Luke 1:26 ¶ And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was
sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was
Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And the angel came in unto her, and said,
Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee:
blessed art thou among women. 29
And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in
her mind what manner of salutation this should be. 30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary:
for thou hast found favour with God. 31
And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and
shalt call his name JESUS. 32 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: 33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob
for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. 34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this
be, seeing I know not a man? 35 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.
36 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. 37 For with
God nothing shall be impossible. 38 And
Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy
word. And the angel departed from her.
Nazareth is not mentioned as such
in the Old Testament. It is today called the, “Arab capital of Israel,” as it
has a large Arab population. (1)
Isaiah 9:1 refers to Galilee of the nations and Matthew 4:15
refers to Galilee of the Gentiles, word
substitution defining nations as
equivalent to Gentiles. Galilee was inhabited by Gentiles.
Nations is usually a reference to non-Jewish political, tribal, and ethnic
groups. In 1Kings 9:11 Solomon gave King Hiram of Tyre 20 cities in the land of
Galilee so you would naturally have an influx of Gentiles there. In 2Kings
15:29 the Assyrians removed the population in their practice of replacing
conquered peoples. They would settle them someplace else and move another group
into their homelands as per 2Kings 17:24. Galilee was originally in Naphtali’s
domain according to Joshua 21:32. It is possible that Nazareth derived its name
from one of these groups. Some also believe it is derived from the Hebrew word
for branch so is part of the prophecy in Isaiah 11:1.
Gabriel now announces to Mary what
she is going to be a part of. This will be the basis of the phrase only begotten Son of God in John. Even
though Alexander the Great had himself declared the son of god or the gods and
Roman Emperor Augustus even signed his decrees deus fide or son of god, God
only came to live on earth as a man one time, in the form of Jesus of Nazareth,
not a king appointed by man or an emperor by virtue of his military conquests,
but a poor Jewish carpenter’s son from a backwater of the Roman Empire who was
the Son of God at the same time in that He was God in human flesh.
It is important to understand the
meaning of sonship in the ancient world. The Jews understood that for Jesus to
be declared the Son of God meant He was equal with God, invested with God’s
authority.
John 5:18 Therefore the
Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath,
but said also that God was his
Father, making himself equal with God.
Philippians 2:6 Who, being
in the form of God, thought it
not robbery to be equal with God:
Indeed, Christ Himself will declare
after His resurrection as He commands His disciples to teach the world about
Him;
Matthew 28:18 And Jesus
came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in
earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Mary is a virgin descended from
David. The definition of a virgin is found in the passage in verse 34 but is
originally found in the Old Testament in Genesis 24:16. Mary’s genealogy is in
Luke 3, which we will discuss when we get to it.
Note that the prophecy Gabriel
gives Mary is about Jesus Christ’s ultimate authority and kingdom, His kingship
over all things temporal and spiritual.
Psalm 45:6 ¶ Thy throne, O
God, is for ever and ever: the
sceptre of thy kingdom is a
right sceptre.
Daniel 2:44 And in the days
of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be
destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and
consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
Daniel 7:14 And there was
given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and
languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his
kingdom that which shall not be
destroyed…27 And the kingdom and
dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be
given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all
dominions shall serve and obey him.
Revelation 11:15 And the
seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The
kingdoms of this world are become the
kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and
ever.
Another more immediate prophecy is coming
which will refer to the crucifixion and the sorrow it will cause Mary.
Verse 34 refers to the Holy Ghost
coming upon and overshadowing Mary. This is not like the pagan mythologies
where a god assumes the body of a person or animal to have sex hearkening back
to the rebellious sons of God in Genesis, chapter 6. It is more of covering
someone in a presence like a shadow. See in Acts how the word is used.
Acts 5:15 Insomuch that
they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter
passing by might overshadow some
of them.
Think of it like the Spirit of God
in Genesis 1:2 with God’s generative power manifested in creation.
Genesis 1:2 And the earth
was without form, and void; and darkness was
upon the face of the deep. And
the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
God, who creates all life, is
ultimately responsible for all conceptions and births.
Genesis 30:2 And Jacob’s
anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of
the womb?
Psalm 29:9 The voice of the
LORD maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests:
and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory.
Here, though, He does
not use the procreative abilities of a man but empowers this woman to become
pregnant without another human involved.
(1) Laurie King-Irani, “The Arab Capital of
Israel,” Journal of Palestine Studies, vol.
25, no. 3 (Spring, 1996), pp. 103-105. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2538265
(accessed 4.15.2015).
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