Introduction
I said this morning that I’m hoping to go through Luke 1 and 2 this Christmas. This morning we studied Gabriel’s announcement to Zechariah that his wife will bear a son who should be called John. This evening we’re studying Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that she will give birth to a son by means of the Holy Spirit. On the morning of Christmas Eve, we’ll think about Mary’s song. And on the evening of Christmas Eve we’ll focus on the birth of John the Baptist. On Christmas morning, we’ll spend our time on the birth of the Saviour and how the angel appeared to the shepherds to tell them the good news of great joy. And on the Sunday after that, we’ll think about the story of Simeon and Anna in the temple; and the story of the time when the Lord Jesus visited Jerusalem with Mary and Joseph when he was 12 years old. That’s the plan for this Christmas.
And I also mentioned this morning, that the whole of Luke 1 and 2 can be divided into two announcements, two births and two consecrations. There are the two announcements to Zechariah and Mary; there are the two births of John and Jesus; and there are the two consecrations: Mary and Joseph brought the infant Jesus to Jerusalem to consecrate him to the Lord; and the Lord in a sense consecrated himself when he made clear to his earthly parents that he was dedicated and devoted to his Heavenly Father.
This morning we were thinking about Gabriel’s announcement to Zechariah that his elderly and barren wife would bear a son who should be given the name John. And their son will turn the people back to the Lord by preaching a message of repentance for the forgiveness of their sins. And the result of his ministry will be reconciliation and peace, because when sinners repent and return to God, then they are, not only reconciled to God, but they are reconciled to one another.
In today’s passage, Gabriel announced to Mary that she will conceive a son by means of the Holy Spirit and her son will be a great king who will rule for ever.
But before we get into the passage, let me say something about Gabriel. The name Gabriel appears four times in the Bible: two times in the Old Testament and two times in the New Testament. The two times it appears in the New Testament are in the two passages we’re studying today. And the two times it appears in the Old Testament are both in the book of Daniel. The first time was in Daniel 8 where the Lord sent him to Daniel to explain a vision which Daniel received from the Lord. The second time is in Daniel 9. And the Daniel 9 reference is significant, because Daniel 9 begins with Daniel praying to the Lord, confessing the sins of the people and asking the Lord to turn away his anger from them and to act on behalf of his people and his city which bear his name. So, God had sent his people into exile because of their rebellion and unbelief. And now Daniel was hoping that God would forgive them and bring them back to Jerusalem.
And while he was still praying, Gabriel came to him with a message from the Lord. And the message was about seventy sevens which the Lord had decreed for the people and the city of Jerusalem. Commentators discuss what the phrase ‘seventy sevens’ means. If you’re interested, you can look up my sermon on Daniel 9 where I give the interpretation that seems best to me. But in a nutshell, Gabriel’s message was about the future and how something was going to happen so that sinners will be pardoned and will become righteous in God’s sight. And, according to Gabriel, ‘the most holy’ will be anointed and will be cut off. And when I preached on that passage I explained that the most holy one who will be anointed is the Lord Jesus, because when he came, he was anointed with the Holy Spirit. And he was cut off or killed when he was crucified and when he gave up his life on the cross. And whoever believes in him is pardoned by God and accepted as righteous in his sight. Though we may have done everything wrong, God treats us as if we’ve done everything right, for the sake of Christ, the Holy Anointed One who was cut off for us and for our salvation.
So, Gabriel was sent to Daniel to announce to him the coming of the Saviour. And hundreds of years later, the same Gabriel was sent to Mary to announce to her that the time had come for the Saviour to be born. God was about to do in Mary’s lifetime what he promised Daniel he would do.
Remember how Luke’s gospel began? Luke said that many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us; and Luke was writing his own orderly account of these things. Well, here’s something that was being fulfilled: God’s promise to Daniel of the coming of the Saviour was being fulfilled by the birth of Mary’s son.
Verses 26 and 27
Let’s turn now to the passage, which begins with a time-stamp. It’s now the sixth month. The sixth month of what? It’s the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy. That’s clear if you read verse 24 which tells us that Elizabeth became pregnant and remained in seclusion for five months. We don’t know why she remained in seclusion for five months. It doesn’t appear to be customary in those days for pregnant woman to remain in seclusion for the first months of pregnancy; and Luke doesn’t explain why Elizabeth chose to do it. But whatever the reason, it’s now the sixth month of her pregnancy.
And that’s when God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee. Nazareth was an obscure place. In fact, it was so obscure that Luke has to tell us where it is. So, we’ve gone from Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel, to an obscure town in Galilee, which no one had heard of. And God sent Gabriel to Nazareth in order to speak to Mary.
And look how Luke describes Mary. He tells us twice that she’s a virgin. So, just in case you missed it the first time, he tells us a second time. Luke clearly wants us to know this. And he tells us that she was pledged to marry Joseph, who was a descendant of David. So, Joseph was descended from Israel’s greatest king. But Mary and Joseph were only engaged, and not married. She would still be living in the home of her parents and she was probably quite young.
Verses 28 and 29
And in verses 28 and 29 we have his greeting to her. ‘Greetings’ he said. The word he uses can also be translated, ‘Rejoice!’ I don’t think there are any people in the Bible who rejoice when they see an angel. Most, if not all, are terrified. But Gabriel greets Mary in this way, because he has good news of great joy to tell her. So: ‘In view of what I’m about to say, rejoice!’
And he addresses her as ‘you who are highly favoured!’ The word translated ‘highly favoured’ is related to the normal biblical word for grace. And therefore the angel is saying that God has been gracious to her. She does not know it yet, but God has graciously and freely chosen her to be the mother of the Saviour of the world. No one else in all the world has been honoured in this way. And it’s not because she deserves it. She has done nothing to earn this honour. It is God’s gracious gift to her. And so, he has graciously and freely chosen her to receive this wonderful honour and privilege. And therefore, the Lord is with her.
That’s the angel’s greeting to Mary. And Luke tells us that Mary was greatly troubled at his words and she wondered what kind of greeting this might be. The Greek word for ‘greatly troubled’ is stronger than the word which was used to describe Zechariah’s fear. He was startled and gripped with fear; but Mary’s fear was even greater. And we can understand her fear, can’t we? She’s only a girl. And an angel has appeared before her, out of the blue. And his greeting, let alone the rest of what he will say, isn’t the kind of thing she’s used to hearing. No wonder she was greatly troubled and afraid. What kind of greeting is this?
Verses 30 to 33
And just as the angel tried to reassure and comfort Zechariah, so he tries to do the same with Mary. He tells her not to be afraid and he reassures her once again that she has found favour with God. He has graciously and freely chosen her. And he has graciously and freely chosen her to be with child and to give birth to a son. And her son should be given the name Jesus. Now, neither the angel nor Luke tell us the significance of the name Jesus. But it is significant, isn’t it? The name Jesus is the Greek version of the Hebrew name Joshua. And, of course, Joshua in the Old Testament was the leader of God’s people who led the people through the River Jordan and into the Promised Land of Canaan. Mary doesn’t realise it yet, but her son will do something similar, but far greater, for all of God’s people. He will lead all of God’s people through death and into the Promised Land of Eternal Life in the new heavens and earth, where all of God’s people will enjoy the presence of God forever and forever. Mary doesn’t it realise it yet, but that’s what her son will do.
And the name Joshua is also significant, because it means ‘the Lord saves’. And that’s precisely who her son will be and it’s what he will do. The son she was about to conceive is the Lord. He’s the Lord God Almighty. He’s the Second Person of the Trinity, of one substance with the Father and the Spirit and worthy of all our honour and praise both now and forevermore. Mary’s son is the Lord, who was coming into the world as one of us. And the Lord was coming into the world as one of us in order to save his people from the punishment we all deserve for all that we have done wrong. The wages of sin is death, the Bible says. That’s what we deserve for what we have done wrong. But the Lord God Almighty, in the person of his Son, came into the world as one of us to give up his life on the cross and to suffer death in our place so that all who believe in him may have eternal life.
That’s who Mary’s son will be; and that’s what he will do. And this too is a fulfilment of the Old Testament, because, throughout the pages of the Old Testament, God revealed himself to be the Saviour of his people. He promised that he would save his people from our sin and misery. And now he has come in the person of his Son to save us, just as he said he would. And so, every time we hear the name Jesus, we should rejoice and give thanks to God, because his name means ‘Saviour’ and he came into this world to save us from our sin and misery and to give us everlasting life in the new and better world to come.
And the angel went on to say that Mary’s son will be great. Gabriel said about Zechariah’s son that he will be great ‘in the sight of the Lord’. That is to say, the Lord will regard him as great. However, about Mary’s son, Gabriel said he will be great ‘full stop’. And there’s only one person in the Bible who is great ‘full stop’. And it’s the Lord. ‘Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised’. That’s how Psalm 48 begins. And Mary’s son will be great ‘full stop’ because he is God.
And he will be called ‘son of the Most High’. That is, he will be called ‘son of the Most High God’. Now, this is a royal title. In the Old Testament, the kings of Israel were regarded as sons of God. It goes back to 2 Samuel 7 and to that time when King David wanted to build a house, or a temple, for the Lord. And the Lord sent Nathan, the prophet, to say to David that David is not the one who will build a house for the Lord. Instead the Lord will build a house, or a dynasty, for David so that a long line of kings will come from him. And the Lord went on to refer to David’s son who will become king after him and who will build the temple in Jerusalem. He was referring to Solomon. And the Lord said about Solomon that the Lord will be Solomon’s father and Solomon will be God’s son. And so, after that, the king was regarded as God’s son. It conveyed the idea that the king of Israel had a special relationship to the Lord. And so, we have Psalm 2 where the Lord laughs at the nations who are plotting against his Anointed King. And in that psalm, the Lord refers to his Anointed King as his son. And so, when Gabriel referred to Mary’s son as the son of the Most High God, he was saying that Mary’s son will be God’s King.
And sure enough, Gabriel went on to say that the Lord will give Mary’s son the throne of his father David. And here we have another fulfilment of the Old Testament Scriptures, because God spoke through his prophets of a time when he will raise up a new king to rule over his people, who will be descended from David. However, he will not be like the previous kings, who were often sinful and who led the people astray. This new king will be upright; and he will rule forever; and he will rule over a new and better world where God’s people will live in perfect peace and rest. And so, we read in Isaiah 9:
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
And in Isaiah 11:
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
And so on. The coming of the Lord Jesus is the fulfilment of God’s promises to his people in the days of the Old Testament to send them a new and better king. And Gabriel is telling Mary that her son is that hoped-for King. God will give him the throne of his father, David; and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and his kingdom will never end. And his kingdom will never end, because he will never end.
How can that be? How can Mary’s son never end? Everyone’s life comes to an end. Everyone dies. So, how can Mary’s son rule forever? Well, he will rule forever, because after he died on the cross, he was raised from the dead to live forever. And God exalted him to heaven to be seated at God’s right hand in heaven as King over all. And through the reading and preaching of his word, he’s extending his kingdom throughout the world by rescuing his people from Satan’s tyranny and by bringing him into his kingdom through faith and repentance. And his kingdom will continue to come on the earth until he comes himself in glory and with power to destroy his enemies and to bring his people into the new heavens and earth where we will live with him and reign with him forever.
And we will worship him. And we will worship him, because Mary’s son, the great King, is also God. He is God and man in one person: fully God and fully human. He is, in fact, the Son of the Most High in two senses. He is the Son of God in the same way that every king of Israel was regarded as Son of God. But he is the Son of God in a unique way, because he is the Eternal Son of God, God’s Only-Begotten Son, God from God and Light from Light, true God from true God. Mary may not have realised these things yet, but this is who her son is. He’s our great King and he’s also our God.
Verse 34
Mary may not have grasped the full significance of the angel’s words, but what she understood was enough to puzzle her. ‘How will this be’, she asked, ‘since I am a virgin?’ This is now the third time we’ve been told that she was a virgin. Her question is not the same as Zechariah’s ‘How can I be sure of this?’ Zechariah did not believe the angel’s words, whereas Mary believed. However, even though she believed, she was puzzled. How can she, an unmarried virgin, bear a child?
Verses 35 to 37
And so, the angel said to her that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and the power of the Most High God will overshadow her. And so, she will conceive her son by means of the Holy Spirit who will come upon her and overshadow her.
This recalls the way the Holy Spirit hovered over the waters in Genesis 1 when the world was created. But now, at the beginning of God’s new creation, the Holy Spirit will hover over Mary to form in her womb a son. So, he will be fully human like us. He was made like us in every way. However, even though he he was made like us in every way, he did not have a human father, because he was conceived, not in the normal way, but by means of the Spirit. And because he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, he will be holy. Do you see that in verse 35? He will be ‘the holy one’. No one else is holy from birth. When we’re born, we’re born as sinners. We inherit Adam’s guilt and his sinful nature. And so, we’re born into this world as sinners. But Mary’s son was holy from birth and he was kept holy throughout his life. And this is because, from the moment of his conception, he was sanctified by the Holy Spirit, so that every inclination of his human heart and soul and mind and strength was to do his Father’s will. Since we’re sinners from the moment we’re conceived, then we’re inclined to disobey God. But since the Lord Jesus was sanctified by the Spirit, then he was always inclined to obey his Father.
And whoever believes in the Lord Jesus receives the Holy Spirit from him. And the Holy Spirit begins to sanctify us and to make us holy by making us more and more willing and able to do God’s will here on earth as it’s done in heaven above. The Holy Spirit comes into our lives and sanctifies us. He renews us inwardly to enable us to love the Lord our God as we should and to love the people around us as we should. He cleanses our hearts of our sinful attitudes and desires and inclinations and thoughts. As we were learning from Colossians, he helps us to put to death in us whatever belongs to Adam’s old humanity: things like sexual immorality and impurity and greed and anger and rage and malice and deceit: all the things which divide us. And he enables us to love one another and to forgive one another and to bear with one another and to be united and not divided.
In this life, he renews us inwardly. When Christ comes again, he will renew us outwardly as well and he will give us a new body to go with our new life in the new heavens and earth.
We receive the Holy Spirit whenever we believe in Christ. But Mary’s son began with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit sanctified him completely from conception and made him perfectly holy and devoted to doing his Father’s will.
And it was his Father’s will for him to give up his life on the cross for us and for our salvation and to shed his blood to cleanse us from our guilt. And so, thanks be to God for sending his Son into the world as one of us to save us from our sin and misery. And thanks be to God for sending his Spirit to sanctify his Son completely in Mary’s womb so that he was able to do his Father’s will throughout his life here on earth. And thanks be to God for giving us the same Spirit to help us to do our Father’s will more and more.
And to reassure Mary, the angel told her about Elizabeth, who was related to Mary. She was both old and barren. And yet, because of the power of God, she was going to have a child. And so, nothing is impossible to God. He is the omnipotent God, the all-powerful God, the only one who is able to do all things according to his will. Old age is not a barrier to him. Barrenness is not a barrier to him. Mary’s virginity is not a barrier to him. He’s able to do all things according to his will. And it was his will to send his Only-Begotten Son into the world as one of us through the Holy Spirit. That was God’s will. And God is able to do all that he wills.
Verse 38
And the passage ends with Mary confessing that she is the Lord’s servant. And since she’s the Lord’s servant, then may it be to her as the angel has said. Since she’s the Lord’s servant, she’s prepared to do whatever he asks of her.
Conclusion
And this too is the fulfilment of God’s Old Testament promises, because didn’t he announce through the prophet Isaiah that the virgin will conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name Immanuel? Immanuel means ‘God with us’ and God has come in the person of his Son to be our Great King, who saves his people from our sin and misery and who promises his people eternal life in the new and better world to come.
When God made the world in the beginning, his Spirit hovered over the waters. And at the beginning of his work to renew all things, his Spirit hovered over Mary so that she was able to give birth to the Saviour, who is both God and man in one person. And through faith in him, we receive forgiveness; and we receive the same Spirit to renew us; and we receive the hope of everlasting life in the presence of our God. And so, may we all trust in his Son, and keep trusting in him and not in ourselves or our good deeds. And may we give thanks to God for his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
Sermons and Stuff 