“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 - June 17, 2022

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Sometimes our doubts and our unbelief may cause Him (God) to groan. John 11:38, "Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone leaning against it. And Jesus said, 'Take away the stone.' Jesus said to her, 'Did I not say to you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God?’ Do you see the difference here between our faith then, at the moment of salvation, and our faith now -- the need for faith in what we're going through? Once you and I take that step out of time and into eternity and we enter the Lord's presence, do you know what you're going to be singing about and praising the Lord for the most? Your trials, your tests, your difficulties. Why? Because they humble us. They break our pride. They bring us to our knees. We cry tears that are cleansing, tears as they wash away all our self-centeredness, and our self-indulgence, and our preoccupation with the things of this life. Suddenly, we find ourselves cleansed and purified. The next time you are down, the next time you're in difficulty, the next time you're asking God, “WHY, WHY, WHY?" If you would believe, “you would see the glory of God." Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth!’ And he who had died came out," Interestingly, "bound hand and foot with grave clothes. His face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, 'Lose him and let him go'." What can we learn from Lazarus? First, Lazarus was not a happy man. I want you to think about that. Mary and Martha and others who loved him got what they wanted. Lazarus didn't. Where was Lazarus? Well, we know from Scripture that Lazarus was in a place called Abraham's Bosom. Old Testament Saints went to Abraham's Bosom somewhere in the Earth. Remember, there was a chasm between the place called Torments -- what we call Hell, and Abraham's Bosom. Old Testament Saints went to Abraham's Bosom, waiting for the moment when the cross would be a completed act, when Jesus would say, "It Is Finished!" when He would rise from the dead to usher them into the presence of the Father. You'll remember that he said to the thief on the cross, "Today you'll be with Me in paradise." Guess who else was there? The other Lazarus from Luke Chapter 16, the beggar who died and was in Abraham's Bosom. Abraham's Bosom, also called Paradise, is where those saints went. Jesus went to them after His crucifixion, emptied that place and took it into the third heaven. Paradise is no longer in this earth. How do we know that? In Second Corinthians Chapter 12, Paul says that he was lifted to the third heaven. To what? Paradise. Now it's there (in heaven). And everyone that was there is now in the presence of the Lord. Lazarus was in Paradise, just like Samuel was in Paradise. If you go back and read the story of Saul when he went to the Witch at Endor at the end of the book of First Samuel, you'll remember that the witch was trying to call up a familiar spirit, but who came up instead? Samuel. you remember what Samuel said to Solomon? "Why have you disturbed my rest?" He was not a happy man. I suggest to you that Lazarus was not a happy man. That's one thing we can learn from it. But there's something else we can learn from him. And that is, he's alive again, right? Jesus calls Lazarus, who comes out of the grave, and he comes out bound hand and foot. In those days, they wrapped the body. Can you practically think of how he could get out of that tomb? Jesus had to tell people, "Turn him loose!" Could I suggest that we might have some Lazarus' among us? People who are alive -- people given life by the command of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they're still bound -- living but bound -- living, but not at liberty -- not set free. I find it interesting that Jesus told others to turn him loose. That's the task that He's given every one of us. We all have a part to play in liberating those who have come to Christ, liberating them from old habits, liberating them from old attitudes, old ideas. All of us come into the family of God carrying a lot of baggage. The whole goal of our Christian life as we grow in grace and truth and as we study His word and fellowship together, is that we be FREE, that we be liberated! What a marvelous task.