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. 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. Luke 1:26-29
Luke in his gospel tells us about Mary’s encounter with the angel Gabriel. It was not only that the encounter was surprising and Gabriel’s salutation and message was confusing for Mary, but what he continued to tell her, in her mind was impossible, “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” Luke 1:34.
Many times and in many ways God speaks to us and our initial reaction is surprise and unbelief because we are relating and understanding what God is telling us into our limited context and are failing to understand it from the Biblical and experiential knowledge of whom God is. When we do, it helps us to see what God says from His omniscient and omnipotent perspective. How many times have we forfeited experiencing God’s purpose and blessing in our lives because we limit God and what He wants to do in our lives by believing “it is impossible”?
Yes, what the angel Gabriel told Mary was initially hard for her to understand but once she surrendered her reasoning and unbelief to God’s message she began to experience the miracle of God’s will becoming a reality in her life.
What is an angel? The word angel comes “From angello, “to deliver a message”; hence, a messenger. In the New Testament the word has the special sense of a spiritual, heavenly personage attendant upon God and functioning as a messenger from the Lord sent to earth to execute His purposes and to make them known to humanity.” Hayford’s Bible Handbook
The Bible only has four references concerning the angel Gabriel, two in Daniel (8:16, 9:21) and two in Luke 1:19, 1:26). Out of these four verses, Luke 1:19 tells us a very important fact concerning the angel Gabriel. Talking to Zechariah (Luke 1:11-20) the husband of Mary’s relative Elizabeth, Gabriel says, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.” (Luke 1:19). This means what Gabriel was going to say came from God, that his message was God’s words. Angels do not act on their own volition but they exclusively make the will of God known to us and that was what Gabriel was doing when he gave the message to Mary.
Mary’s response to Gabriel’s appearance and greeting was fitting for anybody who would receive a surprise visit by an angel. The New American Standard Updated version of the Bible states it this way, “But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.” Luke 1:29
Looking at verse twenty-seven, twice it states that Mary was a virgin, “a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph”. This is important because this is how Mary identified herself in verse thirty-four “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”, and in relation to the context of what Gabriel said to her in verses thirty to thirty-eight.
What Luke tells us that Mary was “a virgin pledged to be married” in modern terms means engaged to be married. It is important to understand that these words do not have the same significance as it does in today’s secular society, where in most instances maintaining ones virginity before marriage is not a priority nor the norm. The term “pledged to be married” also had its moral, legal and religious significance which was much different than today. “A Jewish betrothal usually lasted for one year. During that year the couple was known as husband and wife, although they did not have the right to be united sexually.” “In Hebrew custom, betrothal was actually part of the marriage process. A change of intention by one of the partners after he or she was betrothed was a serious matter, subject in some instances to penalty by fine.” “A Jewish betrothal could be dissolved only by the man’s giving the woman a certificate of divorce.” Nelson’s new illustrated Bible dictionary.
Nowhere in the Bible does it teach or gives us an example that angels are omniscient (all-knowing). In Luke 1:30-35 Gabriel tells Mary eleven points concerning God’s plans. What Gabriel knew about Mary and her future son Jesus, came from God.
30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, 1) Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 2) You will be with child 3) and give birth to a son, 4) and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 5) He will be great and 6) will be called the Son of the Most High. 7) The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 8) and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; 9) his kingdom will never end.” 34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”35 The angel answered, 10) “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. 11) So the holy one to be born will be called 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 barren is in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God.” 38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.
The point where Mary surrendered her reasoning and unbelief to God’s will was when the angel Gabriel reassures her with his final statement, “For nothing is impossible with God.” Gabriel’s words not only applied to what he just said concerning Elizabeth, but also to Mary and to what she would soon be experiencing.
Initially submitting ourselves to God’s plans might be challenging in itself, but staying faithfully committed to God’s will in spite of the hard situations we will face because of our decision to yield to God’s plans many times can even be more challenging.
Mary’s answer, “I am the Lord’s servant,”…”May it be to me as you have said.” was a verbal confirmation and expression of her heart or emotions and her mind or thoughts, of surrendering and accepting God’s plans for her future. With these words Mary submitted to not only to what Gabriel told her, but she would also have to stay submitted in mind and heart when telling Joseph that she was pregnant and not knowing how he would react to the news. Mary also needed to trust God and her commitment to Him when Joseph was told that the family must make the long journey to Egypt. However, the most perplexing and possibly difficult to understand was, Mary had to stay faithful to her commitment to God when the news of the horrific slaughter of the innocent infants and children reached her while in Egypt. 16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Matthew 2:16
Pastor John
