The Birth Announcement of Jesus, Pt. 4

And the angel said unto her, Fear not Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.  And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.  He shall be great, and shall be called the son of the highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Luke 1:30-33

In this “birth announcement of Jesus,” the angel tells Mary some interesting things about her future Son.  One of the most important things is that He is going to be the eternal One.

He will “reign over the house of Jacob for ever,” and “of his kingdom there shall be no end.”  There will be no end to the reign of this King because He is eternal and His Kingdom is eternal.

If there was any doubt at all in the mind of Mary as to Who this Son would be, this statement should have put it to rest.  This would be the eternal Son of the Highest, God in the flesh coming to save His people from their sins.

The most amazing part of these verses to me is that we, as Christians, are a part of that eternal kingdom.  We are part of the Kingdom of God.  The Lord Jesus Christ is our Lord, our God, and our King.  We join His Kingdom through the new birth, and are a part of it from then through eternity.  As humans, we have little understanding or ability to understand eternity.  We have no frame of reference for something that has no end, but that is the nature of this King and His Kingdom.

This little baby had no beginning and He will have no end.  And we can have a part in that Kingdom with Him.  What a wonderful Saviour!

The Birth Announcement of Jesus, Pt. 3

And the angel said unto her, Fear not Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.  And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.  He shall be great, and shall be called the son of the highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David

Luke 1:30-32

In this “birth announcement of Jesus,” the angel Gabriel gives Mary some things that her Son will be and do.  He is going to be called Jesus (“the Lord’s salvation), He was going to be called “the Son of the Highest,” and He was going to be the Saviour of the world.  In verse 32, Gabriel tells Mary that the Lord is going to “give unto him the throne of his father David.”

That statement should leave us no doubt that this was to be the Messiah.  This was to be One Who would fulfill all of the prophecies of the Old Testament.  He was going to sit on the throne of His father, David.  That was prophesied hundreds of years before Jesus was born.  Now the angel was telling Mary that it would be her Son.  her Son would be the One to sit on the throne of David.

To me, one of the greatest assurances that the Bible is true can be found in the prophecies of the Old Testament and their perfect fulfillment in the New Testament.  In fact, we are still seeing the fulfillment of prophecies even today.  Imagine what must have been going through Mary’s mind when she heard this.  The Saviour of whom the prophets had spoken was coming and He was coming through her.

Jesus has not yet physically sat on the throne of David.  Just think – we will see this promise about Jesus given to Mary some two thousand years ago take place.  What an honour to be a Christian!

The Birth Announcement of Jesus, Pt. 2

And the angel said unto her, Fear not Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.  And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.  He shall be great, and shall be called the son of the highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David

Luke 1:30-32

In this passage of the angel Gabriel’s “birth announcement of Jesus,” we saw that the virgin Mary was going to conceive and bear a son and that His name would be Jesus, which means “The Lord’s Salvation.”  Gabriel goes on to tell Mary some things about her future Son.

He tells her that her Son Jesus is going to be “great” and that He would be “called the Son of the Highest.”  We have the advantage of hindsight and, looking back, we can see that He was (and is) indeed “great.”  He is the greatest man who ever lived because while He was man, He was also God in the flesh.  It doesn’t get any more great than that.

He was not only going to be great, but He was going to be called the “Son of the Highest.”  We know that He was God’s only begotten Son.  But this isn’t just talking about His relationship with the Father.  Both “Son” and “Highest” are capitalized, which tells us that this was to be His title, not just His position.

This was to be no ordinary baby.  This Child would be great and would be called the Son of the Highest.  There is only One Who could lay claim to that title: the only one Who would be not just a “great man,” but the God-man.  The Son of the Highest would be God in the flesh, entering the human race to save us from our sins.  What a wonderful thought to think that we can personally know this “Son of the Highest!”

The Birth Announcement of Jesus, Pt. 1

And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.  And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. 

Luke 1:30-31

In this passage, the angel Gabriel is telling the virgin Mary about the Son that she is going to have.  He tells her a few things about this son, which we will look at over the next few days.

The first thing that he tells her is that she is going to have a Son and that she is going to name Him “Jesus.”  I’m sure she was excited to hear that she would have a Son, but I wonder if she understood that this would be no ordinary Son.  This would be the Son of God.  The name in itself is also significant.  In the Bible, names had a greater significance than they do now and many times, names were given by the Lord because of the meaning of the name.  It was no different in the case of Jesus.

The name Jesus is a Hebrew name meaning “The Lord is Salvation.”  You could not get a more fitting or more perfect name for this baby than “the Lord is salvation.”  Think about our Saviour for a minute and just how fitting that name is: He is the Lord and He is our salvation, all in One.  Mary, being obedient, of course named the baby Jesus as she was instructed to do.

His name was perfect and He was perfect.  He would be the Lord’s salvation.  He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.  And His name would be Jesus.  The very Son of God would come to Earth to become the salvation of the world.  And His name was Jesus.

Hearing From God

And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.  And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.  And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.

Luke 1: 28-30

Can you imagine what Mary must have been thinking when the angel Gabriel appeared to her and said “Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women?”  I can only imagine my shock and fear if an angelic being suddenly appeared, addressed me by name and told me that I was highly favoured.  I’m sure it would be quite a shock for any of us.

Mary was, as any of us would have been, troubled at this sight at first.  But the angel reassured her that he was indeed the messenger of God to her and that she had “found favour with God.”  He then went on to tell her about the Son that she would bear and just Who that Son would be.  But that would have to wait until the initial shock had worn off.

It is the same with us.  Sometimes when the Lord speaks to us, it can be a little unsettling.  Sometimes when He tells us something He wants us to do, it can be a little shocking.  Sometimes we can, like Mary, be troubled at the sayings He gives us.  Like Mary, we might be initially startled and wonder “me?  really?”  But, just as the angel did with Mary, so the Lord comforts us and reassured us that He does indeed love us and is going to help us with whatever He has called us to do.

The next time that we find ourselves in a position of surprise at what the Lord is saying to us, let us remember the example of the virgin Mary and submit to His will!

I Will Praise Him (Hymn)

I Will Praise Him
Margaret J. Harris (1898)

When I saw the cleansing fountain
Open wide for all my sin,
I obeyed the Spirit’s wooing,
When He said, “Wilt thou be clean?”

Refrain
I will praise Him! I will praise Him!
Praise the Lamb for sinners slain;
Give Him glory, all ye people,
For His blood can wash away each stain.

Though the way seems straight and narrow,
All I claimed was swept away;
My ambitions, plans and wishes,
At my feet in ashes lay.

Refrain

Then God’s fire upon the altar
Of my heart was set aflame;
I shall never cease to praise Him
Glory, glory to His Name!

Refrain

Blessèd be the Name of Jesus!
I’m so glad He took me in;
He’s forgiven my transgressions,
He has cleansed my heart from sin.

Refrain

Glory, glory to the Father!
Glory, glory to the Son!
Glory, glory to the Spirit!
Glory to the Three in One!

If ever there was a great name and a great theme for a hymn, this would have to be it.  An entire hymn about simply praising the Lord, which is what we should be doing with all of our songs and hymns.  “I will praise Him!  I will praise Him!  Praise the Lamb for sinners slain.”  Amen.

A Virgin Named Mary

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

Luke 1:26-27

We all know the story of the angel coming to Mary and telling her about the fact that she would have a Son and that Son would be Jesus, the Christ.  It’s a wonderful passage of scripture that we will look at for a few days.  But before we get into the message that the angel Gabriel brought, I would like to look at this young girl, Mary.

From the Scriptures, we don’t get the idea that Mary was a rich, famous person.  She did not come from lavish surroundings.  She was not a princess or queen or woman of renown.  She appears to have been just an ordinary girl living in the ordinary city of Nazareth.  She didn’t even live in Jerusalem.  She was espoused to a man named Joseph, who was an ordinary carpenter.  Her fiancée was apparently not a famous man nor a man of great wealth or power.  It was in the midst of all of these common, ordinary surroundings that the Lord Jesus Christ would be born.

Sometimes we may feel that we are “ordinary.”  There may be no great, exciting characteristics in our lives.  But Mary was all of these things.  She was a common girl, doing what she was supposed to be doing.  She was there, living her life in obedience to the Lord.  She was not a nun – she was engaged to be married and was probably excited about that, as any young girl would be.

We can take an example from the life of Mary and just do what we are supposed to do, all day, every day.  And God will bless our ordinary, obedient life.

The Ministry of John the Baptist, Pt. 5

…thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.  And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.  For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.  And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.  And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

Luke 1:13a-17

At the end of verse 17, God gives us the last of the “ministries” of John the Baptist.  He is going to “make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”  Among the many other things that John is going to do, one of his main jobs is to prepare a people for the Lord.  He was going to come before the Lord came and get the people ready to receive Him and get them ready to hear Him.

That is one of our main responsibilities as Christians.  We are supposed to be helping people get ready to meet the Lord.  We know that He is coming and we don’t want to be ashamed at His coming.  We also don’t want others to be ashamed at His coming.  The Bible tells us that “knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.”

People need to be ready for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.  If they are not saved, they need to prepare to meet Him by accepting Him as their personal Saviour.  If they are already Christians, they need to be living a life that honours and glorifies Him.  They need to be purifying themselves in preparation for meeting Him.

Any help that we can give people in the area of preparing them to meet the Lord is good.  We can help just about everyone around us in this area in some way.

The Ministry of John the Baptist, Pt. 4

…thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.  And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.  For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.  And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.  And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just…

Luke 1:13a-17a

The things that John the Baptist was going to do in his lifetime are some of the same things that we are supposed to be doing in our lifetimes.  His main ministry was to point people to Jesus Christ.  Our main goal for our lives should be to point people to Jesus Christ.  In verse 17, Luke gives us several groups of people whom John will be helping.  He will help to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just.

John was to turn the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just.  The book of Proverbs deals in great length with the contrast of foolishness and wisdom.  The disobedient foolish person needs to be turned to the wisdom of the just.  It is still the same today.  Anyone who is foolish, disobedient or rebellious needs wisdom.  They are going to find wisdom in the same place that it was found in John’s day: the Word of God.

It is our job to point the way.  It is our responsibility to help people who are disobedient to see the wisdom of the just.  The wisdom of the just should be shining forth in our lives and should be on the tips of our tongues.  Pointing people to Jesus involves showing them the wisdom of the just.  That is a ministry we can all be involved in.

The Ministry of John the Baptist, Pt 3

…thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.  And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.  For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.  And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.  And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children..

Luke 1:13a-17a

One of the important things that John the Baptist was going to do was to “turn the hearts of the fathers to the children.”  That is something we can be doing as well.

At first glance, you wouldn’t think that it would be that special of a thing to “turn the hearts of the fathers to the children.”  You would think that fathers would already have a heart for their children.  But, sadly, that is not always the case.  And, as our society sinks deeper and deeper into sin, I think we will find that fathers not having a heart for their children will become more and more common.

Having fathers step up and do right for their children is desperately needed today.  Imagine the decrease in crime that would occur if fathers would have a heart to help and discipline their children.  Imagine the increase in the morals of the entire country if we had men who would be true fathers to their children.

Fathers with a heart for their children do right.  They lead and guide and teach their children to do right as well.  They discipline and correct their children if and when they do wrong.  Just as our Heavenly Father has a heart for us, let us help earthly fathers (and mothers) to have a heart for their children.  What a blessing that would be!