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“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.”1 What does this mean, “espoused”? Let’s not use that word “engaged.” It doesn’t necessarily mean much in today’s world. Betrothed,promised. They hadn’t actually lived together yet.
“But the angel came in unto her and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.” Certainly she was surprised. “And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God.”2
I’m trying to bring it down to earth and show you how human it was, how literal it was, how real it was. It happened to a woman, who was a woman just like you. And it happened literally! She literally conceived and bore a child without any human agency. How it happened, we don’t know. We have God’s Word, and that’s all we know. Howthe Holy Ghost did it, we don’t know.
“And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: And He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?”—which shows obviously she hadn’t yet married her husband. “And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”3
“And behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible.”4 Where was Mary? What was her hometown? Nazareth. That was way up north near the Sea of Galilee, quite a ways north of Jerusalem—a long journey. I think it was about three days’ journey. They figured about 25 miles a day in those days; it was quite a distance north. Elisabeth and Zacharias must have lived fairly close to Jerusalem, because he was a Levite and a priest and a regular minister there. So later when Mary came to visit her cousin Elisabeth, she had to make quite a trip.
So God is appearing, His angel is appearing to these two different women in two different places, and also to the husband Zacharias.
Mary was so yielded to God, so dedicated, so consecrated, and loved the Lord so much, that though she was already betrothed to another man, she was willing to answer: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to Thy word. And the angel departed from her.”5 “Here am I, Lord. Take me. Whatever You want to do, Lord.” Are you willing to say, “Lord, here am I. Behold, I’m Your handmaiden, I’m Your servant”?
We gloss these things over sometimes with such beautiful little Sunday school pictures and we don’t really know the agony and the torment of soul and the battle that some of these people may have had. Mary was just as human as you are. Joseph was just as human as you are. All these characters were.
Mary said, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; Be it unto me according to Thyword.” Not according to her betrothal, not according to her love for her loved one, notaccording to her family, not according to the society of her day, but “be it unto me according to Thy word.” She must have had a lot of faith in the Word of God.
“And Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Judah, and entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth. And it came to pass that when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb.”6He was filled with the Holy Ghost, even in his mother’s womb, and the Holy Spirit within him, even though he was not yet born, caused him to leap at the sound of Mary, his Lord’s mother’s voice—as you’ll see by what she said.
“And Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost.” You mean people got filled with the Holy Ghost even before the Day of Pentecost? Certain special people. And she spoke out with a loud voice and said one of the most beautiful of all prophecies. What was she doing? Prophesying! This is commonly known in the liturgy of the church as “The Magnificat,” this and Mary’s prophecies together. “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.”7 In the Rosary they say this seven times to every time they mention the Lord; they praise Mary. “Hail Mary full of grace, blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.” Very good saying, but it’s not to be used out of proportion, above praising the Lord.
“And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my wombfor joy! And blessed is she that believed.” Now who’s she talking about? The Spirit is speaking through Elisabeth about Mary.
“Blessed is she that believed” because she believed the Word of the Lord. It took faith for Mary to accept what Gabriel said. “Blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord. And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.”8
“For He hath regarded the low estate of His handmaiden.” Did she think she was somebody? She felt she was very small and insignificant, a humble young woman around 16 years old.
“For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.”9 The whole Catholic church calls her blessed, hundreds, thousands, no doubt millions of times every day, and have for centuries, generations. “All generations shall call me blessed.”
“For He that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is His name. And His mercy is on them that fear Him from generation to generation. He hath showed strength with His arm; He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.”10 Did God pick for the mother of His Son the wife of the high priest? The wife of the Roman governor? The wife of the king? No. But the Lord regarded the low estate of His handmaiden.
“He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich He hath sent empty away.”11 Who are the hungry? Those willing to receive him. “He hath filled the hungrywith good things.” Has He satisfied your hearts? But those rich He hath sent emptyaway. What can you give the man who has everything? He sent the rich empty away. They think they’re full, but they’re empty.
“He hath holpen His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy.” Now that has great significance. Through sending Jesus, how did He help Israel? Who were Israel at that time? The Jews, His church of that day. “In remembrance of His mercy.” He remembered what He had promised, and in mercy He gave them the Messiah. “As He spake to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.”12 In other words, He’s fulfilling His word to Israel.
“And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house.”13How do you think Mary looked by this time? She was about three months pregnant. When do you think it was that Joseph discovered that she was with child? Probably after this visit with her cousin Elisabeth. Do you think it was easy for her to go home? To face Joseph? Gone from home for three months, she comes home pregnant. If you were Joseph, what would you think? “My wife was gone to visit her cousin for three months and comes home pregnant.”
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.”14 Apparently Mary hadn’t had the courage to tell him what the Lord had said, or if she had, he didn’t believe it. Would you believe it if your wife came home from a visit with her cousin and told you, “The Spirit of God came and did this to me.” I doubt if you’d believe it! He probably thought, “Well, my poor wife got in trouble and this is the story she cooked up.” So what did God have to do?
“But while he thought on these things, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins.”15 Some of us God has to put to sleep before He can get us in the spirit. Sometimes God can talk to some people easier in a dream or asleep than while they’re awake.16
“Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”17 So then what did Joseph do? “Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: and knew her not until she had brought forth her firstborn Son: and he called His name Jesus.”18
Here we’ve got somebody else exercising faith! He was willing to not live together as husband and wife for nine months, at least six months after he probably discovered she was pregnant, until the baby was born. Here’s another man who was obedient and hadfaith. He was a little confused at first and it wasn’t easy, but he obeyed.
“Now Elisabeth’s full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son. And her neighbors and her cousins heard how the Lord had showed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her. And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called his name Zacharias, after the name of his father. And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John. And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called. And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John.”19 Why? The angel of the Lord told him to call him John.
Again, obedience to the Lord. Obedience is so important! You see, disobediencestruck him dumb, but when he finally exercised faith and obeyed the Lord: “His mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God. Andfear came upon all them that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judea.”20 Just like the newspapers.
“And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, what manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him. And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied.”21 Now how many prophets have we got? Elisabeth prophesied, Mary prophesied, and now Zacharias is going to prophesy. It sounds like Old Testament poetry, doesn’t it? “Saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed His people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David; as He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began.”22 How long had this event been predicted?—Since God talked with Eve in the Garden of Eden. “Her seed shall crush thy head.”23
“That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us: To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant; the oath which He sware to our father Abraham, that He would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life.”24 The Devil tries to make you afraid sometimes, but that’s one thing they marveled at: their boldness, that they weren’t afraid. Who gives you that kind of courage? God has to.
“And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways: to give knowledge of salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”25
Can you take that to heart? Does that sound like your ministry, “To give light to those that sit in darkness”? Isn’t that a beautiful ministry? “To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.”
(Prophecy:) Make known, proclaim the good news of the Gospel, Emmanuel, the Lord Jesus Christ! So therefore go and preach the Word, preach the Gospel; be instant in season and out of season. Proclaim the good news through all the land, in the highways and the streets and the hedges. Go therefore, My children. Go forth and tell them of My love, My wondrous love, My great love and My mercy that endureth forever. Teach and preach the love of Jesus.
From a talk originally given on Christmas Eve 1968. Updated and republished
December 2012. Read by Simon Peterson.
1 Luke 1:26–27.
2 Luke 1:28–30.
3 Luke 1:31–35.
4 Luke 1:36–37.
5 Luke 1:38.
6 Luke 1:39–40.
7 Luke 1:41–42.
8 Luke 1:43–47.
9 Luke 1:48.
10 Luke 1:49–52.
11 Luke 1:53.
12 Luke 1:54–55.
13 Luke 1:56.
14 Matthew 1:18–19.
15 Matthew 1:20–21.
16 See Job 33:14–17.
17 Matthew 1:22–23.
18 Matthew 1:24–25.
19 Luke 1:57–63.
20 Luke 1:64–65.
21 Luke 1:66–67.
22 Luke 1:68–70.
23 Genesis 3:15.
24 Luke 1:71–75.
25 Luke 1:76–79.
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