The Birth of Jesus Foretold
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!” Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”
Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”
The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she’s now in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.”
Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her. Luke 1:26-38
I was thinking about the birth of Jesus this morning and thought I’d just turn to Luke 1 and read about when Mary was told about God’s plan. When I got pregnant with my first child, the day before I took the home test, I went on a hike. God used these verses to assure me that my baby would have a daddy. The beautiful thing is that my husband is her daddy. The Lord did a great work in his heart and now we are married with two beautiful girls. But all this isn’t why I wanted to read this today nor talk about it in this manner.
What an awesome responsibility behold! A young woman, a virgin, generally the idea associated with that is that she’s naive and inexperienced with the ways of life, not just married life and the marriage bed. Mary asked a question of God’s angel Gabriel, “how can I have a baby? I am a virgin.” Zechariah asked a similar question and was muted by the angel until after the birth of his son, but not so Mary. What is the difference? (To be fair, Zechariah’s question was, “How can I know this will happen? I’m an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years.”) So what is the difference?
The difference is the attitude the question was asked in. Zechariah asked in doubt and Mary asked in acceptance. Mary’s heart was right, she said, “I am the Lord’s servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants. May everything you have said come true.” WOW! Did she know what all that would entail? Probably not, but she knew enough to trust God. She believed in Him. She was willing to do whatever He said or had planned for her life.
So, the question that remains with me is, “Am I willing to be the Lord’s servant? Can I willingly serve the Lord by serving my husband? By doing so, will it win my husband over to the Lord just like 1 Peter 3 says that it will?” I believe the answer to these questions is a resounding yes. It may be hard to be the Lord’s servant, but I am willing. It is hard sometimes to serve my husband, but I am willing. And I absolutely believe that my husband can be won over just like in 1 Peter 3. I believed that before I started seeing results in my husband. The Lord is amazing.
So, my question to you is, are you willing to be the Lord’s servant, whatever that entails for your life? May God bless you in your endeavor.
May God provide the increase!
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