Getting It Done!

This is how Jesus the Messiah was born.   Matthew 1:18

Matthew tells us the story: Mary was found to be with child before she and Joseph were married. Joseph did not know what to make of this, but then one night God spoke to him in a dream—an angel told him not to be afraid: Mary was still a virgin; the child was conceived by the Holy Spirit.

Then Matthew writes, “All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: ‘Look! The virgin will conceive a child!’” (Matthew 1:22-23). In other words, when Jesus Christ came into the world, the things God said he would do were done. As you read through the Gospels, you find this same point repeated again and again.

We’re told how Joseph took Mary and Jesus to Egypt because Herod was trying to kill the child. Matthew explains that this too “fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: ‘I called my Son out of Egypt’” (Matthew 2:15). An event on God’s to-do list was done.

Then the young family moved to the town of Nazareth. This “fulfilled what the prophets had said: ‘He will be called a Nazarene’” (Matthew 2:23). Done! When Jesus began his ministry, he went to Capernaum, beside the Sea of Galilee. This “fulfilled what God said through the prophet Isaiah: . . . Beside the sea, . . . a light has shined” (4:14-16). Done!

Jesus stood up in the synagogue and read these words from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come.” Then he announced, “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!” (Luke 4:18-19, 21). In other words, “What God has promised is now being accomplished—by me!”

The detail is staggering! When Christ came into the world, it was as if God held up a massive to-do list of all he had promised since the beginning of time, and checked promise after promise off the list—it’s done!

For further reading, see Ephesians 1