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 1st 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 10
8 examples of the importance of fixing our eyes on Christ • Heb 2:8-9 paradox of history • Times when you can’t see a divine purpose in what’s going on, that’s when God is magnified when we give Him thanks. • We don’t see, but we do see Jesus. Heb 2:10 Jesus still had to be perfected. He was perfect but He had to be fitted for the task. He had to pass a test. “Not My will but Thy will be done.” Isa 53:1-12 • “Come down, if you’re the Son of God, then come down!” It was the ultimate temptation, because He could have easily done that. He chose to stay there. He could have easily come down. He had to be perfected. • How much more do we need to be perfected?! Jesus calls us to pick up our cross daily, people say, come down from that cross. • It’s a question of spiritual focus. The Hebrews were facing a danger, not keeping their eyes on Jesus. Seven examples 1. Heb 2:1-3 drifting away by neglecting our so great salvation, getting swept away in the current. All we need to see is Jesus 2. Heb 3:7-8, Heb 4:7 danger of hardening your heart. Areas of weaknesses and sin in your life and in others lives. Hardening your heart against His word is your downfall. We all have blind spots that we don’t see as well as we should. Satan will do whatever he has to to harden you toward the Word. He is very subtle. He simply puts in front of us what we want, and that is how he lures us away. 3. Heb 5:11 being dull of hearing. We ought to be teachers. He wants to tell them a lot about Jesus, but it’s difficult to explain because they are tired of hearing about Jesus Christ. 4. Heb 6:6 falling away from the grace of God. Jesus is the root and fountain of God’s grace. If we wander from Him we fall away from that grace. 5. Heb 10:25-26 forsaking the local assembly. It was a time of turmoil. As the persecution got more intense they wanted a way out. We must stand together, because we will need one another. 6. Heb 12:5-6 fainting under divine discipline. The believer under divine discipline is the special object of the love of God. It is an honor, because God is refining us for our benefit. He prunes the one that’s bearing fruit so it’ll bear more. “Father I make myself available to you and your purpose, whatever it takes.” He will do it. Do not lose heart, it’s a mark of His love 7. Heb 12:15 root of bitterness taking root in our soul. It’ll bear fruit that will poison our life. It only takes root when we lose sight of Jesus Christ. Before God we have no excuse. Heb 2:8-9 If we look at the now conditions we will lose sight of Jesus Christ. We can’t allow anything to keep our eyes from Him. 1Pe 1:3-9 It’s an epistle on suffering, and many different kinds, and we’ll probably go through most of them. God brings resurrection out of death. If you feel pressed down on, He is bringing resurrection for you, it is on the way. We are kept by God’s power, not our own. Whether your suffering is self induced, divine discipline still falls under this. It needs be. The purpose of the suffering is to make your faith pure. We need to pray for people, by name, who are with us, who are gone, that their faith may not fail. It’s the greatest danger and lose, and every believer is in danger of it. When you find yourself overwhelmed by the darkness you’re in and you can’t see Jesus, you definitely need to look at Him. Salvation from losing their faith and from taking their eyes off Christ and falling into the dangers in Hebrews. There is a divine remedy. Heb 3:1-2 Consider Jesus! Consider-to bear down with your whole mind in concentration. Over and over and over again. Think about Him. Pressing down Rom 1:17-18 Keep the main thing the main thing. Heb 8:1 He will never be anything less than totally for you, totally on your side. He is always for you, and He loves you, and He is refining you. Keep looking to Him as your High Priest and Mediator. Fix your eyes on Jesus Christ and run the race. If your eyes are fixed on Him, you can’t be doing anything but running the race. Eric Little won the race after being knocked off the track. Was he greater for his “weakness?” Joh 20:29 We have a greater faith than the apostles. We will consider the world to come. Psa 8:1-9 Is Jesus your focus? Are you absolutely absorbed, enthralled by Him? Einstein was looking at Jesus. Napoleon believed Jesus was either God or He was nothing. If you see your life exposed by the word and are fearful that you cannot stand before Him, fix your eyes on Jesus, He is not finished working on you. The fact that you desire it is a comfort. Ask God to forgive you for taking your eyes off of Him even if yours eyes were on yourself, and thank Him for His mercy in Jesus toward you.
Scripture References: Hebrews 2:1-3, Hebrews 12:5-6, John 20:29, Isaiah 53:1-12, Hebrews 10:25-26, Hebrews 8:1, Hebrews 2:10, Hebrews 6:6, Romans 1:17-18, Hebrews 2:8-9, Hebrews 5:11, Hebrews 3:1-2, Hebrews 4:7, Hebrews 2:8-9, Hebrews 3:7-8, Hebrews 12:15, Psalms 8:1-9
More Messages Associated With "Spiritual Maturity"...
January 24, 2007
1 Thessalonians #7
Gene Cunningham
1 Thessalonians 1:3, Romans 1:17, Psalms 84:7, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Matthew:13:3-8, John 15:1-8, 1 John 2:13-14, Genesis 15:6, Psalms 55:22, Psalms 57:1, Isaiah 40:31, 1 Thessalonians 1:6, 1 Thessalonians 1:7, 1 Thessalonians 1:8, Philippians 2:25