And God Begat Jesus
The wording of the text is always to be studied, because therein lay the truth. “An” instead of “the” means a big difference when the Bible ever refers to an angel of the Lord versus the angel of the Lord. The former means just that, an angel. The latter is most likely an incarnate Jesus on earth before His human time. Which brings us back to His earthly birth.
First, read Matthew 1:1-16 concerning His lineage:
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. 3Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram. 4 Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon. 5 Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse. 6 Jesse was the father of David the king.David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah. 7 Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa.8 Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah. 9 Uzziah was the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. 10 Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, and Amon the father of Josiah.11 Josiah became the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.12 After the deportation to Babylon: Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel. 13Zerubbabel was the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor. 14 Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud. 15 Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob. 16 Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.
The bold is mine, but read it again. Throughout the entire text, it refers to one man being “the father of” the next man. In some other versions, it reads “begat,” which means to be the literal, physical and biological father of. Baby daddy. However, when we get to the birth of Jesus, it reads Joseph was simply the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born. It doesn’t say anything about Joseph being the father. All the others say who their fathers are, why not Jesus?
Simple answer: Jesus was born by Mary, but His father was God. He was God. He placed Himself via His Spirit inside of the human baby that Mary birthed.
This is what an angel of the Lord told Mary…
26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”
29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”
35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. – Luke 1:26-35
And this is what an angel of the Lord told Joseph who was a little iffy on the idea...
19And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.20 But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” 22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23 “BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,” which translated means, “GOD WITH US.” 24 And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, 25 but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus. – Matthew 1:19-25(Side note: The KJV Bible has it as ”the angel of the Lord” telling Joseph this, which means that Jesus was saying, “Hey, I’m coming down there to Mary, so stick around.” Jesus foretelling His own birth is super awesome to think about!)
But, what of Jesus existing before the birth? What did He look like before the virgin birth? Did he look like how Jesus looks as we understand? Slow down, friend. It can get super easy to go nuts trying to understand all this, so don’t try too hard. Jesus was in the beginning. Jesus is God. He is the Son of the Trinity – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” – Genesis 1:1
“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…” – Genesis 1:26pt
“Us” refers to the Trinity. The Father, Son and Spirit talking to each other, planning out our very existence. God is all three, but One at the same time. Very similar to Jesus being 100% man at the same time that He was 100% God (and still is as He returned back Heaven in the flesh. See Luke 24:50-53)
So, God begat Jesus…
…to die…for us…when He didn’t have to. He did it because He loves us so intensely. He wanted to save us. On earth He was able to experience our pain and our struggles. From grace to this place, just to be able to be with us and know His creation on a whole new level.
Do not take his sacrifice for granted. You get a hangnail and freak out. He was hung up by nails.
Upon His resurrection He defeated death…for us! Rejoice and recognize! He had to suffer in order to save.
Never ever, ever, ever forget that. Amen?