“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!

Nancy Cunningham - October 19, 2022

The Hands of God

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Does God really have hands? No. God, is Spirit. This is an anthropomorphism, a big word. That just means we ascribe human qualities to God in order to better understand Him. You can tell a lot about a person by looking at their hands. You can tell if the person is young or old, male or female. You can tell if they have an office job or if they do manual labor. The hands of a surgeon look different from the hands of a mechanic. In John 1:1, it says, "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. John 1:14 says, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we be held His glory, glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." The hands of Jesus, show us His humanity as He entered public ministry. They became the hands of a miracle worker. Hands that turned water into wine, open the ears of the death and the eyes of the blind healed the sick, the lame, and the lepers. The hands of Jesus show us His deity. And though His hands were the hands of deity, they were also the hands of a humble servant. Hands that welcomed the little children, said the hungry and humbly wash the feet of His disciples. "Jesus came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many." In the garden of Gethsemani, His hands were first hands of prayer until the betrayer arrived, bringing the soldiers with them. His hands did not resist, but lay idle by His side as he was unjustly arrested, beaten and scorched. Finally, heavy nails were driven into the hands of God at the crucifixion, holding Him to a cross that he did not deserve to pay for sins that He did not commit. The hands of the Savior, the hands of Messiah, are hands that now reach out to us with the offer of life abundant, free and eternal. As we turn to Jesus Christ in faith, trusting Him for our salvation, we enter into a relationship with our Lord and we come under the care of His almighty hands. This is a relationship that can never be broken because no one and no thing can snatch us out of His mighty grip. Isaiah 64:8 and Psalm 92:4 says "We should sing with joy at the work of His hands, hands of faithfulness. "Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the sun of her womb? Even those may forget, but I will not forget. Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands. Your name. My name inscribed on the palms of God's hands." Isaiah 49:15-16. His hands are hands of help, the hands of a caregiver. "Behold, the Lord's hand is not so short that it cannot save. Neither is his ear so dull that it cannot hear." Isaiah 59:1. "Humble yourselves, therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your cares on him because he cares for you." 1st Peter 5:6. His hands are. Hands of friendship. Hands of fellowship. "The steps of a man are established by the Lord and he delights in his way when He falls. He shall not be hurled headlong because the Lord is the one who holds His hand." Psalm 37:23-24. His hands are hands of protection, though I walk in the midst of trouble. You will revive me. You will stretch forth your hand against the wrath of my enemies. And your right hand will save me. Psalm 138 seven. In the shadow of his hand, he has hidden me. And he has also made me a select arrow. He has hidden me in his quiver. Isaiah 49:2. This indicates that each one of us are an arrow kept hidden in the quiver of God. Until the time that His skillful hand draws us into His bow to send us out to impact a time and a place ordained by Him, ordained for His glory and His aim is sure. In other verses, the Bible calls the hands of God mighty valiant, righteous, strong, holy, glorious and good. And understanding these qualities should cause us to shout with David the words of Psalm 31, "As for me, I trust in you, a Lord. I say, you are my God. My times are in your hands." And we do live in perilous times. What a comfort to know that our times are in the mighty glorious and good hands of God. These are the hands of God that worked invisibly behind the scenes in the days of Esther. And these are the hands that work invisibly behind the scenes in your life and my life today, long ago, centuries ago. Today, the hand of God is working in your life to write your story, the part your life is to play in his wonderful plan. That story can only be written in time. But the glory of that story will last for all of eternity. Commit your life, therefore, into the mighty hands of God.