Christmas Miracles: Part III

The 12 Miracles of Christmas, Previous:
Miracle #1: The miracle of Precise Timing.

Miracle #2: The miracle of Zechariah’s silence.

Miracle #3: The miracle of Elizabeth’s pregnancy.

Miracle #4: The miracle of Zechariah’s restoration.

Six months after the angel appeared to Zechariah, the same angel (Gabriel) appeared to Mary in her home town of Nazareth. The text says plainly she was a “virgin” meaning a woman who had never intimately known a man. This fact will be emphasized again when Mary herself says she is a virgin.

Mary was “betrothed” which is like a legal engagement. She was probably 12 to 13 years old, and would be married about a year later. Both she and Joseph are of the house of David. Joseph would give Jesus the legal right to the throne of David, while Mary would physically connect him to David’s bloodline.

• Luke 1:28, you can feel the angels excitement and joy. She is favored! God is about to do something wonderful.
• Luke 1:28, the line “the Lord is with you” clarifies that what is about to happen is not the plan of angels, but comes from the court of the Trinity Himself.
• Mary naturally was “troubled” (confused, perplexed, disturbed) by the angels greeting.
• Mary may have even felt anxiety at the sight of the angel. In her world, angels were more likely to bring bad news than good. So the angel assures her that she has found “favor” with God. This is a big deal, since it is the same thing the Bible says about Noah.

Miracle #5: (God became flesh.)

The name Mary is to give her son is “Jesus” meaning, “Yahweh saves.” It describes the work of the Almighty throughout history: To save. But now the fullness of God’s redemptive plan is come in the person of the Messiah, Jesus.

The Angel describes two qualities the Messiah will possess:

1. He will be GREAT. (Luke 1:32)

“Megas” (Greek for, extraordinary, splendid, magnificent, noble, distinguished, powerful.) The angel is clear: This will be no ordinary son! People will bow down and worship him. Women will wash his feet with their tears and hair. Thomas will bluntly call him “God.” Even the demons will declare his majesty!

He will rule on over an eternal kingdom because he bears an eternal nature. Can a kingdom outlast a king? Yes. But the kingdom of Heaven will always have her first king. No one will ever rule from the throne of King Jesus.

2. He will be HOLY. (Luke 1:35)

He will be uniquely God. Not like God; he is God. He will bear the unique inner quality of Yahweh. Angels declare day and night that Yahweh is “holy.” To say that Jesus is Holy is to say that He is Yahweh. (Notice, in Isaiah 6, who said the Lord was holy? Angels. And now, who is it that says Jesus is “holy”? An angel!)

The Gospel of John puts all this in theological terms:

• John 1:1, the logos. Logos is where we get all the words that end in “ology” (geology, theology, psychology.” It means, the inner thought or structure of something. The science of something. Jesus is the logos of God; that is, he is the inner being and structure of Yahweh. Jesus is the self expression of God.
• John 1:14, the word became “flesh.” That is called the incarnation. Carne in latain means meat. The incarnation is the infleshing of God.

Miracle #6:

• Mary asks how any of this is possible, since she is a virgin. (Literally, “since I’ve not known a man.”) She doesn’t doubt, she just can’t conceive of a pregnant virgin.
• Luke 1:35: The Holy Spirit is described as the active agent in creating the body of Jesus. That’s interesting since he is also active at the creation. The Almighty will suspend and overshadow the natural processes of Mary’s body and cause her to become pregnant. The body of Jesus will be wholly miraculous.
• Jesus was not created in the womb, he simply entered the womb. While Jesus by nature if eternal (he has no beginning), his body was created in time and space. (The space of Mary’s womb.)
• The virgin birth is the watermark of the incarnation. How do we know Jesus was God? 3 things: 1. By his miracles. 2. By the Resurrection. 3. By the Virgin Birth. (Only God can be born of a virgin.)
• The body Jesus chose to inhabit, created by the Spirit, will last all eternity. That is the same body he took to the cross, that was raised to live, that he took to heaven (same body now glorified) and will one day return in.
• I really like Luke 1:37, the angel says “nothing is impossible with God.” I think this is like a testimony. The angel is giving Mary some personal assurance; he’s seen God do somethings! The angels saw creation burst into being. They saw Jericho, Jonah and even the sea part. The conversation is breathtaking; an angel and a woman stand on earth in time and space talking theology.
• Theology: Irenaeus (who was a disciple of Polycarp who was a disciple of John), a Bishop in France, was the first I know of to connect the virgin birth to Genesis 3:15, which is called the ““Protevangelium” (First Gospel.) In Genesis 3:15, the seed of woman will crush the head of Satan. The only “seed” of woman would be the virgin born son born to Mary.

Miracle #7: John the Baptist

• Mary’s visit to Elizabeth in the hill country of Judea implies that Mary is an adventurous young woman. (It’s a 3 or 4 day journey, and it looks like she went alone. And she’s a young teen!)
• After this visit, it appears Mary will compose the Magnificat.
• Luke 1:41, the baby leaps in the womb. John began his prophetic ministry before he was even born!
• Things happen when Mary enters: The baby leaps, and at the same moment Elizabeth is overcome by the Holy Spirit. Mother and baby experience something unusual at the same time. In v.42, Elizabeth verbalizes the prophetic movements of her child. She calls Mary the “mother of my Lord.” I think the baby in her womb has identified that he is near the Messiah.