Here we are, back again. Sorry I was MIA for a few days. I have a habit of starting things late in the day, and then I get too tired to finish them. Also, I've been a little discouraged the past few days. It's hard to calm myself enough to get into the study, which is ironic because when I do pick up my bible, I become calm.
We left off at the end of verse 25 when Gabriel had visited Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth became pregnant. Today, we will focus on Gabriel visiting Mary, and see how far we get. This passage can be found in Luke 1:26-38.
Remember before, we talked about Elizabeth going into seclusion for 5 months. So this first part of the sentence in merely stating that Gabriel came to Mary during the 6th month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, just after being in seclusion. I'm not going to go heavily into this, but because it's a fascinating read, I'm going to leave this here and let you read it. Some people obsess over when Jesus was born. Jewish knowledge and biblical passages have pointed people to an exact date. The research makes sense, but it isn't something that is of dire importance.
Why Nazareth of Galilee? I just googled for a reason myself. Was Nazareth King David's kingdom? Was Galilee a significant place for Jews? Out of all of my years being a Christian, I don't think I've ever seen so much controversy over something. Many people think this passage proves the Bible is fake because archaeologists and historians don't find a record of Nazareth until 400 years after Jesus was born.
My take on that, since when did God use famous people to act out His will? He took the smallest shepherd son and made him the greatest king (David), He took a coward and made him the leader of an army (Gideon), He took somebody who was absolutely beaten to the core by Satan and used him to sing His praises (Job), and he used someone who constantly disobeyed Him and doubted Him to go and preach to others (Jonah). I could go on. Moses had a studder, yet God used Him to lead the Jews out of slavery and walk 40 years through the desert into the promised land. If God uses "nobodies" like these to do His will, why wouldn't He use a small and unknown town (some say Nazareth, if it had existed when Jesus was born, would've only had 100-200 people. That's a small village by anyone's standards) like Nazareth to enact His plan of redemption?
Also remember, that in that time, people had been expecting the Messiah's birth because of the many prophecies, including those in the book of Isaiah. The government expected a leader, a conquerer, and an administrative king to come to the aid of the Jews and take over the world. They went around killing baby boys, hoping to kill the Messiah. God knew that the government would seek him, so He did not let it be known where Jesus would be born or where he would grow up. Erasing historical evidence sounds like protection that only God Himself could provide.
But, I think He gave a clue. Nazareth is similar to the Hebrew word for branch. In Isaiah 11:1, it says that a shoot will sprout out from the stump of Jesse, meaning that from a great family tree that had been cut down or fallen, a new life would come forth. And the branch will bear fruit. Branch = Nazareth, fruit = Jesus. Remember that Jesse was the father of David. Remember that according to Luke, Mary was a descendant of King David from his son Nathan. and Remember that according to Matthew, Joseph was a descendant of King David through his son Solomon. Legalistically, Jesus had a right to the throne.
Now that the first verse is done... In that day, and throughout time up until about 60-ish years ago, women were considered soiled, impure, unrighteous, and unworthy if they were not virgins when they were married. And up until renaissance times, women were eligible to be wed when they were 13. They were usually betrothed to a man by their parents.
Marriage has always been viewed as means of procreation. By our standards of society and life, thats hard to accept because there are so many couples out there who are unable to have children, personally I think it is a result of the artificial foods and medicine we put into our body and it passes on to a child as a "hidden birth defect". It's also hard to accept because for the longest time, society viewed marriage as finding the best person to create the best children.
Biblical times, marriage was about procreation, but more importantly about servitude to God. Many famous biblical couples were barren, but they were mentioned because they loved God and they were faithful to Him even when they went through such hardships.
Now, marriage is all about finding that one special person who loves you no matter what. No matter gender, age, religion, or whether you both agree on having children. People get married for tax reasons. People get married knowing they will get divorced in a few years, they just want to not "feel guilty" about the sex they want now. People get married because they already have a baby, not knowing if they will grow to love each other.
Do you realize how difficult it is to find a spouse for godly and biblical reasons in today's society where people view marriage for a completely different reason? But I digress.
All that being said to show that Mary was probably 13 when she bore Jesus. Nativity art depicts her as early-mid 20s, but knowing society then, she was about 13. She was the age of an 8th grader. And she was betrothed by her parents to marry Joseph (not to say that betrothals go against God's plan. remember they were both of the line of David. God planned for them to be engaged. And no matter how much you feel you regretted a marriage or wish you could leave a marriage, they are all in His plan)
The angel tells Mary that she is highly favored. Firstly, it must be pointed out that Mary is the only female mentioned to have favor in the eyes of the Lord. Here is a list of bible verses that use the word favor. All of the verses refer to a man with God's favor or like in the Psalms, seeking favor with God. Mary is the only female who is called favored. and not just favored, she is highly favored. she's not special, she's super special. She's not important, she's super important. She is highly favored.
Now, the way we use the word "favor" is very different from how people in the bible use that word. Remember that language changes over time. Which is how the bible gets misinterpreted.
Now, we use favor to say that we prefer it over something else, calling it a favorite, or we ask someone to do a favor, which is doing an action for us that we don't deserve. God wouldn't use our first meaning for favor. His love is perfect, unconditional, and across the board. As humans, we like the idea of favoritism, but God loves you as much as He loves me. And He loves us as much as He loves the person you hate the most. But our second definition of favor is more accurate to the way it is used in the Bible. Now check out this. It's an outline from a pastor's sermon on God's favor. Check out the definitions for favor: grace, charm, acceptance, goodwill, desire, to stoop in kindness to an inferior, and to be shown consideration. That is God's version of doing something for us that we don't deserve. I want to get the idea across of what is going on here.
Grace: forgiveness, mercy, kindness, love. Charm: attractiveness (He is attracted to you) Acceptance: reception and approval. Goodwill: kindness, benevolence (He has a desire to do good for you) Desire: to long for, to crave. Stoop in kindness to an inferior: He is perfection, we are imperfect and therefore inferior. He wants to be on our level instead of looking down on us. Consideration: sympathetic regard or respect. Can you believe it? God respects us! And He is sympathetic - He understands our emotions - He shares our emotions - He FEELS our emotions.
Okay, now take all of that and apply it to the angel speaking to Mary. WOW! What a feeling to be told that God favors you!
The Lord is with you. This is a reoccuring phrase in the Bible. It is reassurance that even though you can't see God, and even though we have lost our perfect communion with Him, He is always beside us, whether we know it or not, and whether we accept it or not. Think of God like you think of air. Air is always there. God is always there. You can only take away air by a man-made vacuum. Only by man-made persistence and stubbornness can we remove God from our life. But even when you don't want God in your life. He is still there.
I find a second meaning to this. Often, the Angels say to people, "Do not be afraid," and I'll get to that more when I'm focusing on other passages, but I feel like this is Gabriel's way of telling Mary to not be afraid. "Hey, I'm about to tell you something that seems impossible, but it's true. I'm going to tell you something and you will be scared, you will be looked down upon by your peers, and it will be so difficult, but do not be afraid. What I'm about to tell you is leading up to 33 years of a child you will love with all your heart, but you will have to watch Him die. Through all this, God has a plan and He is WITH you." (remember what i just went though on favor? This is reinforcing God's incomparable love for Mary)
I didn't think 3 verses would be that long. But it was a lot and it was important.
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