Isaiah 55:8-9
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Every one of us has experienced challenging situations that happened that we did not anticipate and that had consequences we could not have imagined. Even though as believers in Christ who have a continual intimate relationship with God, when these unexpected situations occur, we are not left without any hope or solutions because it is “the Lord” who uses these situations for us to get to know Him better, to mature us as He provides us with what we need to get through the unexpected situation.
Psalms 33:18-22 NLT, 18 “But the Lord watches over those who fear him, those who rely on his unfailing love. 19 He rescues them from death and keeps them alive in times of famine. 20 We put our hope in the Lord. He is our help and our shield. 21 In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. 22 Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone.”
Psalms 121:1-3 NIV, 121 “I lift up my eyes to the hills — where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot slip — he who watches over you will not slumber;”
God uses different means or ways to fulfill His will in our lives, of which many times will not conform to our expected time table or is accomplished in a way we could have never thought or have expected.
However, even though God is sovereign and all powerful, almost in every situation He will not impose His will on us and or make us do something we are not willing to do. When unexpected difficult situations occur which might not make any sense to us why this is happening, there are a few significant things that we always need to do.
It is our responsibility to seek Him in prayer and in His word, which helps us recognize and confirm His will for us. It is through prayer and with His word that we are reassured who God is and what He can do for us. All of which encourages us, gives us strength and the faith necessary to mature us as we go through challenging situations.
In addition, we must trust who God is from what we read in His word and how we have experienced Him in our lives in the past, which is always a conformation of who He is in our relationship with Him. As a result of our trusting God and His word, comes our obedience to act in faith. Hebrews 11:1 NIV, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:6 NIV, And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
The announcement by the angel Gabriel of the unplanned birth of Jesus was something that the young couple Joseph and Mary did not expect. We will study this unanticipated challenging situation with its consequences of the parents of Jesus, chronologically as it is recorded in the gospel of Luke 1:26-38, Matthew 1:18-25, and Luke 2:1-7.
God’s Plans for Mary, Luke 1:26-38
Luke 1:26 NLT, 26 “In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27 to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David.”
Mary had plans, she was to be married to Joseph, both were from the same town of Nazareth. Being from the same small town in addition to the betrothal customs of that time, it is very probable that Mary’s family and Joseph’s family knew each other.
It is important that we are aware that the cultural customs for engagement before marriage is quite different than it is today in our culture. Hayford’s Bible Handbook gives the following insight of the way it worked. “Choosing the bride. In Biblical times, the parents chose the mate for their son. The primary reason for this was that the bride became part of the clan. Although they were married and became “one flesh,” the couple remained under the authority of the bridegroom’s father. The parents chose someone who would best fit into their clan and work harmoniously with her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law.”
Luke makes it very clear to us that Mary was, “engaged to be married” which is the second of the third step of the Jewish marriage process. First is the engagement, a pre-arrangement between families of a couple when they are still children. Second is the, betrothal, a promise to marry. This is a formal binding and ratification of the engagement that lasted for one year prior to the date set of the formal marriage ceremony. During this period, the couple was considered as husband and wife but had no legal rights or physical relationship as a married couple. This stage of the relationship could only be terminated by a formal divorce. Finally, marriage, which took place at the end of the one-year betrothal period and was formalized by a wedding.
As with any bride to be, we can imagine Mary had dreams and plans of how her marriage to Joseph would be. However, God had different plans, plans that for someone who does not know God and trust Him, will find very hard or impossible to accept.
Luke 1:26-27 NIV, 26 “In the sixth month, 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.”
These two verses importantly tell us that Mary was engaged to be married to Joseph and was she a virgin. We also see that God choose to communicate His will for Mary and her future son Jesus through the angel Gabriel.
God discloses His future plans for us by any means He chooses. It can be a subtle voice in our heads. It can be through prophecy which is, “predictions about the future; special messages from God, often uttered through human spokesmen, which indicate the divine will for mankind on earth and in heaven.”. It can also happen when reading His word.
In the next three verses, note how God expresses through Gabriel the three ways He valued Mary as a person. Luke 1:28-30 NIV, 28 “The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, a) you who are highly favored! b) 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, c) you have found favor with God.” If a person does not grasp how they are valued and or perceived by God it can be very difficult to be obedient to His will once it is realized.
Verses 31 to 33 are prophetic words about Mary’s future pregnancy and her son Jesus, 31 “a) You will be with child b) and give birth to a son, c) and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 a) He will be great b) and will be called the Son of the Most High. c) The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 d) and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; e) his kingdom will never end.”
In verse 31 God makes the first three points of His will for Mary very clear to her, she will be pregnant with a boy who along with Joseph will give the name Jesus. In verses 32 and 33, are prophetic words concerning her future son Jesus as an adult. Mary is told five absolute facts of God’s plans for who Jesus will be and His divine ordained status. Each fact is indicated by the word “will”.
At that moment, hearing from the angel Gabriel what God thought of her and what His will was concerning her and her son to be, it was not of first importance to Mary. What consumed Mary’s thoughts was she was told that she was going to have a baby. Verse 34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”. What Mary understood about her future pregnancy, was from a natural or human point of view. This is normal for most of us when facing a challenging situation. When we read or hear what God can do or will do, many times it is totally inconceivable to our natural way of thinking of how God will do what He said He will do.
Gabriel not only clearly answered Mary’s question and concern in verse 35, but he also in the same verse told Mary an additional absolute fact concerning Jesus, 35 “The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. f) So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”
In spite of the fact that Mary had her dreams and her time table of when and how her betrothal and marriage to Joseph were going to happen, they were immediately invalid. Mary voluntarily put aside her aspirations of betrothal and marriage which would never be experienced the way she had dreamed when she conveyed in her reply to Gabriel the following. 38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.”
How would we respond if we knew that our future plans for marriage and children were not to be as we had dreamed because God’s will for us was something totally different? Would we surrender our dreams to God’s will which in our minds seems ridiculous and impossible? Would we be so ready to accept and submit to God’s will without any resistance? Clearly Mary did not understand all that the angel Gabriel told her about Jesus, however she submitted to God’s will anyway.
Next week in Part two of this teaching we will study God’s will for Joseph as it is told to us in Matthew 1:18-25. Also, we will be studying how God uses the Roman government to fulfill His will for the birth of His Son Jesus in Luke 2:1-7.
Pastor John
