Surrender!

But isn't that the Gospel? Isn't that great?

I frankly love that. Gabriel is going to wing his way past all the well-connected, past all the movers and shakers in this world, beyond all the pomp and circumstance. He's going to find his way to someone who will understand immediately that she is unworthy, which is exactly how you came to faith in Christ. Unworthy, needy, nothing to offer God, but an open heart.

Hello and welcome to Wisdom for the Heart. In yesterday's broadcast, we learned about the dramatic encounter between Zechariah the priest and the angel Gabriel in Luke 1. Today, Stephen Davey continues through the early chapters of Luke's Gospel. Gabriel has another important message to deliver. This time, it's a message to a young virgin woman named Mary.

Gabriel's news will dramatically change this girl's life forever. Today, Stephen explores the moment when Mary learns that she will be the mother to the Messiah. Hers is a story of submission that we can learn from today. Let's get started. If you could write one word as a caption over the opening section in the Gospel of Luke, the first 25 verses we explored in our last study together, you could write the word certainty.

Now, the next 25 verses, you could caption it with one word, surrender. Now, we're introduced to the remarkable testimony of this young teenage girl named Mary. We're not exactly sure how old she is. Most scholars put her somewhere between the ages of 14 and 16. Luke gives us Mary's status in life beginning in verse 26 of Luke chapter 1.

Look there. In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph. That means the betrothal ceremony has already taken place.

And in that betrothal ceremony, the bridegroom and his family would give to the father of the bride the money to cover all the expenses. And I think that's a brilliant idea. By the way, that's biblical.

It's right here. Well, that's already taken place. And now we're told that his name is Joseph. He's of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. Now, she's from the town of Nazareth.

Let's stop for a moment and set the scene. Archaeological evidence suggests that for centuries, no more than 200 Jewish people inhabited this little village, farming, tending their herds. And as the Roman Empire began to expand and tighten their grip on Israel, they transformed this little village into a garrison, an army base, so to speak, with as many as 24,000 soldiers living here at any given time. Nazareth, think of it this way, is on the wrong side of the tracks. It wasn't the godliest place to grow up. And Luke seems to highlight on purpose the virginity of Mary. He tells us twice here, in case you missed it the first time, that she was a virgin.

Many reasons for that importance. She's going to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah that a virgin will conceive of a virgin. Isaiah that a virgin will conceive, bear a son. Isaiah 7 14. Luke is saying here, then Theophilus, let me set the record straight because you've heard all the gossip too.

This is how it really happened. Luke has had plenty of opportunities, traveling with the apostle Paul, meeting eyewitness accounts, no doubt having interviews and conversations with Mary herself. Given, perhaps directly from her, superintended by the Spirit of God as he writes inspired texts, these prenatal details and postnatal details that only Luke has, including this unusual encounter with an angel named Gabriel. Now Luke also records here, you notice in verse 27 that she's engaged to Joseph. He's a direct descendant of the royal line of David, which at this point is somewhat laughable.

He doesn't look royal by any means. He's going to, with Mary, eke out this existence as he builds with wood and stone. Fairly poor, early sources tell us that neither Joseph's family nor Mary's had any wealth or social standing. A little later on in the temple, when they bring Jesus to dedicate him, if you don't have enough money for a lamb, you bring a pigeon and that's what they brought. This impoverished couple.

Joseph is a handyman. Early accounts tell us who made plows and tools for the farmers and the herdsmen living in and around Nazareth. One author writes that Mary's life was destined to be an impoverished, quiet life on the outskirts of Nazareth.

She would marry humbly, give birth perhaps to numerous poor children, never travel farther than a few miles from her home, and one day die like thousands of others before her in Nazareth, a nobody in a nothing town out in the middle of nowhere. But isn't that the gospel? Isn't that great?

I frankly love that. Gabriel is going to wing his way past all the well-connected, past all the movers and shakers in this world, beyond all the pomp and circumstance. He's going to find his way to someone who will understand immediately that she is unworthy, which is exactly how you came to faith in Christ.

Unworthy, needy, nothing to offer God but an open heart. Now with that, Gabriel shows up. He's been busy.

If you've been with us, he's flying all over the place. Verse 28. And he came to her and said, greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you. But she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

Now this encounter has created all kinds of confusion and even theological error. So Gabriel isn't showing up here in Luke chapter one to tell Mary that she is already full of grace. That's a poor translation from the Latin Bible, which the Catholic church has used. The verb in the Greek language is a passive verb, which means she is the recipient of grace. Gabriel is saying you are the recipient of great grace from God.

Why? Because she needed it just like you need it and I need it. And she will bear the Messiah who will die for her sins and yours and mine.

Now let's move on. Gabriel delivers to her this surprising news. Look at verse 31. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great. He will be called the son of the most high. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father, David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob or Israel forever. And of his kingdom, there will be no end.

Gabriel just sort of backs up the truck and he unloads. In fact, he delivers eight predictions or prophecies, so to speak here. You will conceive in your womb. You will bear a son. You will name him Jesus.

He will be great. He will be the son of the most high, reference to God, Elohim. He will sit on the throne of his forefather, David. He will reign over Israel and his kingdom will have no end. Now get this, the first five prophecies will come true.

The birth of Christ and they'll come true with his birth. She conceives. She bears a son.

She names him Jesus and he's great. He is the son of the most high. The last three have not yet come to pass.

They haven't been fulfilled yet. He isn't sitting on his forefather, David's throne. He's not reigning yet over Israel.

And his kingdom will have no end. In a sense, you could say it's true, but that literal kingdom will begin and will have no end. So these last ones have not yet come true, but all of them are literal promises, essentially restating these last three, God's promise to David and what we call the Davidic covenant. Beloved, I don't want to bore you here, but there is no reason for anybody to say, you know, the first five came true, the next three aren't really that literal.

You don't have to worry about it. There's any reason why any covenant theologian could say, well, the first five could be taken literally, but there's no need to believe that a literal throne will exist or that a literal nation, Israel, will be reconstituted. You know, the church has taken their place. They're done.

You can't do that. You can't draw a line and say, we're going to take the first five and dump the last three. All eight of these have or will come to pass literally. And if you think about it, these eight prophecies take us from the moment of Mary's pregnancy and it begins and it takes us all the way into the eternal glory of heaven. I mean, talk about a sweep of history and the future.

He just kind of unloads the wagon with this incredible sweep, now 2,000 years long and still going. But I love Mary's response in verse 34. How will this be since I'm a virgin? In other words, she hasn't heard a word Gabriel has said after prediction number one.

Never mind the eternal reign, the coming kingdom, the reconstitution of Israel. No, go back and start with that number one. Did I hear you correctly? I'm going to conceive in my womb and then she just kind of shut down there.

How's that happen? Listen, she gets it. She doesn't say, well, you know, Joseph and I are going to get married within the year, so yeah, we'll have a child.

Oh, no. She gets it. She understands that she is going to conceive before marrying while yet a virgin.

And she wants to understand, you know, how does this work? Gabriel has obviously been prepped for this pop quiz. So he says in verse 35, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be holy, called holy, the Son of God. Now, the word for overshadow is the same word used to refer to the Shekinah glory cloud resting on the early Old Testament tabernacle in Exodus chapter 40, the Greek translation of the Old Testament. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all use the same word to describe the cloud of God's glory, his presence covering the mount of transfiguration where before the death of Jesus, he's shown to be brilliantly white bright shining there on that mountain, Matthew 17, Mark 9, and Luke 9. So Mary, what he's saying is your womb is going to become the holy of holies where God's presence by means of his Spirit is going to miraculously bring your egg by his power to life. We will circumvent the fallen nature of Adam, we'll circumvent sperm which passes down that fallen nature, but you having come from that egg will be fully human, flesh and blood, and it's all going to happen in your womb by the overshadowing power of the Holy Spirit. And you think, well, that explains it.

Look, don't kid yourself. We've just discussed something we can believe by faith, but we don't understand it. We don't understand it. Gabriel, I think, picks up on this with Mary, and he adds this comment, and we're not sure if Gabriel is speaking on his own initiative, which would be fine, and he wouldn't be wrong, what he says is true, or if he's told to deliver this to her, but it's as if in this parting comment, he says, listen, Mary, look down at verse 37, nothing will be impossible with God.

Why do you think he's saying that? I think it's because Mary's standing there thinking this is impossible. With God, this won't be impossible. And notice the surrender, verse 38, and Mary said, behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word.

And the angel departed. I am the servant, the doula. I am the bondservant. I am willingly giving my life to my master.

That's what a bondservant did. I love my master. I want to just serve him for my entire life.

That's who I am. Would you notice she did not say, let it be done to me because I have peace about it. Let it be done to me because I put out the fleece and it was wet. Let it be done to me because I think I'm ready for it. Here we go.

Nor did she say, you know, let it be done to me as soon as God gives me, you know, a few more details and lays out the facts and answers a few questions in addition to how and gives me some reassurances. No. I am the Lord's servant. He can do with me what he wants. I belong to him.

His wish is my command. Reminded me of that young lady I've often used as an illustration who attended a conference for young adults. They were challenged to devote their lives to honor the Lord no matter what and she stood up in one meeting and gave her own personal testimony and she held up a blank sheet of paper and she said to her friends, this is the will of God for my life. It's blank but I have already signed my name at the bottom. The Lord can fill it out. I'll follow through.

That's remarkable. She signs her name as it were with permanent marker. Lord, you fill it in.

I'll follow through. Now, if you go back to verse 36, you notice Gabriel dropped some information about Mary's cousin, Elizabeth, expecting a baby. He didn't drop that in by accident. The Lord wanted her to know that. God knew that Mary at this moment, just having received this news, needs somebody to talk to. Somebody that would understand. Somebody whose life was also turned upside down. Somebody who also might be expecting a rather unexpected baby. Somebody who's also going to believe her story that an angel by the name of Gabriel just came to see me. Who's going to believe that? I mean, Mary's world is about to come unglued. Her family is going to be embarrassed. Her father's going to be shamed.

The rabbis are going to be infuriated. She might even be in danger and last but not least, her fiance isn't going to believe her. Who in the world is going to understand her situation?

Who's going to believe this crazy story? Ah, I know. Elizabeth. A woman in her 80s expecting and her husband who's had a conversation with Gabriel. Go to verse 39. In those days then, Mary arose and went in haste into the hill country to a town in Judah and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth and when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. Down to verse 44. Elizabeth says, for behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. This is again a sermon.

Don't miss the implications here. A baby in the womb responding to the direction of the Holy Spirit at this point, little baby John, is about nine inches long, weighing less than two pounds. He now surges upward, experiencing, demonstrating emotion, joy, happiness at the sound of Mary's voice. This is a spirit-induced prophetic moment. This is John the Baptist's first act of an Old Testament prophet in the womb.

He's in the presence of the Son of God, which indicates then Mary has now conceived by the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit is going to guide her and that's because of all the prophetic illusions she's going to make as she begins to sing. She praises God for her salvation, verse 47. She thanks God for choosing someone like her, verse 48. She's not in there going, well, Gabriel, I've been expecting you, having lived a perfect life.

No, God chose me. Mary praises God for his unfailing chesed, that Old Testament covenant mercy, verse 50. Mary sings to God of his future victory, this is prophetic, his vindication over the nations, verse 52. She praises God for his faithfulness to Israel and she refers to their national inheritance, literal, physical inheritance. I mean, this song is loaded with nothing less, really, than the surrender of Mary to the will and to the work and to the Word of God.

It's just remarkable. And Luke then wraps up this whirlwind scene by providing, really, a summary statement, verse 56. It reads, and Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home. That would indicate now that John has been born.

She, no doubt, has been a wonderful assistance to Elizabeth, probably learning a few things along the way, which would be very helpful as she prepares to deliver her baby all by herself with a little help from Joseph. Well, there are people waiting back in Nazareth. There are conversations that have to be held. There are some explanations that need to be given. Before we leave this scene today, let me make at least two applications.

There are so many, let me boil it down to two. First of all, surrendering to God does not eliminate complications. It may very well increase them. You might notice, if you go back and more carefully read the lyrics of her song, Mary sings nothing about solutions back in Nazareth. It doesn't resolve the conversations that she's going to be forced to have when she returns to her village as an unmarried girl, not having consummated the betrothal period with Joseph, clearly showing, clearly showing now.

She's carrying a child. There's no quick answer here. And keep in mind when we go through this narrative, and part of our problem is if you're older in the faith, you've heard it over and over again. I'm really kind of glad that we're not even going to get into Luke chapter 2 until January. I mean, how strange is that going to be to talk about the birth of Christ in January? You're not supposed to do that. We're going to mess a lot of people up when we do this.

I'm looking forward to it. We just forget that we know the fuller story. We know how complicated her life is going to become. Three times, in quick succession, they have to move. Joseph has to try to find work. For the first three years of Jesus' birth, they're in hiding in Egypt. Thank the Lord for his timing and bringing the Magi because they're going to need to live off that gold. They're running for their lives. They're trying to outrun Herod, who's trying to find their baby and kill him. Their world is upset. Mary is literally surrendering, giving away any normal life, any normal marriage, any normal homestead. She's been planning since the betrova.

Forget that. She is accepting here the complications of this assignment, and her life will be complicated until the day she dies. Surrendering to God's word does not eliminate complications. It may very well increase them.

One more. Surrendering to God's will doesn't require experience. It simply invites us to obedience. She's young, poor, inexperienced.

Is there anybody more unlikely? And that for Joseph as well. God wasn't looking for experience. God was looking for willingness, readiness, obedience. Mary said essentially what all of us need to say afresh today. Lord, I am your bond servant.

I am willingly giving my body and my mind and my heart and my aspirations and my plans and my dreams to you. Here's the blank sheet of paper. I've already signed it. You fill it out. And so I think of it this way in closing that Mary essentially says to Gabriel, wing your way back, back through the universe, beyond all the galaxies, into that glorious throne room you're accustomed to and deliver a message.

And it's going to be very simple. I accept. I surrender to my Savior, my God. I'm so glad you've joined us today. Stephen Davey is our Bible teacher and he's working his way through the first three chapters of Luke in this series called Good News of Great Joy. We have a companion study guide that goes along with this series. In addition to giving you the manuscript that Stephen prepared when delivering this message, the study guide also has some discussion questions.

They can form the basis of a small group discussion or perhaps you can use it as a family around the dinner table. It's absolutely free and available for you to access anytime. Our website is wisdomonline.org. Thanks for being with us today. Be sure and join us next time right here on Wisdom for the Hearts.