FROM TODAY’S READING (12/23/2021)…
CHRISTMAS THOTS…
“Some who claim to be Christians do deny the Virgin Birth. Yet if Jesus was not both God and man, united through a miracle in Mary’s womb, He was merely a man. And no mere man, doomed to struggle with his own sins, would be free to save us from ours. Without the Virgin Birth there is no biblical Christianity. With it, our destiny is secure. For with it, the Jesus on whom we rely is God, and as God He guarantees the salvation He won for us on Calvary.”
Lawrence O. Richards
“The 365 Day Devotional”
Matthew 1:18-25 (NLT) This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.
As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”
When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.
Image: CC (https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/5983139738)
