God’s Perfect Prophecy
Several years ago, our granddaughter drew this picture that ended up being reprinted as part of a school art showcase. Jocelyn’s caricature of Mary and Joseph was precious and so sweet – but probably very inaccurate!
Can you imagine being that pregnant and so peaceful looking while riding on a donkey across rough terrain for nearly 90 miles for over 4 days? And I’m not even sure they had a donkey for her to ride! What if poor Mary had to walk all that way? I would have been a basket case!
From the beginning, she had an angel telling her to not be afraid, but I doubt if he warned her about this trip. Yowza! I rode the back of a motorcycle once for about an hour when I was pregnant, and that ’bout did me in! I can’t imagine her discomfort!
Mary accepted the word of the angel about her giving birth while still a virgin. That prophecy had been one facet of the Messiah’s coming that perhaps all young ladies of Israel wondered about. ‘Will it be me?’ they might have thought.
‘Don’t be frightened, Mary,’ the angel told her, ‘for God has decided to wonderfully bless you! Very soon now, you will become pregnant and have a baby boy, and you are to name Him ‘Jesus.’ He shall be very great and shall be called the Son of God. And the Lord God shall give Him the throne of His ancestor David. And He shall reign over Israel forever; His Kingdom shall never end!’ All of those things involved Old Testament prophecies that would be fulfilled in Mary’s obedience.
In Matthew 1:20-23, Joseph fell into a dream and saw an angel standing beside him. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “don’t hesitate to take Mary as your wife! For the child within her has been conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a Son, and you shall name Him Jesus (meaning ‘Savior’), for He will save His people from their sins. This will fulfill God’s message through His prophets—‘Listen! The virgin shall conceive a child! She shall give birth to a Son, and He shall be called “Emmanuel” (meaning “God is with us”).”
I think God was wonderful to provide a man for Mary who would acknowledge God’s leadership through such strange occurrences. Though not much is said about Joseph, he was obviously God’s chosen vessel to rear God’s only Son.
Back to the narrative … Those descriptions of Jesus – Savior and God with us – set the stage for the rest of Jesus’ story.
Did Mary and Joseph have another angelic visit instructing them to follow the edicts of the pagan government to register in Joseph’s ancestral city? Maybe they just knew of the prophecy in Micah 5:2. ‘O Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are but a small Judaean village, yet you will be the birthplace of my King who is alive from everlasting ages past!’ TLB
Like many examples in the Bible, God fulfilled His prophecies through unlikely agents. Those in charge of the census which called for Joseph to be numbered in Bethlehem didn’t have a clue, but the Romans were being used by God to get Jesus to the correct birthplace.
God’s prophecies will come to pass with or without my participation, but does the fulfillment of God’s prophecies involve my obedience today? Something to think about as history unfolds around us. Am I being a faithful witness of Christ’s love to the world? As other Biblical prophecies seem to be taking shape, do I readily step into my role as ‘disciple maker’ as commissioned by Jesus? May it be so.
Blessings
KB
