Mary's Faithful Submission

Scripture Reading

Luke 1:26–38 NKJV

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.” Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

I. Why a Virgin Birth?

A. So Jesus can be The Christ

In order for Jesus to be the Messiah, he must be King of Israel, and to do this he must “inherit the throne of his father David.” Jesus can only do that on the basis of his ancestry - being God doesn’t give the right to nullify God’s promises.

God promised David that only David’s biological descendants would inherit the throne of Israel 2 Sam 7:11-16 . Even God in the flesh, if he were not descended from David’s royal line, could not sit on the throne of Israel, since God himself promised that no one else would ever rightfully sit on David’s throne except his own offspring.

2 Samuel 7:11–16 NKJV

since the time that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel, and have caused you to rest from all your enemies. Also the Lord tells you that He will make you a house. “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.” ’ ”

The first Davidic son to inherit the Davidic Covenant was by necessity, Solomon - he’s the one who built the temple as God promised. And he did sin, and God judged him for it, but God did not remove him from office as he did Saul. But while God promised that Solomon’s Throne would endure forever, God did not say that Solomon’s biological offspring would inherit forever.

Therefore the right to the throne, and therefore the right to transmit that right to his son, passed from David, to Solomon, to Rehoboam, etc. All the way down. But once we get to Jeconiah (AKA Jehoiachin), we have a bit of a problem. God cursed the descendants of Jehoiachin to never sit on the throne of David (Jer 22:28-30).

Jeremiah 22:28–30 NKJV

“Is this man Coniah a despised, broken idol— A vessel in which is no pleasure? Why are they cast out, he and his descendants, And cast into a land which they do not know? O earth, earth, earth, Hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord: ‘Write this man down as childless, A man who shall not prosper in his days; For none of his descendants shall prosper, Sitting on the throne of David, And ruling anymore in Judah.’ ”

Now before Jesus came, this problem probably seemed impossible. But Jesus solves it. First of all, he is the biological offspring of David. And this is the best way to understand a conundrum - there are two geneaologies of Jesus, one in Luke the other in Matthew. But they diverge after David and aren’t at all the same. There’s a number of good solutions, but I think the best one is that both Matthew and Luke were trying to solve the problem of how to relate the geneaology of the virgin-born Son of Mary. Ancestry in ancient Israel always went from father to son, since normally only men inherited property. Thus, you can’t put a woman in an ancestry designed to show who inherits what, but Jesus has no father to insert. Matthew and Luke solve the problem in different ways.

Luke already told us that Jesus was virgin-born, so when we see Luke 3:23, we know that he wasn’t the son of Joseph, he was the son of Mary. So we the reader are meant to read it like this. In other words, Jesus’ actual lineage starts with his maternal grandfather Heli. And when you follow that geneaology all the way down, you find that Mary was descended from one of David and Bathsheba’s other children, Nathan. She did pass on the biological line of David, but she could not pass on the direct right to the throne, as only the descendants of Jeconiah could do that.

Luke 3:23 NKJV

Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli,

But Matthew gives us Joseph’s ancestry (Matt 1:16), and also makes it crystal clear that Joseph is not the father of Jesus. First of all, he also tells us of the virgin birth, but from Joseph’s perspective. Second, the Greek language uses a feminine pronoun for “of whom” meaning he could only be referring to Mary as Jesus’ mother.

Matthew 1:16 NKJV

And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.

But Joseph is descended from Jeconiah (Matt 1:11). He did inherit both the right to the throne of David, but also the curse of Jeconiah forever barring him from using that right. Joseph can pass on the right to the throne, but he can only do so if Jesus has no other man who can claim him as a son.

Matthew 1:11 NKJV

Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon.

Thus, Jesus is the rightful Son of David. He inherits the right to the throne from Joseph, but because he isn’t Joseph’s biological son, he skips the curse of Jeconiah. He also inherits the seed of David from Mary, so he is still David’s biological son. Thus, Jesus is the Christ, the only and final Son of David. No other son of David can have a claim as good as he, since only Jesus is the virgin-born son of Mary.

B. Because God is a God of Miracles

Gabriel reminds Mary that “with God nothing shall be impossible.” This is a classic statement of God’s omnipotence Gen 18:14; Jer 32:17; Matt 19:26. In other words, everyone knew that the Virgin Birth was, of course, impossible, unless a God who works miracles exists.

Genesis 18:14 NKJV

Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”

Jeremiah 32:17 NKJV

‘Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.

Matthew 19:26 NKJV

But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

When St Joseph discovered that his fiancee was going to have a baby, he not unnaturally decided to repudiate her. Why? because he knew just as well as any modern gynaecologist that in the ordinary course of nature women do not have babies unless they have lain with men. No doubt the modern gynaecologist knows several things about birth and begetting which St Joseph did not know. But those things do not concern the main point—that a virgin birth is contrary to the course of nature. And St Joseph obviously knew that.

In the early 20th century, the Christian movement known as Fundamentalism rose up in reaction to theological liberalism. This movement, stemming from the Bible conference movement of the late 19th century, made the Virgin birth one of the five “fundamentals” or essential truths that all genuine Christians must affirm.

The inerrancy of Scripture

The deity of Christ

The virgin birth

The substitutionary atonement

the bodily resurrection and future return of Jesus Christ

It’s fairly obvious why most of these things are on the list

Without an inerrant bible, we can’t know that any of the rest of it is true.

If Jesus were merely a man, he

would be a false prophet

would not be able to forgive our sins

would not be able to die for the sins of the whole world.

Without the substitutionary atonement, God’s justice is not appeased, therefore we would still be under the wrath of God and without hope.

Without a bodily resurrection Christianity is false, and you are still in your sins.

But why is the virgin birth on there?

Because it’s the litmus test to figure out if you really believe in a God who can do the impossible. While you do need to believe in miracles to have an inerrant Bible and bodily resurrection, Theological liberals play word-games with those things, so that they can claim to believe them all the while meaning something very different than what you mean.

But this doesn’t work for the virgin birth. Only a miracle explains it, so if you believe in a God who can do miracles, then it’s not hard to believe it. If you believe in a world controlled only by natural processes, then you will find it ridiculous.

Since only a God of miracles can do all the things the Bible claims, if you don’t believe in a God who can do miracles, you are not a Christian. That’s not quite the same as believing that God normally does miracles any time you ask him. I am a cessationist; I believe that God does not normally do miracles today; but what’s much more important is whether or not you believe in a supernatural God, or merely that natural processes reign forever.

II. How did Mary find favor with God?

It’s a real pity what the Catholics did to Mary. Now, orthodox Catholic doctrine declares a number of unscriptural doctrines about her

Mary as the queen of heaven

Her immaculate conception, perpetual virginity, assumption.

Mary as a “co-redemptrix” -

“worship” is to be given to God alone, yet “service” should be rendered, to Mary most of all. This is a distinction without a difference. Shrines to Mary appear everywhere in Catholic buildings and churches.

The rosary alludes to the angel’s announcement “Hail Mary full of Grace.” They get that expression from the Latin translation of this passage, but it’s a radical misunderstanding of what Gabriel meant. Yes the word for Grace is used, but it does not mean that Mary somehow has extra salvific grace to impart to others.

Instead it’s a declaration already assuming the great blessing God is about to bestow on Mary - the tremendous privilege of being the mother of the Messiah. God did the same thing to Gideon Judges 6:12.

Judges 6:12 NKJV

And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!”

So how should we apply Mary’s favor with God? We too have received special blessings from God. First of all, all Christians have already received all spiritual blessings Eph 1:3, and we await Jesus’ return when we will all reign with him (Romans 8:17; 2 Tim 2:12). But we have individually also received unique blessings - perhaps not as spectacular as Mary’s, but unique blessings nonetheless. 1 Cor 12:27-30.

Ephesians 1:3 NKJV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

Romans 8:17 NKJV

and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

2 Timothy 2:12 NKJV

If we endure, We shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us.

1 Corinthians 12:27–30 NKJV

Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?

III. What makes Mary’s Submission a Model of Humble Faith?

Perhaps my favorite part of this whole story is Mary’s humble submission to the will of God. It’s really quite a remarkable declaration of humble faith in God. Why is that so?

A.She Believed the Harder Miracle

We should remember that it was customary back then for women to marry extremely young. Most marriages were arranged marriages by the parents, and they normally married off their daughters as young as possible, even as young as 14-16 years old. So Mary was almost certainly a teenager.

Contrast Mary’s youth with Zechariah’s age and experience. You’d assume that the old wise priest would choose to worship God with greater fidelity, instead of the young, inexperienced girl. However, we find instead that Mary humbly accepted God’s will when she had to accept that God would perform an entirely unique miracle. Zechariah and Elizabeth weren’t the first elderly couple to have a child past age. Abraham and Sarah; Isaac and Rebekah; Menoah and his wife the parents of Samson; and Hannah and Elkhanah the parents of Samuel were all people who had received the same miracle that Zechariah and Elizabeth did. Yet Zechariah didn’t believe the angel, while Mary believed a much tougher miracle.

While it’s normal for wisdom to increase with age, remember that this process isn’t automatic. It’s possible for an older person to make poorer choices which results in decreasing wisdom; while a young person may carefully listen to the Word of God and therefore gain wisdom that exceeds most elderly people.

B. She Submitted to the Hardest Blessing

Remember that the blessing that Mary received was a tough one to hear. Zechariah’s blessing was easy to hear - it’s what he always wanted, and everyone would rejoice with him when he heard it. Mary’s blessing was enormously difficult. In Jewish culture of her day, having a child out of wedlock was extremely shameful. While the law commanded stoning for betrothed girls who were unfaithful, it’s unlikely that this was actually carried out in the first century. However, Mary would be marked by the stigma of unfaithfulness for decades, even though she wasn’t guilty (John 8:41).

John 8:41 NKJV

You do the deeds of your father.” Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.”

More than that, remember that all her friends would mock and condemn her, and she’s only a teenager. She may have been young, but she was smart enough to know that this would happen. Of course, the privilege of being the mother of the Messiah was beyond compare, but to accept this, she had to have enough faith to see beyond the present shame to the unmatched future glory of motherhood God had promised her.

Even worse, the angel didn’t assure her that Joseph would be OK with this, or that her family would accept her. She would have to accept the possibility of being alienated by both her fiancee and her family, and get stuck trying to raise her son with no support or any way of feeding her and him. That’s not what happened of course, but the angel didn’t tell her it wouldn’t. She had to accept a truly terrifying risk with no assurances that it would work out in the short run. In the long run she had the guarantee that it would work out, but reckoning on that required that she see ahead - no easy feat for a young teenage girl.

I’m convinced that the greatest blessings God can give you are the hardest ones. God sometimes gives easy blessings that are easy to hear, and easy to receive. A promotion at work; the child you’ve prayed for is finally here; a great opportunity. But hard blessings are ones that take faith to accept, because the short term is actually painful. To receive a hard blessing you have to look beyond the present pain to the future glory. Heb 12:2.

IV. What Child is This?

He will be Great - no qualifier as with John, since once Jesus is revealed as great, no one will doubt it. He will not simply be great in God’s eyes, but in all eyes.

He will be the Son of God - three ways

This was the promise of the Davidic Covenant 2 Sam 7:14

2 Samuel 7:14 NKJV

I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men.

He will be the direct creation of God, a Second Adam (Luke 3:38; 1 Cor 15:45)

Luke 3:38 NKJV

the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

1 Corinthians 15:45 NKJV

And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

He will have all the attributes of God, therefore he will be God (Matt 14:33; Luke 22:70-71)

Matthew 14:33 NKJV

Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”

Luke 22:70–71 NKJV

Then they all said, “Are You then the Son of God?” So He said to them, “You rightly say that I am.” And they said, “What further testimony do we need? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth.”

As the Divine Son of God, Jesus would be Holy - that is (1) unique and special and (2) without sin.

He will reign as the Davidic King forever and ever.

“the throne of his father David” - David was a king who reigned as an earthly political ruler in Jerusalem. For Jesus to fulfill this promise, he must be at least that much. He can be more but he cannot be less.

“He will reign over a united Israel forever” - we believe in a 1000 year Millennium, but the Kingdom doesn’t end when the Millennium is over. Rather, once the 1000 years are over, Satan will be released and there will be one final revolt against God; with the immediate destruction of this final army, Heaven and Earth will pass away, but the Kingdom of Our Lord continues forever and ever.