I Am The Lord's Servant

Title: I am the Lord’s Servant

Text: Luke 1:26-38

Lk 1:26 In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,

Lk 1:27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.

Lk 1:28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

Lk 1:29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.

Lk 1:30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.

Lk 1:31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.

Lk 1:32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,

Lk 1:33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Lk 1:34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

Lk 1:35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.

Lk 1:36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month.

Lk 1:37 For nothing is impossible with God.”

Lk 1:38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her

Introduction

After 400 hundred years of prophetic silence, God started speaking again. First the angel Gabriel was sent to Zacharias the High Priest proclaiming the birth of John the Baptist. Six months later, Gabriel was sent to Nazareth an insignificant town in Israel to deliver a message to a young Jewish girl by the name of Mary.

The bible says that Mary was betrothed to Joseph. The Jewish marriage consists of two stages. Weddings during this time in history were very different than weddings today. Weddings consisted of two parts, the betrothal; engagement and the marriage ceremony. This may seem like our marriage, however it is quite different.

The betrothal was a form of engagement agreed to by a parent or brother sealed with a marriage contract and payment, known as a bride price or deposit. Betrothal was final and could be broken only by infidelity of the bride or groom. It was a time of probation and testing of fidelity.

The betrothal was considered marriage without consummation and living together. Social contact was limited and the marriage ceremony did not take place for up to a year or more.

The marriage ceremony was a public display of what had already taken place in the betrothal process where a family and friend celebration took place. Following the ceremony the bridegroom could then take his bride home for the first time.

Having been recently engaged to Joseph, Mary must have spent hours dreaming about life ahead of her. She had been thankful to God for giving her a husband like Joseph, a man with good reputation, a hardworking carpenter and most importantly a man who loves God. Often she wonders about God’s plan for her and the new family that is going to be formed. She often wondered how many children God would grant Josepha and her.

God was about to unfold His plans to Mary and the Angel Gabriel was sent to Nazareth to look for Mary.

1. God’s plan unfolded

Gabriel appeared before Mary and greeted her.

“Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

He went on and declared to Mary that she will be giving birth to the Messiah spoken by the prophets in the Old Testament.

God chose this moment of history to fulfill the Old Testament prophecy regarding the coming of the Messiah through a virgin. Seven hundred years before Mary conceived Christ, the prophet Isaiah, prophesied that “A virgin shall be with child and bear a son; she shall call his name Immanuel.”

Isn’t it amazing to know that seven hundred years before Mary was brought into this world, God has already chosen her with a divine purpose. She was to be the human vessel to give birth to the savior of the world. In His perfect timing, God stepped into human history and unfolded his plans before Mary.

It is certainly comforting to have the assurance in our hearts, that we are created for his divine purpose. In His timing He will unfold his plans to us. As I ponder in regards to this point, I realized that God is a very detail architect.