Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION

v. 31, call his name Jesus - He will bring salvation.

v. 32, called the Son of the Most High

v. 35, will be called holy - the Son of God - He will be sinless

[CONTEXT] God sent Gabriel to announce to a priest named Zechariah that he would be the father of a great man of God named John who would be the forerunner of the Messiah, the forerunner of the Anointed One who would save God’s people from their sins.

[CIT] Then God sent Gabriel to announce to a virgin named Mary that she would be the mother of the greatest man of God - a man named Jesus who would be the Messiah, the Anointed, God in the flesh sent to save his people from their sins.

[PROP] As we study this passage, we will see Jesus and be left in awe as we see the wisdom and power of God in announcing to Mary the birth of her son and his, our Savior Jesus.

Mary (ma’-ry) = Bitterness; rebellious; obstinate; (root = trouble; sorrow; disobedience; rebellion).

Greek form of Miriam = Their rebellion.

Jesus (je’-zus) = Jehovah is salvation; Jehova, my salvation; Savior.

Greek form of Jehoshua.

29.

Greatly troubled.

The Greek word here is very strong and intense and is used nowhere else in the New Testament.

In a religion which really comes down from heaven, there will always be mysteries.

Of such mysteries in Christianity, the Incarnation is one.

MAJOR IDEAS

The Humility of Jesus’s Coming ().

God sent his Son through unknown virgin from an obscure town.

Nazareth was so obscure that it wasn’t mentioned in the OT.

It was a town of less than 2,000 people in Jesus’s day and although it was located on road that led from one place to another, it was never thought of as a destination itself.

As Nathanael said to Philip in ...

God sent his Son through unknown virgin from an obscure town.

Nazareth was so obscure that it wasn’t mentioned in the OT.

It was a town of less than 2,000 people in Jesus’s day and although it was located on road that led from one place to another, it was never thought of as a destination itself.

As Nathanael said to Philip in ...

That’s were Gabriel delivered his message to Mary and where Jesus would spend the early part of his life (cf., ).

God surely could have done this some other way had he wanted.

One preacher said, “It would have been great condescension (for Jesus) to come to earth as a king and reign.

It was a miracle of mercy beyond our understanding (for Jesus) to come to earth as a poor man, to be despised and suffer and die,” (J.

C. Ryle).

It is in fact humility that will mark everything about Jesus.

He didn’t just preach to crowds, he welcomed children.

He didn’t just debate religious leaders, he healed the untouchable (i.e., lepers) with a touch.

He showed just as much interest in the spiritual wellbeing of a Samaritan woman at a well as he did a religious leader named Nicodemus who came to question him during the night (, ).

He was the Son of Man come, not to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many, ().

This humility began before birth.

As says...

Ryle, J. C. (1997).

Luke ().

Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.There must be something to this humble beginning.

It is in fact humility that will mark everything about Jesus.

There must be something to this humble beginning.

It is in fact humility that will mark everything about Jesus.

Likewise, says...

[TS] Because of the humility of Jesus’s birth and the humility that marked his life and ministry, it’s almost ironic that he is described by Gabriel in such wonderful ways.

That brings us to the Greatness of Jesus, which Gabriel describes in vv.

31-33.

The Greatness of Jesus ().

Even before Jesus is being carried in Mary’s womb, Gabriel says that he will be great.

Even before Jesus is being carried in Mary’s womb, Gabriel says that he will be great.

Gabriel says that Jesus will be great because he is Savior.

The name Jesus means “Jehovah is salvation” or “Jehovah, my salvation” or “Savior.”

This is highlighted in where, after Joseph resolved to divorce Mary quietly, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said...

Gabriel says that Jesus will be great because he is God.

He actually says that Jesus will be called the Son of the Most High (v.

32), which is another name for God used throughout Scripture.

Now, this is an astonishing claim, but it is equating Jesus with God.

It is no doubt saying that Jesus is God.

This was a claimed that Jesus made as well.

In Jesus said...

John 10“I and the Father are One.”

Likewise, in , Philip said to Jesus...

And Jesus replied...

John 14:

“If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.”

It is beyond our comprehension, but God exists as One God in three Persons: Father, Son, and Spirit.

All three Persons are completely God individually.

(In other words, each Person in the Godhead doesn’t have 33.333333%

divinity.

Each Person of the Godhead is 100% divine.

Each Person is 100% divine.)

And yet, there are not three Gods but One God in three Persons.

All that to say that, when Gabriel says Jesus will be called the Son of the Most High, he is saying that Jesus is God.

In v. 35, in fact, Gabriel says Jesus will be called the holy Son of God, because his Father will be God the Father who is holy.

Gabriel says that Jesus will be great because he is King.

Luke is sure to include the detail in v. 27 that Joseph is of the house of David.

Although Joseph wasn’t Jesus’s biological father, he would have been Jesus’s father in the eyes of most everyone else who didn’t know any better and weren’t going to believe anything else.

In fact, after Jesus astonishes the people of his hometown with his wisdom and mighty works, they ask in ...

Luke included this detail about Joseph to prove that Jesus had a legal right to the throne of David.

This important because Gabriel said Jesus would be the fulfillment of God’s promise to David in , which says...

There are parts of that promise that applied to David’s son, Solomon, such as building God a house or temple.

However, there are other parts of that promise that could not have been about Solomon.

(E.g., Solomon’s throne was not established forever.)

Gabriel said that Jesus’s kingdom would be.

Again, says...

Israel’s true Savior, God, and King was coming into the world through the womb of a virgin named Mary.

The Work of the Holy Spirit ().

Mary did not doubt what God promised.

She was, however, genuinely confused about how she, a virgin, was going to have a baby.

She was looking for a biological or natural answer to her question in v. 34.

Gabriel, however, gave a supernatural answer.

Look at again at what Gabriel says in v. 35a...

But even after hearing this explanation, if we were looking for a biological answer to Mary’s question, we might be tempted to ask, “What?

What do you mean ‘the Holy Spirit will come upon (me);’ that ‘the power of the Most High will overshadow (me)’”?

Joseph didn’t receive a clearer explanation.

In Matthew’s gospel, Joseph was simply told that Mary was with child “from the Holy Spirit,” ().

Likewise, we won’t receive a clearer answer than the supernatural one given to Mary in Luke 1:35.

The renown Anglican Bishop J. C. Ryle said Gabriel’s answer to Mary in v. 35 demands holy reverence rather than unprofitable speculation.

That is surely correct.

He also said...

J.C. Ryle on Mary being overshadowed by the power of the Most High (v.