"Luke 1:26-30
"And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary, 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. 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," Luke 1:26-30. As we continue going through the book of Luke verse by verse, we have come to the portion of Scripture where Mary is introduced to us. As a result of heretical teachings, many things have been attributed to Mary that are not Scriptural, therefore; those teachings should not be embraced. Scripture, Scripture, Scripture is our cry. Give us scripture in context rightly divided and accurately communicated. We must base why and what we believe about Mary, and others, upon the Scriptures; not traditions of men or church counsels. The traditions and opinions of men change and church counsels have contradicted each other, but the Scripture's are forever settled in heaven, and do not change or compromise for anyone at any time in anything. Lord willing, we will learn what the Scriptures teach us about Mary.
"And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth," Luke 1:26. Gabriel is back again doing the will of God. Earlier in chapter one we saw where he came to Zacharia in Jerusalem, while Zacharia executed the priest's office, to say what God sent him to say. This time God sends Gabriel to the region of Galilee, specifically to a place called Nazareth. Galilee defined means circle or circuit, the heathen circle. It is located North of Jerusalem with the Sea of Galilee on its Eastern side. Between Judea and Galilee is Samaria. The people of Galilee were looked down on and were considered to be a lower class of people (Acts 2:7). They were viewed as back woods and uneducated. Inside of the region of Galilee there were cities, towns, and villages. One of these was Nazareth. Nazareth was located in the Southern portion of Galilee. During this time in the bible, Nazareth was a small place that was considered to be poor. Unless you were going to visit someone you knew, there was not any reason to travel to Nazareth. There was nothing and no one there that appealed to men. It was a good place to live if you wanted to keep a low profile. I do want to add that Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, not in Nazareth. Joseph and Mary returned from Egypt to Nazareth after the death of Herod the great. This is where they lived before Christ came into this world, and this is where the angel Gabriel was sent by God.
"To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary," Luke 1:27. Gabriel came to a virgin named Mary. The Greek word for virgin "Parthenos" has different definitions depending on the context it is used in. It can be defined as a maiden, (by implication) an unmarried daughter:- virgin; a marriageable maiden; a woman who has never had sexual intercourse with a man; one's marriageable daughter. In context here it means a virgin; a woman who has never had sexual intercourse with a man. "Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" Luke 1:34. "And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS," Matthew 1:25. After Jesus Christ came forth from Mary's womb, then Joseph knew his wife and they had many children (Mark 3:31-35).
It is very important that Mary was a virgin. Since she had never known a man, there would be no way she could be pregnant by a man. This means the incarnation of Jesus Christ is truly a miracle. A miracle is something that only God can do. Mary being a virgin is also fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel," Isaiah 7:14. We must base everything upon the Scriptures, and the Scriptures tell us that Mary was a virgin until after Jesus Christ came forth, then her and Joseph had sons and daughters.
The bible tells us that Mary was espoused to Joseph. "Espoused" is more binding than a modern engagement of our day. Espoused is virtually a form of marriage. The couple does not live together or consummate their union, but a divorce is needed to break the relationship. Joseph and Mary were both of the house of David. Both of them were in the royal line of king David. Since they were of the line of David, they had to travel to Bethlehem to be taxed according to the decree of Caesar Augustus (Luke 2:1-5). This was done in fulfillment of Scripture (Micah 5:2). Joseph's name means, "let him add". Mary's name comes from Miriam, Moses's sister, and means "their rebellion". Let Him add to their rebellion this, that He would send His Eternal Son, but they would reject Him, and crucify Him.
"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," Luke 1:28. The bible tells us what Zacharias was doing and where Zacharias was at when the angel Gabriel appeared to him, but we do not have any details as to what Mary was doing. "Hail" is simply a greeting, to rejoice, be glad. He tells Mary that she is highly favoured; the Lord is with her, and she is blessed among women. "Highly favoured" means to grace, i.e. indue with special honour:- make accepted, be highly favoured. To bestow grace, highly honour or greatly favour. In the New Testament spoken only of divine favour: to the virgin Mary; to all believers (Ephesians 1:6). This is in the perfect passive participle which represents an action that was completed in the past but has continuing results. This definition along with this tense is very important. God, has shown Mary His grace. God's grace cannot be earned in any way. Just like with all Christians according to Ephesians 1, God chose to save Mary and to use her in this capacity from before the foundation of the world. God did not exalt Mary above everyone else in the world, but He blessed her by using her like no one else in the world. God distinguished Mary by choosing her as the vessel to bring forth His Eternal Son Jesus Christ, her Saviour. God did not place Mary above anyone else He has saved, on earth or in heaven. She is in heaven today, worshipping her Lord and Saviour, just like everyone else who is in heaven. It doesn't do any good to pray to Mary because she cannot answer our prayers, nor does she have a special place beside her Savior to intercede for anyone (I Timothy 2:5). Mary was a sinner saved by the grace of God, and to worship her in any way is idolatry.
Joseph and Mary were people the world new nothing about. They were living looking for the coming Messiah. They were not trying to make a name for themselves. God, by His grace, chose to save them, and to use them in a mighty way, for their good and our good, but ultimately for His glory. The world looked down on them simply because of where they were from, and what their social status was, but God bestowed grace upon them, and now the world knows who they are, and how God used them. Don't seek to be accepted by this world, seek to please God and to live for His honour and glory. Our God is good and faithful.
Please send questions and comments to richardsonbaptistchurch@gmail.com. Soli Deo Gloria.
