Peace In The Midst Of Chaos Series

“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.” [1]

Astonishment! Bewilderment! Confusion! These are the reactions that are recorded when an angel appeared to a teenage girl to announce that she would soon be pregnant. And the pregnancy the young girl would experience wouldn’t be just another disappointing situation arising out of promiscuity as we might imagine in this day. This young girl would be divinely inseminated as the very God of heaven and earth had chosen that she was to be the vessel who would bear God’s Son into this life. The announcement scene presented in the Word can only be described as emotionally chaotic for the young girl, a child perhaps as young as twelve or thirteen years of age.

The situation must surely have qualified as confusing for this young girl. While she was betrothed—engaged would be the modern equivalent—she was chaste; it would have been outrageous to suggest that she had slept with the young man to whom she was to be wed. To have been so gauche as to suggest that she had slept with another man would expose her to swift execution by the extreme punishment of death by stoning.

Recall how confused Joseph, her intended husband was, according to Matthew. We are told, “The birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and they shall call his name Immanuel’

(which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus’” [MATTHEW 1:18-25].

Perhaps Mary had told Joseph of what the angel had said to her, or perhaps he was an observant individual who could see what was happening. However it came to be, he knew that Mary was expecting a child—and he was certain that the child wasn’t his! Joseph knew the consequences that had to attend illicit sexual activity, and the evidence said that Mary was sexually immoral. The evidence would become increasingly apparent with each passing day. The sentence for her infidelity was unquestionably death; but the young carpenter wasn’t malicious or malevolent; he had no desire to see her killed because of what he thought was unrestrained passions the young woman may have had. He was determined to reject her, leaving her to her own consequences, and he would have done so had it not been for the angel of the Lord intervening. I don’t know about you, but I’m reasonably certain that the appearance of an angel would grab my attention! And I would pay careful attention to whatever message that angel delivered to me.