Its Miraculous Mature and Its Historical, Social and Religious Setting The Harmon;? of the Two Genealogies By DR. A. C. DIXON "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise.” Matt. 1:18.
only man, and so truly God that we may think of Him as only God. He was not God humanized, nor man deified, but a union of God and man in one personal ity, the like of which the world has never seen in any other. I. THE NATURE OF CHRIST’S BIRTH There are four witnesses to the fact that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin: ,1. The Evangelists Matthew and Luke. Matthew says, “She was found with child of the Holy Ghost.” (Matt. 1:18). Luke refers to Mary as “a vir gin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David.” (Luke 1:27). The fact that Mark does not mention the virgin birth is no proof against it, for Mark does not mention the birth of Christ at all. His purpose is to portray Christ as the great Worker; and 'therefore he begins his Gospel with His public ministry. John does not directly mention the virgin birth, for the purpose of his Gospel is to portray Christ as the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit, under whose guid ance he wrote, knew that two compe tent witnesses were testifying to the fact that He was the Son of man, in the royal line of succession from David. But John does intimate the nature of Christ’s birth in the words, six times repeated in one chapter, “He came down from heaven,” showing that Christ was pre-existent to His birth, and that His birth, therefore, was the incarnation of Deity. There was no occasion for the Lord Jesus to refer to it Himself; and Paul intimates His pre-existence in the words, “Being in the form of God . . . emp-
HE Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John make a great diamond of truth, With four fa cets, each one of which gives forth its own peculiar radiance. Matthew presents Christ 'as King, Mark as Worker, Luke
as Man, and John as God. Matthew’s is the Royal Christ, Mark’s the Serving Christ, Luke’s the Human Christ, and John’s the Divine Christ. The inspired title of Matthew’s Gos pel is “The Genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham,” and His royal lineage is traced through David to Joseph. In Luke we have the human lineage, traced back from Jos eph to Adam and God, the Creator. It is evident that Joseph and Mary were both of the tribe of Judah and in the line of royal descent from King Da vid, so that the genealogy of Joseph, though he was not the real father of Christ, served the purpose of proving that both of them had royal blood in their veins. Joseph had a right to the throne of David, and Mary, as his queen, would have shared it with him. Christ was, therefore, literally “King of the Jews,” ; according to the flesh, and had a right to sit on David’s throne. “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise.” Jesus is the name which Joseph and Mary were told to give Him, and Christ was the name given Him of God. In the two names we have the union of the human and the Divine na tures—truly man and truly God; so truly man that we may think of Him as
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