The Birth Announcement

“The Birth Announcement”

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There are many standout announcements in history, Japan has bombed Pearl Harbor; WW 2 is over;

John F Kennedy has been assassinated, Donald J Trump has been elected president of United States of America.

You have made great announcements to your family and friends; we’re getting married, we bought a house, I got saved, we’re going to have a baby!

The announcement of Jesus birth to the Virgin Mary, by the angel Gabriel is by far one of the greatest announcement this world has ever heard. The greatest announcements that have even been made are all connected to Jesus! This particular announcement is about the conception of Jesus.

Jesus was to be conceived in a way unlike anyone else has ever been conceived. Jesus birth was natural, but his conception was supernatural!

We’re told in these verses that Jesus would be virgin-born; this is a truth that is absolutely incredible, awesome and mind-blowing. Jesus was born of a human mother, without a human father, Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, He was virgin born!

How does Luke know the story about Gabriel and Mary? Because he talked with Mary, and got the story first hand. (V:3).

Luke is a medical doctor, familiar with physical birth; that is why God chose him to give us this detailed record of the miraculous conception of Mary.

He was aware that what he was writing was a scientific, biological miracle!

The virgin birth of Jesus is the foundational doctrine upon which everything else we believe rest.

I know that the unbelieving world laughs at the idea of a virgin birth. They think it is some religious medieval fictitious fairytale; and they discount it as scientifically impossible. We are aware that it is scientifically impossible; it is a miracle, it is supernatural. But it is only natural for God to be supernatural! The virgin conception is a fact!

Satan hates the virgin birth, because it teaches both the humanity and the deity of Jesus Christ.

But worse than the ridicule of this world, and the hatred of Satan, is the question mark in the mind of many so-called Christians. There are people who profess to be believers who do not believe in the virgin birth, and doubt the virgin birth, and think it is unimportant.

A modern-day Baptist theologian that believes in the virgin birth said, “If we do not hold-to the virgin birth despite the fact that the Bible teaches it, then we have compromised the authority of the Bible and there is in principle no reason why we should hold to its other teachings. Thus, rejecting the virgin birth has implications reaching far beyond the doctrine itself”.

There are those who falsely believe, that you can take out the parts of Christianity that are supernatural, and leave the parts that are logical and reasonable. Like when you have laparoscopic surgery, they make a small incision, go in and take out your gallbladder, stitch you up, and you can get up and walk out. But Christianity is not like that, you can’t take vital doctrinal organs out of the body of truth; and the body of truth live on!

The virgin birth is at the heart of who Jesus really is! If you take away the virgin birth of Jesus, then Jesus is just like every other person. If you take away the virgin birth, you have destroyed the foundation of the Christian faith, and it all comes crumbling down. The virgin birth is not incidental, it is fundamental! Jesus is the greatest person to ever live on this earth; everything about Jesus is unique and supernatural; Jesus came into this world and left this world in a supernatural way!

The virgin birth teaches us about, #1:

1. The Grace of God!

V:26-30.

The angel Gabriel is dispatched from God to go to tell the Virgin Mary that she was to be the mother of the Messiah. Were told that she was living in Nazareth, and that she was a virgin, she was probably between 13-17 years old. The word virgin means she had never had sexual relations. Were told that she was engaged to the town carpenter Joseph.

When the angel spoke to her he said,

V:28-“greetings you are highly favored, the Lord is with you”.

Then again in, V:30-“fear not, Mary: for you have found favor with God”.

The word favor is the word grace!

It is hard to imagine that God could have found a more unlikely person to be the mother of the Messiah than Mary. Mary was a young, lowly, poor, uneducated peasant girl living in a small country town far from the center of power. Nazareth was considered a hillbilly town, surrounded by Gentiles.

Mary was in the eyes of the world a nobody, living in a nothing town, in the middle of nowhere.

Yet Mary was given the greatest honor than any woman has ever been given; she was chosen to be the mother of Jesus, and her humble, lowly estate in life was part of God’s plan.

In choosing Mary God shows us what humiliation his son would have to endure for our salvation. Jesus humbled himself, and stepped out of heaven into the lowest, poorest condition of life on this earth. Jesus humbled himself and became obedient to death even the death of the cross. To rescue us from our sin and lift us up to glory, Jesus first enter into the misery of our lost and fallen condition. What better way to show us grace, than for him to be born to a poor girl like Mary from a town like Nazareth.

God’s grace is for the least, the lost, and the lowly. God showed grace to Mary; Gabriel told Mary you have found favor, grace in the eyes of the Lord. God was with her to bless her, not because of her own merit/grace, but because of His grace.

Grace means to be treated with undeserved kindness. Martin Luther paraphrased Gabriel’s greeting like this: “Oh Mary, you are blessed. You have a gracious God, no woman has ever lived on earth who God has showed such grace to”

The Angels greeting has been misunderstood, and misinterpreted. Gabriel was not worshiping Mary; nor did he say that she was “full of grace”. These false ideas come from a prayer commonly used by Roman Catholics:

“Hail Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with thee Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of death”.

This is not a biblical prayer, the problem with that prayer is that it treats Mary as the source of grace rather than an object of grace.

V:28-“ highly favored /favored one is in the passive tense, which means that Mary is the one that was given grace by God; and not the one who gives grace to others.

It is clear that she was a recipient of grace, not a giver of grace, Mary did not achieve grace; she received grace. Grace pursued her, and changed her life forever!

That’s why she later said,V:47-“my soul rejoices in God my Savior”.

Sadly and mistakenly people pray to Mary because they think she has grace to give them.

The Bible never says that Mary was without sin, or that she remained a virgin, or that she’s able to give grace to sinners.

One can only imagine how this must break her heart to see people worshiping her; instead of worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ!

What does the Bible really say about Mary? She was chosen by the grace of God, to be the mother of Jesus, she was a virgin, and she submitted to the will of God for her life. Mary was saved by the grace of God, the same way you and I are saved!

V:28-“ Blessed are you among women”.

She was blessed among women; not above women, she was a sinner in need of the grace of God just like every other person!

Mary helps us not by giving us grace, but by showing that God can give us the same grace that He gave to her. Mary teaches us that God shows unmerited favor/grace to lowly sinners. Even when we might feel small and insignificant, and overlooked by the world, we can know that God is for us.

Do you know why God came to you and saved you? GRACE!

-“For the grace of God that brings salvation hath appeared to all men”.

-“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God”.

We are saved by Grace; it is grace, not works that removes our fears, V:30-“Fear not, Mary: for you have found grace with God”.

Mary was troubled at his greeting; and wondered what it meant, and why he was there, and what he would say to her.

The Grace of God, the favor of God; the kindness of God had come to her. God had a very special purpose for her.

And this morning the grace of God offers you salvation, deliverance from fear; and peace.

The virgin birth teaches us about, #2:

2. The Son of God!

V:31-33.

After Gabriel tells her not to be afraid, because God had chosen her by his grace to be the mother of the son of God. He explains to her the significance of this special child, he tells her about His person and work.

· His name would be Jesus. (V:31)

The name Jesus means, Jehovah saves, or the Lord is salvation. This is the first time we are told that Jesus would be the savior in the New Testament. Jesus would bring salvation to sinners by dying on the cross in shame, and then rising again in victory.

Even from the announcement of Jesus birth, his name testifies to what he came to do; Jesus is the salvation of God!

Jesus name is the name above every name, and one day every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father.

· Jesus would be great. (V:32)

When the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah he told him that John the Baptist would be great in the sight of the Lord. But Jesus is the Lord, so he simply said he would be great; there is no limit to Jesus greatness! In the Old Testament, whenever this word is used without qualification, it always refers to God himself. By saying that Jesus would be great, Gabriel was testifying to the deity of Jesus Christ. No one is greater than Jesus; Jesus is God!

Jesus is great in wisdom, great in power, great in love, great in mercy, great in grace and great in glory! The greatness of Jesus, is the greatness of God, because Jesus is God!

Here we get the first mention of the meekness and majesty that would define the life and ministry of Jesus. Jesus was born in the humblest of circumstances, on earth he suffered poverty, loneliness, rejection, persecution and torture.

Jesus humbled himself to death, even the death of the cross. Yet Jesus was still the son of God, and God exalted him back to his greatness by raising him from the dead. Jesus humbled himself, and God exalted him.

We usually get that backwards, we exalt ourselves, trying to make ourselves greater than we are, and then God has to humble us. Jesus did the exact opposite: he humbled himself and God exalted him.

Jesus told his disciples, the way up in the eyes of God; is down. Jesus said, “He who is the least among you; is the one who is great”.

Jesus was the greatest because by His sacrifice on the cross he became the servant of all!

The angel Gabriel also said Jesus would be called:

· The Son of the most High. (V:32)

Gabriel would also tell us that Jesus would be,

V:35-“The son of God”.

Because Jesus is great, the son of the most high, the son of God; he would have a throne.

V:32-33“the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever: and of his kingdom there shall be no end”.

He would sit on the throne of David. God had promised David that his throne would be an everlasting throne.

Jesus would be David’s greater son, and his kingdom would never end!

The kingdoms of this world, come and go; but of his kingdom there shall be no end!

Christmas, the birth of Jesus is about the King of Kings and the Lord of lords coming this earth. Don’t forget that the baby in the manger, is not some weak, infant that you bring out once a year as an excuse to go shopping, have parties, and by presents. Jesus is the son of the most high God, he is the King of the universe! Every King who has ever reigned, every president who’s ever been elected, every judge who’s ever been seated; will one day bow before Jesus Christ and declare that he is Lord! Jesus is not a sideline issue; Jesus is the issue of life, there’s nothing more important than Jesus, and your relationship with him!

That is why we tell our family and our friends about Jesus! You can’t just ignore Jesus!

This one that was to be born of the Virgin Mary would be Jesus, the Savior of the world, the son of God, the most powerful ruler in the history of the world. Luke tells us this so you can know for sure that Jesus is who he says he is; so you will believe in Jesus as your Savior, worship him as your God, and serve him as your everlasting King.

The virgin birth teaches us about, #3:

3. The Power of God!

V:34-37.

After the angel Gabriel tells Mary all of this; Mary ask how will this be, since I am a virgin, V:34. Mary is not doubting the message from the angel; like Zacharias did. Mary is simply asking how is this going to happen, since I’ve never had a relationship with a man.

Mary is the first one to question how a virgin birth was possible. If Mary herself had been virgin born, she wouldn’t have been asking how is a virgin birth possible. Human conception without insemination was humanly impossible.

The Angels answer was it will be a supernatural conception; by the power of God’s Holy Spirit.

V:35-“And the angel answered and said unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon you, and the power of the highest shall overshadow you: therefore also that holy thing which will be born of you should be called the son of God”.

It will be a miracle! The Holy Spirit of God will overshadow you… The word overshadow means –“to envelop" it is taken from the Old Testament picture of the Temple.

When the Temple was dedicated to God, the glory cloud of God, symbolizing the presence and power of God came-over that Temple. The Temple was engulfed, enveloped in the glory of God.

Gabriel told Mary, the glory of God will come to envelop you, and that holy thing which shall be born of you shall be called the son of God."

The angel simply told Mary that your conception will be a miracle of God. And all the people who reject miracles, will find some other explanation for the words of the angel Gabriel. But is clear from Isaiah, and these verses that Mary was a virgin, and the Holy Spirit planted baby Jesus in her womb. Luke doesn’t try to explain, or theorize how it’s possible for a virgin to have a baby; he just tells us that God supernaturally did this! Luke just takes this as factual history; and this is one of the most stupendous miracles God has ever performed. Maybe you’re asking the same question that Mary ask how can this be? The answer is very simple; the power of God, Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit. The virgin birth of Jesus Christ is one of the essential facts and great mysteries of the Christian faith.

If we deny this, we deny the faith; because we deny the deity of Jesus Christ, because it is his conception by the Holy Spirit that makes him the Holy Son of God.

· The virgin birth proves that Jesus existed as God before he was born.

· The virgin birth proves that Jesus was sinless.

· The virgin birth fulfills Old Testament prophecy about the Savior.

Jesus had to be born of a woman to be a man, but if he had of been the physical offspring of Joseph, then he would have been nothing more than a man. His virgin birth, his divine conception by the Holy Spirit was necessary for his incarnation. Only the virgin birth preserves the humanity and the deity of Jesus Christ.

God who is involved in every pregnancy would bypass the man and touch Mary’s womb, and she would have a baby – without the human, sinful blood of Adam. He will have the blood of God – sinless, perfect, holy blood in his veins!

We are now talking about the real issue of the Virgin birth! If Jesus Christ was to be our Savior, He must come into the world without sin!

The Savior, who would die for the sins of the world, could have no sins to die for himself. It takes an innocent person to take the place of a guilty person. If Jesus was guilty of sin He could not have taken the place of the sinner, for he himself would be a sinner.

A murderer cannot take the place of another murder, because he has his own crime to pay far. For someone to take the place of another, they cannot be guilty of that which they're taking someone's place for!

So if Jesus was to be the sinless Savior, our substitute for sin, he must be born in a different way than the rest of Adams sinful, fallen race.

If Jesus had been born of Joseph, he would have had the blood of Joseph running through his veins, and that would have been sinful blood, he would have a sin nature just like you and I have.

-"Wherefore by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ;and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned”

-"David said I was born a sinner."

-"For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”

We get our sin nature from our parents. If Jesus had been born like us he would have been a sinner.

But he was not born as we are born. He was virgin born! So whose blood was in Jesus veins when he was born? It wasn’t Joseph's, it wasn't Mary's. How does someone prove who the father of a baby is? A blood test, the bloodline doesn't come through the mother, it comes through the father.

So whose blood was in that baby born the first Christmas?

-“feed the Church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood."

The blood that ran through Jesus veins was God's blood, innocent blood, sinless blood, holy blood, atoning blood, saving blood, precious blood!

Jesus came as he did, virgin born to be what he was, sinless, he was what he was sinless, to do what he did, die for our sins as a sinless substitute. He did what he did, that we might be who we are, sons of God by faith in what Jesus did on the cross.

No virgin birth, no sinless Christ, no sinless Christ, no atoning death, no atoning death, no forgiveness of sins, no forgiveness of sins, no hope of heaven.

But thank God, Jesus was virgin born, and His blood that was shed on the cross was perfect, sinless blood that made atonement for the sins of the world.

So the virgin birth is not a side issue, it is essential to knowing who Jesus is. Jesus was God in human flesh, the Messiah promised in the Old Testament, the sinless son of God who died as our substitute on the cross.

The angel Gabriel gives Mary a sign,

V:36-37-“your cousin Elizabeth she has also conceived a son in her old age and this is the

six-month with her, who was called barren. Far with God nothing shall be impossible”.

This would be encouraging words from Mary, if God was able to bring a child from a barren womb, he could by the power of His spirit cause her to have a baby as a virgin.

Think about it; if the power of God caused a virgin to conceive and have a son; then God is more than capable of handling the difficulties in our daily lives. Do you believe in the mighty power of God? Is there anything in your life that seems impossible? God is the God of the impossible! He is the God of the virgin birth! There is no sin He cannot forgive, no relationship He cannot restore, no problem He cannot solve, no need He cannot meet, no ministry He cannot bless, no grief He cannot comfort, no life He cannot reclaim, no sinner He cannot save. The God of the virgin birth is a God who makes all things possible.

Notice Mary’s response to what the angel tells her, V:38-“I am the Lord’s handmaid, bondservant be it to me according to your word…

How amazing is that! Mary who is engaged to Joseph, who has her marriage and life all planned out; suddenly has her world turned upside down, and she says I surrender to your will for my life Lord! Without arguing, or questioning Mary trusted God. This would mean for Mary, Joseph breaking off the engagement, giving up her reputation, being looked down on and gossiped about in the little town of Nazareth.

Lord, let it be according to your word, total submission – body soul and spirit, no hesitation or reservation. As soon as Gabriel finished speaking, she said yes!

Would you this morning say yes to God’s will for your life? God is not willing that any should perish; but that all should come to repentance. God’s desire for you this morning is that you be saved! That’s why Jesus came; to live and to die that you might have life and life more abundantly.

Are you a Christian? Would you say like Mary, Lord I’m your servant, I trust you with my life, my relationships, with the path you have for me. Like Mary will you live for God no matter what people think, or say?