The Christmas season can be a challenge for all moms, but an extra one for those whose children are experiencing special needs and for those who are trying to raise children alone. But these particular moms can find fresh hope and new, lasting strength in the account of Gabriel’s opening conversation with Mary in Luke 1:26ff.
Read MoreMatthew, with his characteristic formulaic quotations (about 60) from the Old Testament, claimed that the prophet Isaiah foretold of Jesus’ virgin birth in 1:22-23. In other words, Matthew held that the virgin birth of Jesus fulfilled Isaiah’s messianic prophecy. But evangelical and liberal scholars alike claim that Matthew is guilty of ignoring the context of Isaiah 7 and shoehorning an Old Testament passage into his story of Jesus to support his claim for the virgin birth. Was Matthew right? Or, as scholars claim, did he shoehorn Isaiah 7:14 into his story?
Read MoreThis Christmas season, as you set up a manger scene in your home, or as you read a Christmas story, or as you teach a lesson in Sunday School or in your discipleship group, one of your children or students may ask: “how can baby Jesus be God? How can a tiny baby be God?” It’s a natural question for them to ask. You ready for it?
Read MoreNo one this Christmas, I suggest, would be willing to sing, “Away in a feeding trough.” “Way too crude, coarse, and inelegant,” you might say. But Luke would sing it for sure. Crude and coarse is his precise message. The traditional wording, “she laid him in a manger” masks humility and the smells of Jesus’ birth.
Read MoreLuke believes we need two Christmas stories. The first story is about the birth of Jesus (Luke 2). The second Christmas story is about the conversion of Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9). Luke believes we need a first and second Noel.
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