When Jesus the King arrived in human history, there were no parades nor great fanfare. He simply came as a baby. But His coming brought about the fulfillment of God's grand plan for man's salvation. Jesus, our Savior was born! Imagine being introduced to God's plan as Joseph was in Matthew 1:18-25. We know he struggled to understand what was happening to Mary and to their future as a married couple. After his conversation with the angel, he might have struggled trying to wrap his mind around everything the angel said; yet he chose to obey. This is the focus of our Explore the Bible study this week.

As you approach this study, keep in mind that we are in the season where everyone is fine with celebrating the “baby Jesus" but might not understand what His birth truly means. I saw a picture this week that might help put in perspective how people view Jesus beyond that image of a baby in a manger. The caption read, “People love the baby in the manger, but they hate the grown up who said, 'I am the way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me'" (John 14:6) – Mark Spence.

The fact is Jesus, the King of Kings, God’s only Son, arrived on the scene and was placed in that little feeding trough. Jesus’ conception was supernatural, and He entered this world both fully human and fully divine. Jesus was born as a baby from a human mother; thus He was human. He is not someone who is a lot like God, or someone who walked closely with God, but He was and is God Himself! While this might be hard to fully understand, we, like Joseph, have a choice to make with what we know about Jesus. We can respond in obedience or disobedience, even if things around us don’t make sense.