Luke 1:26-38
Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel.
We now venture into more familiar prophecies and yet we will be looking at them in a slightly different way, hopefully to see Him in a new and personal way.
While there are those that use this prophecy to distort the Gospel we will be looking at it in the wonder and reality that we may miss when just reading it with familiar eyes. Mary was special, there is no denying that, but she doesn’t have any supernatural tendencies or powers. She had to be fully human to be the birthmother of Jesus. What makes her special is that God chose her to carry and care for His Son while He was on earth.
Mary was an ordinary sort of girl, a typical Jewish girl except for the part of her that was very devoted to God in her heart. While many Jewish woman and girls would have been devote in the carrying out the practices of the religion, Mary seemed to have a personal relationship with God that caused her to want to obey Him. If not He wouldn’t have found the favor He had for her. We can know that she knew God more personally than the average person because she didn’t doubt the words that Gabriel told her, only wondered how God was going to make it happen.
Before the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit is only said to come upon a person to cause them to do something that is not humanly possible. He would speak through people who wouldn’t have known to say those things or through someone lifting something that was too heavy for them or other such events. So when Gabriel would have told Mary that the Holy Spirit would come upon her, she knew that she was going to be used by God for a special purpose that would reveal His glory.
She knew the weight of this situation. She would have known that she could possibly face being stoned, rejected by Joseph and then be any other man and her status in the community would be compromised. She also would have to try to explain it to Joseph and her parents. But she would have also been humbled by the task that God had called her to and known if He was going to make it happen she could trust Him with all the details for both her and the baby’s safety.
Making It Personal
Would you consider your relationship with the Father of the personal nature? How could knowing God in a personal manner change your obedience? Do you want to be deeper in your relationship with Him and willing to take the needed steps to be closer?
Making It Personal Kids
What does it mean to have a personal relationship with Jesus? Does being close friends with Jesus mean you should act different? What are some things in your life that show you are close friends with Jesus?
Closing Prayer
Father, this story with Mary reminds us that You are a personal God. You care about us and know us individually. Father, please give us a greater desire to be in closer relationship with You so that we are ready to do anything that would bring You glory. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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