Wade Johnston, Life Under the Cross: A Biography of the Reformer Matthias Flacius Illyricus, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis: MO, 2025.
This ancient “tale of two mothers” concerns far more than theological semantics—it is the difference between a God who sends and a God who comes.
This story points us from our unlikely heroes to the even more unlikely, and joyous, good news that Jesus’ birth for us was just as unlikely and unexpected.

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Why is it important for us to confess and remember the virgin birth? It is important because of its place within the total story of redemption.
The well-meaning advice “time heals all wounds” is offensively false when we confront the overwhelming evidence that the constants in our lives are death, taxes, and suffering.
The mystery has been revealed! The mystery, of course, is the Gospel!
At the center of this gospel reading is a conversation. It was of the memorable variety. It involved a peasant girl from a small town and a mighty messenger from God.
This is Christmas. It is Jesus becoming all sin from generation to generation.
Whatever else may come, however worse it may get, the light has come and will come again.
These exhortations are dependent upon the accomplishments of Christ in the first Advent, with the upshot that upon the final advent the faithful will stand “sanctified completely” and “blameless.” Be mindful of both, neglect neither.
Mark makes no effort to impress listeners or win votes. His voice aims only to prepare those who hear it for the coming of the Lord.
The sneak-peek vision of the world to come, a preview of the Last Day, the Day of the Lord, has already been revealed, declares Peter.
Human history and especially the Christian life have a shape and Jesus is its shaper at every point.
Jesus desires for us to watch. The question, however, is, “How do we watch for the return of Jesus?”
Jesus overcame sin, death, and Satan on the cross. His bloody suffering and death marked this sinful world's defeat.