accepted everything he married Mary in a few days in those days the king of the land announced a census he wanted every citizen of his country to be counted and documented since Joseph was actually from Bethlehem he had to go there to be counted
Bethlehem was a long way from Nazareth Joseph and Mary had a long and difficult journey ahead to Bethlehem there were no cars or other means of transportation except for a donkey the whole journey had to be made by foot Mary sat on a donkey and Joseph walked behind them
It was even more difficult for Mary since she was going to give birth to her baby after many many days of walking through the desert Joseph and Mary finally reached Bethlehem it was getting very dark when they reached the town they desperately needed a place to rest and spend the night
But all the inns were full and nobody would give them space to spend the night Joseph walked all over the town knocking at the doors of houses and shops one after the other but nobody would allow them to come in Mary was about to give birth and it was important
That she had a safe and comfortable place for the baby and herself Joseph and Mary kept feeling hopeless after searching for a while Joseph found an empty barn built for cows there was plenty of fresh straw there Joseph used the straw and managed to make a bed for Mary
Later in the night something magical happened Mary gave birth to a beautiful baby boy Joseph made a small bed of fresh straw in the manger and laid him there it was warm and comfortable and the baby slept happily in the manger Mary was happy that the predictions of the Angels had come true
Jesus Christ the Savior of this world was born in a humble manger that same night while Joseph and Mary were looking for a place to stay the night not very far away two shepherds were out looking for their sheep on a hill
suddenly they were blinded by a bright light from the sky they opened their eyes to find a beautiful angel in front of them with long golden hair and silver wings she wore a shimmering white and gold dress which sparkled in the moonlight
The Shepherd’s did not know how to react and were amazed then the angel spoke to them do not be afraid I have come to give you good news tonight in the town of Bethlehem a baby boy has been born his name is Jesus
He will be known as a Savior of the world you will know it is Jesus when you see a baby boy wrapped in the clothes in the manger go to the world’s and just everybody know of this happy news let everybody know that Jesus the Savior of the Jews was born today
Go in peace now and spread the good news the shepherds were happy and shocked at the same time they were overjoyed at the fact that a Savior was born and they ran towards Bethlehem to find baby Jesus
The king of the Jews who had been born in a humble manger when they eventually found the baby in the manger in Bethlehem they praised him and bowed down in worship on the night that Jesus was born three wise men were travelling on their camels across the desert
Suddenly their felt a flash of light come down on them they looked up at the sky and they saw a bright star it was a kind of star that they had never seen before the three wise men were aware of the prophecy of Jesus
They were waiting for the Star of Bethlehem to appear and when they saw it they were overjoyed it meant that the Savior of the world and the king of the Jews was born at the time of Jesus birth the country was under the rule of King Herod
Who was a very selfish and evil king when the three wise men informed King Herod of the star they had seen in the sky in what it meant King Herod was worried that he would lose his kingdom to this baby boy
He told the Wise man to find the baby Jesus and let him know where the baby was although the king informed the wise men that he wanted to find the baby so he could go and worship Him Herod was actually plotting to kill the child
He feared that Jesus would grow up to overpower him someday the three wise men followed the star for several days and found baby Jesus in the manger they were surprised to find the future king of Jews lying in a barn
They found the barn in which Jesus was born a few days after he was born finally the star stopped right over the manger they smiled at Mary and bowed down in reverence to the new baby they had brought gifts of gold frankincense and myrrh for the baby
These were very valuable gifts and only given to Kings it was highly unusual for anybody to give these precious things to a newborn baby however this was no ordinary baby and the wise men fully understood the purpose of Jesus’s birth and so now you know the story of Christmas
And how the mighty Savior of the world started his journey on earth the story shows us that great things can have small and humble beginnings
Without a doubt, Christian apologist are long. I can’t emphasize this enough. And it’s not just Christian apologist. There is this apologetic even within scholarship, that keeps going. That Jesus is birth. You know, that virgin birth by Mary, where the Purnima overshadows her and she has.
Jesus is unique and there are no other nonsexual union birth conceptions where the God conceives a child through a mortal woman without sex other than Jesus. This is not true. Let’s share this with anyone who denies it, because the evidence, they just haven’t seen it yet. But Dr.
David, while he has dug deep into this, every serious academic that I speak to goes his work is mind blowing. Be sure to go check out his stuff. Go in the description. Share this for the next fundamentalist or atheist that says otherwise. Ladies and gentlemen, we’re talking about divine births.
Maybe some of these might be virgins. Or we’re going to address this issue today with Dr. Tim David, that he’s got a YouTube channel. He’s got a patron. Go down in the description now. Maybe your children will be conceived of a god. If you do. So, go help them out.
Dr. Little, welcome back to Ms.. Vision. Hi there. Yeah, great to be here. Happy holidays to. You and everybody. It’s it’s good to be back. I’m really thankful you’re back. You’re going to be able to educate us today. And diving into my favorite book that you produced and it’s
I mean, it’s up there like it competes with, you know, the evil creator and some other stuff that I really enjoy, just understanding Jesus in a mediterranean world. Yes, it stays. It’s got a lot of praise among many other scholars as well. Today I’ll be. Looking. At whether. You need to. Have sex.
Between divine beings and human women in order to. Produce a. Divine conception. Because today. When. You know. People think of this on a popular. Level, they kind of have these binary categories set for them. So if they know a. Little bit about Greek mythology, they. Kind of imagine. That. Zuse and Apollo.
Were really. Really horny back in the day and. They would repeatedly have sex with. Human women and that. Would produce the race of demigods. And. Who are they? The heroes of the age of age of heroes. And that’s how we got Heraclius and Romulus. That and Asclepius and so many others.
It’s that you had a sex act. Between. God. And a mortal women, although sometimes. It could be the reverse. Of course, Aphrodite having sex with the, you know. Whoever she wanted to. I mean, she had her own escapades as well. So there’s this idea that that’s sort of what the Greek.
Religion was. Was about. In the time of Jesus. And then. The Jewish. Religion, where. God was or Yahweh was basically. An asexual being. And he didn’t hang around women and he didn’t even like women, you know, didn’t even allow menstruating women to go into the temple. And he was really kind of prudish.
And he never you know. The Jews. Just didn’t imagine their. Deity having sex. Or being involved. With. Sex and. Sexual activity. So it was a. Completely different. Worldview. Now, all this entire. Binary. Is based. On an. Apologetic. Framework. And this is really what do I want to emphasize here? This is exactly the.
Argument that Justin Martyr. Made. Around the year 150 in trying to. Argue for the truth. Of Christianity and this. Very. Contingent. Apologetic. Argument has unfortunately. Passed, has. Become so hackneyed and repeated so much that it. Has passed for historical fact. And that’s just. Not. The case. And it’s really important.
To see that our job. As thinking people and as historians or budding historians is not simply to. Repeat the apologetic. Arguments of ancient Christians as. As if they were fact. Okay. Because and to not. Let. One. Particular. Religion or insider. Discourse control the. Terms and the framework of thinking.
But to step outside of the box. Start afresh and think anew. Okay. I know many of you. You may have taken a course in classical mythology and or you may have a book in classical mythology and, you know, think that. This is all very obvious. But in the time of Jesus. These Greeks.
And Romans. Were as sophisticated as you. Or me in how. They thought about. Divine conception and for. Different reasons. Okay. They had issues with gods having sex. Okay. Now again, if you reading Homer, you know, Homer. Is archaic age. Okay. So doesn’t seem to. Have a problem with. Gods having.
Sex at all. Okay. Agreed. But the New Testament wasn’t written. When Homer or whoever was writing. It wasn’t. Written when he. Was writing. It was written 600 years after that, after the. Development of some of the most complex. Philosophies. And scientific arguments this. World has ever seen. Okay.
The new Testament is post Plato. And with Plato he. Revolutionizes everything. Typically elite, educated. And intellectual. Greeks. Of the time of Jesus and of the time of the New Testament writers. Which is the late first. And early second century. They do not. Believe, literally, that gods have sex
With mortals, because that’s just not what gods do. Okay. If I may, just to poke in here, this is great because I asked the question I’m giving people behind a paywall, a little sneak peek. A recent course was done on other virgin birth. I suppose it other virgin births. And Dr. Bart Ehrman,
Who was your professor at one point, took the stance that, you know, these gods that they had sex are in some way they end up impregnating these women. Like even the interpretation, let’s say in Suetonius, which I think we might mention with Augustus and there’s a serpents there
That is the in the bed with him, with his mother, with Augustus mother. I can’t remember her name, but she ends up going in like bathing. And then nine months later they have the baby and therefore this is somehow a sexual union. But I asked him a question, particularly in the
What you said. And I said, have there been any other gods who have impregnate women through Numa? And I use that specific term and he knew that was a catchy term, even emphasized that when he was saying it, he said no and I’m not trying to be pitting scholars against each other, but,
You know, sometimes I’ll catch Doctor Men where I’ll say, Hey, do you date Luke in the second century? And he’s like 85? And I’m like, Hold on. Steve Macey Steve Mason was Shelley MATTHEWS Like all of these scholars are late, you know, definitely late first
Or at least early second, maybe even the middle second. He’s still on the 85 A.D. So we want to give him a little credit here, but it sounds like he’s kind of holding on to maybe some dated ideas. Yes. Well, yeah, he’s he’s very. Traditional in some. Respects, despite his his reputation. Yep.
It is true that. Historians, even around the time of the late first century. Like Plutarch. Is a great example. He will tell you the story of how. Alexander the. Great was conceived. By means. Supposedly of a gigantic. Snake appearing in the bed. Of. Alexander’s mother. Olympias. But Plutarch will also tell you.
In his life as Alexandria. That he. Doesn’t believe. That story. And he doesn’t believe. That story because that’s just. Not. What gods do. And ever since the days of Plato. There were certain rules of theology. And this is in Plato’s Republic. Plato’s first rule of theology is a God. Does not. Lie.
And a God second. Which is. A more but expanded version of the first. A God does not change. And it’s these two rules of theology that. Revolutionized. All later theology. Including Christian. Theology. It was not acceptable. For a God to. Lie or be involved in a lying action. That is.
To take on the body and pretend to be someone. Else. For instance, in the story. Of Hercules, his birth. This takes on the. Body of Heraclitus. As human father. And between. Plato says, No, he didn’t. Or if he did. That’s not. Zeus, right? Because that’s. Not what. Gods do.
Gods do not deceive and they do not change. And why is it that gods. Do not change? It’s because gods are already perfect. Gods do not need anything. They are not deficient in any respect. Sex is the expression. Of human needs. You know, I’m well aware that, you know,
There are some asexual people. Okay. That’s totally. Fine. But for a large. Proportion of humanity. Sex is a. Biological need. It’s hormone driven, and it’s B and. And because it’s a need, okay? It’s an expression of our own deficiency, right? We’re not complete. Without. A partner. Without a sexual. Partner, we don’t.
Live the full. Flourishing life. We are incomplete. Without that. That is a manifestation of human weakness. Gods do not have that. Gods are not deficient in them. They do not change and they don’t have hormonal fluctuations and they do not get horny. Right. So this is this is Plato. Okay. Sex involves the.
Greatest amount of changes, emotionally and bodily. And that is unacceptable according to the platonic rules of theology. And anyone who is intellectual in the Roman period knows this. Okay. So, yes, historian. Can. Still, you know, tell. Like Suetonius. These. Mythological. Tales. But do they. In their mode. As philosophers, actually believe that.
First of all, women have sex with snakes in. Temples or wherever? No. And this. Is a case where we ask that great. Question. Did the. Greeks believe. Believe in their myths? Well, yes and no. They wanted to protect their sacred cultural lure. But just. Like Christians today, they reinterpret it.
So that it’s updated to the. Scientific and moral standards of the time. So they. Do not. Believe that gods have sex. And the key example. Of this is Plutarch. In talking about. The. Divine conception of. Plato. Okay. Plato is or was a human being, and he. Did not. Need to have or.
His mother did not. Have sex. With any God in order. To produce Plato. His mother was. Perfectly honest. And it was very early. Tradition put out. By Plato’s. Own nephew. Shortly after he died. So we’re talking about the middle fourth century. So 450. Years before Jesus. There was a. Tradition.
That Plato was the. Offspring of. Apollo. And during the time when. The author of Luke was. Writing. You, which. Is, I think in the first edition, the very late first century. You had Plutarch. Who’s writing at exactly the same time, telling us. How. He thinks that. Plato.
Was born from Apollo because he wants to save the myth. Right. It’s his myth. He wants to save the fact that Plato is divinely conceived, but he cannot accept. As an. Intellectual. And as a thinker. Of his time, late first, early second century, that that’s how gods operate.
So in his table talk and in his life of Numa, he presents. A theory that there is no. That general penetration. Of. Corinthian by Apollo. That wouldn’t be. How Apollo works. There is a more subtle way of conceiving. And, you know, the Greeks weren’t stupid. They observed. Things and.
They observed what they thought were. What they weren’t divine conceptions, but what. They called. Wind. Eggs. And wind eggs. Were eggs that produced chicks without. Any male rooster being involved. And they get the name wind eggs, which sounds rather simple. Or silly, but basically the way that the Greeks thought that this.
Happened. Was that these eggs were fertilized by. Panama. Which is wind. But in the New Testament it’s also translated spirit. It also means breath. It’s hot air that you breathe out. And it’s very. Subtle. And according to. Aristotle, it’s it is. That thing which is in male semen. Which fertilizes the female egg.
Inside. The womb. So numa is the natural. Choice, you know. Based on the scientific. Literature of the day, to talk about how. A woman gets pregnant and if a God is going to impregnate a woman, he need not. In fact, morally. He. Cannot impersonate a man with a penis that’s unnecessary.
And gods wouldn’t be involved in that. They have no interest in that. They have no need for that. That’s not what gods do, but it’s still possible. For them to. Breathe. Right? And they breathe. In, in efflux. Of their own. Divine seed, and then enters the woman’s body and makes her pregnant.
To illustrate. How. Concretely. Christians. Thought about this, there’s the later Christian. Tradition that Mary. Conceived through her ear, which means that. Divine tumor entered through an. Orifice is it has to go. Through somewhere. And so the. Theory was that. It went through. Mary’s ear. Why her ear? Well, because she was so obedient.
And if you look. At the route of. Obedience, it’s from audio. Audio and. Audio has to do with. Hearing, hence the. Ear. She is so. Obedient. She receives the spirit through the ear. And that is what makes her pregnant. Because the tumor has. To travel through her ear. Down to the. Uterus. That’s
How concretely they thought about this. This wasn’t some magical event. They actually did think about. You know, the. Actual. Connection of. Cause. And effect. They didn’t think that God snapped his fingers and all of a sudden, Mary was pregnant. No, you needed some. Biological. Material agent. And the natural solution was to Numa.
So this is what Plutarch says that pretty. Only Plato’s mother. Gave birth through. Another kind of divine. Power. Which is Denarius and Numa. And I have the text. Cited in chapter one. Of Yes status. I’ve also got on my YouTube channel an episode on chapter one.
So you can check out the footnotes there and. Read up. On Plutarch. What’s interesting is when you look. Up. Luke 135 we have in the Greek. The. Exact same words. Used by Plutarch. In reference to the pregnancy of. Plato used. Now. For the. Pregnancy for the divine conception of. Jesus.
Luke says in the Greek, and I’ll translate Numa how again? F.O. used to be Seth. Which means. A holy breath as I like to say, a holy breath. Will come upon you. This is the. Angel speaking to Mary. For how she gets. Pregnant. Kadima subsists to discuss sea.
And power of a most high. Will overshadow you. So he uses those exact same. Two terms. That Plutarch. Uses in the exact similar context when talking. About how a. God impregnated woman for Numa and denims. And so what this shows us is that the author of Luke is is probably at least
Trying. To sound as. Sophisticate in it as Plutarch, who is our. Representative Greek intellectual. Of the late. First and early second century. Guy. And Luke, whoever Luke is. I’m just using that. As a placeholder. The author of Luke, let’s say, knows that if he were to tell the story about. You know, God
Impregnating Mary by taking on, you know, the form of. Joseph. Well. That’s not going to fly. That’s not going to work. I mean, no Greek intellectual. Would touch that stuff. Okay. But if. There was a more. Subtle theory. Of divine conception, which involved. These quasar. Scientific terms, humor and dynamics. Well.
Then we’re talking that’s the point where. The author of the tries to get a foothold. Into the. Structures of plausibility for. The Greek intellectuals of this time. Because he’s. Already an. Apologist. He already knows that no one is going to. Believe a story of.
God having sex with a moral, with a mortal woman. Okay. He’s looking over his. Shoulder at people like Plutarch who would. Sneer at that kind of thing. So he’s. Smart enough to. Say that this. Divine conception happened through the mechanics of Numa and Denis. Just as Plato. Plato’s own divine conception happened.
So it ends up. That both Plutarch. And the. Author of Luke. Can have their cake and eat it. Too. Right. Because Plutarch. Can say. Yes, I revere Plato. I call Plato. See us Plato. On the divine Plato. Why do I do that? Because he is the. True son of Apollo.
He can still affirm that. Right. And Apollo is the God of music and the God of harmony. So, yes, that those are Plato’s characteristics. And the author. Of Luke. Can say. Guess what? Jesus is. The true son. Of a God. In this case. Yahweh. And. Yahweh. Doesn’t. Need to get his. Hands. Dirty.
And Yahweh doesn’t need a penis to. Do any of. These things. Yahweh can act. Just like Plutarch’s Apollo. And send his own breath to an pregnant Mary. So this completes Luke. 130. Five. Just to translate. It. So the Greek is Dr.. Token, Roman Hagen theCity. Choir statue. And because. Of this.
The divine. Mechanics. Of non-sexual conception. What is. Born. Will be called sacred. A son of a God. That’s the literal translation of the Greek. And this shows, once and for all that. For intellectuals, at least. And the. Author of Lucas. Trying to pose as an intellectual. You don’t need to. Have sexual intercourse
To produce a. Divine conception. Greeks don’t need. It. And Christians don’t don’t need it. So, yes, even though it’s true that in, you know, Homer. Gods have sex. And in historians. Gods have sex. Apparently by the time. Of the late first in early second century, they aren’t believing it. You know. This we’re.
Long beyond the age when. Yahweh had a life. I mean, he did. Have a wife at some point, but the Jews had ceased to believe that. For maybe half a millennium. Before Christianity. Came on the scene. So when you’re looking at the development of religions
And, you know, we were to take a time machine and go back to the eighth century B.C. And, you know, if we had, you know, archaic Hebrew. We would ask, you know, does Yahweh have a wife? And can he have can you have kids? Can you have. Sex?
Because l gives birth to Baal right. In you know, the Phoenicians say. That. So does his yoga give birth. To somebody or. Does somebody give birth this way? And I think they’d say. Well, yeah, well, because you always got a wife, just like Bill has a wife.
I mean, this is not a problem, right? Theologically, it’s not a problem. But then you fast. Forward. 500 years. All of a. Sudden it becomes a big problem. For different. Reasons. But both Jews. And. Greeks and Jews who were also. Christians. Were becoming sophisticated. Enough
By the era of the New Testament to say that, no, we don’t. We don’t. Have gods who have sex. We have divine conception, but there’s nothing to do with, you know, an attraction. So this shows you this shows. Everyone that Justin’s argument and the first. Apology. Again, written around 150. Is somewhat double.
Dealing. Let’s say. And not entirely. Accurate, because what Justin says is that. Greeks and Romans. They really do believe that, you know, Jesus dresses up. As somebody else and has sex for the mortal woman. Whereas the. Christians. They’re too good to believe that. Well, Plutarch shows. That that argument falls. Flat.
Greeks and Romans. Who are sophisticated. Intellectually, do not believe. That. Did not believe that, and neither did the Christians. They’re exactly equal. And so we need to lay down forever. That apologetic. Framework and argument. Hmm. There’s so many things here, Doctor, that what you said some great stuff. So I have a question.
We’ll start like a few questions at a time as we go into this, because I’m sure you’ll have plenty to cover. Are there any are there any examples that can be given about gods having sex with women after Plato? Is the tradition? Is it like a dual tradition?
Or would you say like you said, it’s pretty much stamped out, at least you’d say within the first few generations after Plato. Would you say it’s completely stamped out? No, it’s not sent out. No, not at all. Because it’s it’s intellectuals. Who are pushing this line. And, you know, other writers aren’t don’t.
Care. Too much about it. And it’s. Also a question. Of genre, you know, in the historical genre, like. What. Suetonius is writing in that genre, he can say. Oh yeah, I mean, there’s this story that, yeah, Augustus’s. Mother. Was in a temple. At night and had sex with a snake and there.
You go. He’s just reporting a story. He’s not telling you that. He believes. If he was in private conversation. With Tacitus, he’d be like, This is. Garbage, but I’m going to report. It because this will sell books. So, you know, this is exactly how they are. How they’re thinking.
And then when. Plutarch is, you. Can see this dynamic in. Plutarch. Plutarch writes a biography of. Alexander in which he. Talks in which he. He’s under obligation to tell you the common story that his mother had sex. With a snake. Okay. But he. He then. Says. Events, as you know, this.
Is the story is like Herodotus is and this is the story. I have no part in this. But then when he’s in the scientific mode and then the scientific. Treatise. Speaking simply. As a philosopher. Or not. As a biographer, he will say. No, no, we don’t. We don’t believe this.
No intellectual would believe this. We uphold the tradition that Plato is born of Apollo. Yes, but we do not believe. That Apollo had. Sex with a mortal woman. That’s just not. True. So this. At least this grants us that the author of the gospel we call Luke is within the elite, kind of
Maybe the elite isn’t the term, but the highly sophisticate, the thinkers, because I don’t want to give the idea that necessarily they’re rich. I mean, there’s some poor people who become sophisticated philosophers later on, high intellectuals. So they’re highly intellectual. Can we grant Matthew in the same category? Well.
So the way I would put it is these authors are. Trying to sound like they’re elite intellectuals. Whether we want to call them elite intellectuals is another story, but they know at least the modes and codes. Of how. To be most. Plausible. Right.
And so, yes, the author of Luke is of the highest register. He’s the one coming. Closest to Plutarch. Matthew is shows a lot less concern. Matthew is not as interested in the actual mechanics of the divine conception. I think Matthew would deny that. You know, obviously God had sex.
And I and I think. Other readers of Matthew, you know that would be yeah. Greek readers. Contemporary with Matthew you know would they would not be. Cool with that either. But I don’t. Think Matthew is interested in the mechanics. Of the sex. And he’s. He’s happy to tell what is essentially Christian mythology.
And just kind of. Let that sit with you. You know, so he’s got you know, escaped to Egypt in the massacre of the children probably never happened. All of these angels appearing in dreams. I mean. Greek. Greek historians who are trying to. Go up to the level of lucidity is would be like,
No, no, this is trash literature. This is not this is not good enough. This doesn’t come up to snuff. But if you’re just have. The standard of. Herodotus, right. Because Herodotus is the. Father of history and he tells you no more myths than. Matthew. So but Herodotus. Always says, I’m just reporting this.
Folks. I don’t actually believe this, but I’m going to tell you the story. And Matthew’s not that sophisticated. He he he tells the story as if he believes it, and he probably does. So he’s not quite. At the author of of Luke’s. Level. And I don’t think either of them are at the.
Level of two cities or of Tacitus. But they’re they’re. Pushing up. Word they’re. They’re going upward and they’re trying to sound plausible. As they can. So it is fair to say when we hear and I’m using anti apologetics here for a second,
Which I know you don’t care to get into the mix, but it is an interesting question. Christian apologists will go around and say this is unique. In fact, Bart Ehrman himself at least grants that in this case Jesus being born through a non-sexual union of a Virgin
Ad that which we haven’t got to the question of Virgin yet is wholly unique, and we’ve got to give that to Christianity. And where I would agree with BART and go at least every single one of these myths is unique in a sense. Every one of them, if you go to Zeus, you
Go to Hercules, you go to Plato, you go to they all have different narratives, different gods, different stories about maybe how things go. So if you want to be literal, sure, they’re unique. But to argue that this one isn’t within the zeitgeist of thought, that it’s somehow completely unique as Christian
Apologists do, that would be a false statement. Would you agree? Or at least a mistaken statement? Yeah. You haven’t read widely enough. Or you’ve you’ve you’ve. Just read in one genre, you know, you’ve just read in, you know. The Historia. Genre rather than the genre of scientific. Literature.
So you pick up Plutarch’s Table Talk or you pick up Aristotle’s. Discussion of, of. How, how. You can have, you know, hen’s giving. Birth to chicks without roosters. And, you know, they’re talking on a different register and a different level, and they’re. Happy to talk about. Things as intellectuals,
Not just, you know, reporting the common story. But even so, the. Case of Apollonius of Tiano is an interesting one. And I’ll just say. A little bit of about this while I have. Time. So I think Bart and I differ on reading Apollonius Tiano because. This is a. Third century.
Okay, so it’s it’s post post-Christian, it’s philosophers and philosophers. This tells the story about how Apollonius his mother gave birth. And he it’s. Quite a funny story, I think. But he. Says and I’m not including all the. Details, but he says that basically. His mother fell asleep in a field.
Of flowers, sort of like. Stephanie, and. That she was. Surrounded by. These birds, basically. I think he calls them geese. But I’ll have to check that book. And. That. In unison. These birds lift their. Wings and then beat them. And at that moment, his mother wakes. Up. Because she’s pregnant. So what are.
The assumptions. Of that story? Well, I think this is another instance of a nonsexual conception. What happens when birds beat their wings, moving air for numa? That’s how the Greeks thought of it. Panama’s moving air moving. Warm gust of air. Enters the woman. That’s how she gets pregnant. The mechanics are the same.
Right. It’s Panama. And who gets those birds together? Who fertilizes. The wind? Well. In. In this case, it’s Proteus. The Proteus, because Proteus is the real father of Apollonius. So here’s another case of a nonsexual birth. But it appears. In. History. You know, and in my book. How the Gospels.
Became History, I explained, you know, that there’s a difference between ancient history and modern history. But we’re talking. About ancient historia. This appears in a book of ancient history. It looks like a mythical tale. Greeks would call it a mythical tale. But it’s still. Based on the.
Presuppositions of the day of how a. Woman could give birth, not sexually. It would happen through two months. Wow. Okay, this is great. Now, question is, are there any virgins. And in I ask this of Dr. Airman and I even went so far to say, does it even matter?
I mean, at the end of the day, it’s the conception of the deity to the to having the child, I mean, through a mortal woman. Is virginity a valuable thing in the world at this time, or is that a later anachronistic kind of development as we see?
Eventually, Mary couldn’t even have had sex with Joseph. We have to have her be a perpetual virgin and these ideas start to kind of develop over time. I’m not sure how much time, but virginity can you touch this topic? Yeah, definitely.
I don’t have a lot of time, but I’ll try to give you as much background as I can. So. So if. You’re. And this will. Take us all the way back to Leviticus. Okay and Leviticus. Is, you know. Everyone’s favorite nighttime reading. And I’m sure.
All of your your viewers read this every day. But there’s all these rules. Menstruating women, and they can’t go into the temple. And so this. There’s something polluting. About. Sex and. Childbirth that goes back way, way back, way back. And then you. Have to ask, well, are the Greeks and the Jews,
Are they are they different on this one? No, they’re actually not. Because if you go to the Greek ritual law codes, they also say that, yeah. Women who are men are or. Who are after childbirth, they have to wait, you know, 30 or 40. Days
Before coming into the temple or the presence of the. God. And if you’ve just had sex last. Night, please don’t. Don’t go to the temple, okay? You have to wait a day. At least. You have to abstain from. Sex a day, at least. And if you’re really serious.
Like in the of ices, right? You’re reading Apollonius in the metamorphoses. He can’t appear before ices. Unless he’s abstain from sex and meat. For least. Ten. Days. So the gods, both Jewish. Gods and Greek. Gods, they do care about sex. And impurity and. Blood. And childbirth, and they don’t like. That stuff.
And they. Haven’t liked that stuff for. Thousands of. Years. So there’s a discourse. Of. Impurity. When you’re talking about sex. You are sex is ritually defiling. Okay? And Greeks and Jews are. Ah, hold that presupposition. Okay, long before. Plato didn’t know Plato for. You know, adds an. Extra.
Reason why gods don’t don’t have sex and why they don’t. Like sex. He tries to rationalize it and says, But they don’t lie and they don’t change. So rationally, we. Figured this out. But when you’re just. Talking on the level of of of. Impurity, then yes, this there’s something. Very. Very primitive.
About this idea that sex is is. Something that would make you impure. Therefore. A god wouldn’t be involved in that. Activity. And. It would be defiling for a God to have sex. With a mortal woman. And it would. Also be defiling. If a son of God was born from.
A mortal who had sex. With a man. It’s just. Not how it. Works. So if you’re going to. Have a true divine conception, then yes, you you need. To you need to get over this. You need to have. A. You need to have a virgin. Which is just to say.
A woman who is. Pure so that she gives birth to a pure child. And that’s exactly. The language. That that Luke or the author of Luke uses, that. Hagen, Hagen. Says. And because. Of because of. These divine. Mechanics, the child will be called. Hagen, which means sacred. And why sacred? Because it’s pure.
So he he’s he’s. Involved in purity, ideologies. And the best book that I can recommend. For people. Interested in ideologies. Of purity. And. Impurity is. Is Mary Douglas. Called. Purity and danger. I think that’s the title. Anyway, we can correct that later. But this book. Basically is an interpretation. Of.
Leviticus and shows you. Why why. Ancient people were so concerned about. Purity. Purity is different than cleanliness, right? It’s related. They overlap. But it’s different. And with a god, if you’re going to have any interaction with God, you need to be pure. So that’s why the. Virgin virgin birth becomes. Both a ritual.
And a rational necessity by the time. Of the author of the book. Wow. Okay, that makes a lot of sense of a lot of information. It is Christmas time and a lot of people right now are celebrating Christmas. They’re looking at this is the time which Jesus was born. And I figured this.
This would be like a perfect episode to give people who want to go deeper than maybe a surface level examination on the topic. Of course, you’re both. Yes, the status goes deeper. Are you is there anything in particular on your page you’re on that you’re doing that might actually take people further?
That should join up or anything else? Maybe other classes, ideas, topics, things like that that you have exclusive over there? Oh, definitely, yeah. I have I of an article on Divine. Births. And on the patron patrons. Get book deals with me. And I.
Also have a I also have a I teach Greek over the. Patron. For those. Getting introduced. To Greek. Who just want. To deal with a little bit of Greek to. Eventually, you know, free themselves from English translations or. Mistranslations that are, which are so frequent and. So yeah. I mean, I’m.
I hope that. Yeah, I can. Provide a service to. Anyone who wants to, to join and to. Get a little deeper. And. Yeah, just get out of this, these apologetic. Frameworks which. Unfortunately. You know, even. Scholars get trapped. In and, you know, it’s like quicksand. You know, you you’re trained
To think in a certain way and you never really. Get out of it. But we want to use the hammer and break. The apologetic. Framework so that we can think. Outside the box. And not only have found that the method you’re describing here and what you’re teaching more freeing
From the apologetics world, of course, but also it is allowed me to view a lot of this stuff more artistically and actually value it as a human. Like. Like divorce it from the dogma and the stigma that comes with it and see it and go, wow, that’s clever.
That’s an interesting story. How humans thought about that. I thought about how pine trees and pollen, you know, passes in the wind and how it pollinates other trees. And I thought about that with the the numa of, you know, God, it just made me think nature itself is a gift to humans.
And we have tried to interpret the world through these natural world, the natural observations and then, you know, put it into this category of the gods and stuff. So they might be more sophisticated than we give them credit for. Definitely. And, you know, in the end, you know, everyone.
Will have to decide. On what myths. They hold to be true. But I think. You’ve get to the. Point where you enjoy the myth as the myth. And then that frees. You to. Think about. Deeper levels of of truth. So yeah, we all. Eventually I think we come back.
To our. Tradition and we think think through how we may or may not be. Able to believe it. And that. Should be a. Joyful journey. It shouldn’t be a stressful one. We’re worried about. Being, you know, poked. With a pitchfork by. Screaming devils. You know, in the afterlife. Life should.
Be so much more enjoyable than worrying. About that. I agree. Are you working on any book right now? Before I let you go, is there any any book that’s coming out sometime in the next year or so? Well, I’m working on three. Books.
And I am not sure if any of them will come out. I’m hoping that I have a book on Alexandria. Or there’s. Christianity in Alexandria. Which is a. Revisionist. History of that earliest place where we see early. Christian diversity and. The birth. Of Christian theology in a way. That. Isn’t.
Like. The Roman form. Which people are so used to. And you know, we’ll be looking at people. Like. Bi-Lo and Apollo and. Barnabas facilities, Socrates products. You know. Julius. Cassiano Valentinian XV palace and the Nazi preacher. And I’ll be. Expanding my reflection on the nastiness in a in a. Complete book, which.
I hope to make. Accessible to a popular. Audience. And then I’m also seeing if I can finish up a book on Simon of Samaria. So there’s a lot coming down the pike. And yeah, very happy to. Help anyone in their journey. As they wade through. Some of this material,
Some of this both hidden and unfortunately. Yeah, unknown, inaccessible material. Thank you so much, Doctor Livia. Until next time. Sure thing. Happy holidays to you as well.
It’s kind of difficult to explain, but super important. Hey guys it’s me again, Douglas. And I’m pretty sure that around Christmas time you’ve probably heard a lot that Jesus Christ was born to the virgin Mary. You know, it talks about it in the Bible and
It talks about that in Christmas songs and it’s kind of all over the place. But if you’ve ever wondered what that means, I want to try to explain it to you in a way that is easy for
Us kids to understand. Because when Jesus was born they call that the virgin birth. And that’s something that is a little bit easier to explain to adults, but it’s still something important for us kids to know. So I’m going to try to explain it in a way that we can understand and makes
Sense and is appropriate for kids. A long time ago there was a man and a woman named Joseph and Mary. And they were betrothed to be married. Now betrothed means, like, engaged. Nowadays, when people are engaged it means that they are planning on getting married. So you say so-and-so is engaged
To so-and-so and they’re going to get married. And betrothed, it’s the same thing but it’s like bigger and more important. Like, if you’re engaged, but you break up before you get married, that’s not,
Like, against the law. You know, it’s still super sad, but it’s not it’s not as big a deal — quite as big a deal — as being betrothed and and having to break that off. And before Mary and Joseph got married
Mary was visited by an angel. An angel told her that she was very special and that she was going to be pregnant and have a son, and that she should name him Jesus, and He would be called Son of the
Most High. And Mary said, “Well how is that going to happen ’cause I haven’t married Joseph yet.” Now, in order for a woman to be pregnant, in order for a mommy to have a baby, she needs a man. And
Mary was betrothed to Joseph. She promised that Joseph would be her man. But he wasn’t yet. She had no man. And without a man it’s impossible for her to have a baby. But the angel said that
The baby would be God’s son. God was going to make the impossible possible. And this was a big deal because in the Old Testament in the book of Isaiah, it said that the coming Messiah would be born to
A virgin — would be born to a woman without a man. But this was also super hard because, you know, Mary knew that this baby was going to be God’s son. But for everybody else, they probably just assumed that
Mary had broken her promise to Joseph to marry him and have Joseph be her man — her husband. They probably thought that she had gone off and gone with some other man and broken her
Promises. ‘Cause again, you need both a man and a woman to have a baby. Except for Jesus. This was the only ever virgin birth. And so everybody probably thought that she had broken her promises including Joseph who was planning on just sending her away quietly so that people wouldn’t hate her so much.
She might have even been in danger. ‘Cause again, it was a big deal to break your betrothal promises. But as he was thinking about how he was going to send her away quietly without, you know, causing
Too much of a fuss, an angel appeared to him too. And the angel told him, “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. The baby growing inside her is God’s Son.” And so eventually Joseph and Mary
Became husband and wife, and Joseph helped to raise Jesus, but Jesus was always God’s Son. Jesus wasn’t Joseph’s son. Jesus is the Christ. He’s the Messiah. He’s the Son of God. And so when you hear someone
Talking about the virgin birth or the virgin Mary or something like that, I just want you to remember that God did a miracle when Jesus was born — a big one! A miracle that’s never ever been done before
Or since then. And it was all to prove that Jesus is the Christ. Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is God’s Son. And that’s what we celebrate on Christmas! We’re celebrating that Jesus Christ was born
To the virgin Mary. And God sent Him to the world to save us from our sins, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. And that’s the best Christmas gift ever!
Hey guys,Ii hope you liked this video. And yeah, you know, the virgin birth is kind of a tricky subject, but it doesn’t have to be too hard. Basically it’s just that Mary became pregnant and she
Had no husband or any other man, and a woman needs a man to become pregnant. Except for the one instance of Jesus coming into the world and on Christmas. We celebrate that God sent his Son Jesus
To the earth. And He proved that Jesus was his Son through the virgin birth. Merry Christmas guys!
Today’s question is, “What does the Bible say about the virgin Mary?” In this video I’ll answer that question from a biblical perspective. Then afterwards, as always, I’ll share some helpful resources, so stick around until the end. Mary the mother of Jesus was described by God as “highly favored” (Luke 1:28).
The phrase highly favored comes from a single Greek word, which essentially means “much grace.” Mary received God’s grace. Grace is “unmerited favor”; that is, grace is a blessing we receive despite the fact that we do not deserve it. Mary needed grace from God and a Savior, just as the rest of us do.
Mary herself understood this fact, as she declared in Luke 1:47, “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” The virgin Mary, by God’s grace, recognized that she needed the Savior. The Bible never says that Mary was anyone but an ordinary human whom God chose to use in an extraordinary way.
Yes, Mary was a righteous woman and favored (graced) by God. At the same time, Mary was a sinful human being who needed Jesus Christ as her Savior, just like everyone. The virgin Mary did not have an “immaculate conception.” The Bible doesn’t suggest Mary’s birth was anything but a normal human birth.
Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus, but she was not a virgin permanently. The idea of the perpetual virginity of Mary is unbiblical. Matthew 1:25, speaking of Joseph, declares, “But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave Him the name Jesus.”
The word until clearly indicates that Joseph and Mary did have normal sexual relations after Jesus was born. Mary remained a virgin until the Savior’s birth, but later Joseph and Mary had several children together. Jesus had four half-brothers: James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. Jesus also had half-sisters, although they are not named or numbered.
God blessed and graced Mary by giving her several children, which in that culture was accepted as the clearest indication of God’s blessing on a woman. One time when Jesus was speaking, a woman in the crowd proclaimed, “Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed” (Luke 11:27).
There was never a better opportunity for Jesus to declare that Mary was indeed worthy of praise and adoration. What was Jesus’ response? “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it” (Luke 11:28).
To Jesus, obedience to God’s Word was more important than being the woman who gave birth to the Savior. Nowhere in Scripture does Jesus or anyone else direct any praise, glory, or adoration toward Mary. Elizabeth, Mary’s relative, praised Mary in Luke 1:42–44, but her praise is based
On the blessing of giving birth to the Messiah. It was not based on any inherent glory in Mary. In fact, after this Mary spoke a song of praise to the Lord, extoling His mindfulness to those of humble state and His mercy and faithfulness.
Many believe that Mary was one of Luke’s sources for the writing of his Gospel. Luke records the angel Gabriel visiting Mary and telling her that she would give birth to a son who would be the Savior. Mary was unsure how this could be since she was a virgin.
When Gabriel told her that the child would be conceived by the Holy Spirit, Mary answered, “I am the Lord’s servant. . . . May your word to me be fulfilled. Then the angel left her” (Luke 1:38). Mary responded with belief and a willingness to submit to God’s plan.
We, too, should have such faith in God and trustingly follow Him. In describing the events of Jesus’ birth and the response of those who heard the shepherds’ message about Jesus, Luke writes, “But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).
When Joseph and Mary presented Jesus at the temple, Simeon recognized that Jesus was the Savior and gave God praise. Joseph and Mary marveled at what Simeon had said. Simeon also told Mary, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many
In Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:34–35). Another time at the temple, when Jesus was twelve, Mary was upset that Jesus had remained behind when His parents had left for Nazareth.
They were distressed in looking for Him. When they found Him, still in the temple, He said He must be in His Father’s house. Jesus returned to Nazareth with His earthly parents and submitted to them. We are told, again, that Mary “treasured up all these things in her heart” (Luke 2:51).
Raising Jesus must have been a perplexing endeavor yet also filled with precious moments, perhaps memories that became more poignant as Mary came to more fully understand who Jesus is. We, too, can treasure in our hearts the knowledge of God and the memories of His activity in our lives.
It was Mary who requested Jesus’ intervention at the wedding of Cana, where He performed His first miracle and turned water into wine. Even though Jesus seemingly rebuffed her at first, Mary instructed the servants to do what He told them. She had faith in Him. Later in Jesus’ public ministry, His family grew concerned.
Mark 3:20–21 records, “The crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, ‘He is out of his mind.'” When His family arrived, Jesus proclaimed that it is those who do the will of God who
Are His family. Jesus’ brothers did not believe in Him prior to the crucifixion, but at least two of them did afterward—James and Jude (or Judas), the authors of the New Testament books bearing their names. Mary did seem to believe in Jesus throughout His life.
She was present at the cross when Jesus died, no doubt feeling the “sword” that Simeon had prophesied would pierce her soul. It was there at the cross that Jesus asked John to serve as Mary’s son, and John took Mary into his home. Mary was also with the apostles on the day of Pentecost.
However, Mary is never mentioned again after Acts chapter 1. The apostles did not give Mary a prominent role. Mary’s death is not recorded in the Bible. Nothing is said about Mary ascending to heaven or having an exalted role there.
As the earthly mother of Jesus, Mary should be respected, but she is not worthy of our worship or adoration. The Bible nowhere indicates that Mary can hear our prayers or that she can mediate for us with God. Jesus is our only advocate and mediator in heaven.
If offered worship, adoration, or prayers, Mary would say the same as the angels: “Worship God!” Mary herself sets the example for us, directing her worship, adoration, and praise to God alone: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has
Been mindful of the humble state of His servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me — holy is His name” (Luke 1:46–49). Want to learn more? Subscribe so you don’t miss the next video! Visit GotQuestions.org for more great content.
And check out the details section below this video, there you’ll find one book I recommend, along with links to several related questions. If you’d like to learn about Bible Munch, or if you’re interested in Bite-sized devotionals, subscribe to Bible Munch on YouTube, it’s linked right here. Now remember, Got questions?
The Bible has answers, and we’ll help you find them!
Shalom everybody and welcome to another pod for Israel I’m here with Dr Golan Broshi my name is Dr Seth Postel and we are continuing in our series of the case for messiah and Old Testament defense of the New Testament faith and today we’re actually going to be looking at a passage
That has received quite a bit of heat from the anti-missionaries Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14 and we’re going to be asking ourselves did the gospel writers distort the words of Isaiah 7 14 so good
To see you back Golan welcome to you thank you so let me just kind of set the stage I’ll introduce kind of the issues here so we actually have two very different translations of the Hebrew text of
Isaiah chapter 7 14. and so we actually have for instance a new American Standard Version therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign Behold a virgin will be with a child and bear a son and
She will call his name Emmanuel the JPS on the other hand which is a Jewish translation of the Hebrew Bible actually says look the young woman is with child and about to give birth to a son and so
For a young woman to be pregnant is not so much of a miracle right that’s normal yes so the issue is the definition of that of that girl Alma versus correct so are we you know does the original
Hebrew word actually mean virgin or not so there are two very different translations and obviously there are two very different interpretations right so if we look at the New Testament both in Matthew chapter one and in Luke chapter one it’s clear that they understand that that Mary right Miriam
Is this virgin that is supernaturally pregnant and that is a sign that Jesus fulfills this passage whereas if you look at the Jewish rabbinic interpretations they would argue they’ve got a couple of different arguments they would say that this woman is is not a virgin right it’s Isaiah’s
Wife right and that by naming the son Immanuel she does it by the power of the Holy Spirit or others would say that the young woman is a has his wife or his daughter okay so so the rabbinic approach
Would be that the word Alma is for a young young girl but not not necessarily a virgin and he doesn’t talk about a future prophecy that that would be fulfilled 700 years but something that
Is fulfilled in the next chapter or in the same chapter correct so and we’ve got a kind of a a slide that kind of kind of summarizes the issue so here’s the anti-missionary claims against the New
Testament and they’re really two I mean we could probably add some but I think the main arguments that the New Testament has Twisted or distorted Isaiah 7 14 is first the gospels mistranslated uh the word Alma the original Hebrew word for Alma is young woman is what they argue and that if Isaiah
Wanted to say that a virgin is pregnant they would have used the Hebrew word Betula so he would have used a different word the different words so the Matthew basically muddles uh the the original word secondly and this is this is another argument is that Matthew and Luke ripped Isaiah 7 14 out
Of context the sign is given to ahaz right and therefore it had to have been fulfilled in the days of ahaz and the the sign is that Samaria and Iran would be defeated so it can’t be a prophecy that’s dealing with something that happened 700 years later so let’s focus now on the
First thing yeah that’s a really important issue what what does the word Alma actually means so in this podcast I think what we’ll do obviously we’re going to address these two concerns one at a time
Okay we’re going to deal it deal with it one at a time and so the big Focus what in the world does the word Alma mean right what does it even mean did the gospel writers abuse it mistranslate it
Let’s just be honest with our sources here too I think a book that’s that came out recently that’s a very important book is by Christoph Rico and Peter J Gentry the mother of the infant
King Isaiah 7 14 and they did a lot of work uh on on the meaning of Alma and Betula and so it’s a it’s a book that’s it’s worth a read okay so but before the word Alma we would just want to make
Clear what does the word Betula actually means so in modern Hebrew if you wanted to say virgin how would you would say that’s the only word right in modern Hebrew there’s no other word to refer to a
Virgin and so the argument goes likewise in modern Hebrew so in Biblical Hebrew there’s only one one word for Virgin and it’s a bit too long and it’s not the word that Isaiah uses he uses Alma correct
So the word Betula how many times does it appear in at least 50 times 15 versions okay Exodus 22 verse 16 uh in the English verse 15 in the Hebrew I’ll give you an example if a man seduces a virgin
Who is not engaged right and lies with her he must pay a Dao referred to be his wife so it’s clear that the word here Betula means she didn’t she didn’t know a man she didn’t sleep with anybody
Yet correct correct so um there is actually one contested use of Betula and again there’s 50 over 50 times it appears there’s one contested use of the word Betula and that’s in Joel chapter 1 verse 8. so Joel 1 8 says whale Like a Virgin a Betula girded with sackcloth for the bridegroom
Of her youth so some people would argue that this word the use of the word Matula here proves that Betula can’t mean virgin because how can a a woman who’s a virgin be lamenting the bridegroom of her youth in other words obviously they were already together however however it probably means that
She’s mourning the loss of her fiance before correct correct so so we would agree right that Betula does in fact mean virgin yep okay and that’s actually what Rico and gentry also they would argue that Betula actually refers to Virgin and in the case of it actually shows that Betula
Has no respect for age so in Hebrew Betula can mean batula doesn’t have any respect for age it’s just a virgin woman either young or old correct and also in modern Hebrew exactly alrighty so now let’s this is the debated what about yeah what about the word okay the word is used
Nine times right so it’s rare it’s not as common as batula in the Bible is it the word Alma is it is the meaning always clear in the Hebrew Bible nope and it’s not always clear and even
In in modern Hebrew it’s not so clear what do you mean when you say Alma is it a young girl is he it doesn’t it’s not so clear so what’s really important to notice that it the word is
Not used a whole lot in the Hebrew Bible and there are cases where you simply cannot know what it means because it’s used for instance for titles in the Psalms it doesn’t say what they are so Psalm 46 the superscription psalm 68 verse 25 Song of Songs one three First Chronicles
15 20. we don’t know we can’t use these to determine its meaning so in other words in some some places where the word Dalma appears it doesn’t say anything about it it’s just a title it doesn’t interpret it correct okay okay but and this is really important in every clear case in
Every clear case when the word is used the word it refers to a girl who is a virgin so for instance Rebecca Rebecca in Genesis 24 43 she’s a virgin she’s a young woman who’s not yet married Exodus
2 8. it’s clear that the word there means virgin Miriam is Moses’s older sister but she’s young of course right song of song six eight these are cases where the word can be checked and in these instances we’re dealing with women who are young and virgins so where’s the debate okay where’s the
Debate obviously actually well obviously the big debate would be Isaiah 7 14. but we can’t use that we can’t use that because that would be begging the question right we can’t use our you know our premise to prove the conclusion so we’re having one more place there’s one more place though
Um that the anti-missionaries love to use as proof that al-mach does not refer to a virgin that’s in proverbs 30 verse 19. so that’s the proof text that’s the proof text that it cannot mean virgin
So what does it say there so let’s read it okay proverbs 30 verses 18 and 19 there are three things which are too wonderful for me four which I do not understand the way of an eagle in the sky
The way of a serpent on a rock the way of a ship in the middle of the sea and the way of a man with a maid okay whatever that means this is the way of an adulterous woman she eats and wipes her mouth
And says I have done no wrong and so I’ve actually heard some of the anti-missionaries actually say here this is proof what what does a man do with a maid he sleeps with her and therefore she can’t be
A a virgin but there’s a problem with that just I want you to notice number one we’re dealing with poetry and so there’s a debate as to what exactly is the point being made what’s too wonderful and
Some have actually argued that what’s amazing is that the way of an eagle in the sky means that an eagle fly through flies through the sky and there are no traces he doesn’t leave a trace what about
A serpent on a rock also a serpent on the Rock and the Sheep on the sea doesn’t leave a trace doesn’t leave a trace and so if this is talking about a man sleeping with a woman there is a trace of
Course you would be pregnant she’d be pregnant and so the point being that this is a poetic passage and it’s actually can be argued in any number of ways and so we can only rely on those passages
That are absolutely clear to make our case so this is illegitimate yeah this is not a clear it’s not a clear text it’s a debatable text correct so Golan why then do you think if we’re saying that
Alma is a virgin and Betula is a virgin doesn’t that that’s kind of foolish right we have two two words so there must be a distinction there must be a difference between those two Hebrew words right correct and so so what does Rico and gentry conclude okay so they basically conclude that
Alma in contrast to Betula relates to a specific period in a woman’s life when she is both young and a virgin and this is clear in the case of Rebecca Genesis 24 43 and in the case of Exodus
2 verse 8 with Miriam so so in other words not only that Alma is the Virgin it’s a young girl a virgin a virgin a young girl correct a young a very young woman okay correct so the question then
Becomes is there any proof to this interpretation from the text itself so what do we always say what’s the best commentary on scripture but only scripture right so the best commentary in scripture is scripture and I think the best commentary and the meaning of the word Alma is in
The book of Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 54 because he uses the word Alma in a different format the same root but in a slightly different he talks about the period of time when a woman is in
Alma the period of her youth her Alum so her the period of her youth defines what it means to be an so let’s just read the whole section and you’re reading from Isaiah 54 1-6 correct shout for Joy o
Baron one the barren one here is a metaphor for Zion right xion that that after the Exile she’s empty of children the land of Israel is empty of children and so this woman has no children shout
For Joy o Baron one you have been have borne no children Break Forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud you who have not travailed for the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous than the
Sons of than the sons of the married woman says the Lord enlarge the place of your tent stretch out the curtains of your dwellings spare not lengthen your cords and strengthen your pegs for you will spread abroad to the right and to the left and your descendants will possess
Nations and resettle the desolate cities fear not for you will not be put to shame and do not feel humiliated for you will not be described traced but you will forget the shame of your Youth and
Here’s the word this is the period of an alma this all right and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more for your husband is your maker whose name is the Lord of hosts
And your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel who is called the God of all the Earth for the Lord has called you like a wife Forsaken and grieved in spirit even like a wife of one’s youth when
She is rejected says your God and so what’s really important here is that this text actually provides two different reasons for a woman in the ancient world to not have children in both cases for a
Woman at that time period not to have children was a disgrace right it was a shameful it was shameful at that time period And so Isaiah actually describes two situations in which a woman would feel shame for not having children scenarios correct okay so let’s look at the first
Situation and 54 Verses 4 verse a the first part fear not for you will not be put to shame and do not feel humiliated for you will not be disgraced but you will forget the shame of your youth being
An alma exactly the word shame of your being an alma the period of your I don’t know how to say it your youngness right okay your youth yeah the parallel line provides the solution to this problem 54 verse 5 a for your husband is your maker whose name is the Lord of hosts
In other words what is the solution to an alma not having a child a husband a husband takes her and in Hebrew the word the husband actually means the the actual intimate act correct so to become
A husband means to make an unmarried woman your wife exactly now let’s look at we’ll talk about this in a minute but I want you to notice the parallel 54 4B and the reproach of your widowhood
You will remember no more in other words here’s a there are two scenarios to shame the shame of an alma without children and the shame of an al-mana a widow without children a widow what’s the solution to the al-mana to the Widow and your Redeemer go away who is the Holy One of
Israel who is called the God of all the Earth in other words in this situation God will redeem he will redeem the Widow in other words to redeem a widow is to provide children for a woman whose
Husband who whose husband died and she doesn’t have a children so let’s stop here because this is really important in other words why would a woman what what is the shame of an alma in this text it’s that she never had a husband nobody ever took her and therefore she never had a
Child so Alma has to mean according to this text a woman that never that was never married or was never had a husband correct and that’s why she doesn’t have a child let’s be clear on this this is really important if we’re saying that the best commentary on scripture is scripture what
We’re saying here is that Isaiah In this passage defines for us what an alma is and Alma is a woman who doesn’t have children because she hasn’t yet been slept with she hasn’t yet been taken by a
Husband in other words she’s she’s the Virgin she’s a young virgin correct so let’s I I think it’s worth reading Rico and gentry summary about this passage it’s very well written the two women will forget forever the shame that they had bitterly suffered and they will no longer
Remember the fact that they were without hope of having Descendants the reason for the foreseen absence of progeny for children is different for each of the two women the first one has been married but her husband died before she could conceive so she is in a State of widowhood
The State of widowhood will cease as soon as the Redeemer the goel comes on the scene as for the second one she has never had a husband and she is in a state of alumim this state of alumim right
Being an alma I’m the word right will cease once a BAL a husband takes her in marriage the conclusion to which this strict parallelism leads us is that the word Alma can only refer to a girl who has
Never been married and who has never had children once a BAL a husband arrives in the scene both her celibacy and the absence of children or progeny will cease so in other words according to these two Scholars the difference between the Virgin and Alma is that Alma is a young virgin a virgin
Could be old or young but Alma is Almar refers to a young virgin correct specifically a young woman who’s yet to been take be taken by a husband and so I think that this actually as we kind
Of conclude the first response about the meaning of the word Alma the fact that Alma has to be a woman that has not yet known a man a young woman who’s known a man makes this text all the more
Startling so let I’m going to read it and actually if we look at the Hebrew here it there’s all sorts of beautiful plays on words here so you’re reading Isaiah 7 10 to 14. correct then the Lord
Spoke to ahaz again saying sha’al ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God make it as deep as right and so it’s interesting is the word ask and she all sound almost exactly the same and
They look almost the same they look exam exactly so ask for yourself a sign make it as deep as [ __ ] right or as high as Heaven we’re going to get to that in a minute but ahaz said I will not
Ask nor will I test the Lord then he said listen now o House of David and by the way here he’s not speaking just to he’s talking to the House of David plural plural listen now House of David
It is is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men that you will try the patience of my God as well therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign Behold a Alma a virgin is
Pregnant it does not say an alma will become pregnant because that would not be a sign if she is but there’s an alma who is pregnant how is it possible for an alma who has never slept
With a man who’s not been taken by a man to be pregnant and here we see the beautiful play on words is there connection between Alma and as high as Heaven the same the same words it’s the
Same words it’s the same letters just reverse same letters yes right so what is this sign that’s as high as Heaven La Mala and Alma will is pregnant is and the emphasis on is it’s not tahar it’s she
Is pregnant absolutely and so here we see that this is truly an amazing sign and so so we can conclude at least for that part that the gospel writers did not reap a part to the the the the
Translation or the meaning of the word they did not distort the meaning of Alma I think that we see from the book of Isaiah that they actually that Matthew gets the the meaning and Luke gets
The meaning correctly so we tackle the the meaning of the word El map what about the next argument what about the context did the gospels writers reap out Isaiah 7 14 from its context well so
What’s the problem with the context oh does it is it a prophecy to be fulfilled or was it fulfilled in Isaiah times yeah so the whole issue of you know the context seems to tie Emmanuel’s
Birth to the time period of the Assyrians and if that’s the case obviously this can’t be about the Messiah obviously right and so maybe I’ll read it Isaiah 7 14-20 just so that we get a sense of the
Context therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign Behold a virgin will be with child notice I use the word virgin we probably should say young virgin right young unmarried woman right will be
With child and bear son and she will call his name Emmanuel he will eat curds and honey at the time he knows enough to refuse evil and choose good for before the boy will know enough to refuse
Evil and choose good the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken ah here we go so Emmanuel had to have been born during the time of the Assyrians Case Closed you notice it says the
Lord will bring on you and on your people and on your father’s house such days as have never come since the day that Ephraim separated from Judah the king of Assyria again Assyria in that day
That the Lord will whistle for the fly that is in the remotest part of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria they will all come and settle on the Steep Ravines on The
Ledges of the cliffs on all the thorn bushes and on all the watering places in that day the Lord will shave with a razor hired from the regions beyond the afraides that is with the king of
Assyria The Head and the hair of the legs and it will also remove the beard and so so Syria is coming up a lot do they have a case is it is it is it the about the time of Assyria you know
What’s really important here Golan and and this is really important is that when we approach Isaiah 7 obviously the best way to interpret any given passage is in the larger context and what’s really significant and even the rabbis will admit it that all the Messianic prophecies of Isaiah are placed
In the context of the days of Assyria let me show you what I mean by this I want you to notice Isaiah chapter 10. now some people would argue like Isaiah chapter 9 is not about the Messiah
We’ll do another podcast on that so let’s the rabbis do agree that Isaiah 11 is about the Messiah right have you checked the rabbinic commentaries even the anti-missionary say but the immediate context of Isaiah chapter 11 is Isaiah chapter 10. so let’s read it let’s read
All right woe to a Syrian I’m going to start in verse 5 of chapter 10. woe to Assyria the rod of my anger and the staff and whose hands is my indignation wait the Syria again it’s Assyria I send it against a Godless nation and commissioned it against the people of
My Fury to capture booty and to seize plunder to trample them down like mud in the streets yet it does not so intend nor does it plan so in its heart but rather it is its purpose to destroy
And to cut off many nations for it says are not my princes all Kings is not Kano like carcamesh or hamat like akpad or Samaria like Damascus as my hand is reached to the kingdoms of the idols whose
Graven images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria shall I not do to Jerusalem and her images just as I’ve done to Samaria and her Idols so it will be that when the Lord has completed
All his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem he will say I will punish the fruit of the Arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the pomp of his haughtiness now I’m going to skip down to
Verses 33 and 34 behold the Lord the god of hosts will Lop off the bows with a terrible crash this is talking about the Judgment of the Assyrians he’s going to cut down after the Judgment when
The Assyrians come down and wipe out or or kind of they’re used as God’s Rod of judgment against the people of Israel then God’s going to cut down the bows with the terrible question in other words the
Assyrians those also who are tall and stature will be cut down and those who are lofty will be abased he will cut down the thickets of the forest with an iron ax and Lebanon will fall by the mighty
One and then right after this cutting down of everything it says in chapter 11 verse 1 then when at the Judgment of the Assyrians exactly then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse another Messianic prophecy the rabbis absolutely don’t argue that Isaiah chapter 11
The context if we were going to take the historical context of Isaiah’s days we would say that this prophecy had to have already been fulfilled exactly and so this whole lopping off it’s it in some ways too the the parallel story of chapter 10 is when the Assyrians come and they’re
Standing outside the Gates of Jerusalem right if you remember the commander and he’s mocking and and you know where are the gods of this nation and that nation and God intervenes in a miraculous way and rescues Hezekiah so in some ways you could say that Isaiah 11 looks like Hezekiah just like
You could say that Isaiah 9 looks like Hezekiah or Isaiah 7 looks like Hezekiah but for the fact that we’re dealing with a period of time these descriptions of this exalted king and a forever Kingdom it can’t be Hezekiah we could say that the Deeds of Hezekiah are a sign for the Messiah
All right so we have you’re saying we have another Messianic prophecies which which apparently deal in the context of Assyria but are projecting for a for a later time absolutely so not only does Isaiah tie the birth of the Messiah right to the days of Assyria
We have another classic example in in Micah chapter five in Micah chapter five which also in rabbinic interpretation it’s a Messianic inter it’s a Messianic prophecy but as for you Bethlehem afrata too little to be among the clans of Judah from you one will go forth for me to be ruler in
Israel his goings forth are from long ago from the days of Eternity therefore he will give them up until the time when she who is in labor has borne a child then the remainder of his Brethren will
Return to the sons of Israel and he will arise that is this one born in Bethlehem and Shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord and the Majesty of the name of the Lord his God and they
Will remain because at the time he will be great to the ends of the Earth this one will be our peace when the Assyrian invades our land when he tramples on on our own citadels then he will raise
Against him Seven Shepherds and eight leaders of men they will Shepherd the land of Syria yep with The Sword and the land of nimrod at its entrances and he will Deliver Us from the Assyrian when he
Attacks our land when he tramples our territory so it seems like the word Assyria means more than what we think it is it has to be it it has to be okay but another interesting phenomenon that we see are that other Messianic prophecies that the rabbis would agree are Messianic prophecies
Are actually tied to the days of Israel’s historic enemies yep numbers 24 14 and 17-19 and now behold I’m going to my people come and I will advise you what this people will do to your people in
The days to come I see him but not now I Behold Him but not near a star shall come forth from the from Jacob a scepter shall rise from Israel and shall Crush through the forehead of Moab Israel’s
Ancient enemy and tear down all the sons of sheth Edom shall be a possession see ear its enemies in other words this whole use of Israel’s past enemies in the context of future prophecies is quite normal Rabbi ever used that verse as as was fulfilled as the Messianic fulfillment on barkva
Many years later that work absolutely and there it there it is and here we see this whole notion of what is it exactly unequal weights and measures equals weights and measures so here are the here’s the inconsistencies of the anti-missionaries one one well-known anti-missionary I’m going to quote
Him Isaiah 11 is a Messianic chapter Isaiah 11 verse 1 tells us about the kind of family he the Messiah comes from in the context of Assyria correct and it’s still a Messianic prophecy so you tell me why is Isaiah 11 definitely about the Messiah even though chapter 10 the
Context is Assyria but Isaiah 7 is not about the Messiah and he’s not the only Rabbi who agrees that Isaiah 11 is the Messianic prophecy right right talgum yonatan in Isaiah 11 verse 1 a king shall come out from the son of Jesse and the Messiah from his son’s son shall bear fruit
And thy staff that is the Messiah as it is said in Isaiah 11 1 and there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse and the last the last reference from the talmud
Ah okay let’s see here let me see I have it here Ah that’s right from Sanhedrin 93 uh B the Messiah was blessed with six virtues as it is written and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him
The spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and might the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord and it is written and his Delight right from Isaiah 11 shall be the fear of
The Lord and He Shall neither judge after the sight of his eyes nor decide after the hearing of his ears so even the rabbis of the talmud so is there 11 even though the context is Assyria they saw it as a Messianic Prophet so these anti-missionaries can’t have it both ways in
Other words if you’re going to say that Isaiah 7 cannot be a Messianic prophecy because of the reference to Assyria and the days of Assyria then Isaiah 11 has to be eliminated too but by the way many of the anti-missionaries are going after the legacy of Russia and we have a quote from
Russia Isaiah 11 1 that you can read ah okay and the shoot this is what Rashi says in Isaiah 11 1 and a shoot shall spring forth from the stem of Jesse and if you say here are the consolations
For Hezekiah and his people that shall not fall into his hands now what will be the Exile that was exiled to hallan Habor is their hope lost is it not lost eventually the king Messiah shall come
And redeem them so even Rashi here understands why this ought to be Hezekiah right he it ought to be Hezekiah because of the context of chapter 10 but Hezekiah becomes a picture of something of somebody so much greater and the enemy Assyria it’s it is is depicted as
An eschatological enemies the worst of enemies can you give can you give an example anywhere where Assyria is used and it’s clearly cannot be referring to the the kingdom the historical Kingdom of Assyria anywhere in the Bible maybe even in Isaiah okay in Isaiah chapter 14 verses
22-26 right so notice this is a judgment in the Judgment sections the oracles against the Nations I will rise up against them declares the Lord of hosts I will cut off from Babylon name and survivors Offspring and posterity declares the Lord I will also make it a possession for the
Hedgehog and swamps of water and I will sweep it with the broom of Destruction declares the Lord of hosts the Lord of hosts is sworn saying surely just as I have intended so it has happened and
Just as I have planned so it will stand to break Assyria in my land and he goes on but the point is is that in the book of Isaiah the kingdom of Assyria and the kingdom of Babylon are actually
Merged so that the fall of Babylon in some ways is depicted as the fall of a series of the fall of Assyria or Babylon is an extension of Assyria and it’s it’s not the only one the only place in the
Bible is there another place in the Bible where Syria absolutely does not refer to Assyria in the days of Isaiah and that and in Ezra the one you’re going to read the nether is really clear okay so
Ezra chapter 6 verse 1 for the context and then we’ll skip to verse 22. then King Darius issued a decree and search was made in the archives where the treasures were stored in in Babylon so King Darius is from the Persian period so we’re talking about Three Kingdoms later Assyria Babylon Persia
And notice what it says when they observe the Passover in the days of this Persian king okay and they observed the Feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy for the Lord had caused them
To rejoice and it turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them to encourage them in the work of the house of God the god of Israel so again the name of Syria doesn’t necessarily mean the actual Assyrians it’s an eschatological term to mean the enemies the the most brutal enemies of
Of of Israel and of God sure and we also have that example numbers of amalek right this this you know amalek even in the book of of Esther and the scroll of Esther you’ve got Haman who
Is this amalekite and so you you don’t have any issue here again with using the name Assyria and making the Assumption okay that proves that it had to be fulfilled in the time period of Isaiah
So in other words if Isaiah 7 is talking about the the context of Assyria it doesn’t say it doesn’t it doesn’t mean that it’s not an eschatological event yet to come correct and once again if the anti-missionaries want to insist that Isaiah 7 is eliminated because of the reference to Assyria and
The kings in those days they have to be consistent they have to be consistent so let’s throw out Isaiah chapter 11 and yet the anti-missioneries say with confidence that Isaiah 11 is also a Messianic prophecy so I think it’s time to Summer to sum up the whole the whole episode correct what
Did we find out great discussion so number one uh the word Alma although the anti-missionaries would argue that Matthew and Luke they basically abused the text and they they used you know they don’t even know Hebrew or whatever the word al-mad does in fact mean a young virgin it’s
A young unmarried woman and that translation is affirmed in Isaiah chapter 54 Verses 4 and 5 and so what we really do have is an incredible miracle that you actually have a pregnant Alma exactly and then secondly and finally the New Testament didn’t rip Isaiah 7 out of the context in fact
All of the Messianic prophecies in at least in the first part of the book of Isaiah are set in the context of the Assyrian context and this interpretation is affirmed by the way that all Jewish interpreters treat Isaiah chapter 11. by the way we see it also in the New Testament
In the Book of Revelations where Babylon is used as the word for in a future enemy correct yeah so there’s no issue there whatsoever and so we see this in Matthew and I love it in Matthew chapter 1 verses 18 through 25 we’ve got this birth narrative it’s interesting we just coming off
A season where around the world people are all around the world celebrating the birth of a of a Jewish kid a little Jewish boy right which is quite quite remarkable but you know we can have
Our readers look at this passage after but gondan what do you think say would be the take on what’s the application that we can we can make from what we’ve just done I think at least personally for me
I can absolutely trust the words of the gospels and by the way when they wrote the gospels they had they had the Bible they had the tanach the Old Testament in front of them they didn’t have any other scriptures so basically what you’re saying then is that when Christians hear their faith
Being assaulted and against the New Testament and the way that the New Testament treats the Hebrew Bible you’re saying that actually that we can trust the way they’re interpreting the Hebrew Bible and and it’s not that we don’t welcome again we’re talking about the Jewish
Debate it’s an in-house debate and we welcome the debate we just want to to point out that we can trust what the Bible says and maybe one other application and that is is that if you’re seeking if you don’t you’ve not yet figured out you’re thinking through the Hebrew Bible and whether
It does in fact talk about the Messiah and whether Jesus is the Messiah or not we simply are here to tell you that actually by carefully searching the scriptures you will know that Jesus is in fact the Messiah amen the scripture is Rock Solid and we trust the rock amen amen [Music]
If this touched your heart will you help pay it forward to reach others who need to hear this message partner with our team to bring the gospel to Israel and the Nations [Music]
Kids Faith TV – Jesus loves you – yeah The story of the birth of Jesus Years ago, in the days when Herod was king of Judea, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth in Galilee to a virgin named Mary.
Angel Gabriel came to Mary and gave her a message from God, that a child would be born to her. This message was surprising to Mary, but she was attentive and obedient. Angel Gabriel informed Mary that she was to name the child Jesus,
For He would be the son of God and rule over Israel forever. Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” Mary who was engaged to her soon-to-be husband Joseph,
Was surprised and confused as to how a child of God would be born to her. When she told Joseph, he did not believe Mary’s story, he was confused and hurt. ‘How can this story be true, that an angel told Mary that she will have a son of God’?
Joseph was also worried that Mary was expecting a baby before their marriage had taken place. At night Joseph thought to himself to divorce Mary quietly, but then an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and assured Joseph that the child in Mary’s womb was the son of God, who would save
His people from their sins. The angel told Joseph to take Mary as his wife and name the child Jesus. When Joseph awoke from his dream, he did all that the angel commanded. When the time of the birth drew near, Mary and Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem because of an
Order from the Roman emperor that a census would be taken in their hometown to count the people. Joseph took the pregnant Mary and they travelled on a donkey for several days. It was not an easy
Journey on Mary. Soon they arrived in Bethlehem and looked for a place to stay. But they were told that the inns were full, as many travelers were in town for the census. There were no places to stay.
Seeing that Mary was due at any moment, an owner of an inn told Joseph that they could stay in his stable. Mary and Joseph settled down on the hay in a stable and surrounded by animals. It was not long that Mary went into labor and in the place where the animals slept,
Mary gave birth to Jesus; Jesus was born in the stable in Bethlehem. Baby Jesus was laid in a manger which is animals’ trough, and the sleeping baby Jesus, the son of God, rested in the manger. Now, when Jesus was born, a brand-new bright star appeared in the sky.
During this time, an angel appeared to 3 shepherds who were watching their flocks in the fields near Bethlehem. The angel told them the good news of the birth of the Savior and Messiah, Jesus Christ. The shepherd saw a shining star in the sky and the shepherds immediately followed the star
As they went to find baby Jesus. The star led them to where baby Jesus was laid in a manger. The shining star rested over where Jesus was born. The shepherds knelt and worshipped the Savior and gave Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The birth of Jesus is celebrated yearly at Christmas time.
Baby Jesus was son of God made man to save mankind.
Hey happy feast of the immaculate conception if you happen to be watching this on december 8th i think that’s when we’re probably going to drop drop try to do That hi my name’s father mike schmitz and this is ascension presents the feast of the immaculate conception i made a video about this a couple years ago and i sang in it and played the guitar in it and sang mary did you know i don’t know
If you remember that i’m not gonna sing but to recap every marian doctrine is actually about jesus so that’s very important to understand right off the bat but the marian doctrine of the doctrine of the immaculate conception states that mary from the first moment of her conception was preserved from all
State of original sin by the merits of her son’s future life death and resurrection i say that again people just rewinded it’s that mary from the first moment of her conception was preserved from all state of original sin by the merits of her son’s future life death and resurrection and so basically
What that means is yes here’s jesus who um has saved all of us and whether we accept that redemption or not is a whole other story so after we had gotten original sins this wound this separation of humanity from divinity the lord jesus healed us he saved us he
Brought us back from the dead well the doctrine of the immaculate conception is that before mary was even at the moment of her conception before she ever experienced that separation from god that because of the merits of her son’s future life death and resurrection she was preserved from all that that she
Actually was conceived and was re lived in union with god not on her own but through the merits of her son’s future life death and resurrection now no that’s what we established before what i wanted to share today is the next step and i’ll also share this at on the
Virtual front view if you already kind of tuned in and streamed that you might have already heard this but i wanted to share it on this essential presence platform because i think it’s really important because a lot of times we hear the story and we hear the doctrine and
We think wait a second wait a second so jesus preserved mary from all state of original sin he can do that i didn’t know he could do that if god can do that then um uh i volunteer can i have that too how come he doesn’t do it for me
Like how come he didn’t do it for the rest of us if god can actually preserve mary from all state of original sin at the moment of her conception so that she didn’t live life with the results of the fall why wouldn’t he just do that with everybody that’s a really good question
And the answer is tied into mary’s role it’s tied into the call that god had placed on mary’s heart uh not calling place on her heart but put on her life so let’s go back to the beginning why is it really fitting that mary would be preserved from all state of original sin
Well it’s fitting because at the very beginning of the story in genesis chapter 2 god made them male and female and both the man and the woman adam and eve they were without sin and what happens in genesis 3 there’s an angel of light aka lucifer light bearer
Right who comes to the woman speaks words of deception to her that causes her to disbelieve and disobey and she then hands on that disobedience and disbelief to the man who then hands it on to the world that’s the fall team then in the new testament in luke’s
Gospel you have this woman and to her an angel of light comes and he speaks words to her that causes her to trust and to believe she conceives in a room then and that’s mary by the way and she hands on that trust and belief obedience to her
Son who conceived in her womb and he hands on because he trusts all the way to the end he hands on redemption to the whole human race so the fall team and the redeemed team you have the fall team angel to the woman to the man to all of us
Redeem team angel to the woman to the man to all of us so it’s fitting that if the woman and the man in the first story in genesis 2 and 3 are without sin and in the second story the redeemed team the man is without sin it would
Make sense it just again it’s not necessary the church says it’s not necessary but it’s fitting that the woman also would be without sin okay and this is why in answer to the question well if god can do that with mary why didn’t he do that with me
And it comes to the heart of vocation it comes to the heart of the call of god god always equips us for the tasks that he’s called us to god always gives us what we need in order to accomplish the task that he’s calling us to
And so for mary’s task then was to do what her task was to be the new eve right if jesus is the new adam her task was to be the new eve was to say yes where the old eve said no was to trust where the old eve disbelieved was to
Obey or the old eve disobeyed and to hand that on to her son again is it necessary no but it is fitting that that’s the case and in order for that to be accomplished in its fullness you have her preserved from all state of original sin
So that she could say yes in complete freedom just like eve said no in complete freedom does that make sense and what what that means for us of course is that you can trust the lord that whatever he’s called you to he will equip you for whatever god has
Called you to he will equip you for if he’s called you to do something he will give you everything that you need in order to accomplish that task that’s the trust that’s the confidence that we have we say god why didn’t god do that for me well because that wasn’t
Your job that wasn’t your role but your role is something different and i’ll tell you this i promise you this whatever that role is whatever that call is whatever that task is whatever that vocation is god will give you absolutely everything that you need to accomplish it to his glory and for the
Salvation of the world because just like he trusted mary he trusts you so let him give you the gifts that you need let him call you to the task that he’s calling you to and then do what mary did say yes from all of us citizenship presents
Happy feast of the mecca conception and god bless You
The Gospel of Luke Luke investigated many of the earliest eyewitnesses of the life of Jesus and then composed this account. And the story begins up in the hills of Jerusalem. The place where Israel’s ancient prophets said that God himself would come one day to establish His Kingdom over all the earth.
In this city is the temple run by the priests and one of them, named Zacharias, was working in the temple when he had a vision that freaks him out. An angel appears and says that he and his wife will have a son. What’s this all about? Well Zacharias and his wife were told
Are very old. They’ve never been able to have children. And Luke’s setting up a parallel here, with Abraham and Sarah, the great ancestors of Israel because they too were very old and could never have kids. Yet God gave them a son – Isaac which is how the whole story of Israel began.
And so Luke’s implying here that God’s about to do something that significant for this people, once again. The angel tells Zacharias to name the son John and then he says that this son’s going to fulfill a promise of Israel’s ancient prophets that somebody would come one day
To prepare Israel to meet their God when He arrived to rule in Jerusalem because right now, Jerusalem is ruled by the Romans. Yes, specifically, it’s governed by a man named Herod who’s a puppet king under the Roman Empire. And so the Jewish people wanted nothing more than to
Be free and govern themselves in their own land. So this is shocking news. Everything’s going to change. God’s on His way. But how is he going to arrive? Well to find out, Luke takes us out of Jerusalem and then up into a a small town in the hills of an
Out of the way region called Galilee. There we find a young woman named Mariam or we call her, Mary. She was engaged to be married and then an angel appears to Mary saying that she’s going to have a son. She’s supposed to name Him, Jesus, which in Hebrew means, the Lord saves.
And He will be a King like David who will rule over God’s people forever. And then Mary asks, “Okay, well, how is this possible because I’m a virgin?” And she’s told that the same Holy Spirit that brought life and light out of darkness in Genesis, Chapter 1,
Is going to generate life inside her womb. God is about to bind Himself to humanity through the conception and the birth of the Messiah. And so Mary, goes from some back woods no name girl to the future mother of the King. Exactly. In fact, sings a song about
How this reversal of her own social status points to a greater upheaval to come. Through her Son, God’s going to bring down rulers from their thrones and exalt the poor and the humble. He’s going to turn the whole world order upside down. So, when Mary was really pregnant, she and her fiancé, Jospeh,
Had to go down to Bethlehem. There was a decree across the Roman Empire about new taxes. And so everybody had to go get registered in the town of their family line. There was so many visitors in Bethlehem. They can’t find a guest room.
And so the only place they can find, is a spot where animals sleep. Now, nearby, were some shepherds with their flocks. And an angel appears, which, of course, freaks them out. But, they’re to celebrate because tonight in Bethlehem, a Savior has been born. They’re told to go and find this baby.
And they’ll know that it’s the Messiah because He’s going to be wrapped up and laying in a grimy feeding trough. Then these shepherds, who aren’t very clean themselves, they go and find the newborn Jesus, in this really dingy place and their minds are blown.
They go home wondering, ‘What on Earth is about to happen?’ And this is all really strange. I mean, if God’s really coming to save the world, this isn’t how you would expect Him to arrive. Born in an animal shelter to a teenage girl, celebrated by no-name shepherds.
Exactly! I mean, everything is backwards in Luke’s story and that’s the point. He is showing how God’s Kingdom was first revealed in these dirty places, among the poor because Jesus is here to bring salvation by turning our world order upside down.