Text:Matthew 1; Deuteronomy 18

Today is a very wonderful day as we start advent and look forward to the coming of Christ. The word actually gives the idea of preparing the way of course for the Messiah. Our challenge is multi fold. First, this is something that we as Christians should do every day not just around Christmas. Also, this is something we do as families or groups. Also, this is a time of purification and reflection. Again, happening every day in devotion to Christ. As we start the advent season this year, let’s make a commitment to each other to make this a lifestyle change and seek Truth in all things.

Today we start off by looking at Christ the Babe, Matt. 1; Is. 7:14. Christ is prophesied to be born of a virgin and then it is fulfilled. Now this brings up the idea of prophecy and this advent we will discuss this a lot. God knows His creation and sets some guidelines for prophets, Deut. 18. If you want to look into the difference between court prophets and village prophets such as Amos that is a good study for another time. However, the litmus is that the prophecy actually comes true. In the gospels we see the virgin Mary giving birth to Jesus Christ.

Now Christ had to be born of a virgin to fulfill prophecy and to mark that this was and is the Messiah. Of course there is no other person ever to walk on earth that was born of a virgin. Also, it was man who sinned, so it is man who had to sacrifice, John 3:16; I Tim. 2:5; Col. 2:8-10. Man had to be the sacrifice but not natural man. Christ had to be the perfect man and we will get to this in a few weeks.

Third, Christ was born of a virgin to be the ultimate example of humility, Phil. 2:5-11. Think of the God of the universe coming to earth to go through the process of birth. Life and death. What a humbling experience and He did it for us. Next, Christ had to be touched with human feelings and infirmities, Heb. 4:14-16.

The closing idea for today is the virgin birth was necessary because where there is love, there is sacrifice, John 15:8-17. Christ was willing to lay down His life to redeem mankind and bring us back to the Father. He sacrificed for us because of Love.