A Birth Announcement - Luke 1:26-38
INTRODUCTION:
There are a lot of creative birth announcements now days especially with the advent of social media. What are the things that we look for in a birth announcement? The name, the gender, the length and weight of the baby. One thing that we do not find in a birth announcement is details concerning the baby’s nature, his character, his life, his accomplishments and his effect clearly laid out before he was born. God, who is timeless knows the end product before we are even born, He knows everything about us; our nature, our character, our accomplishments. In Psalm 139:13-16 David writes, “For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.” (Psalm 139:13–16, NASB95)[1] The God who created us, who wove or knit us together in our mother’s womb knows everything about us, who we will be and what we will do, what our nature and character will be like, and what our destiny will be and the impact that will have on others.
In the first chapter of Luke which we began looking at last week we have two birth announcements, and, in those announcements, we are given the name of the baby to be born and from the name we can deduce the gender of the babies. We are not given a length or a weight, but we are given a description of what each of those babies will become, who they will be. We did not look at John’s description last week, the Scripture says that he will be great in the sight of the Lord, he will be a Nazarite from birth, not drinking any wine or alcohol, but he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb. He will go as a forerunner before the Messiah in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn disobedient hearts to an attitude of righteousness and to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. This description was given to Zacharias by Gabriel before the baby was even conceived and this is exactly who this baby turned out to be.
This morning we will look at the second birth announcement, the birth announcement of the greatest child ever born, and we are going to look specifically at the description given to see who this child will be that is to be born. Let’s pray and then get into our passage for this morning.
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles again this morning to Luke 1:26-38. As we saw last week as Luke’s account begins with a flood of supernatural activity, an angel appears, miracles occur, God breaks the silence by prophesying about people who are not yet born, not even conceived and He tells us things about them that only God could know. Please stand if you are able in honor of the reading of God’s Word and follow along as I read.
Luke 1:26-38,
“Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, ‘Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. 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 name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. For nothing will be impossible with God.’ And Mary said, ‘Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.’ And the angel departed from her.” (Luke 1:26–38, NASB95)[2]
THE GREATEST CHILD EVER TO BE BORN (Luke 1:26-32)
The angel Gabriel had appeared to Zacharias and told him that he and Elizabeth would have a son, the prophecy was fulfilled and miraculously this barren woman who was past the age of childbearing married to an old man conceived. In verse 26 we are told that in Elizabeth’s sixth month of pregnancy the angel Gabriel again came from the presence of God with a message. This time he did not go to the temple in Jerusalem, instead he went to the region of Galilee in the north of Israel, to the little town of Nazareth, to a home in which there is a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph. This virgin’s name is Mary. Gabriel tells her that she is favored by God and she will conceive in her womb and give birth to a son and she is to name Him Jesus, He will be great, called the son of the Most High and God will give Him the throne of His father David and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, His kingdom will never end.
God breaks into human history with an amazing revelation about a child to be born. Here are the most remarkable, the most astonishing, the most shocking words ever spoken to any woman, a virgin will be with child. This was spoken to Mary, a young teenager who was awaiting marriage to her fiancé Joseph.
Beginning in verse 32 this child is described, the first description given is that He will be great. What does that mean? This word can mean many things, it could mean illustrious, noble, eminent, magnificent, distinguished, glorious. In the case of this child it means glorious. This describes the greatest child ever born, He will be great. When Gabriel described John to Zacharias, he said that John would be great in the sight of the Lord (Luke 1:15). In other words, that God would impute to John a certain greatness. But of this child, Gabriel said He will be great, unqualified. This isn’t something that God does for Him; it is something that is essential to His nature. Throughout Jesus’ life this greatness unfolded, in His teaching, He taught with authority, His teaching and insights, His divine knowledge, His grasp of the truth of God was like no other man. His greatness was also displayed in His miracles, raising the dead, feeding the multitudes, walking on water, and healing sickness and disease, restoring sight and hearing and speaking. He also had total authority over the kingdom of darkness and cast out demons at will whenever he wanted to do so. His greatest miracle of all that attested to His greatness was His resurrection from the dead. By His own power he shattered the bonds of death and the grave and came forth alive. This is the greatest child ever born. This morning I want to look specifically at what it is that makes this child great, what defines His greatness? I believe the passage we are in this morning teaches us why Jesus is great.
HE IS GREAT BECAUSE HE IS GOD (Luke 1:32)
First, He is great because He is God, look at verse 32, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High;” (Luke 1:32a, NASB95)[3] In verse 35 Gabriel tells Mary that this child that she will bear will be called the Son of God. Luke in using the title ‘Most High” in verse 32 refers to God with a title that was a very familiar title given to God. It’s first use in the Old Testament is in Genesis 14:18 where in Hebrew God is called El Elyon which is God Most High. From there this title is used throughout the Old Testament as a title for God, He is the Most High, it is a title that speaks God the Supreme One, God the Sovereign One, God who is above all. It is a title that shows that there is no one higher than God. This title used throughout the Old Testament is a tile of sovereign majesty over everything, all people, all creation, all that is good and all that is evil, all that exists. God Most High is sovereign over all of it. This little baby is the Son of the sovereign Most High God.
What does this mean that He is His Son? It means that Jesus bears the nature of God, He bears the same essence as God. Not only does He bear the very essence of God, He is God. He is fully and truly God. Hebrews 1:3 says, “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature” (Hebrews 1:3a, NASB95)[4] Representation can also be translated reproduction, the exact reproduction of His nature or essence. Exact, that is specific, very specific terminology. In John’s Gospel he goes to great lengths to prove that Jesus is God, Jesus repeatedly states that He and the Father are one, to know the Son is to know the Father, He claims equality with God the Father in power, authority, judgment, equality in works and in honor. In every sense Jesus is God. The angel that came to Joseph in a dream announced that the child would be called Immanuel, God with us. Philippians 2 tells us that Jesus existed in the form of God, but thought it not something to hold onto, He gave it up and took on Himself the form of a man. Paul in Colossians clearly declares that Jesus is God, he writes in Colossians 1:15-17, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:15–17, NASB95)[5] This can only be referring to God, He is the Creator and Sustainer of all things. This child to be born is God, Son of the Most High God, Son of God, God in human flesh, this amazing child is God with us.
HE IS GREAT BECAUSE HE IS MAN (Luke 1:31)
Not only is He God, secondly, He is man. Look again at verse 31, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.” (Luke 1:31, NASB95)[6] This is the most astonishing message ever given to a woman, you will conceive in your womb. Mary was a virgin; she had never been with a man. Verse 27 tells us twice that she was a virgin, a young teenage girl of about 13 or 14 years old. Mary, herself, affirms her virginity in verse 34 when she asks how this will happen since she is a virgin. Physical conception without a man, how is that possible? But that is exactly what happened because Luke 2:7 says, “And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:7, NASB95)[7]
As we learn about the birth of Jesus, understand that the conception was supernatural, the rest of the pregnancy followed the normal course. The miracle was the conception, the Holy Spirit did the miracle of fertilizing the egg in the womb of Mary without a man. This is impossible, this will never happen apart from this one time, physical conception without a man. Following that supernatural conception there followed a nine-month development of that little life in the womb of Mary until she gave birth, and it was a normal birth, just like every other child is born. This child is truly a man, human. Remember Mary had other children later in the same way with one exception, the conception. Every other child she had was conceived with a man, her husband Joseph. Those children were human, and Jesus, her firstborn, was human. He was born just like any other child, being Jewish he was circumcised on the eighth day, just like any Jewish male child, and He continued to grow like all children grow, normal bone development, normal tissue development, normal cardio-vascular development, He grew and increased in wisdom and the favor of God was upon Him. He grew intellectually, physically, spiritually and socially just like all other children grow. His human growth was normal, and that is why he can be our sympathetic High Priest. He knew what it was like to be hungry, or to be thirsty, He knew what it was like to be tired, to be overcome with fatigue. He slept, He was taught, He grew, He displayed the same emotions that we have, He read the Scriptures, He prayed, He felt physical pain, physical hurt. He bled, He suffered, He died. He felt temptation to a degree that we will never understand because we give in at some point, He never did, so temptation ran its full course. Hebrews 2:17-18 says that He had to be like us in all things. He had to be in order to be our substitute. If there was to be a substitute for men, it had to be a man, a man to die for men, and man to suffer the sufferings that humans suffer. That is why Paul in 1 Timothy 2:5 calls Him the Man, Christ Jesus. He was not some ghost or apparition, He was not some spiritual entity, He was not someone from another dimension, He was one of us. How is this possible that a son could be born without a human father, conceived by the Holy Spirit and still be human? The angel told May that nothing is impossible with God. If God could give a child to Zacharias and Elizabeth when they couldn’t bear a child. Why couldn’t He give Mary a child without a husband? This child was fully and truly man, fully human.
HE IS GREAT BECAUSE HE IS HOLY (Luke 1:35)
Third, Gabriel not only told Mary that her child would be God and Man, but also that He would be sinless, He would be holy. In verse 35 near the end of the verse where Gabriel is telling Mary how she will conceive without a man, that the Holy Spirit will come upon her, and the power of the Most High will overshadow her and for that reason the holy child, or the holy offspring will be called the Son of God. What is it like to have a holy child? Mary is the only mother in the world to know what that is like, because no one else in the world has had one of those. So how can we know what a holy child is like? Only by contrast. Think about it, He never caused a moment of unhappiness, never had a wrong though, never a bad attitude, never an unkind word, never an act of disrespect, never a disobedient motion or movement, never a wrong attitude, never a thoughtless, unkind, selfish act. This holy child produced wonder, awe and worship. This is so different from every other child in the world, this is so different than I was as a child. This holy child never needed correction, never needed discipline, never needed forgiveness, restoration, or salvation. Jesus asked the Jewish leaders, “Which one of you convicts me of sin?” They could not answer Him because there was no sin to convict Him of, He was holy, He was sinless. 2 Corinthians 5:21 calls Him, “Him who knew no sin.” Hebrews 4:15 tells us that “He was without sin.” A few chapters later in Hebrews 7:26 it says, “For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens;” (Hebrews 7:26, NASB95)[8]
From the birth of Cain and Abel and onward all children have been unholy offspring. The Holy Spirit took the substance of Mary, and created a holy child, born of a woman, not inheriting the sin of Adam. The Lord Jesus began where we will end if we have put our faith in Him for salvation. He entered in holy, we will not know that holiness until we exit. He was holy from the day of His birth.
HE IS GREAT BECAUSE HE IS SOVEREIGN KING (Luke 1:32-33)
Fourth, going back to verses 32-33 Gabriel tells Mary that this child that she will bear will be sovereign Lord or King. The angel says to her, “the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” (Luke 1:32b–33, NASB95)[9] The house of Jacob means Israel, but He will not only rule Israel, He will have an eternal kingdom over all. He will be King, for this He was born. If you look in His genealogy of Matthew 1, the genealogy of His adopted father, Joseph, you see he descends from David. In Luke 3, the genealogy of Mary, it too descends from David. Jesus was born of royal blood, that could not be refuted. Had the Davidic monarchy been in place in Israel rather than an Edomite king named Herod and the Roman occupation, if these had not existed and the throne of David in existence, Jesus would have been the one in line for the throne. He received royal blood from His mother and the right to rule from His father who carried that right to pass on even to an adopted child. He was born a king in every sense.
Gabriel speaks of the fulfillment of the prophecy given to David in 2 Samuel 7 by the prophet Nathan. The initial promise was that David would have a son who would build the temple, this was fulfilled by his son Solomon, but the future promise was a son to come that was greater than David and greater than Solomon who would build the Davidic house forever, the promise of the Messiah. Jesus came to fulfill this, He is the Messiah, He will be given the throne of His father David, and He will have a spiritual kingdom, and earthly kingdom, and an eternal kingdom. The word “Christ” means anointed one and refers mainly to His kingship. Now He is the king of a spiritual realm, ruling over the hearts and lives of those who are His. Some day He will rule on this earth and after 1000 years a new heaven and new earth will be created which He will rule over for eternity. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, He was born in Bethlehem and laid in a feeding trough because there was no room for them in the guest room. To a humble, ordinary young couple was given the greatest King the world will ever know. This child was no ordinary child. This is God and Man, holy, and sovereign.
HE IS GREAT BECAUSE HE IS THE SAVIOR (Luke 1:31)
Finally, this is where this child has come for us, He is the Savior. Look again at verse 31, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.” (Luke 1:31, NASB95)[10] This couple followed the instruction of the angel and they named their firstborn son, Jesus. Is this important? It is, remember when the angel appeared to Joseph, he appeared first to Mary and then later to Joseph. Joseph was very troubled, he could not believe that Mary had been unfaithful to him, but she was definitely pregnant. As he tried to figure out what he was going to do, he knew the Law said that she could be put to death for this, he had to decide to divorce her or take her life. He loved her too much to see her executed, so he decided to send her away secretly. Once he had made his decision an angel appeared to him in a dream and told him that Mary had not been unfaithful to him, she was still a virgin, the child she carried was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Then the angel said in Matthew 1:21, ““She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”” (Matthew 1:21, NASB95)[11] The name Jesus means “Jehovah saves” or “The LORD saves.” It is the Old Testament name Joshua or better Yeshua. You hear people talk about the Messiah as Yeshua. Yeshua, Jehovah or in Hebrew Yahweh saves. The Savior has come. The only time in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke that the word “Savior” is used is in Luke 2:11 when the angel says to the shepherds, “for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11, NASB95)[12] The Savior has come.
The fact that Jesus is God and Man, the fact that He is holy, sinless, the fact that He is the sovereign king. I can admire those things, but the only way I can ever know Him is if He will forgive my sin, without forgiveness I can never get even close to Him, I can only stand far off and die in my sin. But He came to forgive my sin, so that I could draw near to Him and know Him. Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:15, “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.” (1 Timothy 1:15, NASB95)[13] Jesus came into this world to die for us, to pay the penalty required for sin, death, to be our substitute and suffer God’s wrath against sin. He died in our place, He was buried and on the third day rose triumphant from the grave having defeated sin, Satan, and death forever for those who will put their faith in Him for salvation.
CONCLUSION:
That is the sum of it all. In these verses we have an astonishing birth announcement, there will be a child, a virgin born child, this child will be God, He will be Man, He will be sinless, holy, He will be the sovereign King of kings, He will be the Savior that saves His people from their sins. That is the child to be born. Because this child will be great, we are invited to worship Him. At His birth shepherds came and worshiped Him, magi traveled from the east to worship Him, the newborn king of the Jews. As you sing the Christmas carols this season listen to the words you are singing, they describe the child born as God, as Man, as holy and sinless, as a Sovereign King and as the Savior. There is a reason these Christmas carols have lasted so long and it is because they accurately reflect the truth of the first Christmas. This is not some new thing that was just invented, this truth is age-old and flows so clearly out of the pages of Scripture.
Zacharias and Elizabeth and Joseph and Mary watched in amazement as the story of God’s grace unfolded before them, as God invaded human history to bring the promised Savior into the world. If they had reason to be amazed as they saw the truth of redemption take place in their lives and see the redemption of mankind fulfilled in their lifetime, we have all the more reason to be amazed. We have the full revelation of the greatness of this child. At some point for each one that amazement must turn to faith in which we believe and embrace the God-Man, the sinless Savior who will someday be the sovereign King of the universe. I pray and hope that you know the Savior, the One who will forgive your sins by His mercy and grace. If you do not know Him you can today in the quietness of your own heart agree with God that you are a sinner, believe in faith that Jesus Christ died in your place, paying the penalty for your sin, that He was buried and rose from the dead on the third day. When you believe this, you will be forgiven and saved from God’s wrath against sin. If you make this decision today, don’t keep this great news to yourself, share it with someone.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[10]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[11]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[12]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[13]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.