Glory to the Most High God
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men.
Holy God chose Mary to be the mother of Jesus at predestination, with the specific decision announced by the Angel Gabriel. The event known as Annunciation occurred when Mary, a young virgin engaged to Joseph according to Jewish tradition, was selected. Mary’s selection existed before the creation of Adam and Eve indeed, before the whole universe. The question comes to mind: why?
Since Holy God, who knows the past, present, and future, and if Revelation teaches that God’s throne exists eternally and nothing was formed without His power, holy God was so magnificent in His glory and heaven. He will allow mankind to share in His glory through Christ. He provided salvation under the plan of redemption through Jesus Christ (John 1:1-3). This tells us that believers in Christ could be “holy and blameless before God.”
This decision is part of God’s sovereign plan, as described in Ephesians 5:6-11 and Romans 1:16-30, when saints were being chosen for heavenly purposes. Holy Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, was also chosen and predestined for God’s purpose before the foundation of the world. God’s choice of predestination refers to God’s sovereign choice to deliver certain individuals from sin.
1. Before Creation
According to Ephesians 1:4-5, Holy God chose “the people in Christ” before the foundation of the world, so that they could be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ.
II. For a Purpose
The choice is so that believers could be “holy and blameless before God.” So Mary (the mother) was chosen to be
incarnated by God. Jesus was born of the blessed virgin, who remained ever virgin, bringing blessings to the world. When Angel Gabriel told Mary that she would conceive in her womb and bring forth a son, Luke 1:31 states: “God with us. Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6), and she shall call His name Jesus (the word Joshua means Savior, or the Salvation of Jehovah).
He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Most High, actually meaning the Most High, and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His Father David, and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His Kingdom there shall be no end.
Mary, Virgin (Luke 1:34): Mary said to the Angel, “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?” (Mary was approximately nineteen years of age at that time)
The Power of Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35): The Angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, just as the Spiritof God moved upon the water (Genesis 1:2), but rather have faith when God’s word reaches Mary’s ears. The Holy Birth started in Mother Mary’s womb. For any complications, God ensures it is accomplished. And the power of the Highest shall overshadow you. And the Holy Thing born of you shall be called Sen of God.”
Mary, Jesus’ Mother: Virgin, ever virgin.
Joseph, Her Espoused Man: When Joseph, her betrothed, heard that Mary was with child, being a just man and not willing to make her situation public, he decided in his mind to divorce her privately or quietly break the engagement. However, Matthew records that the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, fear not to take Mary as your wife, for what is conceived in her is from Holy God (Holy Spirit)” (Luke 1:24). And Joseph did as the Angel of the Lord had commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, and immediately proceeded with the marriage ceremony. Remember Luke 1:25 states that he knew her not, meaning he had no sexual relations with her until she had given birth to Jesus. This newborn baby was Jesus. It is clearly mentioned in the Holy Bible that Jesus’ birth was from Mary through the Holy Spirit. Joseph understood that he had not known Mary intimately.
Before I proceed further, understand that Jesus was the Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit in His mother’s womb.
Holy God (the second person of the Trinity) keep in your faith and mind that the nature of God does not change, as we see in Exodus.
Holy God does not approve of a man having sexual relations with a woman, even his wife, without subsequent purification. Both the man’s body and clothes, as well as the place they used, require purification. When Moses went to see God at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:15), he was commanded to prepare for three days before approaching the Mount of God. God said to them, “Wash yourselves, wash your clothes, and abstain from your wives.”
What is the purpose of circumcision for males? The biological material that comes from a man remains in the body, so the man is not completely purified. If you have faith that Holy God was incarnated in Jesus, the second person of the Trinity and True God dwelling in the Holy Family’s house, then you understand that the family could not engage in sexual relations. We should consider how holy the family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph truly was.
I have one example. Once at a Christmas Convention, I was explaining this subject when a young, newly married man asked a question. It was late at night and the church building was closed. I gently asked, “Young man, I know you are newly married. There is nobody in the church would you go with your wife into the church and have intimate relations there?” He said, “Pastor, your mind is not working properly. That is God’s house. How could I do that in the church?” I told him, “Exactly. And consider where Jesus, the Christ, dwelt physically with Mary and Joseph at Nazareth and Capernaum, in the presence of Holy God. Although it was legal according to marriage, it was not possible spiritually. This is the reason God commanded Abraham to be circumcised Abraham at the age of 99 years, and his son Ishmael at the age of 13 years, and all the males of Abraham’s household were circumcised on the same day (Genesis 17).”
Many people think that Mary and Joseph were young, and that after Jesus Christ’s birth they could have had marital relations. But I tell you, these people think from a human perspective. Let me give you a historical example from the time when General Mossa was the Governor of Punjab and Marshal Roger was Bishop of Lahore Diocese.
Four nuns were traveling from Gujranwala to Lahore when all four were badly injured. Two of them died on the spot, and two were taken to Mayo Hospital for legal proceedings and postmortem examination. The Catholic Deacon and the Bishop requested, “Give us our deceased sisters’ bodies.” Help was also requested from the Punjab Governor, even though his son was learning Latin from a Catholic priest, but the Governor ignored the Church’s requests, maintaining silence. In reality, the surgeon wanted to verify whether these nuns were married. If they were virgins, the Bishop asked all Christians to pray for the chastity of the nuns. The postmortem was conducted, and to everyone’s amazement, the chief surgeon of Mayo Hospital wrote in his findings:
It is amazing that nuns over 70 years of age remained virgins.
Look around us at the community of nuns, fathers, and brothers serving their Lord God and His people under vows of chastity. They are following Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in this present age.
Regarding Jesus’ brothers and sisters, as mentioned in Matthew 12:46, Luke 8:19, and Mark 3:31, which state that Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see Him these refer to extended family or spiritual brethren.
In heaven, there will be no sexual relations between man and woman (Christian concept of heaven). Our Jesus Christ said in Matthew 22:30 that in the resurrection (after death in heaven) people neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the Angels of God in heaven (this is the proclamation by Christ of the validity of the doctrine of the resurrection).
Regarding Angels: Holy God created them once to serve Him in the numbers He required. They are not married.
Jesus Christ did not marry because Holy God lived in Him (incarnate, John 1:14 states “the Word was made flesh,” meaning God became man). Jesus Christ did not marry because Hoiy God lived in Him. Jesus says in John 14:10: “…but the Father (Holy God) who dwells in me, He does the works.” Therefore, Jesus Christ lived all His life of 33 years in chastity, without intimate relations with women.
The above explanation demonstrates that men and women, by the grace of Holy God, can live without sexual relations. Since Holy God does not approve of impurity, and Holy God was present in the Holy Family House with Jesus, Mary, and
Joseph, sexual relations were not possible. Therefore, it is our Christian faith and Divine truth that Holy Virgin Mary is ever virgin, and consequently Jesus Christ and Joseph maintained chastity as well.
So we can celebrate Christmas with our faith, rejoicing in the good and blessed tidings of great joy at the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ for all mankind.
Happy Christmas!
By Javed Yousuf, NY USA
Pastor Ben Jesus Jairus, Murree, Lahore Pakistan
Merry Christmas!