THE BIRTH

The silence had been deafening for many, many years. Malachi had prophesied and then he disappeared. Four hundred years of silence. No word had come from God. They’d thought about their homeland and thought that it was odd. Why had the Lord been silent? Where was His awesome power? Had He gone on a journey? Too long they’d had to cower, Subjected to the foreigners who ruled the Holy Land. There had to be a better way to follow God’s command. Yet deep down in the spirit of only just a few, There was a kind of buzzing, suggesting God would do The thing which He had promised so many years ago. Messiah would be with them as God had told them so. The daughters of the nation; the ones who were not wed; Were asking, “Could I be the one of which the prophets said?” The virgins who descended from David’s royal line, Were hoping they would be the one, their child would be the sign. Not many young girls qualified. A handful; little more; Their son could be Messiah. It thrilled them to the core. But most were disappointed. There was no reason why. They only knew that one of them would carry God Most High. And then one night it happened. A little teenage girl, Was doing what she had to do, her mind was in a whirl. Before her was a visitor. The Angel of the Lord. He told her she was favoured; and great was her reward. For soon she would be pregnant; her child would be God’s Son. She knew that it would happen, but how would it be done? She would be overshadowed by the Spirit of the Lord. The baby Whom she would bring forth was Israel’s great reward. Did anyone believe her? Let me put it this way. If your young teenaged daughter came up to you to say, That she was impregnated; This is what God had done. I think I’d tell her quietly to pass me the shot gun. I’d go and find the scoundrel who’d treated her this way. And when I get my hands on him, he’ll surely rue the day. I’m not sure I’d believe her. All babies have a dad. To blame the whole thing on the Lord, I think you must be mad! Would that be your reaction? It proves you’re not a Jew. The nation was expecting it. But would my daughter do? Would she be favoured highly? Or was she just a slut. She better soon get married was churning in my gut. Two thousand years have come and gone since Mary heard that day The message of the angel. It all worked out that way. Indeed she was the woman; Messiah was her Son. The news the angel brought to her indeed it had been done. Creation’s great designer had chosen Mary’s womb. To break into this sinful world and spell out Satan’s doom. Jim Strickland – written Tuesday, 19 July 2011