The Kiss

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  “Ryabovitch pulled the bed-clothes over his head, curled himself up in bed, and tried to gather together the floating images in his mind and to combine them into one whole. But nothing came of it. He soon fell asleep, and his last thought was that someone had caressed him and made him happy—that something extraordinary, foolish, but joyful and delightful, had come into his life. The thought did not leave him even in his sleep. When he woke up the sensations of oil on his neck and the chill of peppermint about his lips had gone, but joy flooded his heart just as the day before.” The Kiss By Anton Chekhov (1860–1904)

Is it really that bad if history repeats itself?

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Matthew 2.

So that’s it, right? God did some strange and wonderful things before and He did it once more by causing a virgin womb to be with child. Remember all those barren wombs in time gone by? But here He is, Jesus is born, grows up and we are saved, right?

No. History repeats itself. Precisely, God showed us in time past what He would do now.

Reminiscent of creation in Genesis, a star captivates the hearts and minds of men and they come to worship. In the pattern of Exodus, the hateful king kills male children. Joshua and Jesus share the same name (Yeshua) and the people continue in their sin pattern as they did in Judges. Jesus is the Davidic King, only without an earthly throne—do you see where this is going? The prophets are quoted constantly by Matthew that the Jewish readers would not mistake who Jesus is—they should recognize Him! For all who pay attention, there is a play-by-play already written on the life of Jesus in the OT! His birth, life, death, resurrection, glorification were all recorded long before He actually came--Matthew takes great pains to show us only some of these things--it should have been no surprise that He would come.

Let us briefly consider how people react to all of this. God was acting and people had to react. Joseph quietly and quickly obeys. Magi move mysteriously out of love for their King while the heathens rage and the nations are in an uproar (Roman occupation of Israel) while others do homage toward the Son (See Psalm 2).

Why do we look so far out to see what God is doing? Why do we think that when He acts it will be an unheard-of miracle? God is acting right under our noses, sometimes doing the same thing He has always done. The problem is, can we recognize it?

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