“Blessed are you among women”

You might not believe it, but Luke Chapter One is one of the most theologically, doctrinally, and prophetically packed passages anywhere in Scripture. To thoroughly exegete it would involve going from book to book, passage to passage, and cross-referencing. This video covers just Luke 1:26-30, where the Virgin Mary meets Gabriel. Subsequent videos will cover more of Mary’s response to Gabriel’s news, that she was selected to bear the Messiah, Jesus Christ. There is detail here that should edify and challenge us in our faith.

First, the name Gabriel, means “Hero of God. It’s very interesting that in Luke 1:19, Gabriel says of himself that he stands in the presence of God. This leads a lot of students and scholars to believe Gabriel may be one of the four angels that surround the throne in Revelation Chapter four. But one thing we do know, whether we’re looking at Gabriel, whether we’re looking at Michael, all the angels reflect God. Their job, their task, their purpose for existence is to reflect God in different ways. Michael is a warrior angel. Gabriel is a teaching and an encourager and exhorter. Note that whenever Gabriel appears, he appears as a man. And when Gabriel appears, the only thing he delivers is information about the coming of the Messiah. We only have three people in the Bible to which Gabriel appears. There may have been more, but he’s not named otherwise. He appears to Daniel in Daniel, Chapters 8 to 12 where Daniel stands there listening, and Gabriel is basically teaching and explaining (and in some cases giving visions) of the Messiah. And then, of course, he appears to Zacharias in Luke 1:11-20, where he revealed the miraculous birth of John the Baptist. Why is that important? Because John the Baptist is the forerunner of the Messiah. And then of course, shortly afterward, Gabriel appeared to Mary, who would be the virgin mother of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so Luke 1:26 says “that Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth.” That’s very important. This is the town in which Mary lived. It’s significant because it fulfills a prophecy that you might have pondered or maybe wrestled over. You’ll remember in Matthew 2:23, when Jesus’ family comes back from Egypt, it says that Joseph led them to Nazareth. “He came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called the Nazarene.” There are no real passages that say, “he shall be called a Nazarene.” You’ll search in vain. You can’t find it. And yet Matthew said that this was a fulfillment of the “prophets,” plural. You’ll probably remember that there are several passages in the Old Testament that refer to the Messiah as “the branch” (Isaiah 4:2, Isaiah 11:1, Jeremiah 23:5, Jeremiah 33:15, Zachariah 3:8, and Zachariah 6:12.) The word branch in Hebrew is “Netzar,” is the root of Nazareth. Is it amazing? God named a town just so a prophecy could be fulfilled concerning the Lord Jesus Christ

Our passage in Luke goes on to tell us that “Mary was betrothed to Joseph of the House of David.” This is going to become significant, but I’m going to save that for the next video. Suffice that it is the fulfillment of a prophecy. “Mary” is derived from the Hebrew name “Miriam,” which goes all the way back to the sister of Moses. It’s very interesting that Miriam is probably derived from the Egyptian “Meri,” which means “beloved.” Isn’t that appropriate? In Luke 1:28, Gabriel identifies the character of Mary using three phrases. These should be a challenge to us. First though, many scholars have suggested that probably every generation of young women in Israel dreamed that possibly, maybe they would be the one who bears the long-awaited Messiah. Well, here of course, it came down to Mary. And I think Gabriel explains something about why she was chosen. He says that she was highly favored. Now favor, of course, refers to Grace. And we’ll see that in a moment. She was highly favored or highly great, highly blessed. This shows me that she was living in intimate association with the grace of God. Her life was enveloped in grace. How does that happen? This fellowship and Grace are available to every one of us. The Apostle Paul amplifies this when he says in Romans Chapter 5, “grace upon grace” and “much more grace.” Much more than what? Much more than anything you’ve known up to this point. There’s more grace available. How do we get it? Well, it’s very simple. In 1^st Peter 5:5, Peter said, “God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. Also, Jesus began his public teaching ministry with the Beatitudes, and he began with the statement “Blessed,” or you could say “Grace.” “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” The word for “poor” here in the Greek language conveys a person is so poor, so destitute, so helpless that when people walked by, they would just spit on them. They were what you would call the dregs of the earth. God gives grace to we who realize how poor we really are in comparison to our God

Luke 1:28 continues, “The Lord is with you.” This indicates that Mary was living by faith. You must realize that Mary is likely just 14 or 15 years old, the typical marriage age in her time. How spiritually deep could she be? Let’s not deify Mary, which is idolatry, but let’s give her a rightful place, because she was a very magnificent young woman. She was living in fellowship with God, living in the sphere of grace. Gabriel said, “blessed are you among women,” indicating that she represented the ideal woman. Notice he did not say “above other women,” but, “among women.” Mary represented one half of humans. Immediately our mind goes to Genesis 3:15 where the first promise of the Messiah that tells us essential that “the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent.”

Now in Luke 1:29, Mary responds within herself in two ways. She was “troubled,” and she “considered.” First, the word “troubled” is actually an intensified verb, which literally means “terrified.” You know, there’s an interesting reaction that you will find in everyone in the Bible when the invisible, unseen realm intersects with the human realm. They’re terrified. If you want to see a vision of angels or the Lord, prepare yourself to be terrified, because the spiritual realm is something that we’re not qualified or capable of taking in. Second, I love this word “consider” which in the Greek is the word “logizomai.” It’s a mathematical term. What a magnificent young woman! What kind of facts do you think she’s adding up here? She’s had an appearance of an angel that calls himself Gabriel who tells her that she is highly favored and she’s standing there dumbfounded, terrified, and she’s in her mind casting about with what? Scripture! She’s beginning to add up the facts she knows of scripture. Being a young Jewish woman, you know, there wasn’t a lot of training. A young man, on the other hand, was trained in the law. Before a young man’s bar mitzvah, he got some intensive training, but not so much a young woman. Something interesting, however, is revealed in the Song of Mary (Luke 1:46-55). There are 15 direct references and allusions to Old Testament scriptures. Off the top of her head, she begins to sing a song composed of fifteen Old Testament texts. Anybody here want to try that? We might get John 3:16 and a couple of others. Mary was obviously a scholar of scripture, and likely, because she was not pushed into knowing the law like a boy would be, she was probably searching on her own.

To me this means she loved the word of God!

Gene Cunningham - January 28, 2003

Hebrews 07

The conflict around us will intensify. Heb 2:1-4 A look at the relevance and practical applications of these verses. Heb 2:1-4 is a parenthesis, and to pick up the flow of the book continue from Heb 1:14 to Heb 2:5 Because the humanity of Christ is exalted at God’s right hand, and because we are in Christ, angels are at our service. But we must be careful to keep their ministry in the background and not give more attention to them than they deserve. Any angel that draws more attention to itself than it should is demonic. Fallen angels are already suffering and twisted, but they can make themselves appear as angels of Light. Heb 2:5 Christ, and since we are in Christ, we will be rulers, above angels. Seven victories of Jesus in the angelic conflict. This conflict is always raging around us, whether we are aware of it or not. Satan’s outrageous hostility to us is beyond bounds. If it weren’t for God’s protection, in part by His angels. 2Ki 7:1-20 Satan fears the weakest believer who turns that weakness into faith and seeks His Word for guidance. Problem of believer falling away from the steadfast advance toward the purpose God has for their life. All five warnings are about this danger. Heb 2:1-4 What we have in His provisions is something we can lose. You can’t lose your salvation, but you can lose the fulfillment of His plan for your life, and the grasping of these spiritual realities designed for you to experience now. You can fall short of His promises. We should be terrified about losing these things. We seize these promises by faith. If we lose these things now, we will also lose things in eternity. Not one violation of the Old Covenant went without justice. We are not under that covenant, we are under the New Covenant, with greater accountability. We cannot escape. Every failure to claim and realize a promise will have a consequences, and many of us suffer and don’t even realize it. Unless we stay focused and steadfast, and help each other, prayer, encouragement. Danger that has come down through the years. The Exodus generation heard the same warning, but they did not respond in faith. The reason we lose what we lose is because we don’t value it. We take it for granted. The author wants us to understand that we can lose it. If you feel you haven’t become a part of your congregation, help and serve, and join other people. City Slickers - all of life came down to one thing The one thing it comes down to is faith. A distinct power that faith has in our life: endurance. Heb 12:1 set before us-the divine plan for each of us. The Christian life is a marathon run. We will get weary, it will be strenuous, but its only through those experiences that you learn to turn the battle over to Him. There is only one interpretation to Scripture, and it’s Scripture’s interpretation 2Pe 1:20 Tribulational message Mat 24:13 three primary applications: to the disciples (they saw the destruction of the temple), believers of any age, believers of the tribulation Sozo-to be saved, to be delivered, but doesn’t always mean eternal salvation. This word is sometimes used for healing, or deliverance from trial, when heartaches are healed. If you want to come through with honor and virtue, and finish the race well, you will need divine deliverance, and that one thing is endurance. Abiding under the pressure or difficulty by grace through faith. How can we escape? We can’t. We can only find deliverance through endurance. Pray that God will stir up love of believers for one another. Same message and context: Luk 21:19 ktamoei to take possession. Future tense indicates a sequence, the future result of endurance. The one who gives is blessed, than the recipient. One objective, fix our eyes on Christ and look to the future. Rom 5:3-4 Jam 1:2-3 psa 23:1 Fear for nothing, care for nothing, because Christ is in charge. We have nothing to fear EXCEPT failing endurance, falling by the wayside. Difficulties and afflictions are planned by God. He causes all things to work together for good Rom 8:28

Scripture References: James 1:2-3, Hebrews 2:5, Romans 5:3-4, Hebrews 1:14, Luke 21:19, Hebrews 2:1-4, Matthew 24:13, Hebrews 2:1-4, Hebrews 12:1, Romans 8:28, Hebrews 2:1-4, Psalms 23:1, Hebrews 2:5