The Greatness of Christ

Introduction

we live in a day when it is usual to find out a lot about your baby before it is born.

In the age in which we live it is very common to have an ultrasound scan. But it has never been common in any age to have the birth of you baby announced by an angel.

We see a few accounts of this in the Bible and it always shows that the baby will be someone significant in the Lord’s plan of salvation.

We have in our passage the announcement of the greatest man who has ever been born.

We know from his life death and resurrection that he was the greatest one who ever walked our planet.

We have evidence of this today in the multitudes of people who claim him as their Lord and Saviour.

Even people who refuse to worship him cannot escape the greatness of Jesus Christ. It confronts them every time they say the date and every time December comes around.

In our passage this morning we see that before Christ was even born his greatness was foretold.

We see that this baby will be someone great by the three statements made by the angel Gabriel to Mary.

As we look forward to Christmas it is good that we are reminded of these truths. In this passage, those of who who believe in Jesus are reminded what a wonderful Saviour we have. Any here today who perhaps do not yet believe in Jesus are confronted with the truth about Jesus and their need of him.

We are going to look at this passage by focusing on the three statements made by Gabriel and looking at what we learn about Jesus from them.

I. Unique announcement 26-28

a) Gabriel sent

The passage begins by setting the scene. In v.26-27 we read “26 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.”

The scene begins with the angel Gabriel being sent by God to Mary, who was betrothed to Joseph. Which means they were engaged and waiting to get married.

b) Greeting

In v.28 we see that Gabriel enters the place where Mary is and greets her. “And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favoured one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”.

Here we have the first statement made by the angel to Mary.

It is a greeting.

What do we learn about the Lord Jesus Christ from this greeting? On the surface it might seem that we do not learn anything about Jesus in this greeting but only about Mary.

We do learn about Mary but what we learn is only true about her because of the Son she is going to have.

The angel greets her with a common greeting. Rejoice! Or greetings as some translations have it. Then Gabriel calls her highly favoured.

The tense of this word shows us that she has been chosen by God in the past to fulfil an important role. She is highly favoured because God has chosen her out to do something very significant.

We see as we keep reading that she is highly favoured because she is going to give birth to the Saviour of the world, the promised Messiah who is the Son of God.

Then the angel continues and says the words “Blessed are you among women!” These words are not included in some translations but there is very strong evidence to suggest they should be. These words again show that the child Mary is going to give birth to is very important. She is blessed among women. You could even say she is the most blessed woman to have ever lived or who will ever live.

Why? because she is holy, or because she is full of grace. No, she isn’t special because of anything in herself, but rather because of the task God has chosen her to do.

Here we see that before Gabriel even speaks of Christ, that the one who will be born is special, and for that reason Mary has been highly favoured by God, and she is truly blessed among women.

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I wonder before we go any further, can we say that we agree with this first statement? Can we agree that Mary was highly favoured by God and that she was blessed among women?

The only way we can agree with these statements is if we acknowledge the significance of Jesus Christ. If we recognise that he is the Saviour of the world, the eternal Son of God who became a man, then we can say Mary was highly favoured by God and blessed among women, because God chose her to give birth to the One who came to save us from our sin.

The angel greets Mary and we learn from that greeting that Mary has been blessed because of the one she is going to give birth to. In the next statement we learn what is is that makes this baby so special.

II. Christ’s greatness foretold 29-33

a) Mary reassured v.29

After hearing the greeting of Gabriel, Mary was confused about what this meant.

We read in v.29 “But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was”

Seeing that Mary was worried about what this meant, the angel reassured Mary. In this reassurance we learn about the greatness of Christ.

b) Christ’s greatness foretold

In v.30 we read “Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”

Gabriel tells Mary not to be afraid and then he restates the fact that Mary has found grace with God. Then in the verses that follow Gabriel foretells the greatness of Christ. We learn four important truths about this one that is going to be born.

i) Saviour

Firstly we learn that he is going to be the Saviour. In v.31 the Angel says “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS.”

The name Jesus means Saviour or Yahweh Saves. In Matthew 1:21 we read “and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins”.

The reason he was to be called Jesus was because that is what he came to do. He left the glory and splendour of heaven, he entered our world being born of the virgin Mary in order to save his people from their sins.

He was born to fulfil God’s plan of salvation.

To save people from sin and from hell, to give forgiveness of sins to all who believe. The angel announces that Mary is going to give birth to the Saviour.

ii) He will great

Next the angel says in v.32 “He will be great...”

A similar statement was made about John the Baptist in v.15 of this chapter. The difference though is important. Gabriel told Zechariah that john the Baptist will be great in the sight of the Lord, John the Baptist’s greatness had to be qualified.

Where as here Gabriel says that Jesus will be great and that is it. Jesus Christ’s greatness will be absolute.

He is great, his character, life, attributes define greatness.

iii) Son of the Most high

Not only will he be great, he will also be called the Son of God. Gabriel continues and says “he will be called the Son of the Highest.”

Gabriel tells Mary that she is going to give birth to a Son but in reality he is the Son of the Most high God. He is the Son of God. He is fully divine. The second person of the Trinity.

Here we find a fulfilment of the prophecy in Isa 7:14 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel”

A virgin will give birth to a Son who will be called Immanuel which means God with us. Gabriel is telling Mary that this Son of hers will be divine.

iv) He will reign forever

As he is the Saviour, who is great and the Son of God he will rule and reign forever.

We learn this from the final part of this statement. “and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end”

Here we see that he is the promised Messiah King who will reign forever.

This statement from Gabriel shows that Jesus Christ fulfils the Old testament prophecies about the coming Messiah.

In Isa 9:6-7 we read “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.”

This is what Mary was told about the baby she is going to have; He will rule from David’s throne, He will rule over the house of Jacob, His Kingdom will never end. In other words he is the King of kings and Lord of lords.

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We see from this second statement made by Gabriel that the Lord Jesus Christ, yes he was born as a baby but he would grow to be the Saviour of the world. He would die on the cross in the place of sinners and rise again the third day. He would give forgiveness of sins to all who believe in him. He came to save all who put their faith in him.

He would be great, in every way.

He is the Son of God, God manifest in the flesh, the Second person of the Trinity, God the Son.

He would rule and reign and of his kingdom there will be no end.

The question that must be asked is have you submitted to the reign of Jesus Christ in your own life? Is he your Lord and Saviour?

Yes he was born as a baby in a manger. But we see here he came to be so much more than a baby. He is the Saviour of the world. He demands our obedience and faith. He saves from hell, However he is also the judge of all the earth. He offers mercy and forgiveness to all who believe but as a righteous king he also punishes rebellion against his kingship.

Today he offers your terms of peace. He offers you a place in his kingdom a seat at his table. He died for our sins on the cross he rose again the third day, now he calls you to repentance and faith.

Those of us who have done that already, what a wonderful Saviour we have. We should be seeking to serve him and love him with all we are and all we have.

We have seen in Gabriel’s first statement that this baby is going to be significant by the fact that Mary was blessed because she had been chosen by God to give birth to him. We have seen in the second statement that this is the great Saviour, who is the Son of God. The King of kings who rules forever.

Finally from the third statement of Gabriel we see in a clear manner that this baby is God’s Son.

III. He is the Son of God 34-35

a) How can this be? v.34

After hearing this great description about the one she will give birth to, Mary asks how this is possible. in v.34 she says to Gabriel “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”

Here Mary is saying to the angel how is this possible seeing that I am a virgin. The phrase I do not know a man, was a Hebraic way of saying I have not had sexual intercourse with a man.

b) He will be conceived by the Holy Spirit v.35

Then in v.35 the angel explains how this will come to pass. “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.”

From this statement we learn that this baby will be conceived in Mary’s womb as the result of a creative act on the part of God. God will create the baby in her womb.

The two verbs that are used in this verse show that this is a creative act on God’s part and that the idea of sexual intercourse is absolutely ruled out.

The Holy Spirit will come down upon you and the power of the Most High will over shadow you. The idea here is similar to when we see the cloud overshadow the disciples on the mount of transfiguration. The verb which we translate as overshadow is the same in both places.

The point the angel making is that this baby will be created by God in Mary’s womb.

He finishes his statement by saying “Therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.”

Here we see that he will be called the Son of God, because he really is the Son of God. He is the Second person of the Trinity who has taken upon himself a human body. God manifest in the flesh. As John 1:14 says “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

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Again this statement of the angel declares to us the greatness of the one who was to be born. The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, who took on flesh in order to save people from their sin.

Here we see the love of God. God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son so that whoever believes in him should not perish but should have everlasting life.

Again the challenge comes to us. Have you repented of you sin and put your trust in Jesus Christ. This Christmas is this Saviour your Saviour?

If he is then we should be encouraged and spurred on by this truth to love Jesus with all our heart, mind, soul and strength.

Conclusion

We see in this passage that the angel Gabriel is sent by God with a message to Mary.

The angel makes three statements.

From these statements we learn about the greatness of the one who was born of the virgin Mary.

Mary was blessed among women, because she had been chosen by God to give birth to the eternal Son of God.

The One who was to be born, was the Saviour of the world, He would be Great, called the Son of God, He was the Messiah King who would rule and reign forever.

The baby would be created in Mary’s womb by God himself, the baby who would be born is the eternal Son of God. God manifest in the flesh.

To put it in a sentence. Gabriel declared to Mary that her Son was going to be the eternal Son of God who is the Saviour of the world and who would rule and reign forever.

This is who Jesus Christ is. This is why Christmas makes sense. This birth is worth celebrating.

As we anticipate Christmas day, let us remember and meditate upon these truths about the Lord Jesus. Yes he was born as a baby, but he came to save sinners. He was laid in a manger, but he died on a cross. He was born, he lived and he died and rose again in order to save his people from their sins.

He is the eternal Son of God who is the Saviour of the world and who rules and reigns forever.

If you know him, then live for him. If you do not know him, the turn to him today in repentance and faith.