The Birth of Jesus Foretold.

(Luke 1:26-38)

After doing some extensive research a well-respected medical doctor picked up his pen and began to write a book.  In the preface he said that others had written on the same subject and that he was going to tell the same story, but he would go back and research it all before finalising his version of events.

You've probably guessed already that the doctor was looking called Luke and  this book is his account not only of the life of someone called Jesus but about the very beginning of Christianity as witnessed in the second half of his book we today call ‘The Act of the Apostles’ which details the events in the lives of the people involved.The background to these events was that God had not spoken in 400 years, and now all of a sudden God starts to speak. This is not the beginning of just the story of Jesus but the very beginnings of what ultimately became Christianity.

Luke was not only a doctor but also a historian, a very accurate one as well as many scholars have confirmed. However, he is doing more than writing history he also has spiritual truths in mind. In fact, he says in the preface that he was writing to an important man called Theophilus, who had just been introduced to the Christian faith. Luke is writing to him so that he may know with certainty the things he had been taught.

The book opens at the very beginning with the first thing that happened. An Angel appeared to a priest and informed this elderly priest, named Zacharias, that his wife, Elizabeth, was going to have a child. That was staggering to the imagination, to say the least, because his wife was past childbearing age. Nevertheless, it all begins with God announcing to Zacharias that his wife is going to give birth to a man who later becomes known as John the Baptist. As we saw when we looked at that passage, Zacharias probably did not believe this to begin with. Which is the first lesson of this book in that we need to learn is to believe God.

Next, Luke is going to tell us about the birth of Jesus, or at least he's going to tell us about the announcement concerning the birth of Jesus. But remember, he has a spiritual truth in mind to get over to his readers about what this all means. So, what is the truth that comes out of the announcement to Mary that she's going to have a son? This is fascinating because one of the techniques of writing a book is that you can put things in juxtaposition, putting them next to each other, making a comparison or contrast between the two things. This often happens in Scripture, and we sometimes overlook it. 

This is one of those cases where there are two stories that set the whole thing in motion. Yesterday we looked at an announcement to Zechariah. These two stories are placed side by side, and that is done for a reason. Today, I want us to look at the announcement of Gabriel to Mary, and to see the spiritual lesson taught.

One more thing: I'm going to suggest that there's a sense in which there are three snapshots of Mary. So, imagine we're looking at a photo album of Mary and in the album, there are three pictures of Mary that sum up her story at this point in her life. So, with that in mind, turn with me to Luke chapter one, and I'll begin reading with verse 26.

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.

(Luke 1: 26-27)

I'm going to go further into the passage but let me pause and talk about these opening two verses for a moment. This is the first snapshot. She's very young, and it a picture of a virginal young women engaged to be marries.

 At this point, she's probably no more than an older teenager. The text clearly states she's a virgin and betrothed to Joseph. Let me talk about that for a moment. It's interesting. This is nothing like being engaged in modern practice and custom. It was similar to being engaged, but it was more binding than that. In fact, when you were betrothed, you were bound to marry that person, and the only way you could get out of it was through a divorce. It was that binding, but you weren't yet married in the sense that you hadn't consummated the marriage, which would come later. This betrothal period lasted for about a year.

Remember the story of Joseph in the Gospel of Matthew when he found out that she was pregnant and contemplated putting her away and divorcing her? Well, they were betrothed, and that's the way he could get out of it. Then, an angel appeared to him and changed his mind.

The other significant thing in these verses is that she was betrothed to a man named Joseph, and he is identified as being from the House of David. This is particularly significant because the Messiah is supposed to come from the House of David. Granted, he wasn't the biological father, but he was the adoptive father, the father in a legal sense. Later in Luke, there are indications that Mary was also from the House and lineage of David. And writings after the close of the New Testament indicate that Mary was from the House of David also.

Here's this couple, but the principal figure is a young lady named Mary. In our previous episode, we were introduced to a couple, Zacharias and Elizabeth, and Luke immediately focuses on Zacharias. Today in the second episode, he introduces a couple and immediately focuses on Mary.

Picture this young girl, no older than a teenager, we know she must have been very young, and they got married younger in those days. She is betrothed to Joseph, and we find out later he's a carpenter. We also know that this young couple is poor because later they go to the temple and offer a turtledove instead of a lamb, which is what you did when you didn't have enough money to buy a lamb. It sounds like a lot of young couples I know today and probably sounds like a lot of young couples who started out that way but aren’t so young today. Here's a young couple, and they're excited about getting married.

That's the way they're introduced, and the one thing we're told about her is that she's a virgin. The first picture is of a betrothed virgin. The second picture begins in verse 28, telling us that she's a blessed lady. Let's pick up the story at verse 28.

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The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favour with God. 

(Luke 1: 28-30)

Now, this is the message of the Angel to Mary, and the point of this little subsection is that you are blessed. In fact, verse 28 records the Angel's words: "Having come in, the Angel said to her, 'Rejoice, highly favoured one, the Lord is with you. You are blessed among women.'"

So that's the second little picture I want you to focus on for a moment, this is another picture of Mary, and this time she is abundantly blessed. We need to talk about this because this passage can be easily misunderstood, and we need to understand exactly what it's saying.

In verse 28, it says, "Rejoice, you are highly favoured." You see, this expression, this phrase, highly favoured, only appears twice in the entire New Testament. It appears here, and it appears one other time in Ephesians chapter one, verse six, where it says, "To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved." The little phrase, "accepted in the Beloved," in Ephesians 1:6 is the same Greek phrase found in Luke 1:28 where it is translated, "highly favoured." In other words, what this means is that we also have been bestowed with grace. God has given you His great favour. What's the favour? Well, we know she's going to be the mother of Jesus, but I'm not sure that's what he's talking about at this point. What does it mean to be, highly favoured? Could it be that the Lord is with her.

There's another sense in which Mary was this ordinary teenage girl, and we're just as favoured as she is. Keep in mind that this phrase is used twice, once for Mary and once for us. We are highly favoured because the Lord is with us. In Hebrews 13, it says, "Be content with such things as you have, for He has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' The Lord is with us, and He's not going to leave us."

So, when that message was originally given, it was given to Mary. Here's what Angel Gabriel, the messenger, said: "Rejoice, highly favoured one, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women." So, if you realize that you are highly favoured, which means that God is with you, what should you do? Rejoice, that's exactly what the Angel told Mary to do. Normally, when an Angel appears, what happens is that people get afraid, which is the usual response in the Bible. However, she wasn't afraid because she saw an Angel; she was troubled by what he said to her: "You are blessed, you are highly favoured." I think that this is meant to convey is that she was struggling to understand why she, some poor young girl from Nazareth, a backwater town, not Rome or Jerusalem, should be so blessed by God.

In Ephesians 1:3, we read, "Blessed be the God who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ." So, while Mary has a special place in the program of God, as does John the Baptist, Abraham, David, and us, there's a sense in which Mary is blessed in the same way we are. 

Count your blessings, name them one by one, salvation, which is what Paul talks about in Ephesians 1. He's given us a spiritual gift; a gift called grace according to Paul in Romans 12. On top of all of that, He has blessed us, and blessed us, and blessed us. Do you feel blessed? You're highly favoured because God is with you, but you are also blessed. Part of the blessing is that God's not only going to be with you; God is not only blessing you; God wants to use you. This is where Mary is unique in her service, but not in any other way. So, look at verse 31.

You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

(Luke 1: 31-33)

The point is very simple: you, my dear, are going to give birth to the Messiah. So, what he's telling her, in real simple terms, is that you're going to be the mother of the prophesied Messiah. 

Remember, the Angel appeared to Elizabeth and said, "You're going to have a son, and you're going to name him John." But now, an Angel appears to Mary and says, "You're going to have a son, and heaven has picked out his name for you. His name is Jesus." The word Jesus means "Jehovah is Savior." So, she's not only told she's going to have a son, but she doesn't have to go through the hassle of picking out a name and satisfying both sets of parents. The Angel said, "We picked out the name for you, and the name is Jesus." And he is going to be great. Elizabeth was told she was going to have John, and the Angel told her that John was going to be great in the sight of God. Now, the Angel appears to Mary and says, "You're going to have a child, and he's going to be great." But not just in the sight of God; he's going to be the Son of God. That's how great he is going to be. As a matter of fact, it says in verse 32, “He will be great and will be called the son of the highest the son of God and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.

That's the cue that this is talking about the Messiah. But now, notice something rather interesting, she's going to have a son. He's going to be called the Son of God. He's divine. So, this is a unique son, and in that sense, she is a unique lady. She had the high and holy privilege of giving birth to the Messiah. 

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So, the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month.  For no word from God will ever fail.”  “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

(Matthew 1: 34-38)

So, he's called the Son of the Highest, and now he's called the Son of God. He's going to be great, he's going to be God, and we are told in this passage, as we study it, that he's going to be holy. So, Jesus was without sin. He who knew no sin became sin for us, according to Paul in 2 Corinthians. There was not the slightest taint of sin on Jesus Christ. He was a human being, but at the same time, he was the holy Son of God.

One more thing about this son, he's going to sit on the throne of his father David. He's from the family of David, and he's going to inherit from David and. "He shall reign over the House of Jacob Forever, and of his Kingdom, there shall be no end." Of course, we know from the Old Testament that this was the promise God gave to David in 2 Samuel Chapter 7. Again and again, the Old Testament refers to the Messiah as the Son of David. He's going to rule, he's going to sit on the throne of David, he's going to be a king. This also reminds us of Isaiah Chapter 9, verse six, where it says about the Messiah. “For unto us a Child is born, unto us, a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end." So, when he says to her that his name is going to be Jesus, he's going to be great, the Son of God, and he's going to rule on the throne of his father David, he's talking about the Lord coming back someday to set up the Kingdom of God on this earth. Here is this young girl who is a betrothed, a promised virgin, but also one blessed lady. 

If we now flip the page in that Mary photo album I mentioned at the start that we're looking through today, you will see the next picture of her. I'm calling it the third picture, and the last one is a picture of her as a believing servant. I think this is the point of the story in the context of Chapter 1.

Mary said to the Angel how can this be since I have not been with a man do you remember I said these two stories were put next next next to each other and they're in contrast to each other. Do you remember. Zacharias said to the Angel, “how shall I know this”, and she says the same thing in essence, “how can this be”.

What's the difference between those two? Real simple, he didn't believe it. He was saying, "I don't believe this. My wife's past childbearing age. How can this be?" Remember verse 20: "Behold, you shall be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because “you did not believe my words." I suggested that the spiritual point of that passage. Mary does something similar, only she is doing from an entirely different perspective. She says, "How can this be, since I do not know a man?" She's simply asking for an explanation. She is not doubting Gods message. She's simply asking for an explanation, information and now, he gives it to her. But before I talk about that, I want to present a theological point because it's particularly pertinent, given how widely the Roman Catholic Church uses this verse to teach what they call the perpetual virginity of Mary, I feel I need to comment on that.

It is obvious from the text that she didn't think she was going to be a perpetual virgin. She was planning on getting married; that's the whole point of the passage. So, he answers her. The Angel says to her in verse 35, "The Holy Spirit shall be upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you." Interesting, the word "overshadowed" was used of God overshadowing the Tabernacle in the Old Testament. God's going to do this. God is going to supernaturally cause you to get pregnant.

She responds to this, and she responds very positively. She simply says in verse 37, "With God, nothing shall be impossible." And that's the point I would make. Then Mary said, " Let it be to me according to your word." And the Angel departed from her. God is going to do it. So, she says, “So be it, let it be so, according to your word." That's fine, she says, I will believe what God says he will do, he will do. 

People who serve the Lord sometimes forget the most basic lesson of service, namely that they are servants. I think we can get our expectations above our station. The germ of the spiritual disease of forgetting that you're a servant takes root in the heart. The symptoms are in the mouth, they might come out in different ways, but it’s saying things like, "I'm not being treated right. I sacrificed, and nobody appreciates me. I served, and nobody thanked me." Translated: nobody noticed me. 

The cure is to get your heart right, I should say the cure is to get your heart right and understand that you're really only serving the Lord. Get your heart right, then you'll get your mouth will follow by simply praising instead of complaining. She recognized who she was just a lowly servant, and she trusted the Lord. She believed the word of God delivered by the Angel, and she humbly accepted her lot in life. She responded with quiet submission and complete obedience. 

Remember when Joseph found out she was pregnant, he contemplated divorce, and except for the intervention of God, he would have quietly divorced her, but he didn’t  She didn’t know he would stick by her at that point. She was willing to go through the rejection of her future husband, her family, the ridicule of her friends, and the shame of the world. That's may seem like nothing today, but she didn’t live in the 21st century. This was an awful social blight, and she said, "If God said it, be it unto me according to your word." So, she did not pray the world's most common prayer: "Thy will be changed to suit my circumstances." She prayed the world's greatest prayer: "Thy will be done."

I've given you three snapshots of Mary. 

·        She was a betrothed virgin.

·        She was a blessed lady.

·        But most importantly, she was a believing servant. 

Here's the point: The spiritual lesson is, since the Lord is with us and has blessed us and wants to use us, we should remember that we are servants and immediately believe and obey.

All I've done so far is summarized the story we've just gone through. It’s called an exposition, which tole us.  The Lord was with her, the Lord blessed her, the Lord chose to use her, and all of that is true of us also. Granted, she's a unique lady in the history of humankind. She gave birth to the Messiah, and no one had ever done that and never will again. She's unique. But in a sense she's no different from the rest of us because the rest of us can say, as she said in this message, "The Lord is with me, the Lord has blessed me, the Lord wants to use me.

Maybe in a different way, maybe in a more everyday way, but He wants to use us." So, if we're like Mary, we'll have this mindset of, I'm just a servant, and I believe what you said Lord, and will do what you say. As I said, our problem is we forget who we are. We think we're something when all we really are just servants. And if you remember that, you'll get one lesson one in the Christian faith: Simply believe God and serve Him. The lesson here is to believe God. But taking the wider context of the revelations of the angels across this first chapter demonstrate that we have three options in how we might respond to this.  I'm going to give you three options. You ready for this?

Option #1: You cannot believe, just like Zacharias. He, in fact, didn't really believe. I pointed out that these two stories, Zacharias, and Mary, are put in juxtaposition, constantly in contrast with one another. An old man versus a young woman. Someone in the holy temple versus a a very ordinary poor house. A highly respected man in Jerusalem versus a despised woman in lowly circumstances. But the great contrast is belief versus unbelief. He didn't believe. So, option one is, "Don't believe." The world is filled with those kinds of people.

Option #2 is when you can be slow to believe. After Jesus was crucified, two disciples were walking to Emmaus. As they walked, they talked about what happened. Suddenly, Jesus appeared to them, but they didn't recognize Him.  In Luke chapter 24, at the end of this book, we are told that Jesus asked them why they were so sad. They told Him about Jesus's death and more. Jesus responded by saying, saying to them, "O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken." (Luke 24: 25) Then He explained to them that the Messiah had to suffer, which was precisely what they were lamenting. He also told them about His resurrection and entry into glory, expanding on the Scriptures. Their eyes were then finally opened. 

What caught my attention was that they were so slow to believe. The world is full of people who don't believe, and some of them can be found within the church. The church is often filled with people who are slow to believe If you win the lottery in the UK you have to step forward and claim your prize. God wants a similar ending. Don't be so slow to believe, claim you prize as soon as yer receive the message. Believing right away is the third option. 

The three options are:

·        You can, not believe at all.

·        You can be slow to believe.

·        Or you can simply believe quickly and straightforwardly and obey. 

That's what Mary did. God has blessed you. He says you're highly favoured.

You too are one of His children. He wants to use you; as His servant. Our response should be, "Lord, be it unto me as you say." We should immediately believe God and serve because of what He has done for us. The point I'm making here is that we simply need to believe God and provide Him with the best of ourselves. So that heaven can say, "Well don good and faithful servant." This is lesson one of Christianity, and we need to learn it today. Amen.