Topic: Jesus Christ
Before the births of John the Baptist and Jesus, Isaiah prophesied that there would be Messiah coming to the world to show the light of truth. Throughout his book, Isaiah explained and characterized this Messiah and His life and death. For example, in Isaiah 52:13-53:12, he gave us the future description of the suffering of God’s servant, which is the death of Jesus Christ that explained in the four books of Gospel. But before that, Isaiah prophesied on the virgin woman that we are going to look in Luke 1.
In Isaiah 7:14 declares, “The Lord himself will give you a sign: The Virgin will be pregnant. She will have a son, and she will name him Immanuel.” The word “virgin” is the Hebrew term means “a young woman.” It often means a girl who was not married and had not yet had sexual relations. As we read in Luke 1, we find that this virgin has to be Mary from the town of David. Again, we have known that Mary is a virgin and received a son is called “Immanuel.” Some of the Bible translations in the New Testament are written as Emmanuel. The word “Immanuel” or “Emmanuel” is simply meant, “God is with us.” As we read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, God was with His people at their trials of life and He explained us His love and mercy by dying at the cross and resurrected to Heaven. And we read in the final chapter of His plan that He will come back to us again and take us His home, and then He will destroy all the armies of Evil One to put them into Hell.
Read with me in Luke 1:26-28.
In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you.”
In this text, in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent Gabriel to Virgin Mary to announce the Good News. This message was going to be blast to the whole country of Israel, because throughout the Old Testament, the people were waiting for the Messiah to come. Of course, they didn’t recognize when He came to the world as John 1:11 declared. Why? Why they didn’t recognize Him as their Father and King?
Look into today’s world. We didn’t know what would happen to World Trade Center before the 9/11 airplane hijackers crashed. Did we prepare to meet our enemies before that day? Why we so focused on our daily schedules and haven’t focused on God’s plan? If we follow God’s ways of human’s life, we wouldn’t miss the target of our enemies. If the Israelites obey the words of prophets, they wouldn’t miss the Messiah. They would celebrate His coming with Mary and Joseph. What if we do not recognize the Second Coming of Jesus and miss Him before the beginning of the Great Tribulation? What would we do?
In Luke 1:26, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth. There are two kinds of angels living between the heaven and this world. One of them is belonged to God and another is belonged to Satan. One of the days, God’s angels are going to battle against the armies of Satan. As we are living, the enemies of Christ gather to plan against the land of Israel. Now, the people of the world are planning to make One World Religion as the part of New World Order Plan through many national projects, such as the New Jerusalem Covenant Project through many Jewish and Christian denominations. About certain percentage of the world population will die because of the world tragedies, especially in Israel.
Throughout the Bible we see the people were struggling against their opponents. Good vs. Bad. In this case of Luke, Gabriel was a messenger from God. He was with Daniel when he explained the interpretation of Daniel’s vision (Daniel 8-9). He was with Zechariah when he delivered God’s message about John the Baptist (Luke 1:11-17, 19-20). Now, Gabriel is talking to Mary, a virgin who pledged to be a wife of Joseph, who came from David’s family.
As we see in Luke 1:26, this miraculous had taken place in Nazareth. It is located at farther north from Jerusalem and Bethlehem. As we read in Matthew 2, Joseph and Mary went down to Bethlehem to receive their Son. Micah prophesied this before the birth of Jesus: “But, you Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.” (Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:6.) According to genealogies of Jesus (Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-37), He came from the family of the Old Testament. Matthew recorded the family of Jesus since the son of David, the son of Abraham. In contrast with Luke, he drew the family line since the day of Adam’s birth. As we look in John 1, there was the Word and the Word was with God in the beginning of His creation. We read in Colossians, Paul wrote, “He is the image of the indivisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things were hold together.” (Colossians 1:15-17.)
In II Samuel 7, God promised to David that his son, Solomon, will build a Temple for Him. Also, God promised to David that his house and his kingdom will endure forever before the Almighty God. His throne will be established forever. God blessed David and anointed as a king of Israel through Samuel. Jesus is the Lion of Judah, because He came from the Tribe of Judah and David. That is the word form as Jewish. Most of Jewish people do not accept Jesus as their Savior, because they only depend on the Old Testament way to understand God’s character. Do you have the real picture or understanding of Jesus Christ’s character in your life?
The next verse, in Luke 1:27, is that a virgin woman, Mary, pledged to marry Joseph, who came from a descendant of David. If we look into Mary and Joseph, they were planning to divorce because he found that she was pregnant before their sexual relationship (Matthew 1:18-19). The NIV Student Bible said that is considering to Matthew 1:18-20, “Jewish custom in Joseph and Mary’s day recognized a state called ‘betrothal’ that feel somewhere between our modern commitments of engagement and marriage. A betrothal was binding than an engagement: It could only be broken with an act of divorce. And if a betrothal woman became pregnant, she was regarded as adulteress.” But an angel of the Lord said, in Joseph’s dream, which he considered not to divorce Mary because she found God’s favor in her (Matthew 1:20-21; Luke 1:28).
As we look at the beginning of Jesus’ life, what we, as Christian, would do when God calls us for His favor. There are so many ways to apart ourselves from God. Our entertainment schedules are becoming the most important activity in our own life. According to the search I’ve been doing, Dr. James Dobson, from the Focus on Family, and Chuck Colson promote the movie, Henry Potter, to the family leisure activity. All the magical and action movies are considered as the family activities. From the biblical aspect on the this and other movies that are related to witchcraft and fantasy, God warned us to apart from these activities (Leviticus 14:26; Deuteronomy 13:1-11). Instead, He called us to be His children and live in His kingdom with Him in love and peace, forever.
God called us to be in His family. According to Galatians 6:10, Paul said, “When we have the opportunity to help anyone, we should do it. But we should give special attention to those who are in the family of believers.” These believers could be your family, friends, neighbors, and/or employers, who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savor. In Hebrews 2:11 says, “Jesus, who makes people holy, and those who are made holy are from the same family. So he is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters.” Do you have close family and/or friends who close to you and close to Jesus Christ? “It is time for judgment to begin with God’s family. And if that judging begins with us, what will happen to those people who do not obey the Good News of God?” (I Peter 2:17.)
Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this ministry is to share with you how much God loves you and me and wants to come in our own life to take us through any obstacles in our daily life. As Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:1-3.)
If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occultisms in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
