The Announcement to Mary

For years, the elderly did not have a child, and God would miraculously bring forth the pregnancy, and they would have a child. It's the birth of John the Baptist. In a few weeks, John would be forerunning to the Messiah. John would be the one whom prepared the way. And today, we're going to look at a young girl who was probably a teenager, and she is going to have a Bible call in the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy and the coming of the Messiah.

Now this young girl, named Mary, and we'd love to see that she really is quite an example for her spiritual behavior to follow. So turn in your Bible to Luke chapter one and continue our study as God is bringing forth his glory, his plan, his redemption.

You remember when we spoke last week that Psalm has spoken some to the coming of Jesus to the events that we read last week. For four hundred years, God had not raised up a prophet, and yet God is working. So our text this morning will be chapter one, verses 26 through 38. A very familiar story.

Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee, Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, a descendant of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, "Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you." But she was very perplexed at this statement and pondering what kind of salutation this was.

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. And he will be great and he 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 and his kingdom will have no end."

And Mary said, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" 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 Son of God. And even your relative Elizabeth has also been blessed, she who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God."

And Mary said, "Behold, the bondslaved of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.

God's Choice, Plan, Provision, and Servant

In this passage, we're going to seek this morning the means by which God will use to accomplish his purposes in redemption. And what we're going to see this morning is:

• God's choice
• God's plan—how God planned to bring about the coming of his Son
• God's provision—that God's going to make a way for this to happen
• God's servant—the one who will respond to God's plan

God's Choice

Let's jump right in and look at God's choice this morning. Look at verse 26. The scriptures tell us, "Now in the sixth month." We have to understand that he's speaking of the sixth month of the pregnancy of Elizabeth. We know that from verse 36 where it says Elizabeth is now in her sixth month. And God sent the angel Gabriel to a city in Galilee called Nazareth.

Now Nazareth would not be what we would consider a city. It really was a small village, maybe a couple of hundred people. So it was really a small village, and it was very insignificant. So much so that you'll recall in John's gospel, chapter one, when Nathaniel is speaking about Nazareth, he said, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" The Old Testament never mentions Nazareth.

And we see here that in verse 27, the angel comes and he mentions twice before Luke ever mentions the name of this young girl—he mentions twice that she is a virgin. There's going to be great significance to that. She's never had sexual relations with a man, and we can see that this is very significant. And she's engaged to a man named Joseph who was a descendant of David. Now that's also extremely significant. We're going to see.

The fact that she was engaged—now in Jewish custom in Israel, the process of marriage basically had three steps. It was a process. The first step was to choose a mate, and most of the time this was done by the parents. The parents would choose a mate for their child, and these two would become acquainted over time. And when they came to the point where it was decided that this was acceptable, what they would do is they would get together, and there would be a formal agreement for this marriage. The parents would come together and they would decide, and then a written contract was drawn up. And oftentimes, this was signed in the synagogue. And this contract would basically speak about the dowry that was going to be given. So the first step is the choosing of a mate, done most of the time by the parents.

Now once they've come to that formal agreement, that was betrothal, or what we call it, the engagement, as the New American Standard translates it. That engagement was not like what we would consider an engagement. The couple was betrothed to each other or engaged; that is, they were considered man and wife at that time. However, they were not living together. They would not have any relations, physical relations, and that mutual time was often up to about one year. And during that time, it would show forth that the bride to be was chaste, and also the husband would become established in his occupation and prepare a place they were going to live. And when that place was prepared where he could receive his bride, the third stage in that process was the wedding ceremony and celebration. But here, Mary and Joseph are in that stage of the mutual betrothal, the engagement.

And the fact that Joseph is a descendant of David, as we said, that's very significant. Because even though we're going to see the child was not Joseph's child, because they were considered legally married, if he would accept that child, under the law he would assume David's lineage. So Mary had a child, even though it wasn't Joseph's, and if Joseph accepted that child under the law, that child would have his lineage.

The Announcement

Now in verse 28 comes the announcement. The angel came into the house, and Mary was startled, because she didn't know what was happening. And the angel said to her, "Greetings." Now this is Gabriel. And we met Gabriel back in the previous verses of chapter one when Zechariah—remember, he was in the temple—it was Gabriel who was sent from God. That's the same Gabriel who is in Daniel, chapters eight and nine, giving forth prophecy, and now God sends the same angel. He comes into the house of Mary and he said to her in verse 28, look what he said, "Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you."

Now Mary has been chosen by God. Think about this. Of all the women in Israel, all the women, one person was chosen by God. God did not choose her because she was sinless. We'll see next week that is not true. Mary was a sinner, just as we are. God did not choose her because she was more holy than others, though she was a great woman of God we're going to see. It was completely by God's grace, and his favor was upon her, not because of any merit of her own.

Now what does this mean? In every sense, Mary could be called the most favored woman in all of human history, where she had been chosen to bear the Son of God. "The Lord is with you." Not only is he present, but he's also telling her that when she hears this plan, that God is going to be with her throughout everything. The angel is going to be with her.

And verse 29, you can see Mary's response. And look what it says: Mary was very perplexed. Now you can imagine, remember with Zechariah, he was in the temple and he was offering at the altar of incense and all of a sudden the angel appeared to him and he was terrified. You can imagine Mary was startled when this angel came into her house, because she knew nothing about what had happened with Zechariah. She didn't know anything of that. There hadn't been an appearance of an angel in Israel for almost five centuries. So this was shocking. But notice what he says—what Mary did perplex about. More than an angel showing up, he says here in verse 29, she was very perplexed at this statement. So she was even more startled at what he said, and she kept pondering what kind of salutation this was, what kind of message was this he was giving to her. She was perplexed over the statement that she was favored, favored by Almighty God, that Almighty God was with her. She had no idea what this meant. And he says here that she began to think upon this. She began pondering this; she was mulling this over in her mind. What does this mean? What is this angel telling me? And she must have had some manner of anxiety over this or fear, because in verse 30 the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary." And once again, he reiterates this: "You have found favor with Almighty God." God wants you to know his gracious choice of her at this time.

Now why was she so perplexed that he told her that she was favored of God, that she was this favored one? Here's the reason. Because Mary knew in her heart she was a sinner. Mary knew she was unworthy of the grace of God. She couldn't understand how God could favor her. As she was pondering, she said to herself, "How can this be, that Almighty God has sent an angel, and that God would favor me, that God would give me his grace. How could this be?"

And you see, we would do very well to imitate Mary in that sense of humility and think about what the word says. Listen to what the scripture says in Psalm 138, verse 6: "For though the Lord is exalted, yet he regards the lowly. God regards the lowly." Listen to the book of Isaiah, chapter 57, verse 15. What Almighty God says: "For thus says the high and exalted one who lives forever, whose name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit, in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite."

Who are we? Who are you and I, that God would bestow his grace upon us? Who are we that God would choose us? And you see, God forbid that this ever become commonplace to us as believers that God has chosen us. We should never take lightly or forget the fact that God has lavished his mercy upon us, that God has lavished his grace upon us, that we were hell bound and we were recipients of the grace of Almighty God.

Listen, we should be perplexed by that. We should ponder these things, about what God has done for us. I think of the hymn. I'm not sure if it was Charles or John Wesley who penned it, but the words say, "And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood?" And the chorus of that amazing song, "How can it be that God my Lord should die for me?" That he was perplexed, amazed, that God had shown grace.

In Israel, we could survey all the women on the face of the earth, and think it was God's sovereign plan to choose this young peasant girl that day. We see God's choice.

God's Plan of Salvation

So God's plan of salvation, God's plan of redemption from the ages, is unfolding. God is revealing that, and we see first God's choice—the means by which he is accomplishing that plan. But then there is also God's plan. In other words, what his plan is to bring forth the Messiah.

The angel begins to tell her. Look in verse 31. And look what the angel says in verse 31: "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus."

The angel now tells her about the grace that's going to be bestowed upon her. Now think about this. She was shocked at the fact that the angel told her she was favored of God. What do you think went through her mind when that same angel said, "You're going to conceive a son?" She must have been absolutely startled and in shock. And he tells her, he commands her what she is to name that child.

Now we don't get the significance of it from our passage, but when we go back to Matthew, you'll recall when the angel appears to Joseph and he tells Joseph as well, "You will name him Jesus." And the significance of that is because he will save his people from their sins. The Hebrew name Jesus is Yeshua. We have the name Joshua coming to the Old Testament, same name, but the name means "Yahweh saves." So that's the great significance of the name Jesus, that the angel is commanding her to give this child.

And now what the angel is going to do is he is going to basically tell her five realities about who this child is going to be. And he describes this child in verse 32.

First of all, he is going to be great. "Mary, this child you're going to conceive is going to be great." Now John the Baptist, we saw last week, we were told he is great and will be great in the sight of the Almighty God. But the greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ surpasses that of John the Baptist. The greatness of Jesus will have absolutely no limit.

I want to read to you. Listen to this verse in Ephesians, chapter one, verses 20-21. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, you want to talk about greatness? Listen to what Paul says, inspired by the Holy Spirit: "God raised him from the dead and seated him at the right hand in heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but in the age to come. He will put all things in subjection under his feet." That's speaking about the exalted nature of who this child is going to be.

So the first thing he does is he tells Mary, your child is going to be great.

The second reality about this child that he brings up to Mary is this: The child will be called, look at verse 32 again, the Son of the Most High. And this is really an exalted form of the title Son of God. And that phrase "Most High" refers to the majesty and the supreme authority of God. It is a phrase, a title, a glorious title used with God throughout the Old Testament—the Most High God. Not only that, but Luke uses it in Luke 1:31, Luke 1:76, Luke 6:35, Luke 8:28. He uses that phrase "Most High." And what he's saying here is that he is the Son, and the statement has overtones of divinity. Overtones of divinity in that phrase "Son of the Most High." And really what he's speaking about is the theological term called the incarnation. And what incarnate means, it simply means taking human form, taking a physical body. So when we say the Son of God took on human flesh, and that is exactly what he's talking about here when he says, "This child will be called Son of the Most High."

And then the third reality he says is he's going to be a king. Look in verse 32: "And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob, and his kingdom will have no end."

Now way back in the Old Testament, with King David in the book of Second Samuel, chapter seven, God makes a promise to David. God makes a covenant with David. He simply says this, in Second Samuel 7:12.

When your days are complete, you will lie down with your fathers he says, I will raise up your descendant after you who will come forth from you and I will establish as king. He's speaking of the Messiah. 2 Samuel 7:13: since he will build a house for my name, I will establish his throne. We could say, well, is he speaking about Solomon? He goes on to say his kingdom will be forever. So he's talking about this Davidic king, this king who will come in the line of David. And you see, that's why it's very significant that Jesus be in the line, the lineage of David. And we saw a labeling he did with Joseph as his father.

So we see here he will be a king. Not only that, but we see the fourth reality is he is going to reign over the nation of Israel. Look what he says in verse 33. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. Now the house of Jacob we know from Exodus 19:3. House of Jacob was a term that was used to speak of Israel in the Old Testament. We find it in Isaiah chapter 2 also. It's a term referring to Israel. And he's saying here, your child, think about this, is going to reign over the house of Jacob. He is going to be the Lord awaiting Messiah that we have been waiting for.

And then he says, number five, the fifth reality is the king is going to reign forever. Over the house of Jacob forever, well, look what he says, and his kingdom will have no end. And really, this is a reference back to Daniel chapter 7 when Daniel speaks of the Messiah who was to come, the king when he comes on the clouds. In Daniel 7:14, it says to him, Messiah was given dominion, glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and men of every language will serve him. So he's not just gonna rule over the house of Israel. He's gonna rule over the nations, and it says, his dominion is an everlasting dominion, dominion which will not pass away, and this kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. His kingdom will not pass away. And that tells us right there and then this child, the Messiah, is eternal. He's gonna have an everlasting kingdom. Another glimpse of the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ in our text by the fact that his will be everlasting.

By this description Mary would have known. Mary was a very versed young lady in the scriptures. We're gonna see that next week. Mary knew the word of God. So when Mary heard these statements from this angel, there is no doubt she knew exactly what he was saying in terms of who he was saying this child was gonna be. He's telling you your child is going to be the long awaited Messiah. That's intact.

So that's God's plan: she is gonna conceive. God's choice in accomplishing his purpose of redemption. He chose this young girl. God's plan: she is going to conceive the child.

God's Provision

Now we get to God's provision. Look in verse 34. Now Mary is going to respond to the angel. And she says to Gabriel, how can this be since I am a virgin?

Now Mary's response, if you were here last week, sounds somewhat similar to Zechariah's. Doesn't it? When Zechariah questioned the angel, God punished that. You remember? He couldn't speak. Zechariah was saying, how can God bring this about? We're both elderly. This can't be, in essence, was what he was saying. He said, can you give me a sign? How can this be?

Mary is not saying at this point—she's not asking, can God really do this? She knows God can do this. What Mary is asking is, how? How can this be? She says, for I am a virgin. And literally, the Greek says, I know not a man. And that word know is a euphemism speaking of sexual relations. She says, I've never been with a man. How can this look? How are you gonna bring this about? She's not questioning God that he can do this. She's just confused. You can imagine how perplexed her mind would be hearing this for the first time.

And Gabriel's response—think about it, he's speaking to this young girl, thirteen to fifteen years old, a peasant girl from an insignificant unknown village. And in verse 35, this angel Gabriel is going to reveal to her two of the most glorious theological mysteries in all of the scripture: the incarnation we mentioned and the Trinity. He is gonna set them both forth in verse 35. And here is the answer to Mary's question. What the angel says—look what he says. The angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

Mary, this birth, this conception is going to be supernatural. No man will be involved. And the Holy Spirit of God will be involved in this. Think about it, when we go back to the book of Genesis and the creation of the world in Genesis 1:2, we see the Holy Spirit was involved in the creation. And now we see that the Holy Spirit is gonna be involved in this miraculous conception. Jesus Christ will be conceived by the Holy Spirit, by the power of the Most High God. He says the Most High God will overshadow you. It's interesting that same word, overshadow, is used at the transfiguration where the presence of God overshadows them undeniably. We think back in the Old Testament at the cloud of God overshadowing—the presence of Almighty God. Mary, this is what is going to happen. And this is what is going to come upon you.

And there's a very interesting verse in my study that I came across in the book of Hebrews. I just want you to listen. The writer of Hebrews attributes these words to Jesus in Hebrews 10:5. Therefore, when he comes into the world, now that's speaking about Jesus. Therefore, when he comes into the world, he, Jesus, says, sacrifice and offering you have not desired. But listen to this phrase: but a body you have prepared for me. Again, speaking of the incarnation, that God the Son is going to take upon himself human flesh.

And we see in verse 35 of Luke chapter 1 we see the power of the Most High God—we see the Father. Then we see the Spirit of God will be the agent through which this conception will happen. And of course we see the Son of God right in verse 35. We see God, and all three members of the Trinity.

And he's gonna mention two very specific things about this child. He's gonna describe this child who will be born to Mary. Look at the end of verse 35 first. He calls him the holy child. Holy child. And that tells us two things. First of all, this child is going to be separated unto God. That's what holy means—separate, hagios, separated. But it also means this: Jesus Christ, it speaks of the fact that Jesus Christ will be sinless. Because he will be conceived by the Holy Spirit, Jesus will not encounter the endemic nature. Jesus Christ will not be contaminated by sin.

And then he also calls him Son. He says he's gonna be called holy child, and then he shall be called the Son of God. Again, that's basically reiterating what he said in verse 32. He's gonna be called child of the Most High God. Son of God refers to his relationship with the Father. It refers to the fact we said earlier that he is deity. And you see the Father confesses Jesus as his Son. We see that in the gospels. Do you remember at the baptism of Jesus? What did God the Father say to him? This is my beloved Son. Son. At the transfiguration, you remember when God appears in the cloud hovering over them? What does he say to Peter, James, and John on that mountain? He says, this is my beloved Son. So God the Father affirms that divine Son.

And I want you to see this. Turn to the book of Hebrews chapter 1. When we say, what does it mean to be Son of God? Because there are places in the New Testament where believers are called sons of God, but this is the Son of God. Look in Ephesians chapter 1, and I want you to look at verse 3. He is the radiance of his glory. He is the radiance of God the Father's glory. Look at this phrase: and the exact representation of his nature. Speaking of the deity of Jesus.

You can turn back to Luke chapter 1. He's speaking of the deity of Christ. And I do want to point out for you at this point—not to go down the rabbit trail, but just to make a statement. There is an unbiblical doctrine that started by several men in the early centuries of the church, adopted by the church of Rome, and that is the teaching of the perpetual virginity of Mary. And that teaching says that Mary remained a virgin for the rest of her life. Let me tell you why that's not true, why that's completely unbiblical.

First of all, in Matthew chapter 1 verse 25, scripture tells us that Joseph had no relations with her until the child was born. What does until mean? Clearly speaking that they had normal, marital relations. Not only that, we find in the scriptures Jesus had brothers and sisters. Undeniably. So when we hear unbiblical doctrines like this, when we hear this Marian theology that's going about, we have to address that. But I just want to touch on this one issue today. Keep that in mind. She was not the perpetual virgin as someone has tried to believe.

Now the thing about this is the angel is telling Mary all of this. Mary never asked for a sign. She never said, is this gonna be shown? You prove to me this is gonna be. She never asked for a sign. Look what verse 36 says. But she's going to be told of a sign to strengthen her faith, to encourage her, to strengthen her. And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age, and she who has been called barren is now in her sixth month. You see, Mary, you need to not take the barrenness of Elizabeth. She did not know. She knew Elizabeth, her relative, was married. So this is the first Mary is hearing of that, and she must have been filled with joy that Elizabeth is already in her sixth month.

Look at what Gabriel says in verse 37: For nothing will be impossible with God. Nothing will be impossible with God. What a glorious statement. I think in Jeremiah 32:17, Jeremiah says, is there anything too difficult for God? Absolutely not. And Jesus says this very same thing in Mark 10:26 after he had an encounter with the rich young ruler. Jesus would say the same thing. For nothing is impossible with God. God's power is unlimited.

And Mary doesn't understand all that has been revealed to her. You can imagine that she wouldn't grasp all of that. But let me let you in on a little secret. I cannot understand all that God has revealed in his book. The mind of the infinite God—I cannot contain it. Now there are many things in scripture that are very plain that God has set forth that we can grasp and understand, but there are some truths that are just beyond us. Can you explain the Trinity? One God, three persons. Can you explain the incarnation? How God, the second person of the Trinity, could become man. And yet we believe by faith. We accept these truths.

Would you want to serve a God who is no smarter than you? Right? We serve an infinite God. So in humility, we bow. If the scripture says it, we say it is true. And God has the power to accomplish whatever he wants.

God's Servant

And that brings us to this final area by which God will use to bring forth his plan of redemption. And that is God's servant, God's humble servant.

Look at Mary's response in verse 38. Look what she says. And Mary said, behold, the bondslave of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.

Now Mary responds in faith and absolute submission and obedience to Almighty God. And Mary is smart enough to understand what the possible repercussions could be. She knows that Joseph is gonna know this is not his child. He might divorce her as he was planning to do, the scriptures tell us. It could get worse than that because when a woman was found pregnant during the betrothal period, that was considered adultery. She could be stoned. Mary could face stoning. At the very least, Mary knew that she would face public shame and criticism by men. And she didn't even hesitate. Isn't that amazing faith? She didn't weigh consequences: Should I obey God? Should I do what he says and plan for my life? Or will I just weigh how is this gonna work out? Not even a hesitation in this woman. She says, whatever God's will is for me, let it be done. Let it be done unto me. She obeyed God. And whatever came as a result of that obedience, she put it in God's hands. She completely trusted Almighty God. The only issue was: did God say so? And you see there is a model and an example of godliness and faith.

And I believe the devil has hindered us. You say, well, what do you mean by that? Because what he has done is this: on one side he has got such a deception that people have raised Mary up and they're valuing her, they're worshiping her, they're venerating her, which is absolute idolatrous, grievous in the sight of God. But what happened at the Reformation was in counter to that—there was such a view of man that we don't even want to talk about her. We just ignore her. And you see, either way, the devil's laughing.

Because when we look at Mary and when we look at her life, she's a model of a woman of God. She's a model of what it means to be humble and obedient to God. So we need to look at her life. We learn from her life. That God's plan is better, far better than our plans for ourselves. We learn that from Mary. We see in this passage God's promise that the virgin will be with child. Isaiah 7:14 is fulfilled. And even way back to Genesis chapter 3 verse 15. Think about this. When the promise of the Messiah comes, that God was gonna send someone, the word of God describes it as the seed of the woman. Woman doesn't have seed. He's speaking of the virgin birth all the way back. A picture to foreshadow a shadow of the virgin birth way back in Genesis 3:15.

Say, is the virgin birth—do I really need to believe the virgin birth? Is it really not important that we as a church, that we as individuals believe in the virgin birth? It is vitally important. This is not a secondary issue or doctrine that is up for negotiation. This is a vital doctrine of the faith because if Jesus was born of a human father, if Jesus is not sinless, he cannot take away our sins. He can't be our Savior. Without the virgin birth, Jesus is not Savior. I'm telling you about that. That's how vitally important it is. Without the virgin birth, there's no resurrection. There's no gospel. We're standing on sinking sand. And the liberal church has thrown out that doctrine, and you could see why there's a condition they're in. They've abandoned the scriptures. This is vital.

We've seen who this child is. This child is Jesus, Yahweh saves. This child is the Son of the living God. This child is a King who will reign forever and ever. And you see, Mary submitted herself to God's plan.

Brothers and sisters, God is working and playing in your life, in my life. We've got to just build a little piece in God's glorious picture of redemption, where God's the one who chose us.

And you see, like Mary, we have to acknowledge God has every right to direct our lives according to his worth.

The Call to Surrender

I close by just asking you this question: Has it ever been important in your life? You've got a load with the Lord and got down on your knees and said to him, "Lord, I gave you my life. You lose my life for your boy in any way you choose, God. If you say go, I'm gonna try. Wherever you send me, I will go."

Have you ever done that?

May God give you and me the grace this morning to respond to him with these words: "Behold, the bond slave of the Lord, made it unto me according to your word."

Let's pray.

Father, we are so grateful for this woman of God, and we are so much more grateful for your eternal plan for the ages to bring about redemption through his son coming into this world. Lord, we step back and we're astonished at how your plan has played out. And Lord, we thank you for the example of this young, humble girl. And Lord, I pray that like her, we would be prepared, that you would choose sinners like us, that you would favor us. And Lord, like Mary, that we would be in humble submission, bowed to your will and to your word. Be exalted in the remainder of our service this morning, Lord, as we give you the glory. You are most our God. And we lift this prayer in Jesus' name.