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Matthew 1:18-23
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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 is 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 and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us). (ESV)
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The King Has Come
St. Thomas, Apostle
21 December 2010
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The conspiracy of our enemy is broken. He had conspired to keep us mired in corruption unto death. That was all changed by the incarnation. The Word of God was born of a Virgin and dwelt among men as one of our peers. Human nature itself is restored in the personal union of the Word made flesh. What it once was in the first Adam, it has become again in the second Adam, Christ the Word.
He has ennobled what through sin and death was decaying, by taking that nature to Himself. In Him all things are made new. The King has put an end to death and the conspiracy of the enemy. All who live under His reign receive all the benefits of His coming to dwell among us.
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Athanasius of Alexandria
"Just as when a great king has entered into some large city and taken up his abode in one of the houses there, such city is at all events held worthy of high honor, nor does any enemy or bandit any longer descend upon it to subject it. On the contrary, the city is thought entitled to all care, because of the king's having taken up his residence in a single house there. So, too, has it been with the Monarch of all. For now that the Word has come to our realm, and taken up his abode in one body among His peers. Henceforth the whole conspiracy of the enemy against humanity is checked, and the corruption of death which before was prevailing against them has simply ceased to be. For the human race would have gone to ruin, had not the Lord and Savior of all, the Son of God, come among us to put an end to death."
Athanasius, On the Incarnation of the Word of God, 9
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Prayer
O King of kings, you dwelt among men by taking to Yourself human flesh, that we might be freed from the bonds of death and our human nature raised above the conspiracy of the enemy. Send Your Holy Spirit, that we might live that new life in Your princely peace. Amen.
For President Dean O. Wenthe and the faculty of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, that they might continue to clearly confess Christ
For the Kenyan Lutheran Church, and the work which LCMS World Relief is planning there that God our Lord would grant success
For Pastor Charles Wokoma, the African Immigrant Missionary in Houston, that he would always be prepared to give a defense for the hope that is in him
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Art: LEONARDO da Vinci Annunciation 1472-75
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 © Scott R. Murray, 2010
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