The Divine Announcement

Luke 1:26-31

Let’s go to Nazareth, over 2,000 years ago…9 months before the first Christmas.  Let’s look at the birth of Christ from a different perspective…from above…a divine vantage point. Turn to Luke 1 where we find the Angel Gabriel appearing to a virgin girl, Mary.

v. 26       

The Divine Messenger

This angel named Gabriel was “sent from God."  Always Luke focuses on the divine aspect.  The source of the message was God.  This is really the key to the whole story.  Luke is recording the truth about divine intervention.  You see, we live on a visited planet.  This is the only real invasion from another world.  Jesus is the only true extra-terrestrial who ever came to walk among us. 

Here's the beginning of the greatest moment in human history, a moment all generations in Israel and the world have awaited.  Gabriel comes with the most astounding and significant birth announcement ever made.  Amazingly Gabriel comes right from God.  Back in verse 19 it says, "I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God."  That's where Gabriel is usually posted, ready to be dispatched by God Himself to do His bidding. 

The Divine Choice

The angel comes down and goes to one house.  God has chosen one person.

This is a most astonishing thing.  Out of all the purposes and plans of God that could have been, this is the one He chose.  He came down to a virgin.  Over in verse 34 when she was told she was going to have a baby she said, How can this be since I'm a virgin?   She herself confirmed this.  In contrast to Gabriel's first trip earlier in the chapter, when he went to bring God's message of a miracle birth to an old man, this time he comes to bring God's message of a miracle birth to a young girl.

“Virgin” is the word parthenos. It means "one who has had no sexual relation."  That's exactly what it means, one who has had no intimate relation.  This word is never used of a married woman.  According to Roman law, the minimum age for girls to be engaged and married was twelve.  That's right, twelve.  For boys, whom we all know develop slower, it was fourteen.  And 10 was the minimum age for engagement.  Girls were usually engaged around 12 or 13 and married after the engagement or the betrothal was over. And the reason they did that was because they therefore would guarantee their virginity.  As soon as they had reached puberty they would be engaged and then soon married.  In that way they didn't have to live five or ten years trying to restrain their normal adult passions.

So, here was a girl, engaged.  Literally the word engaged is betrothed, it's more than engagement.  It's not the same as our engagement.  Betrothal was a binding, legal relationship and it was arranged by parents.  Parents agreed that their children would marry and it occurred soon after puberty.  And during about a one year period the girl would prove her faithfulness by not giving herself to anyone else.  She would prove her purity.  And during that same year the boy would prepare a home for her, usually with an addition to his father's house.

At the end of that year there would be a wedding feast that usually lasted seven days when everybody came together and celebrated for seven days, the kind of thing that Jesus attended in John 2. 

Mary was betrothed.  Joseph had paid a dowry to her father. The actual wedding was still in the future.  Now when you get named Joseph, you've got a little pressure.  Joseph means "may he have many sons."  She was engaged to Joseph.  Very importantly, he was of the descendants of David.  He had Davidic DNA.  He was in the royal line.  His blood line had come right through David. 

Joseph's genealogy is given in Matthew 1 to prove that he came from David. Matthew opens his gospel with these words, "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David."  Well, if Jesus was a Son of David bearing the line of David then His dad had to be as well.  And even though Joseph was not His father by blood, he was of the line of David and passed that on to Jesus because Jesus was his son by adoption, which was legally binding.  So Jesus was born by royalty. 

The virgin's name was Mary.  This is interesting. That’s the Greek word for Miriam. The Hebrew is Miriam, the Greek is Mary. And she was named well. I don't think her parents had any idea how well. Mary means "exalted one." 

But nothing describes her as noteworthy.  The end of v. 27 says “The virgin's name was Mary”, followed by a period.  Isn't that interesting?  I'm always struck by what the Bible doesn't say.  It doesn't say anything about her at all, absolutely nothing.  It doesn't say she was a devout believer.  I mean, even Zacharias and Elizabeth got a verse of commendation.  Mary, she got nothing. 

Now, it's likely that she also was from David's line, that if she traced her ancestry it would get back to David.  Why do I say that?  Because there's a genealogy in Luke 3, we'll get to it later.  But if you match the genealogy in Luke 3 with the genealogy in Matthew 1, they're different.  We know the genealogy in Matthew 1 is Joseph. Therefore the genealogy in Luke 3 must be Mary.  Even though she's not named in that genealogy because only the men are named, that would be the line that led to Mary so that Jesus would have royal right passed down to Him by His legal father, Joseph, He would have royal blood passed down to Him through His mother Mary.  In every sense then He was royalty.

Joseph was David's descendant, and Mary was David's descendant.  Both of them contributed to Jesus' royal heritage.  Mary gave it to Him through blood by birth.  Joseph gave it through adoption.

So, the divine messenger comes to this girl of divine choice. 

The Divine Blessing

Here comes the message from God. 

v. 28        Obviously she was in the house doing what a 12- or 13-year-old girl would do, domestic duties, probably dominated by preparing food.  She may have been in the house preparing food at the time.  Apparently no one was there with her.  And the angel Gabriel entered the house. I like this, he said to her, "Hello." That's what "hail" means.  I mean, if the angel Gabriel out of the presence of God showed up in your house and just said, "Hello," it would seem like somewhat of an understatement, wouldn't it?  Where is the fanfare?  I love the simplicity of this.  "Hello."  And I think maybe the simplicity of that introduction was designed to prevent panic. 

Mary knew this wasn't a human being.  He's not like any human being she ever saw.  This young girl who wouldn't have had adult experiences to galvanize her, who...in the tenderness of her youth could be frightened by perhaps lots of things, hears from this supernatural being whom she can see and who speaks in an audible voice.

The statement, "Hail, highly favored," the Catholics translate, "Hail, Mary, full of grace."  Let me tell you, the misunderstanding of the meaning of this verse by the Roman Catholic Church has spawned an incredibly blasphemous system.  The whole system of Mariolatry comes back to this, the whole thing.  "Hail, Mary, full of grace?"  Here is the seriously erroneous notion that Mary, full of grace, has grace to dispense to others.  That's what Roman Catholic theology teaches.  It teaches that Mary is full of grace which she bestows on others.  She is a source of grace.  And it's the dominating theme of Catholic theology.

That's not what the angel said.  Mary was not the source of grace; Mary was the recipient of grace.  You see, there wasn't anything worthy about her.  It doesn't say, "And the virgin's name was Mary, and Mary was righteous and godly and loved God with all her heart, soul, mind and strength, and served the Lord with fear," and on and on.  It doesn't say that.  It just says, "Mary, you've been chosen." 

Mary can't hear the prayers of anybody.  Neither can any other glorified saint.  And Mary has no grace to give.  She is not the giver of grace; she is the receiver of grace.

It had to be that way.  You know why?  Because Mary was unworthy.  The Lord gives people grace.  And people who receive grace can be classified under one term: they're all sinners.  If they weren't sinners they wouldn't need grace.

"Blessed art thou among women."  She was blessed.  She wasn't the blesser.  You don't say, "Oh Mary, forgive my sin, O Mary, bless me, Mary, do this for me, Mary, plead for me before Jesus."  Mary can't do that.  Mary doesn't hear anybody's prayer, and never has.  Ever since Mary's been in the presence of God, she has known only the glories of His presence.  She doesn't know anything about you or anybody else. Neither does any saint.  The only one who hears prayers is God.  You can't give saving grace to anybody, can you?  And Mary's like you.  I can't give anyone saving grace. Only God gives grace.

And that's what shook her to the core, verse 29…

Why would she be so perplexed by that?  Because she knew she was a sinner. It might have been earlier in that day when she had an unholy, impure thought about Joseph who was to be her husband.  It might have been earlier in that same day that she had spoken an unkind word to someone.  It might have been earlier in the same day when she had failed to acknowledge the Lord for some blessing.  She knew her sin.  She knew who she was just like you know who you are.  Mary is one of us.  That's why in chapter 1 verse 47 when she praises God, she says, "God, my Savior."  She knew she needed a Savior.  She knew what all righteous people knew.

And I think this is the only little indication we have that she was a righteous lady, that she really knew God, that she was a true believer.  She was struck with the fact that she didn't deserve anything from God.  It's that kind of humility that demonstrates true righteousness.  All genuinely saved people are distressed when they come before God because they know they're sinners.  "What would God ever have in mind in choosing to favor me with grace?"  She might have been less surprised if the angel had showed up and said, "Mary, God's going to judge you.  He knows your sin and He hears what you say and He reads your mind and you're going to be judged."  But to be told you're going to be the recipient of His grace while you know you're just a humble, sinful, lowly girl engaged to a common carpenter with all the struggles of the heart of a young person?  How is it that she could be the object of anything but God's judgment?  How could she be singled out for special privileges?

Mary would be appalled if she knew what the Roman Catholic Church has said about her, she would be appalled.  She would be embarrassed beyond words. 

Later on this young teen girl praised God in verses 46-49.

So the divine messenger, Gabriel, comes to the divine choice, Mary, with a divine blessing, grace, announcing the fourth point, the divine child. 

The Divine Child

vv. 31-33         Here we have a summary of the entire work of Jesus Christ.  You have His saving work in the name Jesus.  It means Jehovah saves or, the Lord is salvation.  He died in our place on the cross so we could live.

You have His perfect righteous life in the term "great," living the perfect life we cannot. 

You have His deity in the title "Son of the Most High." 

And you have His resurrection, His ascension and His glorious return all bound up in the promise that the Lord would give Him the throne of His father David.

I remember as a little kid growing up in New Mexico … I used to wonder why the Roman Catholics couldn't get Jesus off the cross.  I used to think they probably didn't understand the resurrection because He was always on the cross.  I didn't go to Catholic churches but occasionally when I saw one there was always a crucifix or more than one, and whenever I met a devout Catholic they would have a crucifix around their neck, or I had a friend who had a set of those beads, there would be at the end of the beads a crucifix and I used to wonder why they couldn't get Him off the cross because every cross I ever saw in churches like mine was empty.

And I guess we could say that in our circles, we believe in the empty tomb, and so we've done a pretty good job at getting Him off the cross.  But, you know, we haven't done a very good job of getting Him to the throne.  The story doesn't end with the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, and then our personal salvation; that's not the end of the story.  The end of the story is the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end.  That's the end of the story.  The happy ending has us bowing before Him, our ruler, as we worship before His throne.