How God stepped into change our world
The Angel Appears to Mary
Luke 1:26-38 Six months after Elizabeth had become pregnant, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a city in Galilee. [27] The angel went to a virgin promised in marriage to a descendant of David named Joseph. The virgin’s name was Mary. [28] When the angel entered her home, he greeted her and said, "You are favored by the Lord! The Lord is with you." [29] She was startled by what the angel said and tried to figure out what this greeting meant. [30] The angel told her, "Don’t be afraid, Mary. You have found favor with God. [31] You will become pregnant, give birth to a son, and name him Jesus. [32] He will be a great man and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. [33] Your son will be king of Jacob’s people forever, and his kingdom will never end." [34] Mary said to the angel, "But how? I’ve never slept with a man." [35] The angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come to you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy child developing inside you will be called the Son of God. [36] "Elizabeth, your relative, is six months pregnant with a son in her old age. People said she couldn’t have a child. [37] But nothing is impossible for God." [38] Mary answered, "I am the Lord’s servant. Let everything you’ve said happen to me." Then the angel left her.
We hear first of the promise that God gave for Jesus to be born way back in Genesis 3:15
“He will crush your head, and you will bruise his heel." All through the Old Testament the people were looking for One who could defeat the evil one we know as the Devil. Many things were foretold about this One who would come. Then there were 400 years when there was no voice or writing from God. Mary was a young girl who was pledged to a man named Joseph. It would seem that she was making preparations for that big day when she would officially become his wife. God had different plans for Mary. God is like that for I know that myself and perhaps many of you had our lives planned as to what we were going to do until God entered and changed our lives for His divine purposes. Mary was visited by an angel. Remember no one had received a word from God for over 400 years and so I am sure Mary was startled when this heavenly being appeared to her. Think of being in her place when the angel told her she would be the mother of the Son of God.
We want to go back a few verses to see how God was setting all this up so let us look at Luke 1:20-25 But because you didn’t believe what I said, you will be unable to talk until the day this happens. Everything will come true at the right time." [21] Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah. They were amazed that he was staying in the temple so long. [22] When he did come out, he was unable to speak to them. So they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. He motioned to them but remained unable to talk. [23] When the days of his service were over, he went home. [24] Later, his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and didn’t go out in public for five months. She said, [25] "The Lord has done this for me now. He has removed my public disgrace."
1. HIS FABULOUS DISPLAY. Zechariah did not believe what the angel had told him so he all of a sudden could not talk. His doubt caused God to show He wanted faith, because without faith it is impossible to please God. He was in the temple longer than he stayed most of the time and the people wondered what was going on. There is excitement when God starts moving in the way He has planned. The people realized that God had come to him when he could not talk. Causes one to wonder if God could do a lot more if some people would be quiet? After he returned home his wife conceived and they were going to have a son. Unusual things happen when God has His way and is about to do something great.
Beautiful in its own way: Out in Kansas they have opened Christmas tree farms. Farms that grow Christmas trees. It has been done for years in Wisconsin and Michigan . . . but in Kansas it’s a new business. It was the first year that the trees were ready. The farmer did not have any connections with the big tree cutters, so he decided to open the fields to the local people. The people could pick their very own tree, cut it, and get it a lot cheaper than buying it at the Christmas tree lots in town. So one Sunday afternoon, a family went to the farm. Twenty acres of firs. The father told his daughter to go out and look at the trees, and the tree she wanted, she could have. It took a long time to look at 5 acres of trees. Many there were very nice, but there was one tree, about as tall as the girl, and the tree was ugly. There were missing branches. It was gangly . . . and that was the tree the little girl chose. The father said, "Honey, are you sure? Look, you can have any tree you want, I don’t care what it cost, and I want you to have the tree you want." The girl went back up the hill and looked at all the trees. Another 30 minutes passed when the little girl came back. She said, "Yes, this is the tree I want." So the farmer gave the man a saw and they cut the tree and put it in the car. On the way home the father asked the girl why she had chosen that tree. She replied, "I chose it because I knew no one else would choose it. No one else would want that tree. I didn’t want that tree having people say, "Look, isn’t that an ugly tree, isn’t that a scrawny tree?" And then she added, "I know that tree will be beautiful when I decorate it . . . and I love it because it is beautiful in its own way." -- Dan Horden, Miami, FL.
2. HIS FABULOUS FORECAST.
A. It was to a city in Galilee that the angel Gabriel was sent. God is awesome in His doings for we are told in the Bible that Nazareth was a town of bad reputation. Which just brings me to remember, that not one of us was to great to look upon when God came to us?
B. Gabriel appeared to Mary to give her a message from God. She had not seen an angel before nor had he heard a message from God no anyone else for a long time. God breaks through when it seems all is dark and little hope because He is Hope and Love.
C. Here we see a lowly girl is highly favored by God. Perhaps it was because she had chosen to live a life of purity and worship even in the times when God had been silent. There is the story of the girl who won Miss America and they could not find any dirt in her life from the past and she stated that as a girl she wanted to be Miss America and lived as she would be one day so her life was lived in purity. When do we have to decide we are going to live as we should live? To live as God wants us to?
D. We also find a young girl her who finds peace with what will happen in her life. With an angel she of course has a godly fear. She find peace when she hears, “You are highly favored with God.” I am glad that though we are sinners we can be saved from sin and pleasing to God because of what He does in our lives.
E. Mary will have a son. So comes the prophecy that was given many years ago. He is to be the Savior of the world. He is to be the Light that would bring us out of the darkness of sin of this world.
Here is a story that had been told but says truth in a few short words:
He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He worked in a carpentry shop until he was thirty, and then for three years he was an itinerant preacher. When the tide of popular opinion turned against him, his friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies. He was tried and convicted. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never owned a home. He never went to college. He never traveled more than two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. Yet all the armies that ever marched, and all the governments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, have not affected life upon this earth as powerfully as has that One Solitary Life.
III. HIS FABULOUS DOMINATION.
A. Mary questions that this could happen for she is not married. To have a baby without being married meant shame and guilt. She asks an honest question for information for she wants to do what God has called for her to do in the right way. How often do we ask God honest questions as to what we have to do? I feel too often we tell God what we are up to and ask His blessing when we should first ask what His will is?
B. To think of what is going to happen. Mary would have a visit by the Holy Spirit in her life and from His coming to her she would be bearing the very Son of God. The Holy Spirit comes on us today that we might have the Son of God in our lives not as baby but as God in us with his power for living a holy life.
C. The angel gives her the message about Elizabeth who is to bear a son in her old age to reveal the power of God. This helps Mary to believe what he has said to her will happen for God is powerful. ‘With God all things are possible.” I pray that we live with that verse on our hearts every day.
D. Mary does not doubt but accepts being used of God for His purpose.
By our evaluation it would seem that Mary would one of the most unlikely women to become the mother of the Son of God. That is how God works and gives each of us hope that He wants to use us for most of us would not in the world’s eyes be a likely person to be forgiven and one day inhabit heaven. I am glad that man does not see as God sees. He looks beyond the sinfulness of men and sees a heart that can be changed by His power to forgive and set free from sin.
I have heard Paul Harvey give this story and it is usually at this time of the year he repeats it to remind us of the story of God coming to us:
The Geese And The Snowstorm
There was once a man who did not believe in either the virgin birth of Christ or the spiritual meaning behind it, and was skeptical even about God. He and his family lived in a farm community. His wife was a devout believer and diligently raised her children in the faith. He sometimes gave her a hard time about her belief and mocked her religious observances. "It’s all nonsense -- why would God lower himself and become a human like us? It’s such a ridiculous story," he said.
One snowy day, she and the children left for church while he stayed home. After they had departed, the winds grew stronger and the snow turned into a blinding snowstorm. He sat down to relax before the fire for the evening. Then he heard a loud thump, something hitting against the window... And, still another thump. He looked outside but could not see anything. So he ventured outside for a better view. In the field near his house he saw, of all the strangest things, a flock of geese. They were apparently flying to look for a warmer area down south, but they had been caught in the snowstorm. The storm had become too blinding and violent for the geese to fly or see their way. They were stranded on his farm, with no food or shelter, unable to do more than flutter their wings and fly in aimless circles. He had compassion for them and wanted to help them. He thought to himself, the barn would be a great place for them to stay. It is warm and safe; surely they could spend the night and wait out the storm. So he opened the barn doors for them. He waited, watching them, hoping they would notice the open barn and go inside. Nevertheless, they did not notice the barn or realize what it could mean for them. He moved closer toward them to get their attention, but they just moved away from him out of fear. He went into the house and came back with some bread, broke it up, and made a bread trail to the barn. They still did not catch on. Starting to get frustrated, he went over and tried to shoo them toward the barn. They panicked and scattered into every direction except toward the barn. Nothing he did could get them to go into the barn where there was warmth, safety, and shelter. Feeling totally frustrated, he exclaimed, "Why don’t they follow me? Can’t they see this is the only place where they can survive the storm? How can I possibly get them into the one place to save them? "He thought for a moment and realized that they just would not follow a human. He said to himself, "How can I possibly save them? The only way would be for me to become like those geese. If only I could become like one of them. Then I could save them. They would follow me and I would lead them to safety." At that moment, he stopped and considered what he had said. The words reverberated in his mind: If only I could become like one of them, then I could save them. Then, at last, he understood God’s heart towards mankind...and he fell on his knees in the snow.
God became like us and salvation is for all who will believe on the name of Jesus.
