Sunday
Morning Bible Study
December
21, 2008
Matthew 1:18-23
:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ
was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came
together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.
(El nacimiento de Jesucristo fue
así: Su madre María estaba desposada con José; y antes de que se unieran, se
halló que ella había concebido del Espíritu Santo.)
betrothed
(desposada)– Joseph had become engaged to a young gal
named Mary. But before they actually got
married, Joseph finds out that Mary was pregnant.
To make things
even crazier, Mary is claiming that she was made pregnant by God.
If your girlfriend told you this, what would you think? Would you believe her?
:19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her
a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.
(José, su marido, como era justo
y no quería difamarla, se propuso dejarla secretamente.)
The New Testament wasn’t written in English or even in Spanish. It was written in Greek. I find that when I do a little homework and
stud the original Greek words it can help me understand the passage better.
just (justo) – the Greek word means that
Joseph was a good guy. He was known for
doing the right thing.
public example
(defamarla) – Perhaps you read the
story “The Scarlet
Letter” in high school? In the days of
the Puritans, a woman who committed adultery was made to wear a big red letter
“A” on her clothes to shame her.
For the Jewish
people in Joseph’s day, Mary could be stoned to death for committing adultery.
Joseph didn’t want to see Mary hurt.
was minded
(propuso) – the Greek word means “to
will deliberately”, “have a purpose”
Joseph had already made up his mind what he was going to do. He was going to send Mary away quietly.
He wasn’t going to allow Mary to be embarrassed or hurt, but he also wasn’t
going to marry her.
The relationship was over. Joseph
was “done” with Mary.
:20 But while he thought about these
things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying,
"Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for
that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
(Mientras él pensaba en esto, he
aquí un ángel del Señor se le apareció en sueños y le dijo: "José, hijo de
David, no temas recibir a María tu mujer, porque lo que ha sido engendrado en
ella es del Espíritu Santo.)
thought
(él pensaba)– the Greek word means “to ponder”, but even
more interesting is that it comes from a word that means “passion, angry, or
heat”
I get the idea that Joseph was a bit passionate about this whole thing. Perhaps he was a bit angry about the
circumstances of his life as he thought about Mary.
son of David
(hijo de David)– even though we think of Joseph as being
a simple “carpenter” (Mat. 13:55), he was also royalty. He
was a descendant of King David.
is of the Holy
Spirit (es del Espíritu Santo)– the
angel confirms that what Mary has told Joseph is indeed true.
Some people will tell you fantastic stories of what they claim that God is
saying to you – but I like the fact that God also confirmed it to Joseph as
well as Mary.
:21 "And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name
JESUS,
(Ella dará a luz un hijo; y
llamarás su nombre Jesús,)
you shall call His
name (y llamarás su nombre)– in the Bible, a person’s
name can be very significant. A name
often is used to describe a person’s character, their nature, something about
their life.
For example, King David’s
name means “beloved”, he was beloved by God.
Solomon (Salomón) means “peace” – his reign over the nation was
forty years of peace.
Jacob means
“heel-catcher” or “tricky guy”. After he wrestled with
God, his name was changed to “Israel” which means “governed by God”.
The name of Jesus
(Jesús) originally comes from the Hebrew name (ewvwhy) “Yehoshua”,
shortened to “Yashua” or “Joshua”.
The Greeks translated the name as Iesous (Yay-sous), we translate that into English as “Jesus” or
Spanish as “Jesús”.
The name Yashua
(Jesus) means “Yahweh is salvation”
What does “salvation” mean? What
does it mean to “be saved”?
:21 for He will save His people from their sins."
(porque él salvará a su pueblo
de sus pecados.")
We are saved from the consequences of our sins.
We have a big problem
The Bible says that our sin separates us from God.
(Rom
6:23 NKJV) For the wages of sin is
death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Porque la paga del pecado es muerte; pero el don
de Dios es vida eterna en Cristo Jesús, Señor nuestro.
If you work all week at the company called “SIN”, you will get a paycheck for all your
hard work. Your will be paid with
“death”. The wages of sin is death.
Perhaps a better way to put it is to say that if you work
all week at a company called “sin”, YOU are the one that has to pay at the end
of the week. You have to pay with your
life.
We would like to think that only really, really, really
bad people will go to hell. But the
truth is that we are all sinners who need God’s help.
God has the answer to our problem.
God sent His Son Jesus to pay the price for our sin.
Jesus came to die in our place, to die for our sins.
If you want Jesus to pay for your sins, you simply have to believe.
You need to ask Jesus to forgive you and He will pay for your sins.
The Bible says,
(John 3:16
NKJV) "For God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not
perish but have everlasting life.
Porque de tal manera amó Dios al mundo, que ha dado a su Hijo
unigénito, para que todo aquel que en él cree no se pierda, mas tenga vida
eterna.
Jesus came to save us from our sins.
He came to save us from hell.
:22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the
Lord through the prophet, saying:
(Todo esto aconteció para que se
cumpliese lo que habló el Señor por medio del profeta, diciendo: )
:23 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they
shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with
us."
(He aquí, la virgen concebirá y dará a luz
un hijo, y llamarán su nombre Emanuel, que traducido quiere decir: Dios con
nosotros.)
Immanuel
(Emanuel) – the original word is a Hebrew word and means
“God is with us”
How is Jesus “God is with us”?
1. Jesus was God living among us.
John wrote,
(John 1:14 NKJV) And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,
and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth.
Y el Verbo se hizo carne y habitó entre nosotros, y contemplamos su
gloria, como la gloria del unigénito del Padre, lleno de gracia y de verdad.
This was what happened in with the birth in Bethlehem. God had taken on human flesh in the womb of
Mary and “arrived” on the planet in a manger in Bethlehem.
2. He brought God into our lives.
When we get to the point in our lives where we finally realize that we need
God’s help, and we open our heart to God, God comes and lives in our hearts
through the Holy Spirit.
Paul wrote that “Christ in us” was our “hope of glory” (Col. 1:27)
In the Old Testament we’ve seen how dangerous it was for God to get too
close to sinful people. We’ve said it’s like we
were covered in gasoline and God was a match.
But when Jesus comes into our lives and forgives our sins, things
change. It’s like we become fireproof.
Now God can actually live in our lives.
Because of Jesus, God is with us. Immanuel.
Why is this important?
We need forgiveness.
Our sins have separated us from God.
We need someone to pay for our sins
We need God in our lives.
Maybe your life
has become affected with our difficult economy. God is with you.
Maybe you or a
loved one is struggling with illness. You need to know that God is with you.
Maybe you are
struggling with breaking free from an addiction. You need to know that God is
with you.
Maybe you’ve
had your heart broken with a difficult marriage or relationship. God is with
you.
Maybe you’ve
lost a loved one this year. God is with
you.
Maybe you
wonder what your purpose is in life. God is with you.
He is Immanuel. He is God with us.