MARY’S BIG NEWS
Text: Luke 1:26 – 38
Luke 1:26-38 In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, (27) to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. (28) The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." (29) Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. (30) But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. (31) You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. (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, (33) and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever; his kingdom will never end." (34) "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" (35) The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come on 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. (36) Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. (37) For no word from God will ever fail." (38) "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May your word to me be fulfilled." Then the angel left her.
Years ago, when I was in seminary, I had a huge disagreement with one of my classmates who questioned whether or not Jesus was really born by the supernatural means of a virgin birth. I thought to myself if this guy is going to question the virgin birth, then how can he walk by faith? If God created the world out of nothing, and He did, (which is called in academic circles "creation ex-nihilo"), then certainly all things are possible with God (Luke 1:37)!
We know that God obviously chose the Mary, who was a virgin to be the mother of His only begotten Son (see John 3:16 KJV cf. John 1:14), the Lord Jesus Christ. What about Mary’s genealogy? The Bible tells us that there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen more from David to the exile of Babylon and fourteen from the exile to Christ (Matthew 1:17). Joseph’s ties to this genealogy are mentioned in Matthew 1:16. What about Mary’s genealogy?
There are two uncanonized books that record that Mary’s parents were Joachim and Anna (Mary and the Protenvangelion). (See The Lost Books of the Bible. New York, New York: Bell Publishing Company, 1979 pp. 17 - 27). Much like Sarah and Abraham, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachel, Elkanah and Hannah, the Shunammite woman and her husband, Joachim and Anna were a childless couple who were later blessed by the Lord and given a child. Mary was chosen by God even before her birth for the special assignment that God had in store for her (Mary 2:12).
An angel of the Lord appeared to Joachim and told him that he and his barren wife Anna would soon have a child and that they were to name her Mary (Mary 2:9 [from the Lost Book of the Bible. p. 19]). Today we will explore God’s plan for Mary, God’s plan for us and God’s plan for the lost.
GOD’S PLAN FOR MARY
One question that may come to mind is why was Anna barren?
1) Punishment: Was Anna barren because she was being punished? Isn’t that sometimes the first conclusion that people draw? That’s what Job’s friends did when they insinuated that all the tragedy Job experienced in losing his family, his servants and his, livestock?
2) God’s gift: Joachim obviously experienced shame and reproach: “For He [God] hath surely seen your shame, and hear your unjustly reproach for not having children: for God is the avenger of sin, and not of nature. And so when He shuts the womb of any person, he does it for this reason, that he may in a more wonderful manner again open it, and that which is born appear to be not the product of lust, but the gift of God” (Mary 2:4 - 5).
3) The meaning of her name: The meaning is not known for certain, but there are several theories including "sea of bitterness", "rebelliousness", and "wished for child". However it was most likely originally an Egyptian name, perhaps derived in part from mry "beloved" or mr "love".https://www.behindthename.com/name/mary
Can you imagine how excited that Anna was when she found out that she was going to have a daughter?
1) Feeling ambiguous?: Do you think that Anna must have felt ambiguous because of what God had chosen for Mary even before she was born? God gave Anna this daughter---Mary that she “vowed would be devoted to the Lord from her infancy, and be filled with the Holy Ghost from her mother’s womb” (Mary 2:10). This vow was fulfilled when Mary was three years old as she was “brought to the temple of the Lord with offerings” (Mary 4:1). They did this in accordance with the custom of the law (Mary 4:8 see Psalm 76:11).
2) Background and upbringing: Mary would grow up to live in the temple at the age of three and not depart from it until she arrived at the “years of discretion” (age fourteen? Mary 5:3). >>>>> In all that time Mary would be “serving the Lord with prayer and fasting, abstaining from every unclean thing, and never know any man” (Mary 3:4). >>>>> Mary's virginity was a vow to the Lord that she was never to break (Mary 5:6). >>>>> It was because of her convent-like seclusion from the “world and unclean things” that the “wicked would never be able to lay any charge of worthy reproof” (Mary 5:3).
3) Unique: More than likely, we are all familiar with the angel Gabriel’s visit and announcement to Mary who told her that she was highly favored and blessed among women. Gabriel told her that she would soon conceive and carry the Son of the Highest and that when He was born that she was to give Him the Name Jesus. Naturally, she wondered how this could happen since she was a virgin to which Gabriel responded by saying that it would be possible because the Holy Spirit would overshadow her and make it happen (Luke 1:26 – 37 paraphrased). God’s plans for Mary changed the world for us!
Remember Joseph’s uncertainty about Mary’s pregnancy?
Last week, we mentioned Joseph’s uncertainty about this pregnancy in last week’s sermon. At first, Joseph had his doubts. But, the Lord communicated to Joseph, in his dream, that this pregnancy was unique because what is conceived in Mary is from the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:20 - 21). All that was happening is a confirmation of a Prophecy in Isaiah 7:14, “that a virgin will give birth to a child would be called “Immanuel” which means “ God with us (Isaiah 7:14). Joseph was told that this child that Mary would deliver is to be named “Jesus” because He will save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).
What about anyone else’s questions about Mary’s pregnancy?
From what we already know, as we mentioned earlier Mary had been excluded from any possibility of the “world and unclean things” that the “wicked would never be able to lay any charge of worthy reproof” (Mary 5:3). She lived in the temple from the time she was three until she was fourteen when she became betrothed to Joseph.
GOD’S PLAN FOR US
What do you think God’s plan for us is in all of this?
1 Corinthians 15:22 reminds us of the problem and also God’s solution: “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (ESV).
God's plan is our salvation! Our Savior's Name, “Jesus” tells us that He came to save us from our sins (Matthew 1:21)! God is not willing that anyone should perish which is why He sent Jesus to save us from our sins as the sacrificial lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29)! God gives us salvation through Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth and the life because no one can come to God the Father except through Jesus Christ (John 14:6)!
Doesn’t God call us to go and make disciples?
John 3:16 reminds us that Jesus came to save the world! Matthew 28:19 reminds us that we are called to make disciples in His Name! That brings us to God’s plan for the lost!
GOD’S PLAN FOR THE LOST
What is God’s plan for the lost?
God’s plan for the lost is to let them know that while they were still sinners, God’s only begotten Son died on the cross to take away their sin (Romans 5:8 and John 1:29)!
Why?
The reason why is because God is not willing that anyone should perish: 2 Peter 3:9 says, “This means that, contrary to man’s perspective, the Lord is not late with his promise to return, as some measure lateness. But rather, his “delay” simply reveals his loving patience toward you, because he does not want any to perish but all to come to repentance” (TPT).
The world was not ready when Jesus came in what we call the first Advent! We are living in what many call the between times because Jesus said one day He will be coming back. Jesus came the first time to save the world! The next time Jesus comes---the second Advent, he will be coming to judge the world! If we are saved, we are in the lamb’s book of life! If we are not saved, then we are not washed by the blood of the lamb and still have sin as our master! If we do not choose Jesus, then we are gambling with a bet that will be lost because we cannot be saved without Jesus. God did not create us to go to hell! God prepared hell and its eternal fire for the devil and his fellow fallen angels (Matthew 25:41). If you know Jesus, then you are born of the flesh the first time and born of God’s Spirit in our second birth! If we do not choose Jesus, then we choose to be born once and die twice in the second death in a place that God prepared for the devil and his fellow fallen angles. Revelation 20:14-15 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. (15) And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire (KJV). Contrast Revelation 20:14- 15 with John 3:16. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”. If we don’t accept the Savior of Mary’s big news, then its bad news for those who die without Jesus!
