“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 03

Hebrews teaches more than any other book what Jesus Christ is doing right now. Theme: Superiority of Jesus Christ in His High Priestly ministry Heb 8:2 Three main division of the book: 1. Theme and the Uniqueness of Christ in His Person Heb 1:1-14, Heb 2:1-18, Heb 3:1-19, Heb 4:1-16, Heb 5:1-14, Heb 6:1-20, Heb 7:1-28, Heb 8:1-5, 2. Superiority of His Work Heb 8:6-13, Heb 9:1-28, Heb 10:1-39, 3. Practical application, superiority of faith vs. works Heb 11:1-40, Heb 12:1-29, Heb 13:1-25 Five warning sections (all referring to the same problem. Christ already accomplished His work on the cross, and the temple was still standing. Revolts started by the Jews against the Romans. In about 67 AD, the author wrote it as a warning. The warning is the Savior has come, His work is complete, so do not reject Him. He is talking to believers.) 1. Warning against neglect and apathy Heb 2:1-4 2. Warning against the voluntary hardening of the heart Heb 3:7-19, Heb 4:1 3. Warning against falling short or failing the grace of God Heb 5:11-14, Heb 6:1-8 4. Warning against the willful sin (refusal to engage in the ministries God has given with you as well as meeting with other saints) Heb 10:26-39 Acts 1:8 These warnings were due to apathy to His word, but also a failure to fulfill His purpose for us as a priesthood, to share the things with God to others. To hear the word and not apply it makes it a curse for you, because now you are accountable. Heb 10:19-25 reveals all the ministry of the believer (priesthood, ambassadorship, ministry to other believers) 5. Warning against refusing to be corrected Heb 12:25-29 All warnings are about the same thing, about its progression. Superiority of Jesus to angels Heb 1:4-14 Superiority of Jesus: Sonship Heb 1:2, Heirship Heb 1:2, Creator Heb 1:2, Revealer of God Heb 1:3 Joh 1:18, Sustainer of universe by His verbal word Heb 1:3, Redeemer Heb 1:3, High Priest Heb 1:3 Heb 1:4 the humanity of Jesus is better than the angels. Heb 1:1-3 is what Jesus did in His incarnation, as a man. This is the largest passage in the Bible on angels. Lucifer was the greatest of all the angels. It is significant that as a man Jesus is greater than Satan too. Passages that reveal the divinity of God: Joh 1:1-51, Col 1:1-29 Heb 1:1-14 Love of God in Christ-so far beyond our understanding we have to bring it down to application. He would have died for the whole world even if only one person believed Him. Because Jesus was willing to come to our rescue as a man, He was elevated above everyone. Phi 2:5-11 The exalted humanity of Jesus is greater than the angels. Our exalted standing or seating in Christ, places on us maximum accountability. We’ve been given greatest eternal resources in Christ and this is at our disposal. But it’s of no value unless we spend it. You can’t out-give God. Who are you in Christ? Everything He is, you share, you as seated with Him. We have more in Christ than any of the Old Testament believers, our cloud of witnesses, so we see what they did without the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit, without this endless treasure-store of resources. Seven superiorities of Jesus to the angels: 1. Heb 1:4 Christ has inherited because of His obedience in His humanity. The name speaks of the honor and integrity and renown of the person, because of His humility and submission to the word of God. Psa 2:7 Written a thousand years before Christ, and that day is referring the day of the virgin birth. Everything God was going to do, He told in advance. 2. Heb 1:6 The angelic realm was to worship the person of Jesus, in His humanity. 3. Heb 1:7 Angels minister to Jesus 4. Heb 1:11 He will remain in His glorified humanity 5. Heb 1:13 There is a war in the universe. God declared ahead of time how it would end. The genius of God’s plan, after God’s completed work on the cross, He sat down to watch it work out, through it church.

Scripture References: John 1:1-51, Hebrews 3:1-19, Hebrews 10:19-25, Hebrews 1:6, Hebrews 8:6-13, Hebrews 1:3, Hebrews 2:1-4, Hebrews 1:1-3, Hebrews 2:1-18, Acts 1:8, Psalms 2:7, Hebrews 8:1-5, Hebrews 1:2, Hebrews 13:1-25, Hebrews 1:4, Hebrews 1:1-14, Hebrews 10:26-39, Hebrews 1:4, Hebrews 7:1-28, Hebrews 1:2, Hebrews 12:1-29, Hebrews 1:3, Hebrews 8:2, Hebrews 6:1-8, Philippians 2:5-11, Hebrews 6:1-20, Hebrews 1:2, Hebrews 11:1-40, Hebrews 1:13, Hebrews 1:3, Hebrews 5:11-14, Hebrews 1:1-14, Hebrews 5:1-14, Hebrews 1:4-14, Hebrews 10:1-39, Hebrews 1:11, Hebrews 1:3, Hebrews 4:1, Colossians 1:1-29, Hebrews 4:1-16, Hebrews 12:25-29, Hebrews 1:7, Hebrews 9:1-28, John 1:18, Hebrews 3:7-19