SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/27/2019
1:03 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “The Virgin Birth”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 1:18
Message of the
verses: “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 the one verse that tells us
of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ; it is given in the divinely inspired
gospel of Matthew. This is not man-made
up but as stated divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit of God who has inspired
every word found in the Word of God. Why
on earth would a mortal man make up a story like this? MacArthur writes “Matthew continues to give
additional information related to the virgin birth, but the fact of it is given
in one sentence—the first sentence of verse 18 being merely introduction. Seventeen verses are given to listing Jesus’
human genealogy, but one part of one verse to His diving genealogy. In His divinity He ‘descended’ from God by a
miraculous and never-repeated act of the Holy Spirit; yet the Holy Spirit does
nothing more than authoritatively state the fact. A human fabrication would call for much more
convincing material.”
When
we look at verse eighteen we see the word “birth” and when we look at verse one we read “1
The record of the genealogy
of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Both birth and genealogy are the same Greek
word: “1) source, origin
1a) a book of one’s lineage, i.e. in which his ancestry
or progeny are enumerated
2) Used of birth, nativity
3) Of that which follows origin, viz.
existence, life
3a) the wheel
of life (Jas 3:6), other explain
it, the wheel of human origin which as soon as men are born begins to run, i.e.
its course of life.”
When it comes to Biblical
information about Mary we do not have a lot of information. She is likely a native of Nazareth and
probably came from a very poor family. From Matthew 27:56, Mark 15:40 and John
19:25 we can learn that she had a sister named Salome who was the mother of
James and John which makes them a cousin of Jesus. When we look at the third chapter of Luke we
can see the genealogy of Mary who came from the line of David through his son
Nathan, and we have talked about that earlier.
Elizabeth who was the wife of Zacharias was a relative of Mary, which
makes John the Baptist a relative of Jesus.
We know that Mary was a godly woman
who was sensitive and submissive to the Lord’s will as can be seen in her
conversation with Gabriel. Gabriel was
the angel who announced to Mary that she would be the mother of the Messiah,
that is the human mother. “How can this
be, since I am a virgin,” (Luke 1:34).
Mary never questioned the angel Gabriel being sent from God or what he
said to her was true or not. Mary
completely trusted the Lord in all that was about to happen to her.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: Mary had
amazing faith, a faith that would be good for me to also have.
My Steps of Faith for Today: It surely
takes humility to have a vibrant faith.
I want that kind of faith.
Today’s
quotation from “Love in Action” comes from the commentary that David Jeremiah
wrote on Genesis 2:25 and Genesis 3:7.
“In the
beginning, the first married couple had no sense of self-consciousness or
embarrassment. The sin entered into the world and the great cover-up
began. When Adam and Eve sinned, they
realized they were naked. The nakedness
that our first parents felt was emotional, psychological, and most of all,
spiritual. Before sin and self took
over, they were both naked and were not ashamed. Afterwards, everything changed. Most of us would like to reveal who we really
are to the ones with whom we live, but we are afraid. But in most cases, we would be accepted and
loved if we would just give ourselves up to one another. Through responsibility, intimacy, and transparence,
we can find the encouragement zone!
11/27/2019 1:32
PM
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