So many people read scripture in a very casual manner. Each Word written has intense and imperative meaning. The study of the Word by each word is expository study. Today, the focus in on the birth of Jesus. His was not a natural birth nor was Mary an ordinary mother in that Jesus would deny her as His mother (Mat 12:47-49).
Beginning in Matthew chapter one,
Jesus had yet to be “born,” or I prefer borne. The former implies
natural birth but the latter a transportation. If the latter is true,
then Mary was the “Ark” that transported God to this realm, and because of her,
the “Ark of God” had no further utility and is lost to oblivion.
Mary had two things in common
with the Ark of God: (1) She was mobile like the Ark, and (2) she also had the “Word”
within her just like the Ark, to wit: Moses commanded the Levites, “Take this
book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord
your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee” (Deut 31:26).
The Ark contained the Law on
tablets of stone. They were inside of the Ark that preserved the Hebrew people.
John wrote, referring to Jesus, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). The invisible God would appear
on the Ark on the mercy Seat, but inside was the Word of God in tablets of
stone.
Jesus said, “I am come to destroy
the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Mat 5:17).
Hence, Mary was the Ark of the Covenant that fulfilled the Law, making the Law both
practical and its Words audible.
Just as the Ark was the vessel
that would carry the Word, so was Mary. Just as the Ark is no longer necessary,
neither is Mary. Again, I say, Mary is not the “mother of God” but a useful
vessel to carry the word, just like the Ark.
The Angel of the Lord came to
Joseph in a dream saying, “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall
bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being
interpreted is, ‘God with us.’” (Mat 1:23).
Mary was the “ship” that would “bring
forth a son.” She would bring the “Angel of God” from heaven to earth — from
the invisible realm to the visible. Mary would transport God from there
to here and God is since with us. It should be clear that just as John said, “the
Word was God.”
Mary did not make God any more
than Eve made Cain (Gen 4:1). I believe that Eve carried the “Image” that is
said to be the “Serpent” from heaven to earth, and Mary did the same for Jesus.
Just as Cain carried the mark of the Beast, Jesus carried the Mark of God. Both
marks were likely genetic — Cains visible in the flesh and the genome of Jesus
visible in the Spirit.
Just where was God before Mary
brought Him forth? Speaking to Joseph, “The angel of the Lord appeared unto him
in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary
thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost” (Mat 1:20).
Throughout scripture “The Angel
of the Lord” is pre-incarnate Jesus. That Angel is the Messenger of God, or the
“Word” as Jacob identified Him in Genesis chapter 32, ending with, “I have seen
God face to face, and my life is preserved” (Gen 32:30). Hidden in that
exclamation is Face of God (Jesus) and preservation. Jacob saw Emmanuel — “God
with us.” Jacob saw Jesus in the flesh, albeit glorious flesh, before Mary brought
Him forth in ordinary flesh. Not only that but the very Name, “Jesus” means “Ya(hweh)
Preserves.”
All that to say that glorious pre-incarnate Jesus spoke to Joseph from the realm of heaven. Where was God before Mary brought Him forth? Speaking the Word to Joseph! That Word follows:
22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 23 “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name ‘Emmanuel,’ which being interpreted is, God with us.” (Mat 1:22-23)
The Voice that spoke to Joseph was
the same Voice that spoke to Adam and the same Voice coming from the lips of Isaiah.
That Voice was the “Word” whose Name is “Jesus.”
The point is that the Word was in
another realm speaking with Joseph all the while the “Holy Seed” of the Word was
growing in Mary.
Mary would transport the Spirit
of God in the bodily shape (Luke 3:22) of the baby Jesus from there to here,
Jesus preexisted in Spirit even in bodily shape as Jacob found out so long ago.
For utilitarian reasons, a full-grown “last Adam” was transported in the size
of a baby to be pragmatic.
Four grown men would carry God
with the Ark, but for this occasion, God was “packaged” for one ordinary girl
to carry Him by herself.
As such, Mary did not have an ordinary
gestation; it was extraordinary. She carried God to this world for Him to Speak
again after remaining silent for over four-hundred years.
His Name spoke His Purpose — GOD IS
SALVATION. Inside the Ark of the Covenant were the Words of pre-incarnate Jesus:
“Thou shalt not take the Name of the LORD in vain” (Exod 20:7) and inside Mary
was the “Name of the LORD” — it was Jesus whose purpose was not to be taken
frivolously. He fulfilled that Command with His mission here — to save the
world from sin, death, and Satan. His blood and Spirit (Living Water from His belly)
would suffice whereas those tablets of stone would not.
So, Matthew chapter one is much more
than genealogy and a Christmas story but another telling of the Ark that
carried God to save mankind.
(picture credit; Study.com)
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