Christmas Eve Musings

Luke 1: 26-35

And in [Elizabeth's] 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.

And the Angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blest art thou among women.

And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast about in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

And the Angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shalt call His Name JESUS.

He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David:

And He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His Kingdom there shall be no end.

Then Mary said unto the Angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

And the Angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy child which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. 

I find it interesting that Mary asked the same question, using the same words, as Zechariah had six months before (v. 18), but Gabriel's response was completely different.

Obviously Zechariah didn't believe it was possible, and doubted the Angel (vs. 19-20). Mary was not doubting, but asked, essentially, "Wow, How is He going to do this? It can't be the usual way, because I'm still a virgin!" 

So Gabriel told Mary that the power of God's Holy Spirit would overpower the usual physical process and directly implant God's own Seed into her womb (see Hebrews 10:5), so the Father of Mary's child is God the Father, and she became the mother of the Son of God (not the mother of God; God is Jesus' Father). 

Since the damaged part of our DNA that Scripture calls the sin-nature comes from our fathers through Adam (Romans 5:12, Through one man [not "woman" or "couple"), so His mother gave Him a genuine human nature, but without the sin-part, because Jesus didn't have a human father. 

Jesus is genuine God, because God is His Father, and He got His Father's Blood-type, which He shed on Calvary. And He is genuine Man from the human nature of His mother, Mary. 

This Christmas Eve, let's remember how Mary submitted to God's plan for her, even risking her reputation and even her life by stoning. Her trust was that strong. 

May we also trust God by submitting to what His plan is for each of us, even if it looks like a difficult road to walk. 

Merry Christmas.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus.