Artwork:
The Nativity by Giotto di Bondone, (1310) is a Proto Renaissance fresco. Located in the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, Assisi, Italy, Giotto’s treatment of this event as a drama between mother and baby also shows the herald of angels bestowing praises to heaven as they look upon the baby Jesus.

Advent Devotional

We have four gospels to paint a more complete and compelling picture of Jesus. While each one tells the same basic story, each also provides texture, nuances, details, and perspectives the others do not. Yesterday, in John’s gospel we saw who Jesus was, why He came, and how to receive eternal life through Him. Today, Matthew’s account takes us back in time to shed more light on the “how” and “why” of Jesus’ birth. God calmed Joseph’s fears of Mary’s apparent unfaithfulness by revealing through an angel in a dream that her pregnancy was a supernatural act of the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ divine conception was necessary because of who He was—God’s Son—and what He was sent to do—to save His people from their sins by dying as their sinless substitute. The angel’s message would have brought Joseph both great peace of mind and heart and strengthened his faith when he heard that Jesus was to be the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophesy of 700 years earlier. (Isaiah 7:14)

Jesus would be called Immanuel, God with us. Jesus affirmed this identity when He said to the public, “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30), and when He told his disciples “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Not only is Jesus God in human form, He is also the only way to the Father, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Who do you think Jesus is? Have you come to the Father through belief and trust in Jesus? Does, Hark the Herald Angels Sing resonate in your heart?

Prayer

Lord help me to join in the songs of angels.
Give me a glad and grateful heart.
Help me to joyfully praise You and
celebrate who You are and all
that You have done.