18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ*n1 took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed*n2 to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”
(which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
I'm not sure what to say here. A couple of things came to mind with this passage. I thought about how gracious and righteous Joseph was. I thought that it was interesting how Jesus was named Jesus and yet somehow he fulfilled the prophecy in Isaiah that said that he would be named Immanuel.
Jesus is derivitive of Yeshua which means "Yahweh delivers." It is the same Hebrew root as the name Joshua. Interestingly, if you look at Numbers 13:16 it says "These were the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua." It seems as though Moses was prophesying about the delivering work of Joshua son of Nun and how he would be a foreshadowing of Joshua the Christ.
Do you have any other thoughts?
My only thought is how patient Joseph was. I want to teach my sons to patiently wait for their bride.
ReplyDeleteNot exactly sure what you are saying when you say "somehow he fulfilled the prophecy in Isaiah that said that he would be
ReplyDeletenamed Immanuel." are you saying that with a question mark? Like you are not sure how? You then describe what His name means...were you thinking His actual name should have been Immanuel?
The way I understand Him fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy is that He is God in the physical body of Jesus. In other words God is with us, He is literally in our midst. Immanuel.
He being in our midst lived a life we can imitate/follow and if we do we will be saved; (or delivered). I have heard Yeshua means God is salvation which would entail being delivered.
I guess I just wasn't sure how to understand the fulfilment of that prophecy. Jesus obviously fulfils all prophecies about him even if I don't understand exactly how. I think that what you're saying makes sense though. That's why I thought that it would be nice to discuss these things together. I certainly don't have all the answers. :)
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