Advent: Day 6

In God's promise of Redemption, He even told us how the Messiah would come and who the Messiah would be. In a prophecy given to King Ahaz, God said through Isaiah:

¹⁰ Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, ¹¹ “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” ¹² But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” ¹³ And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? ¹⁴ Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Is. 7:10-14)

Nearly seven hundred years before Christ, God promised that His Redeemer would be born into mankind but from a virgin and that He would be God with us. Then, at the turn of the era, when Joseph needed reassurance that Mary had not been unfaithful, an angel appeared to him in a dream saying:

²⁰ "...Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." ²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
²³ "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
    and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us). (Mt. 1:20-23)

The Messiah is God with us. The baby boy conceived in Mary's womb is God with us. This is, of course, what we celebrate in Advent. The second person of the Godhead became man to save us from our sins. Jesus is God with us, born of a virgin, and it was prophesied seven hundred years before it happened.

By His Grace,
Taylor