Holy Boldness

Chapter 4 G iving B irth to M essiah .

Have you ever thought of what it would be like to give birth to the Messiah? The birth of Jesus was not just any birth. It would change everything and heaven and hell were both on high alert to the event.

Placing Personal Dreams On Hold

With the conception of Jesus, Mary and Joseph were made major players in God’s cosmic drama of redemption. They were obviously the right ones for the task as can be seen by the way they responded to nu merous challenges of the early days. Whatever dreams Mary and Joseph might have had for their lives were completely disrupted and relinquished by the coming of Jesus. His presence drew fire and opposition and it changed their lives forever. At a certain point, a person must simply sub mit to the river of destiny as it moves forward. Once Mary and Joseph were in the flow of God’s purposes for the earth, their plans took a back seat to God’s. As will be seen, they were still committed to following the traditions of Israel but as they went, God kept re-writing their script. In Luke 2 the Gospel tells us that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, far from his parent’s hometown of Nazareth in Galilee. This was accord ing to prophecy but certainly not in Mary and Joseph’s plans. So just about the time when Jesus was to be born, Mary and Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem, Joseph’s hometown, to register their family in the census demanded by the Roman government. Mary and Joseph were not trying to fulfill prophecy. They were there in Bethlehem, Luke tells us, because of a “decree from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth.” (Luke 2:1) It just so happened that a secular decree aligned with the ancient prophecy of Micah. “But from you Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be Bethlehem

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