Mary: Chosen by God to Give Birth to the Saviour
Luke 1, Matthew
1:18-25
We will follow Mary's
story in the gospel of Luke, with references back to Matthew, Isaiah and
Genesis. Luke 1:26-27 "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.. V19 Gabriel had told Zacharias who was to be the
father of John the Baptist, that Gabriel has a special position "And the
angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God;
and am sent to speak unto thee....."
Why was it so
important that Mary was a virgin? Genesis 3:15 "And I will put enmity
between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise
thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
Her seed, not the seed of fallen man, but the seed of the woman. The
Saviour's birth would be very special, of supernatural means. Isaiah 7:14
"Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall
conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Mary was a
virgin, and Matthew 1:18 confirms it. "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."
It is impossible to
imagine what that moment was like when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary. In the simplicity with which the Bible often
depicts its most awesome moments, we are told in V28 just that "the angel
came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is
with thee; blessed are thou among women." V29 when Mary saw Gabriel
"she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of
salutation this should be as Gabriel had told her three things, that she is
highly favoured by the Lord, that the Lord is with her, and that she is
blessed. Think about this, if God would
send an angel to us, what would he tell us that the Lord thinks of us? Of all the women in Israel, God chose this
humble maiden to be the mother of the Saviour of the World, truly, she must
have been a very godly young woman.
