“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 - August 9, 2022

Has the Tribulation Started?

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What is an abomination? It's something profane and unholy. But when Antichrist comes on the scene, when he starts finding ways to torment and torture and persecute people on this earth, it will be the most horrible time in history. Desolation is that which essentially destroys. 2nd Thessalonians Chapter Two wraps up the abomination of desolation from a church age perspective. Why is this important? I hope it will comfort you because that's why Paul wrote it. 2nd Thessalonians 2:1 says, “Now brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him…” What do you think he's talking about? It can only be one thing. There's only one time when Jesus is coming for us and only one time when He's going to gather us to Himself. It's the rapture of the church! We know that Paul is comforting us, and he's comforting us on the basis of the rapture of the church. And he says the reason for this is “…so that we will not be soon shaken in mind or troubled either by spirit or by word or by letter.” This tells us that there were many deceivers in Paul's day, and there were preachers who lied, “I'm sent from Paul.” There were letters that were sent that were signed with the signature, deceiving as if this is from the Apostle Paul or whatever “…as though the Day of Christ has come.” Now, we have a little bit of a textual problem here because some translations say “Day of Christ”; Some translations say “The Day of the Lord.” What is the difference? They're not the same. “The Day of the Lord” is the Old Testament designation for the Tribulation period. In the Old Testament, the the “Day of the Lord” refers to the Tribulation and the Kingdom Age that follows. The “Day of Christ” is a reference to the rapture of the Church. Some New Testament Greek manuscripts have the “the Day of the Lord”. The point is, in either case, the idea the Apostle Paul is conveying is that “we missed it and we're here.” Have you ever heard someone teach that we're in the Tribulation now? They're teaching it all over the place. Paul says, “Let me comfort you; if they tell you this, they're wrong. Why? Because your comfort is the coming of the Lord and our gathering together with Him. And if the Lord hasn't come and we haven't been gathered to Him, it's not here yet.” 2nd Thessalonians 2:3 says, “Let no one deceive you. That day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition…” Now the phrase “the falling away” is a term that's used 15 times in the New Testament. Ten of those occurrences are translated “departure.” I think “falling away” in 2nd Thessalonians 2:3 should be “departure.” “That Day will not come unless the departure comes first.” This word has a definite article. The articular use here is pointing to what Paul has already spoken of, which is “the coming of the Lord and our gathering together to Him.” So don't be worried because “that Day,” the day you've been told you're already in, “will not come unless the departure comes first.” And I believe “the departure” here is referring to the rapture of the church, not “the falling away of the church” which is declared in other passages. I don't think that's the point here. If we look at it this way, Paul is saying “that Day will not come unless the departure comes first and the man of sin is revealed, the son of predation.” The point is the rapture takes place first, and after that, the man of sin is revealed. I don't think you and I will ever know who the Antichrist is. He may be on the scene, but we don't know who he is. All of that's preliminary because what I want to really get us to is what follows. 2nd Thessalonians 2:4 says, “who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped so that He sits as God in the Temple of God, showing himself that He is God.” Does that line up with what Daniel told us about the “abomination of desolation?” Absolutely. 2nd Thessalonians 2:5 says, “Do you not remember that when I was with you, I told you these things. Now you know what is restraining him.” May I suggest to you that if you translate verse three as “falling away” and not “departure,” you don't know “what is restraining him [the Antichrist].” Paul's whole point to these Thessalonian believers is that there are reasons that they should not be deceived into ever thinking they're in the tribulation period.