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Strange Way to Save the World

"Now I'm not one to second guess what angels have to say, but this is such a strange way to save the world"~"Strange Way to Save the World"-4Him

I was listening to this song the other day, and started really thinking about it. To those of us who grew up in the church, we've grown up knowing that Jesus was immaculately conceived by a young single woman and was born in a stable in Bethlehem because His parents couldn't find room in the inn. The idea of this happening doesn't seem strange unless we really start to think about it. The King of the Jews, the Savior of the world, was born to a young woman and her carpenter husband. Shouldn't a king come from a royal family and be born in a palace? That's the way all of the kings nowadays enter the world.

The truth is, he is descended from royalty. Well, sort of. His earthly father, Joseph, was a direct descendant of King David himself. While Joseph is not Jesus's biological father, he was His father in every other way. He raised Jesus to be a fine young man and even trained him in the family business.

Jesus also wasn't the kind of king some countries have now in the 21st century. He is the King of Heaven, not a king of an earthly kingdom. He came to save us not from earthly enemies, but from sin and the consequences it carries. He came to save those who knew they needed saving, those who society had passed over as not being good enough to pay attention to. He was often criticized by the elite for eating with sinners and commoners, but those were the people most willing to accept that trying to be good enough was impossible on their own. He never could have reached out to those people if he hadn't been seen as a commoner himself. He had to be born in an unremarkable place to parents who were holy, but were not seen as important or powerful. Otherwise, He wouldn't be able to relate to the people who most needed the saving grace he came to provide. When you look at it that way, it doesn't seem all that strange.

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