Birth

Birth

December 14, 2015

Matthew 1:18  "This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph. . ."

The story of the birth of Jesus usually starts the same, no mater who is telling the tale.  It almost always starts with, "Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph."  It begins with basically the inception of Jesus.  Whenever someone is recounting the story of a person's life, birth is usually a good place to start, especially with the introduction of the parents responsible for the deed.  I like how the book of Matthew starts with the story, however, it introduces the story by telling us how the Messiah came into the world.  There is a difference between being introduced to a child, a baby, compared to being introduced to the Messiah.  Matthew introduces the end from the beginning, by calling Him the Messiah he tells us who Jesus was before He was even born.  In fact, the point of Jesus being the Messiah actually tells us the story before the story.

There is a story that must be told before the birth of Jesus being the Messiah.  The story is the reason for the Messiah and what a Messiah accomplishes.  Everyone thinks the birth of Jesus starts with Mary and Joseph, except I would argue that the birth of Jesus starts with the birth of the world.  Remember the beginning of the Bible?  In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.  And then in the New Testament, the Bible says that Jesus was there in the beginning, at the inception of creation.  In is interesting how many thousands of years take place between the inception of the world, with Jesus present, and the inception of a baby, the human form of Jesus.  It tells us that birth was preceded by life.  The planning that went into the story of Jesus' birth, thousands of years of planning were apparently required.

Translate this planning into your own life for a moment.  Your life story started with your birth, and some would argue it started with the introduction of your parents.  I would argue that it started many years prior to that.  Birth was preceded by life, even yours.  Every birth is preceded by life, the life giving planning inspired by the Lord.  It took a tremendous amount of planning to bring your life about.  If the Lord took a tremendous amount of planning to bring your life to fruition, isn't it reasonable to think that He has a plan and intention for your life?  Every birth has an intention from the Lord.  This goes for the birth that gave you life and the events that are birthing in your life right now.  The Lord did not conceive of Jesus just to result in a still birth.  If the Lord has birthed something in your life, do you think He is intent on allowing it to be a still birth?  Birth was meant to be the start of something, not the end result of something.

The Lord had a plan when He brought your life about, just like He had a plan when He brought about Jesus as the son of Mary and Joseph.  The Lord is patient and relentless in the execution of His plans, setting them up even thousands of years in advance to bring about a birth.  And that birth isn't the beginning.  The beginning started so long ago.  If it feels like a birth for you, put it in perspective that it is the result of significant planning by the Lord and still not the end result.  There is so much more right after a birth, just like there was so much more that prepares for a birth.  Get excited, something is birthing.

Don't take my word for it; look it up: Gen 1:1, Is 43:19, Is 66:8-10, Matt 1, James 1:18