Tag: Jesus' birth

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In the Beginning

shallow focus of sprout

There are only two birth narratives of Jesus in the Bible–Matthew and Luke. Mark and John omit the birth narrative. However, John’s gospel is unique because instead of beginning with Jesus’ physical birth he instead dates Jesus back to the beginning of time. He begins his gospel this way, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1-2). This is a very important point because most people say that God sent His son, but they usually mean that God one day decided to create his son when he came through Mary.

But this isn’t what John means. John is clear that Christ was with God since the beginning. Not only was he with God, but “all things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (vs. 3-4). God had a plan from the beginning. God had a plan to redeem His people, for those who would repent and obey. Life is precious to God. He is the creator and giver of life and light.

When we follow Christ, we can’t forget that he was with God from the beginning. Christ knows our hearts and has seen everything man has done, both good and bad, from the beginning of time. John’s gospel is not a different story from the other gospel stories. Instead, it is a companion story that gives us the bigger picture. While the birth stories are beautiful accounts of our Savior, John’s story is a beautiful story of the hope we have with the one who made all things and gave us life from the very beginning!

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Where Did Jesus Come From?

scene of birth of christ

We Christians rightfully emphasize Jesus’ origins in the miraculous virgin birth. But there is more to the story of where Jesus came from beyond Mary. In fact, Matthew and Luke give detailed genealogies, detailing Jesus’ lineage. Matthew’s account has always fascinated me. He divides it up in three sets of 14 generations and decides to trace it to Joseph instead of Mary. What’s even more interesting is that Matthew includes four women besides Mary.

He mentions Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba (the wife of Uriah). The really interesting thing is that the women were foreigners, had children out of major scandals, and were faithful to God. Matthew seems to include them to show that the fulfilment of the scriptures includes people who received grace for their faithfulness. Matthew also doesn’t sanitize the lineage of Jesus. He includes people, men and women, who were far from perfect.

Matthew groups the generations this way: “So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations” (Matthew 1:17 ESV). In grouping the genealogies in groups of fourteen (7 indicates perfection/completion of something), he is showing that Jesus is the completion and perfection of God’s covenant. Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises that a messiah would come through David.

As we reflect on the birth of Christ, we can take a deeper look at how God includes unlikely people into His perfect plan of salvation.