How Did You Come to Know Jesus?

Jesus tells us in the Scriptures that we have not chosen him, but he has chosen us (John 15:16)! He goes on to say that no one can actually come to him unless the Father draws him (John 6:44), implying that we are unable to come to Jesus on our own. In other words, our coming to know Jesus is really a supernatural event. We may respond, but our response itself is prompted by God (Ephesians 2:4-10) So, how is it that you have come to know Jesus? Have you ever really asked yourself this question?

 

Fleshing Out the Invisible God!

We are told in John 1:14 that God (John 1:1) became a human being. To say that God became a man implies that he was not a man prior to his becoming one. It also implies a prior existence in some other form, before his becoming man. Basically, this is what Paul tells us in chapter two of his epistle to the Philippians. Jesus was equal with God (the Father), but did not retain equality with him and thus emptied himself (i.e. his divine form) in order to take a human form (Philippians 2:6-7).

 

The King Born in a Stable!

It is difficult to imagine a more humble beginning for a king than that of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem in a stable. He was born on the Feast of Trumpets, the 1^st day of the seventh month in the Jewish calendar. The shepherds were watching their flocks on the night of his birth, so it could not have been winter as our December 25^th dating suggests, because that would have been too cold for the sheep to be in the fields. They would have been corralled for the evening or even placed in a shelter, if it had been winter time.

 

Jesus’ Roots!

I remember watching the TV miniseries “Roots” ~ a dramatization of author Alex Haley’s family line beginning with Kunta Kinte’s enslavement to his descendants’ liberation. My family watched each of the eight programs with great interest. I think one’s family history is not only interesting to one’s self, but to many others as well. One’s genealogy seems to personalize history, makes it more real, I think. I believe one or two of the episodes of “Roots” held ratings records for the most watched program for a several years afterward.

 

Silent Night!

Matthew is quite unlike Luke in his presentation of the birth account of Jesus. In Matthew Jesus’ birth is shrouded in mystery! In his first chapter he presents Jesus ancestry in a manner that both offends the reader and compels him to decide one way or another about Jesus. He is the King in a manger—God become man—the response to the curse of God or he is none of these. Chapter one brings us to Jesus’ birth, and chapter two begins with: “Now when Jesus was born…”, leaving this silent night in which the birth had taken place without a word of explanation. Luke fills in the gap, but Matthew leaves the reader at the gap which turns out to be a kind of gate through which only the believer may pass through.

 

The Virgin Birth Solves the Jeconiah Problem

Luke does not show Jesus’ right to the title, Messiah, through David but through Adam. Jesus is the Son of Man (i.e. of the man, Adam) and therefore the Messiah that was promised in Eden (Genesis 3:15; Luke 3:38), who would save Adam’s race.

 

The Shepherds’ Rumor Ends in Tragedy

As the shepherds watched their flocks during the night of Jesus’ birth, an angelic host appeared to them, telling them that the Messiah was born in Bethlehem. These shepherds were rugged men and not held in high esteem socially. Yet, they were chosen by God and invited to witness Jesus’ birth while kings and the privileged of society slept. Indeed, not even the scribes or Pharisees, or any of Jewish religious leaders were consulted or told of what had transpired, unless they heard the rumor that was begun by these chosen shepherds. Yes, this is how they had to have found out, for the shepherds repeated what the angel had told them to all who would listen and all who heard were astonished (Luke 2:17-18).

 

Immanuel—God with Us!

It has been claimed by some that Matthew’s reference to Isaiah 7:14 in Matthew 1:23 is out of context, that Isaiah’s sign to appear centuries later would mean nothing to King Ahaz during his then present trouble. The kings of Syria and Samaria were allied and had plotted to destroy the Judean monarchy and set up a puppet government friendly to their own interests (2Kings 16:5). But, is this conclusion correct, namely, if a virgin didn’t conceive in the days of Ahaz, how could Matthew’s reference to Isaiah be correct for Jesus?

 

Jesus ~ Born of a Virgin or a Young Girl?

Do the Scriptures say Jesus was born of a virgin or simply a young girl without a claim to sexual purity? Many critics would deny the virgin birth of Jesus, but how they could do this without denying the implications of the text is a mystery to me. One of the most interesting points I heard made says the New Testament draws the validity of its doctrine from an Old Testament text that does not support the idea that a virgin would both conceive and give birth. If the foundation for the doctrine of the Virgin Birth isn’t there, then how could its substance be true? Wouldn’t it be mere opinion, if it were not fulfilling an actual Scripture in the first Covenant?

 

Did the Jews Expect the Virgin Birth?

What do you think? Did the Jews believe when the Messiah would come that he would be Virgin-Born? If not, is the virgin birth a correct interpretation of the Scriptures? Many think that if the Jews couldn’t imagine something to be true, how could they have understood the thing to be true once it occurred? In other words, if they weren’t expecting a Messiah like Jesus, how could they be judged for not receiving him?

 

The Price of Obedience

Have you ever had to explain yourself to someone who didn’t believe you? Though you were innocent of all accusations leveled at you, no one would believe your explanation. It is not difficult to understand the predicament Mary was in, once she consented to Gabriel’s announcement that she would bring Christ to the world. Can you visualize what Mary’s friends thought when she returned from her three-month stay with Elizabeth? What was her family’s reaction, and what about Joseph? The fact is Mary put everything on the line—her hopes for the future, her reputation—in fact all her relationships were affected by her choice to receive the life of Jesus within her.

 

Behold the Handmaid of the Lord!

As we look toward Christmas, consider the attitudes of Mary and Zechariah as found in the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke. In contrast to Zechariah, Mary responded in belief. Although she received a sign in Elizabeth’s pregnancy, she did not seek a sign. She trusted the messenger from God. Luke 1:29 (KJV) says, “…when she saw him,” but this phrase is not in any of the Greek texts.[1] The passage never says that the angel appeared to her. Zechariah saw the angel (v.12), but it is not recorded that Mary saw him. She might have been in prayer when the angel’s voice was heard in her mind. When someone sees an angel, the usual response is great fear (Luke 1:12; 2:8-9; Daniel 10:5-10, 15-18), but Mary, a very young girl, was troubled not by the appearance of the angel but by his saying or the sound of his voice.

 

Conflicting Birth Accounts in the Gospels

It is commonly believed among Bible scholars that, because Herod killed the children of Bethlehem from newborn up to two years of age, the Magi could not have come to Jerusalem, until Jesus was nearly two years old (Matthew 2:7, 16-18). However, this does not have to be so. According to Ezra 7:9 it took Ezra and his company exactly four months to travel from Babylon to Jerusalem, and it is implied that he made good time, because God was with him. However, the Magi might have made better time because Ezra could have had some aged people and the very young to care for. So, the Magi started out weeks before the expected conjunctions of Jupiter with other planets and stars, and may have been on their way to Jerusalem in mid August, 3 BCE. They could have arrived in Jerusalem and found the child by October 22, 3 BCE, or 40 days after Jesus’ birth on September 11^th, and their journey would have taken about 3 months.

 

The Magi Found the Child in the HOUSE!

This is what the text says. The Magi rejoiced at the sight of the “star” in the heavens which was positioned over the House in their line of sight. This is where the child, Jesus, happened to be. This House is none other than the Temple of God at Jerusalem. The Magi viewed the “star” in the morning sky from Herod’s palace in western Jerusalem. Looking east, they saw the star positioned over the Temple in the eastern sky. It was then that they began to rejoice, understanding for the first time that they were in error to come looking for the Messiah in Herod’s palace. They should have understood they would find him in his Father’s House!

 

The Coming of the Magi

According to Matthew, the Magi from the east came to Jerusalem to see the one who was born King of the Jews (Matthew 2:1-2). This caused quite a stir with Herod, the king, and those who dwelt in Jerusalem (Matthew 2:3). There are a few things that must be understood about this incident in Matthew in order to know the time of the Magi’s visit and the star they saw in the east.