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Don’t forget. It really happened.

Don’t forget. It really happened.

DECEMBER 20, 2022

/ Programs / Key Life / Don’t forget. It really happened.

Steve Brown:
Don’t forget. It really happened. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
That was author and seminary professor Steve Brown, and this is Key Life. We’re all about radical grace because of what Jesus has done, God’s not mad at you. Keep listening, and that message will set you free to live a life of joy and surprising faithfulness.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. Pete and I are sitting around and yesterday we talked about what we’re going to do and we’re going to start it today. We’re going to look at the Scripture and we’re going to do what Pete and I often do, just sitting around talking, and we’re glad that you can join us because as we saw yesterday, if you’ve been a Christian a long time, you’ve heard this over and over and over again, and you think you’ve heard it often, you ought to be a preacher the way Pete is and the way I am, we’ve heard it over and over again. So, this week we’re letting the Holy Spirit speak to us and you to renew, to remember, to rejoice, to go it really happened. And to be thankful that it did. So, Pete, why don’t you start reading the Scripture in Matthew and then we’ll pause and talk as we go along.

Pete Alwinson:
That sounds great. And we’re going to skip over the genealogy, which in Matthew 1 is very crafted to show that deep connection back to the very, very beginning. Here it is, Matthew 1: verse 18.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 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 as from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place, to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive bear his son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from the sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

Steve Brown:
Oh man. Just listening to the Scripture makes you think, oh, that is so cool.

Pete Alwinson:
It’s so powerful.

Steve Brown:
It really, it is. It’s very powerful. You know, I went to a graduate school of theology that was just this side of whacko liberal, and I don’t know of anybody that taught in that graduate school who believed that the virgin birth literally happened. And when you start going down that road, I mean, if God lies to you about that, he’ll lie to you about anything else and you can’t trust anything. But that’s important, isn’t it?

Pete Alwinson:
It’s absolutely important and the virgin birth that, but it has deep theological significance and that’s a good thing to remember, that it’s not an incidental part of this account. Mary was a teenager. And she was a virgin. She was betrothed, which can be confusing here because it says that Joseph wanted to divorce her quietly because she was already pregnant. Well, if they’re just betrothed why did he have to divorce her? Well, betrothal had

Steve Brown:
It has those implications to it. It meant commitment.

Pete Alwinson:
It was commitment. It was a half marriage. It was halfway there.

Steve Brown:
That’s so true.

Pete Alwinson:
So, why did Mary have to be a virgin?

Steve Brown:
Because this was supernatural, a supernatural intervention, and it was not connected to the Fall.

Pete Alwinson:
Yes. She, this birth is not connected to the Fall.

Steve Brown:
That’s right.

Pete Alwinson:
This child is not connected to the Fall, whereas all of us, and we go back to Romans 5, you know. Right? In Adam all die. So, we’re born with Adamic sin and the Adamic curse is on us.

Steve Brown:
And you know, to look at Joseph in this situation, you kind of feel for him. I mean, he’s a really good man. We don’t know a lot about him, but he’s kind, there are lot of betrothed men who facing this situation would go ballistic, kick her out and tell everybody why he kicked her out. But Joseph wants to quietly just bring this to an end because this is not going to work. You’ve been messing around and you’re pregnant. And I, it’s not me cause we’ve been chaste in this relationship. So, it’s somebody else, but I’m not a cruel man. So, we’ll get through this, but we’ll get through it very quietly. You know, and then the angel has to come, that’s a big deal.

Pete Alwinson:
It is a big deal, has to convince him to stick with it. I want to just tap into what you said there because his mind must have run the gamut of all of the possibilities. And I’ve been deceived. I thought she was a good girl. I thought she was from a godly family. I thought that, you know, all of that, that stuff. And he really, Joseph is for men a type of a role model here that we could look to, instead of responding in great anger and in a ballistic way, to think about what work God must have been doing in his life to develop him, to be the earthly father of the Messiah too. Because he had to be some sort of an example for Jesus growing up. We don’t know how long he lived, but cause

Steve Brown:
It’s true. It just doesn’t say. And you’ve got to put yourself in Mary’s place. I mean, if there hadn’t been this supernatural intervention, you know, waking up one morning and realizing that you’re pregnant and you’re nauseous is not a good thing. If you haven’t had any relationships with anybody, and I can see her saying, now, how am I going to explain this? And it is so wonderful as you read, as you were reading those words, I was thinking of them and the way God was so kind and so merciful, to make sure that they knew something’s happening here that’s really big. In fact, really, really big. And you are a part of it because you are chosen.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right. Yeah. Bigger than the culture of the time. And that’s why he had to break those sort of cultural patterns there and do this, what an amazing thing it is that the angel had to break through and to get his attention and convince him. I wonder what that experience was like? You know, we wonder how the prophets received revelation in the past and how did this, what was this experience like? It was a dream, but it was so real, that it was like hearing the very words of God.

Steve Brown:
And there must have been relief too. You know, it wasn’t just, good heavens, what am I going to do? But relief because he loved Mary. And all of those questions were answered, there is an intervention of God in the darkness that brings the light. And that’s true today. Christmas is a time when we remember that God intervened in the darkness to bring the light.

Pete Alwinson:
And we all have our own confusion, our chaos, just like these two had, God entered in to a normal situation and created some chaos for them.

Steve Brown:
Yeah. That’s the understatement of the year.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right. And sometimes, and to try to get, for a man to put himself in Mary’s position is a very difficult thing to do. It’s easier for Joseph, but both of them probably got some outright shameful comments, shame inducing comments, stares, looks, distancing from the self righteous Jews around them.

Steve Brown:
That’s true.

Pete Alwinson:
Cause you can’t hide this stuff.

Steve Brown:
No, you really can’t. Pregnancy is a thing that shows eventually, you know, you’ve got to have an explanation. And probably an angel came to me and explained this to me. Probably that, not going to cut it with a lot of people.

Pete Alwinson:
I mean, maybe the first, probably the first time for him. And if, has an angel ever appeared to you, I mean, Steve?

Steve Brown:
Well

Pete Alwinson:
you’re an angel

Steve Brown:
once or twice

Pete Alwinson:
to

Steve Brown:
yeah, well, no.

Pete Alwinson:
some people.

Steve Brown:
Yeah. Yeah right. But I married one, so.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right.

Steve Brown:
That works. No, this is a major intervention and you know, God does that. He does that when he’s getting ready to do something big. When you read the book of Acts, you read the interventions. It doesn’t mean that that is normally exactly what happens all the time, but God doesn’t leave you drifting in the wind.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right.

Steve Brown:
He prepares you and he intervenes and makes things right.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right.

Steve Brown:
And that certainly is going, and the main point as we talk about these things, And we’re talking about them as if they were our next door neighbors, and that maybe is a good thing. But don’t forget that this is not a story. It’s not a myth in the sense that a myth is something that’s not true, but teaches truth. It’s reality. It is what God did. And do you know why? Because he loves you. And he loves me, about 10% more than he loves you.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s exactly right. And so, Christmas really is that time to look at this story and remember that God loves us and that even in our chaos, that he’s in charge.

Steve Brown:
That’s true. And tomorrow we’re going to look at some more Scripture and do it again. It’s real. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve and Pete. Yes, it really did happen. What a wonderful and needed reminder as we head towards Christmas. And in case you missed it, we read today from Matthew 1:18 through 24. So much more to discuss this Christmas week and we shall do so again tomorrow. Hope you’ll join us for that. Well, in case you missed it, we aired our annual Christmas episode of Steve Brown Etc. this past week-end. It is a pretty good time, and if you missed it, swing by Keylife.org to stream it for free. And if you did enjoy it, well, we have a gift that we would love to send you. We took last year’s Christmas episode of Steve Brown Etc. and put it on a CD. If you’re traveling over the holidays, man, pop that into your CD player and laugh along with us. Get your copy now by calling us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that CD. If you’d like to mail your request, go to key life.org/contact to find our addresses for the U.S. And Canada. Again, just request your free copy of the Christmas 2021 CD. And finally, would you partner in the work of Key Life through your giving? You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or just pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word, two words. It doesn’t matter. Just pick up your phone and text that to 28950 and then follow the instructions. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.

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