GABRIEL’S CHRISTMAS GREETING
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on December 24, 2023 under 2023 |
Bethany Bible Church Christmas Sunday Sermon Message from December 24, 2023 from Luke 1:31-35
Theme: The words of the angel’s greeting tell us the wonders of the Savior whose birth we celebrate.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
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Let’s begin this morning by reading a familiar story from the Bible. It’s found in Luke 1. And even though it may be a familiar story, I believe you agree with me that it’s among the holiest of stories that have ever been told. Let’s hear it afresh with reverent hearts.
It tells us of what happened during the pregnancy of Elizabeth—the mother of John the Baptist. Luke 1:26-38 says;
Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” But when she saw him, she was troubled at his 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 will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” And 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, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.” Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her (Luke 1:26-38).
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Today, we celebrate the eve of the Christmas. And I believe that the significance of the holiday will ultimately depend upon what we think of the Person whose birthday it honors.
In my growing-up years, the Lord Jesus was not thought very much about on Christmas. He wasn’t completely absent from the holiday, of course. But in my home, He wasn’t given very much attention either. So; the significance of the holiday was mostly centered upon the preparations and the presents. Those things aren’t bad in and of themselves, of course. I still love the sight of shiny green and red wrapping paper. I love the smell of the Christmas tree. I will always remember the sweet smell of the fake snow that my dad sprayed from a can on the outdoor windows (even though I wasn’t sure what that stuff was made of). I love the sound of the little, ceramic ‘jingle-bell’ elves that were hung from the tree. And of course, I loved the presents. But for me, that was pretty much all that Christmas meant. And when it was over, and everything was put back in the box, Christmas itself was largely forgotten for the rest of the year. The Person of Jesus Himself was largely forgotten too.
But I’ll never forget my first Christmas Eve after I had placed my faith in Jesus as my Savior. I was only 16 at the time. And the significance of His birth was now brought to bear to me in relation to His whole story—that is, His conception by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary, His sinless life, His teaching, His miracles, His sacrifice on the cross for my sins, His resurrection, His ascension to the Father, His prayers for me at the Father’s right hand, and His promise to return in glory as King of kings and Lord of lords, and my salvation through faith in Him. I celebrated my first Christmas as a new believer in the Presbyterian church down the road from my family home. It was a candlelight service. And I’ll always remember it as one of the most significant Christmas Eve celebrations in my life; because now I loved the Savior whose birth it celebrated. Now I knew that He loved me! Christmas, for me, became a celebration of the continual reality of Jesus’ love and saving grace.
So then; what about you? What do you think of this holiday? Is it about the preparations and the presents?—the family and the food?—the celebrations and the songs? I hope so. It should be! But I hope that it’s not just about those things and nothing more. I hope that its significance doesn’t come to an end when the decorations are put away for the year. I hope that the significance of it endures for you; because it is about the birth of Someone who loves you … and who has saved you … and whom you love in return.
I feel certain that the significance of Christmas to you will flow forth from what you think of the Person whose birthday it honors. And that’s why I think that the words of this morning’s passage are so important to us. They are words that are of great authority; because they come from the lips of an angel of God. I believe that the man who wrote them down for us—the Gospel writer Luke—got his information from the report he heard from Mary herself. And what he wrote is significant for us to consider today; because the words of the angel’s greeting to Mary tell us the wonders of the Savior whose birth we celebrate.
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Now; who was this marvelous angelic being that spoke to her? Who is Gabriel?
Did you know that he makes at least four distinct appearances in the Bible? And each time, he is described to us as the bearer of a specific message about the coming of the Lord Jesus into the world.
The first time we read of Gabriel is in the Book of Daniel—about five-and-a-half centuries before Jesus’ birth into the world. In Daniel 8, he came and told Daniel the meaning of a great vision God had given him concerning the future—concerning the Antichrist and the times that would immediately precede the coming of the Lord Jesus. And the second time we read of him is in Daniel 9—about a year later—when he came again to the prophet Daniel. Daniel had just prayed a great prayer of repentance for his people; and Gabriel came to explain to him about the future of the Jewish people—about the coming of the promised Messiah.
In both of those appearances, Gabriel explained the details of the Lord Jesus—the promised King of kings—who would be coming into the world several centuries later. And the third time Gabriel appeared was about 550 years later—just before the birth of Jesus. In the first half of Luke 1, he appeared to the father of John the Baptist. He explained that John would be born as the promised forerunner and herald of the Messiah. And now, in the second half of Luke 1—six months after speaking of John the Baptist—Gabriel appears yet again to announce the birth of the Lord Jesus to the virgin Mary.
There may have been more times than just those four that Gabriel appeared and spoke to people. The Bible tells us of many angels who came and spoke to people. But in those four specific passages of Scripture, Gabriel was mentioned by name. And in each of the four appearances, he spoke concerning the coming of Jesus—the promised Messiah—into the world.
If an angel makes an appearance on earth and speaks to people in these ways—especially when the name of that angel is given to us; and when he makes repeated announcements concerning the same important event—then the message itself comes with great authority and certainty. And I like to think of the story in our passage this morning as ‘Gabriel’s Christmas greeting’. It was meant in a very specific way for Mary. It concerned the details of the Savior who was about to be born. But it was all written down and recorded by Luke because it was also meant to be heard by you and me.
And think also of the one to whom the angel Gabriel spoke—that is, to this young virgin girl named Mary. He had certain things to say about her too. He greeted her by saying, in verse 28, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” She was—understandably—troubled by the appearance of this awesome angel and his greeting. It startled her, and she was afraid. And so, this glorious angel—this messenger from God—had to speak again to her in verse 30 and say, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”
Twice, the angel Gabriel began his greeting to her by telling her that she is highly favored and privileged. He told her that she was the most blessed of all women. And why? It’s because she would bear in her womb the very promised Messiah that Gabriel spoke of centuries before to the prophet Daniel … and later to the father of John the Baptist. Gabriel’s words to her were about the Lord Jesus who was born on the day that we celebrate. And in what he said to her, we’re told some of the wonders of who Jesus is—so that our faith will be placed rightly in Him, and so that this holiday will have the significance to us that it should have.
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So then; let’s look through this passage and see some of the things that we’re told by Gabriel concerning the Lord Jesus.
First, we’re told about His name. In verse 31, the angel Gabriel told Mary what His name would be. He said, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.” And this teaches us …
1. THAT HIS NAME DECLARES OUR SALVATION.
When a baby is born, usually it’s left up to the parents to select the name. Sometimes, a long period of agonizing reflection is required—trying out the sound of this name or that name—perhaps thinking about whether the name of this relative or that relative will be used. But in the case of our Lord Jesus, the name was given by heaven itself. The angel from God told Mary that His name shall be called “Jesus”.
And that name is tremendously significant. It’s a form of the Jewish name “Yeshua”; and it basically means “Yahweh Saves”. And this wouldn’t be the only time that an angel of the Lord announced this name from heaven. We’re told about how the announcement was also given to the man who would be the husband of Mary—Joseph, the adopted father of this holy Child. In Matthew 1:18-25, we’re told;
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:18-21).
An angel from heaven announced what the name of the Child would be—whose birth we celebrate. And that’s because heaven itself wanted you and me to know that this Child is the Savior that God has provided for fallen humanity. His name means “God Saves!” His very name declares our salvation.
But this didn’t mean that the significance of this child would only be related to our spiritual needs. The angel’s announcement also lets us know that the impact of this Child on the world world would be tremendous. His birth would, in fact, be the decisive event of history—because He Himself would be the central Person of history. In verse 32, Gabriel went on to say, “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest …”
And this teaches us yet another thing about the One whose birth we celebrate, and that is …
2. THAT HE WILL BE ‘GREAT’.
He would be “great” among the members of humanity. But it won’t be because He merely made Himself into a mighty conquering monarch who declared Himself to be great—like Alexander ‘the Great’, or Peter ‘the Great’, or Herod ‘the Great’. Those men were called great by other men—or called themselves ‘great’. But Jesus is great because of who He is recognized to be … “the Son of the Highest” … the Man who alone receives the highest honor and approval from God Almighty Himself.
Think of what we’re told about Him in Philippians 2:5-11. First, we’re told about His suffering for humanity. The apostle Paul wrote;
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:5-8).
That speaks of the greatness of Jesus’ humility. He descended from the highest place of heavenly honor, took full human nature to Himself, became born into this world as one of us, and died the shameful death of the cross for our sins. But then, Paul goes on to speak of the honor that would follow afterward;
Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (vv. 9-11.)
Every knee will one day bow to Him—even those knees that refuse to bow to Him now. And every tongue will confess Him as Lord—even those tongues that refuse to acknowledge Him now. And they will all do it to the glory of God the Father. Just as the virgin Mary was told, the Child she bore is great because all people in humanity will call Him the Son of the Highest!
But He is also great because He was to be a great king on earth. The angel went on to tell Mary in verse 32 that “ the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.” And this tells us yet another thing about the Person whose birth we celebrate …
3. THAT HE IS THE PROMISED HEIR OF KING DAVID.
We’ve already seen something of this in the announcement that the angel made to Joseph. Joseph was greeted by the angel in Matthew 1:20 with the words, “Joseph, son of David …” He was David’s heir through the lineage of David’s son Solomon. And as the adopted father of the Lord Jesus according to the flesh, Joseph was therefore able to pass the royal heritage of David on to our Savior. But Mary also was a biological relative of King David. She had royal blood in her veins through another of David’s sons named Nathan—as is told to us in Luke 3:31. So; the Lord Jesus was born of royal blood by His mother Mary, and was an heir of the royal title through His adopted father Joseph.
And this was all in the fulfillment of the promise that was made to King David, by God, almost a thousand years before. Back in 2 Samuel 7—in what biblical scholars refer to as the Davidic Covenant—God made this promise to David;
“When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:12-16).
The Child that Mary bore—whose birth we celebrate—was declared by an angel of heaven to be established upon the throne of King David before He was even conceived. What a wonder He is!
And what’s more, we’re told that His throne—just as was promised long ago to King David—would be “established forever”! The angel went on in verse 33 to tell Mary, “And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” ‘Jacob’ was the great patriarch whose name was later changed by God to ‘Israel’. And it would be from Jacob that all the twelve tribes of Israel were born. And so, we’re being told yet another wondrous thing about this Child—the promised King who was born from David …
4. THAT HE REIGNS OVER THE HOUSE OF JACOB ENDLESSLY.
Other kings in history—even the greatest kings of history—even King David himself—only reigned for a while. They each could only reign for a lifetime at best; and then, their reign came to an end. But Jesus’ reign—as the Son of God who died and was raised again—will never come to an end. The birth of Jesus is the promise to us that we will finally have a good, righteous, godly King over the earth whose reign will never cease through death.
There’s an amazing prophecy about Jesus’ reign that is told to us in Daniel 2. That chapter describes how the king of Babylon had a dream about a great statute-like image. It was the image of a man. The image had a head of gold; and that golden head represented his own kingdom, the world empire of Babylon. Then the image was shown having two arms of silver; and they represented the next world empire in history, the twin empires of Medea and Persia. Then the image was shown having a belly of bronze; and this represented the world empire of Greece, the empire ruled over by Alexander. And then the image was shown having two legs of iron, and this represented Rome as it would hold dominion over the world on the east and the west. And at the bottom of those two legs were feet of iron mixed with clay; and they represent an aspect of the Roman empire that is yet to come into being in history … with the ten toes representing ten nations in confederacy with one another. And so; this image represented one world empire after another—in succession—in the flow of history.
And at the end of this vision, the king of Babylon was shown a stone that was cut out without human hands; and this stone struck the feet of clay and shattered them. The whole image began to fall apart—from the feet of clay, to the legs of iron, to the belly of bronze, to the arms of silver, and finally to the head of gold. All these world empires crumbled to dust and blew away in the wind. And in their place, that stone became a great mountain that filled the whole earth. The prophet Daniel was given the interpretation of this vision, and he told the king of Babylon,
And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever (Daniel 2:44).
And the angel was telling Mary that it would be the Child that she would bear that would be the Ruler over that kingdom—that “He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
Now; Mary was naturally awestruck by all this. But she wondered how such a thing could be. After all, she was a virgin. She was betrothed to Joseph, but they had not yet come together in marriage. How then could she bear the Child that Gabrial was speaking of to her?
And this is where Mary was told a great mystery. In answer to her question, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” the angel Gabriel told her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you …” This didn’t, perhaps, answer every question she could have about the matter. It doesn’t answer every question that we could have either. It’s something that is beyond our poor human minds to grasp. But somehow, God the Holy Spirit—the third Person of the Trinity—overshadowed Mary; and He caused the Son of God—the second Person of the Trinity—to be conceived in her womb. And that was all Mary needed to know … and that is all we need to know.
And this tells us yet another wondrous thing about the Child born on Christmas …
5. THAT HE WAS CONCEIVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.
The eternal Son of God left heavenly glory for a time, allowed Himself to be conceived in the womb of a virgin by the Holy Spirit, and was born into the human family as one of us. This was done for your salvation and mine. As the Bible tells us in Galatians 4:4-5;
But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons (Galatians 4:4-5).
And this also tells us another wondrous thing about our Lord. It’s something that was absolutely necessary for our Lord to be able to save us from our sins …
6. THAT HE WAS BORN OF A VIRGIN.
He was born into humanity as one of us. The Son of God became just as fully human as you or me, and He did so without ever ceasing to be fully God. He could thus live the sinless life for us that we could not live because of our fallenness in Adam. And He was born without the agency of a man; so that the fallenness of Adam was not passed on to Him. That’s how He could be our sinless substitute on the cross—paying our debt of sin sufficiently to God the Father on our behalf.
And this was all done, in this way, so that all people of the world would know Who to trust for the forgiveness of sins. The Bible tells us about this in Isaiah 7:14. And it was that very passage that was later quoted to us in Matthew 1—in the story of how the angel told Joseph in a dream about how the Holy Spirit conceived our Lord in the womb of Mary;
So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us” (Matthew 1:22-23).
Jesus is Immanuel, “God with us”. The angel Gabriel explained to Mary in verse 35, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” And that leads us to one more great wonder that we declare about the Child born on Christmas …
7. THAT HE IS CALLED ‘THE SON OF GOD’.
Even God the Father Himself declared it to the world when the Lord Jesus was baptized. As He came up out of the water, we’re told;
… and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:16-17).
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So; this is the authoritative declaration of the Child that was born on Christmas Day He is Jesus—the one whose very name means “God saves!” He is declared to be ‘great’ and ‘the Son of the Highest; the promised heir of King David according to the flesh, the one who reigns over the house of Jacob endlessly. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, and is called ‘the Son of God’. These are the wonders of this Child who was born on Christmas day—as declared by the angel. This is Gabriel’s Christmas greeting. It declares the birth of our Savior and Lord into the world.
And with all that in mind, I ask you; how then will you greet this holiday?
AE
