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Because we are celebrating the birthday of our Lord. I
thought it would be meaningful to look at Isaiah's prophecy, made more than 700
years before the birth of Jesus, and
then the fulfillment of that prophecy in the New Testament. Enjoy.
A Child Is Born
Isaiah 9:6,7
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And
he will be called Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and
upholding it with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will
accomplish this.
Commentary
Isaiah includes many direct predictions of the coming
Messiah, including this passage, which established that the Messiah will come from Galilee (read
verse 1). The lands Isaiah mentions as "humbled"
in verse 1 are the very regions devastated by Assyria's armies (2 Kings 15:29).
Thus Isaiah offers a
word of distant hope for those parts of his nation most affected by war.
Matthew 1:18-25
18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His
mother Mary was pledged to be married to
Joseph, but before they came together, she was
found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous
man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to
divorce her quietly. 20 But after he had
considered this, an angel of the
Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son
of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is
conceived in her is from
the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and
you are to give him the name Jesus,
because he will save his people from
their sins." 22 All this took place
to
fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23
"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"
--which means, "God with us."
24 When Joseph woke up, he did
what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25
But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
Commentary
1:18 pledged to be
married. There were no sexual relations during a Jewish betrothal period, but
it was a much more binding relationship than a modern
engagement and could be broken only by divorce (see v. 19).
In Dt. 22:24 a betrothed woman is called
a "wife," though the preceding verse speaks of her as
being "pledged to be married." Matthew uses the
terms "husband" (v. 19) and "wife" (v. 24) of Joseph and
Mary before they were married. 1:19 righteous. To Jews this meant being zealous
in keeping the law. Divorce her quietly. He would sign the necessary legal papers but not have her
judged publicly and stoned (see Dt.
22:23-24). 1:20 in a dream. The phrase
occurs five times in the first two
chapters of Matthew (here; 2:12-13,19,22) and indicates the means the Lord used
for speaking to Joseph. son of David. Perhaps a hint that the message of the angel related to the
expected Messiah. take Mary home as your
wife. They were legally bound to each other, but not yet living together as
husband and wife. What is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. This agrees
perfectly with the
announcement to Mary (Lk 1:35), except that the latter is
more specific.
A Decision for Eternity... Click the link below
.
