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- Introduction: Theme verses: Fear not, Mary; you have found favor with God and will conceive and bear a Son, for nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:30-31, 37).
- How does a person capture the awe and wonder and even fear that Mary and Joseph and Zechariah and Elizabeth experienced? How can we enter into the story they experienced first hand?
- Two weeks ago Rich preached a sermon with the title, The Presence of God in the time of need. He used the stories of four people to illustrate God’s presence: David, Elijah, John the Baptist, and Paul.
- This morning is the day after Christmas, so I would like to focus on the story of the birth of Jesus, and what I would like to focus on is the miracles surrounding God’s intervention in Jesus’ birth. As Rich suggested God has been present throughout history, from creation itself, and God’s miraculous intervention in history is nowhere more visible than in the birth of Jesus.
- Miracles surrounding Jesus’ birth
- John 1
- John shows Jesus as fully human and fully divine. This is a miracle.
- v. 2 Jesus already existed in the beginning with God (a beginning that had no beginning is a miracle).
- Jesus participated in creation. Jesus gave life to everything he created.
- v. 14 = This same person who was in the beginning and created the universe became flesh or became enfleshed in a human body, became human. Here we have a miracle. How could the eternal “Word that was God” become a human? And how could Jesus be fully God and fully man at the same time? Science cannot answer this question.
- Although the eternal God came in human form and flesh, Jesus never ceased to be the eternal God who has always existed, the eternal creator and sustainer of all things, and the source of human and eternal life.
- John 1:14 also says that Jesus is the Father’s one and only Son, the unique one of a kind Son. We are sons and daughters of the Father, but we are not fully divine and fully human in the way Jesus is.
- This is the truth about Jesus and this is the foundation of all truth.
- Phil. 2:6-8 tells us that although Jesus existed “in the form of God,” i.e., although Christ has eternally possessed the very nature of God, he did not consider this divine-heavenly existence something to selfishly grasp and hang on to but instead accepted a servant’s position and appeared in the likeness of a man.
- Luke 1:5-20
- Zechariah and Elizabeth practiced both outward and inward obedience, and because of this God said they were righteous.
- Verse 7 says Elizabeth was too old to bear a child, but God can do impossible things.
- The angel Gabriel appeared visibly to Zechariah as he was burning incense. Scripture says Zechariah was shaken and overwhelmed with fear. He certainly was not expecting to see an angel.
- The angel said God has heard your prayer and your wife will bear a son and you will name him John. The angel gave Zechariah some instructions about what John could eat and drink and how he should live his life. The angel also told Zechariah that John would possess the spirit and power of Elijah.
- Zechariah made the mistake of asking Gabriel how can I know this will happen because I and my wife are well along in years, so the angel said you will not be able to talk until the child is born. Zechariah not being able to talk was a miracle.
- So Elizabeth conceived and John was born and Elizabeth said the child should be named John and Zechariah wrote on a tablet that his name was John, which surprised the people.
- .Luke 1:26-38
- The miracle of Gabriel’s appearance to Mary= God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth to talk to the virgin Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph. 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, but of course, Mary could not figure it out. So the angel tried to calm Mary by saying, “Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God!” But then the angel said, “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 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. 33 And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”
- In Mary’s mind, this was an impossibility = 34 Mary responded to the angel with a question. “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”
- The miracle of the Holy Spirit = 35 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.
- The angel than told Mary about the miracle of Elizabeth being pregnant = 36 What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. 37 For the word of God will never fail.”
- The miracle of Mary’s response = 38 Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.
- (They did not read these verses.) The miracle of Elizabeth’s baby leaping in her womb when Mary greeted her. 39 A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town 40 where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. 41 At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
- Elizabeth’s comments to Mary, 42 Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. 43 Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? 44 When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. 45 You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.”
- This song contains amazing insights. She mentions her place in history, the respect people will have for her; she is not being proud but is recognizing the gift God has given her to be the mother of the Savior of the world. She understands that Jesus is coming for the poor, the oppressed, and the despised. Mary’s attitude is itself a miracle.
- D.Matt. 1:18-25= 18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is a miracle. 19 Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.
- 20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. This is a miracle. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
- The angel quoted Isa. 7:14
- 24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. 25 But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.
- Apparently Joseph saw only two options: stone her or divorce her. The angel gave him a third option: marry her.
- The angel told Joseph that the child Mary carried was conceived by the action of the Holy Spirit, that Mary would have a son, and that Joseph should name the child Jesus.
- Jesus means “the Lord saves.” Jesus came to earth to be our Savior. We cannot save ourselves.
- The implications of Mary’s visit with Elizabeth
- Mary was young, poor, and female, all of which in her day made her unusable in the minds of some people.
- God’s favor and Mary’s obedience did not deliver her from pain and trouble. In her day, her peers would ridicule her. Unless Joseph agreed to marry her, she would remain unmarried for life. If her father rejected her, she would be forced into begging or prostitution in order to earn a living. And if she told people that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit, she would be considered crazy. Mary is a lesson to us not to demand to see all the results if we obey.
- 1:38 = Mary’s willingness to be used of God did not reduce her need to visit Elizabeth. The angel had told her that Elizabeth was pregnant too and Mary needed support. Elizabeth’s response tells us that Elizabeth believed Mary and would be a support to Mary. Mary was a normal person. She needed support, friends, understanding. We all need understanding and friendship in difficult times.
- God has used various methods to communicate throughout history.
- Angels: Jacob, Zechariah, Mary, shepherds
- Dreams: Jacob, Joseph, a baker, a cup-bearer, Pharaoh, Isaiah, Joseph in NT, wise men
- Writing on the wall: Belshazzar
- Talking donkey: Balaam
- Pillars of cloud and fire: Israel
- Swallowed by a fish: Jonah
- Verbally: Abraham, Moses, Jesus’ baptism, Paul
- Fire: Moses
- God’s Son
- Scripture
- The Holy Spirit in our hearts and minds
- John 1
- Lessons:
- Christ’s life began with numerous miracles and then he performed miracles throughout his life. But then his resurrection from the dead matches the miracle of his virgin birth.
- God has and still does intervene in circumstances to achieve his purposes. In fact, every spiritual, emotional, and physical redemption or growth or healing is the result of Christ’s miraculous intervention in human history.
- God is a miracle working God. God can do the impossible.
- God uses all kinds of people. Especially in the Christmas story God used common people to change the course of history, poor people, lowly people, women. God still does that. Christmas reminds us that God uses the weak and lowly to accomplish divine purposes. You are a vessel in whom the divine Christ dwells, and God has Kingdom work for you to do right where you are.
- On Christmas day, we don’t just celebrate Christ’s first coming. We also celebrate his continued coming into the hearts of people until the end of the age.
- Christ’s birth is a profound statement that the divine and human is joined, that God does not despise the human aspect of our existence, that our human existence can be characterized by hope and trust and confidence because God is present with and in us.
- In the same way that God was present in the world in Christ, God is present in the world in us because Christ lives in us.
- John 1
- Luke 1