{"id":1912,"date":"2024-12-03T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-03T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/KP2\/?p=1912"},"modified":"2023-12-30T18:26:03","modified_gmt":"2023-12-30T18:26:03","slug":"december-3-the-sign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/december-3-the-sign\/","title":{"rendered":"December 3, The Sign"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"1912\" class=\"elementor elementor-1912\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-3f63dfd9 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"3f63dfd9\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-2b4f37a\" data-id=\"2b4f37a\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7d14be0b elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"7d14be0b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<p><strong>Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign.<\/strong>  Isaiah 7:14&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized is-style-default\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/KP2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/manger-in-light-.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1913\" width=\"342\" height=\"175\" srcset=\"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/manger-in-light-.jpeg 581w, https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/manger-in-light--300x153.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 342px) 100vw, 342px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>God Himself gave a sign.&nbsp;&nbsp;I am sure for Mary that this didn\u2019t seem as simple as a sign.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;For the shepherds on the hillside, their engagement with thousands upon thousands of angels seemed more than a sign.&nbsp;&nbsp;Even Joseph\u2019s vision that called forth faith unlike any man could imagine, seemed more than simply a sign.&nbsp;&nbsp;So, why did the prophet, some 7 centuries before the first Christmas, announce the details of Christ\u2019s birth as \u201ca sign\u201d?&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Biblical times, four specific and divine indicators were represented by such a sign:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The sign was a&nbsp;<em>realization<\/em>&nbsp;that God would initiate His divine plan in the most perfect way possible.&nbsp;<\/li><li>The sign was a&nbsp;<em>demonstration<\/em>&nbsp;of an eternal plan for the salvation of man.&nbsp;<\/li><li>The sign was a&nbsp;<em>revelation<\/em>&nbsp;that God Himself had all things completely in hand (even in the midst of significant military and political unrest that faced Judah during the time of this prophecy).&nbsp;<\/li><li>The sign was a&nbsp;<em>manifestation<\/em>&nbsp;that God had specifically interceded.&nbsp;&nbsp;He reached in.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The sign of God\u2019s activity among man is always tangible, and always unmistakable.&nbsp;&nbsp;The sign is the undeniable.&nbsp;&nbsp;God becoming man.&nbsp;&nbsp;The Messiah.&nbsp;&nbsp;Although the sign mentioned in Isaiah 7:14 may have seemed to point toward something more immediate in history, Matthew 1:23 (a direct quote of this verse) proves that this prophecy pointed exclusively to Jesus Christ:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel&nbsp;(which means \u201cGod with us\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;Now that we understand that the sign marked God\u2019s very real interposition with man, can we not understand how real and personal God proved Himself to be through the sign of the virgin birth?&nbsp;&nbsp;\u201cThe virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel (God with us).\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;Mary became pregnant by the Holy Spirit; this was a divine and sacred pregnancy that had never happened before and would never happen again.&nbsp;&nbsp;This is God coming to man in the form of man by way of humanity\u2019s delivery method.&nbsp;&nbsp;Why?&nbsp;&nbsp;There was no other way for God to step into our lives so perfectly, personally, and precisely.&nbsp;&nbsp;He came to us.&nbsp;&nbsp;The greatest giver and the greatest lover came to us in the greatest form of love ever witnessed.&nbsp;&nbsp;God came to us.&nbsp;&nbsp;He is real; His presence is real.&nbsp;&nbsp;He can be trusted.&nbsp;&nbsp;Take hope.&nbsp;&nbsp;He is here for you.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blessings.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Isaiah 7:14&nbsp;&nbsp; God Himself gave a sign.&nbsp;&nbsp;I am sure for Mary that this didn\u2019t seem as simple as a sign.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;For the shepherds on the hillside, their engagement with thousands upon thousands of angels seemed more than a sign.&nbsp;&nbsp;Even Joseph\u2019s vision that called forth faith unlike any &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/december-3-the-sign\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">December 3, The Sign<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-todays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1912"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3286,"href":"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1912\/revisions\/3286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}