Luke 1:1-4, 26-38 - Saved By Details

You're saved by grace, but that grace depends on critical details.

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Gospels: Week 1 - Jesus' Incarnation and Birth

We begin the New Testament by, of course, tracking through the Gospel Narratives - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. We'll spend the rest of the summer in these gospels, and each day we'll be in a different book as we work through Jesus' birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension chronologically.

Bible.com

Luke 1:1-4, 26–38 (NASB95)

1 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us,

² just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word,

³ it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus;

⁴ so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.

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²⁶ Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth,

²⁷ to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

²⁸ And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”

²⁹ But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.

³⁰ The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.

³¹ “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.

³² “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;

³³ and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”

³⁴ Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”

³⁵ The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.

³⁶ “And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month.

³⁷ “For nothing will be impossible with God.”

³⁸ And Mary said, “Behold, [I am] the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Belgic Confession

Article 18: The Incarnation

So then we confess

that God fulfilled the promise

which he had made to the early fathers

by the mouth of his holy prophets

when he sent his only and eternal Son

into the world

at the time set by him.

The Son took the “form of a servant”

and was made in the “likeness of man,”

truly assuming a real human nature,

with all its weaknesses,

except for sin;

being conceived in the womb of the blessed virgin Mary

by the power of the Holy Spirit,

without male participation.

Summary

Luke begins his gospel by introducing his purpose, which makes sense because he wasn't really a local, so to speak. Matthew and John were part of the twelve disciples, and it's likely that Mark was around in one way or another during Jesus' ministry, but Luke wasn't. In fact, he wasn't even a Jew. Paul writes of Luke as a doctor (Col. 4:14), but Luke identifies himself more as a reporter who investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order.

In other words, Luke based his faith on knowledge and facts that he himself verified, recorded, and wrote down for posterity. So as you read through his research - the books of Luke and Acts - pay attention to the details he lays out (and conversely, the details he ignores, indicating that they're not really germane to the meaning).

And the opening lines of his account of the angel Gabriel's encounter with Mary is packed with details: She's from a city in Galilee called Nazareth - an insignificant town in an insignificant province. She's engaged to a man - according to the custom of the day, this meant that Mary was likely quite young, perhaps in her teens, and already legally bound to her fiancée, yet the marriage would not yet have been fully consummated.

Luke tells us exactly who she was engaged to: a man whose name was Joseph. But he has a critical pedigree, for he's of the descendants of David. Theologically, this is important, for Gabriel explains to Mary that God will give her Son the throne of His father David. Important as Joseph's lineage is, it wasn't that big of a deal, because by this point in history, thousands of young men could trace their roots back to David. In fact, Mathew indicates that Mary likely could as well.

So what do all of these details Luke reports mean? Simply that although Gabriel greets Mary as the favored one, if a list were made of all the influential or important people living in Israel at the time, this young girl from a no-name town would have been near the bottom of it.

  Dig Deeper  

Luke provides one more detail as he introduces us to Mary, and it's by far and away the most important: she was a virgin, a fact that he repeats three times in this short passage.

Indeed, this is one of the most theologically critical aspects of who our Savior is - the Son of a woman, whose seed had been promised to crush the head of the serpent, but, as our Confession puts it, He was conceived without male participation.

This means that Jesus is the only person in all of history to not have a physical connection to Adam, our covenant representative. It means He's the only one since the fall who has the opportunity to fulfill man's covenantal obligations to God.

Yet the idea of a virgin becoming pregnant because the Holy Spirit came upon her and the power of the Most High overshadowed her remains one of the stickiest wickets for those who reject the Bible's supernatural claims. Yet without this pertinent detail Isaiah had prophesied (7:14) and that both Matthew and Luke record, all we'd have is an enduring story of a young, insignificant couple and their little baby.

But let the angel Gabriel put any doubt aside, as he reminds you that nothing will be impossible with God.

AAA Prayer (About)

• ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, the Most High who sent His Son to be Mary's holy child and our Savior;

• ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you would align yourself with God's will as quickly and as willingly as Mary did;

  ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

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