Baby Announcement
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Once we are old enough to start courting we are asked are you dating any yet? Then after you start dating they start asking when are you going to get married? Right after you get married, the ink on the marriage certificate is not even dry yet and people start asking when are you going to have children?
There is something special about having children. Second only to the announcement of someone accepting Jesus as Savior is the announcement of a pregnancy or the birth of a child.
As you may know I can’t wait to be a Grandfather. I don’t know why I long so much for this. Especially this time a year. Maybe it is because Christmas is some much more fun with kids around.
Last week we focused on the this prophecy in Isaiah of the coming Messiah.
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
700 years from Isaiah’s prophecy of the coming Messiah and the birth of Jesus. 400 of those years were silent.
400 years separate the time of Malachi (the last Old Testament prophet) and the time of Jesus. During those 400 years, we have no record of any prophets or inspired writers in Israel.
9 We are given no signs from God; no prophets are left, and none of us knows how long this will be.
This 400 year period is called the “400 years of silence” or the “Intertestamental Period.”
So you can imaging the great discouragement and great anticipation of the greatest baby announcement in all of human history.
I have walked with many friends and people during the discouragement phase of wanting a baby of their own.
When the announcement finally arrives it is amazing. - Jeremy and Jen.
Who is usually the first person to find out about the pregnancy? The mother bearing the child of course.
First announcement of the baby. - Mary
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, 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. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” 34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. 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 unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.” 38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
This was a creative act of the Holy Spirit, not the sort of divine-human cohabitation sometimes seen in pagan mythology. Hercules was the son of Zeus, king of the gods, and the mortal woman Alcmene. Zeus, who was always chasing one woman or another, took on the form of Alcmene's husband, and visited Alcmene one night in her bed, and so Hercules was born a demi-god with incredible strength and stamina.
This is a miracle from the Holy Spirit. The child to be born was the Son of God and would live a sinless life. Jesus knew no sin (2 Cor. 5:21), He did no sin (1 Peter 2:22), and He had no sin (1 John 3:5) Jesus could not do this unless He was the true Son of God. Fully human yet fully God.
Scholars assume Mary’s age at this time was 13-16 years old. - I walked at my graduation with a friend who had a son that was five when we graduated.
Second announcement: Elizabeth
39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
Vs. 39: Mary hurried. Why? Young and scared / She was to be married
This was a miracle and she knew the one person that would understand a miracle pregnancy would be her cousin Elizabeth who was unable to have a baby until she was at least 60 years of age.
An Indian woman may be the world's oldest to give birth after delivering her first child at the age of 70, her doctor says. Jivunben Rabari and her husband Valjibhai Rabari, 75, from Kutch in western Gujarat India, welcomed their first child – a son named Lalo – delivered by Caesarean section last month.
The couple, who have been married for 45 years, had been unsuccessfully trying for a baby for decades before conceiving their first child through In-Vitro Fertilisation.
56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.
Many women choose to delay announcing a pregnancy at least until the end of the first trimester (12 weeks into their pregnancy). This is usually because of concerns about the risk of miscarriage (pregnancy loss) during this time.
The bible does say if Mary told Joseph about the angel and the pregnancy before going to see her cousin Elizabeth. Many bible scholars assume that Mary told Joseph after she returned home.
Third announcement: Joseph
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. 20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). 24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
The announcement from Mary must have been devastating. Not only has she committed adultery, and pregnant but she is lying about who the father is.
Then Joseph gets the surprise of his life. It is true and you are going to be the step Dad of God Himself.
Fourth announcement: Shepard’s
1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. 8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” 15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
Vs. 10: Do not be afraid. I bring you good news.
Vs. 11: The Messiah is born.
In addition, the expression “Jesus is Lord” implies all the sovereignty and authority associated with One who is God. For “Lord” in Luke 2:11, the angel used the Greek word kurios, which expresses an authority that is valid and lawful. The ultimate lawful authority in the universe is God, and the angel announced Jesus’ lawful authority as the Son of God. The Greek translators of the Old Testament and the writers of the New Testament used kurios so often to refer to God that the word became synonymous for the name of God. When the angel declared Jesus to be Lord, he declared Him to be the true God, the One who possesses all authority and sovereignty. Again Immanuel! - God with Us!
Vs. 13: great company of heavenly host: host. A term used to describe an army encampment.
No one ever has or ever will top the birth announcement of God the Father at the birth of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. As soon as the angel’s announcement was given, “a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.’” That was a birth announcement that will never be matched.
Fifth announcement: Magi
1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
MAGI (Măʹ ġī) Eastern wise men, priests, and astrologers expert in interpreting dreams and other “magic arts.” Men whose interpretation of the stars led them to Palestine to find and honor Jesus, the newborn King. The magi who greeted Jesus’ birth may have been from Babylon, Persia, or the Arabian Desert.
This announcement came in the sky in the form of a star.
The Starry announcement the Magi would have seen was the planet Juniper the biggest planet and Venus the brightest planet, so closely aligned, that they looked like one big bright star. Back then it would have been the brightest star that anyone had ever seen.
The Star of Bethlehem on Youtube. - Frederick A. Larson
Sixth announcement: Herod
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born.
A few Countries that don’t celebrate Christmas. China, Egypt, Mongolia, Morocco, Qatar
These countries may not celebrate Christmas but the celebration of Christmas will still be celebrated.
Roughly 9.6% of Qatar's population is Christian
estimates are between 93 million and 115 million Christ followers in China
Roughly 10% of Egypt's population is Christian
In Mongolia estimates have ranged as high as 85,000 Christ followers.
Christmas is forbidden in North Korea. But it is reported that 300k Christ followers live there.
If our brothers and sisters in Jesus can and will celebrate Christmas in hostel countries how much more can we and should we celebrate and announce the Savior was born?