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About Jesus Steve Sweetman Luke
1:30 to 33 Verse
30 - "But the angel
(Gabriel) said to her (Mary) …"
Gabriel means "the strong man of God".
He appears 4 times in the Bible.
In Daniel 8:15 – 27 and 9:20
– 27 he explained certain end time events to Daniel.
In Luke 1:8 – 20 he foretold the birth of John the Baptist to "Do
not be afraid Mary". This
phrase is translated from the Greek word "phobeo" which is a
present middle imperative Greek verb.
This means that Gabriel commanded Mary not to allow fear to grip
her at that precise moment. She
was about to hear some incredible news that would change her lowly life
forever. "You
have found favour with God". The
only thing special about Mary was that she was born into the lineage of
King David. Other than that,
she was an ordinary teenager who God sovereignty predetermined to be key
in a once in an eternity event. She
lived in the uncultured hick town of Verse
31 - "You will be with
child and give birth to a son".
This would have blown Mary's mind.
Joseph and her hadn't been intimate.
How in heaven's name could she give birth to a son, but of
course, it was in heaven's name that this miracle would take place. "And
you are to give him the name Jesus". Jesus
means "Yahweh is Saviour".
I can't imagine how Mary felt at the precise moment.
Verse
32 - "He will be great and be called the Son of the Most
High". This could have
easily floored Mary. The
term "Most High" finds its roots in the Hebrew word "Elyon".
Elyon was Yahweh, the eternal I AM; He who has always been and
always will be; He who exists in the eternal present.
This had to have been bewildering.
A woman giving birth to divinity would have sounded like a pagan
concept in Mary's day. "The
Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David".
Mary might well have been intrigued by this one.
David was one important guy in prophetic history.
His life and rule as King of Israel centuries earlier was
prophetic of the life and rule of Israel's Messiah, who would soon be squirming around in Mary's womb.
How mind boggling. Would
her son become the much anticipated Israeli revolutionary who would free
Israel
from Rome? We
should know that Jesus sits on a throne right now in heaven, but it's
not the throne of David spoken of by Gabriel.
David's throne was a literal throne in the literal city of Jerusalem. It wasn't in heaven.
We can't put words in Gabriel's mouth.
We must understand these words as Gabriel understood them, not as
Replacement Theologians understand them.
Mary would have caught onto Gabriel better than many Evangelicals
today on this point. She was
raised to eagerly anticipate her Israeli Messiah coming to rule from Verse
33 - "And He will reign
over the house of Jacob forever".
Forever means forever and the house of Jacob means Israel. Clearly,
Israel
hasn't been replaced by the church.
She will return to international prominence.
After the Lord brings The
grammatical structure of Gabriel's words say as much as the words
themselves. In Greek grammar
there is what is called the "indicative mood".
This means that when a sentence expresses an action with the use
of a verb, the action expressed is a certainty.
If the action took place in the past, you can be assured that it
did take place. If the
action is happening in the present, you can stand back and watch.
If the action is to take place in the future, you can count on
the action coming to pass. This
passage is riddled with indicative verbs as seen in; "you will be
with child, He will be great, God will give Him the throne of David, He
will rule, there shall be no end to His kingdom".
These are all indicative verb phrases.
Everything Gabriel told Mary has either come to pass, or with no
uncertainty, will come to pass. The
New Testament is full of such indicative certainties.
Thank the Lord for the Greek grammatical verb tense known as the
indicative mood. You
may want to reflect on what Gabriel spoke to Mary.
He spoke just as much about the return of Jesus to earth that
ends this age as he spoke about His birth into humanity that began this
age.
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