condescension bade Gabriel to say: "And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth, she (emphatic)

hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was

called barren" (verse 36). With this encouragement we can fully appreciate the fact that

Mary went to her cousin for asylum during the waiting time: "And Mary abode with her

about three months, and returned to her own house" (verse 56). The reason why the stay

with Elizabeth could be no longer protracted is because Elizabeth's "full time" had come.

Then came the decree of Caesar that compelled Joseph and Mary to make the journey to

Bethlehem, and we are told that:--

It is evident that Mary went the full time before the child was born. He was in the

fullest sense "made of a woman" though not begotten of man. We do not feel that words

could be more plain to teach the fact of the Virgin birth, and the divine begettal of the

Son of God. To this, and to this alone, refer the words "The only begotten Son". When

the Word became flesh, men beheld the glory as of an only begotten of a father, but never

before. Men had beheld His glory long before His birth at Bethlehem, and John himself

tells us so (John 12: 41), but when Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up in the temple,

he saw not the same glory that John was permitted to behold. We have seen the teaching

of Scripture concerning both the divine begettal and the human birth of the Son, and

thereby understand how He could be called Emmanuel, God with us, and how He could

be, though very man of flesh and blood, entirely disconnected from any taint of sin or

corruption inherited from Adam. In other words, we have been permitted to look into the

inner meaning of the primal prophecy, and have beheld "The seed of the woman".

There is a passage which speaks of Christ as the Son of Joseph. There are four

altogether, but three are the expression of human and popular opinion. The one that calls

for attention is that of Luke 3: 23. The Lord Jesus had gone to be baptized of John in

Jordan, and there had been publicly acknowledged from heaven in the words, "Thou art

My beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased". The Lord was now about thirty years of

age. He was the Son of God at His birth as we have seen, but this public recognition sets

Him forth as the Son. While the genealogy of Matt. 1: leads up to the birth of Christ, the

genealogy of Luke 3: leads off from the public announcement of Christ.

The whole crux of the matter lies in the word translated "as was supposed". Nomizo

means to reckon in law. Matthew's genealogy gives the Sonship of Christ by nature;

Luke gives the Sonship in law. There is no ambiguity in the words of Matt. 1: 16, that

"Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary", nor that Jacob's father was Matthan, and so

back to Solomon the son of David (Matt. 1: 7). It is equally true that Joseph was the son

of Heli, and so back to Nathan the son of David. Now it is positively impossible for

both Nathan and Solomon, two sons of David, to be the forefather of Joseph, but the

whole thing is explained by the words "in law". By marriage to Mary Joseph became the

son-in-law of Heli before the child was born (Luke 2: 5), and thus all the problems

arising out of the connection with Adam's corruption or Coniah's curse are set aside, and

every prophecy concerning the promised Seed finds its goal in Christ.