Luke 1:29-33
"And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end," Luke 1:29-33.
Mary's composure and response during this conversation tells us that she was not easily moved by circumstances or people. Remember that she was between 13-14 years of age and was betrothed to Joseph. This was the custom in Israel during that time. She was mature, not like 13 year olds of our day. She had a sound mind, and obviously was a good listener, as we will see through these verses. She was also submissive to the will of God for her life (verse 38). She had a lot of great qualities about her, but none of these qualities caused God to chose her to be the mother of His only begotten Son. God's grace upon Mary was by the free will of God. Let us get into these verses.
"And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be," Luke 1:29. Mary is minding her own business and is doing whatever she was doing and all of a sudden an angel appears to her, speaking to her, and when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying. "She was troubled" means agitate (with alarm). She sees the angel Gabriel, and she hears his salutation, she is alarmed, but she did not panic. Instead she cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. "Cast in her mind" means to consider, reflect, ponder. She is processing what she is seeing and what she is hearing. This seemed to be consistent through her life (Luke 2:19; 33; 51). "What manner" means what possible sort and "salutation" means greeting. Mary was taught to be looking for the coming Messiah, but may not have thought to be directly involved.
The angel Gabriel is doing what God sent him to do. He gives Mary the greeting, she is taking in what he is saying, and she is troubled. "And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God," Luke 1:30. Fear not is a command to do something she was not previously doing, and to continue not being fearful. Why should she be fearful? Often, in the Old Testament, when angels showed up it was to pour out God's wrath because of sin or to fight for God's people in a battle; either way, someone was about to die. The greeting of the angel Gabriel was comforting, as was this command to fear not. Don't fear Mary, for God's grace is upon you. "Hast found" means to find grace or mercy, meaning to obtain favour with God. Turn to Genesis 6:5-8. In order to have a biblical understanding of this, we must look at the definition for the word "favour". "Favour" in this verse means grace in reference to disposition, attitude toward another, favour, goodwill, benevolence. Hast found favour with God means that God gives us His free grace. Please remember that grace is unearned favour. No one has ever earned God's grace. Noah did not earn it, and Mary did not earn it. You and I do not earn it either (Ephesians 1-2:9). We have to clarify this because some people think Mary was such a good person that God had to choose her; this is not the case. Mary was a sinner like everyone else, and like everyone else, she needed God's grace (Romans 5:12).
As the angel Gabriel continues to speak to Mary, her fear subsides, but her perplexity grows. "And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS," Luke 1:31. Though God's grace is upon Mary, this does not exempt her from the hardships of pregnancy. The conception of Jesus Christ in the womb of Mary is truly a miracle, but everything else about her pregnancy is normal. A normal delivery, and a normal nine months of trusting and waiting. "Thou shalt conceive" means to conceive, become pregnant. Where, in thy womb? Again, this is normal. She will bring forth a son. This is normal. And shalt call his name JESUS, this is also normal in that there were many who had the name Jesus during that time, and even in our day today. The conception is a miracle, the pregnancy is normal. We will look at the conception once we get to verse 35.
The conception was a miracle, the pregnancy was normal, but the person in her womb is God's only begotten Son; the eternal Son of God, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. "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: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end," Luke 1:32-33. The angel Gabriel said they will call Him JESUS. "JESUS" means Jehovah is salvation (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). This Son, whom Mary will bring forth, shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest. "Great" means greatest, eminent. "Only a four word description but even eternity shall not exhaust the depth and profundity of the greatness of Jesus. Interestingly, John the Baptist was described in a similar way "he will be great in the sight of the Lord" (Luke 1:15), but clearly the greatness of John pales in comparison to the infinite greatness of Jesus. As Spurgeon said "Is it not proven that He is great? Conquerors are great, and He is the greatest of them. Deliverers are great, and He is the greatest of them." Jesus is greater than John since he is Messiah compared to a prophet. John the Baptist shall be great, but he is not as great as "the Son of the Highest."
"Son of the Highest" in the Old Testament this is the Name El Elyon: Most High God Sovereign Over All. The angel tells Mary that her Son will be the Son of God. She completely understood, though she did not understand how as of yet. This is a lot for a 13-14 year old girl to take in. It is obvious she knew the Old Testament Scriptures regarding these events. It is also obvious she has a sound mind and is not controlled by her emotions. We can learn a lot by reading about how Mary responds to the Word of God. She had faith in what God said.
Even though God shows us grace, this does not mean that we will not have any trials and tribulations. Nor does this mean that we will fully understand why things happen like they do, but by His grace we will trust Him in all things all the time, no matter the outcome. John Newton captured this truth in the song he wrote, "Amazing Grace". When you think about what we deserve, and that God saves sinners by His grace, and then uses us by His grace, and when we fail God picks us up by His grace, He preserves us by His grace, all for His honor and glory. God's grace is truly amazing. Have you experienced God's grace? Grace, grace, God's grace. Grace that will pardon and cleanse within, Grace, grace, God's grace, Grace that is greater than all our sin.
Please send questions and comments to richardsonbaptistchurch@gmail.com. Soli Deo Gloria.
