DAY 184 Read Isaiah 5 through 8.
Today's reading: When wicked King Ahaz refused to ask God for a sign, God still gave him one, as well as a prophecy of the miraculous birth of the Messiah more than seven centuries later.
Memory gem: "Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14).
Thought for today:
Jesus Christ entered this world through birth. He had a human mother, yet He was the Son of God. He understands even the "feeling of our infirmities" (Hebrews 4:15). He knows what it is like to be a human being--to be hungry, to be weary, to be thirsty, to be rejected. He knows what it's like when enemies threaten and persecute. He also knows what it's like when friends desert us.
The birth of Christ--by which we mean His entrance into this world, including His miraculous conception--will always be a mystery. It is God's secret. The apostle Paul says: "Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified on the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory" (1 Timothy 3:16).
We cannot understand this in all its fullness, but we can believe it with all its wonder and blessed deliverance, salvation, and peace. The whole gospel is based upon it. How the Creator--for such Jesus was, with the Father--could become a man, is beyond our comprehension; but He did.
Christ entered this world through what has been called a "biological miracle." But what would we expect? Would we expect to understand the nature of God and all His mighty works? Could we do so, we would be equal to Him. Christ had a human mother, but no human father. Our Saviour Himself said: "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30). They were one in mind, one in nature. Christ was divine in the highest sense.
The purpose of His coming to this world was twofold: first, to reveal God; second, to redeem man. This is one reason why Jesus was sinless. God is sinless. This is why He was holy, for God is holy. No wonder the angel Gabriel said to the Blessed Virgin: "That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:35).
Today's reading: When wicked King Ahaz refused to ask God for a sign, God still gave him one, as well as a prophecy of the miraculous birth of the Messiah more than seven centuries later.
Memory gem: "Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14).
Thought for today:
Jesus Christ entered this world through birth. He had a human mother, yet He was the Son of God. He understands even the "feeling of our infirmities" (Hebrews 4:15). He knows what it is like to be a human being--to be hungry, to be weary, to be thirsty, to be rejected. He knows what it's like when enemies threaten and persecute. He also knows what it's like when friends desert us.
The birth of Christ--by which we mean His entrance into this world, including His miraculous conception--will always be a mystery. It is God's secret. The apostle Paul says: "Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified on the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory" (1 Timothy 3:16).
We cannot understand this in all its fullness, but we can believe it with all its wonder and blessed deliverance, salvation, and peace. The whole gospel is based upon it. How the Creator--for such Jesus was, with the Father--could become a man, is beyond our comprehension; but He did.
Christ entered this world through what has been called a "biological miracle." But what would we expect? Would we expect to understand the nature of God and all His mighty works? Could we do so, we would be equal to Him. Christ had a human mother, but no human father. Our Saviour Himself said: "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30). They were one in mind, one in nature. Christ was divine in the highest sense.
The purpose of His coming to this world was twofold: first, to reveal God; second, to redeem man. This is one reason why Jesus was sinless. God is sinless. This is why He was holy, for God is holy. No wonder the angel Gabriel said to the Blessed Virgin: "That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:35).
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