“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 29, 2022

The Bridegroom is Coming!

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In Matthew 25:1 “Then” is our keyword. Then when? Then after the second coming of Jesus Christ. Matthew 25:1 says, “Then the kingdom of Heaven shall be like unto ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.” Now, what distinguishes the bridegroom? He's one getting married, and he has a bride. Okay, keep that in mind. It continues, “Five of them were wise and five were foolish.” What is the beginning of wisdom? The fear of the Lord. How do we translate the fear of the Lord into one word? Faith. “ Those who are foolish took their lamps and they took no oil. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.” We know that oil is a picture of something in Scripture. What is oil? A picture of the Holy Spirit. The parable continues, “While the bridegroom was delayed. They all slumbered.” The problem here is not that they slumbered and slept. “And at midnight a cry was heard. Behold, the bridegroom is coming.” This is all according to the ancient Jewish customs of marriage. They never told the bridal company, nor friends when the bridegroom would come because they never knew what time the bridegroom chose or when he would come. The friends of the bridegroom would be waiting. What we would call the best man and his company were waiting. The bride was in her home waiting. She never knew when he was going to come because it was to be a surprise, because there is an element that is included in surprise. And so the bride herself is sleeping and when he comes and the friend of the bridegroom shouts. She runs out with her hope chest. This is where the idea came from. She would have her things packed in readiness, and when the bridegroom came, the shout was given. She would run out to meet him. Can you see here the parallel to the rapture of the church? And they would go to a place prepared where she would then adorn herself. Sound like Revelation, right? “It was given to be adorned.” You remember? And then she and the bridegroom would come to the place of the wedding feast. The parable continues, “Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.” They all slept. They all arose. And they all trimmed their lamps. Matthew 25:8 says, “And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are gone out.’ The wise answer and said ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you.’” “They say, ‘Rather, go to those who sell and buy for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy the bridegroom came those who were ready went in with him to the wedding.’ The door was shut afterwards. The other virgins came also a saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us.’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I don't know you.’” When Jesus Christ, a picture of The Bridegroom here, says, “I know you not.” That means He never knew you. You were never one of His. You are not a believer. We're talking here about unbelievers. Jesus is illustrating the danger of His return to those who never had the oil, of the anointing of the Spirit of God. The parable ends with, “Watch therefore, for, you know, either the day or the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” What is the first step to watching for His coming? You got to believe in Jesus! Jesus is talking here to his disciples. But there were always others that were gathered around Him. Therefore, he knew that this was going to be recorded and passed down through the ages. Jesus, by the way, never spoke only to those in his presence. Everything we have recorded; He spoke with the knowledge as omniscient God that it would be recorded for posterity. So the question would be ask how then can we refer to unbelievers as virgins? I'm not going to give you the number of times, but get yourself a good, strong concordance and go look at it and find out how many times the nation of Israel was referred to as a virgin. You find the phrase “the virgin daughter of Jerusalem.” That was a very common way in the prophets of referring to the Jewish people. So the virgin here is used by the wise of believers, AND the foolish of unbelievers. And once again, Matthew 24 and 25 is written to the Jewish nation. Jesus is speaking to the Jews. This is Jesus’ final message to the Jewish nation. The five foolish virgins are not unfaithful believers, but UNBELIEVERS – Jews that rejected Him.