THE GREAT ANNOUNCEMENT

 

A woman takes her 16-year-old daughter to the doctor. The doctor says, "Okay, Mrs. Jones, what's the problem?"  The mother says, "It's my daughter, Debbie. She keeps getting these cravings, she's putting on weight, and is sick most mornings." The doctor gives Debbie a good examination, then turns to the mother and says, "Well, I don't know how to tell you this, but your Debbie is pregnant - about 4 months, would be my guess." The mother says, "Pregnant?! She can't be, she has never ever been left alone with a man! Have you, Debbie?"   Debbie says, "No mother! I've never even kissed a man!"  The doctor walked over to the window and just stares out it. About five minutes pass and finally the mother says,  "Is there something wrong out there doctor?" The doctor replies, "No, not really, it's just that the last time anything like this happened, a star appeared in the east and three wise men came over the hill. You can be sure I'm noy going to miss it this time!"

The Birth of Jesus Foretold

26 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[b] 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.

 

Lessons we can learn from this passage about two people involved.

Mary:

-  She was a virgin pledged in marriage to a descendent of David who name was Joseph.  We learn in Matthew that she herself was also a ancestor of David. 

- She was highly favored and the Lord was with her.  God was looking for the perfect vessel and Mary was that. 

- She was afraid and troubled over this visit.  Now this of course is a typical reaction because angelic visits are not common especially Gabriel. 

- God's favor was upon her and she would give birth to a son and she was to name him Jesus.  The name Jesus is a modern English word for Yeshua or the one is rescues or delivers. 

Now lets us talk about Jesus for just a moment about the five things  this passage says about Him

1.  He will be great.  There is no other person like Jesus.  He changed everything.  I love this poem by Dr. James Allen it explains beautifully Jesus' life

He was born in an obscure village

The child of a peasant woman

He grew up in another obscure village

Where he worked in a carpenter shop

Until he was thirty

He never wrote a book

He never held an office

He never went to college

He never visited a big city

He never travelled more than two hundred miles

From the place where he was born

He did none of the things

Usually associated with greatness

He had no credentials but himself

He was only thirty three

His friends ran away

One of them denied him

He was turned over to his enemies

And went through the mockery of a trial

He was nailed to a cross between two thieves

While dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing

The only property he had on earth

When he was dead

He was laid in a borrowed grave

Through the pity of a friend

Nineteen centuries have come and gone

And today Jesus is the central figure of the human race

And the leader of mankind's progress

All the armies that have ever marched

All the navies that have ever sailed

All the parliaments that have ever sat

All the kings that ever reigned put together

Have not affected the life of mankind on earth

As powerfully as that one solitary life 

2.  The Son of the Most High God.  God is called the Most High God throughout the Bible. The Hebrew word ‘Elyon is translated as Most High, and ’El ‘elyon and ’Elohim ‘elyon are Most High God. Son of the Most High God is a natural alternative name of Jesus (Yeshua‘), the Son of God.  Basically Gabriel is saying that Jesus is God.  God with a face.  The perfect union of man and God.  The perfect balance of the divine and natural.  100% man and 100% God.  His deity is known right from the beginning.

3.  The Lord will give Him the throne of David.  "The LORD has sworn to David, A truth from which He will not turn back; 'Of the fruit of your body I will set upon your throne." (Psalm 132:11)

God's promise to David was about to be fulfilled.  This is the fullness of time.  Mankind is about to receive their deliverer and the Jews their Messiah.  Jesus will rule forever.  He rules in our hearts now but one day will rule the whole earth.   That day is coming church and one day we will reign and rule with Him

4.  He will reign over the descendents of Jacob forever.  Jesus will reign over Israel.  That means both now in the future Jews will acknowledge Him as Messiah and Lord. 

5. His Kingdom will never end.  Right now his kingdom is in our hearts characterized by righteousness, peace and joy but one day.  It will be an earthly and eternal kingdom with holiness, righteousness, truth, love, peace, grace and joy.  The choas of this present age will be replaced by pure, love, joy and grace. I am looking forward to that day.

She then says how can this be I am a virgin.  So why is the virgin birth so important.  Here are five reasons

1. Jesus Had A Heavenly Origin.  The most important reason to hold the belief in the Virgin Birth concerns Jesus' identity as God the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God (John 1:1).  Thus the Virgin Birth is crucial to Jesus being the Son of God.

2. Jesus Had A Sinless Nature.  A second reason why the Virgin Birth is important concerns the sinless character of Christ. If Jesus had a human father, then He would have inherited a sinful nature as the rest of us have. The Bible says.  Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, . . . thus death spread to all, because all sinned (Romans 5:12).  Who [Jesus] committed no sin, nor was guile found in his mouth (1 Peter 2:22).  And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him there is no sin (1 John 3:5).  If Jesus were the son of Joseph, then His sinless character would only be a myth.

3. Jesus Was The Perfect Sacrifice .  A third reason why the Virgin Birth is crucial to the Christian faith concerns our salvation. Without the sinlessness of Christ there would be no salvation. Christ came, according to the Apostle Paul, to save those who were under the law.  But when the fulness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons (Galatians 4:4,5).   He came into the world by supernatural means and lived a sinless life, He could be that sacrifice for our sins without spot and without blemish. The Bible makes this clear:  For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21).

4. It Shows The Uniqueness Of Christ

What the virgin birth does is show the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. No one else has ever come into the world the same way as Jesus. The unique and miraculous nature of Jesus carried on through His entire life. His birth was a miracle, His public ministry consisted of miracles, Jesus miraculously lived a sinless life, He miraculously came back from the dead, and left this world in a miraculous way. From His entrance into this world until His departure, the life of Jesus Christ was a miracle.

5. The Bible Says So.  The fifth reason to believe in the Virgin Birth is because the Bible says so. If Jesus were not actually born of a virgin then the Bible is wrong. If it is wrong concerning the Virgin Birth, then it is possible that it may be in error about other matters.The doctrine of the Virgin Birth and the credibility of Christianity go hand-in-hand.

I love this thought.  It’s clear Jesus’ birth was the result of the Holy Spirit working within Mary’s body. The immaterial (the Spirit) and the material (Mary’s womb) were both involved. Mary of course could not impregnate herself, and was simply a vessel. Only God could perform the miracle of the Incarnation. We should also note that the virgin birth displays the tri-unity of God. The Spirit gives conception to Mary, carrying out the Father’s plan of the virgin birth of the Son.  he virgin birth circumvented the transmission of the sin nature and allowed the eternal God to become a perfect man. He never sinned, which qualified Him to be a righteous substitutionary sacrifice for sinners.

Jesus is also known as the Holy One and the Son of God here. 

Mary again asks how is going to happen?  I love this next statement.  For with God nothing is impossible.  Hey church with God nothing is impossible.  Whatever you face or need nothing is impossible.  Say it to the person next to you. 

He then gives her confirmation that Elizabeth her cousin is pregnant for six months.  Then I love this last statement, "I am the Lord's servant.  Her life would be changed forever and so would all mankind's.  The ridicule, shame, misunderstanding etc.  She said, I am the Lord's servant.  That must be our cry as well.  whatever you want Lord, here I am.  As we get ready for communion let us remember Mary's word and make it our cry.  Use me Lord.