"Behold, you will conceive...and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus." (Luke 1:31)

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THE SAVIOR

Rev. Ottar Larsen

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” (Luke 1:34-35).

Who was Jesus Christ? You know that He is called the “Son of God.” But what does that mean? Are you not a son or a daughter of God? Yes, you are. We are all His children. But there is a difference. Jesus Christ was the One God, appearing among people in an earthly body. Today, I want you to reflect upon how that could be possible.

You know that you have a father and a mother. You were born because your parents were married by the Lord and because they loved each other. It takes both a father and a mother to create a baby. The Lord creates, but your parents were allowed to participate in His work when He created you.

With the Lord’s birth it was different. Joseph, who was betrothed to Mary, was not the father of Jesus. Joseph adopted the Child Jesus. Joseph was a son of David. The Lord, as an adopted son of Joseph, became a son of David too, according to the law. But if Joseph was not the father of Jesus, then who was? The Word answers: “(Mary) was found with child of the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is God Himself. God has a spirit, the Holy Spirit. You have a spirit too. Your spirit is yourself. Therefore, we may say to someone “you showed a good spirit when you lost the game and were cheerful anyway.”

The Father of Jesus was God Himself. This is clear from the Gospels. Joseph knew for sure that he was not the father of the Child that Mary was having. It is said that he did not yet “know” her. This means that they did not live together as husband and wife until then. Joseph, therefore, at first thought that Mary had been unfaithful to him and that she had loved another man. He was ready to break off the Betrothal. The Word says that he “was minded to put her away secretly.” But the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”

So the old prophecy was fulfilled, that a virgin was to have a Child, who is Immanuel, which means God with us. In the birth of Jesus, God Himself came to visit us. Therefore the angel said to Joseph, “(Mary) will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus: for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20-21). Jesus means “Jehovah Is Salvation.”

In the Old Testament the Lord had said: “I am the Lord (Jehovah) your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior…. Before Me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the Lord (Jehovah), and besides Me there is no Savior” (Isaiah 43:3,10-11). The Lord had also said, “I am the Lord (Jehovah), who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens all alone, who spreads abroad the earth by Myself” (Isaiah 44:24). And He had said, “I am the Lord (Jehovah), and there is no other; there is no God besides Me” (Isaiah 45:5). We can see, then, that God is One, our Savior Jesus Christ.

Therefore the prophets told us who Jesus Christ was, even before He was born. The Lord prepared His own coming, so that when He came He would be received as the One He really is. The prophet Isaiah had written, “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). Here we are told that the Child or Son that was born was the “Mighty God”, the “Everlasting Father”. Jesus Christ Is the One God Almighty, our Father, come to earth to save us, as He had promised. This is why the Lord said: “He who has seen me has seen the Father.”

This does seem hard to understand—that God could be a Man, walking on this earth. But think about yourself. Is your body really you? No. It is your love, your mind or spirit, that is really you. Your body simply does what your spirit wants it to do. It tells your spirit about what it sees, hears, and senses, so that you can be present in this world.

The body of the Lord Jesus Christ served the same purpose as yours. But His spirit was God Himself. Remember, it was the Holy Spirit which came upon Mary, and overshadowed her; therefore it was said, “That Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:34).

At birth Jesus Christ had a Divine Soul. During His life on earth, He made His natural mind also Divine. With His death and resurrection, even His body was made Divine.

Jesus Christ therefore is the one God, who came to us so that we can see Him and know His love for us, so that we can worship Him. He is our Divine Shepherd who saves us when we follow Him and obey Him.

Amen.

Lesson: Matthew 1:18-25

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