Behold The Lamb Prepared

Behold the Lamb Prepared

Luke 1:26-38

Introduction

Last week we looked back at the beginning of time, and saw how man violated a sacred trust and fell into sin. At that time, God promised man that there would come one who would balance the scales, defeat evil and deliver humanity. For thousands of years men waited. And while men waited, God worked.

God worked by choosing a man named Abram from Ur of the Chaldeans. Through this man God raised up a nation known as Israel. God worked through this nation to establish His Law and His worship in the earth. Yet, the people of Israel were constantly turning away fro the Lord who had called them and bought them. But, he was patient with them, and He continued to work. He worked in spite of their tendency to follow false gods. He worked in spite of them turning a deaf ear to His Word and to the preachers and prophets he sent to lead them. He worked in spite of the fact that they really did not seem to care about Him at all.

God worked because He was completing a plan that begun before the world was ever made. He worked because He was determined to send a Redeemed to this world to save the lost. He worked because He was motivated by a heart of love to see His people saved. So, He worked in spite of everything they did and in working, His love for them overcame every obstacle they placed in His path.

God kept on because He had promised to send a Lamb into the world to die for sin. Today, I want to talk about that part of God’s work that brought His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into this world. Of all the obstacles God faced in completing His plan to save lost sinners, the most challenging, for a human perspective was getting His Lamb into this world. We have seen how God promised a Lamb; today, I want to you to see how that Lamb was prepared. I want to preach on this thought: Behold the Lamb Prepared. I want to take these verses and show you how God accomplished the impossible through the birth of His Son.

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I. The Place Reserved for this Preparation (vv. 26-28)

a. It was a Pure Place

• We are told that the angel came to “a virgin.”

o The word sued refers to a female that is sexually pure.

o In fact, the virginity of Mary is affirmed twice in verse 27.

o Contrary to what liberals and others may say, the word does not simply speak of a “young woman,” but it speaks of one who has never engaged in sexual intercourse.

o The vessel God chose to use to bring His Son into this world was a perfectly pure vessel.

• Some might wonder why this is important.

o It is important because God promised that the Savior of humanity would be “the seed of the woman,” Genesis 3:15.

o This simply means that God would send the Savior into the world through the body of a woman without the aid of a human male.

o Why? Because all humans are sinners and the sinfulness is passed on through the seed of the man.

o When Adam sinned in the garden, he became a sinner.

o And, just as he passed on his human nature to his offspring, Adam also passed along his sinful nature to his children.

o They inherited his sin and they too passed it on down the line.

• God’s plan to send a Savior into the world involved Him sending a pure Savior.

o Who would not inherit the sinful nature of humanity, but One who would inherit a physical body and a human nature.

o God accomplished this through the virgin birth of Jesus.

• By sending Jesus into this world through the womb of a virgin, God was able to give His Son a human body and a human nature, without His inheriting a fallen nature as well.

o This enabled Jesus to be born without sin; live without sin and die without sin.

o He was able to give His live as a pure, perfect sacrifice for fallen man.

o He was able to satisfy God forever through the offering of His Own body on the cross.

• I certainly do not understand all the mechanics of how God sent His Son into the world through the womb of a virgin, but I do know that the virgin birth of Jesus is a foundational doctrine of the Christian faith.

o Without a virgin birth, we have no foundation upon which to build the house of our faith!

o To deny the virgin birth of Jesus is to deny Christ.