The Word Made Flesh

Luke 1:26–38 NIV

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 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, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 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. 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. For no word from God will ever fail.” “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

Introduction: Reader's Theatre - BNM2 Pages 19-20

25 - Is the Virgin Birth Real?

I am one of those Christians who does not believe in the virgin birth, nor in the star of Bethlehem, nor in the journeys of the wisemen, nor in the shepherds coming to the manger, as facts of history. – Marcus Borg

If you and I could dig up documentation that contradicted the holy stories of Islamic belief, Judaic belief, Buddhist belief, pagan belief, should we do that? Should we wave a flag and tell the Buddhists that the Buddha did not come from a lotus blossom? Or that Jesus was not born of a literal virgin birth? Those who truly understand their faiths understand the stories are metaphorical. – Dan Brown

Luke 1 - Luke here states that he checked his sources for the history behind Jesus.

https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/was-the-virgin-conception-borrowed-from-prior-mythologies/ - J. Warner Wallace

The Mythologies are not that similar - “Mithras emerged from rock and Horus was conceived between Isis and Osiris two gods.”

The Jews were not that accomodating - Reading about why Jewish people do not accept Jesus as the Messiah - They did not conceive the Messiah as “The Son of God.” Just a human military leader.

The assumption is Gentile writers are making up stories, but these are not Gentile writers. They are Jewish writers making the claim that Jesus is the Messiah.

The Resurrection for these writers transform their thinking about who the Messiah is. Not just a man, but a God Man.

Likewise - The event of the virgin birth explains who Jesus is - not the other way around.

The Borrowing was not that directional -

Scholars generally agree that not even one pre-Christian source identifies Horus as virgin-born.1

What is Luke trying to say by recounting this story.

26 - Jesus’ Birth is the Fulfillment of God’s Word.

Here is a good story explaining how people hunger for a Savior: “One day a Hindu philosopher visited a women’s school of village evangelism and asked if he might lecture [the] women on Hinduism. [He was] granted permission, and returned with two others. All sat on mats round [the] floor, and [the] Hindu pundit gave [an] interesting talk on God, ending with a transcendent Being so far away and unapproachable, and man in the depths of such abysmal ignorance and degradation, that they were left gasping for breath. When he suddenly stopped, the women cried out, ‘But go on, go on, you can’t stop there.’ ‘Our religion stops there,’ he replied” (The London Churchman (1950), quoted in John Stott, “Salvation,” The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott, ed. Mark Meynell [Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018], Logos).

For Many in our culture their religion stops there. It has no room for a God, who loves us so much that he emptied himself to come so near us as to be born as a baby like us, to take on humanity like us, to grow in wisdom and stature like us, and to live among us.

What I mean by Word is God’s Promises.

“1. The promise of continuity for David’s lineage (Psa 89:5, 30, 37; 2 Sam 7:12). - vs. 32

2. The promise of the Lord’s perpetual faithfulness and mercy (Psa 89:5, 25, 29; 2 Sam 7:15), in spite of his discipline of David’s son (Psa 89:31–33; 2 Sam 7:14). - There is no Davidic King on the throne at the time.

3. The promise of a unique father-son relationship (Psa 89:27–28; 2 Sam 7:14). - vs. 35

4. The promise of an eternal throne for David (Psa 89:5, 30, 37; 2 Sam 7:13, 16). - vs. 33

(Mark L. Strauss, “Messiah,” The Lexham Bible Dictionary [Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016], Logos).

1. God’s promises for Israel from her past set the tone for the future arrival of his Anointed One. While it is fair to say that God would anoint kings and leaders for tasks and leadership, none could have been referred to as God’s Messiah or Christ. This title was reserved for God’s coming Savior and Redeemer. In this season, we are invited to stop and consider what it means that in Jesus we have a Savior, Redeemer, and King to lead, guide, and direct our lives.

Hendriksen and Kistemaker write, “Not only will Mary have a son, and not only will this son be great, even the Son of the Most High, to whom God will give the throne of his father David, but thirdly, the rule of this Jesus will last forever: he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end. ” (Hendriksen and Kistemaker, Luke, 87).

So Jesus will fulfill his word to save, to establish God’s Kingdom, and that this Kingdom will be forever, but it will be done through the impossible. The virgin birth. Why is this important.

Mary’s response is inspirational for us...

27 - Accept God at His Word.

- Mary confused scared, confused, “How can this be?”

- Facing ridicule the possibility of being ostracized, wondering if Joseph will charge her with adultery.

- For her it is a privilage to participate in his promises, and it is a sign that even if the world rejects her, she belongs.

We are not called to do what Mary did, but consider how we can participate in accepting God at his word.

Bev Sent me this.

This time of year, we talk about Mary a lot.

But what about Mary’s mother?

Someone had to raise Mary to find favor with God.

Someone had to raise Mary to treasure purity.

Someone had to raise Mary to honor Joseph.

Someone had to raise Mary to know the voice of the Lord, even though they were living in the silent years.

Mary’s mother, we don’t know her name.

We don’t know what her life looked like.

We don’t know who she was married to, or what he was like.

All we know is, she raised the mother of Christ.

She raised a daughter, highly favored of the Lord.

She raised a daughter to fear the Lord, when the Lord was silent.

This is what we know.

Mary’s mother didn’t have an encounter with Angel, telling her to raise Mary carefully because of how the Lord was going to use her.

Mary’s mother chose to raise Mary wisely so that the Lord could use her.

Mary’s mother didn’t have an encounter with Angel, telling her to honor her husband, because Mary would need to honor Joseph when he told her to travel to Bethlehem while she was great with child, when he told her to flee Herod’s wrath (before it came to pass) in the middle of the night, Mary’s mother just honored her husband, obeyed, and submitted to him because she knew that’s what she was called to do.

Mary’s mother didn’t have an encounter with an angel, giving her a word to cling to in those dark, silent years. But she clung to the word of God that she had. She trusted his word, even during his silence.

And her home shone with divine favor, because she made choices in the dark, that affected the whole world.

Mary did you know?

She knew some, she knew what the Angel told her.

But Mary’s mother?

She had no idea.

But she chose to raise a daughter that the Lord could use.

And that choice still affects us all today.

Who you raise can affect eternity.

The example you set in marriage, can affect eternity.

Your home can make the gates of Hell tremble.

But it starts with you.

Conclusion:

Youth/Chidren: How does Jesus' birth relate to me?

Exploring Jesus: Is the Virgin Birth Real?

Growth: How Does the Incarnation help me grow closer to Jesus?

Close/Centered: Model following Jesus Word.