Reflections on the Christmas story
Luke 1:26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,
27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
The angel Gabriel visited Mary. 500+ years earlier this same Gabriel visited Daniel to explain a vision given to him of upcoming warfare (in Daniel 8).
Six months ago, the angel Gabriel went and visited Zechariah in the temple, telling him that Elizabeth will have a son and to call him John, meaning Gift of God. Now Gabriel comes to visit Mary.
Later, Joseph will be visited by angels a couple of times in his dreams, to flee Herod’s massacre and to return when the danger was past. We don’t know for sure, but want to bet who those angels were?
Hebrews 13:2 tells us that God is still sending angelic messengers, but they have a human appearance. Angel means messenger. We see in the OT with the prophets and in the NT with the disciples that God has human messengers too. Any time you have personal devotions you have a message to share.
1:28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”
29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was.
30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
A very unusual greeting by a very unusual visitor. Who gives greetings like this? So Mary pondered this. She was highly favored, most blessed among women, because the Lord chose her above all the Jewish women to bear the Messiah child.
Do you know how favored you are? Jesus said that the children of the kingdom are greater than the prophets of old. He said you are of more value than many sparrows. We are God’s own. When we believed Jesus, we were placed in Him and can receive all that we need from Him freely by His grace. God’s children are accepted in the Beloved.
We probably think that Mary must have been a really good person for God to favor her above all other women. Yet we receive from God based on no merits of our own at all. God favors us only because we are Christ’s. We don’t tally up our good and bad points before we decide if it’s OK to go to the Lord for help. In that case, we would be under the law instead of grace. But God operates based on His grace, without taking into account any merit at all. If you have believed in Jesus, God favors you because you are His.
1:31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.
Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua. It means something like “God is Salvation.” Remember that God’s name is different from our names. God’s name is who He is, His identity.
We human beings can be so dense at times. We hear that God is salvation then immediately start puzzling over our spiritual problem, saying, “Who will help me?” God is salvation, and too often the significance doesn’t register. We say, “That means to go to church. That means be good. Help others. Try harder.” And so we look everywhere but to God alone. We look to religion and self-effort, not to the Savior of the world. “Jesus” does not mean, “Try, try again.”
“You shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins,” the angel told Joseph in Matthew’s nativity account. God is salvation. Don’t complicate it. When you heard the gospel message and believed Jesus, then God saved you without you lifting a finger on your behalf. You believed in Jesus enough to respond to the gospel.
It is still this simple. God’s word or other source reveals your sin. You acknowledge it. You pray for God our Deliverer to save you from the sin daily until you are freed.
Case in point. I took martial arts for almost 10 years. I liked it. I heard a sermon where Ezekiel the prophet obeyed God to do hard things. We were asked, “Is there anything we need to give up that would keep us from obeying God?” My kung fu came to mind. I told the Lord that I loved it too much to give it up and I gave Him permission to take it out of my heart. I prayed this over and over for a while to come. After a few months I entered the studio to warm up and practice. But I wandered around in circles asking, “Why am I here? It’s all empty. It’s all pointless.” I walked out and never looked back. God is salvation.
You want more answered prayer in your life? Pray according to His will, His purpose: to deliver you from sin. To make you like His Son. If the Lord tells us to do something and we can’t, that’s because of sin. When freed from sin, we can do God’s will. We are told, “Love your enemy.” Ooops. Tough one. But what if God was our deliverer from sin, not ourselves? He is worth seeking in prayer until the sin is overcome. We have the promise in Hebrews 11:6, “He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” God is salvation. Look to the person of God, not just your outward actions. Don’t make it complicated. Day by day tell Him, “Lord, deliver me from this sin. I don’t want to appear before You at judgment day with this weight around my neck.”
Don’t accept the false peace of those who never change because they don’t see anything that needs to change. They are not convicted of sin and how high and holy is the place God wants to bring His children to.
1:32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.
33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
“Mary, did you know that your baby boy would one day rule the nations?” Yes, the angel said so. The angel gives Mary a full sweep of history from King David to ruling for eternity. Ever since Adam sinned and God gave the promise of a deliverer, the Jews have looked forward to a Messiah. Over and over God raised up leaders in their midst. Unfortunately, along the way they figured that God’s Savior would be a political ruler, ruling only over physical Israel. They lost sight of the original need for a deliverer.
Yet the promise in Genesis 3 is that there will come a Seed who will bruise the head of the spiritual enemy of Israel: the old serpent, the adversary, Satan. This Messiah will indeed literally rule over Israel, but He will first be born to die to save us from our sins.
1:34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”
I like this. Mary wants to understand how and why. She wants to know what is happening under the hood. What makes it work?
We should be asking questions about our faith. “How does faith work? How come my prayers don’t get answered? If Jesus delivered me from sin, why do I still have these problems?” We should do all we can to get answers to the issues we raise. Don’t you want more faith? Don’t you want more answered prayer? One book has the answers. If our smartphones and Google searches are giving all the answers, then we are asking the wrong questions. If we don’t see that sin is the problem, we will search for solutions in the wrong places.
1:35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
This will be an entirely God-directed work. Joseph will have no part in it. Mary will be a passive vehicle. The Holy Spirit will implant the seed. The end result will be stupendous: the Son of God will emerge. Mary’s first child will be by the Spirit, not by Joseph.
All of God’s children are born by the Spirit, aren’t they? We were not born by our wills, strength, or personal merits, but by the Spirit of God. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
As Mary was related to Joseph, so are we the church related to Christ our Bridegroom. The Spirit bears witness to this as we say, “I am His and He is mine.” We have the testimony of the Lamb’s wife, saying, “Come, Lord Jesus.” We long for the coming of the Bridegroom. This is proof we are born of the Spirit.
1:36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren.
37 For with God nothing will be impossible.”
38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
The angel gives her the testimony of Elizabeth. She who was too old to bear is now with child. If you need a faith lift, read the testimonies of those who went before you. Let their stories inspire you. What about your own stories? Who were you before and after through the gospel?
Mary surrenders to the Lord for His will. “Mary, did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters? That when you kiss your little boy you kissed the face of God?” The angel skips the hardships between birth and the cross for this baby boy, and leaves Mary with the destiny of greatness for her offspring.
Have you lost sight of your destiny to be transformed into the image of Christ in this life and rule with Him forever? Have your trials and tribulations distracted you from the work of salvation that comes through faith and prayer? The very things that get us down are to make us look to God for faith to stand strong. That’s the will of God. Pray with expectancy that He will answer. God is salvation. Stop trying to do His work and say with Mary, “Let it be to me according to your word. Use these trials to strengthen and establish me so that I come forth as gold.”
“Mary, did you know, … the sleeping Child you’re holding is the great I AM?” God is salvation. This is who He is. This is what He does.
