Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Often during the Christmas season, Scriptures are looked at which apply to the birth of Jesus Christ. First let us turn to Isaiah 7:14, "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." We see that this prophecy is fulfilled in the Gospels. In Matthew 1:18, we read, "Now the birth of Jesus
Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before
they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost." Here is
an Orientalism which people of the Western world do not understand. Westerns
say that Mary and Joseph were engaged, but before they could be married, she
was found with child. This is not so. The wedding customs of the East are such
that the priest consults the stars and fixes a date for the couple to come
together, sometime after the wedding ceremony has been performed. Easterners
think it is important to have one's children born "under a certain
star", and in this way they try to fix the future characteristics of
children by causing them to be born at a certain time.
Bishop K.C. Pillai, D.D. |