A Seemingly Impossible Announcement...

This week we are looking at a section of an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Luke. Yesterday, we looked on as God sent the angel Gabriel to a city in Galilee called Nazareth to deliver a message from God to a Jr. High age girl named Mary, who was a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph.

The greeting from the angel Gabriel, if it was to be communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “Rejoice Mary, for God is with you and is going to extend grace to you in a way that will transform your life”. We looked on as Mary was confused and was trying to process what this amazing greeting from this supernatural being meant. Today, we will jump back into this event from history as Luke reveals the announcement that the Angel Gabriel delivered from the Lord to Mary in Luke 1:30:

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 name Him Jesus. "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end."

Now God’s message to Mary, if it was communicated in the language that we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “Mary, the reason that you have nothing to be afraid of is because God is with you and is going to extend grace to you. God is going to reveal His transformational intervention and activity in your life in a miraculous way. You see, Mary you are going to have a child; and this child is not just any child. You are going to have a son and you are to name him Jesus, or Yahweh saves. And the reason that you are to name Him Jesus is because He is God in a bod. God is coming to the earth through you as the Lord God is sending His Son Jesus, who is God, to take on flesh and fulfill the promise that He had made to bring the Jewish people back to Him. The son that you will give birth to will rule and reign as He reveals and establishes the kingdom of Heaven for all eternity".

Now imagine yourself as Mary. Out of the blue, an angel of the Lord shows up to tell you that you are going to become pregnant and give birth to God: What would you be thinking? What would you be feeling at that point? How would you respond? Probably just like Mary did in verse 34:

Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?"

In other words, Mary is asking “how is this possible?” You see, unlike Zacharias when he had his encounter with the angel Gabriel, this is not a question of doubt or a lack of faith. Instead, this is a question that flowed from a desire to understand.

Mary is asking “How am I going to get pregnant and have a child if I have never had sex before? I mean, usually you have to have sex before you get pregnant. I have not had sex and I am not married, so how am I going to become pregnant with God?” We see the angel Gabriel’s response in verse 35:

 The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.

To understand the angel Gabriel’s response, we first need to define some terms. When the Angel Gabriel says "The Holy Spirit will come upon you”, this phrase literally means that the Holy Spirit will come and move upon you. The phrase “the power of the Most High will overshadow you” literally means that the power of God would cover you. In other words, Mary would become pregnant as a result of the supernatural power of God as displayed through the Holy Spirit, who would creatively and supernaturally bring about the physical conception of Jesus.

In church mumbo jumbo talk, this is referred to as the Immaculate Conception and the virgin birth. Mary did not become pregnant because God had sex with Mary. God moved in a supernatural and unique way, displaying His power through the Holy Spirit, to bring the second member of the Trinity into humanity as the only begotten son of God. That is why Gabriel states that the holy Child shall be called the son of God.

The phrase "Son of God" in the Bible is not a term that is used to simply describe one’s place in a family tree. The Son of God is a title that is used to describe Jesus association with God as the second member of the Trinity. As the Holy Child, as God in a bod, Jesus would be set apart as distinct and different from any other human child. Jesus was fully God and fully man.

And Jesus was set apart and sent to earth with a specific mission, which was to give His life to provide humanity an opportunity to be rescued from the selfishness and rebellion that separated humanity from God so that they could receive forgiveness and experience the relationship with God that they were created for. And in case that did not fully answer Mary’s question, Gabriel states the following in verse 36:

 "And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month."For nothing will be impossible with God."

In other words, the angel Gabriel is saying “the reason that you being pregnant by the power of God through the Holy Spirit is the same reason that your aunt Elizabeth, who is on the other side of menopause and thought would never be blessed with a child, is also pregnant. You see Mary, nothing is impossible with God. Just as God can bring forth life from that which had been unable to bring forth life, God can bring forth life from what had previously never attempted to bring forth life”.

Friday, we will see Mary’s response and discover a timeless truth about Christmas...