“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 06

Five warning sections in Hebrews, each are more severe, five is the number of grace. Heb 1:10-12, Psa 104:4 Joh 1:3 Col 1:16 without Jesus, nothing was made Anyone who things Jesus was a created being, read Joh 1:1-51, Col 1:1-29, and Heb 1:1-14 Psa 45:6-7 we are included in this citation, we must keep quotes in the context they were taken from Psa 45:1-17 the writer of Hebrews knows this Psalm is talking about the Messiah. Queen in psa 45:9 is the bride of Christ. Eph 5:6-7, Rev 19:6-9, Rev 21:2 we will be adorned with the acts we do in faith now Friends of the Bridegroom are Old Testament believers. Friends of the Bride are tribulation believers. Eph 2:7 Jesus received anointing after His resurrection. There are three anointings of Jesus: anointing of Jesus as a prophet isa 61:2, anointed as a priest psa 45:6-7, anointing as King psa 2:2, psa 92:10, psa 110:4 In the receiving of a crown, a crown follows anointing 6th superiority of Jesus to the angels: psa 102:25-27 He is superior to the angels because He is unchangeable. Job 38:4-7 Jesus is the foundation, He is the cornerstone. Physical and spiritual 1co 3:10-11, 1pe 2:6, col 1:17 He laid the heavens by the works of His hands. Isa 40:12 span of His hand, the entire creation. Salvation is the work of His arm, salvation is a greater work than creation isa 51:5, isa 52:10, isa 53:1, isa 59:16 If you are a Christian, and you have no burden for the souls of other people to come to know Christ, then you are apostate. His Spirit is not allowed to work in you because of your hardness of heart. We have great responsibility with the Grace He’s given us. 7th superiority of Jesus to the angels Heb 1:13, Psa 110:1, joh 19:30 it is finished, victory cry Heb 10:10-14 Jesus’ work was done so He sat down. Three postures in Ephesians: Eph 1:23, Eph 2:1-22, Eph 3:1-21 seated with Christ Eph 4:1-32, Eph 5:1-33 walking in the Light Eph 6:1-24 stand firm. Unless you learn to sit and rest in the complete work of Christ you’ll never be able to walk or stand firm. Our work is only of value when it comes from a posture of rest because of Christ’s finished work on our behalf. Heb 2:1 “Therefore” connects these chapters, and it ties into the first warning section. Heb 2:1-4 The danger is to those who received this letter and for us now too, the current day is the great apostasy, experience driven spirituality. It is demonism. Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witness is the Gnosticism of Col 2:8-23 If you are a child of God and you have an attitude of apathy, this passage is warning you that judgment is coming. The danger is casting of your anchor. Heb 6:19-20 Cling to the anchor and you are secure. Hope is assurance, it enters into the veil. The only anchor that works is on you can’t see, it has to go where you cannot see. Our anchor goes above; if our biblical assurance is connected to Jesus then there is nothing that can distract us. The need to give heed: Heb 2:1 dei-spiritual necessity required by the nature of things. It is of upmost importance that we give more attention to the things we’ve heard, to keep them in front of us wherever we go, to the extreme measure. Jesus is out of the reach of the enemy, but we are not, which is why we must cling to our anchor. Lest we drift, this is a daily threat. We can drift away at any moment. 2co 11:25, act 27:9-44 greater grace means greater accountability Heb 2:2-3. If is the lesser, then is the greater. Transgression- a voluntary stepping over the line, and disobedience- hearing and disobeying. Five times in four verses “we” refers to the heirs of salvation. This is a message to believers. Old Testament believers did not escape divine justice, there’s no way we ever could. Do not turn your back on the Word. Where we stand is dependent on where we stand in relation to Christ and if we’ve set aside or neglected the Word. Great Salvation: personally proclaimed by Christ who bought it, confirmed by the apostles who directly heard Jesus, given divine testimony by apostolic miracles. Apostolic miracles are a thing of the past. Heb 12:25 Jesus is speaking to you, do not refuse Him. The only security and hope is in God’s Word? The only way to escape is to not neglect what we’ve heard 1ti 1:18-20 These names were teachers of the word. Our record is kept of our conduct in heaven. The Christian life is a campaign-intense conflict over a long amount of time, just a few victories does not mean the whole life was victorious. You must choose this. We must recognize the terrible end of apathy to the word of God-spiritual shipwreck. You come through with just your life 1co 3:11-15 Constantly pushing away from us that which can stabilize us, the Word of God. We must hold two things to ourselves, clutch to ourselves, hold fast to the faith (which is delivered to us in the Word of God), and hold fast to a pure conscience (good of a divine kind, a conscience cleansed by forgiveness, through living in fellowship with Christ, to confess our sins and enter into His Light 1jo 1:9, 1jo 1:7) Heresy to ignore self-examination and confession. You need to find your spiritual gift so you know what you’re to do while you’re on this earth. It’s the treasure He gave you. The darkling thrush poem by Thomas Hardy: I leant upon a coppice gate When Frost was spectre-gray, And Winter's dregs made desolate The weakening eye of day. The tangled bine-stems scored the sky Like strings of broken lyres, And all mankind that haunted nigh Had sought their household fires. The land's sharp features seemed to be The Century's corpse outleant, His crypt the cloudy canopy, The wind his death-lament. The ancient pulse of germ and birth Was shrunken hard and dry, And every spirit upon earth Seemed fervourless as I. At once a voice arose among The bleak twigs overhead In a full-hearted evensong Of joy illimited; An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small, In blast-beruffled plume, Had chosen thus to fling his soul Upon the growing gloom. So little cause for carolings Of such ecstatic sound Was written on terrestrial things Afar or nigh around, That I could think there trembled through His happy good-night air Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew And I was unaware. We need to let the world know about Him. Our blessed hope.

Scripture References: Ephesians 3:1-21, Psalms 104:4, Job 38:4-7, Colossians 2:8-23, Psalms 45:6-7, Isaiah 59:16, Ephesians 2:7, John 1:7, Ephesians 2:1-22, Hebrews 1:10-12, Psalms 102:25-27, Hebrews 2:1-4, Hebrews 1:1-14, Isaiah 53:1, Revelation 21:2, Hebrews 12:25, Ephesians 1:23, Psalms 110:4, Hebrews 2:1, Colossians 1:1-29, Isaiah 52:10, Revelation 19:6-9, Hebrews 2:2-3, Hebrews 10:10-14, Psalms 92:10, Ephesians 6:1-24, John 1:1-51, Isaiah 51:5, Ephesians 5:6-7, Acts 27:9-44, John 19:30, Psalms 2:2, Ephesians 5:1-33, Colossians 1:16, Isaiah 40:12, Hebrews 2:1, Psalms 45:9, Psalms 110:1, Psalms 45:6-7, Ephesians 4:1-32, John 1:3, Colossians 1:17, Hebrews 6:19-20, Psalms 45:1-17, Hebrews 1:13, Isaiah 61:2