A reflection on Luke chapter one and Mary’s interaction with the angel Gabriel.

<p>A reflection on Luke chapter one and Mary’s interaction with the angel Gabriel.</p>

David Shin

Ouachita Hills College

Powerful Words in Your Relationship with God

This message was recorded on the campus of Wachita Hills College.

For more information visit our website www.ohc.org.

Father in heaven we thank you so much for the privilege that we have to call you our Father and our God.

And today we pray that as we open your holy word that you would speak to us.

We pray that the Holy Spirit would inspire, would instruct, would enlighten our minds and speak to our hearts, for we ask these things in the precious name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Our study today is taken from Luke chapter 1 and verse 26.

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Lazarus, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David.

And having come in, the angel said to her, Rejoice, highly favored 1, the Lord is with you, Blessed are you among women." It's interesting because the angel Gabriel comes up another time in Scripture in Daniel chapter 9, the 70-week prophecy about Jesus as the Messiah.

And here the same angel comes to Mary, indicating that Messiah was to be born.

And we're told in another account that the angel Gabriel was the 1 that stood in the very presence of God.

So this is the covering cherub that has come here to Mary.

We'll pick it up here in verse 29, And when she saw him, she was troubled, that is saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was.

Then the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God, and behold you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus.

He'll be great and will be called the Son of the Highest.

And the Lord will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end." Then Mary said to the angel, how can this be since I do not know a man?" Obvious question.

Here the angel Gabriel comes and says she's going to be with child and that this child is going to be none other than the Son of God.

Just from a social standpoint of view, you can only imagine what Mary went through Just from the aspect of her relationships, number 1, Joseph.

To have to go to him and indicate that she was pregnant and she had been faithful but she was pregnant with God, I don't even know how that conversation took place.

The faith of Joseph, the faith of Mary, and the stigma surrounding Jesus' birth went on for years.

And it's alluded to when the Pharisees and religious leaders were questioning him, they would ask about the legitimacy of his birth.

The stigma of being an illegitimate child stayed with Jesus his entire life because it was a peculiar situation related to his birth.

Mary, prior to being married to Joseph, became pregnant.

So she asked this question, how can I become pregnant when I'm a virgin?

And in verse 35, the angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the highest will overshadow you.

Therefore also the Holy 1 who is born will be called the Son of God.

Now indeed, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived in her own age, and this is the sixth month, for her who is called barren.

For with God nothing will be impossible." The angel Gabriel gives corroborating evidence.

Her cousin, Elizabeth, way past the years of childbearing, she's in menopause, and this was a miracle conception.

So the angel Gabriel gives some evidence on which she can base her faith because there's another miracle birth that has already taken place and Elizabeth at this time is already 6 months pregnant And the angel says, look, look, this miracle has already happened here.

And then verse 37, the angel Gabriel says, for with God nothing will be impossible.

In other words, the issue is not with God's capability.

Then in verse 38, then Mary said, Behold the maid servant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word.

After this, in verse 37, Mary goes immediately to Judah to see Elizabeth, and there's this interesting encounter that takes place because as soon as Mary goes into Elizabeth's house, Elizabeth looks at Mary and says, you're pregnant and you're pregnant with God.

So after this conversation, Mary becomes pregnant and walks right into Elizabeth's home and there's verification that this miracle has already taken place.

Now if you with your sanctified imagination can just imagine the dynamics of what's taking place from heaven's perspective.

And how do you even do the physics of how the eternal God of the universe, which the Bible says the heavens cannot contain the glory of God, the ineffable, eternal God of the universe becoming in embryonic form, or even before embryonic form.

We're told that the story of Bethlehem, the incarnation, according to the book Desire of Ages, is an exhaustless theme.

In other words, it's something that throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity that we'll be meditating on.

So, Jesus is on standby in heaven, watching Mary have this conversation with Gabriel.

Gabriel comes and says, look, the issue isn't with God, for with God all things are possible, And I would argue that the incarnation shows that anything is possible.

I mean God becoming Becoming you know in embryonic form in in Mary.

I mean this is a miracle of miracles God in the flesh and in verse 30 38 you have the key to what took place in this story.

Verse 38, Then Mary said, Behold the maidservant of the Lord.

And here's the most important words you can say in your relationship with God.

I would argue and I think the context supports this idea that once Mary said let it be, that the miracle of the incarnation of Jesus took place.

It's her giving permission for the power of God to do this impossible miracle in her life, the incarnation.

So basically Jesus is on standby in heaven and once the words let it be came from the mouth of Mary, Jesus was incarnated, and the greatest miracle in human history took place.

I mean, the power of God is waiting for our permission.

I mean, that's the implications of what's taking place here.

And notice what Mary says, "...let it be to me according to your word, " God's Word.

A reflection on God's Word and God's power, this verse indicates that God's power has been packaged in a way, in a format, that is latent power.

When you look at the definition of latent, latent means that the potential is there but it's not been realized or actualized.

So God, in relationship to human beings, has not packaged His power in a format like a bomb or a nuclear hydrogen bomb that just goes off and irrespective of human choice or volition or free will it's just gonna it's just gonna decimate the landscape quite the contrary the way that God has packaged his power in relationship to humanity is latent power.

In other words, the power, the omnipotent power of God that can do anything such as taking the glorious nature of God and putting it into human flesh, I mean that's the greatest miracle.

That potential is there, staying in a dormant format, waiting for our consent and for the conditions of that power to be unleashed and to be realized.

The Bible says that the word of God is like a seed.

You can take a seed and put it on the shelf and it can lie in dormant state for thousands of years.

Matter of fact, they found a seed or some seeds in an archaeological dig on Masada in the Middle East.

They took these seeds and they were 2000 years old, dating close to the time of Christ.

And they took these seeds and then put them into the soil, planted them, watered them, and much to the shock of the scientists, these seeds sprouted and it's a palm bush today.

You can find it there in Israel remarkable now now did the scientists create life?

No Was that life was that was that power?

Of that seed that that creative I don't know what you call it, the life of that seed always in that seed for 2, 000 years?

And it was lying there in dormant state, waiting for someone to release its potential.

The Bible says that the Word of God is like a seed.

In other words, the way that God has packaged His power is in His Word.

Remember what Mary said, "'Let it be to me according to your word.'" So His Word already has power within it, much like a seed.

And that power is lying there in dormant form, in latent form.

In other words, there are conditions that are required for that power to be released to us individually.

Every command, every promise—I should say every command is actually a promise—and every promise of Scripture is lying there in latent form.

It's there, but the potential has not been realized.

So You can go to any promise in the Word of God, in the Bible, and say, Lord, let it be, like Mary, let it be to me according to your Word.

And by faith, that power in the Word of God is is realized and and we believe it by faith regardless of the way that we may or may not feel.

The angel Gabriel comes to Mary and and and basically states that the Word of God is powerful there's nothing too hard for God everything is possible there's nothing that is impossible and and by by you know the Mary knows the implications of what's taking place here the angel is coming for her consent and and Mary says let it be and after this the angel Gabriel leaves she becomes pregnant with as those words roll off her tongue the greatest miracle in history has just happened Jesus has been incarnated The God of the universe has become 1 of us.

I used to sell books, door-to-door canvassing, and there are certain rules, guidelines, that every canvasser should follow.

There's a certain etiquette when you knock on someone's door.

And When you're canvassing, you knock on thousands, hundreds of thousands of doors, depending on how long you've been doing this.

I remember my knuckles would get raw, and after a while there would be a callous on my knuckles because I had knocked on so many doors.

Well, anyways, you knock on the door, the person opens the door, and then you have a conversation and you tell them about the books and so forth.

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Powerful Words in Your Relationship with God

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