WEDNESDAY 23rd
Luke 1:26-31
(v35) ‘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.’
We come today to the Scripture that records the moment when Mary met with the angel Gabriel. It doesn’t say that it was dream this time, the language of Scripture indicates that Gabriel appeared in the room with her saying ‘Greetings, O favoured one the Lord is with you!
Imagine being in your kitchen or living room and suddenly this angel appears and starts to talk to you! Mary was greatly troubled, but not so much about the appearance of the angel, but more to do with the greeting, what was said. But the angel said to her not to be troubled and then began to tell her the purpose of his visit, which was to tell her that she was the one who was highly favoured, chosen by God to be the one who would be the woman he would use to bring birth to the child who would be called holy – the Son of God.
Mary makes an important statement, ‘How will this be, since I am a virgin?’ In other words from the mouth of Mary we have a statement that confirms that she had never yet had sexual relationship with a man, thus the conception and birth of this child to be born would be nothing other than a miracle. The angel confirms how it would take place, ‘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’ Within these verses we have confirmation of the two prophecies from the Old Testament, Isaiah 7:14 ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel’ and Isaiah 9:6 ‘For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.’ What an amazing fulfilment of the word of God, but even more amazing, a fulfilment that was essential to enable the one born to be offered up as a sacrifice for the sin of the world.
As I have already said in the devotions the truth and the wonder of the ‘virgin birth’ is essential for the Christian faith, for without it, if the seed of a man had been involved, the baby born would have been no different to any other baby, but it wasn’t, no seed of man, but instead the coming upon by the Holy Spirit and the overshadowing power of the Most High.
There is a verse of scripture that says, ‘Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.’ (1 Timothy 3:16) Even today we confess it is a mystery, we cannot fully understand it, but in the end all we are required to do is to believe by faith, not a fanciful faith but a trusting faith, that God who is Sovereign has worked in miraculous ways to bring about the redemption of mankind. We sing it in the wonderful words of this famous carol, O Come, all ye faithful.
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant!
O come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem
Come and behold Him
Born the King of Angels
O come, let us adore Him
O come, let us adore Him
O come, let us adore Him
Christ the Lord!
God of God, Light of Light
Lo, He abhors not the Virgin’s womb
Very God
Begotten, not created
O come, let us adore Him
O come, let us adore Him
O come, let us adore Him
Christ the Lord!
Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation
Sing, all ye citizens of heaven above!
Glory to God
All glory in the highest
O come, let us adore Him
O come, let us adore Him
O come, let us adore Him
Christ the Lord!