“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise…” (Matthew 1:18a KJV).
As every December rolls around, we become mindful of the birth of Jesus. Though He was likely born during September or October (around the time of the Feast of Tabernacles), we commemorate His birth in December. Regardless of the accuracy of our calendar, the point is that each year we are moved to reflect and consider the birth of Jesus the Messiah. Along with the beautiful and wondrous holy events surrounding Jesus’ birth, there are vital spiritual realities enshrouded in the arrangements concerning Jesus’ birth that apply to us! We find in Mary a prophetic type of the church – specifically representing the kind of heart that God has ordained to become the heart in which the Life in Christ is formed within us. Let us look upon these things so that we may too ponder them as we look to God to make these things living realities in our hearts while considering what we read from Paul, “I am… in labor until Christ be formed in you” (see Galatians 4:19).
A Virgin Shall Conceive… (Isaiah 7:14)
Through the prophet Isaiah, God foretold of the time when a virgin would conceive and bring forth a Son. Mary would be the one through whom multiple prophecies concerning the birth of the Messiah would be fulfilled. When the fullness of time came for the birth of the Messiah, God found the one to whom He would look to bring forth the Living Word, Jesus.
Heart of the Humble, Womb of the Virtuous
Mary found favor with God (Luke 1:20). God demonstrated His regard for the humble (v. 48). Mary posessed a heart through whom humility was woven. She identified with the lowly as she declared herself “the bondslave of the Lord” (v. 38). Her confession was more than lip service for she surrendered and submitted herself according to God’s intentions. She declared, “May it be to me according to your word” (v.38). Keep in mind that this was a fearful situation for her; she could be stoned to death as she had not yet been with Joseph in intimacy and yet is carrying a child. Yet she did not regard her life as more important than what God had purposed for her. She laid her future and her life down before the Lord in surrender and submission trusting God rather than her sense of self-preservation.
God looks for and is drawn to the humble: “But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word” (Isaiah 66:2 NASB). This is the crowning virtue of the chaste; it is the bedrock of holiness. Only in humility will we find favor with God – a humility characterized by contrition and trembling at His word. And note that He said, “This is the one to whom I will look!” Mary was virtuous; she was clothed in humility and identified herself with the lowly. This is our lesson that we strive and reach to obtain such virtue in humility as this, such as Mary possessed. For this is what the eyes and the heart of the Lord are drawn to. The lowly heart of the humble is the womb of the virtuous in which Christ will be formed and revealed! The virtues of His grace are given in abundance to the humble.
As the power of the Most High would overshadow her, the Holy Spirit would come upon her and form a small bouquet of cells that would become a living child. The Father? The Great I Am. When you were born again, the power of the Most High overshadowed you. His Spirit was poured into your heart, and there through the power and working of the Holy Spirit, Christ began to be formed in the womb of your heart.
If we would bring forth the life and image of God’s Son, we must become full of His grace. The grace that forgives us is the grace that will transform us – forming Christ within us. God desires to take us to full-term maturity where Christ in us is revealed as we are conformed to His image by the transforming grace of God! And herein we must be established in humility; for it is the humble to whom God gives, yes pours upon, abundant grace. Yet, only as our heart is emptied in humility can it become a heart that can be filled with God’s grace.
It is a full heart of grace that brings forth full-term maturity. The life of Christ is brought forth as we become like Him through the power of God’s grace. The Holy Spirit manifests the character and virtues of Christ where the unregenerate places of our hearts and minds are surrendered to Him in genuine repentance. Let us submit to the Lord each unregenerated area of our hearts and lives as the Holy Spirit brings them to our attention. Let us have the same virtuous heart of humility that trembles in contrition and responds, “May it be done to me according to your word.”
Through Chasteness Christ Is Brought Forth
The vessel God would choose to bring forth His Son would be chaste. One of the objectives of God concerning us which Paul lays out in his second letter to the Corinthians is that we would be presentable as a chaste virgin (see 2 Corinthians 11:2 KJV). Mary was virtuous – humble, meek, lowly, and chaste; God had favor upon her as He chose her. Our destiny in God is that we become chaste. This is who He looks toward, who He chooses, and this is who He exalts as Christ is revealed in us!
After we are saved, the Holy Spirit begins His work of conviction and reproof in our lives. We are presented with times of chastening whereby God makes us chaste. Our desire, submission, and pursuit to become pure in heart – to become chaste – seat us in holiness. As we recognize the areas of our unregenerate nature either through prayer, the Scriptures, the declaration of God’s word, or through trials and tribulation, we are discovering Divine opportunities to become chaste.
The Breaking of the Outer Flesh; The Revealing of the Life of Christ
Consider this: the birth of Jesus brought the revealing of Christ, the Messiah, to the world. For Mary, it was an extremely painful process. And just as significant, she shared with the angel that she had never been with a man. As she went into labor, the pain and travail she experienced were waves of pain and travail that brought forth the life of God in Christ! And as the moment of delivery came, she pushed through the pain. Jesus came forth as the veil of her flesh was broken and torn. In this, we find a type of what must happen for Jesus to come forth from our hearts.
The outer man, the veil of the flesh, the outer husk of our natural man must be broken and torn to reveal the life of Christ manifested within us. The lesson we have in view regarding the birth of Christ is twofold. It cannot be avoided – it must happen, and it will be a painful process – there is suffering involved. When Jesus said, “My cup you shall drink…” (Matthew 20:23 NASB), He informed all of His disciples (then and now) that as joyous as knowing Jesus is there is suffering involved! Just as Jesus was destined to go to the cross, so are they who follow Him destined to their cross. He told us we must take up our cross if we would follow Him denying self. And the outer man – the veil of our flesh (referencing the elements of our natural life as well as our sinful tendencies) – must be crucified to follow Him. Yes, these are painful processes and experiences. However, we are destined to fellowship with Him in His sufferings so that we may know Him in the power of His resurrection (see Philippians 3:10). Sorrow may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning!
A Matter of Death and Life
Mary, like any other woman giving birth, neared death to give life. Taking up our cross is all about us loving not our lives unto the death. For many this is literal martyrdom. For all of us, we are called to be living martyrs so that our bodies may live out the life of Jesus. The shell of the seed must die for the life in it to be manifested; the outer husk of our lives must be broken and torn so that the inner life may be brought forth and the manifold grace of God in Christ may be gloriously revealed through us! The death of the outer man, crucified with Christ, brings forth the Life that is Christ in us! Death and Life begin at the cross.
This pinnacle of Divine revelation is yearned for by all of creation: that the life of Jesus would be manifested in the Sons of God. It is not enough that we tag ourselves as Christians. It is our destiny to become the bodies through which the life of Jesus, being formed within us, is brought forth and revealed to the world! Let us cease striving. All of us are called to the joy that is realized in becoming like Jesus. But only the pure, chaste, humble, and mild vessel has God ordained and chosen to carry and present the Life of His Son. For He is the image of God. Yes, Jesus is the revelation of the Father. Only as we are made pure and as we become chaste through the inner workings of the Holy Spirit can the veil of the flesh be broken and torn and Christ be presented so that He is revealed in us. It is time we humble ourselves and pray, “Let it be done to me according to Your Word.” This is the way of Life and the way to Life – not just momentary visitations with humility.
Lord, I submit to and commit myself to becoming chaste. Purify me. Forgive me for striving with You. I surrender to You, Lord. I thank You for revealing and reinforcing the necessity of purity and becoming chaste as a part of my destiny in You in my pursuit of becoming Christlike. I humble myself before You, and submit myself to You, Righteous Father. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Hal Garms eWord Messages 