Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

Let’s resume the Master Plan appreciation by examining the planned pregnancy of the Messiah.

Today’s scripture, Isaiah 7:14 (NLT) prophesied…
[14] All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).

And Matthew 1:20-23 (NLT) confirmed…
[20] As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. [21] And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” [22] All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: [23] “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”

Consider…
Christmas devotions around the Christmas tree in my mom’s living room was a family tradition. We would sing a hymn, say a prayer and read Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth. I remember being picked to read the scripture was a rite of passage that spanned from before I was born through my babygirl’s (my mom’s youngest grandchild) middle school years.

There are many wonderful memories of Christmas with my mom, but in retrospect those devotions were the most precious.

As I have matured in Christ, the Matthew Christmas story has become so much more than an annual tradition. That’s because, the story reveals the intentionality and faithfulness of God. You see the two focus scriptures today show us that God planned to send the Savior of the world into it through a virgin.

This is key, because we have learned that the physical presence of God appeared throughout the old testament to Moses, Abraham, Jacob and others. However, the planned birth of Immanuel, which means God with us, initiated God’s salvation solution to the penalty, power and presence of sin.

1 Peter 1:18-20 (NLT) explains…
[18] For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. [19] It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. [20] God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.

Jesus’ birth was God’s ransom plan revealed to us.

Hebrews 2:14-17 (NLT) provides additional details to God’s salvation plan. It says…
[14] Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. [15] Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying. [16] We also know that the Son did not come to help angels; he came to help the descendants of Abraham. [17] Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people.

An important key to God’s ransom plan is Jesus had to be the unblemished sacrificial Lamb to take away the sins of the world.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NLT) explains…
[21] For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

This is why Jesus had to be born of a virgin, otherwise like every other human being he would have to testify with Psalms 51:5 (NLT)…
[5] For I was born a sinner— yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.

So you see, the Holy Spirit had to be the one to plant God the Father’s seed into the virgin Mary, to produce Jesus’ full diety and humanity.

Philippians 2:6-8 (NLT) testifies about Jesus’ unique fully God, fully human DNA. It says…
[6] Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. [7] Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, [8] he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

All of this tells me that when God had Isaiah prophesy and Matthew testify that Immanuel would be born of a virgin, it was a planned pregnancy. That’s because Jesus had to be born in order to die for our sins. Like Hezekiah Walker sings…

There was a baby boy
Born in this world of sin
Born just to die for us
So that we could live

I’m glad that He died for me
And He gave His life just to set me free
I’m glad that He died for me
Born just to die for me

Jesus had to be purely born in order to sinlessly die and fully atone for all sin as 1 Peter 3:18 (NLT) explains…
[18] Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.

There’s no sinless death without a virgin birth!

I am unaware of any scripture that talks about what Mary’s planned pregnancy was like. But the Holy Spirit showed me something from Luke’s account that I believe gives us a peak into her mental state. Luke 1:46-55 (NLT) shares…
[46] Mary responded, “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. [47] How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! [48] For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed. [49] For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me. [50] He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who fear him. [51] His mighty arm has done tremendous things! He has scattered the proud and haughty ones. [52] He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble. [53] He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands. [54] He has helped his servant Israel and remembered to be merciful. [55] For he made this promise to our ancestors, to Abraham and his children forever.”

Mary was literally full of the Holy Spirit for her entire pregnancy!

Hopefully today’s post helps you recognize and appreciate the planned virgin pregnancy required to send the sinless Son of God to take away the sin of the world.

Today’s Song is…
Mary’s Song

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)