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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 11

Hebrews 11

We can only become stronger the more we give away. The more we use our spiritual gift. It’s important that we seek to know what our spiritual gift is. He wants you to know it, because He wants us to love on another that way. Joh 7:17 Heb 2:8-9 We do not see, but we see Jesus. We see chaos and turmoil around us, and struggles within us. We don’t know how God’s will will be fulfilled. Jesus is the central figure of God’s plan and the ultimate focus of the human soul. We may not see His purpose working out, but we can see Jesus. 1pe 1:8 Under trials, we find Jesus is obscured from our sight. We need Him to save us every day. When He seems obscured from sight, we can keep our eyes on Christ by loving Him by turning to the Word and feeding on the riches of His grace. As we feed on the Bible, Jesus nourishes us. We see Jesus. Heb 2:9-18 Three OT quotes: pre-incarnation, incarnation, post-incarnation statements. All people without Christ live in slavery and bondage. One work of Jesus is the liberation of those in slavery. Theme of the book is to fix your eyes on Jesus. Get your eyes off of other things and yourself. In your sin you have an area of strength and weakness. If your area of weakness dominates you will fall and be discouraged. If your area of strength dominates you will be arrogant and fall. Don’t look at yourself or at others. Only Jesus. Never base your life off of someone else’s experience, base it off of Christ. You’ll be inflated or deflated. Comparing is never the issue in the Christian life. Don’t be distracted by circumstances. Those change all the time, Jesus never changes. Our experience has to be built on the security of Jesus Heb 2:9, Heb 3:1, Heb 8:1 Look to the High Priest. The only issue in our relationship with God is the work of our High Priest and our relationship to Him. Heb 11:27, Heb 12:2 Hebrews gives this challenge to fix our eyes on Jesus to these people in a terrible time in history. The important thing is we are living in a time where it is imperative that we lock on to Jesus Christ. Faith without an object has no power. We must direct our faith to Jesus alone. Their entire world as they knew it would cease to exist. The author wrote this to give them what they needed to go through that trial. Jesus is the only one who can sustain you. Look to Jesus. Practical illustration: Luk 21:1-38 focuses more on what was impending in 70AD Eight great benefits of keeping our eyes on Jesus during a time of historical crisis: 1. Luk 21:8 deliver us from deception. Satan will use everything to deceive people. 2. Luk 21:9 deliver from fear. Fear robs the soul of the ability to respond from a standpoint of faith. Faith in Jesus conquers fear. 3. Luk 21:13 everything works for witness. Whatever happens will turn out for an opportunity to tell the world about Jesus. How can we tell the world about Him if we’re not looking to Him? 4. Luk 21:21 flee to the mountains. The focal point of the conflict was Jerusalem. It’s important because it will deliver you from getting caught in religious ruts. It can be devastating. It happens when someone thinks God has to do certain things. Why should we think we are exempt from persecution. Don’t get caught up in a religious rut in their thinking. Spiritual flexibility is important. You need to know when you’re to stand and when you’re to flee. 5. Luk 21:28 The things that cause the world to despair should cause us anticipation of His return. Our redemption is drawing near, looking forward to the blessed hope. Tit 2:13 Keep looking toward His coming. Remember how it’s going to finish. To lift up our heads means an attitude of exultation. Keep your focus on the end of the story 6. Luk 21:34 warning 1th 5: we shouldn’t be surprised by His coming. The cares of this life will wear us down. The carousing is the good time to they can forget what’s going on. Or drinking or drugs to lead to insensibility. How can we keep from being overloaded with the anxieties of this life? Keeping our eyes on Him will deliver us from the deadening affects of anxiety. Mat 6:25-34. What is your anxiety today? Anxiety weighs the soul down, and loses its strength. 7. Luk 21:36 Keeping our eyes on Christ will give us a living prayer life. It will make us worthy. As we partake of Him through His Spirit working through the Word. We reflect who and what He is, a reflection of His character. 8. Luk 21:19 compilation of all these. Keeping our eyes on Jesus will give endurance and maintain control. Not to stay in control of anything but our own soul. It’s not a one shot thing. There will be many battles. Possessing our souls is a battle each day. You’re going to think He’s not coming through as He should. There will be many times like that, but we need to hold fast to our hero. Heb 2:9-18 Seven great undertakings of God in the flesh. Phi 2:5-11 Jesus had to live by faith. He was exercising perfect faith. 1. Heb 2:9Sacrificial death 2. Heb 2:10 His valiant leadership. Captain of our salvation. 3. Heb 2:11 His cleansing work 4. Heb 2:11-13 His love for His family. He is called the Father of Eternity Isa 9:6 5. Heb 2:14 victory over the devil 6. Heb 2:15 liberation of the captives 7. Heb 2:17-18 His merciful and faithful High Priestly role. Faithful to God in every area. Faithful to God, merciful to men. Sacrificial death: we can only see Jesus by the eye of faith. Jesus came into the world to do the will of the Father, which was to go to the cross. His life is the means to the end. Jesus was crowned by the world with thorns, but it anticipated His crown of glory. We need to suffer with Him if we’re to reign with Him. Persecution is the crown of thorns. He was willing to bear our curse, and He did it with dignity. Desire the crown, but the crown in eternity is preceded by the crown of cursing in this life. He tasted death for every man. He completely took death for every man. The Death Jesus took. Death comes in two types. Spiritual and physical. Gen 2:17 Gen 5:5 Spiritual death means separation of soul from God, physical death means separation of soul from the body. Sin and spiritual death are transferred to every person of the human race. Psa 51:5 Gen 5:3 Born a sinner Rom 5:12 Eph 2:1 rom 6:23 spiritual death. Christ on the cross followed the pattern in scripture. Spiritual death, then physical death. Spiritual separation from God Isa 53:10-12 His soul was in such anguish because He was separated psa 22:1 Rev 20:6 Rev 20:10-15 The most important thing we can be doing is to tell the people about Jesus Christ. If we fall in love with Him so much we will be willing to tell people about Him. It is an unreasonable fear to fear evangelism. Spiritual death and physical death results in eternal death. The torment is in the soul. Unbelievers who die physically are referred to as the dead. Saved people are judged by Christ’s work. If you reject you’re judged by your works. Isa 64:6 Chaplains on the Titanic preached the gospel to those stuck on the deck as they were sinking. Is your name in the book of life? People in the lake of fire are no closer to the end as when they began.

Scripture References: Genesis 2:17, Matthew 6:25-34, Romans 6:23, Hebrews 2:9, Hebrews 2:10, Luke 21:8, Hebrews 2:17-18, Luke 21:34, Ephesians 2:1, Hebrews 2:9-18, Hebrews 2:9, Isaiah 64:6, Luke 21:1-38, Hebrews 2:15, Titus 2:13, Romans 5:12, Hebrews 2:8-9, Philippians 2:5-11, Revelation 20:10-15, Hebrews 12:2, Hebrews 2:14, Luke 21:28, Genesis 5:3, John 7:17, Hebrews 2:9-18, Revelation 20:6, Hebrews 11:27, Isaiah 9:6, Luke 21:21, Psalms 51:5, Luke 21:19, Psalms 22:1, Hebrews 8:1, Hebrews 2:11-13, Luke 21:13, Genesis 5:5, Luke 21:36, Isaiah 53:10-12, Hebrews 3:1, Hebrews 2:11, Luke 21:9

From Series: Hebrews (1998) | More Messages from Gene Cunningham | Download Audio

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