Cerebral and engrossing book on the incarnation of Jesus. I read this on NetGalley, but I do hope they moved the reading guide to the front of the book as it would make for an excellent and in depth Advent book/study.

Not to be missed if you’re already familiar with the story of Jesus’ birth and would like to delve deeper!

The first thing to notice about this book is the Reading Plan which strangely is at the back of the book! If I had realised this it would have been easier to use the book as an Advent reader.
It was an interesting read but more in depth than the average reader as it was written by two professors. So don't expect a light easy read.
I was given this book by Netgalley and the publisher. This is my voluntary and impartial review.

The world is a broken place filled with broken people, and we cannot fix ourselves with better education, economic mobility, or peaceful relationships. This brings us back to the biblical explanation and solution. The world is broken because of sin, and we need a supernatural solution to the problem.

The First Days of Jesus is the solution to the problem. The author takes the 4 gospel accounts of Matthew, Luke, Mark and John and zero's in on the birth of Jesus. Going back to the prophetic word of the Old Testament and the hope we have for today, the birth of Jesus is closely tied to the resurrection.

The author divides the text into 4 parts.

Virgin Born Messiah
Light of the Nations
Incarnate Word
Epilogue/Appendix-The 2nd Coming

There are many questions the author presents that brings the gospel to a better understanding. Why the virgin birth? Why did the angels appear to the Shepherds? Why was Jesus born in poverty?

What was most insightful to me was how each author of the Gospel zeroed in on a particular account. Matthew starts with the genealogy of Jesus and the importance significance of that account. Luke narration is more of testimony and the witness accounts of Jesus Birth. However, each narrative demands a response. What do we do with Jesus? Do we believe who he says he is and is claim to be a witness to the truth. In his own words he has come to proclaim the truth and just like Pilate we claim what is truth? It is proclamation of Pilate that we come to realize the conflict between two kingdoms. The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of this world.

Each narrative gives an account of embracing the Kingdom of God and embracing the Kingdom of this world. The First Days of Jesus puts us face to face on what kingdom we are embracing. I highly recommend.

A Special Thank You to Crossway Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

I enjoyed greatly reading this book and watching the Gospel come alive before He started His ministry. These two books that they have put together (the beginning of Jesus and the finishing of Jesus) has been a great resource for all pastors and believers. I love the in depth study and the beauty of language as they communicate what life was like for Jesus as a baby. They also did a masterful job of helping us catch a heartbeat of what life was like for both Mary and Joseph. This is a must read especially heading into the Christmas season. It makes Christmas come more to life.

If you think you heard it all and exhausted all there is to learn concerning the birth of Christ or the incarnation think again. This book is written by two New Testament professors who offer their insights into passages that cover the infant narrative of Jesus Christ. Though I felt the book started slowly and I was initially concerned whether there would be new things I can learn nevertheless as the book progressed I found it fulfilled my expectation of learning about the birth of Jesus and the incarnation through fresh eyes.
In the beginning of the book the two authors stated that out of the Bible’s 1,189 chapters only 4 ½ chapters are dedicated to the subject of Jesus’ first days. For preachers like myself preaching Christmas messages can be challenging to an audience that think they know it all already; or worst, preacher can fall into the pit of thinking that one got the birth narrative down and there is nothing to learn. But there are new things to discover from the Bible, including the early days of Jesus.
The book is divided into three parts with a total of fifteen chapters. Part 1 is on the Virgin-Born Messiah while Part 2 is on Jesus as the Light of the Nations and finally Part 3 is the Incarnate Word. Each chapter began with the passage that the chapter would focus on; I appreciated this format so that I myself as the reader can read the primary source of God’s Word for myself.
I really enjoyed the book’s discussion of the background of King Herod who was ruling when Jesus was born. The author presented quite an interesting biographical information of Herod and also how he would have interpreted hearing the birth of Jesus. Knowing how Herod executed his own wife and two sons along with his parnoia to the extent of having six wills made it much more believable why Herod would be willing to kill even young kids who might be viewed by others as king of the Jews. In addition I thought the information about Herod’s conflict with Parthians when they had Antigonus as their client king of Judea during Herod’s early days really helped put in perspective of how he would have seen the wise men coming from the East that was Parthian territory. Very informative and interesting portion of the book!
Other parts of the book that I enjoyed include the discussion of how Jesus is presented in the Gospel of Matthew as the “Second Israel” in which there are too many parallels to be coincidental. For instance Jesus had twelve disciples like how Israel had twelve tribes. Jesus went to Egypt just as Israel went to Egypt. Both Jesus and Israel were persecuted by a wicked ruler. I also enjoyed how the book had an apologetic thrust as well. There were more things I learned from this book than I can write down for this book review.
If you feel that the “Christmas” story is all too familiar to you, you might want to read this book; as the book stated in the beginning familiarity breeds contempt but familiarity with the Bible leads to laziness. This book though makes for a great devotional to refresh your love for Christ.
NOTE: This book was provided to me free by Crossway and Net Galley without any obligation for a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.