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So, an angel appears at the side of the altar for burning incense and promises that he would have a great son in the presence of God and that his name should be called John
Let’s read from verse 18 as we are gonna cover some ground today:
Luke 1.18-34
April 21st 2019
Meat
18And Zacharias said unto the angel, How will I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.
19And the angel answered him, I am Gabriel, that stands in the presence of YHWH; I am sent to speak to you, and to declare this good news.
20And, behold, you will be silent and not able to speak until the day that these things are accomplished, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time.
21And the people waited for Zacharias, and wondered why he took so long in the temple.
22And when he came out, he could not speak to them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple: for he made signs to them and remained speechless.
23And when his time of service was completed, he departed to his own house. 24And after these days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and for five months she hid herself, saying,
25The Lord has done unto me in the days when he looked on me to remove my reproach among men.
26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
Alright, back to verse 18
18 And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.
Now, it is interesting – Abraham, in his old age was told that he and sarah would have descendants that number as the stars in the sky – and he believed the Lord and it was counted for righteousness.
In the verses we read last week we were told that Elizabeth and Zachariah were “blameless in the keeping the law, and justified before because of it,” but here we see that in terms of faith old Zach was not so stellar – not like Abraham at least.
Most believe that what Zacharias was really saying was, “I don’t believe this entirely” because of his and Elizabeth’s age.
Verse 19
19 And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings.
So, the angel introduces himself as Gabriel, which means, “champion of God.”
And we note that the angel has a proper noun name! So he has an identity, is a being with faculties similar to humans.
We also know that Gabriel was sent to Daniel (8:16) to explain the vision of the ram and the he-goat, and to communicate the prediction of the seventy weeks (Daniel 9:21-27) so this angel has had a lot to do with the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth.
Here we see him announcing the birth of John the Baptist and then at verse 26 that of the birth of the Messiah himself.
And what does he say about himself? He says, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God.”
According to Matthew 18:10 AND 1ST Kings 8:10 the privilege to stand in the presence of YHWH is the highest honor for angels. And according to the insights of Revelation 21:3, the honor is also possible for some human beings by and through allegiant faith in YHWH’s Son.
Hebrews 1:7 and 14 tells us that angels are “ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those who are heirs of salvation” and we see this occurring in the lives of both John the Baptists parents, Jesus parents, and in the life of Jesus himself.
So, after introducing himself, Gabriel says:
20 And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.
Interestingly, angels in scripture (like Ezekiel 3:26 and 24:27) have the capacity to silence human beings and to make donkeys talk.
In Zacharias case it was both a sign and a judgment– a sign that he had come from God that the thing the angel said would be fulfilled and a judgment for not giving credit to what he had promised.
If we think about it, it’s GOD SPEAKING . . . and yet human beings for some reason have the audacity to question what he says.
It can be difficult in religious settings to know whether it is God speaking or man but when an angel who identifies himself as Gabriel speaks, and says that he has access to the throne of God, it’s pretty sure that the words spoken have the tacit approval of the Almighty – who does not lie and makes his word come to life. Verse 21:
21 And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he tarried so long in the temple.
Based on the cycles of service established anciently by David scholars say that it would be unusual for a priest to be in the temple for more than thirty-minutes at a time.
Being that he was inside longer the people began to wonder. (verse 22)
22 And when he came out, he could not speak to them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple: for he beckoned to them and remained speechless.
Because Zachariah came out from the temple and the passage says that “he made signs” to the people, some suppose that these were secret signs and symbols uses in Mormon or Masonic temples. But the signs were simply a way for people to communicate with a person who could not speak.
At verse 62 below in this chapter, we will read:
And the people made signs to Zacharias on what he would have named his son.
And so we know that the signs had nothing to do with temple secret signs but instead they were just understandable hand signs that were used to communicate. So . . .
“And when he came out, he could not speak to them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple (meaning a spirit) for he beckoned to them and remained speechless.”
23 And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house.
We might think that in the face of this momentus visitation that Zacharias would have run home to Elizabeth and dropped his duties – you know, called in sick.
But again, he was described prior as blameless before the Lord due to his dutifulness to the law.
So, he finishes up his cycle in the temple and then goes home or departed to his own house. Verse 24:
24 And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying,
25 Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men.
We don’t know why Elizabeth would hide herself five months – perhaps to ensure that the pregnancy would stick as maybe she suffered from miscarriages.
We don’t know. What we do know is that in Ancient Israel, it was considered a great shame for a woman to be childless.
Going back to Genesis we know that Rachael, upon conceiving and bearing a Son said:
“God hath taken away my reproach.”
(He has taken away my disgrace).
Isaiah prophesied
“And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.”
Obviously, Elizabeth must have been overjoyed with her condition and the blessing of having a child. (verse 26)
And at this point Luke explains another miraculous conception to us – this time in the body of a virgin named Mary.
26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
Galilee would be like South Salt Lake and Nazareth would be like Murray. So Elizabeth remained sequestered for five months and then we read in the sixth moth, the angel was “sent from God into a city of Galilee called Nazareth.”
To whom?
27 To a virgin espoused (engaged) to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
Betrothal usually lasted a year and unfaithfulness on the part of the bride, according to Deuteronomy 23:24.
What do we know about this couple – I mean really know outside of myth and tradition?
JOSEPH was the foster-father of our Lord.
He lived at Nazareth in Galilee (according to Luke 2:4) and is called a “just man.”
Matthew 13:55 says that he was by trade a carpenter. And he is last mentioned in connection to Jesus when he was twelve years old and went to Jerusalem.
In all probability he died before Jesus entered on his public ministry and this is concluded from the fact that only Mary only was present at the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee. But he could have died much earlier too. We know that his name does not appear in the scenes of the crucifixion along with that of Mary.
Mary
The Hebrew name Miriam (as in Moses sister) is Mary in the Greek.
Though called, the “Virgin Mary,” by men she is never referred to this by this name in Scripture.
Like her husband Joseph little is known of her personal history.
Her genealogy is given here in Luke chapter 3:1-38 and from it we know that she was of the tribe of Judah and the lineage of David.
Psalm 132:11
The LORD hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.
She was connected by marriage with Elisabeth, who was of the lineage of Aaron and while she resided at Nazareth with her parents, before she became the wife of Joseph, the angel Gabriel, as we are reading here, announced to her that she was to be the mother of the promised Messiah.
We will read more about her now but after the Lord’s ministry began little is said about Mary – however she is mentioned. For instance:
She was present at the marriage in Cana. A year and a half after this we find her at Capernaum (according to Matthew 12:46,48-49) where Jesus uttered the memorable words, “Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!”
The next time we find her is at the cross along with her sister Mary, and Mary Magdalene, and Salome, and other women (according to John 19:26)
We know that she was with the little company in the upper room after the Ascension (Acts 1:14) and then from this time she wholly disappears from public notice. The time and manner of her death are unknown. (verse 28)
28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, “Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.”
Hail – peace be with you – thou “art Highly favored.”
Already we have the angel saying to Zacharias that his future “will be great in the sight of the Lord,”
And now we have the angel saying “to Mary that she is Highly Favored of the Lord.”
How are we to understand these statements? Especially when we love to say that God is not a respecter of persons?
The line God is not a respecter of persons means that He does not respond to the social or intellectual prowess or accomplishments of people – he loves the pauper as well as the Presidents and the things that people are will not affect the way the Lord relates to them.
But this has nothing to do with the LORD seeing some people favorably for His own reasons.
He bestows his favor on people NOT because of who they are and what they have done but because He wishes to – and in the case of John the Baptist (who would be great in His eyes) and Mary who would be highly favored, it appears that these views exist because the LORD made John and Mary as mighty and highly favored and not because they made themselves that way.
So, the phrase God is not a respecter of persons has never meant that God does not create and bestow favor on some – again, its His will and being just we have to believe that he will reward and recognize accordingly.
The Greek term favor used here is CARI-TOW and it means bestowed with special graces or honors and indirectly, mercy.
We would be kidding ourselves if we did not admit that God does this with human beings. To me, its how we get our Einstein’s (not Bagels), our David’s, (including our own) and our folks imbued with amazing talent and skill.
Here, the future mother of the long-expected Messiah was certainly favored of God – as all of us have been by the mere fact he sends the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike.
But among women, Mary was especially significant in the role she would play in the annuls of human contribution to the world.
So, the angel tells her:
“Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.”
The word “is” (as in, the Lord IS with thee) is not in the original, and the passage seems to better mean:
May the Lord be with you, as if a prayer of the Angel on Mary and he adds:
“Blessed art thou among women,” which is the equivalent of, “you are the most happy of women.”
29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
This phrase does not seem to meet the angels response to Mary’s reaction as described in the next verse, which says:
“And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God.
Verse 29 seems to say that Mary was bothered by the salutation of the angel and wondered about its meaning but verse 29 seems to suggest that the angel thought Mary was afraid.
The fix is in the Greek as the word translated troubled can mean “alarmed” and the Greek word translated, “don’t fear” can mean, “don’t be alarmed” so we do have consistency here.
This was a response similar to what the angel gave to Joseph.
Additionally, the angel tells Mary that she has found favor and the term can mean charity or mercy – as the future mother of the Messiah.
It is interesting, but the Catholics believe that Mary was immaculately conceived so as to be a clean vessel in which to bring the Lord forth into the world.
It makes sense then that they would herald her as a vestige of Holy Femininity as they also teach that she remained a virgin her whole life.
But in the Christian sense, it was God’s mercy and favor bestowed upon Mary who certainly was wholesome but not without sin and born in the same manner as the rest of us.
So the angel continues and says (verse 31)
31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
Now, I don’t know about you but the words, in thy womb, strike me funny. If a woman was to conceive where else would it be, we might say? Aren’t these word superfluous? And why would an angel use superfluous words?
I don’t think he would, so the words are meaningful – even though they have been removed from some modern editions.
There are a couple responses to this. First of all the Greek word means stomach and not womb (gastare – where we get gastric).
Secondly, I think the angel was saying this to the young girl to give her exact imagery that she would experience a regular pregnancy, like other women, where the Christ Child would come from her the way all humans arrive in this world. He son, though God with us, the angel seems to say in these few word, was going to be bore and therefore born in the regular way.
So the angel says, “behold, you will conceive this child in your stomach (an area where the womb or uterus is located)
“And shalt call his name Yehoshua.“
Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua, which was originally Hoshea (in Numbers 13:8 and 16) but was changed by Moses into Jehoshua or Joshua (Numbers 13:16 and 1st Chronicles 7:27).
After the Babylonian Exile it assumed the form Jeshua, which is why the Greek form Iesous (or our Jesus).
The name appears to have been given him to describe his mission which is TO SAVE, or as Matthew 1:21 says:
“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for (because) he shall save his people from their sins.”
The angel continues to Mary and says:
32 He shall be great,(same Greek term Megas – used by the angel in describing John the Baptist) and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
These words seem to speak directly to Isaiah 9:6-7
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.”
So Luke has the angel say to Mary, “He shall be called the Son of the Highest.”
(beat)
My friends.
My lovers of God and all things Jesus.
I can’t play games with this language. I can’t twist it as a means to explain it in a way that will conform to the doctrine of the Trinity.
He is either the highest or he is the Son of the Highest – which means there is a highest making this human who would be named Jesus – His Son.
If the Highest is the Son, and in unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit make a three person Highest to establish the Highest, scripture would say so.
But the simplicity of the scripture does not need to be manipulated!
In other words, I am not going to say:
“We’ll what the angel is really speaking to is the flesh of this child. It will be the Son of the Highest. But what is in that child, that spirit, is the eternal Son which is the highest – that is troubling to me.
I have no issue with the Highest overshadowing this young human girl and her conceiving a son who is the Highest and hers combined, and this is why he is called the Son of the Highest; nor do I struggle with what overshadowed her was the Word of the Highest (which is Spirit) made flesh.
But the games to make Jesus a contribution to the makeup OF the highest just flies in the face of reason to me, and the spirit, and the word made plain.
I don’t believe that Paul could have written the following and been right IF the trinity explanations are correct:
(1st Corinthians 8:6)
But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
Trinitarian doctrine posits that the most highest God is not just the Father nor could just be the Father, but must include the co-eternal, co-equal persons of the Son and the Holy Spirt!
And in the face of such I am stumbled. Of course, the Son of God is the Word of God made flesh, he is therefore, God with us, but to me his pre-existent soul was with God, was God, and it is this that makes him so unbelievably different than all other children conceived of men.
This may not even be modalism because I am not suggesting that the Father became the Son and the Son the Holy Spirit.
All I am saying concurs with what Paul said:
But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
And again,
“and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David.”
Again, a difference between:
“the Lord God” who would give to Jesus “the throne of his father David, so described because Jesus was lineally descended from him.
The promise to David was that there should not fail a man to sit on his throne, or that “his throne should be perpetual,” which was spiritually fulfilled in the birth and life of Jesus who came to be a Prince and a Savior and the true perpetual King of his people – which is why the angel adds:
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
This is saying that he would reign over his own church and people forever.
There is no getting around this. It is a promise in the Old Testament and here in the new.
The promise is fulfilled in two direct and applicable ways:
First, from the House of Israel physically, Jesus drew those who were His to himself in and through John the Baptist, His ministry and the ministry of the Apostles by the Holy Spirit.
This was a fleshly material gathering of his own in the flesh and he reigned over them then and continues to reign over that bride today.
So, in that way his reign in the seed and seat of David is forever.
But the day and age of the House of Israel was completed in 70 AD. From then, and even before, all who walk and live by faith in the Son become the seed of Abraham, and there is no difference between Jew and Gentile, bond and free, male and female in Him anymore.
So in this second way there is no end to His kingdom. It will be perpetual.
And Mary was going to bear the savior and king of this kingdom in her stomach, as promised by this angel.
Many people make the mistake in thinking that “his kingdom” over the literal physical house of Israel would have no end.
Not so.
Others make the mistake of thinking that his kingdom will be earthly and material. Also false as refuted by scripture.
He reigns from the hearts of individuals from on high here and there.
Verse 34:
34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
Mary’s query was not like Zacharias who appears to have said, “Im not so sure this is possible.”
Her response was how it was possible since she had never “known a man.” The phraseology Mary uses hearkens all the way back to Genesis where we read from Moses:
Genesis 4:1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.
The Hebrew word translated knew originated from Seinfeld (just seeing if you are awake) but its YADA and it has a LOT of meanings.
But of course, the central idea is when two people YADA each other in the biblical sense, they are getting the whole package – all of it – the yada, yada, yada – and relative to intimacy between people the whole of the physical or carnal person is revealed.
For this reason it is believed that that term Carnal Knowledge originated, and when people were discovered as having or being found under carnal knowledge we get a special little word, don’t we?
Apparently, Found under Carnal Knowledge was written on the stocks that held people in place in the town square and that is how the acronym became a word.
After asking the Angel how she would conceive since she knew no man, the angel replies:
35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
And we will begin here next week.
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