10.12.23

SOMETHING NEW

 



DECEMBER 11, 2023


Luke 1:34-35

And Mary said to the angel, "How will this be, since I am a virgin?" And the angel answered her, "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 called holy—the Son of God."

 

"How will this be, since I am a virgin?"

Mary is not doubting like Zechariah. Mary is a practical, she needs to know: Does God want her to move up the wedding ceremony? What’s the plan here? Mary wonders. Does God have entirely different plans for her?

As it turns out, God does indeed have different plans, He's going to handle the whole thing by miracle. As God promised long ago through the prophet Isaiah, "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His Name Immanuel" (7:14b). God is doing a new thing in the world, by inserting new, pure, divine, holy life into it. The baby will be both fully God and fully human, God from all eternity, now taking on true human nature in the person of Jesus.

Not one person who knows about Jesus’ beginning will ever be in doubt that God is doing something special here, something to pay attention to. "Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" (Isaiah 43:19a) We must not miss the fact that God is doing it on His own, no human measures, preparations, or planning are necessary. God's salvation, the deliverance he promised is entirely His own work, from Jesus' conception to His suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension. And we are the joyful receivers!


 Jesus, thank You that You came to be God with us, Immanuel. Amen.

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