Daily Bible Verses for 12/07/2016
Daily Verse(s)
Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women” But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
“And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
Reading Notes
The importance of the virgin birth of Jesus cannot be understated. Because understanding this gives us a right view of the incarnation and the nature of Jesus. Jesus has always been God, He has eternally existed as God and He is the Author of creation. The Bible tells us that everything was created by Him and through Him. But at the incarnation something special happened. Jesus the eternal God of the universe stepped out of eternity and took on humanity and became a human being. In other words, Jesus added humanity to His divinity to become both fully God and fully man. This was necessary in order for Jesus to become our perfect substitute at the Cross. We have to remember, only a person who has lived a life without sin in both thought and deed can take the place for humanity. There are no good deeds or animal sacrifices that can erase a person’s sin. Moreover, the addition of the human nature to the divine nature of Jesus did not diminish His divinity, nor His sovereignty. This is called the “Hypostatic Union” which means Jesus Christ, one person, but two natures fully God yet fully man.
Jesus’ two natures, human and divine, are inseparable and necessary because Jesus had to share in our humanity in order to take our place at the Cross. Yet His divinity was required in order not to share in our sin nature and raise Himself from the grave. Jesus will forever be the God-man, fully God and fully human, two distinct natures in one person. Jesus’ humanity and divinity are not mixed, but are united without loss of either. The Godhead consists of three distinct persons God the Father, God the Son, who is Jesus Christ and God the Spirit who is the Holy Spirit. All are equal in essence, attributes, glory and power; yet distinct in roles. Here in these passages, the angel Gabriel is telling Mary that her Son is the long awaited Messiah. That first Christmas Jesus came to bear our sins on the Cross and do what only God could do, that is to reconcile sinful mankind back to a Holy God. This is the greatest gift mankind has ever received, without Jesus there would be no hope of heaven, and no possibility of eternal life.