Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign

Daily Word - Dec. 18, 2018

"

; behold , a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Imanuel." Isa. 7:14

Well it seems Christmas is under attack yet again, as antichrist (1John 2:22) forces yet again want to erase the birth of Messiah from history. It's strange how Jesus and his birth has become so polarizing to demonized philosophy.

But the masses seem intent on de-deitifying historical Jesus, so as to reduce him to a "Gandhi" type character, that Jesus was simply a good ideal, but not the incarnate word of God.

I've heard that modern Hebrew scholars want to reinterpret the Hebrew word "almah", found Isa. 7:14, that is translated "Virgin", to mean something less. They make the new age argument that this word could mean young maiden and that there was never no messianic prophetic significance to this passage. First understand that modern Jewish scholars cannot be objective to this passage in a post Christian Era. But understand that there forefathers in a "pre" Christian Era looked at this same passage in "true" Hebrew text when developing a Greek translation called the Septuagint, some 250 to 300 years before Christ. They felt no need to sterilize this passage because a "messiah" had not yet come. They felt that this word would most accurately be translated "Parthenos", which is Greek for Virgin. Understand that these scholars were not only Jews who were completely familiar with two thousand year old Hebrew, but they were completely familiar with two thousand year old Greek as well, not to mention Aramaic. As they were languages spoken in Mesopotamia in that day. (The Septuagint came out of Alexandria.) These were commonly spoken languages that were spoken on the streets of Judeah.

Also modern day rabbinical teachers want to assert that this text was not looked at as a messianic prophecy in that day. (A revision of history). We do that here in our country when history does not suit our ideology, we simply "sanitize" our history to better reflect our ideology. But first century Jews had already connected the dots in Matthew 1:23. Even if you don't believe in the nNew Testament you still have to concede in the historical significance of two thousand year old writings reflectin the mindset of the day. If they didn't already know of the prophecy, then why would first century "Jews" assert it's fulfillment in the birth of Jesus, and why would they see Isaiah 7:14 as a reference to the "virgin" birth. If Isaiah was not speaking about a virgin, then Matthew 1:23 would have never been written seeing they were only referencing the manuscripts of the day. (Two thousand years old manuscripts.) It was only after the beginning of the Christian Era that these So called scholars began to try to sterilize this passage. If only solely out of historical significance you have to say that first century Jews saw this passage as messianic prophecy. If you believe Matthew 1:22-23 you can never believe Isaiah 7:14 could ever be translated "young maiden".

So this season let's say sayonora once and for all to these neo scholars by rejoicing that a Savior was born unto us in Bethlehem. Jesus! Born of a virgin! Hallelujah, glory to God in the highest! And on earth peace and good will towards men. Amen.

MERRY Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Bro. Rusty