The Plan of God and his ability to bring it to pass

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Luke 1:26 - 38

God Has His Plan

Luke 1:26–27 ESV
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.

Sixth Month

This is tied to the section about Elisabeth and months after she conceived

Angel Gabriel

This is an angel of the Lord, who stands in the presence of the Lord

from God

Expressing the source of the thought and the plan and that which was about to happen

City of Galilee named Nazareth

The Lord knows his own down to the smallest detail, Jesus spoke about the fact that not a single piece of hair can fall from our body without him knowing. This was not a chance visit or chance message, it was to a specific Mary in a specific city of Galilee named Nazareth, Nebuchadnezzar said, he now knows that God is interested in the affairs of men. The fact of Nazareth in Galilee is also not by chance but as a result of prophecy concerning the coming of the messiah
Micah 5:2
Micah 5:2 ESV
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

a virgin betrothed to a man

This is an interesting aspect that line up with prophecy also, Isaiah said to Ahaz as a means of showing the power of God to save Isa 7:10-14. It is important to also recognize that betrothed means “legally pledged to be married”, means their is agreement between the families that this woman will become the wife of the man, but they were not married yet, there was no exploitation of “what was going to be” she remained a virgin though in a little while she will be given to her husband
In Jewish culture then a man and woman were betrothed or pledged to each other for a period of time before the actual consummation of their marriage. This betrothal was much stronger than an engagement period today, for the two were considered husband and wife except that they did not live together till after the wedding
John A. Martin, “Luke,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 205.

Joseph, of the house of David

Another aspect that ties to prophecy concerning the Messiah, he will come from the house of David. When we look at the genealogies of Luke and Matthew, we see some variation, and this points to the plan of God to raise the Lord as a child of David

Virgin’s name was Mary

Of course, who knows how many men in the house of David were given the name Joesph and who had some women already betrothed to them, here again we see the clarity of scripture at work, it is the virgin Mary that is in view here not any other virgin

The Details Are with Him

lk 1:28-38 “And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And 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 bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to 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.” And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossi…”

And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”

He did not just deliver his message, he greeted her, recognized her, as one favored of the Lord. [Here is an angel, a little higher than man, stands in the presence of a young virgin, between 13 - 15 years and greets her well…Something a lot of self-professing Christians in position of authority can learn from…]

But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.

As he spoke, she is troubled by the type of greetings, she is not shouting in her heart that she is the favoured of God, she is not updating her social media about her status as “favored of God” she was troubled at the saying and what sort of greeting…

And 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 bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to 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.”

Mary’s fear was not according to the sight but influenced by the word. The angel addressed the fear and explained what the message meant…She will conceive in her womb…that is, be with a child, will give birth to the child and call him Jesus [Joshua - God saves]. He will be great, he will be called the Son of the Most high and the Lord will give to him the throne of his father David, he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom, there will be no end
The name is provided
Jesus
He will be great
He will be called the Son of the Most High - In Jewish thought a son was a carbon copy of the father and the phrase son of was often used to refer to one who possessed his “father’s” qualities e.g. son of wickedness - Ps 89:22
The Lord will give him the Throne of David - Ps 89:3-4
He will reign over the house of Jacob forever
Of his Kingdom, there will be no end 2 Sam 7:13-16, 19

And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

She brought back the main concern all this can only happen after she is pregnant…and she is not because she has not been with a man…the meaning of virgin here…one without sexual relations
More over, she was not rebuked by the angel unlike Zacharias, she seems to be aware and understand that the Messiah is coming.
A pointer to raising theologically aware children
In Jewish culture then a man and woman were betrothed or pledged to each other for a period of time before the actual consummation of their marriage. This betrothal was much stronger than an engagement period today, for the two were considered husband and wife except that they did not live together till after the wedding
John A. Martin, “Luke,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 205.

And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.”

The Angel describes what will and the process
Holy Spirit will come upon her
Power of the most high will overshadow her
This is the realm of the virgin birth which is something that is rarely spoken of in some areas of the church but is very important for our faith and what the Lord has done.
Yes the Roman Catholic Church has gone off on another tangent when it comes to talking about Mary and some of the things have no basis in the scriptures as received. That does not mean we should go off on another tangent and act as if Mary did not exist or the virgin birth is not a part of the faith handed down.
Christ was conceived in Mary miraculously and he rose and ascended into heaven miraculously as well, we own both of them.
However, denying a physical connection between Mary and Jesus would imply that Jesus was not truly human. Scripture teaches that Jesus was fully human, with a physical body like ours. This He received from Mary. At the same time, Jesus was fully God, with an eternal, sinless nature (John 1:14; 1 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 2:14–17.)
Jesus was not born in sin; that is, He had no sin nature (Hebrews 7:26). It would seem that the sin nature is passed down from generation to generation through the father (Romans 5:12, 17, 19). The Virgin Birth circumvented the transmission of the sin nature and allowed the eternal God to become a perfect man.
Got Questions Ministries, Got Questions? Bible Questions Answered (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2002–2013).

And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”

Servant - Slave
Willing submission to the will of God

And the angel departed from her.

Systematic Theologies

Systematic Theologies There are a few theological topics that this section cuts across, it gives us the opportunity to think about Christology, Pneumatology, Angelology, Hamartiology and Eschatology to mention a few
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