September 29, 2024
Luke 1:26-38
“A Sevenfold Promise”
We are now shifting gears. Last week it was an old couple who thought they could never have children. They suddenly learned they’re going to have a boy. They’re told to name him John. He will make ready for the Lord a people prepared.
Today’s turn will continue a theme carried over from last week. God is in control. That is the glorious truth of His sovereign purpose at work in our world. As someone once said:
“God looks to the human being to accept His plan, but does not depend on the human being for its implementation.”
Mark Coleridge
Both birth narratives fuel the trajectory of God’s salvation history. They are
future oriented. While despairing of the wickedness of this present age, we are filled with the promises God has made in His Word. Bible Teacher Christiaan Mostert writes:
“To live in hope is to live in the energy field of the future.”
Last week, we saw how Elizabeth and Zechariah responded to that hope. Today, we’re going to begin exploring Mary’s response:
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will
reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there
will be no end.”
And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy - the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Luke 1:26-38
The first thing we notice is a shift in setting. The Zechariah and Elizabeth story unfolds in a temple setting. Mary, no temple mentioned. The Zechariah and Elizabeth story is set in a holy city. Mary in no village of any consequence. In fact, Nazareth is mentioned nowhere, nohow, by nobody in any record or list or account. Nothing…zero, zilch, nada. John 1:46
records some guy named Nathanael asking, rhetorically, “Can anything
good come out of Nazareth?” We move from sacred temple in Judea to nowheresville, Galilee. The last major difference between the two angel visits is that it shifts from an elderly man of position and prestige to a young woman of no consequence at all.
The whole point here is that when God breaks into our world, nothing is as it was or as it seems. Everything is turned upside down. Luke is foreshadowing what will happen from here on out.
Right out of the gate, what is the first thing Luke wants us to know about Jesus’ mother? Remember the Biblical interpretation principle of repeated phrases. Before Luke tells us her name, how does he describe Jesus’ mother? Right…two times he specifically refers to her as a virgin. Only after that does he tells us her name.
Funny story. Back when I was in seminary, I didn’t think it was important to affirm the virgin birth of Jesus. I was an idiot. I still am kind of an idiot, but not in essential things that matter.
The virgin birth…the virgin conception of Jesus…is key to understanding
that this is a birth like no other.
Notice, first of all, that the angel greets Mary as O favored one. She is favored to receive God’s grace. There’s nothing in her or about her that makes her worthy of receiving God’s grace. Secondly, when he says, “The Lord is with you,” there is no qualification. It’s not the Lord is with you because you’ve done this or that or said this or that or believed this or that. Again, unmerited grace. The Lord is with you, no details given how that’s going to play out. The angel doesn’t reveal the full picture. That’s going to be important to remember.
Here's what this interaction between Mary and the angel doesn’t reveal. There is nothing exceptional or unique about Mary which led God to choose her. It’s not about who God chooses. It’s always about God doing the choosing.
Here’s what this means. If you’re a former Catholic, you’ll especially appreciate this. An unbiblical understanding of this exchange gave birth to Mariolatry. That is, the blasphemous worship and veneration of Mary. Do you former Catholics remember what you were taught to pray? “Hail, Mary, full of grace.” And we non-Catholics thought Hail Mary was simply a football play. The error is based on a false understanding of why God chose Mary. The farthest thing from reality was that Mary was favored because there was something in her that she could dispense to others. Catholics falsely read this to mean she was so full of grace, she could dole it out to others.
But that’s not what the angel said. Mary was not the source of grace. Mary was the recipient of grace. From God. We Protestants call it God’s electing grace. You’ve been given grace by God. Mary was given grace by God. There was nothing worthy in her. Wayne and Garth of “Wayne’s World,” got it right…we’re not worthy. The gospel simply says, “Mary, you’ve been chosen.” Nothing special about her. We know nothing about her life.
While we know Mary can’t hear anybody’s prayers, and a person can’t go to Mary and receive any grace form her, and she’s neither glorified nor saintly, she was the receiver of grace. And that is a beautiful thing. All of
us who are followers of Jesus Christ have been called by Christ. We, too,
are receivers of grace. Amen?
So why mention, two times, that Mary is a virgin? Luke is by no means exalting Mary, as if God chooses her because she is a holy vessel deserving to give birth to such a child. No…no…no. Mary’s virginity is presented as an obstacle to conception that can only be overcome by the miraculous, creative power of God.
Remember, it is about God breaking in to human history for our salvation.
Compare and contrast Zechariah and Mary. Fear gripped Zechariah. Not so for Mary. I love the word translated as “troubled” in verse twenty-nine. It’s dietarachthe. It can also be translated as “perplexed.” Unlike Zechariah, her issue isn’t with what’s going to happen. She is perplexed because she feels unworthy. She’s done nothing to deserve or earn this favor. Are you with me on that?
And then Mary asks a very legitimate question. In verse thirty-four, she
says, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” The literal translation is, “Since a man not I know.” We understand the delicate euphemism for how a woman gets pregnant. She does not doubt the promise. But what she hears is that the conception will occur while she is a virgin. And she is absolutely correct in that assumption.
Here's something you might want to write down:
MARY DOES NOT ASK IF IT WILL HAPPEN – MARY ASKS HOW IT WILL HAPPEN.
She fully trusts God. In the end, Mary submits herself to God’s will. God will bring the promise of His salvation history to completion through her.
Finally, let’s touch on the seven promises from God in these verses:
Earlier, an angel told Zechariah his wife will bear him a son. Here, Mary, an unwed virgin, has no husband. Therefore, she bears no son for him. Yet she will conceive.
While Luke gives no origin of the name, Mary is told her baby is to be named Jesus.
While Zechariah is told John will be “great before the Lord,”
Mary is told that her son “will be great.”
Her son “will be called the Son of the Most High.” In other words, this is a declaration of the divinity of Jesus Christ. Used in this historic moment, Jesus is the Son of God from the point of conception.
The promise of the “throne of David his father” emphasizes the child’s role as ruler. There is no mention of his suffering. Luke will build toward that essential truth.
Mary is told, “He will reign over the house of Jacob forever.” That is clearly a Messianic promise. We hear this echoed in Micah 4:7, “And the lame I will make the remnant, and those who were cast off, a strong nation; and the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from this time forth and forevermore.”
But there’s more. “And of his kingdom there will be no end.” Jesus’ miraculous conception reveals that he is uniquely related to God in a way that moves beyond Messianic expectations. That plays a huge role in God’s salvation
history.
All of these promises are important. But promise seven is the most important one of all. Mary learns that her child will be uniquely powerful and will fulfill God’s plans for our salvation.
Next week, we will look at Mary’s worshipful response to this greatest story ever told. Until then:
SOLI DEO GLORIA…
To the Glory of God Alone
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