The Birth of Jesus

The Birth of Jesus

Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea between 6 and 4BC. His birth was preceded by the Annunciation in which an Angel appeared to Mary and prophesied the birth of a son and commanded her to name Him Jesus. Whether the massacre of the Innocents is historically true or not as has been claimed by some scholars, what then followed was the escape to Egypt by Joseph, Mary and her son. We can assume that Jesus was probably about a few months old at the flight to Egypt.

Historically, we do not have the records of how long Jesus was in Egypt with His parents but it can safely be assumed that they came back when He was still a child because we have reports of Joseph going to the Jerusalem Temple every year and that Jesus Himself according to the custom was taken to the Temple when He was twelve.

Going back to when Jesus was born; His birth was preceded by the Annunciation and also by the appearance to Joseph of an Angel reassuring him not to be alarmed at the state of Mary. This is an interesting development because the question here was that Mary was suddenly found to be pregnant by Joseph who was her betrothed and according to the custom was already considering breaking his vow to her. He was however prevented from doing this by the Angel who reassured him that this was no ordinary pregnancy but a pregnancy which was holy.

The question of the Annunciation however, and the purpose of it was different. Mary was approached by the Angel even before she got pregnant and was promised that she would bear a child and was to call the child Jesus. After the visitation by the Angel we are told that Mary offered the Magnificat in which there was praise to the Lord and a heartfelt gratitude for being deemed worthy for such Divine grace.

According to the book "In the Light of Truth", by Abd-ru-shin, the purpose of the Annunciation was to prepare Mary spiritually for the events that were to follow. The event (the Annunciation) was so stupendous that it became the most important event in her life and allowed her more and more to occupy herself with spiritual matters which made all base thoughts and feelings disappear. Her intuitions were so pure at this stage that it provided a soil upon which an immaculate conception could occur.

If an earthly woman was chosen to carry the Divine Spirit, she must be seen to carry within herself the basis for this in terms of purity of thoughts and intuitive perceptions. The soil therefore was prepared in Mary for an entrance of a part of God. In fact it is only on such a soil that a part of God can enter.

At that time we are told that there was a census going on and this has been confirmed recently that Caesar Augustus deemed that a census be carried out for the sake of proper tax estimations. Therefore, Joseph who normally lived and worked in Nazareth as a carpenter journeyed with his wife Mary who was heavily pregnant with child. Joseph was a direct descendant of king David and as such had to go to Judaea for the census since the law demanded that each return to their ancestral land for this. Because of the overcrowding there however, there was no inn for them to stay in so much so that when Mary went into labour, they could only find space in a stable.

She gave birth to Jesus in Bethlehem of Judea in a stable. It is interesting to note that one of the reasons advanced by the priestly aristocracy for rejecting Jesus was that as far as the writings of the prophets were concerned, no Messiah was supposed to arise from Galilee. The general supposition then was that Jesus could not be the Messiah because it was thought that He was born in Nazareth, in Galilee when it had been predicted that the Messiah was to have been born in Bethlehem. We now know historically that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

It is at this point appropriate to take a brief look at the events surrounding the Birth of Jesus using the Scriptures. Matthew’s aim because of the peculiar condition in Israel where genealogy was most important was to try and trace Jesus back Abraham. It would have been difficult otherwise without this to accept the authenticity of Jesus. Lineage was most important and if Jesus was to be accepted as Lord, His lineage had to correspond to what apparently had been predicted in the Scriptures. The gospel of Luke took a similar line.

Let us take a look at the Annunciation:

Luke 1:26-38 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, (27) to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. (28) And he came to her and said, "Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you!" (29) But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. (30) And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. (31) And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. (32) He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, (33) and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end." (34) And Mary said to the angel, "How shall this be, since I have no husband?" (35) And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. (36) And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. (37) For with God nothing will be impossible." (38) And Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.

This is the Annunciation mentioned above announced by the Angel Gabriel. The purpose of this has been explained above but it suffices to say here that the Child’s name was given as Jesus which means ‘the Lord saves’. This is in contrast to the name given by Matthew who called Him Imanuel which means ‘God with us’. This is very significant because here we have only Matthew’s word for this. Not even the Angel called the Child Imanuel. The Angel instructed that the Child be called Jesus. Even when the Angel appeared to Joseph he also was consistent in asking that the Child be called Jesus. Matthew 1:20-21 But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; (21) she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

Matthew was always looking for the fulfillment of prophecies and on his own assumed that the Child that Mary was to have whom the two Angels demanded be named Jesus was the same Child that Isaiah prophesied called Imanuel. Through this He confused two very different fulfillments requiring two separate births. This error unfortunately has been carried on to this day and has prevented many people from recognizing the nature of this second Child.

Matthew went on to say: Matthew 1:22-23 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: (23) “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel" (which means, God with us).

These are Matthew’s words not the Angel’s. They are his own assumptions. He did not even notice that the names are different and that their meanings differ. Jesus means ‘the Lord saves’ and Imanuel means ‘God with us’. It is obvious that the Angels in their appearances to both Joseph and Mary would have mentioned this if this was meant to be so. The fact that on two different occasions they were consistent with the name of the Child goes to prove that the Child that Mary gave birth to was not Imanuel but Jesus. We will be considering the birth of Jesus in more detail later.

From:
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