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December 14, 2023
Key verses 31-33: "Behold, you will conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end."
In human history, the birth of Jesus fundamentally changed the fate of mankind, as the terms "before Christ" and "after Christ" indicate. Before the birth of Christ, people were in the shadow of death, but with the birth of Christ, the new age of life has dawned.
Although more than 2000 years have passed since the birth of Christ, we can divide all people into two groups: People before Christ and people after Christ. Those who have received Jesus Christ as their Savior live after Christ; those who have not yet received Christ live before Christ.
Why is the birth of Christ so important?
Today, we want to find out the significance of the birth of Christ.
I hope that we will all accept the significance of Christ's birth for our self and become people after Christ.
1 Good news of the birth of Jesus (26-33)
Six months ago, the angel Gabriel visited Zechariah and announced Elizabeth's pregnancy to him (1:13, 19). Now he visits Mary, a virgin in Nazareth.
Archaeological finds show that people lived in Nazareth as early as 2000 BC. In the time of Jesus, Nazareth had about 300 inhabitants. Nazareth actually belonged to the tribal territory of Zebulon (cf. Jos. 19:10ff). Although this city is very old, it was not very important until the birth of Jesus. That is why some people held Nazareth in low esteem and said, "What good can come out of Nazareth?" (John 1:46).
But with the birth of Jesus, Nazareth became a world-famous city. Today, the Church of St. Joseph stands there. It is said that this Church stands on the site of the house where Joseph and Mary lived and Jesus grew up.
Luke introduces us to a virgin named Mary as the expectant mother of Jesus.
When I came to Germany 45 years ago, you could tell whether a female was married or not by the way she was addressed, because you addressed a married woman as "Frau Schmidt", but an unmarried woman as "Fräulein Schmidt". Time has passed. Today, everyone is addressed as "Frau Schmidt".
When the angel Gabriel visits Mary, she is still Miss Schmidt, even though she is engaged to Joseph.
In those days, the engagement lasted about a year, and the engagement was as binding as the marriage. The virgin was supposed to strictly adhere to her virginity until the wedding day.
Mary is a role model for other virgins. She knows how she should behave as a virgin and betrothed to Joseph.
Joseph is a poor carpenter. Nevertheless, Mary has great respect for him because he is a pious man. He is also a descendant of King David.
Mary has rainbow dreams about her happy married life with Joseph. For example, she dreams of a beautiful house. She wants to plant beautiful flower and fruit trees in the courtyard of their house. Their house should be a paradise for the two. She also dreams of sweet children. She thinks about how many boys and how many girls she wants to have and what they should all be called. She would prefer to have three sons and three girls. Boys should be called James, Joseph, and Simon. Girls? Maybe Sarah, Rebecca, and Grace.
But a thunderbolt for Mary: she receives a visit from an angel. He says:
"Greetings, you blessed one! The Lord is with you!"
Mary is startled. Understandably, because she experiences an angelic apparition. The angel's greeting makes her even more uneasy: "Blessed one"? - What kind of greeting is that?
The angel tries to reassure Mary:
"Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive and bear a son, and you shall give him the name Jesus" (30-31).
The Latin Bible "Hail Mary" is a prayer of the Catholic Church. The first half of "Ave Maria" reads:
Latein: Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. … | Eenglish: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. You are blessed among women, and blessed be the fruit of your womb, Jesus. … |
The angel explains to Mary that she has found favor with God. "Grace" literally means "unmerited favor of God". It is not because Mary is good that God has chosen her as the mother of Christ, but because of his grace.
What message does the angel tell Mary about her baby?
The angel's message has three important contents about Jesus:
First, Jesus is our Savior.
Gabriel says to Mary: "Behold, you will conceive and bear a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus."
According to the Gospel of Matthew, the angel also tells Joseph to name the baby Jesus (Mt 1:21). Why should Mary and Joseph name the baby Jesus?
Jesus is the Latin form of the Hebrew name "Joshua". Jewish Christians call Jesus "Joshua". "Joshua" means "God is salvation".
The central content of the Old Testament and the New Testament is "God's salvation". The Old Testament tells us about the salvation of Israel from the bondage of the Egyptians and other nations, and the New Testament tells us about the salvation of God's people from the power of sin and death through Jesus Christ. The story of salvation in the Old Testament is a shadow image of divine salvation through Jesus Christ, because the New Testament reports on the fulfillment of the divine promise in the Old Testament.
Our God saves us from sin, death, and the devil through Jesus Christ and leads us into his kingdom. So "Jesus" really is a fitting name for the Savior. He is our Savior and Redeemer. Our God really is the best name giver.
Every person needs salvation from the power of sin and death, because not a single person is free from sin and can escape the power of death. Jesus came to save all those who repent of their sin and believe in Jesus as Savior and Son of God. He erases all our sin and makes us children of God. He gives us eternal life and the kingdom of heaven. That is the Good News of God. This is God's Christmas gift to us. We should gratefully accept this gift. We should celebrate Christmas as a feast of Thanksgiving for God's salvation.
Secondly, Jesus is the Son of God.
The angel tells Mary about her future son: "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High" (32). "Son of the Most High" means "Son of God".
Why is Jesus called "Son of God"?
Because he will be conceived by the Holy Spirit, as the angel explains to Mary: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore also that holy thing which will be born of you will be called the Son of God" (35).
Jesus is also called the Son of God because he is God manifested as man. No one has ever seen God until the birth of Christ (John 1:18a). Moses, for example, saw something of God, but not really. But God came in the form of a human being and revealed God to us. That is why we can get to know God properly in Jesus Christ and have fellowship with God. That is why Jesus is called "Immanuel" (Mt 1:23). Immanuel means "God with us". In Jesus, we can be with God.
Why is fellowship with God so important? Because it means true salvation for us humans. Through the fall of Adam, people lost fellowship with God. But Jesus Christ came into the world to restore the personal fellowship between God and us humans. To do this, Jesus took on all our guilt and died on the cross. Through his sacrificial death, the wall between God and us fell. This fall of the wall is comparable to the fall of the wall between East and West Germany. After the fall of the wall on November 9, 1989, East and West Germany were united. Because the wall between God and us has fallen through the sacrificial death of Christ, we can have blessed fellowship with God without hindrance (1 John 1:3-7).
When we repent and believe in Jesus Christ, the wall between
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