2019.12.27 Hopewell @Home ▫ Luke 1:26-38

Read Luke 1:26-38

Questions from the Scripture text: What month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy was it in Luke 1:26? Whom does God send where? To whom (Luke 1:27)? How does Gabriel greet Mary in Luke 1:28? And how does she feel about this in Luke 1:29? How, then, does the angel respond to this (Luke 1:30)? What does the angel say that Mary will do (Luke 1:31)? What should she call her Son? What four things does Gabriel say about Jesus in Luke 1:32-33? Why doesn’t Mary think this is possible (Luke 1:34)? What does the angel say is the way in which she will conceive (Luke 1:35)? What will her Baby be called? What does the angel tell her about Elizabeth in Luke 1:36? What conclusion does he state in Luke 1:37? How does Mary respond in Luke 1:38?

There’s an irony in this passage—the main point of Gabriel’s message is that the 2 Samuel 7 promise of a forever-king from the house of David (Luke 1:27, Luke 1:32-33) is coming true. But this is a problem for Mary. How can this promised “son” have David for his “father”—if there is no man on earth who could possibly have fathered a son with her?

It’s at this point that Gabriel tells her that there will be no earthly father at all. It will be the Holy Spirit who comes by the power of the Highest (Luke 1:35). This explains why He will be the Son of the Highest (Luke 1:32), and now He is more plainly called “the Son of God” in verse 35. The angel adds the news about Elizabeth as if to say, “for all practical purposes, that baby came from no mother, since she’s in her old age—God is not limited by what we happen to be missing.” “For with God nothing will be impossible” (Luke 1:37).

It’s important to see that Mary recognizes this. Yes, she is a “highly favored one” and “blessed among women,” as the angel said in Luke 1:28. But, she doesn’t see herself as anything special in herself. She says, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord!” Her specialness is only because God has chosen to make her a display of His power to save. And this is true of each one who is saved by Him! Jesus needed to have no earthly father, because each of us who do have completely lost any worthiness of our own, and deserve only to be spectacularly punished forever for our sin. The “glory” of Mary comes in the same way that true glory will come to every believer—only by the grace of God.

Why aren’t you a good candidate to be “savable”? How can you be saved anyway?

Suggested songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH425 “How Sweet and Awesome Is the Place”