Mary, Did You Know?

Mary, did you know that your baby boy will one day walk on water? Mary, did you know that your baby boy will save our sons and daughters? Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?

This child that you delivered will soon deliver you. Let's talk. A daily program powered by the Truth Network... This is kind of a great thing, and I'll tell you why. ... where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together.

Speak your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. Mary, did you know?

I love that Mark Lowry song, I hope you do. And that's kind of the question we're pondering today on Truth Talk Live. Like, what are your thoughts about that whole idea of the virgin birth of Mary? Of Mary, did you know?

But maybe even you've seen the new Netflix movie that's caused all the controversy. Maybe you would like to comment on that. We would love to hear from you. This is a live show, and we love what the audience brings is what makes the show.

So you need to call us, 866-348-7884, 866-348-7884. When you think about Mary, did you know? What does that conjure up as you're preparing him room this particular Christmas season? So to read that verse from Luke chapter 1, starting in verse 26, or there's a series of verses about that very idea, it says, Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city in 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 her and said, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you, therefore also that holy one who was 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 according to your word.

And the angel departed from her. So I have Mr. Date the Word, Dr. Date the Word Carson with me himself. And I know when we say these verses, obviously we want you to call in at 866-348-7884 with your thoughts, but Dr. Carson, this virgin birth thing, this whole thing, it's huge, right?

It is huge. What a story of our Savior. Galatians 4, For in the fullness of time God sent forth His Son to be born of a virgin, to be born of a woman, so that He could redeem us. This Christmas story, it's so wonderful because we are reminded of how much God loves us, and to the length that He would go so that we could be saved. It's absolutely, you know, just one of those things I look forward to every December to dig into this story once more and, you know, I love what they said about Eugene Peterson, that he had a conversational intimacy with the Scriptures. And so when I think about these passages, Luke chapter 1, Matthew, you know, all those, it's like, you know, hello Luke chapter 2, my old friend, I've come to talk with you again.

And I get to do that, you know, this year every time. And it's fascinating if you, from what I understand, that if you watch the movie Mary on Netflix, the movie begins with Mary saying this. She says, you think you know my story, but trust me, you don't. And to say that that line has caused controversy would be an understatement, as that movie is just extremely controversial. So if you've seen it, I would love, love, love for you to call in and share your thoughts.

866-348-7884, 866-348-7884. I understand it had a Catholic producer, and I understand Joel Alstein was an executive producer. And so, you know, it's got a lot of interesting angles to it. And, you know, it's obviously, from my standpoint, it's a beautiful thing that people's minds are on the Christmas story this time of year.

And, you know, what a conversation starter, right, Doc? Absolutely. And, you know, you and I talked earlier, there are so many things to draw from the life of Mary, so many wonderful principles to guide our lives. The fact that when she heard what God wanted her to do, she surrendered.

She had that mindset, be it unto me, I'm your servant. But one of the things I have always loved about Mary, the Christmas story, is that it says that as this thing was unfolding, Luke chapter 2 verse 19, she pondered, she fought on, she considered. And to me, that's part of what Christmas ought to be. We should be thinking on these things. What do we most surely believe? And what can we learn from the different Christmas characters that we should be bringing into our lives?

And, again, most importantly, what do we learn about our great God, who would go to such a length to bring his people back to him so we could have a personal relationship with him and call him Father? Oh, absolutely. And, again, this show won't be the same without your call.

And so, you know, during this break's a great time to do it. The number to call is 866-348-7884. Mary, did you know? Or have you seen the movie? Or maybe you got some ideas on the virgin birth. Critical, critical to our creed.

866-348-7884. We'll be right back with a whole lot more. Mary, did you know? Mary, did you know today on Truth Talk Live, what is that conjure up in you as you're pondering it in your heart? We would love for you to tell us. Maybe you've seen the new movie, Mary, or you have some other thought or comment about this particular topic. would love to hear it.

The phone number to call 866-348-7884, 866-348-7884. Mary, did you know, but Doc, as we were talking about before the show, she knew some amazing things a lot of moms didn't know? She sure did, Robbie. You know, when this angel shows up, he tells her not only is she going to have a baby, he tells her that it's going to be a boy.

There was no gender reveal party needed. He told her what the baby's name was. She didn't have to go start searching through all these different books of, I wonder what will be the best name for my boy. And she even got told what his occupation was going to be. I mean, he's going to be the ruler of the world. That's pretty cool right there. Those verses in Luke chapter 1, verse 33 and 34, you read them. She got a description of a highly successful son.

He is going to be a world changer. Yeah, she'd literally be called the Son of God. Yep. Now she didn't know how this was going to happen, so she asked for some help on that, but she did know what was going to happen. And it didn't catch her off guard that a virgin was going to be having a baby.

She just didn't understand how it was going to happen. You know, Mary grew up in a little town called Nazareth. Nazareth in some ways was considered a very wicked town. I liken Nazareth to Las Vegas, if you will, or New Orleans. And Nathaniel asked the question, could any good thing come out of Nazareth? But in the midst of this wicked, corrupt city, there was a Sunday school class.

That's what I call it, Robby. David set up 24 different locations where there would be a priest that would be teaching the Word of God, like Ezra taught it. And in Nazareth, there was one of these, if you will, stations where Mary would have been taught, we are looking for the Messiah to come. And she would have learned about Isaiah 714, that a virgin will be having this baby. And she would have heard Gabriel say this, and she didn't go, what in the world are you talking about?

Well, okay, I didn't realize it was going to be me, but wow, how then is this going to happen? And then we get the mysterious, the Holy Spirit will overshadow you. But that's how Jesus then would be conceived. Yeah, I can't help but wonder, you know, Mark Lowry could go back and write, Isaiah, did you know? Because, you know, same kind of question, like, Isaiah, did you know how that exactly was going to happen?

You know, you know. Yep, Isaiah, Micah, what are you talking about, Micah, that there's going to be a ruler coming out of a little town called Bethlehem? Yeah, and the whole thing, and again, you know, for Mary, you know, how are we going to end up in Bethlehem to have this baby when I'm in Galilee? You know, and of course, you know, Luke chapter two comes, and next thing you know, you got a census. But, you know, the whole thing.

Next thing you know, the way you just said that. Next thing you know, there's a census, and here's God in control, guiding the universe, and all of a sudden he says, CJ, you need to do a census, because I got to get Mary, Joseph from Nazareth over to the city of David. God does rule in the affairs of men, doesn't he? It's a beautiful thing, and I know you have thoughts along this, like, you're sitting there and you're boiling up. Now, don't just do that, you know? Ask God. You could bless all of us with some insight that you may have, especially if you've seen this new movie. I would love to hear from you.

866-348-7884 is the number to call and share. You know, some of the things that you ponder, just sweet things, you know? Like, man, I love to think about, like, as Mark Lowry talked about, when you kissed your little baby, you kissed the face of God, like, oh my goodness!

Like, I have a new granddaughter, Margie, and I bet you got some too. And I have to tell you, Doc, I was—she always cried whenever she saw me, up until the last couple times that I've learned that if I sing Christmas carols to her, she'll bounce up and down and smile at me. And so, you know, but I—it's just an amazing thing to know what Mary knew. And so it's one thing to look in a baby's face and have that baby smile at you, but it's another thing to look at a baby's face and, of course, they hopefully laugh and smile, but if it's the face of God, what if he frowns and cries? You know, like, uh-oh, this might not be good.

You know, that's an aspect of it that, you know, I can't help but ponder. Like, man, you know, you have that other aspect to it, like, you know, especially, like, you talked about before the show, that when, when, you know, he went, you know, and was teaching in his father's house, you know, talk about that, Doc. Well, you know, she had been told what was going to be happening, and now we get up 12 years, and he's missing, and when they get back to Jerusalem and find him, he's there talking with religious leaders, and they're just blown away with his biblical knowledge, and then they say, hey, Jesus, hey, what's going on? And he said, did you not know I must be about my father's business? And just based on what Luke will put, they understood that Mary understood he had a higher calling than, um, what, what someone else would have. She had already understood this little boy of mine is going to be used of God as the Son of God to redeem his people, and, and so when he said I must be about my father's business, she understood he did not need to be about his daddy's business. Now, he still needed to, uh, obey his parents, um, and then he went back home, and, and he continued to grow and develop until it came 30, when it was time for his ministry to start. But, uh, Mary had an understanding, my son is different, and he's going to be about the father's business. Absolutely.

And he knew who that father was, but what are your thoughts? We need to hear them. 866-348-7884. Please call 866-348-7884 when we come back.

So much more! Mary, did you know? The dog will speak the praises of the Lord. Mary, did you know? Mary, did you know today on Truth Talk Live, you know, as you're pondering and preparing him room this season, what are those thoughts? What, what does that idea conjure up in you, or maybe you've seen the new Mary movie, and you have some insight for us?

We'd love to hear that, or just some of your thoughts on this whole idea. 866-348-7884 is the number to call in and share. 866-348-7884. We have Mike is in Dayton, Ohio. Mike, you're on Truth Talk Live, buddy. What are you thinking? Well, I'm thinking, you know, about my life. Um, I met my wife, and it was in about two weeks, I asked her to marry me right away, and, um, and, and my, and I called my dad, and I said, Dad, I, I found, I found my wife, and I'm, we're gonna, you know, we're gonna get married. And the first questions that came out of my, my father's mouth was, is she pregnant?

And I'm like, Mike, did you know? And, and no, no, she's not pregnant, Dad, you know? And then, so we got married and everything, and my dad came up to me and said, is she pregnant? And I said, no, she's not pregnant. And a year later, my dad came up to me and says, is she pregnant now? It's okay to have she be pregnant now. And I said, no, she's not pregnant. And then it took two years to have a baby. And my wife always wanted to be a mother.

And, and I'm, that's what I'm pondering. I'm thinking, I'm sure Mary has went through all her relatives the same, how and this world happened. And then she's trying to explain how it happened. And wow, you know, I mean, yeah. Yeah, yeah, she was having to try to explain the unexplainable. Right. And, and then, then you're, you're, you know, she's saying, I have the, the, the son of God and me, you know what I mean? And, and how many people thought she was crazy, you know what I mean?

And then how many people were rejoicing, you know, like the three wise men, and they brought gifts and they were, they were so incredibly joyful to see him. You know what I mean? So that's what I've been pondering. So hopefully, I mean, I mean, that's, that's all I have. Oh, that's wonderful. I love it, Mike. Thank you. I appreciate your call very, very much.

And so glad you're pondering like we all are at this season and certainly praying you having a wonderful evening, you and your wife, as you continue to do that. So God bless you, man. Thank you for calling. All right. You're welcome, sir.

Thank you. Eight, six, well, I was just going to give the, yeah, I was going to get the number one more time. 866-348-7884 is your number to call in and tell us your story or what you're thinking.

866-348-7884. I'm sorry, Doc, what were you going to say? Well, based off of what Mike just was talking about, the fact that Mary, all of a sudden has to start explaining a lot of new life decisions. I've often wondered, if I could say that with Mary, what were your plans, your dreams, your goals before Gabriel showed up?

All of a sudden, she's now doing something that quite frankly has made her look really bad, even to the point Joseph is thinking about putting her way, divorcing her, family, friends. Mary, we thought she was a good girl. And when we begin to discover what God's will for us, we will find family and friends many times, they don't understand how we could be doing the things that we are doing. And Mary here now has to somehow explain, I didn't do anything wrong. I did what God wanted me to do. And that is why she had to go spend time with Elizabeth, because only people that are doing the will of God will understand someone doing something that is so abnormal. Because that's what it seems when we're doing the will of God.

It's not the normal thing, because most people aren't doing the will of God. The thing I was thinking about, Doc, was that, as you were talking, what we know about Mary is she must have been fairly bold. Based on some of her other things that she did, you know, one of which was asking her son to make this situation right with the wine, right? Like, I mean, she wasn't shy. And, you know, another time she knocked on the door and said, you know, you got to get out of here.

You're getting yourself in trouble by all that you're doing. And so, you know, at times she wasn't in line with him. But again, at this particular time, she, you know, she was getting very much in line with God.

But it certainly would indicate that she was pretty bold. And even the Magnificat that she says shortly after the verse we described, or it's in Matthew, I believe, right? No, Luke 1, she continues on after she's done with Elizabeth. And she's saying, and that's, again, on the question of Mary, what did she know? You read those verses, boy, did she know what Jesus the Messiah was going to be about. She was worshiping. What an incredible song that she is singing unto her Savior. Right, right.

And again, very, very bold. And so I can't help but think, you know, it seems like when God calls somebody to be a missionary, he breaks their heart for that country. You can kind of see that they have a real tenderness towards the Korean people or to the African people or wherever they're called to be a missionary.

I knew some missionaries to the Amazon, and their hearts were just broken for that people group. And so you can't help but think that Mary's heart was very vendor, tender towards motherhood and towards, and clearly she would have other children. And so it's kind of cool, you know, from my standpoint to think, I would imagine this is just my guess, but we'll get to see it on instant replay, I hope, when we get to that, that she was, you know, very much to be a mother. But, you know, one of the critical, critical things I would love for you to call in and talk about if you've got an idea on this is the idea of the virgin birth, right? It's absolutely huge to the story and huge, as you were pointing out to me before the show, Doc, that there were some curses involved and things that a lot of us don't really clearly understand about how critical it was that Jesus be born of a virgin.

Yeah. Is the virgin birth a necessity? When we look at theology, we talk about what's called the five fundamentals, and we believe in the information of Scripture, we believe in the substitutionary atonement of Christ, we believe in the bodily resurrection, we believe in the second coming of Christ. But number two on that list has always been we believe in the virgin birth, that Jesus is the Son of God, but he's also fully man, fully God.

It's a mystery. But that virgin birth, it becomes one of the top fundamentals of our faith. And so I would ask the question, why is the virgin birth so important? Well, if Jesus would come into the world, the natural way, let's say that she got pregnant by Joseph and they were married and it was a natural birth. Well, the line of Joseph is cursed, Robbie.

Jeremiah 22 speaks of God cursing this line, which means that those names after Jeconiah in the Matthew 1, we don't know who they are. They're supposed to be kings. Joseph is supposed to be a king, yet he's a corporator.

Why? Because the line's been cursed. Well, then you have, she could have gotten pregnant because of a Roman soldier or maybe some businessman. Nazareth was known for his corruption, for his prostitution. Well, Deuteronomy chapter 23 says that if you are born out of wedlock, illegitimate, your line is cursed for 10 generations. And that happened with Judah and Tamar. The line was cursed for 10 generations before it comes back into David. Because of this, if Jesus is born naturally, Joseph is his father or illegitimate, he can't be our Messiah.

So the virgin birth was a necessity so that Jesus then comes through the line of Mary that gives him the right to the kingdom. Wow. Yeah.

Critical stuff. And so as you are pondering these things in your heart, what are your thoughts? We would love for you to call and talk about it. 866-348-7884. Mary, did you know 866-348-7884 will be back with so much more Truth Talk Live. The sleeping child you're holding is the great, the great I am. Mary, did you know today on Truth Talk Live, things to ponder in your heart, what did Mary think about? What did she know? What are your thoughts on the subject? Again, I've said all show that if you've seen the new Mary movie on Netflix, I would love your take on it.

866, the number to call in, 866-348-7884, 866-344-Truth. And I thought since I kind of pondered wrongly on where the Song of Mary was, I could read it now. It is in Luke chapter 1 starting in verse 68. In the Song of Mary it says, And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

For he has regarded the lowly state of his maidservant. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. Or blessed, however you want to say that. It's an amazing thing.

It's a lot different than the curses we were just talking about. For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is on those who fear him.

From generation to generation he has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever.

And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her house. That's quite a song, Doc. That is quite a song, as she just, she's singing adoration to her great God. I love that my soul, my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. And, you know, one of the interesting things about Mary is the fact that she's going to have Jesus in her physically, right?

Right. When we get to Acts chapter 2, the Holy Spirit will indwell her. She's going to have God in her twice, once as a physical Jesus, and then she's going to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

I always thought that that's got to be one of the coolest stories ever. Only Mary can tell that. Yeah, and only Mary can tell what it was like to stand at the foot of the cross with John and have her son, you know, it's almost unthinkable that he would utter those words, you know, behold your mother to John, thinking about his mother when he was in unbelievable amounts of pain.

Yet his thought was still for Mary. Unfortunately, this year, I've dealt with a few mothers who lost their sons. And I thought about how hard it must have been for Mary to watch her son die.

Oh my gosh. Especially to be brutally, brutally, essentially murdered. Yes, and to watch him go through that agony.

And a mom's tender heart doesn't want anything to ever happen to her child. You know, we men, fathers, you know, your son falls down. Get back up. Well, the mom's over checking to see, does he have any scratches on him? Does he need a band-aid? My son's playing football. He gets hit in the mouth, gets a little blood.

He comes off the field. I'm like, tell him you're ready to go back in. You got to go back out there. Wait a minute. He needs to get the blood off of him.

Well, all right, but get back out there. And would you believe that my wife, you know, Robbie played in the state championships in a couple different games. And one time he really got hit hard and he was bleeding pretty good.

And, and, and they started to take him over to the sidelines and she probably jumped down four sets of bleachers down onto the floor in the state championships. Oh, that's a little embarrassing. But nonetheless, a mom is a mom in any circumstance, right? And you can't imagine, or I can't imagine, and it's part of, you know, how the Bible doesn't hide pain. It's right there to realize that so often, you know, pain is in the offering.

It just is. You know, we could ask Mary, uh, what were your plans before Gabriel showed up? But I'd also want to ask Mary, after everything is said and done, would you do it again? Because she did.

She had to deal with a fiance that no longer trusted her. It took God to intervene, for him to have a dream. Friends was scorned. Jesus was called. Later, John, not, I'm not, we're not born a fornication. I mean, they, they thought Mary was still a, one of those, let's just call her a tramp.

They didn't think Jesus was real. And then she had to endure the death of her son. Um, when you decide to do the will of God, Ravi, there's no telling what all will come with it. But I do think Mary would say it was worth it all.

Oh, I hope so. Because obviously what she did paved the way for all of the peace that comes, you know, the peace that comes, you know, this time of year is as we ponder what he did, um, to bring into our lives, right. The ultimate forgiveness, the ultimate freedom, uh, all those things, you know, as a result of the obedience of generations and, and, and Mary was, you know, standing on the shoulders to an extent of David and many, many, many before her, right?

Yes. Um, Mary would be listed for me in the great list of hall of faith people, um, that, that moment in time when she says, behold, the, your handmaiden behold your servant, whatever you want done. That's good for me. I'm all in, um, her availability. What an example for every one of us as believers to say to God like Isaiah, that's, you know, she can be compared to Isaiah, Robbie, here am I, send me, here am I, use me, um, availability is dependability is the greatest ability, but availability is the first ability.

And all of us should be like Mary this Christmas and saying, God, here am I, how do you want to use me? What can I be for you in 2025? Uh, I want to be a vessel in your hand, Lord. Uh, like Mary, I don't know what it's going to cost me.

I don't know the challenges, but I'm going to sign up and, uh, here am I your servant? I, I just, I hope every person listening will look at Luke 1 38 and just say, that's who I want to be in 2025, the Lord's servant. And she, what she said was absolutely amazing. It says, let it be to me according to your word. And that word word is loaded, isn't it, doc? I mean, uh, Jesus is the word and, and, and, you know, in the beginning was the word and the word was God, and the word was with God. And, and just very, this very week, my oldest son asked for Christmas. He asked for the word. He, uh, he asked for a Bible because he was working with his new girlfriend and, and trying to share the scriptures with her. And he wanted a new study Bible.

Uh, Leslie, Brad is like, man, you know, talk about making our hearts, uh, dad's heart go pitter, pitter, Pat, like, Oh man. Awesome. Awesome. You better believe in you. But would you believe I ordered that thing on Amazon?

It was there that day. Isn't that amazing? Way to go God.

Yeah. And I, um, I, I, I, I, I'm amazed at all times how he continues to come for our families, continues just the way he came for Mary. And, you know, we never heard about Mary's father, but I bet he was pretty proud.

Right. Cause I mean, she was like 14 or whatever she was, uh, you know, we don't hear about her father. Maybe he was already gone, but you know, what, what an amazing thing because, um, there was a whole family that, that obviously raised her to be that kind of girl. Well, I, I think her spiritual lineage is going to show a mom and a dad who did Deuteronomy chapter six, and they taught her the word. And then she was part of that, um, what I call the Sunday school in Nazareth.

And if you're out there teaching a Sunday school class, just know, uh, down the road, you can have incredible, uh, impact. You may never even know about it, but somebody taught Mary the scriptures along with her parents. She knew what Gabriel was talking about. Uh, it wasn't foreign to her. She knew a Messiah was going to be coming, was going to be coming through a Virgin. And, uh, she understood this is, this is what I've been taught all along. And so we have these faithful Sunday school teachers out there, Robbie, that are preparing young people to be vessels in the hand of God.

And I just want to commend them just like one day I want to find out who was the Bible teacher for Mary. Oh, wow. Want to be cool? Yes, we will find that out. And again, we're, we're so grateful. Thank you, Doc, for being with us today on this amazing topic. Mary, did you know, and we're so grateful for all of you who are listening today and that, um, you had a chance to ponder this and we'll be back tomorrow with a whole lot more Truth Talk Live. Thanks for listening. Another program powered by the Truth Network.